The next morning after breakfast, Madam Li brought two boys and entered the First Madam’s lodgings.

“Eleventh Young Master, Twelfth Young Master.” The First Madam greeted the two boys with a smile.

The Eleventh Young Master was older at thirteen. The Twelfth Young Master still looked like a little boy, wearing a sapphire blue robe with auspicious beast patterns, grinning as he paid respects to the First Madam.

“Greetings to Madam Yang.”

The Eleventh Young Master also steadily and properly kowtowed to the First Madam.

The First Madam accepted the full courtesy with a smile, then introduced, “This is the Duchess of Pingguo.”

Only families with very close relationships would accept full courtesy from the younger generation. It seemed the Li and Yang families truly had a good relationship.

The various Yang daughters along with Ninth Brother and Xu Fenghai also paid respects to Madam Li.

Madam Li looked very amiable. Her long face carried a constant smile. Perhaps due to being away from home, she dressed quite plainly, wearing a dark brown kudzu silk jacket with few ornaments in her hair.

She seemed very familiar with the Fifth Miss, smiling and chatting with her about domestic matters for a few sentences before releasing her hand to let the Fifth Miss step aside for the Sixth Miss to pay respects.

Seeing the Sixth Miss’s exceptional appearance, Madam Li’s eyes brightened. She warmly pulled her up, “Sixth Miss grows more and more beautiful. When I saw you in Baifang Garden last year, you were still a little girl.”

Her speech was slow-paced, her voice gentle, sounding very comforting to the heart.

The Sixth Miss pursed her lips, somewhat shy, “Madam Li flatters me.”

Madam Li then exchanged smiles with the First Madam and released the Sixth Miss’s hand.

Young girls were like this—shy on the surface, but who knew how delighted they were inside.

The Seventh Miss stepped forward and kowtowed to Madam Li.

“Greetings to Madam Li.” Her voice was coolly refreshing.

Madam Li observed the Seventh Miss with particular attention.

She had seen both the Fifth Miss and Sixth Miss before. The Fifth Miss often accompanied her mother in social outings, so Madam Li wasn’t unfamiliar with her.

The Seventh Miss, however, she was meeting for the first time.

One could tell at a glance she was Ninth Brother’s twin sister.

The Li family was close with the Yang family. Madam Li could always hear some news about Yang family affairs.

She did indeed look very much like Ninth Brother, though the siblings’ temperaments were quite different.

Ninth Brother’s cleverness was mixed with innocence. Just looking at his grinning face, one knew this child was very sharp.

The Seventh Miss, however, was very quiet.

Madam Li couldn’t quite articulate why, but listening to the Seventh Miss speak was like drinking a cup of warm tea—warming from the heart, yet carrying a faint refreshing coolness.

“This is our first meeting.” She said to the First Madam with a smile, “Standing together with Ninth Brother, they look like golden boy and jade maiden, as pleasing to the eye as orchids and jade trees.”

The First Madam looked tenderly toward the Seventh Miss, approval flashing in her eyes. “Little Seventh is sensible and much more obedient than Ninth Brother.”

Ninth Brother then protested, tugging at the First Madam’s sleeve and acting coquettishly.

Madam Li was somewhat surprised.

She understood the First Madam well.

Though a competent household mistress, her heart wasn’t very magnanimous. She had taken the concubine-born Ninth Brother under her knee but hadn’t elevated his birth mother. Even this twin sister had seemingly been silent all these years.

Madam Li would never do such things. Wouldn’t this display one’s pettiness and narrow-mindedness before one’s husband?

However, precisely because of this, her attitude toward the Seventh Miss shouldn’t be too good.

Yet unexpectedly, she evaluated the Seventh Miss so highly!

Silently and imperceptibly appearing beside Madam Yang and so favored…

Madam Li’s gaze toward the Seventh Miss changed somewhat.

“Come play at our Willow Garden in the future!” She smiled and patted the Seventh Miss’s shoulder.

The Seventh Miss responded softly in agreement.

The Fifth Miss found this somewhat dull.

She had always been the focus of these madams’ and ladies’ attention. Though it was all superficial sentiment and polite talk… everyone had vanity.

Now that the object of attention had become the Seventh Miss, the Fifth Miss inevitably felt displeased.

She walked to Xu Fenghai’s side and discussed the temple scenery with him in low voices.

The First Madam and Madam Xu exchanged glances and smiled at each other.

Madam Li observed this and couldn’t help gaining some understanding. She glanced again at the Eleventh Young Master and Twelfth Young Master.

These two children also frequently visited with Ninth Brother. Master Li sometimes brought them to visit the Yang household.

The three boys huddled together, talking animatedly.

She looked again at the Seventh Miss.

The Seventh Miss stood with the Sixth Miss, speaking and laughing quietly.

Both had brows and eyes brimming with spring breeze smiles.

The First Madam asked Madam Li how long she planned to stay in Guangfu Town and invited her to board a boat together to appreciate autumn at Lake Tai.

“This visit, I plan to perform ten days of religious rites.” Madam Li composed her thoughts and answered calmly, then explained to Madam Xu with a smile. “Madam Xu doesn’t know, but Guangfu Pagoda enshrines the *Avatamsaka Sutra* and relics of enlightened monks. Together with the temple’s Copper Guanyin statue, all are renowned far and wide and extremely efficacious. Whenever I have troubles on my mind, I come to the temple to perform rites and pray silently before the Guanyin statue for several days. It’s never failed to be efficacious.”

Madam Xu’s eyes brightened. “I’ve long heard Jiangnan has many Buddhist temples, but didn’t know Guangfu Temple was so efficacious.” She had been indifferent before, but hearing Madam Li’s words, her interest suddenly sparked and she began conversing with Madam Li.

Doubt appeared in the First Madam’s eyes.

Why had Madam Xu suddenly become so devoted to spiritual matters?

She couldn’t help glancing at the Seventh Miss.

Well, since even the Second Miss trusted Little Seventh so much… Don’t employ those you doubt, don’t doubt those you employ.

After speaking with Madam Xu for a few sentences, Madam Li also discerned Madam Xu’s intention.

Madam Xu wanted to stay at Guangfu Temple for several days to worship Guanyin together with her.

Speaking of which, the Li and Xu families couldn’t be said to have no connection. When Duke Pingguo campaigned westward, Master Li had managed the provisions.

With this prior connection, the two quickly grew intimate.

Madam Li took the opportunity to explain to the First Madam, “With Master Yang present, I wouldn’t dare board the boat and add to the confusion. I appreciate Madam Yang’s kind intention.”

The First Madam quickly said with a smile, “It’s no trouble. We haven’t had a good gathering in nearly half a year. If you’re willing to come, I’ll simply send the Master to speak with the abbot at the temple.”

Hearing the First Madam’s words, the Seventh Miss smiled inwardly.

When the First Madam got stubborn, she was quite endearing.

“How could I accept that?” Madam Li demurred. “However, having the Eleventh and Twelfth Young Masters perform religious rites with me at the temple does make things difficult for them… I was hoping to entrust them to Madam Yang’s care and have you take them on the boat to play.”

The two families had close ties. For Madam Li to entrust her two sons to Madam Yang wasn’t improper.

The First Madam glanced at Xu Fenghai and laughed inwardly.

This was simply about establishing connections with the Pingguo Ducal household.

Indeed, with Li Wenqing’s official position at this level, to advance another step without several friends in the capital—how could things succeed?

“Alright, leave it to me.” She readily agreed.

A favor that cost nothing—why not do it?

Madam Li glanced again at the sister flowers of the Sixth Miss and Seventh Miss, thanking the First Madam with a smile.

Madam Xu was impatient. She immediately wanted to worship at Guangfu Pagoda and brought Xu Fenghai along to have him absorb the spiritual energy of the relics.

The children went to play in the plum grove at Guangfu Temple.

Guangfu was famous for plums. Naturally Guangfu Temple wouldn’t lack plum blossoms. The two or three mu of plum trees were all bare now. Ninth Brother and the Twelfth Young Master laughed and chased each other, playing hide-and-seek around the trees.

The Fifth Miss watched with heated eyes but didn’t dare join in. After all, she was a young lady and needed to maintain dignity before outsiders.

The three young ladies could only sit in the clearing among the trees.

The Seventh Miss and Sixth Miss had things to say. When the Fifth Miss joined them, the three fell silent.

The atmosphere became somewhat awkward.

The Fifth Miss then asked the Seventh Miss, “Have you finished the ten sheets of large characters Teacher assigned?”

Seeing both their interest in calligraphy, their teacher often specially assigned homework for the Fifth Miss and Seventh Miss to practice at home.

The Seventh Miss shook her head, “One sheet per day—I’ve only written three so far.”

The Fifth Miss showed some pride, “I’ve already written seven!”

“Fifth Sister is impressive.” The Seventh Miss’s eyes curved with her smile.

The Fifth Miss spat, “Stop mocking me. You think I can’t tell?”

Though she said this, the pride in her tone hadn’t diminished at all.

Both the Sixth Miss and Seventh Miss laughed.

“Who’s mocking Fifth Sister?” The Sixth Miss smiled radiantly. “Fifth Sister, really—when people say nice things to you, you take them as mockery instead.”

The Fifth Miss rolled her eyes and said nothing.

The atmosphere relaxed.

The Seventh Miss then asked the Sixth Miss, “In previous years going to Fragrant Snow Sea, how long did you stay?”

The Fifth Miss answered eagerly, “Sometimes we stay over a month! Some years when Mother couldn’t stand the social obligations, we simply stayed at Fragrant Snow Sea for New Year.”

Entering the twelfth month, winter plum would bloom first, then intermittently from early to late plum flowers, blooming until the third month of spring.

Last year the First Madam had only stayed half a month at Fragrant Snow Sea before returning.

The New Year at Fragrant Snow Sea that the Fifth Miss mentioned was probably during those years when the First Madam was disheartened and didn’t manage household affairs.

Being a household mistress meant being entangled in mundane affairs—how could it be comfortable?

The Fifth Miss’s interest was piqued. “Going around from the mountain foot, it’s only a few li to our family’s garden. If Mother is willing to go, I’d like to visit. I’ve never been to Fragrant Snow Sea in autumn.”

“Mountains all bare—what’s there to see?” The Sixth Miss disagreed. Dropping this line, she took Daxue and circled back to the room.

Probably going to the privy.

“Dead girl,” the Fifth Miss spat after her, then composed her expression and asked the Seventh Miss seriously, “Yang Qi, do you plan to keep clashing with Cousin like this?”

The Seventh Miss couldn’t help smiling.

The emperor wasn’t anxious, yet the eunuch was anxious first.

“Cousin truly went too far.” She didn’t pretend not to understand. “I’m naturally bold and don’t fear insects or snakes… But he can’t try to push me off the artificial mountain.”

“Cousin didn’t tell me the details!” The Fifth Miss’s large eyes widened round. “He only said you were very bold.” That as a concubine-born daughter, you dared oppose the young duke.

The Seventh Miss could only explain in detail to her.

The Fifth Miss listened, clutching her chest and gasping for air.

“Your courage is truly too great!”

The Seventh Miss smiled without speaking.

The Fifth Miss then worried for the Seventh Miss again.

“Cousin has had nothing go smoothly lately,” she reminded the Seventh Miss. “He was already looking for someone to vent his anger on, and you went and made yourself a target… Yang Qi, you’re a concubine-born daughter.”

If the Seventh Miss were a legitimate daughter, Xu Fenghai wouldn’t dare do anything to her. But being merely a concubine-born daughter made things unclear. The young duke’s status was inherently noble. If in a fit of anger something happened, would the Yang family really fall out with the Xu family over a concubine-born daughter?

The Seventh Miss sighed.

For someone like the Fifth Miss to say these words already showed great kindness.

But the Seventh Miss couldn’t exactly embrace Xu Fenghai’s thigh and beg him to stop pestering her…

“If you hadn’t said, I would have thought Cousin Young Master was just naturally like this.” She made a small joke despite her bitterness.

There was also probing intent.

Everyone had curiosity. Growing up as the legitimate son of Duke Pingguo, Xu Fenghai should have always gotten whatever he wanted.

Who would dare give him grief?

The Fifth Miss gave the Seventh Miss a sidelong glance.

“Cousin usually enters the Imperial Study and reads with the Crown Prince.” She showed hidden pride. “You think he’d bother calculating with you little ladies?”

This statement included herself in the group.

The Seventh Miss couldn’t help smiling but didn’t point it out.

“However, I also don’t know why he’s so troubled.” The Fifth Miss also showed a trace of confusion. “Everything was fine the past few months. He even told me that when the Crown Prince moved to study outside the palace, he’d return to the Xu family school to attend classes… Suddenly he changed like a different person. Before, he wouldn’t even glance at the concubine-born daughters from several aunts’ households, saying they weren’t even relatives. Yet coming to our house, he started tormenting Third Sister and Fourth Sister instead.”

The Seventh Miss was also puzzled and somewhat curious.

With Xu Fenghai’s proud nature, normally viewing these concubine-born daughters was probably like looking at mice and cockroaches.

They truly weren’t people from the same world… These concubine-born daughters couldn’t even be called his relatives.

How had he suddenly started competing with a humble concubine-born daughter like her?

It seemed as if he had made them targets for venting anger.

The Fifth Miss exclaimed, “I misspoke—don’t take it to heart.”

The Seventh Miss was momentarily stunned before realizing she was also a concubine-born daughter. The Fifth Miss’s words could easily be understood as insulting the Seventh Miss.

Looking at the Fifth Miss showing slight embarrassment, for a moment, she found her somewhat endearing.

The Fifth Miss just had a bad mouth, but her heart wasn’t bad.

“It’s nothing.” She didn’t mind. “Cousin spoke correctly.”

In ancient times, clan concepts were strong. Speaking of which, the several concubine-born daughters of the Yang family and Xu Fenghai could be considered cousins. But it couldn’t withstand scrutiny… If they truly treated themselves as cousins in the future and breached etiquette when interacting with the Xu family, people would gossip behind their backs.

The Fifth Miss said nothing more.

She stared directly at the Seventh Miss.

“I’ve never seen you make mistakes… lose composure, get angry.”

The Seventh Miss was slightly startled.

Two people had said this to her in one day.

To the Sixth Miss, she had mainly offered comfort.

Hadn’t the Sixth Miss also been cautious in words and deeds, careful everywhere?

Somehow, to the Fifth Miss, she suddenly wanted to speak the truth.

Perhaps because in the coming years, they would still live together day and night.

Or perhaps simply because the Seventh Miss was already very tired.

Years of constant caution inevitably made her somewhat weary.

“I don’t have the capital to make mistakes.” She spoke frankly. “Before others, naturally I can only be careful everywhere, fearing I’ll miss the proper moment!”

The Fifth Miss froze.

She said nothing, only carefully savored the bitterness in the Seventh Miss’s words.

“What are sisters talking about?” Ninth Brother suddenly called from the distance. “The temple sent pickled plums!”

The Fifth Miss exclaimed and stood up.

“I love pickled plums most!”

She walked toward Ninth Brother.

The Seventh Miss, however, was concerned about the Sixth Miss. She had been in the room for a while now…

She deliberately slowed a step and looked toward the building.

She happened to see the Sixth Miss and Li Eleventh Young Master walking out chatting and laughing.

Though Li Eleventh Young Master was thirteen this year and gender propriety should be observed, the Sixth Miss was still young after all, so it couldn’t be considered a breach of etiquette.

The Seventh Miss’s heart stirred.

Both these Li family young masters were very refined and dressed smartly.

The Eleventh Young Master already looked like a youth—elegant and accomplished, with quite the air of a scholar.

She lifted her foot to avoid the Sixth Miss and Eleventh Young Master.

“Seventh Sister,” the Sixth Miss spotted the Seventh Miss at a glance and called out with a smile. “Eleventh Young Master is telling me stories about Guangfu Temple!”

The Seventh Miss could only wait with a smile for the Sixth Miss and Eleventh Young Master.

The Eleventh Young Master then told the story from the beginning.

His speech was clear, his diction elegant without being obscure. He brought the special features of Guangfu Temple to vivid life.

The Song Dynasty’s ancient bridge… the Liang Dynasty’s mountain gate, the Tang Dynasty’s Copper Guanyin, relics of eminent monks, Buddhist scriptures from the Western Regions…

The three talked while walking. The Fifth Miss, Ninth Brother, and Twelfth Young Master surrounded the stone table eating pickled plums. Ninth Brother waved from afar for them to come over.

When they reached the stone table, the Eleventh Young Master was speaking of Situ Temple.

Situ Temple housed Tang Dynasty stone carvings of the *Surangama Sutra* and *Avatamsaka Sutra*. The technique was simple and ancient, the brushwork rounded—famous steles in the Wu region.

The Fifth Miss glanced at the Seventh Miss.

Her eyes flickered with temptation.

Those who practiced calligraphy always wanted to see wherever good characters existed.

The Seventh Miss smiled and shook her head.

The Fifth Miss showed some regret. “Eleventh Cousin is male and can run east and west—truly fortunate!”

The Eleventh Young Master’s lips curved in a smile.

“Situ Temple also has four thousand-year-old cypresses.” He said gently. “I can’t bring back ancient cypresses… However, I can request several rubbings for Fifth Cousin.”

The Fifth Miss was very pleased. “Then I thank Eleventh Cousin in advance.”

The Eleventh Young Master asked the Seventh Miss, “Does Seventh Cousin also enjoy calligraphy?”

The Seventh Miss quickly demurred, “Can’t call it enjoyment—just writing a few strokes when idle.”

The Eleventh Young Master nodded, then looked at the Sixth Miss, seemingly thoughtful.

The Seventh Miss found this very strange.