My Princess Has Been Reborn: Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – This name really suits me

Even if Lu Qipei felt guilty towards Qi Yang, she still did not want to go with her at all. Or, one could say that it was indeed because Lu Qipei felt guilty towards Qi Yang that she was even more unwilling to go with her —— leaving the capital and going far away from her was the best choice to make for Qi Yang’s sake!

However, Her Highness had already spoken, could just anyone object?

After declaring that she would pack her up and take her away, the little princess who had so gently helped Lu Qipei wipe her face a second ago just walked off without even giving her a chance to object.

Watching Qi Yang’s unusually resolute back, Lu Qipei was stunned and blurted out the word ‘Princess’. Instantly, the faces of the surrounding soldiers became stern. However, they did not need to do anything. At Her Highness’ signal, a few palace maids rushed up to Lu Qipei and practically half pulled and half dragged the person away to be sent straight to Her Highness’ carriage…

The head bodyguard was taken aback by this scene but perhaps because he had been at the palace for so many years, he was very experienced and by the next moment he had already recovered his impassive expression. At a wave of his hand, the soldiers put their weapons away and rejoined their units. They even remembered to bring Lu Qipei’s ox along.

With a clatter of horse hooves, Princess Qi Yang’s carriage continued on its journey again after stopping by the roadside for less than a quarter of an hour.

In the carriage, Lu Qipei adjusted her slightly disheveled clothes and her gaze on Qi Yang grew complicated —— she had never thought that the two of them would meet in advance and it was even more unexpected that their ‘reunion’ would be like this. She momentarily did not know what to say.

Qi Yang rested her chin on one hand and looked at her with a contented smile. She kept staring at Lu Qipei’s face like she did not want to miss even a second of it, even if the latter’s face was full of unwillingness. She just raised her hand slightly to point at a seat at the side and said, “Sit.” Then she said, “Sit and tell me how you knew I was the princess.”

Lu Qipei panicked a bit but composed herself quickly. She lowered her eyes and pretended to be unaware, replying, “Someone dressed as wealthily as you and with bodyguards and armed soldiers protecting them, if you are not the princess, then who?”

Hearing this, Qi Yang smiled. Her smiles had always been pretty, the pure and innocent appearance making people unable to stop themselves from being a bit more tolerant towards her. It was also because of this that the emperor doted on her very much and the crown prince treated her well too. Even the palace maids around her were willing to pamper her and look after her, ensuring that the princess’ protection was considerate and sufficient…It could be said that Qi Yang’s life was smooth-sailing and this made her smile even more.

Lu Qipei had never seen Qi Yang stop smiling and of course, at this moment, with her eyes lowered she also did not see Qi Yang’s pretty smile. When her hand was suddenly held by another person’s soft and slender one, she was so taken by surprise that she almost forgot her manners.

Qi Yang did not care about Lu Qipei’s shock. As she held Lu Qipei’s hand, her fingertip caressed her soft hand —— Lu Qipei had been raised as the young master of a prominent family. Not only was her face as fair as jade, even her hands had clearly been taken good care of. Other than the marks left behind from holding pens and swords and drawing bows, her hands were flawless.

If you said this was a pair of hands belonging to a commoner who had been doing manual labour since they were young, who would believe you?

Qi Yang carefully caressed Lu Qipei’s hand. Even if she was pretending to be doing this absent-mindedly, Zhi Ting who was sitting at the side understood Her Highness well and could see some satisfaction on her face…this kind of Princess Qi Yang was a bit unbearable for her to watch.

However, Qi Yang could not be bothered with Zhi Ting’s reaction. She was contented that she had touched her enough so she then lifted Lu Qipei’s pretty hand and asked the dazed person in front of her, “Are you acting stupid?”

Lu Qipei was in a daze, her entire head was filled with how Qi Yang held her hand —— if she was not her little princess, if it were a man doing something as shameless as this, she would have definitely broken their legs!

However, the person before her was indeed her little princess, so what could she do? Of course she could only do as Qi Yang pleased.

Lu Qipei’s heart was full of inexplicable emotions. She almost doubted herself, wondering if she had mistaken this person for Qi Yang. Hearing Qi Yang’s question, her brain was not functioning as well anymore and only after a moment did she realise that her hand had been lifted. She then knew that a large part of her identity had been exposed already.

For some reason, Lu Qipei actually felt relieved. At least Her Highness had not had other motives for touching her hand; she was only confirming the crack in her disguise. Such a serious and smart reason even made the ex prince consort feel a bit pleased.

However, it was not possible for her to directly tell the truth so she took her hand back and huffed, “I just didn’t want to take the imperial examinations so I ran away from home. This doesn’t have anything to do with Your Highness right?”

Since Lu Qipei had admitted that she was from a rich family, how she knew Princess Qi Yang’s identity was now explained. Whether it was Qi Yang’s attire or the size of the carriage, with this information alone, as long as a person was educated they would easily be able to recognise it.

Qi Yang had never thought that there was anything wrong with the Lu Qipei in front of her either. She was simply surprised by her answer itself —— Who would have thought that the person who had scored the highest in the imperial examination and the number one scholar who had demonstrated her extraordinary talent at the Qionglin Banquet would actually run away on the eve of the examination!

Just like how Lu Qipei was surprised by how Qi Yang was different from the past, Qi Yang was also surprised by Lu Qipei.

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It was still very necessary for the two of them to get to know each other again. As both of them did not want to expose their abnormality, they had to act as per normal on the outside. Thus, even though they were well aware of the other’s identity, after much beating around the bush, they still told each other their names.

Lu Qipei had not wanted to say it at first but Qi Yang pestered her until she had no choice but to tell her her name. One thing to note is that this was their ‘first meeting’ like the past and in her previous life, when outside, she always used Lu Qicheng’s name so naturally, back then she had told Qi Yang that her name was Lu Qicheng. However, now, she had decided from the start that she did not want to deceive Qi Yang anymore. Even if she could not distance herself, she was still not willing to give Lu Qicheng something to exploit so she openly said her real name…

“My surname is Lu and my name is Qipei, the ‘Qi’ in Cheng-Qian-Qi-Hou and the ‘Pei’ in Pei-Yu-Gan-Lin*,” Lu Qipei said.

*as more than one Chinese character can share the same pronunciation, to differentiate them in in spoken language, common phrases are used

This name was not well-known at all, in fact, if Her Highness happened to be interested and went to the Ministry of Rites* to look through the namelist of people taking part in the imperial examination, she would not be able to find her name. However, when Qi Yang heard this name, a sudden surge of sadness welled up in her heart.

*one of six ministries in Ancient China, overseeing rituals, imperial examinations and foreign relations

She had been the number one scholar with unparalleled talent in the previous life, yet when she died, it was without a sound. She had not even left her full name behind when everything was taken away from her.

Qi Yang had spent three years secretly investigating but she had only managed to find out that Lu Qicheng had an older twin sister. She had never known what her name was. It was only at this moment that she heard Lu Qipei say it herself and thousands of emotions flitted through her heart.

However, seeing the change in Qi Yang’s expression, Lu Qipei was even more confused and hesitated before asking, “Your Highness, is there something wrong with my name?”

Qi Yang finally suppressed her emotions and shook her head, saying, “No, this is a good name.” After she spoke, she saw how Lu Qipei breathed out a sigh of relief and smiled, adding, “I think this name really suits me, it’s suitable to be my prince consort’s.”

Once she said this, not only was Lu Qipei stunned, even Zhi Ting beside them could not help but stand up.

Zhi Ting had been getting the feeling that Her Highness was a bit unusual today but now she was so unusual that she really could not bear it any longer! At this moment, Zhi Ting lost her steady and composed demeanour and practically threw herself in front of Qi Yang to hurriedly say, “Your Highness, you can’t do this, the matter of the prince consort is not a joke!”

Lu Qipei had also come to her senses and her expression instantly became complicated. She said, “If Your Highness wants to joke around, I…”

Things were developing too quickly, Lu Qipei had not even had the time to react. She only knew that she could not repeat the same mistake and thus wanted to tell Qi Yang that she was actually a girl. However, it was as though Qi Yang had seen through her intentions. She went one step ahead and raised a hand to press it against Lu Qipei’s lips, stopping whatever words she had wanted to say. She stopped smiling and said seriously, “I’m not joking.”

Lu Qipei’s heart started beating faster but on the other hand, Zhi Ting felt like the sky was about to collapse —— she had not even thought about how to persuade Her Highness to let the person go before entering the palace but in the end, Her Highness was just too brilliant; she could just casually pick someone on the road and let them become her prince consort!

This kind of thing, this kind of thing…if His Majesty were to hear of it, would he skin them alive?!

However, Qi Yang did not care whether the two of them were shocked or scared. Her finger pressed against Lu Qipei’s soft lip and she just felt a bit lustful. In the end, her rationality stopped her from doing anything more outrageous but the hand on Lu Qipei’s lips could not bear to leave.

The author has something to say:
Lu Qipei (rejoicing): My little princess is still pure, she touched my hand not for any inappropriate reason but to check the crack in my disguise.
Qi Yang (ready to stir trouble): I really want to bring this prince consort home immediately and do whatever I want to her…