To truly enjoy horseback racing, one naturally had to race at full speed.

Li Wei knew Wei Rao wasn’t an ordinary young lady—she was a woman who had been on battlefields and would only find genuine competition exhilarating.

Therefore, after leaving the city gates and establishing the racing route, Li Wei gripped his reins and said to Wei Rao: “Your subject wishes to propose a wager for our race.”

A gentle breeze carried winter’s coolness, yet it was refreshing and invigorating.

Facing Li Wei’s spirited, youthful countenance, Wei Rao smiled: “What wager does Third Young Master want?”

Li Wei looked into her eyes: “If your subject wins, I would like to invite the princess to view lanterns together during the Lantern Festival.”

He wanted to court Wei Rao, to win her heart step by step rather than proposing marriage immediately—that would be too uninteresting.

View lanterns?

Wei Rao would accompany her daughter to see the lanterns anyway. If Li Wei truly won, having one more person along wouldn’t matter. Even if Li Wei lost and found them on the street, insisting on joining them, more people just meant more liveliness—Wei Rao wouldn’t drive Li Wei away.

“Very well.” Wei Rao agreed amiably.

She didn’t ask Li Wei what wager he would pay if she won.

Li Wei didn’t bring it up either, because he wouldn’t lose.

The race began. Li Wei smiled at Wei Rao and spurred his horse forward.

Wei Rao started almost simultaneously.

Both rode finest thoroughbreds, pure white horses without a single marking, racing past like lightning and attracting onlookers to stop and stare.

Wei Rao hadn’t raced with anyone for a long time—at least not with someone so evenly matched. The last time had been with Lu Zhuo.

Looking at Li Wei’s white horse, Wei Rao seemed to see Fei Mo instead. Fei Mo—like a steed painted by immortals with splashed ink. If Lu Zhuo’s handsomeness was unmatched among men, then Fei Mo was the king among horses. Though Wei Rao loved white horses, she would gladly trade countless white horses to exchange Fei Mo back from Lu Zhuo.

The first time she accompanied Lu Zhuo to Jin City, she had wanted to borrow Fei Mo for a ride, but Lu Zhuo had been too stingy to let her.

He wouldn’t lend Fei Mo to her, yet at a life-or-death moment, he gave Fei Mo to Lu Ya.

Wei Rao cut off this train of thought and discovered Li Wei had already pulled ahead by some distance. She raised her whip and pursued him again.

Li Wei led the way toward Cloud Mist Mountain, having heard that Wei Rao favored that place.

Wei Rao was too familiar with this route.

On this road, only Lu Zhuo had raced with her before.

Back then, they had become true husband and wife. During his rest days, staying at Duke Ying Mansion held no interest, so they would come out to race horses. Initially, Lu Zhuo ran faster, so Wei Rao would take advantage of her familiarity with the area to cut through field shortcuts. Lu Zhuo disdained taking the easy route and relied on Fei Mo’s strength to still arrive at the base of Cloud Mist Mountain simultaneously with her.

Cloud Mist Mountain…

Wei Rao gazed at the distant Cloud Mist Mountain.

After their divorce, she ignored Lu Zhuo, yet he had moved to Cloud Mist Town. Wei Rao deliberately stopped going out, never expecting that morning when she went racing, she would see him at the foot of Cloud Mist Mountain. At the time, Wei Rao didn’t think it was a coincidence. After they remarried, when asked about it, Lu Zhuo said he went there every morning to wait for her, which was why they had that one “chance encounter.”

And during the Double Ninth Festival, he had climbed to the mountaintop early, betting on the possibility of meeting her.

He appeared in her mind, and distant Cloud Mist Mountain seemed to become him too—sometimes smiling at her with gentle warmth like jade, sometimes looking at her with complex emotions and unspoken words, sometimes coldly offering her hunting spoils in the snow, sometimes appearing silently and mysteriously to mock her improper behavior that brought trouble upon herself when she had felled two assassins…

The Lu Zhuo of earlier years had truly been detestable in every way—mocking her for not being demure enough, disdaining her mother’s remarriage, criticizing her for changing clothes in the wilderness, sneering at her for entering taverns with strange men.

Wei Rao remembered every single instance.

Since she had found him so detestable, how had she come to love him later?

Because he was willing to set aside his pride to court her repeatedly, not getting angry even when she threw teacups at him? Because he had eagerly run to her grandmother’s melon field to lead oxen and push plows? Because when she told him to jump in the river to find medicinal herbs, he searched in the water for half the day. Because he rode Fei Mo to catch up to her just to earn one smile?

Wei Rao reined in her horse and turned around.

She didn’t want to look at Cloud Mist Mountain anymore—at least not today.

Li Wei had raced far ahead. When he looked back and saw Wei Rao had actually turned around and was walking back slowly, not racing but leisurely letting her horse wander along the country path, Li Wei immediately reined in his horse with furrowed brows. Could Wei Rao be a sore loser who didn’t want to compete with him anymore?

Li Wei galloped back and quickly caught up with Wei Rao.

“What does the princess mean by this?” Li Wei asked, riding alongside her.

Wei Rao glanced at him. When leaving the city, she had found him pleasing to look at, but now seeing him only irritated her.

Yet Wei Rao knew Li Wei had done nothing wrong—the problem was hers.

She had thought that after three years, Lu Zhuo’s influence on her wasn’t so strong anymore. She thought she could find a pleasant man to try starting a new relationship with. But having tried, Wei Rao discovered three years weren’t nearly enough to let go of Lu Zhuo. His shadow was everywhere—even his horse made her unable to see any other horses.

“I feel nothing for you.” Wei Rao told Li Wei the truth.

Among all the suitors, Wei Rao would meet them but wouldn’t string anyone along. If she didn’t like someone, she simply didn’t—she didn’t want to waste others’ efforts.

Li Wei’s expression changed slightly, though he hadn’t expected to win her heart in just one attempt.

“Perhaps today isn’t the right time—the princess doesn’t want to race.” Li Wei said understandingly.

Wei Rao neither confirmed nor denied this.

Li Wei gripped his reins: “Since the princess abandoned the race halfway, does this count as your subject’s victory?”

Wei Rao could hear that Li Wei hadn’t given up hope.

Since she had agreed to provide a prize if she lost, Wei Rao didn’t want to break her word. She smiled and asked: “You still want to view lanterns with me?”

Li Wei said seriously: “Yes, please give your subject another chance, Princess.”

Wei Rao nodded: “Very well, but after the Lantern Festival, I won’t see you again.”

Her meaning was very clear—agreeing to view lanterns was only fulfilling the wager. There was no possibility between her and Li Wei.

Li Wei refused to admit defeat so easily. Women were changeable—perhaps when they met again under lanterns and moonlight, if he showed enough sincerity, he could move her heart.

While the two were still on the road back to the capital, Lu Zhuo and his father had already arrived before Duke Ying Mansion’s gates.

Approaching home-made one timidly. Lu Mu looked at the familiar family gate but couldn’t take another step forward.

Lu Zhuo glanced at his father and went forward to knock on the door.

The gatekeeper opened the door and immediately saw Lu Zhuo.

Even city guards could recognize him—Duke Ying Mansion’s gatekeeper had seen Lu Zhuo several times daily in the past. Now, meeting his gaze, the gatekeeper was completely stunned.

Lu Zhuo smiled at the gatekeeper, then turned back to grasp his father’s wrist, leading his trembling father inside.

The gatekeeper was about the same age as Lu Zhuo and had never seen Lu Mu. Now recovering his senses, he excitedly ran inside, shouting at the top of his lungs: “The heir has returned! The heir has returned! The heir has returned!”

The nearest building was Loyalty Hall.

Duke Ying sat in the courtyard, carving wooden toy guns for a group of great-grandchildren. Duchess Ying had gone to the garden to watch over a bunch of little monkeys, leaving him alone in the peaceful courtyard. Duke Ying greatly enjoyed this moment of tranquility. When the children returned, each little monkey would bounce around before his eyes and chatter in his ears—either this one crying or that one screaming. Duke Ying truly couldn’t stand it.

The gatekeeper’s heart-wrenching, frenzied shouts reached him, and Duke Ying frowned at first.

Soon, the gatekeeper ran over with tears and snot covering his face, telling him that the heir had truly returned and was at the gate.

Duke Ying looked at this gatekeeper, who was normally fine and didn’t seem like someone who would suddenly go mad…

So…

Duke Ying threw aside the wooden stick in his hands and strode forward with vigorous steps.

Reaching the front courtyard, Duke Ying first recognized Lu Zhuo. His gaze was fixed on Lu Zhuo, and he couldn’t move away. His lips trembled as he wanted to call “Shoucheng” but feared he was just seeing things, just dreaming.

“Grandfather, your unfilial grandson has returned.” Lu Zhuo quickly came before the old man and knelt.

Duke Ying tremblingly touched his head—he felt it. He then touched the man’s face and felt tears all over it.

Lu Zhuo grasped the old man’s hand and looked up: “Grandfather, it’s me.”

Duke Ying suddenly knelt and embraced Lu Zhuo’s shoulders. Grandfather and grandson pressed their foreheads together, wanting to cry but trying hard to hold back. Their faces turned red from the effort, yet they couldn’t hold back the tears.

Just as Duke Ying was about to say something, another shadow knelt beside him and kowtowed three times to him.

Duke Ying looked at the person, about to ask his grandson who this was, when the person slowly raised his head, revealing a weathered face with tears soaking his clothes.

Duke Ying felt his mind thunder, and his body swayed.

“Father!” Lu Mu moved faster than Lu Zhuo, catching his old father.

Duke Ying stared fixedly at his son before him, gripping his son’s hand tightly as if not doing so would make his son disappear.

Lu Mu wept: “Father, it’s me. Your son was incompetent, captured by the Wuda and trapped by the North Sea for over twenty years…”

How could Duke Ying not know how many years his eldest son had been gone?

He couldn’t speak, his gaze moving between his eldest son’s and eldest grandson’s faces. Finally, all three men embraced together, suppressed sobs continuously spreading.

He Shi’s Spring Harmony Hall was the closest of the other four branches.

Hearing that her son had returned, He Shi lost a shoe while running and cried the entire way. Reaching the courtyard and seeing the three men embracing, He Shi immediately recognized her son’s back. She cried and ran over, calling her son’s name, but just as her son turned to look at her, another person also looked toward her.

His face had changed, but those eyes were still the same. He Shi’s steps faltered, and like a lost soul, she didn’t dare approach further.

Lu Zhuo didn’t move, watching as his father walked toward his mother. Lu Zhuo helped his grandfather up and quietly tidied up for the grandfather and grandson.

He Shi fainted from crying in her husband’s arms.

Twenty-two years—how many twenty-two-year periods could a person have? Her most beautiful years had passed without him, and now she was old.

Lu Mu carried his wife into the hall and placed her in a chair, looking at the fine lines around her eyes, at her still fair and beautiful face, then at his own hands about to touch her philtrum, rough as tree roots. Lu Mu feared he might hurt her.

Outside, other Lu family members rushed over.

Lu Zhuo saw his three aunts, several sisters-in-law, his aged grandmother, and a group of excited children running over. Among that group of children, he immediately recognized his daughter.

But his daughter looked at him as if he were a stranger.

Lu Zhuo suppressed the turmoil in his heart and first comforted his grandmother. After she went to find his father, Lu Zhuo nodded to his several aunts and finally walked toward A’Bao, who was hiding behind Lu Bin.

Lu Bin was Lu Zhuo’s sixth younger brother, now nine years old and very sensible. Seeing his eldest brother approach, Lu Bin pulled A’Bao in front of him and told her, “A’Bao, this is your father.”

A’Bao was over four years old and understood some things.

She knew her father was Duke Ying Mansion’s heir, someone her grandmother and great-grandmother deeply missed. Just now, the elders had all acknowledged this person and cried while embracing him for so long—A’Bao knew the man before her truly was her father, Lu Zhuo.

But father was different from the father in the mother’s descriptions.

Mother had told her that Father was the most handsome young master in the capital, a hundred times more handsome than Fifth Uncle. But the father before her eyes was so dark and even had a scar on his face…

“A’Bao, do you still remember Father?” Lu Zhuo knelt on one knee, looking at his daughter through blurred vision.

He knew his appearance had changed. He feared frightening his daughter, so despite wanting to cry, he deliberately smiled gently.

A’Bao didn’t remember Father.

But she liked this father. Though he wasn’t as handsome as mother had described, this father was her father—her real one.

“Father.” A’Bao obediently walked over and hugged her father.

Lu Zhuo truly hadn’t expected his daughter to accept him so easily. Holding his daughter’s small body, Lu Zhuo lowered his head, letting his tears fall onto the clothes on her shoulder.

“A’Bao, where is your mother?”

Father and daughter had plenty of time for catching up. Lu Zhuo looked back at the relatives gathered around his father and quietly asked his daughter.

A’Bao naturally knew what mother had gone to do. She liked Uncle Li San and had been happy this morning that Mother was going racing with Uncle Li San.

She liked Uncle Li San and wanted him to be her new father, but now her real father had returned—he definitely wouldn’t be happy that she had thought that way. If mother didn’t want her anymore and found a new daughter, A’Bao would be unhappy too.

A’Bao didn’t want Father to be sad.

So she lied: “Mother went to see Old Madam.”

Lu Zhuo found this slightly strange: “Why didn’t she take A’Bao along?”

A’Bao blinked and continued lying: “I didn’t want to go. I wanted to play with my brothers, so my mother sent me here.”

Lu Zhuo understood.

After a simple reunion with the large family, Lu Zhuo and his father still had to enter the palace. Lu Zhuo prepared to return to Pine Moon Hall to bathe and change clothes.

Duchess Ying smiled: “Go quickly, go quickly. We can discuss everything when you return.”

Lu Zhuo took his leave, leaving his daughter with his mother.

Duchess Ying called A’Bao over and had He Shi go care for Lu Mu.

He Shi had half her heart with her husband and the other half with her son. She was very worried—if her son discovered that Wei Rao was already preparing to remarry and had recently met with many young masters from great families, how painful it would be for him.

Duchess Ying sighed: “Let him enter the palace first.”

The rest could be handled slowly.