Spring was a season of blossoms in full riot — and also the season that gave Xiao Nanhui the most headaches.

The sound of women’s light laughter and chatter hit her together with a heavy wave of pollen, and she let out a tremendous sneeze, raising her head to take in her surroundings.

Although it was called a side courtyard, this was in fact the rear garden of the Xuanyuan Prince’s Mansion.

The entire rear garden was roughly half the size of the Xiao Family Mansion, and at this time — the height of spring — those rare and precious flowers that had clearly been funded by considerable sums of money were all blooming in gorgeous brilliance. A meandering stream and small bridges wound through artfully placed rockeries, and even the stepping stones along the garden paths appeared to have been carefully selected and refined.

This was, after all, a prince’s mansion, and it had the magnificence that implied.

But for some reason, she found herself thinking of the Mei Family mansion she had once visited. The Mei Family’s courtyard had only the old servant named A’Qiu to tend to it, and was nowhere near as meticulous and all-encompassing as this place. Yet that entire garden of plum trees had been possessed of a quiet beauty infused with a passionate vitality, and one could feel far more keenly the devotion and love that the master of the house had poured into it.

The scene before her now was beautiful, certainly, but because everything about it was impeccable, it ended up looking indistinct and featureless.

“This garden is managed day-to-day by the people I put to work on it. It was neglected for quite some time before, and it took no small effort on my part to bring it to this state.”

Lady Bo looked upon that sea of flowers and blossoms with a feeling of genuine pride welling from within.

Xiao Nanhui discreetly cast a glance at the other party’s pair of hands — plump and smooth, without a speck of soil to be found anywhere — and offered a labored concurrence: “Madam has truly gone to great pains.”

Lady Bo was evidently not particularly concerned with her reaction. She continued walking forward, circling around a cluster of hydrangeas, and came within sight of more than ten young women dressed in pink and green.

Most of those women were no older than twenty — the finest years of their lives, blooming like flowers. Some stood, some leaned languidly against the floral platform that had been built out over a pool of clear water, silk and brocade for the guessing game twisted and tangled around their young and rounded figures. The tips of their feet in gold-threaded fine slippers leaped nimbly, accidentally toppling those glittering silver trays and porcelain vases, sending vivid and plump fruits rolling free and honey-blended flower wine spilling across the ground, steaming up a heady fragrance in the warmth of the spring sunlight.

Within this scene of spring beauty and color, one figure stood out in particular. She wore a gown of mingled gold and crimson gauze; the breast wrap was of snow-white satin hung with beaded pendants; her waist was cinched exceptionally tight, her chest lifted exceptionally high. Atop her head, an elaborate towering hairdo like a stacked treasure mountain was encrusted with ornaments, and at its center a solid gold, kingfisher-feather phoenix hairpin was especially eye-catching — a monument rising prominently above level ground.

That head — how could it weigh anything less than twenty or thirty catties?

Xiao Nanhui’s thoughts had drifted, and by the time she came to herself, the beauties on the floral platform had already stilled and were looking over at her with curiosity.

She hurriedly withdrew her gaze and tried to make herself as inconspicuous as possible in a corner.

Then the woman in the gold-and-crimson gauze also turned around at last. Catching sight of Lady Bo at once, she came stepping quickly down from the floral platform.

“Aunt, you’ve come at just the right time! The target-guessing game is terribly dull — I was just discussing with everyone whether we might change it to the hook-hiding game. Come join my team, Aunt, quickly, quickly—”

The red-clad woman called Lady Bo “Aunt,” which meant they were relatives. Only their temperaments — the difference between them was considerable.

Lady Bo did not move a muscle, and her smile remained in place.

“Wanwan, mind your manners in front of guests.”

“Yes, Madam.”

The young woman called Wanwan assumed a sulky expression and turned her head, only then noticing the person following behind Lady Bo.

It was no wonder she had not noticed before. Xiao Nanhui had been in such a rush to leave the house that day that she had chosen a plain, everyday outfit, and had only arrived to discover: the color happened to match, precisely and unfortunately, the color of the clothing worn by the servants throughout the prince’s mansion.

“And she is—?”

Lady Bo smiled without showing her teeth, yet her voice was noticeably brighter than anything Xiao Nanhui had heard from her before.

“This is Miss Xiao Nanhui, the adopted daughter of the Qinghuai Marquis.”

The very next second, the garden that had been filled with laughter fell into a momentary silence.

Countless curious and probing gazes converged on a single point. Word of what had occurred at the Jiaosong memorial rites had reached the ears of most of these officials’ household women, one way or another. What people were curious about was not whether this woman had truly been caught up in those affairs connected to the former dynasty, but rather the rumors about all the love and enmity said to exist between her and the Qinghuai Marquis.

Xiao Nanhui stood where she was, unable to advance or retreat.

She prayed that someone would suddenly appear in that moment and rescue her from this torment. Yet that person ultimately did not come.

Better to rely on oneself than on anyone else.

In any case, she could not leave at this juncture. Xiao Nanhui drew a deep breath and took the initiative to step forward.

“I have only just arrived, and have never played any of these games before. I must trouble all the young ladies to be my guides.”

Lady Bo glanced at her, appearing somewhat surprised that she had adjusted herself so quickly, but then returned to her usual composure.

“As the guest, let Wanwan have Miss Xiao join her team — would that be all right?”

No, it would not. Not at all.

Xiao Nanhui was frantically shaking her head inwardly, and the young woman called Wanwan clearly did not like her either.

“In reply to Madam — our team is exactly seven, just the right number. We cannot accommodate anyone else.”

A surge of wild delight rose in Xiao Nanhui’s heart, and the words to gracefully excuse herself were already on the tip of her tongue — but Lady Bo spoke again.

“Is there not still the role of the ‘free bird’?”

In the target-guessing and hook-hiding game, players were divided into two camps. Beyond this, when the number of players was odd, the one remaining person could move freely between the two camps and was called the “free bird.”

Of course, these details were unknown to Xiao Nanhui, who had never played target-guessing or hook-hiding before.

When the drum sounded, she was like a sparrow that had blundered into a cage, pushed and jostled about by these high-born and noisy birds of the golden variety.

Two attendants stood to the side beating hand drums. When the drum sounded, everyone linked their sleeves together, laughing and jostling, using the commotion to conceal the motion of passing the hidden hook. When the drum stopped, the upper camp could no longer move, and the lower camp had to name which person held the object.

The rules seemed simple, but for women who had spent long years deep in the inner courtyards of noble households, it was a rare diversion that allowed them to relax their composure somewhat.

Xiao Nanhui watched for a while and began to get a general sense of it. She also noticed that when those young women were not putting on airs, there was something genuinely charming and sweet about them, and she happily followed along to one side as an unassuming observer.

Her eyesight was unlike that of ordinary people, and seeing through the small movements concealed under those sleeves was effortless.

But no matter how socially obtuse she might be about some things, she understood the principle that she must not stand out at a moment like this.

And so for three rounds in a row when it was her turn, she failed to guess correctly.

Wanwan had been the leader of the upper camp from the start, and having won several rounds in a row, was thoroughly pleased with herself. The eyebrows flying up toward her temples seemed to have risen even higher, and her whole person was in high spirits.

When this round ended, she stepped into the center of the floor and swept her gaze around the room.

“Playing like this is no fun. How about we hide something with a real prize at stake?”

A few of the younger girls were already tempted and were discussing amongst themselves what sort of prize it might be.

Xiao Nanhui, however, was being visited by the sleep she had missed the night before, and was yawning in the midst of the soft and sweet chorus of agreement.

The very next moment, she watched as the other party raised a hand and touched the dazzling gold hairpin atop her head.

“What if we hide this gold hairpin?”

All the young women immediately grew excited. Though Xiao Nanhui was not very knowledgeable in such matters, she could judge from the reactions of those around her that the gold hairpin must be extraordinarily precious and rare.

Was she truly willing to bring out such a treasure as the prize?

Her moment of puzzlement had not yet found an answer when the others had already joyfully launched a new round, ready to show off their best.

Xiao Nanhui was squeezed in among a crowd of excited young ladies, the mingled fragrance of various face powders filling her nostrils. She was somewhat distracted, all of her attention focused on the sneeze that was slowly gathering in her nose.

She did not know how much time had passed before she finally let out a tremendous “Achoo!” — and the hand drums beside her abruptly fell silent at the very same moment.

Wanwan immediately thrust a finger straight at Xiao Nanhui, who was still in a daze.

“It’s with you!”

Xiao Nanhui shook her head blankly.

“It’s not with me.”

But the very next second, another young woman nearby suddenly spoke up.

“Miss Wanwan guessed correctly — I did pass it to Miss Xiao just now, I did.”

In an instant, every gaze in the room swept to converge on Xiao Nanhui.

Xiao Nanhui blinked. The three souls and six spirits that had gone wandering from her body due to lack of sleep finally returned to their proper place, and in that instant she was fully, sharply awake.

Su Pingchuan had warned her a thousand times over to be careful, yet she had still been careless and underestimated them.

She could not fault herself entirely — in her experience of the world, the only things capable of causing harm were blades, spears, and swords. Who could have anticipated that a needle might be hidden among this warmth of fragrance and softness?

Lady Bo stood not far away, watching. She deliberately waited for a moment before she spoke.

“Miss Xiao — is the object in your hand?”

Xiao Nanhui continued to shake her head.

“It is not.”

Then someone nearby murmured at her side, apparently meaning to be helpful.

“Miss Xiao, if you like the gold hairpin, just say so. Do not lose something greater for the sake of something small.”

She did not like hairpins or jewelry.

Whether it was made of gold, or silver, or some divine celestial stone from the nine heavens — she had no use for any of it.

But no one present would believe that. In their eyes, she was nothing more than an orphan girl of humble birth and hard-to-shed base tendencies.

In essence, no different from Mo Chunhua.

She raised her head and looked at the figures surrounding her.

Those faces, still with something of youth’s freshness in them, were every one full of innocence and fragility. Anyone who tried to pick out a spot of foulness from amidst all this powder and rouge would come up empty-handed.

And yet somehow, something was most definitely concealed within.

Was this the hook-hiding game? This was clearly a game of concealed malicious intent.

Xiao Nanhui let out a sigh and walked directly toward a young woman standing in a corner.

“Young lady, does your lower back feel a little uncomfortable?”

The young woman’s face flushed red — she had evidently been caught out — but still had no intention of giving in so easily.

“What are you talking about—”

Xiao Nanhui said no more. She simply stepped forward, swung one long arm around, and pressed it to the young woman’s back. Before the other party had time to react, she had already extracted the trouble-making object and held it in her hand.

“Young lady had the object hidden in her waistband. How careless — you must have forgotten to take it out.”

The gleaming gold hairpin refracted blinding yellow light in the sunshine, like a silent mockery.

Wanwan’s composure was nowhere near her aunt’s, and her face was already showing visible strain. Yet Xiao Nanhui had already walked over to her, reached up, and planted the gold hairpin back into that small-mountain-like hairdo.

“Such a precious thing — young lady had best keep a close eye on it.”

Lady Bo, who had been silently watching the show all along, finally spoke — directed at her own niece, her tone carrying an air of reproach whose sincerity was difficult to gauge.

“Since you wore this hairpin out today, you must take proper care of it. Knowing how careless and forgetful you are — if you were to lose an imperially bestowed object, how would you answer for it? Now quickly thank Miss Xiao.”

The moment Wanwan heard Lady Bo mention the origin of her hairpin, a flash of delight was evident on her face — yet she had to put on an expression of aggrievedness on the outside, and deliberately touched the kingfisher-feather adornment at the top of the pin.

“I only thought that such a beautiful thing should come out and see a bit of fresh air now and then — I wasn’t thinking much beyond that. As I see it—” Wanwan’s gaze made a circuit and landed on Xiao Nanhui, “Miss Xiao just now could be said to have guessed it correctly. This hairpin looks quite fitting on you too — why not just give it to you?”

Was this — framing someone, and when that failed, now resorting to some other scheme?

Xiao Nanhui’s inner world was roaring. She was already having trouble keeping her face under control.

Which eye of yours sees that gold-glittering pin as fitting for me? You could pick anyone here at random and they would suit it better than I would!

The words to refuse were not yet out of her mouth when Lady Bo had already taken up the thread.

“How forthright of you — but you do not know that this gold hairpin is an imperially bestowed object and may not be casually transferred to another person. Miss Xiao may have the backing of the Marquis Mansion, but she cannot accept something like this.”

Was this remark meant for her ears? But what was the point of saying it to her?

Xiao Nanhui’s patience had reached its limit. She found the whole thing absurd, and watching the two of them go back and forth at each other, the tide of weariness within her had nearly reached the back of her throat.

Having kept up appearances for this long, it seemed to be about time she could take her leave.

“I heard the Left General mention earlier some details about the Guangyao Battalion that have not yet been worked out, so I will go wait in the front hall rather than disturb everyone further here.”

She said these words deliberately fast, making no secret that it was merely an excuse to leave, and leaving the other party no opportunity whatsoever to push further.

And yet Lady Bo at that moment suddenly appeared to have forgotten to read the room, and before she had retreated even half a step, spoke up.

“A moment.” Her voice was still soft. Her eyes were still curved in a smile. “I took notice of you when we met at the Yan Family gathering before — since we have run into each other again today, allow me as someone of the older generation to make some arrangements for someone of the younger. The Qinghuai Marquis comes from a distinguished lineage, only the household has been rather quiet these past years, with just you as a young woman, which must make things rather inconvenient in many respects. You ought to settle down and start a family before too long. I happen to know a fair number of talented young men in this city — some day you can come find me at the mansion, and I will go through them with you. If any one of them seems agreeable, I can have someone draw up a birth-date chart and perform a divination.”

This one truly would not let her go.

First she had insinuated that her life would be short and her fate poorly matched; now she was playing the matchmaker, determined to fix her a proper marriage. What was she trying to accomplish, exactly?

She certainly did not believe the person before her was acting out of the same kind-heartedness as Dujuan. Someone who viewed the Flying廉 General as a crude boorish woman could not possibly look down to truly respect her background.

Seeing that Xiao Nanhui was not engaging, Wanwan instantly and nimbly began gilding her dear aunt’s image.

“Madam is so kind-hearted — not minding that such trivial matters cost her thought and effort, and even willing to personally make the arrangements. The younger generation truly has good fortune in her.”

Whatever fortune that might be, anyone who wanted it was welcome to it. She, for one, had no capacity to accept it.

The smell of face powder and flower pollen in her nostrils seemed to grow even more pungent. Xiao Nanhui still tried to keep her tone as light as possible.

“Many thanks for Madam’s kind intentions. Only I grew up in the military, with a blunt and direct temperament and rough habits — I fear there are no talented young men willing to spend their remaining days in my company, and I would not want to impose that suffering on anyone.”

“What kind of talk is that?” Wanwan covered her mouth with a light laugh, her words carrying an air of affected, familiar teasing. “What woman doesn’t get married? Even if there is no man one fancies, one can always find a compatible match. You can hardly wait until you’re past your prime and still alone — by that point no young man from a respectable family would be willing to propose—”

Pop.

Something flew over the heads of everyone present, traced the path of a parabola, and landed squarely on Wanwan’s conspicuously prominent chest, cutting off her unceasing torrent of words.

Her gaze drifted slowly downward. There, fixed very securely to her precious snow-white satin fabric, was a peach pit with a smear of saliva still on it, slowly soaking out a spreading circle of peach-pink moisture.

The smile on the young woman’s face gradually froze. Even spreading all five fingers could not cover the twitching at the corners of her mouth.

“H-how dare—”

“She says she doesn’t want to marry. So she won’t marry.”

A short, stout figure dropped down and planted itself in front of Xiao Nanhui, her round, full-moon face still streaked with a line of peach juice not yet fully dry. Bolao stood with hands on her hips and swept the room with her gaze, taking a deep breath — and she had all the bearing of a palace etiquette matron.

“It’s not like she’s one of the ladies of Wangchen Tower. What — she can’t live without a man?”

Those words dropped, and the whole room was struck speechless.

Between the uncouth behavior and the language coming out of that mouth, the assembled company would be hard-pressed to recall the last time, across ten-odd years of combined experience, they had witnessed a scene of this caliber.

“How dare you, you lowly wretch!” The words Wanwan had been straining to get out finally came together coherently. The cherry-pink mouth that had been so primly pursed before was now open wide enough to fit a washbasin. “Where did this wild quail spring from?! You cheap-footed hussy! How dare you shoot your mouth off in the grounds of the Prince’s Mansion?! Look at what kind of place this is — and you, a stump that hasn’t even reached the height of a stove, have the gall to stand here and speak to me?!”

It was that last line that told Xiao Nanhui things were about to go badly.

Of all the things to say — why did she have to say something about the height?

Xiao Nanhui watched as a certain large head slowly rose before her eyes, its normally smooth and neatly coiled bun now bristling with several flyaway strands of hair from the force of the fury.

“Size is settled by fists!”

The words were barely out before a gust of wind swept past the assembled beauties, and in the blink of an eye came charging toward that expanse of red gauze.

Wanwan had perhaps encountered plenty of short people before, but she had never encountered such a ferocious-looking one. She was frightened on the spot, her legs giving out and her eyes snapping shut, and she fell sitting to the ground.

Yet the anticipated blow to the face did not come. She tremblingly opened her eyes — and saw a short, thick, round little arm, like a small lotus root, hovering above her head.

Bolao’s palm had not struck the face directly, but landed precisely on the hairdo above. Her palm still held back half an inch without contact, yet the force of the blow had already burst through forcefully.

Poor Wanwan only felt the top of her head go tight, then go cold — and the hairdo she had piled up as high as half a couplet’s worth of characters came crashing down in ruin. Flower pieces, false hair, and jeweled ornaments scattered in every direction as that entire mass of hair collapsed, and the gold hairpin she was most proud of went flying out with a whoosh, sending the surrounding women crying out in shock and tumbling into one another.

Watching the floral platform descend into total chaos — a scene of chickens flying and dogs jumping — Xiao Nanhui stood for a moment in stunned silence, then could not hold back and burst out laughing.

And it was precisely at that moment that a voice came from several dozen paces behind her.

“Madam.”

And then, in just an instant, that same voice came from one pace behind her.

“Your hairpin has fallen.”

The smile froze on Xiao Nanhui’s lips.

What manner of person could move several dozen paces in a single instant, while she — a person trained in martial arts — had not perceived it in the slightest?

She must be seeing things.

Xiao Nanhui slowly turned her head. The owner of the voice had already brushed past her and continued moving forward.

She caught only a glimpse — an aged hand holding the gold hairpin.

And then a sweep of brown hem, drifting past in silence.