Visiting my sister, I found her curled up on the bed, crying. Perhaps needing someone to confide in, she gripped my hand dramatically, saying, “Elder sister, we are truly in love.”
I knew I couldn’t go against her feelings, so I comforted her. Once her emotions calmed, I cautiously mentioned my concerns.
She dismissed my worries. “I believe Yu Xi is not that kind of person.”
She described their process of getting to know each other and falling in love, bitterly concluding: “Mother looks down on Yu Xi just because he’s from a poor family. Although he’s poor, he truly loves me!”
I realized she had cast herself as the heroine, with our mother as the evil parent separating lovers. Adversity makes one stronger, and I feared my sister’s rebellion would lead her to elope like classic heroines. So, I comforted her and promised to persuade our mother, which helped her agree to eat something.
I explained the seriousness of the situation to my mother, who was worried. Only when I mentioned An Jin did she reluctantly promise to avoid extreme actions.
But as I organized my words to explain that falling for the Crown Prince was even less reliable than Yu Xi, she began looking dreamy, pressing the handkerchief against her cheek, saying: “If I could marry the Crown Prince, I might become the empress in the future…” I was speechless, knowing nothing I said could reach her. She daydreamed for a while, lowering her head and sniffing the handkerchief. I noticed the embroidered pattern on it.
White flowers with red stamens, half-open and half-hidden, resembled plum blossoms but had only four petals—exactly a yahua flower.
The yahua flower embroidered on my younger sister’s handkerchief was similar to the one I had given An Jin, though the color and pattern were different.
Noticing my gaze, my sister said coyly, “He gave me this too.”
I felt a strange discomfort. How could the Crown Prince possess a handkerchief like this? “By the way, the Prince also asked how your second sister’s injury was,” she added, noticing my expression.
I shook my head. The pattern on the Crown Prince’s handkerchief could not be a coincidence; he must have given it to my sister to pique my curiosity.
