By the time dusk began to fall, the banquet outside was still lively, though the number of guests had thinned considerably.

Xu Buran had finally found a gap in the festivities and invited Chen Baoxiang to meet him in the rear garden.

“You’ve been kind enough to help with all the bustle, my lord.” Chen Baoxiang walked with her hands covering her eyes. “I haven’t properly thanked you yet — truly, you don’t need to give me anything too extravagant.”

“It isn’t extravagant — it just took a bit of thought.”

“For distinguished gentlemen like yourself, even your thought is precious.”

Xu Buran glanced back at her, a shifting light in his eyes.

“All right.” He said, a hint of nerves in his voice. “You can look now.”

Chen Baoxiang lowered her hands and blinked against the brightness, but was almost immediately stunned by the sight before her.

Kongming lanterns were rising slowly from above her roofline — long and oval in shape, painted with a pattern of blue sparrows carrying flowers in their beaks. These were the wish lanterns that Wanbao Tower had just recently put out, at five hundred coins apiece.

A single one would have already been considered lavish, but as it floated upward, hundreds more lanterns came drifting in from all directions. Flickering points of light swayed and rose, filling the entire night sky above her courtyard in an instant.

From a distance, they looked like stars fallen to earth. Up close, they were like the Milky Way flowing in reverse.

Chen Baoxiang’s eyes went wide.

A soft orange glow drifted down from the sky into her eyes — like a vision that could only exist in dreams, magnificent and brilliant.

In the garden nearby, glass lanterns had also been lit.

Round in shape, no bigger than a palm, their shades were painted in every color. Each one was filled with lamp oil, sealed with a special base, and flickered among the flower clusters and tree branches.

Like fireflies magnified. Like eyes that could no longer conceal the feelings within them.

Xu Buran stood in the midst of all that radiance, a little awkward and a little earnest, and said, “The men at the yamen all said I should give you a blade, since you wield one so well. But I felt that you suit something dazzling like this far better.”

It was like that day the two of them sparred, when he couldn’t withstand her force and sank to one knee — and looked up to find her reaching out her hand to him, silhouetted against Shangjing’s most brilliant morning sun.

Broad daylight, a young woman in close-fitted training clothes, radiant beyond measure.

“My lord’s martial skill far surpasses mine — I imagine I’ll soon no longer be a match for you.” He came back to himself, gazing at the lights before him, his voice full of feeling. “And so today, I wish to use this scene as my messenger, and ask of my lord the most precious thing there is.”

Chen Baoxiang turned her head, looking at him in surprise.

The two of them stood quite close. From a distance, the scene had all the appearance of a perfectly matched pair exchanging tender sentiments.

Zhang Zhixu leaned against the eaves not far away, idly toying with the folding fan in his hand — as though he hadn’t noticed anything happening over there at all.

Xie Lanting watched sideways and couldn’t help needling him. “Your person, just like that — you’re letting her go?”

“What do you mean, my person?” Zhang Zhixu didn’t even look up. “I’ve already said — we’re just friends.”

“I’m your friend too. How come I never got a house or a shop?”

Zhang Zhixu said nothing. His expression was placid, and the air around him was thoroughly aloof.

Then fireworks suddenly burst overhead, long trails of light streaking across the dome of the sky, illuminating the outlines of the two figures in the garden drawing ever closer together.

The hand playing with the fan went taut.

He straightened up, expression darkening, and with a restrained tuck of his sleeve, he finally stepped forward.

Over there, Chen Baoxiang suddenly jumped back, shot Xu Buran a look, and then came running in his direction.

Zhang Zhixu’s heart lurched.

In his line of sight, Chen Baoxiang was running fast — her water-colored skirt billowing out behind her like peonies in full bloom on a spring day. She didn’t look back at all; her clear eyes fixed straight ahead, resting directly on him.

What did this mean?

A man as sharp as the Second Young Master Zhang should have been able to analyze her motives and intentions in an instant.

But his mind had gone completely blank. He couldn’t think at all.

The fingers gripping the fan loosened. A tingling, pleasant warmth spread from his fingertips all the way to his chest, his heart began beating rapidly, and a faint throb pulsed at his temples.

Zhang Zhixu didn’t even realize he had lifted the corners of his mouth. Moving toward her, he raised his hand — perfectly naturally.

In the midst of a sky blazing with fireworks, he caught a dazzling star.

“Great Immortal!” she called out.

In that instant, Zhang Zhixu finally understood the feeling Xie Lanting had described.

Palms hot. A little at a loss. Furious one moment, and then instantly soothed.

“Mm?” He replied, with an uncharacteristic gentleness.

The person before him looked up — and proceeded to say in an utterly frazzled tone, “How can Xu Buran be like this? He gives me a birthday gift, and then he asks me for money!”

Zhang Zhixu: “…”

Zhang Zhixu: ?

Wait — in a scene so charged with ambiance and romantic atmosphere, this was what Xu Buran had been talking about?

He stared in astonishment at the figure standing in the distance. “He asked you for money? How much?”

“All of it — everything on me!”

“That’s outrageous. Come on, let’s go find him and settle this.”

“Gladly.”

The two of them, united in righteous indignation, were about to march over to Xu Buran when Xie Lanting hurriedly grabbed them both and turned to Chen Baoxiang in bewilderment. “What exactly were his words?”

Chen Baoxiang balled her fists in indignation. “He said he wanted the most precious thing I had. And what could my most precious thing possibly be, if not silver? Between what Lu Qingrong lost to me and what Great Immortal gave me, it comes to well over two thousand taels.”

She had thought the whole spectacle of lanterns and fireworks was lavish and generous — and now she found out she was expected to foot the entire bill herself.

Xie Lanting: “…”

He let out a hissing breath and scratched the side of his head. “Is there any possibility that the most precious thing he was referring to… wasn’t silver?”

“If not silver, then what?” Chen Baoxiang stared at him. “Is there anything else valuable on my person?”

For most people, “precious” and “valuable” were two very different things.

But the person standing before them was Chen Baoxiang.

Xie Lanting pressed a hand to his forehead. Thinking it over, he also felt that Xu Buran was foolish — why not simply say what he meant? Why go on about “the most precious thing”? In Chen Baoxiang’s mind, naturally nothing could be more precious than silver.

Zhang Zhixu had figured it out as well, and couldn’t help letting out a snort of laughter.

Xu Buran clearly didn’t understand Chen Baoxiang at all — he didn’t even know what she cared about most, yet he’d made such a grand production of it. On reflection, he wasn’t a reliable sort of person.

He had misjudged the man. Xu Buran was entirely unsuited for Chen Baoxiang.

“I’ll handle things on Xu Buran’s end.” He spoke up. “Why don’t you go check on Han Xiao? She’s been run ragged over there.”

“Of course!” Chen Baoxiang clasped her coin purse and went running off.

Xie Lanting watched her retreating figure, eyebrow lifting faintly. “Didn’t you say you and her were just friends?”

That unmistakable, mile-thick scent of jealousy — was that really something a friend was supposed to have?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Zhang Zhixu turned and walked away. “Help Xu Buran clean up around here. Her household is understaffed and struggling.”