Chapter 93

Yan Yiming watched Jiang Yi's gentle smile and recalled her own unconscious response moments earlier. A shiver ran down her spine, and she instinctively wanted to flee. But as she met Jiang Yi's gaze, she suddenly understood, she could avoid him today, but not forever.
Jiang Yi wasn’t testing her; he had already confirmed her identity. As long as she remained Princess Ming and stayed in the capital, their paths were bound to cross again.
Yan Yiming couldn’t figure out where she had slipped up, only feeling that Jiang Yi was utterly unpredictable. Just when she thought she was about to be exposed, he would deliberately distance himself, making her believe she was overthinking. Then, just as she began to feel safe, he would strip away all her pretenses.
Even so, Yan Yiming decided to make one last desperate attempt. Quickly adjusting her expression, she feigned surprise and said, “Oh, what a coincidence! To think I’d run into you, Young Lord Jiang, in this remote wilderness!”
Young Lord Jiang’s gaze, tinged with amusement, rested mockingly on her face as he replied, “Indeed, what a wonderful coincidence.”
“Hahaha,” Yan Yiming let out a forced laugh, never one to follow the script. “Just joking, just joking. Are you here to see the maple leaves, Young Lord Jiang?”
“No,” Jiang Yi walked over and sat on a nearby stone bench, watching Yan Yiming with an indulgent look that seemed to say, “Go ahead, have your fun.” He shook his head and said, “I came to see someone.”
Yan Yiming: “...”
After all these years, Little Jiang was still as direct as ever. Yan Yiming felt a wave of despair as her carefully constructed disguise seemed to laugh mockingly and abandon her. Remembering the darker side of Jiang Yi’s seemingly innocent nature, she dared not imagine how he would deal with her once he knew the truth. Her legs trembled as she stood up, forcing an insincere smile. “Since Young Lord Jiang has an appointment, I won’t disturb you...”
Jiang Yi made no move to stop her, remaining seated motionless. Then, he casually tossed out a remark, “If you dare leave, I’ll tell the Crown Prince that Princess Ming is the very consort he’s been longing for day and night.”
Before he had even finished speaking, Yan Yiming’s legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed to her knees.
A smile played on Jiang Yi’s lips, his beautiful eyes narrowing into a harmless, benevolent expression. He stood up gracefully, walked over leisurely, and crouched beside Yan Yiming, who had shrunk into a ball. Tilting his head, he looked at her and said gently, “Playtime is over. Have you had enough fun?”
Yan Yiming: “...Enough.”
“Then let’s go back and have a proper chat,” Jiang Yi said, taking her hand and helping her up as naturally as he had in the past. “Do you still feel dizzy when you stand up now?”
Yan Yiming was taken aback before she understood the meaning behind his words.
Back when she was still Miss Jiang, her health had been frail, and she suffered from severe anemia. Whenever she sat or crouched for too long, standing up would make her vision go dark, and she’d struggle to keep her balance. After discovering this, Jiang Yi had always been there to steady her the moment she rose.
Yan Yiming lowered her gaze and withdrew her hand from Jiang Yi's grasp, saying, “It doesn't hurt anymore. Thank you, Young Lord Jiang.”
Jiang Yi's eyes lingered on her face. Though her features were entirely different, they now carried an expression he recognized, yet her words held an unfamiliarity he disliked.
He looked at her calmly and spoke softly, “Between you and me, there's no need for thanks.”
Yan Yiming lifted her eyes to meet his gaze but remained silent.
“Besides,” he continued, “I prefer it when you call me Shaojun.”
Yan Yiming studied him for a long moment before finally sighing and burying her face in her arms, slightly overwhelmed. “How did you recognize me when I've become like this...”
I’ve always taught you to be a materialist and an atheist, how could you believe in something so unbelievable?
“If you appear before me, how could I not recognize you?” Jiang Yi chuckled, a hint of mischief in his tone. “You deliberately led me to investigate you and Jian Yuyan, trusting me so much. Wasn’t that your way of wanting me to recognize you?”
“Of course not!” Yan Yiming exclaimed, then quickly realized how provocative her tone sounded and coughed twice. “I just thought only you could uncover the secret.”
“Jian Yuyan’s secret?” Perhaps because her last remark lifted his spirits slightly, Jiang Yi’s lips curved into a smile. “But I don’t care about his secrets. I only want to know yours.”
Yan Yiming immediately fell silent again.
“I watched you leave me with my own eyes back then, and now you’ve returned in a different body, with a different identity. You told me not to believe in ghosts or gods, yet here you are, resurrected from death. And why are you the Crown Princess?”
Jiang Yi’s tone shifted from its initial gentleness and indulgence to something more profound, tinged with an uncontrollable madness. Yan Yiming felt a chill run down her spine once more.
Jiang Yi could never forget the day he returned to the Jiang residence, overjoyed and ready to welcome the one he loved most, only to be met with blinding white mourning colors. He had personally laid her to rest. He remembered the words he once instructed a fortune-teller to tell Lady Jiang to prevent Yan Yiming from marrying someone else. Every one of those words had now come back to haunt him.
For seven years, he lived in sorrow and regret. But now, Jiang Yi suddenly realized that things might not have been as simple as they seemed. Was that day, which had tormented him with remorse, truly fate’s design, or had she orchestrated it herself?
Jiang Yi’s eyes reddened. He wanted to ask, but he didn’t dare.
Were those four years merely a fleeting moment in her game? Was that day truly a coincidence? In her heart, was he nothing more than a passing figure, like the Crown Prince? These questions remained unspoken.
As she watched the man, who always wore a calm and faint smile, with red-rimmed eyes that overlapped with the image of the young man who used to cling to her, playfully acting cute, Yan Yiming hesitated for a moment. She thought about pulling a handkerchief from her sleeve to offer him, only to realize she hadn’t brought one.
Embarrassed, she withdrew her hand. “Um... Young Lord Jiang...”
Jiang Yi narrowed his eyes at her, and Yan Yiming quickly corrected herself, “Shaojun!”
“Hmm,” Jiang Yi responded.
This utterly unserious, tsundere demeanor was exactly like the boy he used to be, Yan Yiming thought to herself. Still feeling a bit too intimidated to voice it aloud, she finally composed herself and spoke seriously.
“I am the Crown Princess, I am also the A'Ming who was once with you, and of course, I am still the current Princess Ming. But I cannot tell you the reason,” Yan Yiming took a deep breath and organized her words. “I never expected you to discover it, just as I never thought I would return here.”
“Not return here,” Jiang Yi's gaze flickered, “then where would you return?”
Yan Yiming gasped inwardly. Talking to Jiang Yi was truly a test of her nerves, one careless slip and he would catch her mistake.
“I can't tell you that,” Yan Yiming could only say, “I won't say.”
Jiang Yi hadn't really expected Yan Yiming to reveal the truth. Perhaps she had her own unspoken difficulties. Besides, their earlier conversation hadn't been entirely fruitless.
“I won't force you if you don't want to say, but there is one thing I must know.”
As long as he didn't ask why or what she intended to do, Yan Yiming promised herself she would answer truthfully. Hearing this, she nodded.
Jiang Yi's smile faded, his gaze fixed intently on her as he spoke word by word, “I want to know, besides me and the Crown Prince, are there others?”
Yan Yiming: “!!!”
She had actually forgotten about this. How could she dare say there were others? And not just one!
Just as she was about to make an expression to brush it off, Jiang Yi's slightly gloomy voice reached her ears again.
“Don't lie to me. If I could find one, I can find a second.”
Yan Yiming: “...”
Yan Yiming shrank her shoulders. Considering Jiang Yi's intelligence, she chickened out.
Seeing this, Jiang Yi understood immediately. A surge of anger overwhelmed him, and unable to restrain himself, he pulled her close and bit her neck fiercely. Yan Yiming covered the bitten spot with her hand, not daring to make a sound.
Jiang Yi's fingers traced the red mark left on her fair skin as he murmured deeply in her ear, “After today, make sure to hide your identity well. Don't let anyone else recognize you.”
Being recognized by you is already enough, how could there be a second? Yan Yiming swore there absolutely wouldn't be.
Satisfied, Jiang Yi pressed his cheek against her neck, nuzzling affectionately, and added as if remembering something, “It's a good thing you didn't actually marry the Crown Prince, otherwise...”
He didn't finish, but Yan Yiming understood his meaning. Suddenly, she remembered Jian Yuyan, with whom she had once shared a bed.
After staring wide-eyed at each other for a moment, they both averted their gaze. Oh heavens, please withdraw your divine powers! If this were discovered, she really wouldn't be able to save Jian Yuyan's life.
Jiang Yi wisely avoided asking questions he shouldn’t, never letting the atmosphere between them become irreconcilable. Even Yan Yiming hadn’t expected that, after Jiang Yi uncovered her disguise, the two of them could still sit together calmly, chatting and drinking tea.
Jiang Yi had already pieced together most of the story regarding Chancellor Jian and the Prince of Jiangxia. Listening to his clear and logical deductions, Yan Yiming couldn’t help but feel that Jiang Yi was truly terrifying, how could he guess so accurately just by relying on speculation?
Jiang Yi only asked her one thing: what was Jian Yuyan’s true identity?
Yan Yiming glanced around, then dipped her finger in tea and wrote a few characters on the stone table.
“As expected,” Jiang Yi wasn’t particularly surprised. Chancellor Jian had concealed Jian Yuyan’s identity to such an extent, and with the involvement of the Marquis of Dingbei and connections to the previous dynasty, he had already guessed Jian Yuyan’s identity with near certainty.
With Jiang Yi’s help, Yan Yiming felt that the day Chancellor Jian would be apprehended and Nan Gongxuan would successfully ascend the throne was drawing closer. The path home also seemed shorter. Thinking this way, she realized that being discovered might not have such a big impact after all.
No matter how brilliant Jiang Yi was, he wouldn’t uncover her true goal of returning home. As long as she kept her real purpose hidden from him…
Everything could still be negotiated.