Apart from her deteriorating health, Ti Le’s journey into the capital of the Great Yue Dynasty was relatively smooth.
Upon reaching the capital, the merchant caravan set Ti Le down.
They were very kind and offered to take Ti Le to her destination.
However, Ti Le herself did not know where she was supposed to go, so she voluntarily alighted from the carriage first.
The capital of the Great Yue Dynasty, much like twenty years ago, held a familiar scent for Ti Le.
Yet, as she stood in the capital and looked around, she found it all so strange.
“Make way, make way! Prince Wen is arriving – make way, make way!”
At this voice, Ti Le’s spine involuntarily stiffened.
She hadn’t expected that after so long away, the first person she would have to see was Prince Wen!
Prince Wen, whom she had deeply wronged. She could never forget the sorrow in his eyes the last time she saw him.
Ti Le turned her head. Even though she knew Prince Wen wouldn’t recognize her, she couldn’t bring herself to face him!
However, Prince Wen’s carriage still stopped behind her.
She heard the sound of Prince Wen alighting from the carriage; it seemed he wasn't alone.
“Elderly one!”
Suddenly, a young man’s voice rang out behind Ti Le.
Simultaneously, a hand gently patted her shoulder.
Ti Le stiffly turned her head, only to see a face both unfamiliar and familiar!
Unfamiliar, because Ti Le had never seen this man before.
He was about twenty years old, dressed in a luxurious brocade robe, and looking at Ti Le with a smile.
If she were a woman, he looked exactly like Ti Le from twenty years ago! This immediately made Ti Le think of his identity… he was her child.
He extended his hand, holding a handkerchief: “Elderly one, you dropped your handkerchief.”
Elderly one?
These three words inexplicably brought a sense of loss to Ti Le’s heart.
But wasn’t she an elderly person now?
So she reached out, her hand trembling, and took the handkerchief: “Thank you… thank you.”
“Jiang’er.”
From behind the man, Prince Wen’s voice called out: “Hurry along, your uncle and aunt are waiting impatiently. We agreed that after you returned victorious from the battlefield, we would arrange a marriage for you with the daughter of the Minister of War. If you delay any longer, be careful she isn’t snatched away by someone else!”
“Yes, Father, I’m coming!”
The man called “Jiang’er” turned and boarded the carriage, not sparing Ti Le another glance.
And Ti Le looked in the direction of the carriage, indeed seeing Prince Wen—
He was just as he had always been, as if he hadn’t changed at all.
Time had not left too many marks on him, unlike Ti Le, who had become an old, frail woman.
Prince Wen also looked at Ti Le. As their eyes met, he simply smiled and nodded at Ti Le, his eyes holding a distance as if he had never known her.
Yes.
Ti Le understood. How could she compare to her former self in her current appearance?
But that child, Jiang’er… he shouldn’t be Prince Wen’s child!
So, as Prince Wen’s convoy departed, Ti Le went to inquire about matters within Prince Wen’s manor.
Only then did she learn that the child Jiang’er was indeed born to her.
It was said that he was the son of a stable hand in Prince Wen’s manor. When he was raised in the back courtyard until the age of three, the stable hand died saving Prince Wen.
Thus, Prince Wen took the child under his wing and recognized him as an adopted son. The child had since been raised exceptionally well and was now the Great General of Zhenxi of the Great Yue Dynasty.
Prince Wen had also remarried and had two children of his own.
So everyone lived well, except for her.
—
On the eve of the New Year in the Great Yue Dynasty, an old woman died in the capital.
When she was discovered, she was curled up in a corner of the wall behind Prince Wen’s manor, having frozen to death long before.
The person who found her said she didn’t look like a vagrant. Her clothes were respectable and clean; even the cloak draped over her was woven from tribute silk unique to the Southern Kingdom.
And as she died of cold, a strange smile lingered on her lips.
Since it happened during the festive season, it alerted the newly appointed Prefect of the Capital.
They brought people to collect the old woman’s body, but found no identification on her.
Only a ring was found, which seemed to be… from Prince Wen’s manor.
They sent the ring to Prince Wen’s manor. Upon seeing the ring, Prince Wen’s legs felt unsteady.
He ordered the old woman’s body to be preserved properly, and then confined himself to his study for an entire day.
It wasn’t until Prince Chang and Princess Chang arrived that Prince Wen emerged from his study, after they had spoken of something within.
Later, Prince Wen instructed his eldest son, Jiang’er, to arrange the burial for the old woman and find a place of beautiful scenery to bury her.
This matter, like the cold wind in winter, quickly dissipated in the capital, forgotten by all.
Only occasionally, in the quiet of the night, would Prince Wen go to his study, hold the well-preserved ring in his hand, and murmur, “If only you could have returned sooner? I never hated you, nor did I ever resent you!”
She would be forgotten by everyone, but not by him.
In those years, they had both missed too much and clung to too much.
—
In the winter of the thirty-third year of Tianqi in the Great Yue Dynasty, Prince Wen passed away.
At the time of his death, he still clutched the ring in his hand, as if it were something that even death could not sever.
The year after Prince Wen’s death, His Highness Prince Chang requested to retire from court for the second time.
The Emperor was initially unwilling, as the Crown Prince had grown into adulthood, and he hoped Prince Chang could assist the Crown Prince.
However, Prince Chang said that he had made a promise to his Princess that he had not fulfilled for decades.
Now that even the youngest among his brothers, Prince Wen, had passed away, if he didn’t fulfill his promise, he would truly be breaking his word.
Thus, His Highness Prince Chang, now over sixty years old, chose this time to travel the mountains and rivers with his beloved Princess.
In the taverns and marketplaces of the Great Yue Dynasty, tales of their deep affection for each other were widely circulated.
Some said that Prince Chang had never taken a concubine in his life, thus fulfilling his promise.
Others said that Prince Chang and his Princess had been separated lovers in a past life, which was why they were inseparable in this one.
In those legends, under the sunset of the vast desert beyond the frontier, Song Yu Jiang gently rested her head on Mu Chang Xi’s shoulder.
Her smile was filled with love and happiness for this life: “If there is a next life, can we be together again?”
“Yes.”
Mu Chang Xi’s promise was firm and resonant.
In the summer of the thirty-fifth year of Tianqi in the Great Yue Dynasty, Princess Chang passed away from illness. The entire nation mourned, and the Emperor personally presided over the funeral rites for the Princess.
Three days after the Princess’s demise, Prince Chang promptly followed.
Their deep marital affection became the most beautiful legend in the Great Yue Dynasty for all eternity.
The meticulous records of history and the whispers of the common folk ensured that they would never be forgotten.
— The End.