Chapter 700: Notebook (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
It was her!
At the entrance of the bookshop, a young woman in her twenties was dressed in a snow-blue pleated skirt with embroidered purple wisteria patterns. Her glossy black hair was loosely gathered into a bun, adorned with an elegant silver hairpin featuring two lifelike white jade magnolias carved from creamy white jade, set upon a silver body.
That peerlessly beautiful face seemed to suffuse light under the sun, like a red lotus facing the water, especially bright and gorgeous.
Yu Chaoyun looked at Gu Yanfei on the street in a daze from the second floor of the bookstore with mixed feelings.
She hadn’t changed at all!
Suddenly, Yu Chaoyun recalled the scenes from eight years ago when she first saw Gu Yanfei in the hunting ground.
What happened that day felt like yesterday or a dream.
After eight years, Gu Yanfei was still so beautiful… No, she was even more beautiful than before!
She was like a delicate flower.
With bright and discerning eyes, Gu Yanfei possessed exquisite beauty and grace. Her beauty was so dazzling, especially her eyes, which shone brighter than stars, as if they could steal a person’s soul.
Some pa.s.sers-by pa.s.sing by involuntarily cast their gazes on Gu Yanfei and took a few more looks at her.
A sentence appeared in Yu Chaoyun’s mind: Beauty lies in the bones, not the skin.
What about me?
Yu Chaoyun subconsciously raised her hand to touch her face. The feeling was extremely rough.
She was clearly only a year or two older than Gu Yanfei, but now, she looked more than ten years older than her actual age. Her skin was sallow, and she looked haggard. There were wrinkles on her forehead, eyes, and cheeks. Not only was her cheek swollen, but there were also many yellow-brown spots on her face.
After being punished, her fate completely changed, and she fell to the bottom.
She and the other female members of the Yu clan survived. They were sent 3,000 miles away and worked hard on the northwest border. Three years ago, the former Emperor Chu Qi abdicated the throne in favor of the current Emperor Chu Yi, and with the new Emperor’s ascension came a general amnesty. Yu Chaoyun and the surviving female members of the Yu clan were finally granted clemency.
Her uncle, the British Duke, picked her up from the northwest and arranged a marriage for her. The surname “Yu” had long become a target everyone despised. The marriage arranged for her by the British Duke was, naturally, not much better. Her husband was just an ordinary merchant in Yuzhou.
Yu Chaoyun had also tried to resist, but the British Duke said that if she didn’t marry, she would be sent to a nunnery, where she would spend her life as a recluse, away from the secular world. Therefore, she had no choice but to marry a crude and vulgar merchant who was over a decade older than her, becoming his second wife.
She came to the capital this time to greet the British Duke with her husband. The day after tomorrow, they would leave the capital and return to Yuzhou.
She wanted to buy a few books for her son before leaving the capital, but she didn’t expect to b.u.mp into Gu Yanfei here.
Now, she was already worlds apart from Gu Yanfei.
Gu Yanfei was in the clouds, the descendant of a dignified country. She was the most honorable woman in the Great Jin Dynasty, while she, Yu Chaoyun, was just mud trampled on by the previous dynasty.
Yu Chaoyun couldn’t help but clench her fists tightly, her eyes so dry that they hurt.
In the next moment, a six to seven-year-old purple-robed boy walked out of the green carriage beside Gu Yanfei.
He had white skin, a clear outline of the nose, beautiful, auspicious phoenix eyes, and beautiful and exquisite facial features. The little person’s movements were elegant and self-controlled, and even the posture of getting out of the carriage seemed to be measured by a ruler.
After the boy landed, he turned around and shouted into the carriage, “Sister!”
A girl in a purple jacket dress placed a hand on the boy’s hand and slowly got out of the carriage on a stool.
The young girl and the young boy were of similar height, with nearly identical appearances. The only differences were their hairstyles and clothing styles. When the two children stood hand in hand, they resembled two heavenly children beneath the G.o.ddess of Mercy, exquisitely crafted and resembling carved jade.
The appearance of the two children immediately attracted the gazes of more pa.s.sers-by.
“Yun’er!”
“Zhen’er!”
Wei Jiaoniang rushed out of the restaurant opposite the bookstore like a gust of wind. Her eyes lit up as she stared at the twins, unable to see Gu Yanfei at all.
Wei Jiaoniang’s heart was about to melt. This pair of twins was simply a combination of the merits of Chu Yi and Gu Yanfei. They were beautiful and perfect.
“Aunt.”
The two children bowed to Wei Jiaoniang appropriately and smiled obediently at Gu Yanfei, as if they were saying, ‘Mother, did we do very well?’
Gu Yanfei smiled in satisfaction and nodded slightly.
She and the two children had agreed in advance that when they left the palace to play, they would bow to their elders however they wanted, regardless of whether they were monarchs or subjects.
“Be good!” Wei Jiaoniang bent down and touched the top of Chu Yun’s head. Then, she touched the top of Chu Zhen’s head and smiled from ear to ear..