Lian Hua and a woman called Lady Su by the guard went down the hill and re-entered the crowd. All the way, Lian Hua walked behind the woman, wanting to say something, "You..." She didn't have time to finish the sentence, but without turning around, the woman said, "We can talk when we get home." Lian Hua felt goosebumps. What was wrong with this woman? Her aura was so terrifying!
"Lady Su! I will visit you tonight!"
"Lady Su, is that the new girl? Wow, I'll visit!"
"As usual, Lady Su always finds beauty!"
And apparently, Lady Su was quite famous. Well-dressed people would greet her, stopping for a moment before continuing on their way, as everyone seemed very interested in both Lady Su and herself. Witnessing the conversations and stares these people gave her, Lian Hua seemed to know why this woman was famous.
They returned to the place Lian Hua had first found herself after waking up from her long sleep that morning. Lady Su had closed the door tightly, as if she didn't want anyone to overhear their conversation.
Lian Hua, feeling extremely intimidated by the woman's gaze, could only sit obediently as Lady Su glanced at her. Lady Su sat across.
The woman handed her a porcelain cup, Lian Hua looked at it doubtfully, "Drink it, it will warm your body." Seeing the doubt in Lian Hua's eyes, the woman continued. "It's just ordinary chrysanthemum tea. You don't have to worry. If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have bothered to take care of you for the past few weeks."
A few weeks. She had been unconscious for very long periods.
Taking a sip of the tea in the porcelain cup, Lian Hua felt warmth envelop her body, she became much more relaxed, a small smile forming on the corner of her lips.
"I am Su Mengli, people here prefer to call me Lady Su." Said the woman, who also took a sip of the tea.
"Were you the one who saved me?" Lian Hua asked.
"Hmm." She replied briefly. Lian Hua hurriedly wanted to say thank you, but her words were interrupted by Su Mengli who raised her hand.
"No need to thank me. I just don't want anyone to die and pollute the river. I only brought you here. If you didn't intend to survive, you wouldn't be sitting in front of me right now." Lian Hua fell silent. In fact, she had truly given up. She no longer had a reason to live, she was tired, perhaps death would be much better.
"I'm just so tired. No one wants to be exiled to the Borderlands, including me. It's the worst place ever," she said honestly. The fact that she wasn't a real princess, the fact that the King had not hesitated in banishing her to the Borders, hurt her again.
Su Mengli snorted, she laughed at Lian Hua from behind her glass. "No one wants to be here, but no one gives up easily. If everyone thought like you, then this place would have been deserted from the start. Tell me, Princess Lian Hua, what are you thinking when you come to this place? This is not a place where you can think about the palace anymore."
Lian Hua was surprised with a held breath. "Do you know me?" Her grip on the glass in her hand tightened.
"Of course, I know a lot of things, who comes, who goes. Including your arrival."
"Including Fu Fan?" Lian Hua asked again, looking at Su Mengli whose expression remained unchanged.
"Including Fu Fan, he's the most predictable." Outside, the snow was falling again, the winter in the Borders was the worst, while the summer was no less terrible. It was truly a place fit for punishment.
Even though the cold wind from outside forced its way in, the room still felt warm, both from the heater and from the sudden silence between the two women. It was too quiet because Lian Hua was preoccupied with her own thoughts.
"You already know who I am, I'm sure saving me wasn't just your generosity. What do you want from me?" Lian Hua learned not to trust anyone. Those who seem to love you are all lies, and if someone helps you, it's not purely out of kindness.
Su Mengli's long fingers touched a jade ring on her index finger, she turned the ring and said. "Maybe not now, but I believe, one day you can be useful to me."
Lian Hua snorted. "If it was three or four months ago, I might still be useful, but now onwards I won't be able to give you anything. I'm someone who has been abandoned, exiled to a terrible place like this. Someone like you won't understand my feelings. You must be very happy staying here, watching people suffer, treating others like animals." For some reason, Lian Hua's emotions became unstable. She thought of this woman as other nobles, like kings and queens, like princes. She lived in luxury and still looked for others to take advantage of.
Su Mengli was not affected by Lian Hua's words in the slightest, the woman was still very elegant and calm, as before. "Maybe you don't understand, I am just like you, I am a criminal sentenced to exile in this Borders. I cannot leave this place, even if I die, my body will be buried here." Surprised, Lian Hua couldn't believe that the woman in front of her was also an exile. At first, Lian Hua thought that Su Mengli was a noble.
"The difference between me and others, between you and me, is that I'm trying to survive. I can still stand with my head held high, unlike you who still hopes to be able to return to the capital, living in a comfortable palace," said Su Mengli without trying to hide her face full of ridicule at Lian Hua.
Angry, Lian Hua felt that every word Su Mengli said was true, she had always hoped to return, even though it was all an illusion, she still kept that illusion in her memory. However, when someone threw the facts, she became furious. "What do you know about me?! You lowly woman doesn't even know anything about me! Don't talk nonsense!" Her body trembled, the way Su Mengli looked at her, it was as if she could easily read all her thoughts, her heart. She hated it all. She didn't want anyone to read her so easily!
"The arrogant Princess Lian Hua. You truly live up to that name. I'm not surprised at all." The woman lifted the corners of her lips.
"I just want you to realize that here, you are alone. Life in the Borders is not easy, you also have a mother and a younger brother to take care of, right? I can't help you if you still think you are a princess living in a palace. Moreover, do you know what your condition is now?"
"I don't care what you say! I know myself! Every month the healer checks on me, and I'm fine!"
Su Mengli laughed and stood up. "You really still don't realize what happened to you. I don't care if you do something stupid and hurt yourself like this morning, I don't care if you still haven't forgotten the royal family, but are you going to fall with the baby you're carrying? They had been through a lot in the past few months because of their own mother's stupidity and carelessness." The door opened, Su Mengli turned around before leaving. "Don't do anything that could hurt your body. If you have accepted everything, you can come to me."
She said as she closed the door tightly, leaving Lian Hua shocked in the room that was starting to get cold.
…