March was the perfect season for spring outings. Now with this heavy snowfall, spring scenery had transformed into snow scenes—nothing could be more novel than this. The young masters and ladies of the Capital City all rushed outside the city in droves, fearing that if they arrived late, the mountain snow scenes would already be ruined by footprints, chaotically spoiling their interest.

Wei Rao was also going outside the city, but to celebrate her maternal grandmother Shou’an Jun’s birthday.

When her grandmother was working as a wet nurse in the palace and stirring up various rumors and gossip, Wei Rao’s mother, Xiao Zhou Shi, was still a young girl, and Wei Rao didn’t even exist yet. When she grew up and heard those idle gossip, she curiously asked her grandmother about them. Grandmother avoided the topic under the pretext of “it’s inappropriate to discuss palace affairs” and only talked about the origin of her noble title.

Back then, before grandmother left the palace, Emperor Yuanjia asked what reward she wanted. Grandmother was very moved and reminisced about her rural childhood life, expressing that she wanted to return to her homeland, buy two acres of land, raise pigs and chickens, and live out her remaining years in peace.

Emperor Yuanjia didn’t let grandmother return to her native land where no relatives remained alive, but instead granted her an estate and a thousand acres of fertile land in the Capital City’s outskirts. He inscribed the plaque “Leisure Manor” for the estate. Besides this, Emperor Yuanjia also granted the grandmother the title “Shou’an Jun,” exempting her from having to kneel before noble princes and aristocrats.

Grandmother had a residence in the city, but since leaving the palace, she had always lived at Leisure Manor.

The construction of Leisure Manor was handled by the Imperial Household Department. It occupied an enormous area and looked imposing from the outside, but one could only glimpse its elegant refinement everywhere upon entering. Except for its remote location, it was in no way inferior to the residences of the Capital City’s powerful families, and it additionally possessed the beauty of Jiangnan gardens. Compared to this, grandmother’s small residence in the Capital City was practically servants’ quarters. If Wei Rao were in her shoes, she would also want to live at Leisure Manor.

With this snowfall, Leisure Manor would surely be even more beautiful.

Wei Rao was somewhat impatient.

When leaving, she had only thought about how beautiful the snow scenery would be, not considering that other young masters and ladies would also be going outside the city. Various carriages from duke mansions, marquis mansions, earl mansions, and officials’ families of all ranks, along with merchants’ cargo wagons, piled together and formed a long dragon blocking the city gate. Earl Cheng’an’s carriage could only pitifully become the tail end.

Wei Rao patiently endured, leaning against the seat back with her eyes closed to rest.

“Good heavens, so many people! How long will this take? Shoucheng, let’s go to the front and have a word with the city guards to let us through first.”

A voice loud as a bell suddenly came from beside the carriage, making Wei Rao’s ears tingle.

From what the speaker meant, he wanted to rely on connections with the city guards to cut in line and pass through first.

To do such a rude thing as cutting in line while speaking so loudly—how could someone be so thick-skinned?

Wei Rao opened her eyes, looking toward the curtain, preparing to hear how the person called “Shoucheng” would respond.

“Let’s queue up. No rush.”

Just five short words, clear and melodious, pleasantly resonant.

Wei Rao was attracted by this pleasing voice and quietly moved to the carriage window, signaling Bitao and Liu Ya sitting in the carriage compartment to make no sound. She carefully rolled up the edge of the window curtain, and when the fabric revealed a gap as thin as a chopstick between the curtain and window frame, Wei Rao stopped in time and tilted her head to look outside.

About ten steps behind and to the side of their carriage, two fine horses were stopped. On the horse in front sat a robust man wearing a sapphire blue round-collar brocade robe, with thick eyebrows and tiger-like eyes, skin like ancient bronze. Wei Rao recognized this person—it was Second Master Qi from Marquis Pingxi’s mansion, who had passed the military imperial examination and now served as an imperial guard in the palace. Due to his straightforward nature, he had offended many dissolute young men, but was much appreciated by Emperor Yuanjia.

The other person’s horse was positioned further back, and his upper body was blocked by Earl Cheng’an’s carriage, so Wei Rao could only see a pair of hands holding the reins. Those hands were white as beautiful jade with slender finger joints—very attractive.

“You’re just too rule-abiding.”

Just as Wei Rao was secretly observing, Second Master Qi urged his horse to retreat, clearly showing he wouldn’t go forward to cut in line.

With this, his companion certainly wouldn’t go forward either.

Wei Rao lowered the curtain and sat back in the middle of the seat, quietly asking Bitao and Liu Ya, “Among the Capital City’s noble young men, is there anyone called Shoucheng?”

Born and raised in the Capital City, Wei Rao had heard of countless young men from prestigious families, directly or indirectly. That person just now could make the independent-minded Second Master Qi obediently listen with just a simple sentence—he must either have extraordinary status or extraordinary ability, certainly not a nobody.

Bitao and Liu Ya both shook their heads—they hadn’t heard of such a person either.

“Shoucheng should be a courtesy name. If he revealed his given name, we might know it,” Liu Ya speculated.

A man’s courtesy name was like a young lady’s private name—used only by close friends and family in private.

“Forget it, whoever he is has nothing to do with us.”

As Wei Rao’s words fell, the carriage finally moved, advancing half a carriage length forward.

Wei Rao was patient, but behind the carriage, Second Master Qi Zhongkai craned his neck and became impatient after waiting just this short while, turning to Lu Zhuo and saying: “Are you going or not? If you’re not going, I’ll leave the city first!”

Lu Zhuo smiled faintly: “Brother Qi, please go ahead.”

Wearing a white brocade robe, he sat calmly on his horse with a composed bearing, truly not in any hurry at all.

How could Qi Zhongkai abandon his good friend? The two had known each other since childhood, and then trained together in the frontier military for five years. Three years ago, he returned to the capital to take the military imperial examination and then became an imperial guard in the palace. This fellow Lu Zhuo was kept in the military camp by his father. If it weren’t for reaching marriageable age and the Duke’s wife repeatedly urging, the old Duke wouldn’t have agreed to transfer Lu Zhuo back to the capital.

“Eight years—your family’s old master is ruthless enough.” Unable to move, Qi Zhongkai looked Lu Zhuo up and down, his sympathy suddenly turning to teasing. “That’s not right—I stayed outside for five years and got tanned dark, but you stayed three years longer than I. How are you still this fair? Could it be you were always hiding in the tent, slacking off?”

Lu Zhuo glanced at Qi Zhongkai’s bronze-like, resolute face and said, “I remember you were this color before going to the frontier for training, too.”

Some people’s dark skin came from sun exposure, while others were naturally dark—you couldn’t blame the sun.

Hearing this, Qi Zhongkai suddenly burst into hearty laughter.

The Qi family men all had loud voices. Even Lu Zhuo, being close to Qi Zhongkai’s laughter assault on his ears, frowned slightly.

Earl Cheng’an’s carriage was right in front. When Qi Zhongkai suddenly burst into laughter, Wei Rao and her servants in the carriage were all startled, and even the big black horse pulling the carriage restlessly shifted its hooves, causing the carriage to sway twice.

Wei Rao said nothing, but her face had already darkened, one hand covering her chest where her heart was beating rapidly.

Their young lady was such a delicate person—how could she endure such a fright?

Bitao poked her head out the carriage window, glaring at the back and saying: “You’re Second Master Qi, right? Could you please keep your voice down? You’re about to frighten our horse.”

Wei Rao didn’t stop her maid. She had seen Emperor Yuanjia at her grandmother’s estate and had also met Qi Zhongkai. Though they weren’t close friends, making a small, reasonable request, Qi Zhongkai should give them face.

Qi Zhongkai recognized Wei Rao but didn’t recognize Bitao. From behind the carriage, he also couldn’t tell the carriage owner’s identity. Having been lectured by a young maid while laughing happily, Qi Zhongkai became unhappy. He rode his horse to the window and glared at Bitao, asking: “You even dare to manage me—who is your master?”

Bitao snorted softly: “Second Master Qi has such a poor memory. Last year, when His Majesty visited Leisure Manor, you were dizzy from the sun outside and begged me to pour you a bowl of cool tea. Have you forgotten this?”

As soon as she mentioned Leisure Manor, Qi Zhongkai immediately remembered, and his mind conjured up a charming face like a peony flower, along with a pair of phoenix eyes bright and shimmering like water pearls—so beautiful that one would want to hold her in their palms, devoutly gazing up at her daily, even willing to press one’s face against the soles of her shoes.

Such a delicate beauty would indeed be easily frightened by his loud voice!

“So it’s Fourth Young Lady.” Qi Zhongkai directly ignored Bitao and, guessing Wei Rao’s position, cupped his hands apologetically. “I didn’t know Fourth Young Lady was here. Just now was my discourtesy. Fourth Young Lady, rest assured, I’ll speak quietly now and guarantee not to disturb you again.”

Even through the curtain, Wei Rao could feel Qi Zhongkai’s sincerity. Since he was giving her face, Wei Rao had to return the courtesy, so she replied in a low voice: “The young maid was making a big fuss over nothing. Please don’t mind it, Second Master.”

Qi Zhongkai laughed: “I don’t mind, I don’t mind. Fourth Young Lady is going out at this time—are you also going to admire the snow?”

Wei Rao smiled: “You could say that.”

Although Qi Zhongkai was a rough man, he could tell by now that the Fourth Young Lady was unwilling to continue chatting with him. This made sense too—with people coming and going near the city gate, if someone saw him lingering beside Earl Cheng’an’s carriage, it would again give rise to gossip unfavorable to Fourth Young Lady.

“Fourth Young Lady, please sit comfortably. I’ll take my leave first.”

“Mm.”

Even the beauty’s light nasal sound was quite pleasant to hear.

Qi Zhongkai reluctantly returned to Lu Zhuo’s side.

Lu Zhuo wasn’t curious about who was in the carriage, but Qi Zhongkai adjusted his mount’s position to sit alongside Lu Zhuo, then turned his head and quietly explained to Lu Zhuo: “That’s Fourth Young Lady from Earl Cheng’an’s mansion, the most beautiful young lady in our Capital City. You just returned from the frontier, so you might not have heard yet.”

Lu Zhuo indeed hadn’t heard of the Wei family’s Fourth Young Lady, but he had heard of Shou’an Jun and Consort Li.

Consort Li was the Fourth Young Lady’s mother, Xiao Zhou Shi.

The rumors Lu Zhuo had heard said that Xiao Zhou Shi couldn’t endure the loneliness of widowhood, abandoned her young daughter, and returned to her maternal family to live at Leisure Manor with Shou’an Jun. Emperor Yuanjia, grateful for Shou’an Jun’s nurturing grace, often visited Leisure Manor. To consolidate the emperor’s favor, Shou’an Jun commanded Xiao Zhou Shi to dress up beautifully to seduce His Majesty. Emperor Yuanjia was indeed tempted by Xiao Zhou Shi’s beauty, took her as a consort, and granted her the title Consort Li.

After entering the palace, Consort Li was deeply favored by Emperor Yuanjia, but due to her dissolute behavior repeatedly breaking palace rules, she was disliked by the Empress Dowager. Later, Consort Li became pregnant and gave birth to a prince, originally a joyful event. But on the same day, the Empress Dowager suddenly fell gravely ill. When they consulted an enlightened master for divination, he said that the prince born to Consort Li had incompatible birth charts with the Empress Dowager. If raised in the palace, the Empress Dowager’s life would be in danger.

Emperor Yuanjia was filial. For the Empress Dowager’s sake, he sent Consort Li and her son to the Western Mountain Palace, where they had remained for two years now.

These pieces of information passed through Lu Zhuo’s mind like a breeze carrying the scent of fresh snow, not affecting him in any way. But Lu Zhuo didn’t know that whenever the young masters of the Capital City mentioned Wei Rao, they would all excitedly comment at length. Lu Zhuo’s indifference immediately made him an anomaly.

Discussing romantic matters with such a serious person was particularly uninteresting.

Qi Zhongkai found a reason for Lu Zhuo’s lack of interest: “I almost forgot—you’re an engaged man.”

Once engaged, the next steps would be marriage, having children, and becoming a father. Since the Lu family had no tradition of taking concubines, no matter how beautiful other women were, it wouldn’t be Lu Zhuo’s turn—naturally, there was no interest in discussion.

Qi Zhongkai sympathetically patted Lu Zhuo’s shoulder.

Lu Zhuo needed no sympathy.

The fiancée his grandmother had chosen for him was the legitimate granddaughter of Imperial Tutor Old Master Xie, who could paint at three years old and compose poetry at five, excelling in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, with the reputation of being the Capital City’s number one talented lady. Lu Zhuo hadn’t met his fiancée, but his grandmother, mother, and other family elders and female cousins had all met her, and without exception, they all praised her beauty and virtue.

This was the type of wife Lu Zhuo admired—those women with only beauty but notorious reputations, whom Lu Zhuo disdained to look at and disdained to criticize.