Aunt Yue nodded. "To tell you the truth, I think you are my granddaughter!" She dropped the bomb right away, making Yao Ling gape at her. She would never guess to hear that answer from Grandma Yue.
Yao Ling looked at Grandma Yue in teary eyes... No wonder she kept feeling that she had a kinship with this woman. She was indeed surprised by the appearance of this unknown woman, but she didn't feel scared but instead, there was a hint of familiarity. She didn't pay attention to those points because she was too agitated just now.
Now... everything made sense...
"Grand... Grandma... You are really my grandma?" Yao Ling asked softly. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. She touched her grandmother's face with a trembling hand.
Aunt Yue nodded her head. Without a second thought, Yao Ling quickly jumped into her embrace and both women were crying. They were just too happy to meet each other! Yao Ling didn't know whether Grandma Yue had told her the truth or not, but there was no reason for her to lie. That was why she decided to trust her.
After several moments, Yao Ling released her hands and looked up to Grandma Yue. They had no resemblance with each other but Yao Ling still decided to trust her. She was only an ordinary woman with no background or power, so there was no reason for Grandma Yue to say that she was her granddaughter for benefit purpose.
Yao Ling cleared her throat and asked, "Grandma... why did you leave our real home and choose to go to the Han Kingdom?" If they didn't leave their home, wouldn't it mean that she was able to stay together with her family? Yao Ling knew that she was being unreasonable, after all, if that didn't happen, she wouldn't meet her adopted mother and Yao Ying. But still... there were some regrets in her heart.
Human tended to be selfish once in a while. Yao Ling was only human and she was entitled to think of herself. After all, her life wasn't really smooth sailing too. If she could choose, she wanted to live a simple and carefree life.
Aunt Yue sighed and explained. It wasn't because they were curious about the outside world, even though they lived in a secluded place. However, a plague had terrorized the place where they used to live. If they continued to stay there, all of them would be dead for sure. That was why they took a gamble and chose to leave their home. They wanted to have a better life, although that was only one of the main reasons.
However, it seemed like fate wasn't on their side.
They were stranded at the Han Kingdom and many of them were killed... before Uncle Qiu stepped up and tried to help them. Fortunately, Aunt Yue had several readings about the Han Emperor and what she said about his past and present were correct. Thus, the Han Emperor believed in her power. Otherwise, the Han Emperor would already wipe them out. They fell to the hands of a cruel monarch.
Yao Ling couldn't help but ask, "What about my father and mother? Were they coming with you too?"
"Yes, they were..." Aunt Yue trailed off at the last part and it made Yao Ling's heart beat faster. She was curious... very curious.
Yao Ling asked once more, "Then... then... where are they now?"
They were together at that time, so Grandma Yue should know her parents' whereabouts, right? Yao Ling's hopeful face really pierced through Aunt Yue's heart. She didn't know how to explain everything to her because it was also a bit complicated.
Yao Ling seemed to pick up her hesitancy once more and she sighed in disappointment. She decided to go with the soft approach, "Grandma... if it's hard for you to say, will you just tell me whether both of them are still alive or not?"
However, Aunt Yue was still staring at the hairpin, looking like she didn't hear what Yao Ling had just said. It really made Yao Ling feel baffled. Before she could yell in frustration, Aunt Yue finally decided to answer, "I'm not sure about your mother, but this hairpin... it can give us an answer."
"Huh? But how?!" Yao Ling asked carefully. She always looked at this hairpin whenever she had the chance and she had never found that something was amiss with it.
Aunt Yue showed Yao Ling carefully that there was a small secret compartment that could be opened when she turned the bird to the right. Yao Ling would never guess about it! She treated the hairpin as a precious heirloom, so she would never try to do that! She was afraid that she would break the hairpin and there was nothing left for her that could connect her with her birth family.
When Aunt Yue turned the bird, there was a small 'click' sound and something opened... The small compartment was placed in the body of the hairpin --- no wonder it was thicker than usual hairpin, it served another purpose altogether. Yao Ling was in awe when she saw it.
"Why did you make something like this?" Yao Ling asked curiously. She had never heard anyone in the Shu Kingdom made something like this before, thus, she knew that this hairpin was one of a kind.
Aunt Yue laughed bitterly. "The place we used to live was quite dangerous. If I can honestly say, we are from the royal family of the clan. Your grandfather had a lot of women and I am one of them. I'm a noble consort... The relationship there was quite complicated and this hairpin was made as a way to secretly communicate with the others," Aunt Yue explained the big picture.
Yao Ling understood what she meant and she didn't dare to pry more about it. After all, it was already in the past and she also saw the pain in her grandmother's eyes. She didn't want her to relive those memories once more.
"I get it..." Yao Ling said softly while patting Grandma Yue's hand softly. She tried to comfort her. If someone was thrown to the royal family, there were bound to be schemes and conspiracies everywhere. They became more creative --- just to protect themselves. This hairpin was included.
Yao Ling decided to change the direction of their conversation and point at the hairpin once more. "Grandma, look! There's a small scroll of paper in there." Yao Ling felt excited when she saw it... it must have been written by her mother!
Yao Ling felt lucky that she went to the Han Kingdom along with Xiao Fang. If she stayed in the Shu Kingdom, there was no guarantee that she would be able to find the Bue Yue people --- her identity would be buried forever. She really needed to pray to the Big Buddha for the grace that he had given her.
Aunt Yue nodded and she pulled out the letter, while her hands were trembling. She wondered what kind of news that she would get from Yao Ling's mother --- her daughter-in-law. She opened the letter. At first, she wanted to let Yao Ling read it out loud, but when she saw the letter... she knew that it was impossible. After all, it was written with their secret code.
Aunt Yue didn't know whether she would have the chance to teach Yao Ling about this secret code. However, she remembered that she saved the scroll about it somewhere --- she could just give it to her.
Even if Yao Ling found out about this letter beforehand, she wouldn't be able to read it because of the language barrier. Yao Ling furrowed her eyebrows when she saw the letter and asked, "Grandmother, can you read it for me?"
The letter wasn't that long, so Aunt Yue skimmed over it for a little while before she finally opened her mouth and told Yao Ling what was written in there...