Peach Grove Town was located at the foot of Qingyang Mountain, a fairly prosperous small town named for the peach grove outside it. With mountains behind and a river in front, it was hot during the day, but cool breezes came in the evening. People would leave their houses to stroll the streets, while shops hung red lanterns that swayed in the wind with candles burning in endless rows, creating a rare prosperity.

Tie Ci had already ordered Dan Shuang to reserve the town’s largest restaurant. Students from Excellence Hall and Virtue Hall, regardless of their thoughts, almost all came – even Qi Yuansi followed along. However, everyone was somewhat avoiding him today – some people didn’t actually smell of dung, but being thought about in that way somehow made them seem to truly stink.

Qi Yuansi, who had always been extremely popular, noticed this and didn’t huddle with others. He sat alone at a table with a cold expression, pouring and drinking by himself.

Suddenly a wine pot was placed on his table, its surface beaded with water droplets that made one feel a cool refreshing sensation just by looking at it.

Qi Yuansi looked up and saw Ye Shiba walking past, saying as he went: “Don’t drink hot wine on such a hot day. Try this house’s mint brew – it refreshes the mind and reduces internal heat.”

Qi Yuansi stared at the pot for a while, then looked back at the person walking out of the shop. That person wasn’t particularly tall, didn’t have especially broad shoulders, but had rather striking long legs. His light robe fluttered like silk in the wind. This appearance suddenly overlapped with a certain image in his mind.

It was from a hunting trip several years ago – a stunning glimpse from afar.

But he immediately shook his head – how ridiculous. That person was a woman, and of extremely noble status. How could she appear here?

Tie Ci went downstairs and heard storytelling below. Tong Rushi was again sitting apart from the group, listening alone from a distance.

The storyteller wasn’t telling popular romance tales, but rather recent interesting events from a small village in the Qingyang Mountain range: “…In that village, a new son-in-law moved in – a handsome fellow, said to be a young master from a wealthy family who fell on hard times. Now in those mountains, he’s become the mountain woman’s husband. During the day he drags chains to work the fields, at night he drags chains and, well, diligently plows the fields…”

Everyone burst into laughter. Someone said: “This story is interesting, but how did a young master end up as a mountain woman’s husband?”

The storyteller replied: “Heard he was plotted against by enemies working together… Ah, the grievances of those wealthy families aren’t for us common folk to understand. We just listen to bedroom pleasures. Heard that mountain woman has tremendous strength and, well, her demands know no satisfaction. They say when she gets excited she’ll slap her husband – the sound of slapping echoes until dawn every night…”

Everyone laughed even harder.

Tie Ci immediately knew they were talking about Murong Duan, but Lingquan Village was in another direction of Qingyang Mountain, quite far from here. How could small affairs from a remote mountain village spread to this town?

She looked at the storyteller – he was much like storytellers in countless market towns, with weak lower body and soft hands, clearly having no martial arts.

She listened for a while, then walked outside.

After a while, the storyteller finished his session and packed up to go home, when suddenly someone blocked his path.

The person said: “Sir, please wait. My master wants to ask you some questions.”

…

Tie Ci walked outside for fresh air. She wasn’t someone who enjoyed hosting gatherings – as the host, she’d share a drink, then let them enjoy themselves.

Ahead was a river with an arched bridge like the moon spanning it. Light boats came and went below, most carrying young mountain women with their small boats loaded with various mountain goods and fruits. They all looked up with rosy faces, smiling at the people on the bridge.

Many people crowded on the bridge, holding long, flexible branches with various delicate small lanterns tied to them. At the ends of the branches hung half-strings of copper coins. When they saw something they wanted, they’d lower the willow branches. The mountain women would grab the branches, take off the money strings, and hang baskets of mountain fruits and wild vegetables on the branch ends.

This buying method was very efficient and elegant. The mountain women’s movements during the brief time their boats passed under the bridge – quickly removing money strings and hanging up goods – were as graceful as threading flowers. Moonlight filtered through their fingers, and the small lanterns on the willow branches sparkled in their smiling faces.

The whole bridge hung with colorful lights like a flowing waterfall of light, brilliant and dazzling.

Tie Ci couldn’t help being moved.

Someone was selling willow branch lights right below the bridge, tied with various small lanterns. Tie Ci chose one with a red carp lantern, hung half a string of copper coins on the hook at the bottom, and carried it up to the bridge.

The bridge was originally packed with people, but when Tie Ci came up, everyone looked at her. Wherever she went, people made way. Girls smiled and made space beside them, and young men generously invited her to join them. Tie Ci nodded and thanked them all, randomly finding a spot to lean against the bridge railing.

Once she leaned there, people crowded around her, both men and women, more and more people, nearly fighting over the space.

Tie Ci had been extraordinarily beautiful since childhood, and years of male dress had given her a natural heroic air – truly suitable for both men and women, capable of being cool or sweet. She watched the scenery on the bridge while people below watched her.

Tie Ci saw those black-canopied boats coming downstream. From far away she spotted one boat with bright red mulberries that looked very tempting. The mountain woman on that boat was different from others – wearing loose, wide sleeves that concealed her figure, and wearing a bamboo hat.

Tie Ci’s attention was all on those bright red fruits. She slowly lowered her willow branch lantern.

Rong Pu came out from the restaurant in the distance and saw Tie Ci on the arched bridge ahead, surrounded by red candles and green decorations. Her face slightly reddened by the lamplight, her eyes holding a smile – this moment even the night was gentle.

Rong Pu’s somewhat anxious expression also relaxed. He was about to approach when he suddenly saw Tie Ci lean down.

At this moment, Tie Ci was lowering her lantern from the bridge while the “mountain woman” below rowed past. With one hand raised, she had already caught Tie Ci’s hanging willow lantern. With a flick of her finger, the money string fell into her snow-white palm.

Tie Ci was thinking how quick that gesture was, how long those fingers were, when the person had already hung a small basket of wild fruit on the hook and looked up at Tie Ci with a smile.

Wind lifted half the veil of the bamboo hat, revealing a vaguely snow-white face that glowed in the black night among red lanterns, the curve of her smiling lips exquisite.

Tie Ci had thought it was a mountain woman, but what mountain woman had such grace?

Pulling up the basket with the willow lantern was quite difficult – this was one of the great pleasures of buying fruit on this bridge. But for Tie Ci, it was just a light lift of her wrist to pull the willow branch up.

While pulling, she thought this fruit basket was quite small but surprisingly heavy. She wondered how people without martial arts could pull it up while keeping the willow branch intact.

The small basket fell into her palm, but what rolled out was an exquisite box.

It was fired gradient glass that was extremely rare to make – bamboo-joint shaped, starting as blue-green, gradually becoming lighter until the end was warm, pure white. The box was carved with pine trees on precipitous cliffs, the carving extremely detailed with pine needles visible in every strand. The blue-green was like lapis lazuli. Below the cliff were deer and white rabbits playing together, made respectively from white jade, amber, agate, ruby, sapphire and other precious stones. Tie Ci opened the box to find inside something fragrant and lustrous red – actually a box of rouge that was extremely luxurious and refined both inside and out.

She was stunned, never expecting wild fruit to become rouge.

It seemed to be Eight Treasures Glass Rouge from Lanfang Pavilion…

Tie Ci suddenly spun around and rushed to the other side of the bridge. At this moment the black-canopied boat had just passed under the bridge. The bamboo hat person gave her a back view of fluttering robes. Without time to think, Tie Ci sent her willow branch flying down to hook that bamboo hat.

But the bamboo hat person seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, raising his hand to catch the willow branch between two fingers. With a smooth pull, Tie Ci’s body fell downward.

The willow branch bounced back, carrying the red carp lantern above, scattering red light everywhere as it bounced back onto the white stone bridge.

Wind made countless willow lanterns sway with dancing light and shadow, half the flowing river reflecting green and red.

Amid cries of alarm from people on the bridge, Tie Ci fell into the arms of the person in the boat.

She raised her hand to remove the bamboo hat, but the bamboo hat person shook his head, and the hat with its white veil floated away. His black hair scattered in the wind as he looked back with a warm, melting smile.

The whole boat full of lamplight, her eyes full of stars and river.

The cries of alarm rose and fell, with children shouting: “Look! The beautiful brother!”

The person beside her laughed and pushed the oar. The small boat shot forward like an arrow.

Below the restaurant, Dan Shuang rushed out but saw Tie Ci with her back to her, waving her hand to indicate everything was fine.

She still chased after them, watching the small boat where Tie Ci looked back and smiled at the person in the boat.

With that smile, all the starlight in the sky seemed to fall into the Crown Princess’s eyes.

Dan Shuang had never seen her master show such an expression.

She stood stunned by the riverside for a long time, slowly furrowing her brow.

…