On the eighteenth day of the second month — the final day of the Grand Princess’s three-day banquet — the Grand Princess summoned everyone and announced that she herself lacked the energy to oversee matters, and moreover did not know the temperaments of the younger generation, fearing they would feel too constrained and that it might interfere with the proper business of the Flower Season Banquet. She therefore selected one representative from the young male guests and one from the young female guests to be responsible respectively for the male and female attendees of the Flower Season Banquet. Should anyone have things inconvenient to say directly, they could also make their report through these two representatives.

From the female guests, she selected Ye Qinglan; from the male guests, naturally, Cui Jingyu.

No sooner was this decision announced than Lingbo went straight to find the Grand Princess during one of her rest intervals, and knelt to express her gratitude: “I thank Your Highness for your great grace. Lingbo is willing to render service as your most humble servant.”

A second decree came from the palace — drafted personally by the emperor. The eunuch delivering it was once again Wang Changzhong, who entered first to offer congratulations, requesting that Duke of Ying Huo Yingzhen receive the imperial edict.

The edict was straightforward: it recognized his meritorious service in the Battle of Mingsha River, pardoned the grave offenses of the Ying Duke’s estate, and fully exonerated all members of the clan. It further conferred upon Huo Yingzhen the title of Left Feathered Forest General, granted Yuncheng and Luozhou Counties as his fiefdom, restored the full title of Duke of Ying with hereditary perpetuation, and reinstated the family in the imperial registry.

With that, the twenty-year-old case of the Ying Duke’s estate was formally concluded. Among those bearing the Huo surname present at the banquet, joy was overwhelming — only Zhao Xima alone broke down and wept aloud. He left his seat, went before Pei Zhao, and knelt to beg his forgiveness. Only then did everyone learn that he too was a descendant of a branch of the Huo lineage, who had been granted the surname Zhao for his merits. His grandfather had been one of Duke Huo Anguo’s old generals — but when the Ying Duke’s main line had been bloodily wiped out, he too had fallen into obscurity in the capital, reduced to the role of a jester figure for others’ amusement.

And only Lingbo and Xiao Liu’er knew the real reason he sought Pei Zhao’s forgiveness.

It was because, years ago, he had recognized Pei Zhao — and believing that concealing his name and identity meant he was dishonoring his ancestors’ good name and willfully sinking into degradation — had struck him with his fist.

Fortunately, all of that had now passed.

The Spring Hunt was a grand event in the capital, eclipsing even the Flower Season Banquet.

Yet the emperor did not dare to overshadow the Grand Princess’s household, and simply transferred the management of the Spring Hunt over to the Grand Princess — even saying in front of all the officials: “Elder Sister excels at riding and archery. Back in the day, all the princes were no match for her.”

Not one of the officials failed to understand — they knew the Grand Princess’s household was now truly the emperor’s most favored. And so they immediately swarmed to attach themselves to it like fish leaping over a weir. Lingbo accompanied Qinglan to the Grand Princess’s household in response to the summons to discuss arrangements, and from a distance saw the sedan chairs lined up outside the gate like a long river. She couldn’t help but laugh: “I used to wonder where the married ladies all learned it from. Turns out, the great officials of the court are the true masters of attaching themselves to the high and stepping on the low.”

Qinglan understood things more thoroughly than she did, and took the opportunity to give her a genuine lesson: “Lingbo is sometimes a little too sharp. Now that you’re in a high position, you ought to treat people with magnanimity and generosity. Sometimes when you ought to let things go, let them go — turn a blind eye. As the saying goes: to be head of a household, one must sometimes play the fool and turn a deaf ear.”

Lingbo put on a well-behaved expression to her face — but the moment she entered the Grand Princess’s household, she slipped away behind Qinglan’s back to find Official Qin, and even posed her question with studied indirectness: “I wonder how the arrangements for the female guests’ horses for the riding have been proceeding?”

Official Qin, knowing perfectly well the little scheme behind that question, and feeling for this future young mistress something of the fond indulgence an old fox might feel for a young one, smiled and said: “Miss may rest easy. The imperial edict arrived so abruptly that there is a great deal yet to be sorted through — the eldest young miss will have her hands quite full.”

Lingbo immediately relaxed, and broke into a fox-like grin. In high spirits, she instructed Yang Hua: “Bring the gift I brought for Official Qin.”

Official Qin had emerged from the palace and spent more than twenty years in the Grand Princess’s household — what fine thing had she not seen? But the gratitude for a sincere heart was another matter. When the item was brought out, it was genuinely unusual — a sword fashioned in the Qin style, shaped like a willow leaf, with an inscription on the blade. Official Qin’s expression shifted immediately: “A three-foot sword — and indeed a genuine Qin-dynasty blade.”

Seeing that Official Qin was pleased, Lingbo said with satisfaction: “That took quite some effort to find. I’d only heard from Wei Yushan that a few great tombs in the Qin region had been opened, yielding several princes’ swords — I searched everywhere and couldn’t find one, until finally one antique shop in Tongzhou had this single piece, and I sent for it overnight.”

Yang Niangzi, seeing her showing off so freely and worried Official Qin might find it too presumptuous, quickly added to smooth things over: “There’s no one quite like our young miss — they say you shouldn’t give weapons as gifts, and this one was dug from a grave at that. She never even considered whether Official Qin might have any reservations about that sort of thing…”

“I have no reservations.” Official Qin’s smile was cool, but she was extraordinarily beautiful — the ears set high above the brows, suggesting a nature of exceptional intelligence and cool detachment. She said: “Thank you, Second Miss.”

“You are too gracious, Official Qin.”

The gift-giving having succeeded, Lingbo was in excellent spirits. She had always subscribed to the principle of being lavishly generous with her own people — spending lavishly to win the hearts of those worth winning. So long as Official Qin was pleased, all was well.

However, she and Official Su didn’t quite see eye to eye. Official Su dealt with official matters with official standards. When Lingbo wanted to review the Spring Hunt arrangements for the female guests, she provided them — but her expression was a touch rigid, and she said: “There has been much gossip in the capital, Miss. It would be better for you to focus on preparing for the wedding and not to inquire too much into the Spring Hunt.”

Back at home, no one would dare speak to her like that — but Lingbo was in good spirits today and couldn’t be bothered to deal with her. She said “I understand” out loud while her hands never stopped what they were doing.

When Pei Zhao arrived, she was poring over a map of the imperial hunting grounds, carefully contemplating where there might be an opportunity to act — when a sea crabapple blossom suddenly fell onto her head from above. Pei Zhao had obtained a branch of sea crabapple blossoms from somewhere and was now inserting the blooms one by one into her hair.

“Oh, you—” Lingbo immediately reached out to strike him: “Quick, let Official Su come see this — this is the Duke’s notion of proper conduct.”

Pei Zhao only laughed and dodged, falling back onto the daybed. Lingbo wanted to strike him but was afraid of being dragged down in the process — and that would be the worse outcome — so she simply went to the mirror and removed all the sea crabapple blossoms from her hair, throwing them onto him one by one.

Pei Zhao only lay lazily on the daybed — and the sea crabapple blossoms suited him perfectly. When she threw them onto his face, he held one between his lips and played with it, the petals and his lips the same shade of pale red.

“I don’t know any Official Su,” he only said with a languid smile, his gaze fixed attentively on Lingbo, almost luminous with a soft glow.

This was the warm chamber belonging to the Huo family’s half of the estate — the attending servants were all their own household people, and Xiao Liu’er and Yang Hua were both standing guard at the door. So Lingbo was a little bolder than usual, went over and gave his face a pinch, scolding: “Will you eat anything? Don’t you know sea crabapple blossoms are infested with insects? What would happen if they poisoned you to death?”

She was actually just using this as a pretext — but Pei Zhao played along, lying there perfectly still, entirely in the manner of someone left at another’s disposal. Lingbo was genuinely not the “well-born refined young lady” Qinglan had been trying to cultivate in her — her personal creed was: put on the appearance of a well-born refined young lady in public, and just don’t get caught in private.

There was truly no one else who would press close and treat Pei Zhao like this — as some extraordinary new plaything to examine and handle. He really was too beautiful — even held in the palm of one’s hand like this, he seemed not quite of this world.

The fifteen-year-old Ye Lingbo would never have imagined she would one day reach this point — she was truly content to her very core. The only remaining matter was Qinglan’s situation, yet even that was already within her plans. It was clear that striving and climbing upward had its own rewards.

Pei Zhao too was one who played the meek to gain the advantage. At first he lay there quite obediently allowing her to do as she pleased, but the moment Lingbo let down her guard, he reached out and encircled her waist with one arm, and in one motion turned her over so that she was beneath him. Yet at this point he would not actually do anything untoward — only drew close and looked at her with a smile: “Miss Ye the Second has fallen right into my hands this time.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” Although Lingbo had no experience with such things, she steadied herself and said: “What kind of conduct is this from a Duke — you’re already starting to act like this before I’ve even come through the door…”

Pei Zhao only buried his face against her shoulder.

“Then come through the door quickly — save us both the trouble of the palace causing another stir.”

Lingbo immediately knocked him on the head.

“Qinglan’s matter still isn’t settled — if I go through the door first, what will people in the capital say about Qinglan? Sisters must follow the proper order, do you not know that?” She made a solemn declaration: “As long as Qinglan’s matter remains unsettled for even one day, I will not go through the door for even one day. You’d better wait properly for me.”

Pei Zhao’s gaze immediately deepened — but Xiao Liu’er was even more anxious than he was, and said: “Miss, this really won’t do. The Duke is right — the longer we wait, the more complications may arise. It’s best to settle the big matter quickly and be done with it.”

“Qinglan is my big matter. At the very least, let’s wait until after the Spring Hunt before speaking of it.”