Translator â Xiao He Lian
Chapter 98.1
After Eunuch Zhu briefly explained the situation, he led the group of young eunuchs and left Bamboo Flute Residence.
After watching Eunuch Zhuâs figure disappear behind the gate, Wen Chii gradually came back to his senses, lowering his head, his slightly dazed gaze falling on the envelope in his hand.
Then, he opened the envelope and roughly scanned the contents.
Now that Wen Chi has read a lot of books, it is not as difficult to read this letter as before. Even though there are many uncommon words on it, he could still read it.
The content of the letter is the same as its title, it is nothing more than a simple letter of divorce.
Ruo Fang ran to close the door, turned around and saw Wen Chi frozen in place, so she pulled Ruo Tao with her to chase away the curious eunuchs and palace maids who were looking with curious faces.
Finally, the two little girls surrounded Wen Chi, âYoung Master, whatâs wrong with you?â Ruo Fang poked her head in, âWhat is this?â
Hearing this, Wen Chi not only did not put away the letter in a hurry, but instead took out the envelope placed under the letter and handed it to Ruo Fang.
Ruo Fang opened her eyes wide, frowned and stared at the big characters written on the envelope for a long time. Then she sighed and said, âYoung Master, this servant is illiterate â¦â¦â
âLetter of divorce.â Ruo Tao said, âThis is the letter of divorce.â
When she got this answer, Ruo Fang froze for a moment and after digesting the words she had a look of disbelief. She looked at the big characters on the envelope in panic and then at Wen Chi: âThisâ¦whatâs going on? How can this be a divorce letter?â
âThis is the letter of divorce.â Although Ruo Tao did not lose her composure like Ruo Fang, her knit brows still revealed her mood at the moment, and she said in a sullen voice, âThis is the letter of divorce written by His Royal Highness himself, I didnât expect His Highness the Crown Prince â¦â¦â
At this point, she obviously choked up for a moment and she couldnât continue speaking.
âImpossible, itâs impossible! His Royal Highness likes Young Master so much. How can he write a letter of divorce?â Ruo Fang was like a little girl who couldnât calm down, her eyes immediately turned red and tears came out of her eyes, she grabbed Ruo Taoâs arm as if she was clutching at a straw, âRuo Tao, hurry up and take a closer look, could you be mistaken?â
Ruo Tao was shaken by Ruo Fang and she looked at Ruo Fang silently: âI am not mistaken, this letter of divorce written by His Highness the Crown Prince.â
Ruo Fang still didnât believe it and said anxiously: âBut, but you have only seen His Highness the Crown Princeâs face a few times, how do you know that this is a letter written by His Highness?â
After Ruo Fang said this, Ruo Tao was taken aback for a moment and then realized that she had accidentally slipped her tongue. She had always been calm, but at this moment she could not conceal the panic in her eyes and hastily raised her eyes to look at Wen Chi.
Wen Chi was also looking at her, his expression was calm and there was obvious scrutiny in his seemingly indifferent eyes.
Ruo Taoâs face turned pale: âYoung Master, this servantâ¦â
Seeing that Ruo Tao was looking at him, Wen Chi still couldnât utter a word, sso he changed the topic: âEunuch Zhu said that I can leave the palace at any time, but I will trouble you to go through the procedure with Eunuch Zhu later.â
Ruo Fang was completely dumbfounded, her face was wet with tears, she mumbled: âYoung Master, why donât I go and ask Eunuch Zhu, maybe there is some misunderstanding in this.â
âNo need.â Wen Chi shook his head, âYou guys go pack our things first.â
Ruo Fang still wanted to persuade him but seeing Wen Chiâs resolute attitude, with no room for maneuver, she hesitated for a moment and walked away.
Once Ruo Fang left, Ruo Tao was the only one who remained.
In fact, Wen Chi had more or less guessed that Ruo Tao might be someone close to Shi Ye but Ruotao was a low-key person who didnât like to mess around like Ping An, and never did anything to harm him, so he left Ruo Tao alone.
However he didnât expect that Ruo Tao was really someone by Shi Yeâs sideâ¦
But it doesnât matter anymore, he wants to leave the Eastern Palace, except for the rewards he got before and the land deeds that Shi Ye gave him, he canât take away anyone or anything in the palace.
Wen Chi said to Ruo Tao: âYou should go too, I want to leave early.â
Ruo Taoâs face was a little ugly, she wanted to say something but then hesitated: âYoung Master â¦â¦â
Wen Chi didnât speak, waiting for Ruo Tao to speak.
After a while, Ruo Tao managed to say: âNo matter what, I hope you will take care of yourself.â
Wen Chi smiled: âI will. You should take care of yourself too.â
****
There were very few things that belonged to Wen Chi and they were cleaned up in no time. The only problem was that there were so many rewards and they were all items that were not easy to carry. It would take a lot of effort to transport them out of the palace.
As a last resort, Wen Chi had no choice but to ask the eunuch in charge of the palace to contact someone who could transport these rewards out of the palace for him.
The rewards were given by the emperor and the crown prince, and no one would dare to touch them. So Wen Chi planned to move to a house given to him by Shi Ye first, and then slowly wait for the reward to be transported out.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
On the day of departure, Ruo Fang and the other eunuchs and palace maids in the Bamboo Flute Residence were all in tears, and only Ruo Tao stood silently at the very edge.
âItâs this servantâs words that jinxed Young Master. This servant blames herself for saying those things.â Ruo Fang wiped her tears with her handkerchief, still blaming herself for what she said that day Eunuch Zhu sent the letter of divorce to the Bamboo Flute Residence, âIf I had known this servantâs words would jinx you, this servant would have said something else.â
Wen Chi didnât know whether to laugh or to cry and comforted Ruo Fang for a long time, but it had no effect, so he let Ruo Fang cry, maybe it would make her feel better afterwards.
Wen Chi distributed the money he had prepared earlier to the crowd and kindly told Ruo Fang and Ruo Tao to take care of themselves in the palace before he turned around and followed a young eunuch out.
Seeing that the gate of Bamboo Flute Residence was getting closer and closer, a feeling of uncertainty suddenly came over Wen Chi.
It was as if he was dreaming.
When he stepped into the Eastern Palace three years ago, he never thought that one day he would be able to leave here alive and he never thought that he could completely separate from Shi Ye. No matter what the final outcome is, since he had chosen this path, he could only go on with his head held high.
Thinking of this, Wen Chi couldnât help quickening his pace.
He is going to be liberated!
He is leaving!
He had finally and truly escaped the ties between him and Shi Ye. From now on, he would walk his own single-plank bridge, while Shi Ye would walk on his, and they would have nothing to do with the other.
Wen Chi took a deep breath, raised his foot and stepped out of the gateââ
Ruo Fang and Ruo Tao stood in the garden and watched Wen Chi suddenly freeze in front of the gate without moving.