“Yoingtothecapital,arentyou?”
Suyuannodded。
“Thentakeit。”
“Ihaveenoughfood。”
“Takeitanyway。”
Suyuanlookedatthelittlebundle。
Thenshebowedherhead。
“Thankyou。”
Asshewalkedaway,Ayaowhispered,“Yourecolleggiftseverywhereyougo。”
“Ididntaskforthem。”
“Thatmakesitworse。Peoplelikeyou。”
Suyuanlookedbackatthevillage。Shewasntusedtobeinglikedbyordinarypeople。InYounis,kindnesshasalwaysewithapricebuthere,sometimespeoplesimplygive。Thatevening,XieZhengfoundSuyuansittingbesidetheriver。Thewaterhadfinallycalmedaftertherain。Shelookedatthedistantmountains。
“Ivebeenpreparingmywholelife。”
Xiedidnotrespond。
Afteramoment,Suyuanaddedquietly,“Iwonderwhatthecapitalwillbelike。”
“Youveneverseenit?”
“No。”
Suyuanloweredhereyes。
Therivertinuedflowiweenthem。
Xielookedtowardtheroadleadingnorth。
“Youllseeitsoon。”
Suyuansaidnothing。ShesimplywatchedthewatermovetowardaplaceshehadneverknownashomeandshewonderedwhetherXianwouldwelethedaughterofPrincessShuran—
orrememberheronlyasthegirlwhohadbeenraisedamongtheenemy。