◎Even without discussing romance, thinking about this lifetime—speaking only of daily necessities—would surely bring much joy to dreary days.◎

When the heart holds matchmaking intentions, the feet can grow wings.

Nanny Qian almost instantly reached the doorway, gripping the door frame as she called to Lan Shanjun, “Miss Shanjun, Lord Yu requests you come over!”

Lan Shanjun had anticipated this and stood up, nodding. “All right.”

She entered the room. Nanny Qian stepped over the threshold to stand at the door like a door guardian, winking at Old Madam Shou with a triumphant air. “Never mind about affection or admiration—as long as there’s someone touched by spring’s influence who can exert enough effort, the final result won’t be wrong.”

“Even a chaste woman fears a persistent suitor!”

However, Old Madam Shou’s brow and eyes filled with worry. Finally, she sighed and glanced toward the inner room. “Let them be.”

She slowly turned around, then suddenly looked back. Seeing several flower vases arranged by the outer window, she paused and asked, “Did you move these over?”

Nanny Qian shook her head. “How would I know how to do this? It was Shanjun who arranged them. Look—aren’t they lovely? Clearly arranged casually, yet arranged so beautifully. Her hands are truly skillful.”

Old Madam Shou said absently, “This arrangement method, layer upon layer—it’s quite interesting.”

Nanny Qian replied, “Exactly! Later I’ll have her arrange some for me too.”

Old Madam Shou nodded silently. “Let’s go.”

Perhaps when one is truly close to death, everything begins to resemble scenes from the past.

Walking along, she suddenly said, “Mao Niang, after I’m gone, why don’t you follow Shanjun?”

Nanny Qian had been rejoicing over successfully making a match and suddenly hearing this became instantly agitated. “Why speak of such things on a perfectly good day!”

Old Madam Shou smiled. “I just feel that you get along very well with Shanjun and Qingwu. They also listen to you, know you’re kindhearted, and understand your goodness… There’s nothing better than this.”

She knew her own body’s condition—at most, she had until next year. Before departing this world, her greatest regret in recent years had been that the Su family siblings died right under her nose yet she couldn’t avenge them. Now that this regret was gone, Mao Niang’s future arrangement had become her greatest concern.

She patted Nanny Qian’s hand. “Don’t cry. I’m just talking.”

Nanny Qian refused to speak and turned her head away.

She was angry! She hated most in her life people who spoke of life and death during joyful times!

—

Inside the room, Lan Shanjun moved a stool to sit beside the bed, looking at Yu Qingwu with concern. “Does it hurt?”

These same two words again. Just now at the door, she had already asked.

At that time, he’d said it didn’t hurt—clearly she hadn’t believed him. Now that she was asking again, Yu Qingwu couldn’t continue lying. He said tactfully, “It hurt at the time, but after applying the medicine just now, it’s much better.”

Lan Shanjun nodded, thought for a moment, then said, “Just now outside I heard Old Madam say that you severed your relationship with Grand Secretary Wu before His Majesty.”

Yu Qingwu pressed his lips together, his hand slowly curling up. “Yes. Between my teacher and me… we have severed our ties and cut our robes.”

He smiled bitterly. “From now on, I’m afraid my reputation won’t be good.”

Lan Shanjun then recalled how in her previous life she’d heard him called a betrayer of his mentor, greedy for power and profit. These words should have only spread after several more years, becoming a crime he could never wash away for the rest of his life.

In this life, it seemed to have come earlier because of killing Lin Ji.

His early break with Wu Qingchuan—she didn’t know whether it was good or bad for him.

But it should be good.

He now seemed very lighthearted—just as lighthearted as he’d been on the execution platform that day.

These words were very inauspicious, yet they involuntarily appeared in her mind.

That day’s hazy memory became inappropriately clear—she even remembered that when he went to his death, the corners of his mouth should have carried a smile.

Perhaps because that scene was truly eerie, desolate, and tragic, she had stood watching for a long time.

At that time, she hadn’t understood his smile, but now after spending time together, she understood it somewhat.

It seemed he’d had no regrets then. It seemed his great revenge had been achieved.

She stared blankly as she raised her gaze and saw that liberating smile appear at the corners of his mouth again.

Lan Shanjun couldn’t help but smile along with him.

She understood him.

Understood his relief at this moment. She said, “Reputation is something of little consequence. The only important thing is that you know what you’re truly doing.”

She even spoke of Wu Qingchuan. “In the temple, I heard my master explain the scriptures. I once heard him say something: ‘Do not forget your original intention, and you can accomplish your goal.'”

These words were good. While chopping off a pig’s head, she had nodded vigorously to remember them. But later when she grew up and read the scriptures again, she discovered the old monk had hidden the following sentence without teaching it to her. She said, “It turns out the scripture has another line: ‘The original intention is easy to obtain, but staying true to the end is difficult to maintain.'”

“People only know the first line and seldom hear the latter. But I think the latter sentence is the common state of humanity.”

It wasn’t strange that Wu Qingchuan hadn’t maintained his original intention.

Yu Qingwu then thought that Miss Shanjun didn’t know what his teacher had done to Elder Brother and Yingying behind the scenes—she only thought he’d changed his original intention. Original intentions easily change; he didn’t resent that. What he resented was that his teacher had become an accomplice.

But he couldn’t tell her this. He swallowed this hatred and sighed softly again. “I don’t know if I’ll change in the future either.”

Seeing his teacher, he always feared he would also change someday.

But Lan Shanjun said firmly, “You won’t.”

Yu Qingwu’s smile widened. His eyes brightened as he asked expectantly, “Why?”

Lan Shanjun replied, “I’ve seen it.”

She smiled. “I’ve seen that you haven’t changed.”

She consoled him, “Yu Qingwu, your life is still long. If your first twenty years counted as a hurdle, then you’ve already passed that hurdle. For the rest of your life, just live your own days.”

Yu Qingwu’s heart burned hot again at her words.

He worried she didn’t understand the affairs of the previous dynasty, that she admired him merely because of these few months together, and when difficult times came in the future, she would inevitably regret it. Who knew she would actually say such words?

She was more resilient and intelligent than he’d imagined.

Outside the window, the breeze still carried warmth.

He raised his head to look at her. He saw her sitting in the fine, scattered light cut by the window lattice, her robes full of warm spring—even he was infected by the spring atmosphere of this late evening.

Though he and she had known each other for only half a year, she had come to find him several times when he’d fallen into low points. Just like a few days ago when she stood on the arched bridge, travel-worn—even without seeing her person, just seeing her reflection in the water had been startling in its beauty.

He couldn’t help but bring up previous matters, speaking of what had been weighing on his mind in prison. He said softly, “Miss Shanjun, before we last parted, I said that when I returned, I had something to tell you.”

Lan Shanjun replied, “My lord, you remember incorrectly. It was I who had something to tell you.”

Yu Qingwu shook his head. He was just about to say that he should be the one to say this when he heard her say, “I know that in my lord’s heart there are only the world’s mountains and rivers and the common people—no romantic feelings, much less thoughts of forming a family, marrying, or having children.”

Yu Qingwu continued shaking his head. He had such thoughts.

He very much did.

But before the words reached his lips, he heard her say, “I am the same as my lord.”

Yu Qingwu’s heart constricted. As if struck on the head with a cudgel, he raised his head dazed and confused. “What?”

Lan Shanjun smiled and said, “I am the same as my lord—I also have no heart for romantic feelings.”

Everything she’d done in this life had been filled with violent energy; she’d never thought of romance. She said, “So when my lord declined Nanny Qian’s matchmaking, I thought—since my lord doesn’t wish to marry and I don’t wish to wed, people like us could become a false couple.”

A false couple—

For a moment, Yu Qingwu couldn’t believe his own ears. He murmured, “A false couple?”

Lan Shanjun nodded. “Yes, a false couple.”

She said, “In this world, true matches are hard to form, but I imagine false couples are even harder to form. Yet you and I seem born to be a false couple—we’ve met just like this.”

Yu Qingwu’s burning heart trembled and hid itself away between ice and snow.

He’d known it—how could someone like him have such good fortune?

He couldn’t help but raise his head to look at her carefully—those eyes and brows truly contained no affection.

What he’d once thought was admiration shattered to pieces between her words, completely vanished—it must have been a dream he’d imagined himself.

He felt fortunate he hadn’t spoken his feelings aloud.

—If he had spoken them, the awkwardness would be secondary; he feared she would go find someone else.

At this moment, his relief actually exceeded his sorrow.

His cudgel-struck head finally cleared considerably in this relief. But he still couldn’t speak for a long time.

What should he say?

It seemed whatever he said would be wrong.

He could only ask in a murmur, facing her bright and hopeful eyes, “Why would you think this way?”

“Why… would you think of finding a false couple?”

But Lan Shanjun didn’t want to speak too transparently. He was truly clever—if she said too much, he would deduce many reasons. She could only say vaguely, “Everyone else follows the forward path, but my lord goes against the current. I’m the same as my lord—with no interest in romance, I can only take the reverse path as well.”

She smiled and asked earnestly, “Lord Yu, are you willing to marry me?”

Yu Qingwu forced out a smile with difficulty. “I’m afraid you’ll regret it.”

How young she still was.

It seemed that because she’d struggled since childhood and grown up in a temple, she’d absorbed some Buddhist detachment and thus believed she didn’t wish to enter the mundane world. But the days ahead were still long.

He said in a trembling voice, “You’ve always advised me, but today I’ll also advise you—you’re only seventeen years old. How can you so casually find someone to marry now…”

Lan Shanjun said, “It’s not casual.”

“If I hadn’t met my lord, I wouldn’t say these words.”

“It’s because of my lord that I have this thought.”

“I only trust you.”

Yu Qingwu couldn’t help but let a few more threads of hope grow in his heart. These kinds of words—weren’t they pulling at his heartstrings bit by bit? But when he looked at her, her clear, pure brows and eyes still carried that killing intent.

—He’d once joked it was Pig Brother’s contribution. Today he’d received his punishment—it had truly been a slow slicing torture.

One could see that one shouldn’t mock others behind their backs, even if they were pigs.

Calculating it this way, he was even more bitter than Pig Brother.

After his self-pity, he raised his head again and saw her looking at him, still as she had at their first meeting.

Like encountering an old acquaintance, yet not an old acquaintance.

He smiled bitterly: So be it.

At this time, this place, this state of affairs, he had only one question left to ask.

It seemed that once he asked it, his heart could feel somewhat better.

He asked softly, “Why would it be me?”

“By choosing me, Miss, you add a path full of thorns. If you chose someone else, you might be able to live peacefully your whole life.”

Lan Shanjun thought that this question didn’t require a lie. If she lied about even this, it would be even more unfair to him.

She said seriously, “Strange as it sounds, between you and me, my lord, I don’t know when it started, but it seems… we’ve always had a connection.”

Both from Shuzhou, yet they didn’t meet until ten years later, between life and death. But from that moment, heaven began to overlap much of their destinies. She should have been a passerby, yet she’d been trapped in his old residence and, when daylight came, had seen his notes.

That could also count as keeping each other company.

So her thought of marrying him, her willingness to travel this road with him—it all came so naturally.

She said, “After enough time, even if one always thinks of oneself as a passerby, because of this connection, when thinking of this matter, I only think of my lord.”

She smiled and finally said, “If I must explain in more detail, I can’t put it into words.”

But for Yu Qingwu, this was already enough.

He thought that he and she were both like two people climbing mountains and crossing waters who, meeting on the journey, found common aspirations.

Even without discussing romance, thinking about this lifetime—speaking only of daily necessities—would surely bring much joy to dreary days.

—He would just consider himself a eunuch.

For a eunuch’s lifetime, having a confidant was already extremely rare.

Why demand more?

He sighed and said, “All right then… let’s make this agreement with each other.”

—

Nanny Qian stood at the courtyard gate waiting.

She didn’t get her answer.

Nanny Qian stood under the corridor waiting.

She didn’t get her answer.

Nanny Qian was hesitating whether to go in and listen directly when Lan Shanjun came out.

Her face bore bright, obvious smiles. Nanny Qian didn’t even need to ask to know it was settled! She pressed her palms together. “Heaven and the Bodhisattva!”

Lan Shanjun smiled and bowed to her. “When the time comes, we’ll send you a pig’s head, Nanny.”

In Shuzhou, one sent a pig’s head to the matchmaker as a thank-you gift.

Nanny Qian didn’t understand this custom, but seeing Lan Shanjun’s joy, she still wanted to bask in some of that happiness. She patted Lan Shanjun’s hand and said loudly, “I’ll go ask him for it!”

She entered the room joyfully. “Lord Yu!”

She’d expected to see a proud future bridegroom, but when she looked, she was greatly shocked. “Lord Yu, how did you turn back into a bitter melon?”

Oh dear, a bitter melon face wouldn’t do! She asked, “Isn’t it settled? Why do you look like this?”

Yu Qingwu forced a smile. “I’m happy.”

Nanny Qian sighed. “Then smile a little. You look like—what’s that expression—like Wu Qingchuan died.”

Yu Qingwu mumbled in response, “As if mourning one’s parents.”

Nanny Qian said, “Right, right, right.”

The old woman could see something was wrong. “What’s really the matter? Tell me, and Old Madam and I can help you figure something out.”

Yu Qingwu didn’t dare tell anyone. This was a secret that couldn’t be spoken.

He could only say, “I’m worried about how to treat her well. Right now I… right now I have nothing.”

This was indeed a problem. Nanny Qian said, “Shanjun is the legitimate daughter of the Duke Zhenguo’s residence. Marrying you now is marrying down. But it doesn’t matter—Old Madam already thought of this for you.”

She smiled and said, “Old Madam says she feels a connection with Miss Shanjun. When the time comes, she’ll pay to buy her a residence and provide some estates and shops as dowry. After you’re married and move there, you’ll have everything.”

She patted his back consolingly. “Lord Yu, ‘catching a son-in-law after the exams’ works on this principle—catching you means wanting you to rise to prominence in the future. Right now you’re not doing well, but Old Madam and I both have faith in you and know you’ll certainly do well in the future, which is why we chose you.”

“When you do well in the future, remember how she didn’t abandon you today, and you must treat her even better!”

Yu Qingwu sighed in acknowledgment.

He said, “I’ll remember.”

Nanny Qian believed him and happily left.

Lan Shanjun was just telling Old Madam Shou about this matter. “After a few days, please make a trip and speak with my mother about it.”

Old Madam Shou asked with a smile, “Why not go tomorrow?”

Lan Shanjun replied, “I still need to give him a few days to think it over. What if he regrets it?”

She said, “When doing things, one must always leave some room.”

Hearing this, Old Madam Shou’s emotions became even more complex. She gently placed her hand on Lan Shanjun’s head and stroked it. “Shanjun, how much suffering have you endured before?”

Lan Shanjun froze, then her eyes moistened. “You saw through it?”

Old Madam Shou said, “I’ve also experienced mutual love—I never had those four words ‘leaving room.'”

But she said, “Since you’ve already decided, then go do it. Qingwu is a good child. Perhaps when you reach the end, you’ll discover your current decision was right after all?”

She continued quietly, “I’ll provide you with a dowry of some things. Even if he doesn’t do well in the future, you can live your own life.”

She sighed. “After all, I was the one who brought you from the banquet to here.”

These two children reaching this point today—she also had to bear part of the cause and effect.

She could only hope this cause and effect would be good.

…

When Third Young Master Lan returned to the residence, he first asked his wife, “Has Sixth Sister not returned yet?”

Third Young Madam turned around. “That’s right.”

Third Young Master Lan was attended by maids removing his shoes, then complained, “When Grandmother and Mother were ill, she was nowhere to be seen. But now that Old Madam Shou is ill, she’s been gone this long.”

He pouted. “She even said Mother favors me and Huihui, but isn’t she the one climbing up to high branches herself?”

Third Young Madam said, “…”

She took a deep breath and continued looking down at the account books, refusing to speak.

Third Young Master Lan, however, thought she was busy and said with good intentions, “It’s so late—if you can’t finish the account books, don’t look at them. Why exhaust yourself?”

Third Young Madam would have been pleased hearing such words before, but today she found it annoying. Perhaps the honeymoon period had lasted too long, or perhaps when she looked at him, she no longer felt the previous affection—she just thought he was somewhat stupid.

A fire suddenly flared in her heart. She slammed the account book on the table. “But this account is right here. If I don’t finish it today, I still have to look at it tomorrow. Are you going to help me look at it?”

Third Young Master Lan felt wronged. “But I don’t know how to manage accounts.”

Third Young Madam said, “Aren’t you in the Ministry of Revenue? You can’t even handle household accounts—what are you doing there?”

Third Young Master Lan felt even more aggrieved. “I was only saying it for your own good. Why are you talking like this?”

He just ran errands at the Ministry of Revenue every day! He couldn’t even touch any important matters.

Third Young Madam felt she might have gone too far. Though this person was somewhat foolish, he’d never gotten angry with her or shouted at her. Her fire subsided somewhat. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

Third Young Master Lan began to complain. “You don’t know how unlucky I’ve been lately.”

Originally, Prince Qi’s heir apparent looked down on him, and coincidentally Prince Wei’s heir apparent treated him differently, so he was going to align himself with Prince Wei’s heir apparent. But then the eldest young master of the Marquis Boyuan’s residence was killed by Prince Wei’s heir apparent!

Great—now Prince Wei’s heir apparent was locked up in Prince Wei’s residence waiting for His Majesty’s punishment, and his patron was gone.

Feeling anxious and worried, the Ministry of Revenue then had the Grand Imperial Grandson come to oversee it.

The Grand Imperial Grandson liked people who did practical work, so everyone at the Ministry of Revenue tucked their tails between their legs and busied themselves endlessly all day. As a small minion, he naturally didn’t dare slack off either and had been worn down to losing several pounds.

He chattered on and on. Third Young Madam closed her eyes, feeling somewhat dazed.

Forget it—he still had his good points.

Third Young Master Lan complained for half the night and was finally satisfied. He happily went to sleep, and the next day began busying himself with feet flying again.

Holding a pile of old accounts, he walked to the superior’s area and said, “These are the accounts from Shuzhou in the eighteenth year of Yuanshao.”

The superior didn’t even look at him, just nodded. “Good. Just put them aside.”

Third Young Master Lan left. He didn’t want to go back, so he stood in the corridor catching the breeze, wanting to secretly slack off.

Inside the room, the Grand Imperial Grandson smiled and pointed at him, saying to Duke Songguo, “Wasn’t the Duke worried about your sons’ marriage prospects?”

He said, “Families like the Duke Zhenguo’s residence would be suitable.”

“They’re from an aristocratic family but have declined—quite fitting.”

Duke Songguo, after being advised by the Emperor, came to align himself with the Grand Imperial Grandson and had intentionally or unintentionally mentioned that his three sons were not yet married.

Children’s marriage alliances were the best method of pledging loyalty. He’d already inquired—the Grand Imperial Grandson’s Consort’s family still had unmarried sisters.

He wanted to seek a match for his third son.

But then he saw the Grand Imperial Grandson didn’t respond to this. Instead, smiling, he casually pointed outside at someone. “Forget about the Grand Consort’s family. If you want to seek a match for your son, you might as well seek one with the Duke Zhenguo’s residence.”