Robe blanche

Chapitre 58

The moment Shen Haoyu saw me, there was obvious amazement in his eyes. I felt secretly pleased with myself, but when I remembered what those people had just said, my face couldn't help but turn red again.

I asked Shen Haoyu what I could do in the future, and he said I could be with Yin Yan and the others, and I could do whatever they did. I shook my head immediately. How could that be? They even had to sleep with him sometimes!

Shen Haoyu frowned unhappily, and I quickly said, "Sister Yinyan and the others are very skillful. I can't do what they do. How about I clean the courtyard and tend to the flowers and trees?" There are people specifically in charge of tending to the flowers and trees. If I go, I will only be doing it for show.

Shen Haoyu snorted: "Whatever, I've never seen you do anything before anyway! Do whatever you want!"

In all honesty, I was once a passionate young boy who intended to diligently practice martial arts to serve the Prince's Palace. It was you yourselves who prevented me from doing anything!

Upon returning from Shen Haoyu's place, I immediately changed out of my concubine's attire and into a plain purple robe. I redid my hair and remembered the amethyst and diamond hairpin Shen Tingxuan had given me, which perfectly complemented this outfit. I took it out to try it on, and it truly made me radiant. Unfortunately, the hairpin was too precious and ostentatious, so I had to reluctantly put it back in its box. Instead, I found a white jade seven-treasure hairpin in the dressing box Shen Haoyu had prepared and wore it along with the magnolia silver hairpin that Zinuo had given me. Zinuo would probably be very happy to see this.

Looking at the time, I went to Zinuo's door again and knocked lightly. The door was ajar, and when I looked inside, the bed was already neatly made; he must have gone out to wash up. I sat in his room, quietly waiting for him to return.

A short while later, Zinuo came in carrying a copper basin. Seeing me, he seemed startled and stood motionless at the doorway, staring at me. I couldn't help but smile and rise, walking gracefully towards him: "What, don't you recognize me?"

Zi Nuo asked uncertainly, "Are you the older sister?"

I snorted coldly, reverting to my original form, and growled, "Who else could it be but me!"

Zi Nuo stammered, "It looks much better than what I did yesterday. I'm really clumsy."

I comforted him, saying, "Zinuo has done a great job as a man. This was done for me by Sister Yuying. How can you compare to her?"

Immediately afterward, Zinuo exclaimed in surprise, "How could you dress like that?"

I explained, "Don't worry, it was the young prince who told me to put on women's clothes again, and said that I can still stay here with you. From now on, your sister will be a maid in Qiufeng Garden."

Zi Nuo pouted slightly, clearly displeased. I knew he doted on me and didn't want me to be treated like a servant, so I smiled and said, "Later you'll have to come with me to apologize to Brother Song and Brother Lin. I've kept this from them for so many years."

Zinuo then brought the copper basin in and placed it on the shelf.

On my way to find Song Zhixuan and Lin Zhao, I was very uneasy. Just a few days ago, I blamed them for disregarding our years of friendship and having suspicions about me. Today, I had to go to them myself and tell them that I had deceived them for many years. I really couldn't imagine how they would treat me.

Zinuo went into their room first, and I followed him furtively. Lin Zhao noticed someone acting suspiciously and asked, "Zinuo, who's behind you?"

Zinuo didn't say anything, but jumped aside, exposing me to Lin Zhao and Song Zhixuan. I nervously twisted the hem of my clothes and whispered, "Brother Lin Zhao, Brother Zhixuan, it's me." I kept my head down.

Lin Zhao got up from the stool, walked over to me, bent down to look at me, and then pointed at me with a trembling finger, unable to speak. I mustered up my courage and looked up, but Lin Zhao was still pointing at me: "You...you...you..." Song Zhixuan's face showed obvious surprise, and then his face turned cold.

I quickly explained, "I didn't mean to lie to you. It's just that I could earn more money by dressing up as a boy back then, so I kept doing it."

Lin Zhao finally returned to normal, walked back to sit down, and poured himself a glass of water, gulping it down.

"Then why has it changed back to normal today?" Song Zhixuan said coldly.

I feigned helplessness and said, "It's all because I got drunk last night and the young prince and the others found out." If I told them that Shen Haoyu knew about it last year, they would probably be even angrier. Only a fool would tell them the truth.

"Young Prince? Then you..." Lin Zhao opened his mouth to say something, but seeing that things were getting out of hand, I quickly interrupted him: "It was Sister Yuying who took care of me!"

Lin Zhaocan fell silent, while Song Zhixuan sneered, "Brother En, no, Lin En, you've been lying to us for so many years?"

I was already in the wrong, so I tried to soften my tone: "Brother Zhixuan, I had no choice, did I? If you're not used to it, you can call me Huai'en from now on; that's my real name." The name Huai'en had nothing to do with Marquis Qiyun anymore. Everyone knew that Marquis Qiyun only had one daughter, who was married to the Second Prince. Besides, the Second Prince's household already knew. If I continued to hide my name from them, it would be even harder to gain their forgiveness in the future.

Their response to my apology was lukewarm, so I assumed they were just not used to my gender change and that things would get better in time, and then I turned and went back.

Next, Yin Yan made a grand entrance.

As soon as I entered my room, Yin Yan followed me in and exclaimed, "So what Yu Ying said was true! Lin En, you've deceived us so much!" She looked quite agitated.

I chuckled and gently helped her sit down on the stool, then poured her a glass of water: "I hope you'll take good care of me in the future, Sister Yinyan!"

Yinyan didn't drink any water. She just pulled me up and down, looking me up and down, and kept saying, "Why didn't you tell us you were a girl sooner? Look at this beautiful face and figure, you've wasted so many years!"

I asked with a smile, "Sister Yinyan, is it too late?"

Yin Yan counted on her fingers and said, "Embroidery, makeup, hair combing... Oh dear, all the things girls can do, I'm afraid you don't know how to do, right? Look, you don't even have pierced ears!" As she spoke, she touched my ears, and I laughed and dodged away.

My aunt once tried to pierce my ears, but I ran away. Thinking about it now makes me very sad. If she had pierced my ears back then, I probably wouldn't have been able to dress as a boy for so many years.

Yinyan insisted on finding an auspicious day to pierce my ears, but I smiled and shook my head in refusal. I was afraid of pain before, and I'm still afraid of pain now. More importantly, the person who pierced my ears is no longer here.

Before leaving, Yinyan said that she would take time every day to teach me needlework, otherwise I would never be able to get married. I smiled and saw her off.

That night, as I was getting ready for bed, Shen Haoyu unexpectedly arrived and got straight to the point, saying, "It turns out Lin En has such a wide circle of friends. I heard that yesterday, people from the Second Prince's residence and the Third Prince's residence came to deliver gifts one after another."

I nodded in agreement. I thought to myself, you probably already knew yesterday, it's rare that you waited until now to ask.

Shen Haoyu then asked, "I wonder what this gift is?"

I opened the cabinet and took out the eight-treasure glass hairpin given to me by Shen Tingxuan and the jade pendant given to me by Shen Zexuan, placing them in front of Shen Haoyu. Shen Haoyu, slightly surprised, pointed to the eight-treasure glass hairpin and asked, "This is…"

I said, "It was sent by His Highness the Second Prince." Brother Ting, I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to wear your coming-of-age gift in my life. It's so precious.

Then I added, "The jade pendant was a gift from Miss Nightingale." I didn't take out the purple jade phoenix hairpin, not wanting Shen Haoyu to know that I had a past relationship with Shen Zexuan.

Shen Haoyu nodded and said, "Your Highness really puts in the effort!" Then he got up and left.

After he walked away, I was finally able to turn off the lights and go to sleep.

Do not lean against the west railing to lock in the clear autumn. Chapter 44

Chapter word count: 3890 Update time: 09-08-06 13:06

Yin Yan found something particularly fulfilling: teaching me embroidery. Every day after tending to Shen Haoyu, she would pull me under the rose trellis and teach me almost by hand.

Someone like me, who used to only do cross-stitch, and only small patterns the size of a fingertip, made a phone charm for my first boyfriend. Now it's time to test my real skills, but sadly, nothing I embroider looks right. Often, it's a case of "unintentionally planting willows and creating lush willows," and I just don't understand why the finished products are so different with the same silk fabric and the same needle and thread!

Yin Yan was sewing a new cloak for Shen Haoyu. The black silk was embroidered with auspicious cloud patterns in gold thread as the background, while the collar was embroidered with golden roses. I glanced at the roses above my head, then at the petals that were slowly taking shape in Yin Yan's hands, and once again I admired their skillful hands immensely.