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4.96% Power Up, Artist Yang! / Chapter 19: A Dilemma For the Fourth Miss

章 19: A Dilemma For the Fourth Miss

"Who am I?" Yujia paused, observing Hui'er's tense expression and pose.

Of course. Hui'er was not dumb. She didn't have the mentality of a four year old. Yujia should've guessed. Based on how much the maid knew about the previous Yang Yujia's life, of course she would have her suspicions.

Maybe Yujia was reckless, and maybe Yujia made brash decisions. But she didn't know how Hui'er would react if she told her she was from another world, from the future, and that the Xiang Dynasty, to all her knowledge, never existed in Chinese history.

It would be better to lie than to be honest.

"Hui'er, what are you saying?" Yujia gave the girl a convincing, relaxed smile. "You're so silly; if I weren't the Fourth Miss, who would I be?'

She could feel Hui'er's eyes drilling into her, as if the younger girl was staring into her soul.

With an icy tone, Hui'er lifted her chin up, replying, "If you were the Fourth Miss, then you would know about the Xiang Empire and the situation of the Yang family. You wouldn't trust Yang Xiaoyi so simply. You would know that your marriage into the Yu household was hopeless, and that you had a mother waiting for you outside of the villa. You would not know how to draw. You would not dare to run after thieves."

There is a long moment of silence between the two. Hui'er was the one to break it.

"So, you don't need to lie to me. If you were the Fourth Miss, you wouldn't be like this. Tell me the truth— who are you?"

Yujia looked at Hui'er, taking in every inch of resolve the young girl held. Hui'er was just too smart. Silence once again reigns between them while Yujia hastily attempts to think of a story, an excuse.

"Alright, alright, you win." Yujia put on another careless smile, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Just like you said, I am not the Fourth Miss. What are you going to do about it, though? Your Fourth Miss is gone and never coming back."

Hui'er took a cautionary step behind. "Then, who are you? What did you do to her? Where is she?"

"Your Fourth Miss is on her way to a town in the south where she will live a better life without a marriage she never wanted." Yujia tilted her head, the words of her story coming out slowly. She didn't think that she could convince Hui'er that she was indeed the Fourth Miss. She didn't think that Hui'er would believe the soul-exchange transmigration story either. Amnesia was also not a possibility— she didn't plan that path out when she first began talking to Hui'er. Making up a story that made sense would be her best chance.

"I don't think your Fourth Miss ever told you, but Madam Liu— my mother— didn't give birth to only one daughter. She had twins."

"Twins?" Hui'er's cold expression fell off her face, replaced by a puzzled look. "Then— then why didn't I ever see you when I visited Madam Liu?"

"Because… my mother had wealthy relatives away from this city. My father didn't want to care for one extra child, so he decided to leave me with my mother while taking your Fourth Miss with him. My mother didn't want me to end up in the same state she was in, so she sent me to those relatives, where I learned my artistic skills."

Yujia paused for a little bit, as if she was reminiscing the past, when in reality, she was still frantically thinking of the next step to her story. She then continued.

"My mother didn't want to be too indebted to those relatives. That is why she only sent me and did not go with me. But now, you can see why I wanted to leave her in this city while leaving to Guilin— even though I am thankful for her sending me to those relatives, I left her at such a young age that I barely even recall what she looks like. How can I hold emotional attachment to my mother if she never raised me?"

Yujia decided to pull out her best card— her skill in acting overly emotion. A few false tears appeared in her watery eyes, and she looked down, averting Hui'er's gaze.

"I was still studying painting when I received word— a letter— from my sister, my twin, your Fourth Miss. She told me that she would be married soon to someone she didn't want to… and she asked me for advice. I told her to run away, but then she responded with the fact that her family would surely chase her down if she tried to run. So, I agreed to come here to take her place. Since we are twins, we share the same face, so no one would recognize the switch. At the same time, I can also see who the man that is supposedly my father is. I've always been curious about that."

"You would marry the old master of the Yu family for my Fourth Miss…?" Skeptically, Hui'er asked.

"No, no." Yujia laughed a bit. "I'm only staying here so that she can have enough time to leave and hide herself. By the time that the marriage comes, I'll be far gone."

Hui'er still seemed unconvinced, wringing her hands together. "Then, why did you say that you wanted to buy your way out of the marriage?"

"So that it doesn't get me into an even sticker situation." Flawlessly, Yujia came up with a quick response. "This gives me a reason to leave without people trying to hunt me down, and I can also give your Fourth Miss something to return to if she ever wants to come back to this Yang family."

Hui'er paused for a moment, taking in what Yujia just said.

"I still don't believe you."

What? Yujia thought that this was a good enough story for Hui'er to believe in and for her to keep up with. She didn't plan on staying any longer than needed at the Yang household, and as long as the only person who could expose her— Madam Liu, her "mother"— didn't hear of the story from Hui'er, her secret would be safely kept.

Hui'er should've believed the story Yujia just made up. In fact, no, she had to believe the story! With that thought in mind, Yujia puts a smug smile on her face.

"Believe it or not, that's the truth."

Her eyes met once again with Hui'er's, and it almost seemed like the younger girl was trying to see through any potential lies in Yujia's words, yet not being able to find any. Finally, with a reluctant look, Hui'er straightened herself and shrugs.

"Alright then. What should I call you?"

Yujia was reassured at these words, but how was she supposed to answer that? She never had another name— this entire twin-sent-to-help story was a lie. Quickly, Yujia thinks of a reasonable response.

"I do have a name, but for you, just treat me like your Fourth Miss. No need to make things complicated. Call me Yang Yujia, if you wish. That will be my name from now on."


クリエイターの想い
yaoyueyi yaoyueyi

here is a chapter ;u;

I hope you all weren't waiting too long, exams were coming up for me and I had to study. :/

please do vote/comment/review. <33 they motivate me

章 20: The Crown Prince Drinks Tea

Fu Yushang blamed the girl for being too pretty.

That was his excuse— he wasn't used to talking to pretty girls very much about anything besides complimenting how nice they looked that day— so he thought that it was somewhat reasonable for him to act like such previously in the alley when she was scolding him. Besides, although he doubted he would see that girl again, if he did, he would be sure to respond to her in a way to make himself seem more important.

With a sigh, he ran his fingers through his loose hair. Even now, hours after the incident, he couldn't stop thinking about it. There was never a time where he was left wordless by anyone. Not even the top government officials could beat him in a debate at times. Yet this girl—

It was because she was too pretty.

Pretty girls never talked back to him. They always happily leaned into his flirting. This girl, however… she didn't even respond to Yushang's best card, the "charming smile"! That hurt his self-esteem.

"Si Shen, say, what do you think about what happened this afternoon?" Yushang spun to Si Shen, who was, as always, waiting quietly behind him.

Si Shen shrugged.

"I wish you would talk some more sometime." Yushang nonchalantly poured himself a cup of tea. Most times, maids did things like pouring his tea for him, but in moments like this where Yushang only wanted to talk to Si Shen, he chased all the maids away. "The emperor told you to be my personal guard," he flashed a look at the other, "not a mute."

Si Shen blinked. "I'm sorry that my quiet tendencies upset Your Highness."

Although his words were certainly respectful enough, his tone wasn't. Even so, Yushang could honestly care less right now. That was how Si Shen was all the time, careless of the world and how it functioned and only paying attention to his tasks at hand.

"So, like I asked you before, what do you think about what happened?"

"I thought it was funny," he replied blankly.

"Funny? You thought it was funny?"

Si Shen nodded.

"You thought it was funny." Yushang repeated his words slowly, taking in a deep breath. "... why?"

"It's not very frequent to see you act like an idiot."

With gritted teeth, Yushang pushed his chair back and stands up, turning to face Si Shen completely, the cup of tea he was drinking at a moment ago forgotten. "Moving on to insulting me now, is it?"

Si Shen shrugged.

Yushang took another deep breath, reminding him that this was Si Shen, and of course Si Shen would act like this. He didn't know why he was getting so irritated by the smallest of words. Si Shen's speech didn't bother him like this usually. Was it because he was agitated from what happened this morning?

Smoothly, Yushang calmed himself and informed, "Well, Si Shen, I don't think that I was idiotic. I just don't like talking to pretty girls about serious matters. Besides, I had a back up plan that I was ready to take up if she didn't just run away" Promptly, afterwards, he sat down and took another deep drink from his cup.

The two of them were silent for a few moments. Yushang stared at Si Shen. Si Shen stared back at Yushang.

"Hey." As usual, it was Yushang to break the silence. "I'm bored. And I'm done with drinking tea. You want to leave the palace again and grab a drink? Just the two of us. I'm thinking classic rice wine."

Si Shen shook his head.

"No? Why?"

"It's nearing the evening. The emperor does not enjoy it when you go out so late."

"Am I five, Si Shen?" Yushang scowled at the mention of his father standing back up. "I'm eighteen already. Why does it matter what time of day it is that I go out?"

"The emperor said so." Si Shen shrugged once more. "And you have to take on more responsibility as the crown prince. There are some scrolls the emperor would like you to review and discuss tomorrow at court."

A disgusted look appeared on Yushang's expression while he thinks of the "scrolls" that Si Shen spoke of. They were reports from the lower level government officials that the emperor himself didn't personally review, leading the task to end up on him. Typically, they were all the same boring material— tax evasion by so and so group of people, proposals of raising positions, new trading alliances between small states— and Yushang hated reading them.

He enjoyed being crown prince and getting the power that came along with the position, but the fact that half of every day in his life was stuck in a small room, reading scrolls upon scrolls upon scrolls truly tired him out.

Thinking for a bit, Yushang put on a grin. "We can care about those scrolls later. Let's go drinking. I really want rice wine now, especially the jars they sell at—"

"— Your Highness." Si Shen interrupted him mid-sentence, his eyebrows furrowed while he spoke his words clearly. "If you cannot take on this small responsibility when you are crown prince, how will you be able to inherit the position as emperor after your father?"

Yushang pauses in his actions, taking in what Si Shen just said.

For a brief moment, the two of them looked each other in the eye, silence once again existing between them. Then, Yushang sat back down at the table, filling his cup up with tea again.

"Alright. Can you get the scrolls for me? I'll work right here."


クリエイターの想い
yaoyueyi yaoyueyi

a chapter in a new perspective!

sorry for the late update :'(

please do comment/vote/review if you enjoyed!

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