From an early age, the Third Young Master Lu’s twins didn’t get along well. The daughter was named Lu Siyong, and the son Lu Sitao. Young Sitao never understood why even his name had to share the same meaning as his sister’s.

Being twins wasn’t good at all.

Especially since the children were exceptionally good-looking and androgynous in their early years, adults often called Sitao “Siyong,” but never called his sister “Sitao.” From a young age, Sitao could sense the family’s adoration of his sister and their indifference toward him.

With such bias, Sitao felt utter contempt—

What was so great about Lu Siyong? She was just sweet-talking, deceptive, and loved acting coy.

Everyone was blind and couldn’t see Lu Siyong’s true nature.

Though they were twins, Sitao never liked being with his sister. What was annoying was that when their parents decided to begin their education, their father insisted on teaching them together for fairness’s sake. The twins’ father, Third Young Master Lu Yun, was a first-rate scholar of their time. While others envied and eagerly sought such personal tutoring from a famous scholar, Sitao wasn’t grateful.

Being proud by nature, he naturally harbored thoughts of surpassing his sister. Sitao didn’t want to be forever overshadowed by her.

The Third Young Master’s twins looked identical, both pure and transparent as children, delicate and lively. The Lu family could only tell them apart by their clothes. On the twins’ first day of studying with Lu Yun, the Lu family elders, including Luo Lingyu, curiously passed by the study again and again.

Spring flowers and leaves drifted throughout the city. Through the open window, two small children sat properly at specially made desks, their eyes like flowing lacquer, skin like snow, features refined. Looking left, then right, how adorably naive they were.

Siyong was smug, quickly glancing outside while turning pages. Across a small stream, leaves drifted in the water as she greeted the adults on the other side. Her expression was bright and spirited. However, when her gaze inadvertently fell upon her brother, Sitao gave her a look of disgust. When Lu Yun looked over, Sitao quickly averted his gaze and even shifted away, sitting further from his sister.

Unwilling to be associated with her.

Siyong: “…”

Her brother must be jealous that everyone loved her.

Siyong wouldn’t bother with him. When their father turned around, she quickly took out a small mirror, primping and preening, winking, and pursing her lips at her reflection. Sitao’s occasional glances at her grew more contemptuous. When Lu Yun turned back, young lady Siyong hurriedly tried to hide her mirror. But her father’s gaze drifted over, seemingly gentle yet sharp. The young lady’s hand trembled, and the mirror fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

Making a mistake on the first day of studies, Siyong was extremely flustered.

Lu Yun stared at his daughter’s teardrop-like eyes for a long while, then walked over, his robes gracefully brushing past the desk. He bent down to pick up the mirror and placed it on his daughter’s desk. He reached out to pat her cheek, saying softly: “How did you become so vain from such a young age?”

Siyong blushed: “Father…”

Lu Yun spoke gently: “Don’t do this again.”

Lu Yun turned his head, glancing at Sitao, seeing his son’s mocking look at his sister. Lu Yun’s voice became slightly stern: “Who taught you to write such crooked characters? Writing like this, you’ll copy them three hundred times as punishment.”

Young master Sitao, who had been bent over practicing, looked up in confusion, very angry: “Father!”

The twins each had their thoughts, and that afternoon when they saw their mother, they spoke about their father—

Siyong: “Father isn’t strict at all, he’s so patient teaching me. When I can’t remember something, he corrects me. I want to keep studying with Father.”

Sitao: “Father isn’t tolerant at all, he’s so impatient teaching me. He just glances at me when I recite something wrong, he’s scolded me several times, I don’t want to study with him anymore!”

Luo Lingyu: “…”

Well… after several years, Brother Xuecen was still only “treating them equally” in words, finding it just as difficult in practice.

However, Lu Yun was a scholar, and Luo Lingyu was quite eloquent. The two children were just beginning their education, and their father still had to attend court, so he didn’t teach them often. After Luo Lingyu’s gentle explanations, the young lady became disappointed while the young master was satisfied.

They usually studied on their own, with Lu Yun only checking on them every few days.

Siyong was confident she could study well and make her father proud. She felt she was already very diligent in her studies and writing. When she went to play, she saw Sitao also playing with their cousin from Second Uncle’s family. Siyong felt relieved, thinking Sitao was so careless that his studies would surely fall behind hers. The young lady walked past with her nose in the air, and Sitao, who was climbing a rockery, was extremely sensitive: “Stop right there! Did you just roll your eyes at me? I’m going to tell Mother!”

Siyong immediately retorted: “Tattletale, bootlicker. You only know how to curry favor with Mother.”

“Hmph, everyone likes me more anyway, only Mother dotes on you!”

How could he tolerate such provocation from his sister? So despite their cousin’s attempts to mediate, Sitao jumped down from the rockery and lunged at his sister, fighting with Siyong who had been born just moments before him but became his elder sister.

That night when Lu Yun returned, he saw two bruised children. The brother stubbornly pressed his lips together while the sister’s eyes were red and teary. Siyong said delicately: “Father, brother hit me first…”

Sitao: “You insulted me first! Father…”

Lu Yun: “Sitao, how dare you bully your sister? Copy our family rules ten times!”

Young lady Siyong buried herself in her father’s arms crying, secretly peeking at her brother through her fingers and showing a smug smile. Sitao was confused: “We have family rules?”

Lu Yun raised an eyebrow: “After your father writes them in a moment, we will.”

Sitao: “…”

Father’s favoritism was unbearable!

As Sitao was turning away angrily, he heard a cough. He turned his face up to see his mother’s graceful figure standing under the lantern outside the study. His mother was suppressing her laughter, having listened for who knows how long and coughed to signal when Lu Yun said he would make their son copy the family rules.

Lu Yun looked over.

Luo Lingyu smiled: “Who was it that talked about treating them equally?”

Lu Yun: “…”

He sighed slightly, reflecting on his failure to control himself again. He sighed to his daughter who was pretending to cry in his arms: “Then Siyong should copy the family rules with your brother. How could you hit your brother?”

Lu Yun then explained to the brother why he was being punished: “A young gentleman is stronger, no matter how angry you get, you can’t hit your sister, alright?”

Sitao lowered his head in shame: “I understand.”

Since their father made them both be punished, the matter was resolved satisfactorily. Siyong: “…What?!”

She opened her small mouth in disbelief, while her brother Sitao smiled with satisfaction.

When it came to actual studying, the siblings quarreled fiercely again. Sister Siyong was devastated to discover that her brother had an almost photographic memory. Sitao didn’t appear to study more diligently than her, yet he always performed better in his lessons. Even though their father doted on her so much, he couldn’t find any fault with her brother. Every time her brother looked at her challengingly with a face so similar to her own, Siyong couldn’t help but get angry.

So they fought and argued again.

The siblings were always fighting and quarreling. In the “Clear Courtyard,” Lu Yun favored Siyong while Luo Lingyu favored Sitao. With the couple balancing each other out, the siblings maintained a basic equilibrium. However, as soon as they left the “Clear Courtyard,” Siyong would be surrounded by the Lu family members while Sitao was ignored.

Sitao despised such a mob and didn’t like talking much with the elders who doted on his sister. The young master never sought attention, and contentment with his own company, and both sides were satisfied with this arrangement.

Sitao was used to being overlooked and could endure it most times, but what he disliked most was their birthday. Though he and his sister shared the same birthday, his sister received several times more gifts than him. That day was his sister’s most glorious day of the year, but it was Sitao’s most hated day. Yet he pretended and never admitted he hated this day. Siyong, who was deeply attuned to her brother’s thoughts, completely understood how he felt and naturally enjoyed watching him suffer.

It was Lu Yun who put a stop to the Lu family’s crazy tradition of holding grand birthday celebrations for the children. The Lu family claimed it was for both twins, but they only cared about Siyong. Lu Yun used the excuse that children couldn’t handle such grand celebrations to stop the large banquets.

The Third Young Master tried his best to minimize the differences between the two children, but though grand banquets were stopped, small celebrations continued.

Another birthday came around, and Siyong and Sitao both turned six. Early in the morning, Siyong was already anticipating the gifts the elders would bring today. While her maid was helping her do her hair, she saw her brother walk past the window. The young lady called out through the window, raising her eyes mockingly: “Sitao, are you going to hide away all day again? How pitiful!”

Sitao suppressed his anger.

He turned his head to see his sister’s delicate, lovely little face, her eyes blinking teasingly at him. Feeling he had grown up now, he didn’t want to quarrel with his sister like a child anymore. The young master disdainfully turned away: “Begging for others’ gifts with a wagging tail is not what a true gentleman does!”

Siyong giggled: “I’m not a gentleman, I’m a young lady. You’re not a gentleman either, you’re a hypocrite.”

Sitao: “…You!”

His face reddened with anger at his sister’s words, but then he saw his sister leaning on the window, mysteriously beckoning to him, saying sweetly: “Aren’t you just jealous of me, jealous that adults like me so much? Bark twice like a dog, and sister will help you come up with an idea.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Sitao went: “Woof woof woof!”

Siyong: “…”

She froze, staring at her brother’s little face for a long while, then remarked: “Sitao, you’re thick-skinned!”

Sitao wasn’t bothered, only suspicious of her motives: “Do you have a solution?”

Siyong said playfully: “You’ll have to guess!”

During the day, Lu Yun was working and not at home. Luo Lingyu, always elegant, went to the palace to keep the Empress company. Lu Yun spent the whole day working with Emperor Liu Shu, while Luo Lingyu spent the day tending to flower honey with Empress Zhou Yangling. When the couple met at the palace in the evening, they realized this coincidence. The Emperor and Empress invited them to stay for dinner, and during the meal, Luo Lingyu mentioned it was her two little treasures’ birthday, which sparked Empress Zhou Yangling’s interest.

Zhou Yangling spoke softly: “After years of recuperating from illness, I haven’t left the palace for a long time. Your Majesty, why don’t we visit the Lu family tonight and see how big the two children have grown?”

The Empress had developed chronic health issues due to difficult childbirth, and it took several years of recovery for her health to improve somewhat. With such a delicate beauty, the Emperor was extremely cautious, but he never refused any of the Empress’s suggestions.

The four of them went to the Lu family together, with the Emperor and Empress bringing gifts for Lu Yun’s children. The atmosphere was pleasant, with Luo Lingyu holding Zhou Yangling’s arm, even enthusiastically beginning to introduce the vegetation in the “Clear Courtyard” from recent years. But as they stepped through the “Clear Courtyard’s” main gate, two children bounced out from a dark corner, crying out in clear voices:

“Father, Mother, why are you back so late!”

Luo Lingyu was stunned, and Lu Yun was dazed. The couple stared foolishly at the pair of children hugging their legs.

A long, long while passed.

Liu Shu remained silent.

Zhou Yangling hesitated: “Sister Luo, I remember Siyong and Sitao are twins, a boy, and a girl… but now… which one is the girl and which is the boy?”

It turned out that the two children who had enthusiastically rushed to welcome their parents back were both delicate and tender, both dressed in little girls’ clothes. The same eyes, the same expressions, the same faces, both looking up expectantly at the adults… Lu Yun and Luo Lingyu were both hesitant, looking for a long time but unable to tell which one was the boy.

Lu Yun’s face darkened.

Luo Lingyu burst out laughing, her voice floating: “…This, this might be our family’s fine tradition…”

She looked worriedly at Lu Yun: Could the habit of cross-dressing be inherited?

Lu Yun’s face turned iron-gray, so angry that he lost his usual composed scholarly demeanor and spoke carelessly: “Nonsense!”