“Xing Zizhou took part today too,” Yue Qinchun said with a smile. “I think he’ll give Xiao Yingtao a surprise as well.”

Xing Zizhou, coming up the stairs, happened to catch sight of the woman whose face was full of longing yet who had just shyly lowered her head, and the corner of his mouth curved up slightly.

When Yang Sheng and the waiter came up, they ran into Xing Zizhou, Feng Yinan, and Yu Jingfeng.

Yu Jingfeng hadn’t originally been part of today’s proposal event, but since his girl was out having fun, wasn’t it only natural that he’d come out to check on things once he’d wrapped up his own business?

“You all…”

Before Yang Sheng could finish speaking, Xing Zizhou shook his head, signaling him not to say anything.

The three of them sat down at an empty table not far off, watching from a distance without approaching.

Yang Sheng said nothing further either. Seeing that the waiter over there was serving them well enough, he didn’t go over to disturb them and simply sat down.

When the waiter passed by, Yang Sheng called him over.

The three men at that table, gazing at the beauties in their hearts, clearly had no time to spare for ordering—Yang Sheng figured he’d just handle it himself.

Once the waiter had brought all the dishes, everyone stopped standing on ceremony.

“Qiao Mu, later we’ll get your bridal chamber set up—we’re going to have some fun teasing the newlyweds tonight,” Xiao Yingtao said between bites of meat, grinning slyly.

Feng Jiang glanced at her, an unreadable glint in his eyes.

Xiao Yingtao met his gaze and frowned. “Little Jiang, what’s with that head shake? What do you mean by it?”

It was only then that Feng Jiu’er noticed Feng Jiang’s expression wasn’t quite right.

“What’s wrong?” She leaned past Qiao Mu to look at her elder brother. “Third Brother, what’s with that look?”

Feng Jiang glanced at Qiao Mu, then shook his head lightly.

He set a piece of food in Qiao Mu’s bowl, signaling to Feng Jiu’er and Xiao Yingtao to drop the subject.

“I already ordered a set of bright red bedding earlier—we can pick it up in a bit,” Yue Qinchun said, clearly not having noticed Feng Jiang’s expression.

“Red bed curtains, red quilts, red blankets, red pillows.”

Yue Qinchun looked up at everyone, delighted, and continued, “Everything’s red—it’ll look so lovely!”

She glanced around at everyone, only then noticing something felt off.

Little Qinchun immediately dropped her smile, reached up with a slender finger to scratch at the corner of her brow, at a loss for what to do.

“Jiu’er, Xiao Yingtao, what’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?”

“No.” Qiao Mu looked at her and shook her head. “Let’s eat. I really am hungry.”

“All right.” Feng Jiang immediately snapped to attention, picked up Qiao Mu’s bowl, and served her food.

His gaze passed over the ring on their hands, symbolizing one lifetime, one pair, and his heart settled quite a bit.

She would be his bride for this entire lifetime. It was he who had erred, and he ought to make it up to her properly—he mustn’t rush things.

Feng Jiu’er could tell by now that Qiao Mu was still not over her anger.

Even though she’d agreed to the marriage, she hadn’t agreed to have the wedding right away.

Third Brother, I’ve helped you get this far—the rest is up to you now.

Feng Jiang prepared a bowl of Qiao Mu’s favorite dish and set it gently before her.

“Qiao Qiao, eat.” He gazed at Qiao Mu, his expression full of tenderness.

Qiao Mu shot him a look, and he immediately understood what she meant.

“Can’t call you Qiao Qiao—then I’ll just call you wife directly.”

“Whatever.” Qiao Mu tossed out those two words carelessly and picked up her bowl and chopsticks.

“Wife, please, eat up!” Feng Jiang said, smiling with a hint of smugness.

“Call me Qiao Qiao!” Qiao Mu, displeased, rolled her eyes.

Wife—she wasn’t anyone’s wife yet. She, Qiao Mu, wasn’t someone who could be so casually cast aside.

“Understood!” Feng Jiang obediently nodded again and again. “Qiao Qiao, eat up! Hurry, there’s more.”

Yue Qinchun glanced at the others who had started eating, then leaned close to Xiao Yingtao and said quietly, “So the things we ordered…”

“Let’s put them away for now—we’ll need them sooner or later,” Feng Jiu’er replied softly.

“Eat, hurry up and eat! We’ve been busy the better part of the day, everyone’s tired. Eat and then go rest.”

“Mm.” Yue Qinchun pressed her lips together.

The atmosphere seemed a little different from what she’d imagined.

Once everyone started eating, the conversation died down.

Except for Feng Jiang, who kept persistently and attentively fussing over Qiao Mu, everyone else just ate their own food.

Still, it was fine—the rings on the two of their hands already said everything that needed saying.

Jiu’er was right—they’d need those things sooner or later.

“Jiu’er, today’s the seventh. Shall we go out and play this afternoon?” Yue Qinchun asked once she’d finished eating, wiping her mouth.

“We’ve been busy all morning with Little Jiang and Qiao Mu’s affair, and I still haven’t bought anything.”

“Xiao Yingtao said that when we want to spend money, we should spend it—to help boost the economy.”

“Those were Jiu’er’s exact words, originally.”

After wiping her mouth, Xiao Yingtao picked up her teacup and took a sip.

“A street fair sounds great.” Qingqing cupped her hands together, looking excited.

“I’ve always loved going to street fairs. Even when I had no money, I loved just watching other people spend—so envious it nearly killed me.”

“But now, this is the richest I’ve ever been in my twenty years of life—I really want to go spend some money.”

“Me too, me too.” Xiao Tian raised a hand. “Ever since joining the Tianji Hall, I’ve saved up quite a bit.”

“It’s a rare chance—today I’ll go help boost the economy too.”

“I can’t. I need to go back and rest a bit first,” Feng Jiu’er said, waving a hand.

The main reason she wanted to go back was that she still had things left unfinished.

“Jiu’er, you should come too. It’s rare to get two days off,” Xiao Yingtao said, nudging Feng Jiu’er with her elbow.

“I’ll come later, that’s fine. This afternoon I’ll come help you all out.”

“I’ll help too,” Qiao Mu said, glancing at Feng Jiu’er.

She’d rested enough—it was time to get to work.

“That’s right.” Xiao Yingtao nodded vigorously. “Whatever you need to get done, we’ll just do it together.”

“Mm-hm.” Duan Liuyang chimed in as well. “Jiu’er, you haven’t had a real rest in so long—these two days won’t make much difference.”

Her own family was gone, yet it felt as though she’d gained so many more in their place.

Duan Liuyang had never once blamed Feng Jiu’er. Having lost her family, she’d long since come to regard Feng Jiu’er as family too.

Seeing how hard Feng Jiu’er worked for the common people, she could only feel for this young woman who was the same age as herself.

“Jiu’er, don’t worry about the antidote for now—I won’t rest, you go enjoy half a day,” said Leng Xuepiao, who had been silent until now, looking at Feng Jiu’er.

Feng Jiu’er glanced around at everyone, her fine brows knitting slightly.

“I said I’m going back to rest, not that I’d be busy.”

“Who doesn’t know you’ll go back and get busy?” Xiao Yingtao pouted.

“It’s fine, I’ll just rest for half the day—let’s meet up again at the end of the Shen hour, and it’ll be right around when we get hungry again.”

“Playing and eating at the same time—sounds lovely just thinking about it.”

“Anyway, we can play late into the night. At night we can set off fireworks too—I also heard there’s a temple fair to the east, and the lanterns there are supposed to be gorgeous.”

“All right, it’s settled then.”

Xiao Yingtao looked at Qiao Mu and continued, “In a bit, Qiao Mu and I will go help Jiu’er, and everyone else can head back and keep working on the antidote.”

“Once it’s the end of the Shen hour, we’ll all go to the street fair together—everyone good with that? Everyone?”