This residence had indeed been unoccupied for a long time. Although it was kept clean, being too large and lacking in human presence, it still looked desolate. However, from this desolation, one could see what it looked like during its prosperous times.

Such a fine residence – why was it abandoned?

Qi Yue looked up at the ancient and grand mansion before her. Above hung a plaque, but it bore no inscription.

How… strange.

“Has the Shoumu Study been prepared?” Chen Shi asked.

The servants quickly replied that it was ready.

“Move Yueniang’s things there,” Chen Shi said.

At these words, the three people walking ahead were stunned again and turned to look at Chen Shi.

Chen Shi paid no attention, and Qi Yue naturally followed the host’s arrangements.

“You go settle in and rest first,” Chen Shi said.

When family members meet, they naturally need to speak of family matters that are inconvenient with outsiders present.

Qi Yue nodded without being polite and followed the guiding servants, with maidservants carrying her trunks behind.

“Xueniang, who is this person?” the man couldn’t help but ask, looking in the direction where Qi Yue had gone, where a courtyard could be faintly seen.

“She is Qi Yueniang,” Chen Shi said with a smile, also looking toward that courtyard. “The Shoumu Study – only she is worthy to live there.”

Who was Qi Yueniang? They hadn’t heard of any prominent Qi family in Yongqing Prefecture.

The three exchanged glances, all showing confusion.

But Chen Shi said no more and walked away.

The three had no choice but to follow helplessly.

But before long, they emerged just as helplessly.

“Brother and sister-in-law, don’t worry. I grew up here – how could I not be used to living here?” Chen Shi said with a smile. “I’ll visit home tomorrow, but not today.”

The man looked at her and sighed.

“Do as you wish,” he said.

“Such a large residence with just you few people won’t work. These people must stay,” the woman said, pointing to the seven or eight servants and men who had come along.

Chen Shi nodded without refusing.

“Thank you, sister-in-law,” she said with a smile, watching the three get into carriages and mount horses to leave.

The courtyard gate closed. Although lights were lit, the light was quickly swallowed by the enormous residence.

The three people’s carriages and horses traveled through several streets before entering a grand mansion. In the night, lights blazed brilliantly. The golden painted beast-faced bronze ring gates, large lanterns illuminating the four characters “Duke Deqing’s Mansion” on the gate tower, brown-clothed gatekeepers standing uniformly in front, listening to a steward-like person speak. A few steps away was a side gate where people were coming and going. Seeing the carriage approach, someone immediately opened the gates wide and cleared the path.

The carriage went straight in, traveling quite a distance before stopping in front of a screen wall.

A crowd of people surged out, jeweled and bejeweled, surrounding the three as they passed through the entrance hall to a courtyard bearing the characters “Xining.”

“Has Xueniang returned?”

“Why didn’t she come back?”

“How can that old residence be livable?”

“We should never have indulged her buying it in the first place…”

The room full of people chattered non-stop. An elderly woman with white hair sitting in the place of honor was obviously accustomed to such commotion and remained calm.

“This child has had an odd temperament since young. You all know this,” she said.

When she spoke, all the voices in the room ceased.

“Mother, Xueniang is so old now, yet you still call her a child,” the man Chen Shi had called third brother said with a laugh.

“How old is Xueniang?” the elderly woman asked somewhat confused.

“Old Madam, Xueniang is the same age as Fourth Master. After the twelfth month, she’ll be forty-one,” a plump woman said with a smile, supporting the old woman’s shoulder.

The elderly woman was clearly very surprised.

“Over forty already? How is that possible? Not long ago she was still reading to me in her clear, crisp voice,” she said.

Everyone in the room laughed.

“Even now, having Xueniang come would still be reading to you in her clear, crisp voice,” everyone laughed.

But the elderly woman didn’t laugh; instead, she began to cry.

“Poor Xueniang was born without ever seeing her father’s face. You married her off so far away, and when she fell ill and was dying, you hid it from me, but don’t think I don’t know,” she said.

No one in the room dared laugh anymore. Knowing the old woman’s dementia was acting up again, they quickly coaxed her nicely, saying she could see Xueniang tomorrow. Only then did the elderly woman calm down.

After talking for a while longer, everyone withdrew, leaving only Third Master Chen.

“Why did she suddenly return this time? When we repeatedly invited her before, she always refused to come to the capital,” the elderly woman asked.

“I see she’s very happy and in good spirits,” Third Master Chen said. “She just said she wanted to come back, nothing else.”

The elderly woman sighed and said nothing.

“However, she brought someone back with her this time,” Third Master Chen added.

“Is it her child? Bringing them back is best. This time our family can arrange a marriage, keeping them close by,” the elderly woman said.

“No, it’s not her children. She didn’t say who it was – it’s a young woman,” Third Master Chen said. “Moreover, she had that woman move into the Shoumu Study.”

The elderly woman suddenly sat up straight.

“Your fourth uncle’s Shoumu Study?” she asked in surprise. “That room – Xueniang wouldn’t even let your father enter. How could…”

Yes, Third Master Chen was equally puzzled and confused. That room that his sister guarded like her very life – how could she let this woman move in?

Who exactly was this woman?

Qi Yue had no idea that the room she was staying in was forbidden territory in the Chen family’s eyes. To her, any room was the same – just a place to sleep.

This room was quite nice. Although the furnishings showed some age, there was no musty smell, indicating careful maintenance.

“Why is this plaque empty?” Qi Yue asked curiously, pointing to the large blue plaque hanging in the center of the room.

A’Ru was organizing the bedroom inside with A’Hao and several of Chen Shi’s servants. These things didn’t require Qi Yue’s help, so she wandered around the three interconnected rooms.

A servant woman who was burning incense looked up when she heard this, but immediately lowered her head as if startled.

“This servant doesn’t know,” she said quietly.

Not knowing meant not wanting to say – Qi Yue understood this subtext. She waved her hand and walked away without asking further.

Soon the bedroom was ready. Chen Shi’s servants all withdrew. A’Ru and A’Hao slept on the servants’ bed in the outer room. Long-distance travel was always exhausting, especially in ancient times with horse-drawn transport. Qi Yue fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The night passed without incident.

Qi Yue woke to clear bird songs, feeling refreshed. A’Ru and A’Hao had already risen and came in to attend to her upon hearing movement.

Breakfast was already prepared in the nearby dining room. As Qi Yue walked over while examining the courtyard, seeing her approach, two maids quickly raised silk bamboo curtains.

The room’s arrangement was similar to Marquis Dingxi’s but also somewhat different. The same luxury and opulence, but with additional elegance.

Perhaps this was the difference between nouveau riche and established families.

“Did you sleep well?” Chen Shi entered from outside.

“Very well,” Qi Yue turned and smiled.

“You must be hungry. Come eat quickly,” Chen Shi smiled, personally pulling her to sit down and sitting beside her.

The table was full of meat, vegetables, soups, cold dishes, pastries, and candied fruits.

“These are all capital specialties. Try them and see if they suit your taste,” Chen Shi said with a smile.

Qi Yue nodded and picked up a couple to eat.

“Mm, delicious,” she said with bright eyes, nodding in praise.

Chen Shi’s smile deepened.

“Yes, I knew you’d love them,” she said, watching Qi Yue with complete joy.

“Aunt, you eat too,” Qi Yue offered.

Chen Shi nodded and ate slowly.

They ate in silence and finished quickly. The table full of food seemed barely touched, but this was already Qi Yue’s best effort. Chen Shi had simply prepared too much. Fortunately, Chen Shi didn’t mind – seeing her happy was enough, and she didn’t urge her to finish everything.

“Is the room comfortable?” Chen Shi asked.

They had left the dining room and returned to the main hall.

“Very nice,” Qi Yue smiled.

Chen Shi’s gaze swept around the room.

“This was my father’s room,” she said.

Only then was Qi Yue startled.

Wasn’t this the most honored place in the house? And Chen Shi had let her stay here?!

“Like you, I never met my father,” Chen Shi continued.

Qi Yue was somewhat surprised.

Whether Qi Yueniang had met her father, she didn’t know. But Chen Shi also had no father?

“I was a posthumous child,” Chen Shi turned to look at Qi Yue with a slight smile. “When my mother was pregnant with me, my father died.”

“What a pity,” Qi Yue said with some comfort.

“Mother said when raising me, she was already quite old and hadn’t planned to have more children, but father always wanted a daughter,” Chen Shi looked around the room again, her hand brushing over tables and chairs as she walked slowly. “Father was already over forty then. When the imperial physician diagnosed that it was a daughter, he was overjoyed…”

Qi Yue followed behind her. Chen Shi was now also over forty, wasn’t she? Reminiscing about a father she’d never met was a sad thing. At such times, listening was the best comfort.

“Mother said that father spent every day in his study choosing names for me, unlike my two brothers, whose names were chosen by grandfather,” Chen Shi said, turning to smile at Qi Yue.

“Fathers always dote on daughters,” Qi Yue also smiled.

She thought of her own father. Although there were two daughters in the family, father’s love was abundant.

She wondered if father could bear the fact of her death.

She lowered her head, hiding some sadness.

Chen Shi didn’t notice. She looked around the room again, as if seeking traces of her father’s presence.

“Father chose a name for me – Xue (Snow),” she continued, then laughed. “Everyone laughed at him, saying after thinking so long, he chose such a simple name.”

Qi Yue raised her head with a slight smile.

“But I love it very much. Xueniang, Chen Xue – how beautiful it sounds,” Chen Shi smiled.

Qi Yue nodded in agreement.

“After choosing my name, father left home,” Chen Shi said. “And never returned.”

The topic took this sharp turn, leaving Qi Yue somewhat stunned.

Chen Shi had now returned to the central hall, looking up at the blank plaque in the center, her expression no longer showing any trace of smile.

“Not even his body returned. In the ancestral tomb, there’s only a cenotaph,” she said word by word, staring fixedly at the plaque. “But father must have been very happy. He died for his cause, unlike these others…”

The words stopped abruptly.

“I’ll go home in a while. You can rest here or go out as you please,” she turned to look at Qi Yue with a smile.

The topic changed too quickly for Qi Yue to follow.