Pei Xiaoyuan pressed her repeatedly, trying to force her to reveal her identity which was like a cloud of fog to him. However, when she really admitted it, he lost his reaction and stared at her, stunned for a moment.
The light from the celadon candlesticks enveloped the quiet little western pavilion. She sat in a calm and still manner, revealing a natural and noble demeanor.
This was not something she deliberately acted in front of others at this moment, but a natural temperament that came with these words.
"Why are you silent? Didn't you force me to reveal my true identity to you just now?"
Pei Xiaoyuan was awakened from his shock by her question. He hastily withdrew his gaze, not knowing how to respond for a moment, let alone step forward and pay his respects.
To him, everything at this moment should be expected, but he still seemed unable to fully believe such a reality, that is, the girl in front of him, who had been engaged to him but broke up, who had been his sister but severed all ties with him, would be the princess of the current dynasty, the princess who had been missing for many years and was thought to have died long ago.
In this brief silence, Xuyu also closed her eyes slightly, sorted out the disordered thoughts in her heart again, opened her eyes and said: "I know you must have many doubts in your heart at this moment. Since I asked you to know my identity, I don't need to hide anything from you. Just ask whatever you want to know."
Pei Xiaoyuan slowly cast his gaze towards the peaceful face in front of him, which finally reminded him of another person. With some hesitation, he asked his first question: "Since you are a princess, why don't you just go back to the palace? Instead, you hide your identity and keep so many things to yourself?"
"Although it has been many years, your appearance may be very different from when you were lost, but if you are really a princess, it should not be difficult for you to prove your identity."
Faintly, he seemed to still be questioning her identity.
"Because I'm not sure whether the saint today is still my father from the past." Xuyu responded without blinking.
Pei Xiaoyuan obviously did not expect to hear such an answer, and was surprised and asked: "What do you mean?"
"Answer me one thing first. What do you know about what happened to me and my mother back then?"
"On the way out of the capital to seek refuge, we encountered rebels. Empress Zhaode was unfortunately killed, and the princess disappeared. Her whereabouts have been unknown since then." He replied.
Xuyu nodded: "Yes, this is what everyone in the world knows. What else?"
He glanced at her quickly and said nothing.
Xu Yu said: "Why don't you tell me? I don't believe you don't know."
Pei Xiaoyuan had indeed heard about the incident in which the late Empress Zhaode ran away with her abandoned daughter, a young court painter, on the eve of the Beijing Rebellion.
Even if he didn't know it before, he had been in Chang'an for some time. With his current status as an imperial servant, naturally someone would explain to him the taboos in the court that could not be easily touched, or the reverse scales of the saints.
"I know you must have heard of it, too."
Xuyu smiled faintly, "It's just that you don't dare to say it, or you don't want to say it in front of me, a human being."
Pei Xiaoyuan had now completely returned to his usual appearance.
"Those must be rumors! Don't worry about them, and don't believe them." He replied in a deep voice.