My Princess Has Been Reborn: Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – Did you see it

Qi Yang was still thinking about Lu Qipei but in front of the emperor, she did not dare to show that she was eager to leave so she had a long conversation with the emperor until the emperor appeared tired and she excused herself.

When returning to Jingchen Palace, Qi Yang’s footsteps were rushed, worried about the person who had been suddenly taken into the palace and left alone.

Nothing out of the ordinary had happened in Jingchen Palace. As Qi Yang returned, the palace guards greeted her in unison.

Qi Yang’s steps did not pause and she walked through the path that the palace guards had made way for her. She walked all the way to the main hall then looked left and right. She did not see the familiar silhouette so she asked, “Prince…Lu Qipei, where is she?”

Zhi Ting walked out and softly reported, “Your Highness, Young Master Lu is currently bathing.”

Hearing this, Qi Yang froze slightly and immediately had a realisation —— in this palace, it was not uncommon to see people wearing fine silks. Only Lu Qipei’s patched-up clothing stuck out like a sore thumb.

Zhi Ting did not know whether what Qi Yang had said previously was all a joke or not but out of fear that letting Lu Qipei roam the palace in such attire would hurt people’s eyes, Zhi Ting quickly got her to clean up. She did not want people to question Her Highness’ taste either.

Qi Yang had no objections to this. After all, when she saw how Lu Qipei’s face was covered with dirt, besides finding it amusing, her heart also ached —— others did not understand but she knew why Lu Qipei had run away.

Qi Yang turned her head and glanced at the darkening sky. She instructed, “Prepare dinner and send it up after she has finished bathing.”

Hearing this, Zhi Ting looked at Qi Yang and was surprised again but she did not dare to ask too many questions. She bowed in response. As she was about to leave the hall and pass the orders down, she suddenly heard Her Highness ask again, “Right, Zhi Ting, where have you arranged for her to stay?”

Zhi Ting hastily stopped walking and turned her head to reply, “This servant was bold* and placed Young Master Lu in the side wing.”

*she’s being formal

Qi Yang was doted on and her mother’s position as a concubine was not low either. The whole Jingchen Palace was hence hers. Although Jingchen Palace was not very big, when the two wings were added together, there were already seven to eight rooms. The side wing that Zhi Ting had mentioned was referring to the wing closest to Qi Yang’s personal room but it was also separated from the main hall. Unless the favour Her Highness had shown towards Lu Qipei was all fake, for the most part, there would be no issue with this arrangement.

Of course there was no problem with this arrangement, Qi Yang would not mind Lu Qipei being near her. In fact, she only felt that Lu Qipei was still not living close enough to her! However, before really taking her as her prince consort, this distance was just right. She had been too eager today.

Qi Yang waved her hand to dismiss Zhi Ting. She quietly drank a cup of tea in the main hall but was still feeling a bit restless. As a respected and high-ranking figure, she did not have to care about others’ judgement of her so without informing anyone, she left for the side wing.

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The hot bath had washed all her fatigue away. Lu Qipei leaned against the bathtub1 and sighed deeply —— she did not know things would develop to this point. There was nothing she could do about having impulsively followed the princess into the palace but after today, what should she do?

Would she leave or stay? Would she let Qi Yang know or would she just never see her again?

Lu Qipei felt conflicted. She had originally wanted to distance herself and never appear in front of Qi Yang. However, now they had met earlier than expected and from the start, the little princess seemed to have an even more favourable impression of her than she did in the past. She was really afraid that if she walked away from this problem, Her Highness would get someone to investigate and accidentally find out about the person who looked exactly like her, Lu Qicheng!

She believed that with Lu Qicheng’s cunning nature, he would never give up such a good opportunity. He could even impersonate her.

If this was truly the case then would she not have hurt Her Highness for another lifetime?

Lu Qipei closed her eyes and pondered it for a while. No matter how much she thought about it, she still could not feel at ease. Even her desire to escape had dulled.

However, if she didn’t run away, what else could she do? Ignoring the dangers she faced if she stayed in the palace or how great the likelihood of her being found by the Lu family was if she left, what was the point in staying in the palace? 

Having pondered until this juncture, Lu Qipei could not help but laugh, feeling silly that she had been overthinking just because of the little princess’ words.

Thousands of thoughts were running through her head but in the end, she was still unable to think of a foolproof plan. She was so annoyed that she bent over slightly to immerse her face in the water and only when she could no longer hold her breath did she then pull her head out of the water. Afterwards, she wiped her face and decided to just see what would happen next.

After Lu Qipei had finished bathing, she neatly did up her hair and changed her clothes. Although there were some troubles in her heart, her mentality was actually not bad —— in the end, she had once been a prince consort in her previous life and this was not the first time she had come to the Jingchen Palace. Naturally, she was not as fearful of the palace and dared to make trouble with Qi Yang. It was also because of this that she had not shown any apprehensiveness since entering the palace.

After cleaning herself up, Lu Qipei’s hair was still dripping slightly so she just wore her inner clothing and left the bathroom.

The design of the palace was mostly the same. In the previous life, Lu Qipei had even accompanied Qi Yang back to the palace to stay for a few days. Thus, she was quite familiar with Jingchen Palace and knew that in the bathroom, besides the main door, there was also a side door for the owner to conveniently return to their bedroom after bathing.

She had already seen that this side wing had not had an owner for a while now so there would not be any servant waiting in the room to serve her. Moreover, after bathing, the bathroom would be full of steam and it would not be fitting to let someone wait. Thus, Lu Qipei decided to return to the empty bedroom first before continuing to change.

However, as she walked through the side door into the bedroom, Lu Qipei never expected to see a graceful figure standing in the room!

As she walked, she saw that person’s back and could immediately recognise that it was Qi Yang. However, regardless of who this person was, she could not let anyone see her current inappropriate attire. 

At this moment, Lu Qipei was only wearing her snow-white inner clothing and the warm steam had made her jade-like face slightly red while her eyes were bright like she had just bathed. Her ink-black hair was still dripping and the water droplets had dampened her clothes. The wet cloth stuck to her body and the front of her robe was also a bit messy. From where Qi Yang was standing, what was under the clothing was fairly discernible…

Qi Yang’s breathing stopped. Her eyes that had originally been full of laughter were now pinned on Lu Qipei’s body, dazed and unable to look away. She stared until the latter’s face was blood-red and Lu Qipei subconsciously covered her chest with her arms, asking with a hint of embarrassment, “Why is your Highness here?”

Qi Yang blinked, then blinked again before she could retract her stare with much effort. 

The atmosphere seemed a bit awkward? Not really, as long as there were people here who could act stupid.

For example, Qi Yang, who quickly changed her expression into a nonchalant one after retracting her stare and pretended that nothing out of the blue had just happened, saying, “It’s getting late, I had someone prepare dinner so I specially came over to have dinner with you.”

Lu Qipei did not doubt Qi Yang at all because in her heart, her little princess was innocent and pure. She would never tell lies to trick her. Lu Qipei’s expression instantly looked a bit more normal but she still felt awkward. She did not know whether to put down the hands in front of her chest or not.

She was silent for a moment before replying, “Then, then could Your Highness go back to the main hall first and wait for a while, I will go after I finish changing.”

Qi Yang did not make things difficult for her either, she really just acted like nothing had happened. Nodding her head, she walked out of the bedroom. Only, Lu Qipei, who was standing behind her, could not see that once Her Highness had stepped outside, she covered her face with her hand. The heat that she had been struggling to keep down rose up to her face in a flash —— Qi Yang immediately felt ashamed of herself, she had not even seen much, how could she be unable to stop herself from feeling so flustered? It was so childish!

The childish princess stood outside in the cold wind for a while until the light breeze of early spring had blown away all the heat and her hands were ice-cold. Lu Qipei dawdled for a bit before tying her hair and changing her clothes again, after which she walked out.

The clothes on Lu Qipei’s body had been taken from the government office by Zhi Ting. They were probably some prince’s informal wear —— this was not anything out of the ordinary, even princesses would occasionally wear men’s clothing when they went out of the palace for a holiday —— the snow-white clothing, silvery patterns and white jade headpiece in her soft and inky hair made the young person look bright and handsome, similar to when the two of them had first met in their previous life.

Qi Yang looked at the person who was exactly the same as the one in her memories and instantly felt like she was in a trance.

On the other hand, Lu Qipei still remembered the awkwardness previously. Seeing Qi Yang staring at her in a daze, she coughed lightly and said, “Your Highness, why have you not returned to the main hall? Standing here in the cold wind for so long, you have to be careful not to catch a cold.”

Qi Yang came back to her senses and carelessly responded in agreement. She was going to lead the person back to eat their meal but when she had just barely taken a few steps, her sleeve was tugged at.

Lu Qipei had only pinched a small piece of Qi Yang’s sleeve and she looked a bit embarrassed. She looked left and right and seeing that there were no palace staff around, she asked in a small voice, “Your Highness, did you see everything already?” 

The author has something to say:

Qi Yang (pretending to be proper): I am not, I did not, I am an upright person, I would not peep at you just because you are good-looking!!!

Lu Qipei (finding it hard to explain): Your Highness, I merely wanted to ask if you already know my identity…

1. for your information, this is a rough picture of the bathtub in question