Chapter 320: Chapter 225: An Unexpected Meeting Far from Home
The unmarried girls of Bianzhou mostly go out wearing veil hats, and although Xie Wanqing was no longer a young maid, she followed suit, shedding her disguise, and donned a veil hat to cover her face, revealing only a pair of bright, lively eyes.
It was faintly visible that she was a properly decent-looking girl, but no one could see her exact features.
After wandering the city for two days and learning that the South City District was home to the city’s affluent people, she planned to buy a house there.
Unfortunately, the area’s security was too good, prompting many wealthy out-of-towners to seek refuge there, resulting in houses being priced beyond market value, and despite waiting for several days, she had no luck securing one.
She was contemplating whether to keep waiting or settle elsewhere when she unexpectedly encountered an acquaintance.
In truth, they weren’t exactly acquaintances, merely having crossed paths once before.
That day, Xie Wanqing was returning to her inn as usual, ready to ascend the stairs to her room, when she heard someone hesitantly call behind her, "Cousin?"
The voice was quite pleasant, causing her steps to naturally pause, and the person behind seemed to confirm something, stepping two paces closer, "It’s me, Cousin Xie, I’m Chen Xixi."
Xie Wanqing was taken aback, feeling the name was somewhat familiar. As she turned to look, she was met with a woman wearing an already-married woman’s hairstyle, her plain dress failing to conceal her graceful figure, with just a single silver hairpin adorning her hair, appearing to be from a family of ordinary means.
She did not wear a veil hat, her delicate and beautiful face plainly visible, and Xie Wanqing instantly recognized who she was.
In the moment their eyes met, though she wore a veil hat, Chen Xixi only gazed at her clear, bright apricot eyes, finally confirming, offering a gentle smile, joy evident on her face, "I hardly dared to believe, but it truly is Cousin."
Xie Wanqing gently pressed her lips together, barely having spoken, when Chen Xixi retrieved a pouch from her sleeve, "Xi’er never forgets Cousin’s kindness for a moment. Do you still remember this?"
The pouch was very new, appearing well-tended.
It was precisely the one she had gifted her that day.
Chen Xixi glanced around, "There are too many prying eyes here, might Cousin oblige a private word?"
The two of them went upstairs to the guest room where Xie Wanqing was temporarily staying.
"I saw you entering the inn from afar two days ago, you seemed familiar then, but I feared you might have important matters at hand and dared not disturb you. But these past days, seeing you venture out alone..."
Upon entering, Chen Xixi launched into a lengthy discourse, pausing only now to display concern, "Cousin, have you encountered some trouble?"
A distinguished lady of the Capital, married to the Princely Heir of the Duke Mansion, how would she appear alone in a small southern city, a thousand miles away from the Capital?
To encounter an acquaintance in a foreign land.
Though this acquaintance was not deeply familiar, Xie Wanqing still felt a sense of kinship.
In recent times, she traveled alone from the north to the south, abandoning her original identity, feigning death to leave behind everything and begin anew. Even with a resolve never to regret, she inevitably felt a sense of being a rootless duckweed.
Seeing that the other person had recognized her, she pondered for several moments and simply removed her veil hat, smiling, "It’s truly a small world for us to meet here, Cousin is also in Bianzhou."
Without the veil hat’s concealment, her face, as delicate as white jade, was revealed.
At present, one was dressed as a maiden, charming and appealing, while the other appeared as a matron, gentle and soothing.
Though the cousins bore a resemblance of five or six parts when last seen a year ago, aside from their eyebrows and eyes that still hinted at similarity, any identical traits were remarkably absent now.
