After the Dragon Boat Festival, Lu Mu decided to accompany He Shi back to her hometown.

He Shi had married into Duke Ying Mansion over thirty years ago and had never returned home once during all that time. Now, with her husband by her side and while they weren’t too old yet, she wanted to go back and see her hometown. For these thirty-odd years, she had barely stepped outside Duke Ying Mansion, like a bird caged up.

But who truly enjoys such loneliness?

He Shi could endure it, but that didn’t mean she liked it.

He Shi wanted to feel young again, wanted to go out and see the world with her husband.

Lu Mu was naturally willing to accompany his wife.

He had been away from home for over twenty years. During that time, his parents had others to care for them, and after his son came of age through frontier training, he married a beautiful woman. When he calculated everything, his wife had lived the most lonely and difficult life. Lu Mu felt most sorry for his wife – he had made her endure endless loneliness and solitude during a woman’s most beautiful years. Now that he had returned, whatever his wife wanted to do, Lu Mu was happy to accompany her.

For this trip, He Shi could bear to leave her son behind, but couldn’t bear to leave her little granddaughter.

A’Bao also wanted to go out with her grandparents. The grandparents and granddaughter discussed it together, then came to consult with Wei Rao and Lu Zhuo.

Wei Rao was reluctant to part with her daughter, and her father-in-law and mother-in-law rarely got to go out together – wouldn’t having their daughter along interfere with their affectionate time together?

Wei Rao analyzed all the difficulties of long-distance travel for her daughter – just sitting in a carriage would be exhausting enough, and the food outside wouldn’t be as refined as what they had at the Duke’s mansion.

A’Bao understood everything, but she just wanted to go out.

Wei Rao was at her wits’ end and gave Lu Zhuo a meaningful look.

But Lu Zhuo felt that as long as their daughter wanted to go, and as long as his father and mother were willing to take A’Bao, then they should all go together.

“It’s so far away, and they might not return until late autumn. You’re willing to let her go,” Wei Rao pinched Lu Zhuo that night.

Lu Zhuo laughed, “Our A’Bao is like you. You, as her mother, love traveling and sightseeing, so why shouldn’t A’Bao be allowed to go?”

Wei Rao was immediately unable to argue back.

Lu Zhuo pressed over her and whispered in her ear, “Perfect timing with A’Bao away – I can focus on taking you out to explore.”

Wei Rao huffed, “Who needs your company?”

She might not need it, but Lu Zhuo did.

On the first rest day after A’Bao left with her grandparents, Lu Zhuo took Wei Rao to Cloud Mist Mountain.

They went horseback riding in the morning, and when the sun gradually rose higher, the two of them went into the forest.

There was a summer retreat spot in the mountains – the very secluded mountain valley where Wei Rao had once played in the water with her female cousins. That time, they had encountered assassins, and Lu Zhuo had followed the assassins there, wanting to use the incident to teach Wei Rao a lesson. Unexpectedly, Wei Rao had handled the assassins herself, so Lu Zhuo’s attempt to lecture her backfired, and instead got thoroughly rebuked by Wei Rao.

As soon as Wei Rao brought Lu Zhuo there, he remembered that past incident.

“You did this on purpose,” Lu Zhuo glanced at where the assassins had once appeared and said quietly.

Wei Rao smiled, “Who told Young Master Lu to always look down on people back then?”

The past was too painful to recall, so Lu Zhuo began appreciating the scenery of this place. The terrain around the valley was treacherous – unless one was very familiar with Cloud Mist Mountain and had some martial skills, ordinary people couldn’t find this place. No wonder Wei Rao had dared to remove her shoes and socks here back then, walking barefoot.

Just as this thought occurred to him, Lu Zhuo caught sight of Wei Rao ahead, sitting on a large rock and removing her boots and socks. As she undressed, she looked up and met his gaze, her rebellious eyes full of provocation.

Ten years had changed nothing about her.

What had changed was Lu Zhuo. Once he had disapproved of her bold and improper behavior, but now Lu Zhuo was happy to be improper along with her.

“The fish in this pool have tender, fresh meat. Shall we roast fish here later?” Wei Rao was introduced to him, her eyes already beginning to scout for suitable branches to make into fishing spears.

Lu Zhuo replied, “Good.”

The two of them found two branches and sat on adjacent rocks, heads down as they worked on them.

Water from the waterfall fell from above, splashing up cool, moist air. Lu Zhuo finished his fishing spear first and looked up at Wei Rao. She had her head slightly lowered, her fair, small hands skillfully holding a dagger as she whittled the wood, fine wood shavings falling onto the rock. She had tucked her skirt up at her waist, and her azure gauze pants were rolled up to her knees, revealing two sections of jade-like, lotus-root-white calves.

Lu Zhuo was momentarily lost in thought.

When Wei Rao finished her fishing spear, she noticed Lu Zhuo’s gaze.

A trace of suspicion suddenly arose in her: “When we sisters were playing in the water here years ago, did the Young Master truly not look inappropriately?”

Lu Zhuo said seriously, “I did not. ‘See no evil’ – I still had that much self-control.”

Thinking back to his attitude at the time, Wei Rao believed him.

The couple went down into the water, each occupying one side, seeing who could spear a fish first.

Lu Zhuo had experience with wilderness survival. Not to mention distant times, after his fake death by the North Sea, he had often gone spearing fish in the North Sea, so he was much more skilled than Wei Rao. Soon after entering the water, he caught one.

Wei Rao heard the commotion from his side and turned back to see that Lu Zhuo’s fishing spear had a fat fish on it, still struggling and shaking its head and tail, splashing water.

Wei Rao snorted, thrust her fishing spear downward, and also brought up a fish.

Lu Zhuo cleaned the fish while Wei Rao went to gather some wild mountain fruits.

“If A’Bao were here, could you and I be this leisurely and carefree?” Lu Zhuo increasingly felt that letting their daughter accompany his parents back to their hometown was a good idea.

Wei Rao said, “So all your usual doting on A’Bao was fake – you were just hoping she’d leave. Just wait, when A’Bao comes back, I’ll tell her.”

Lu Zhuo had no such intention. He just felt that getting some time to be alone with Wei Rao was also quite nice.

The roasted fish was delicious, and the wild fruits were sweet and sour. After eating and drinking their fill, Wei Rao found a flat spot under some tree shade, preparing to take a nap.

Lu Zhuo strolled around the beach, then suddenly came over and picked up Wei Rao.

Wei Rao looked at him in confusion.

“Sleeping here, you might be seen by people. There’s a more secluded spot over there,” Lu Zhuo said, looking ahead with a low voice.

Wei Rao thought to herself that she had her shoes and socks on properly – even if someone came, they wouldn’t see anything inappropriate. It was just a nap, after all. Why did it need to be so secluded?

Soon, Wei Rao saw the hidden place Lu Zhuo had chosen. It was surrounded by trees on all sides, with wild grass half a person’s height under the trees. In the middle, a patch of wild grass had been flattened by Lu Zhuo in advance, smooth and flat like a grass-green mat.

Lu Zhuo knelt on one knee, set Wei Rao down properly, and, under Wei Rao’s suspicious gaze, Lu Zhuo smiled and began to undress her.

Wei Rao pressed down on his hands and teasingly mocked, “In broad daylight, in the deep mountains and wild forests, Young Master’s behavior – aren’t you afraid of being seen?”

Once, when she had merely changed clothes outside, Lu Zhuo had lectured her like an old pedant.

“I am afraid, which is why I chose this spot,” Lu Zhuo leaned down and used Wei Rao’s sash to cover her eyes.

Such behavior indeed made Lu Zhuo uneasy, as it violated the proprieties he had always followed.

But at this moment, Lu Zhuo wanted to.

So he didn’t want to give Wei Rao another chance to tease him – he wanted her to join him in defying convention.

In early August, A’Bao returned with her grandparents. The little girl had played too wildly outside and was tanned a whole shade darker.

“Mother, I missed you so much.” A’Bao first hugged her mother, then remembered something and added to her father nearby, “I missed Father too.”

Lu Zhuo smiled.

Wei Rao touched her daughter’s head and snorted lightly, “No need to miss your father – he wishes you’d play outside every day.”

A’Bao didn’t quite understand her mother’s meaning, and she didn’t care much about it either, bouncing off to find her brothers.

Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lu Zhuo’s fifth brother, Lu Che, had his wedding, marrying Chen Shi.

On Mid-Autumn night, the Duke’s mansion hired a theater troupe and set up a stage in the garden, with the whole family going to listen to the opera.

A’Bao played with her brothers and little sixth and seventh-generation uncles, with nannies watching over them, so Wei Rao and Lu Zhuo didn’t need to worry.

However, Wei Rao wasn’t very interested in listening to opera, and Lu Zhuo knew she didn’t enjoy it. After listening to just one performance, Lu Zhuo patted Wei Rao’s shoulder, and the couple left early.

The moonlight was beautiful. It seemed wasteful to return to their room too early in such lovely weather, so the couple held hands and deliberately chose dark, deserted paths to walk, going to admire the most secluded moonlight.

As they walked, they suddenly heard a woman’s startled cry from ahead.

Lu Zhuo immediately stopped.

Wei Rao thought the voice sounded somewhat familiar, but before she could identify it, footsteps approached from their direction.

Lu Zhuo immediately pulled Wei Rao to hide behind a nearby grove of green bamboo.

The footsteps stopped near them, and the woman who had cried out earlier complained bashfully and angrily, “This is outside – how can you do such things?”

Now Wei Rao was certain – this person was her newly-arrived fifth sister-in-law, Chen Shi.

Sure enough, Lu Che’s voice followed, “There’s no one around, and we’re husband and wife – what’s wrong with being a little intimate?”

Wei Rao bit her lip secretly, holding back laughter. Who would have thought that Lu Che, usually so cool and aloof, would act like this in private?

She looked at Lu Zhuo, who had a stern expression with furrowed brows, seemingly very displeased with his cousin’s behavior.

“No, if someone sees us, how could I go on living?”

“Fine, fine, fine, then let’s go back to our room.”

The newlywed couple tangled in place for a while before quickly walking away.

Only after they had gone far did Wei Rao stand on tiptoe and whisper in Lu Zhuo’s ear, “So you brothers are all alike – when the roof beam is crooked, the pillars below…”

Before she could finish, Lu Zhuo pressed her against the wall behind them.

Wei Rao panicked, hitting him with her hands and kicking with her feet. The garden had people coming and going – if Chen Shi was afraid of being seen, so was Wei Rao!

“You wouldn’t dare!” With both hands restrained by him, Wei Rao said angrily.

Lu Zhuo really would dare, but since his cousin had done it first, if he followed suit, it would make it seem like all the Lu family brothers were improper.

Lu Zhuo released Wei Rao and put this debt on his newly-married cousin’s account.

A few days later, Lu Zhuo was in his study when Lu Che came to borrow books.

A’Gui invited him in.

In front of his elder brother, Lu Che was less cool and more respectful.

Lu Zhuo sat in his chair, looking him up and down several times.

Lu Che wondered, “Elder Brother, have I done something wrong?”

Lu Zhuo snorted coldly and said in a low voice, “On Mid-Autumn night, I was strolling in the garden and walked near the Green Bamboo Pavilion area, where I heard you and your wife exchanging a few words.”

Lu Che’s handsome face immediately turned red.

Since his marriage, he had only been frivolous once – on Mid-Autumn night – and had been scolded by Chen Shi for it. He never expected his elder brother to have overheard.

Lu Che’s face was crimson, too ashamed to know what to say.

Lu Zhuo didn’t elaborate further, only instructing him, “In the future, don’t fool around outside and ruin our Lu family’s reputation.”

Lu Che nodded repeatedly. Too embarrassed to borrow the book, he left shamefully.

Wei Rao happened to come by and saw Lu Che’s face so red that he didn’t dare look at her properly, hurriedly paying respects before fleeing. Wei Rao was extremely curious and went into the study to directly ask Lu Zhuo what had happened.

Lu Zhuo didn’t want to say.

Wei Rao’s mind turned, and she said incredulously, “You lectured Fifth Brother about that matter?”

Lu Zhuo said sternly, “He was wrong first. As his elder brother, I naturally must discipline him.”

Wei Rao scoffed at him, “I think you just believe that officials can set fires while common people can’t even light lamps!”

Lu Zhuo’s gaze shifted slightly as he suddenly grabbed Wei Rao’s hand and pulled her into his embrace.

Wei Rao struggled with muffled protests, but how could she ever escape this improper Young Master?