The main residence at the mountaintop, though large, had few rooms. At its center was the primary hall, consisting only of the great hall, a study, and the bedchamber.

Each section was quite spacious — the bedchamber alone was as large as three rooms combined in the west wing.

The great hall sat in the middle; slightly toward the back on the west side was the study, and slightly toward the back on the east side was the bedchamber.

Beyond the main hall, to the east was the kitchen, and to the west was a small courtyard called the West Garden — elegant and secluded, a private retreat for escaping the summer heat.

Though called a private retreat, to reach the West Garden, one had to pass through the great hall of the main residence, and then through the study.

In other words, once someone settled into the West Garden, it was essentially the same as having settled into the main residence itself — there was no way to keep it separate from the primary quarters.

The moment Gu Meiting arrived, she immediately shattered the mountaintop’s tranquility. Although she was only meant to stay for a month, she brought so many belongings it looked as though she planned to settle in for good — moving things in, unpacking, it took a full four hours to finish!

Yingzi stood with his arms crossed around his sword, leaning against the west side door of the great hall, watching coldly as people came and went, sneering inwardly. It seemed Madam Gu hadn’t taken long at all to talk the family head around — otherwise, how could Gu Meiting have moved in so quickly?

No matter how much the family head valued their master, in the end, he was no match for his wife’s persuasion in the bedroom.

Once everything was finally settled, Gu Meiting sprawled out lazily on the great hall’s main seat, legs crossed, striking the pose of a proper mistress of the house, having the maids fan her and give her a massage.

“Xi’er, where’s my tea? Do you want me to die of thirst?”

“Eldest young lady, the kitchen… this servant isn’t familiar with it,” Xi’er said timidly. Like all the other servants, this was her first time at the main residence, and she knew this place wasn’t like anywhere else — she didn’t dare touch anything carelessly or wander about freely.

“The kitchen’s to the east. Go boil water and make tea. Oh, and take those things I brought to the kitchen too — when the young master comes by later, we’ll need to cook him some porridge!” Gu Meiting said, displeased.

Only then did Xi’er dare withdraw. Gu Meiting stretched lazily, still ignoring Yingzi entirely, and asked, “Where’s my husband? Why hasn’t he come yet?”

“The young master left for the harbor early this morning. The master had him go assess the losses from the fishing boats damaged in the hurricane,” a young servant answered honestly.

Gu Meiting was delighted at once. “Really!”

“Of course, eldest young lady. The accounts involved this time aren’t small. The master’s health isn’t good enough for him to go himself, so the young master had to go instead!” the servant replied.

Gu Meiting’s face lit up with joy. “Go find Doctor Hua and have him write up a prescription — say it’s to nourish my husband’s health. I’ll go fetch the herbs from the storehouse myself later!”

Yingzi’s face darkened further at this. This eldest young lady’s mind seemed to hold nothing but her husband — not even her own father figured in it! He was about to speak up when, at that moment, a child’s wailing cry suddenly erupted from outside.

There stood the family head and Madam Gu, walking hand in hand, while the young grandson, carried by the second young lady Gu Suying, thrashed about, throwing some kind of tantrum!

“Yuan’er, why are you crying? Who bullied you? Tell Mother!” Gu Meiting rushed forward at once, reaching to take her son, but Jiang Yuan violently pushed her hand away, whining, “I want Father! I want to go down the mountain with Father!”

At six years old, he should have been reasonably mature by now, but this Jiang Yuan — aside from being sturdy and healthy in body — showed the maturity of a three-year-old at best!

“Don’t cry, Yuan’er, your father will be back in a few days. Come, come, let’s go with Grandmother and see your new room.” Madam Gu hurried to comfort him, deliberately avoiding Yingzi’s scrutinizing gaze.

She knew she shouldn’t say such things, but they were just words to coax a small child — surely no one would take them seriously, right?

Hearing this, Jiang Yuan’s crying stopped abruptly, and he asked curiously, “Mother, are we going to live here now?”

“Yes, don’t you like it? Much cooler than the west wing, right?” Gu Meiting said quickly, scooping her son up into her arms.

Jiang Yuan looked around for a moment, then pouted, clearly displeased.

This immediately drew everyone’s attention — even Gu Jun, who had been heading toward the bedchamber, stopped in his tracks. Anyone familiar with the child knew this meant he was about to throw a tantrum.

“What’s wrong, don’t you like it?” Gu Meiting asked quickly.

“This place isn’t ours! This is Uncle’s place!” Jiang Yuan said seriously, then suddenly struggled free, grabbing at Gu Suying’s hand to leave. “I don’t want to stay here, I don’t want to stay in Uncle’s room, I want to go to the west wing!”

“Silly boy, the west wing’s about to collapse — aren’t you afraid of being crushed?” Gu Suying teased. Normally quiet and reserved, she occasionally liked to joke around with this little nephew.

But the moment she said this, Jiang Yuan burst into loud wailing. “Whoo, I don’t want that, I want the west wing, I want to live in Father’s room, I don’t want to live in Uncle’s room!”

Though it was only a child’s careless remark, a child’s words are often the most honest.

Yingzi sneered inwardly — he would have liked to ask this child since when the west wing had become “his” family’s property.

“Yuan’er, don’t cry, we’ll just stay here for a month, and once the west wing is repaired, we’ll move back.” Madam Gu tried to soothe him, reaching to pick the child up, but Jiang Yuan wailed and thrashed even harder, impossible to hold.

“Be good, Yuan’er, don’t cry. Come with Mother and see your new room. Come on, if we’re late, the tiger auntie might take it!” Gu Meiting coaxed, using an old folk tale to trick him.

But Jiang Yuan wasn’t fooled, stamping his feet and shouting even louder, “I don’t want it, I want to go back to the west wing! Whoo… you’re all lying to me, you tricked me into coming here!”

For a moment, no one could calm him down, and no one dared scold him either. Everyone stood there, brows furrowed, at a complete loss — once this child’s temper flared up, truly no one had any way to handle him!

Gu Meiting, both irritated and heartbroken, reached out cautiously to touch her son, only to have her hand swatted away at once. Madam Gu and Gu Jun watched, equally distressed and anxious, utterly helpless — only the second young lady secretly stuck out her tongue mischievously.

The eldest young lady spent all her time meddling in the Gu family’s affairs and business, with little time left to actually raise this child, and she didn’t trust leaving him with a wet nurse either, so the task always fell to the second young lady. She knew this child’s temper all too well — that little joke of hers had clearly been meant to provoke him on purpose.

Once Jiang Yuan started up, there truly was no end to it, and his crying was especially loud — even Physician Gu, in the bedchamber, could faintly hear it, growing quite irritated. It was only the first day, and already this much of a racket — how were the days ahead going to be?

“Yuan’er, don’t cry yet, listen to Grandmother first, all right?”

Madam Gu, truly unable to bear seeing the child cry until his face turned red, crouched down carefully and said gently, “Yuan’er, we’re not going back to the west wing anymore. From now on, we’ll live here — this isn’t Uncle’s room, this is our room!”

At those words, Yingzi’s eyes flared with anger at once. And yet, remarkably, Jiang Yuan’s crying immediately quieted, his tear-filled eyes gazing at Madam Gu as he continued to sniffle.

Seeing this, Gu Meiting and Gu Jun were overjoyed and hurried over as well.

“Son, who said this was Uncle’s? This is ours! Once Uncle wakes up, he won’t be living here anymore!” Gu Meiting coaxed.

“That’s right, that’s right, little treasure, this place is nice and cool, come on, let your mother and grandmother take you to see it!” Gu Jun urged as well, worried about what other ideas this child might come up with.

The tactic seemed to work — Jiang Yuan sniffled but stopped crying.

Madam Gu felt her heart, which had been clenched tight, finally relax. She quickly scooped him up into her arms, hugging him close as though he were her most precious treasure, and ordered the servants, “Quickly, go boil some cooling bamboo tea to calm his nerves — he must have been startled, being in such an unfamiliar place.”

With that, she headed off toward the West Garden along with Gu Meiting, coaxing Jiang Yuan the whole way.

Gu Suying glanced almost involuntarily toward the east, in the direction of the bedchamber, before following after them.

At last, only Gu Jun remained in the great hall.

Yingzi kept his expression neutral on the surface, bowing respectfully to Gu Jun, though inwardly he sneered without end — yet he no longer felt as furious as before, finding this whole family almost laughably absurd instead.

“Guard Yingzi…” Gu Jun trailed off, seeming to want to explain something, but in the end only said flatly, “Guard Yingzi, don’t take it to heart — it was just something said to soothe a child.”

With that, he strode off toward the bedchamber. Yingzi scoffed. “The day your grandson decides he wants to live in the main bedchamber itself, will you still be coaxing him then?”

Yingzi didn’t follow him in, hurrying instead down the mountain. All the letters sent to Da Zhou before this had gone through the Gu family’s own channels, using the Gu family’s distinctive envelopes — a mark of status that ensured swift delivery, whether by fishing boat or carrier gull.

But now, this letter requesting reinforcements could no longer be sent that way. Yingzi had to be careful.

Yet Yingzi had no way of knowing that their princess consort would never receive that letter — she was already on her way to Liuxian Island…

“Headwind again, damn it!”

Ziqing couldn’t help but curse. Standing with her hands clasped behind her back atop the towering mast frame, dressed in black combat attire, she looked small and slight from a distance, yet gave off a sense of quiet, capable pressure.

For three days straight now, the wind had been against them — otherwise, she would already have reached Liuxian Island.

After that storm, everyone was utterly exhausted, unable to rely on manpower alone to sail the ship any further; they had no choice but to depend on wind and current. Things had gone smoothly at first, but these past three days had been thoroughly unlucky!

Hurricane season made the sea especially dangerous — large and small storms could strike without warning, impossible to predict. With the island now nearly in sight, any further delay risked running into another hurricane, and there was no telling where they could take shelter this time.

Standing atop the mast frame, Ziqing could already faintly make out the island ahead in the distance. She wished she could simply leap across the water. Nearly a month adrift at sea, cut off from Liuxian Island and from Da Zhou alike, with no idea what was happening on either side — how could she not feel anxious?

But just then, one of the smaller sails, which had been billowing full with wind, suddenly went slack!

The wind had died!

Ziqing felt a flicker of alarm and immediately closed her eyes, tilting her head up to sense the direction of the breeze. Before long, the corners of her once-sharp mouth slowly curved upward into a look of delight!

Gradually, gradually, the wind began to pick up again, growing stronger and stronger, until it filled the sails completely — a tailwind!

A wind blowing straight toward Liuxian Island!

Ziqing’s eyes snapped open, and she leapt down at once. “The wind’s up! Quick, raise every sail we have!”

Shiliang and Guxi were both overjoyed, leading the crew with full energy, and before long, five great sails had been hoisted. The ship, which had nearly come to a complete standstill, now surged forward at full speed toward Liuxian Island.

Liuxian Island — Han Ziqing was coming!