Ten Years After I Transmigrated, I Came Home Again

In the fifth year of Jianxi, urgent news suddenly arrived from the palace. Noble Consort Yan had given birth to a princess. The emperor was overjoyed and declared a general amnesty, praying for the noble consort and the newborn princess.

Beneath this enviable favor, the palace and the streets beyond it were decked with lanterns and decorations, and all under heaven celebrated. People whispered that the empress's seat had been vacant for a long time, but now it would soon have an occupant.

At the same time, old rumors quietly began to spread among the people.

They said the noble consort had come from the countryside. Back when the emperor was still crown prince, he had been attacked while away from the palace, and she had saved him. It was thanks to this act of saving the emperor that she now enjoyed such unparalleled favor.

They said the noble consort was exceptionally beautiful and unmatched in music, which was why the emperor had favored her. Even the emperor's younger brother, Prince Jing, had once been interested in her. It was this beauty that had enabled her to persuade the emperor to depose the empress and kill his own son, raising her above all the women in the palace.

They said the noble consort looked remarkably like the late Princess Consort Jing. At one point, rumors even spread that the noble consort and Princess Consort Jing were actually the same person.

.

Behind layer upon layer of curtains, the noble consort lay still with her eyes closed, like a beautiful jade statue devoid of life.

A baby's cries pierced the air. The young emperor paced back and forth, holding the swaddled infant and patting her to soothe her. The tiny princess's eyes were still shut, but instinctively she flailed her little hands and strained toward her mother.

"You won't even look at her?"

Amid an endless emptiness, Yan Xiao slowly opened her eyes.

Her daughter's cries, the emperor's reproach, the footsteps beyond the curtains... Every sound reached her ears as if separated by an invisible barrier, faint and distant one moment, close the next.

"I don't know..." Yan Xiao murmured in a daze.

Tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes, soaking her dark lashes, but she was completely unaware of them.

I'm so tired.

She thought vaguely.

I want to go home.

In her tenth year since transmigrating, Yan Xiao had lost count of how many times she had thought this.

She wanted to go home.

Theme: Socialism is great.