A Rebirth: Joined As One - Chapter 13

The old gentleman stroked that small tuft of grizzled beard and said with a smile, “This old man is very curious. Might I ask those of you whose handwriting is similar: who taught you all to write? How did that teacher manage to teach all of you to write in such similar hands?”

After saying this, the old gentleman spared no one’s dignity and pointed out every assignment with similar handwriting.

The young heir of the Prince of Zhennan and his study companion, Commandery Princess Qingyang and her three companions as well as the grandson of the Duke of Anguo, and all the others—nearly everyone in the classroom was named.

The only ones that old gentleman did not name were the Princess Royal and Jing Ya.

After naming everyone, the old gentleman called for his assistant to return each person’s assignment and said, “Those whom this old man named just now will rewrite yesterday’s assignment once more. This time, the deadline will be more lenient. Three days. Three days from now, this old man wishes to see assignments written personally by your own hands on my desk.”

With that, the old gentleman walked away with his hands behind his back, leaving the classroom behind him in a constant uproar.

Jing Ya glanced at the returned assignment. The copy the Princess Royal had written for her was placed right at the top, and it was vastly different from Jing Ya’s own handwriting, yet that old gentleman had not mentioned a single word of it.

That made sense. There had always only been study companions ghostwriting copied texts for others. No one had ever heard of someone writing on behalf of their own study companion.

Jing Ya was just about to move the copy the Princess Royal had written for her to the very bottom when she suddenly sensed someone appear beside her. She immediately turned to look, and unexpectedly, the person who had come over was Commandery Princess Qingyang.

Jing Ya nodded to her in greeting. “Commandery Princess Qingyang.”

Commandery Princess Qingyang waved her hand. Her cheeks were faintly red, and she seemed very shy as she said, “Miss Jing, I… well, may I look at your assignment?”

Jing Ya smiled faintly and pushed that stack of paper before her. “Please, Commandery Princess.”

“Then… sorry to trouble you, Miss Jing…”

“You are too polite, Commandery Princess.”

Commandery Princess Qingyang picked up that assignment and flipped through only two or three pages before asking with a slightly unnatural sort of curiosity, “Eh? This seems… to be my aunt’s handwriting…”

Jing Ya calmly watched her act out that curiosity.

Commandery Princess Qingyang could only flip a few more pages herself, then stubbornly continue, “It really does look very similar…”

The young heir of the Prince of Zhennan sitting behind them had rather sharp ears. As soon as he heard Qingyang’s voice, he came over, even bringing his little follower with him. The moment he arrived, he asked, “Qingyang, what did you say looks similar?”

Commandery Princess Qingyang pointed to the characters on the paper and said to the young heir of the Prince of Zhennan with complete certainty, “I said these characters. These characters look like my aunt’s. Look, don’t they?”

Chen Chen—the young heir of the Prince of Zhennan—studied those characters carefully and exclaimed, “They really do look a bit similar… But this is, this is Miss Jing’s assignment, isn’t it? Miss Jing’s handwriting…” Chen Chen paused and looked at Jing Ya, testing as he said, “This handwriting… is actually so similar to Her Highness the Princess Royal’s…”

Jing Ya only smiled faintly and made no response, but everyone else around them had heard Chen Chen’s words.

Jing Ya glanced at the Princess Royal sitting perfectly upright in front of her, as though she could not hear the voices behind her. The fingers hidden inside Jing Ya’s sleeve lightly rubbed against one another. In her heart, she understood a little more, and there was also a faint warmth.

The Princess Royal’s rare thoughtfulness was something she truly could not waste.

With the strong promotion of the young heir of the Prince of Zhennan and Commandery Princess Qingyang, it did not take long before everyone in Lingyun Pavilion knew that the Princess Royal had copied texts for Jing Ya.

After that, the “rumor” that the Princess Royal disliked Jing Ya collapsed on its own.

For quite a long time after that, the Princess Royal indeed did not create any more trouble to torment Jing Ya. However, whenever there was an assignment involving copied texts, the Princess Royal’s share was entirely handled by Jing Ya.

After once or twice, Jing Ya became self-aware. Whenever such an assignment appeared, she would automatically take two portions of paper, go back to finish writing them, and then hand them in before the xu hour. Once she had ghostwritten enough times, Jing Ya ended up learning the Princess Royal’s handwriting about seventy to eighty percent. If one did not distinguish carefully, it was almost impossible to tell that they had been written by two different people.

By the middle to late part of the third month, the weather grew warmer and warmer.

The stretch of peach trees planted in Lingyun Pavilion had also reached blooming season. When the flowers bloomed, they were like a long sweep of pink brocade clouds, brilliant and beautiful. With the wind carrying the fragrance of flowers, one could almost become drunk inside all those blossoms.

That morning, Jing Ya, as usual, finished breakfast with the Princess Royal and went with her to Lingyun Pavilion.

However, when they passed that peach grove, the Princess Royal stopped. Jing Ya looked at her, confusion in her eyes, and asked, “What does the Princess Royal wish to do?”

The Princess Royal did not answer. She only smiled slightly and pointed toward the peach grove.

Flowers?

Jing Ya watched as the Princess Royal walked toward that grove of flowers and grew even more curious. As far as she knew, the Princess Royal was not someone who enjoyed admiring flowers or tending plants. Why had she suddenly thought of going to bother those peach blossoms today?

Before Jing Ya could think of an answer, the Princess Royal walked back toward her holding a branch of peach blossoms she had snapped off.

The moment Jing Ya saw it, she subconsciously took half a step back.

The Princess Royal had not tormented her for many days. Could it be that today she was going to start again…

As it turned out, good predictions failed while bad ones came true.

Jing Ya raised her hand in great helplessness, but the moment she lifted it slightly, the Princess Royal pressed it down. The Princess Royal said, “These flowers are delicate. You must not touch them. If the petals fall, they won’t look pretty anymore.”

“It will stay beside your hair bun for the whole day. If it no longer looks pretty, it will drag you down too.”

Jing Ya could only put her hand back down and ask, “Does the Princess Royal like these flowers?”

The Princess Royal looked at the peach blossom branch she had pinned beside Jing Ya’s hair bun and nodded. “Its color is beautiful. Of course I like it.”

Jing Ya tried to negotiate. “Then how about, after class is dismissed, I break off a few more branches for the Princess Royal to bring back and keep? That way, the Princess Royal may admire them at any time. Would that be acceptable?”

The Princess Royal shook one finger and withdrew her gaze from that peach blossom branch. “No.”

“The flowers I want to admire are only the ones blooming beside your hair bun. However, if you are willing to wear them every day for me to admire, then that would not be impossible.”

Jing Ya immediately had nothing to say. “…”

The Princess Royal said in satisfaction, “Go in. It is almost time for class to begin.”

Jing Ya did not want to go in. “I… suddenly feel unwell. After I ask the teacher for leave, I will go back. The Princess Royal need not wait for me. Please go in first.”

However, the Princess Royal ignored her little scheme completely. She directly grabbed Jing Ya’s wrist and led her toward the classroom. “No kind of discomfort will be of any use.”

“Go in and listen to class first. Once class is over, I will summon an imperial physician to come and examine you properly, to see exactly what kind of discomfort you have and where.”

Jing Ya had no way out. She could only be half-pulled, half-led by the Princess Royal into the classroom.

As expected, the moment she entered, everyone’s gazes gathered on her.

Jing Ya could only pretend not to see them. Maintaining the same faint expression she always wore, as though nothing had happened, she sat down in her own seat with perfect composure.

After finally enduring half a day of class, once she returned after school was dismissed, Jing Ya closed the door, walked straight to the bronze mirror on the dressing table, and stood before it.

Tilting her head slightly, Jing Ya looked at the peach blossom branch pinned beside her hair bun. Just as she raised her hand to remove it, she suddenly remembered what the Princess Royal had said that morning about these flowers being delicate. Her fingers curled and paused. After hesitating briefly, she continued moving and carefully took the peach blossom branch down from beside her hair bun.

After studying the branch she had removed, Jing Ya lightly stroked those terribly delicate petals. The lovely pink color trembled faintly beneath her fingertips.

The Princess Royal was right. It was indeed a beautiful color…

Mm. For a beautiful color like this, she should keep it and admire it herself too…