While Xiao Yan Zi was in the palace, Zi Wei was taken to Xue Shi Fu...
In Xue Shi Fu, the home of Fu Lun, Fu Pu, and Er Kang and Er Tai *yes, in China, the whole family lived together*, Zi Wei was treated as a guest. She was waited on by servants and given time to heal from her injuries. After she fully recovered, she told the Fu family her whole story. How she came to Beijing to find her father. How she met Xiao Yan Zi and became sworn sisters with her. And how she revealed all her secrets to Xiao Yan Zi only to be betrayed.
The Fu's were very touched, but at the same time very worried. Who was the true princess? If the two girls got to become close friends and shared their secrets with each other, either of them could know about the story of Yu He. But neither Zi Wei or Xiao Yan Zi seemed to be someone who would make up a story like this. Zi Wei was a gentle and quiet girl, and although Xiao Yan Zi was a lot less ladylike, she was friendly and kindhearted. Yong Qi learned about Zi Wei's story too, but he and the Fu family were at a loss at what to do.
At the palace, Xiao Yan Zi was having problems of her own. She kept thinking about how she had become a princess when the real princess was Zi Wei. She didn't know what had happened to Zi Wei since the last time she saw her on the mountain. So one night she sneaked out, dressed as one of the servants. But after living "the easy life" for such a long time, she couldn't leap over the high walls and was caught. The Emperor was furious, but forgave her in the end.
Yong Qi and Er Tai asked her why she always wanted to get out of the palace, and she revealed to them that she had a sworn sister named Zi Wei who lived outside the palace. Later, they told her that Zi Wei was living at Xue Shi Fu, and Xiao Yan Zi secretly told that them Zi Wei was the real princess and explained the whole big mistake. Yong Qi was shocked. "Why didn't you clear this up before you became a princess?" he asked her, and Xiao Yan Zi answered that she didn't do it on purpose. When she woke up to a roomful of people calling her Huan Zhu Princess, she lost her common sense. "How could you lose your common sense in a time like that?" Yong Qi asked. He then explained to her that by not telling the exact truth from the beginning, she had committed one of the biggest crimes imaginable - lying to the Emperor. The punishment could be as serious as executing her whole family.
After Xiao Yan Zi learned that Zi Wei was living not far away, she constantly went to Yong Qi and Er Tai, asking them to take her to see Zi Wei. But getting out of the palace wasn't that easy. Yong Qi suggested to Xiao Yan Zi that she should write Zi Wei a letter, but Xiao Yan Zi couldn't read or write many words. Instead, she drew pictures to explain everything that had happened since the day they went to the mountains together.
When Zi Wei received the letter she finally understood. Xiao Yan Zi hadn't betrayed her. It was all just a mistake. An "error from a coincidence." *That's what the title of the first book means - "Yin Cuo Yang Cha." Just a little piece of info!* She wrote, or drew, a letter back to Xiao Yan Zi, telling her that the fact that the Emperor made her a princess means that he hadn't forgotten Zi Wei's mother. And that was the whole reason why Zi Wei came to Beijing, so she would be satisfied. She couldn't never put Xiao Yan Zi or anyone else's life on the line for herself, so she told Xiao Yan Zi to keep their secret between them and the few others who also knew.
Zi Wei decided that Xiao Yan Zi would be the princess and she would leave. But Er Kang had fallen in love with her and couldn't bear to let her go. In a dramatic scene, when Zi Wei and Jin Suo had packed their belongings and were about to leave, Er Kang came to talk her out of going away. He told her that he and his family didn't want her t leave, but when that didn't work, he had no choice but to reveal his true feelings towards her. It turned out that Zi Wei was in love with him too, so he had succeeded in talking her into staying.
While that was happening in Xue Shi Fu, Xiao Yan Zi was making life in the palace a lot more interesting. The Emperor had decided that Xiao Yan Zi needed to be educated, so she was placed in a class with Yong Qi, a few other princes, and Er Tai. But because many Chinese words looked or sounded similar, she made many hilarious mistakes, and her interesting interpertations of poems and proverbs brought tons of laughter to the usually quiet classroom.
After much nagging from the Empress, the Emperor agreed to let Rong Muomuo, the Empress's maid, teach Xiao Yan Zi the rules of the palace and how a princess should behave. But Xiao Yan Zi had lived almost all of her life out on the streets, and she couldn't stand to be confined to obey so many rules. She hated Rong Muomuo as much as Rong Muomuo hated her, and when she couldn't take it anymore, she threw a huge tantrum, yelling that she wasn't a princess and she didn't want to be one anymore. The Emperor became so angry at the way she was acting that he ordered for her to be given twenty smacks with a big stick as punishment to teach her a lesson.
But Xiao Yan Zi wasn't the only one who was affected by this punishment. She was deeply hurt both physically and emotionally. She was heartbroken that her beloved father, the person she looked up to and admired, would do this to her. The Emeperor was also heartbroken when he learned that his favorite daughter was badly injured, and he regretted what he had done. When Ling Fei told him that Xiao Yan Zi wouldn't come out from under her covers or take any medicine, he went to visit her personally fed her medicine. Xiao Yan Zi was very touched that she hadn't lost her father's love.
Yong Qi was heartbroken because unknown to everyone else, he cared about Xiao Yan Zi as more than a sister or a friend. Zi Wei, too, was heartbroken when she heard about what happened. Xiao Yan Zi was not only her best friend, but her sworn sister as well. She was worried that something else like this would happen again if Xiao Yan Zi didn't learn to behave. Zi Wei blamed herself for what happened to Xiao Yan Zi because when she said that she wasn't a princess, it meant that she still wanted to return the title to Zi Wei. Zi Wei decided that she had talk to Ziao Yan Zi face to face and explain to her that she has to forget about giving her the title, and that she would have to remain as the Huan Zhu Princess forever.
When Xiao Yan Zi found out that she was finally going to see Zi Wei again, she was completely ecstatic with joy. Under Yong Qi and Er Tai's careful planning, Xiao Yan Zi got out of the palace one night, dressed as a servant, while Ming Yue, one of her maids, hid under the covers, pretending to be her.
