The days passed swiftly, and in the blink of an eye, only two days remained until New Year’s Eve.

After Ziqing made her wishes clear, Situ Haonan truly didn’t dare bother her further, and threw himself into the preparations single-handedly, busier than he’d ever been.

Jun Beiyue went to the Liuli Pavilion every single day. The whereabouts of the woman in purple and Xuanyuan Lige, news of the Black Jiao that Nanzhao had dispatched to Xijing, and the secret of the totem—the Liuli Pavilion had been investigating all of it without pause.

Ziqing, meanwhile, found herself genuinely idle. Occasionally she accompanied Jun Beiyue to the Liuli Pavilion, but most of her time was spent holed up in her room studying various ancient musical scores, often dozing off in the middle of her reading. The winters in the Da Zhou capital, while not as harsh as those in Xichu, were still cold enough to make one want to simply hibernate.

That day, Situ Haonan had finally, after painstaking selection, picked out several pieces of jewelry and was on his way to find Ziqing!

But an attendant came rushing in with urgent news. “Young Master, the Master and Madam have arrived! They’re waiting in the Elegant Court!”

“What?” Situ Haonan was startled. His parents had been pressing him to come home for ages—staying in Da Zhou for New Year’s had only ever been an excuse. He’d been planning to head to Xijing with Jun Beiyue and the others once the New Year had passed!

“Young Master, you’d better hurry over there. The young miss said the Master is quite angry, and she also mentioned…”

Before the attendant could finish, Situ Haonan was already leaping over the wall.

The Elegant Court was the Situ family’s secondary residence in the capital, and also where Situ Xin’er and Situ Haonan usually stayed.

Situ Haonan hurried over, but the moment he stepped through the door, he found Situ Xin’er sitting in the main hall, laughing uproariously. He understood at once. “So that’s it, you little brat—you dared trick me!”

“I didn’t trick anyone. I told Father I wanted to enter the Flower Queen Pageant and said you’d take care of me, and Father agreed! Don’t believe me? Go ask him yourself!” Situ Xin’er said, tossing a letter to Situ Haonan. He glanced at it—it really was their father’s handwriting!

“Aside from the title of Flower Queen, which I can’t give you, what else do you want? Just say it.” Situ Haonan got straight to the point—did he not know his own sister by now?

Situ Xin’er scoffed. “I don’t need your help at all. Heh heh, I just called you here to let you know—I’ve already won the title of Flower Queen, guaranteed!”

Seeing her so confident, Situ Haonan grew suspicious. “Let me warn you again—this is the capital, not Situ City! You’d better rein in those childish little schemes of yours!”

Situ Xin’er beamed with delight and pulled out an item, saying, “Take a look—just one glance.”

Situ Haonan eyed it warily, but the rouge box looked entirely unremarkable at first glance.

“Open it!” Situ Xin’er said, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

Situ Haonan grew even more puzzled. He knew his sister’s temperament well—for her to be this smug in front of him, there had to be something to it.

Yet the moment Situ Haonan opened the box and looked inside, he was instantly stunned. “Yanzi!”

“You know it!” Situ Xin’er immediately snatched it back, astonished.

“Good grief, where on earth did you get this thing!” This was clearly a genuine treasure.

Situ Xin’er had been about to say, but on second thought, smiled and said, “Not telling you. It’s mine anyway!”

“Do you even know this can’t be used together with lead powder?” Situ Haonan said seriously. Having seen countless beauties in his time, he’d seen just as much rouge and powder besides—he knew this Yanzi rouge quite well!

Hearing this from Situ Haonan, Situ Xin’er’s face couldn’t help but darken visibly!

She had originally intended to give this to Han Ziqing, never expecting that Situ Haonan would actually know the secret of Yanzi rouge!

“I know that already!” Situ Xin’er turned her head away sharply, signaling that he could leave now.

“Hey, how much silver would it take for you to give it up to me?” Situ Haonan wheedled instead. If he could get his hands on this thing, surely it would please Jun Beiyue even more—who knew, maybe he’d even get to tag along to the Xijing palace this time.

Though he claimed not to care, truth be told, he was rather looking forward to seeing Yelu Qianqian again.

“I don’t need money!” Situ Xin’er said coldly.

“After the New Year, how about I have you stay at the Prince Yao residence for a few days?” Situ Haonan said, his smile dripping with temptation.

Situ Xin’er hesitated for a moment, but after thinking it over, still refused!

“Are you sure about this? Miss this chance and there won’t be another!”

“You can get lost! And remember this—Han Ziqing will not win!”

…

Brother and sister, though standing on different sides, always bickered whenever they met, yet they never truly held any real resentment toward each other—after all, they were siblings by blood.

In the end, Situ Haonan snorted coldly and turned to leave.

Only then did Situ Xin’er bring out the Yanzi rouge again. Given her showy, boastful nature, she must have only just recently gotten hold of it.

This girl had never once left the capital, Situ Haonan mused—if even his useless sister could get her hands on Yanzi rouge, then surely he could find it too. Why hadn’t he thought of this treasure before?

That entire day, Situ Haonan never returned to the Prince Yao residence, scouring the whole capital, and to his genuine surprise, actually found the item in a small, old shop!

“My good sir, this item takes no less than ten years to produce—those who don’t know its worth wouldn’t recognize its value at all. This shop originally had two boxes, but one sold just a few days ago. You’ve come at just the right time.” The shopkeeper said with a smile.

“Was it a young lady who bought it?” Situ Haonan had no way of knowing it was that woman in purple—he simply assumed it had been Situ Xin’er.

Situ Xin’er herself, meanwhile, knew nothing at all about Yanzi rouge—how could she possibly know it hadn’t actually come from the Yan clan of Jiangdong?

“Yes, it was a young lady. Quite generous with her spending, too!” The shopkeeper replied.

Situ Haonan asked nothing further, paid, and left—never noticing that, not far off in a corner, a pair of cold, striking phoenix eyes were watching him intently.

The next day, Situ Haonan brought along the effeminate old tailor Autumn Mother to see Ziqing.

“Your Highness, here are five complete outfits, all made from the fabrics you selected. Please have a look.” The old man said respectfully, having his attendants lay the garments out one by one before Ziqing.

Ziqing’s eyes lit up. Though she’d had little interest before, seeing the finished garments genuinely stirred her enthusiasm.

Each set was meticulously tailored—the fabric, the style, all of it unlike anything she’d ever seen before, noble and elegant, refined without losing a lively touch.

“These are all wonderful.” Ziqing said with a smile, stepping down to gently run her hand over the fabric, catching a faint, pleasant fragrance.

“What’s this scent?” Ziqing asked.

“The scent of violets. This particular fabric has to be soaked in scented water to preserve its color.” The old man answered promptly.

Ziqing wasn’t entirely without caution, but being well-versed in the study of poisons herself, a single sniff told her it was perfectly ordinary, and she asked no further questions.

Seeing Ziqing so pleased with a rare delivery, Situ Haonan was overjoyed. “Keep all five sets! Once Beiyue’s back, you can model them for him to see!”

That had been Ziqing’s first thought as well. She nodded, showing little interest in anything beyond the clothes themselves.

At this point, Situ Haonan finally spoke up mysteriously. “Look what treasure I found.”

As he spoke, he drew a box of rouge from his sleeve—none other than the famed “Yanzi” rouge!

Ziqing opened it and immediately looked puzzled. “It’s purple!”

“Heh heh, try it on first and see—I guarantee you’ll be pleased!” Situ Haonan said, looking mysteriously pleased with himself, grinning like a fox.