Rebirth of the Princess Pearl

Time flies, and many years have passed unknowingly. The once young Xiaoyanzi, Erkang, Yongqi, Ziwei, Xiaojian, Qing'er and others are now over 50 years old.

On this day, Prince Rong's mansion was as quiet as usual. Xiaoyanzi was sitting in the yard basking in the sun with an unfinished embroidery in her hand. Although she had not mastered the craft to perfection over the years, she just loved to tinker with it when she had nothing to do.

Suddenly, there was a commotion at the door, and then a palace maid ran in hurriedly. When she saw Xiaoyanzi, she fell to her knees and cried, "Princess Xiaoyanzi, it's bad. The Queen... The Queen has passed away!"

When Xiaoyanzi heard this, the embroidery in her hand instantly fell to the ground. She widened her eyes, her face full of disbelief, and shouted loudly: "What did you say?! How could the Queen... How is this possible!"

The maid cried and said, "Princess, it's true. The Queen felt unwell when she woke up this morning. I didn't expect the illness to come on so quickly. Before the doctors could do their best to save her, she...she passed away, wuwuwu..."

Xiaoyanzi's eyes instantly turned red, tears welling up in them. She stood up, her steps staggering a little, and murmured, "Empress, Empress, how could this happen..."

Soon, Erkang, Ziwei and others also heard the news and rushed over.

When Ziwei came in, her eyes were red. She walked to Xiaoyanzi, held her hand, and said in a trembling voice: "Xiaoyanzi, I just heard that the Queen...she passed away just like that. What should we do?"

Xiaoyanzi held Ziwei's hand tightly and said with sobs, "Ziwei, the Queen has always been so kind to us. We had a deep friendship with her over the years. Now she is gone. My heart... my heart feels like it has been cut by a knife!"

Erkang also had a sad face. He sighed and said, "Alas, the Queen has always been dignified and kind. We have been together for many years and our friendship is real. I didn't expect that she would suffer such a change now. It is really heartbreaking!"

Yongqi frowned and said with a sad look: "Thinking back to the time when we were in the palace, although the Queen had some misunderstandings about us at first, she finally made peace with us. She has been very caring towards us over the years. Now that she has passed away, we must give her a good farewell!"

Qing'er also came over, tears welling in her eyes, and said softly, "Yes, we all remember the Queen's kindness. Now that she's gone, it feels like many memories in and out of the palace are gone with her. I feel so empty inside."

Xiao Jian patted Yongqi on the shoulder and said, "Yongqi, you are right. We should hurry up and prepare to go to the palace to keep vigil and attend the funeral of the queen. That will be our part of showing our gratitude."

Everyone nodded and immediately began to prepare, changing into plain clothes and rushing to the palace.

When we arrived at the palace, we saw white silks hung everywhere. It was a plain white color, and the atmosphere was depressing and sad.

When Xiaoyanzi and the others arrived in front of the Queen's bedroom and saw the tightly closed door, Xiaoyanzi couldn't stop her tears from flowing again. She fell to her knees and cried, "Queen, why did you leave? Open your eyes and look at us. We are all here to see you. You said you would wait until the next time we meet to talk to us about interesting things in and out of the palace. How can you break your promise!"

Ziwei also knelt down, crying and saying, "Empress, you treat us like your own daughters. We wanted to spend more time with you in the future. How can we bear it when you leave now?"

Erkang, Yongqi, Xiao Jian, Qing'er and others also knelt down with sad faces.

At this time, an old maid came over, her face also covered with tears, and said to Xiaoyanzi and the others, "My dear lords and princesses, the queen was still thinking about you when she was dying. She said that the years she spent with you were her happiest days, and she also asked us to take good care of you."

When Xiaoyanzi heard this, she cried even harder. She shouted, "My Queen, you are still thinking about us even at this time, but we are not able to be with you. We are so unfilial!"

Ziwei also cried and said, "Yes, Queen, we should have come to accompany you more often. It's all our fault, wuwuwu..."

Everyone stayed in front of the Queen's bedroom for a long time, keeping vigil while recalling every moment they had with the Queen.

Xiaoyanzi wiped her tears and said to Ziwei beside her: "Ziwei, do you remember? One time, the Empress taught us how to make palace cakes. She was so patient at that time, teaching us step by step. She also said that when we learned it, we could make it for the Emperor and let him taste our cooking skills."

Ziwei nodded and said, "Remember it, Xiaoyanzi, it was so funny back then. Although we did it crookedly, the Queen Mother still praised us for our progress. Thinking about it now, that scene seems to be right in front of me."

Erkang also said, "There was also that time when the Queen took us to the Imperial Garden to enjoy the flowers and told us many stories about the flowers. The Queen smiled so happily at that time and we all had a great time."

Yongqi went on to say, "Yes, after that flower appreciation trip, the Queen gave each of us a pot of flowers that she had grown herself, and told us to take it back to the mansion and grow it. Seeing the flowers would remind us of her. Now the flowers are still being grown in the mansion, but the Queen..."

At this point, Yongqi's voice choked up.

Qing'er also recalled: "I remember one time, the Queen was ill, and we went to visit her. She smiled and said that she was fine, just a little sick, and asked us not to worry. She even comforted us and said that when she recovered, she would take us for a walk outside the palace. But this time she was ill, then..."

Everyone was reminiscing one after another, and in this sad atmosphere, those once beautiful memories became clearer and clearer, as if the Queen was still by their side and had never left.