In the blink of an eye, the day for opening and examining the sealed bids arrived. After noon, Ningguo Prefecture officials summoned all those who had submitted bids for the official land to the prefecture hall, then brought out the locked wooden chest and opened it publicly, with the Chancellor and Administrator sitting to observe. Just as the name-calling was about to begin, Zhao Ai arrived as well.
Because the reserve price was obviously set too high this time, there weren’t many bidders—only eight in total, including Wu Zhenzhen. The announcing official took out the documents one by one, calling out each bidder’s name, submission date, and bid price. The first six bids were all close to the reserve price, with the highest being only thirteen strings per mu. Wu Zhenzhen was seventh, and when the announcing official unfolded her document, after announcing the name and date, he called out a surprising bid: “Twenty strings per mu, total price for two thousand mu is forty thousand strings.”
For this barren land, a reserve price of ten strings per mu was already unreasonably inflated, yet Wu Zhenzhen’s bid was double the reserve price—equivalent to ten times the actual value. When this price was announced, the hall immediately erupted in gasps and whispers. The announcing official also nodded at Wu Zhenzhen in admiration, seemingly thinking she was determined to win and victory was within reach.
The announcing official then took out the final document. After opening it, he first called out the bidder’s name: “Wei Qingxun.”
Wei Qingxun was not present in the hall that day, and Wu Zhenzhen had thought she hadn’t participated in the bidding, never expecting her to be among the bidders. She immediately felt vaguely uneasy.
Indeed, the Wei family’s bid that the announcing official finally called out shocked the entire audience: “Thirty strings per mu, total price for two thousand mu is sixty thousand strings!”
The hall erupted in voices as everyone looked around searching for Wei Qingxun’s figure. The announcing official then announced Wei Qingxun as the final highest bidder and requested her to step forward to sign and seal the agreement. A middle-aged man who had been concealed in the crowd now slowly stood up, bowing to Zhao Ai, the Chancellor, the Administrator, and the announcing official respectively, explaining: “I am Xue Yi, the manager of Luming Lou. My proprietor holds flower adorning contests twice a year, in spring and autumn, to select and hire entertainers and performers. Today happens to be the day of the spring flower adorning contest. Since the date was set long ago, she cannot leave, so she ordered me to come and fulfill the signing and sealing procedures on her behalf. She also asked me to apologize to all the officials on her behalf. My proprietor said that after the opening and signing procedures are completed, if the officials would honor us with their presence, you might come to observe the flower adorning contest, where she will offer fine food and wine to feast all the officials.”
Chancellor Li Tang and Administrator Ding Xiyao exchanged glances, and Li Tang then said to Xue Yi: “You may handle the settlement on her behalf, but the signing must be done by your proprietor personally. You can take the relevant documents and contracts back and have her sign them, then return those that should be submitted.”
Xue Yi repeatedly agreed, then immediately took out banknotes equivalent to ten percent of the bid price and made the settlement on the spot. Other officials took him to the back hall to continue handling related matters and deliver the contract documents.
People in the hall gradually dispersed. Wu Zhenzhen watched Xue Yi leave with secret regret, only regretting that she had initially worried about bidding too high and arousing suspicion, resulting in being outbid by Wei Qingxun.
She looked helplessly at Zhao Ai, who seemed neither urgent nor annoyed, meeting her gaze with composure and remaining expressionless.
Wu Zhenzhen also bowed to the prefecture officials and took her leave like everyone else. Zhao Ai merely nodded faintly as he would to anyone else, without standing to see her off. After Wu Zhenzhen left the prefecture hall gate, Administrator Ding Xiyao actually chased after her, saying: “Ever since attending the banquet at Lady Song’s restaurant last time, that taste has lingered in my heart, and I miss it greatly. Now that today’s official business is finished, why don’t I escort Lady Song back and have dinner at Zhanle Lou while I’m at it, to carefully savor the fine delicacies from your kitchen.”
He immediately beckoned to the side, calling for a carriage for two. When Wu Zhenzhen saw his distant gaze and ambiguous expression while saying this, she knew he harbored ill intentions toward her, so she politely smiled and declined: “How dare this humble woman trouble the Administrator to escort me. It’s also unfortunate—I had originally wanted to invite several officials to my establishment today to taste this new season’s dishes, but when I left home, my grandmother told me that today’s ingredients weren’t abundant enough to properly entertain distinguished guests, so she simply let several local gentry reserve the evening banquet. She also instructed me to carefully look at the city’s ingredients and make appropriate purchases, and once everything is properly prepared, to invite the officials to dine another day. So I won’t return home yet—I still need to browse the city markets first.”
Unexpectedly, Ding Xiyao didn’t retreat at all, saying: “Then I’ll accompany Lady Song to the markets, and after you finish shopping, I’ll escort you home.”
Wu Zhenzhen declined repeatedly, but Ding Xiyao still wouldn’t give up, insisting on accompanying her. Having no choice, Wu Zhenzhen could only turn toward the nearby market, letting him follow behind.
At the market, Wu Zhenzhen pretended to select ingredients, not speaking a word to him, but unable to shake him off for the moment. Feeling annoyed, she had no heart to carefully examine the ingredients. At this moment, she suddenly heard people nearby discussing the flower adorning contest at Luming Lou, saying the entertainer selection had reached the most exciting part, suggesting their companion come with them to watch: “There are crowds of people—if we don’t go now, we won’t be able to squeeze in.”
Wu Zhenzhen had a sudden thought and said to Ding Xiyao: “I’ve heard people mention the grand spectacle of the flower adorning contest before, but I’ve never had the chance to see it. Since we happen to encounter it today, I’d very much like to go and see.”
Ding Xiyao smiled: “That’s easy—just come with me.”
Luming Lou had abundant assets, and whether head chefs, servers, entertainers, or performers, once hired they were given generous monthly wages with separate bonuses, so tens of thousands applied each year. To prevent the threshold from being trampled and to fully attract the city’s attention, Wei Qingxun decided to recruit entertainers and performers in the form of flower adorning contests, held only twice a year. Applicants would display their various talents and showcase their beauty that day in the garden behind Luming Lou where Wei Qingxun practiced mounted archery. Finally, Wei Qingxun would judge them, and if she felt someone could be hired, she would choose a flower for that person to pin on. The event allowed city residents to observe the entire process, which was like a beauty contest, naturally drawing everyone’s interest. Often people would rush to queue before dawn to wait for entry, and even after capacity was reached, many would gather outside the garden, unwilling to leave.
Wu Zhenzhen thought that with so many people here, they could easily be separated in the crowd, giving her a chance to escape from him. But unexpectedly, as soon as they reached the garden’s edge, a Luming Lou server recognized Ding Xiyao and immediately took them through a side door, leading them into the garden and finding them seats in the inner area with the best view, asking them to sit and enjoy the performance.
Those currently performing were all winners who had stood out in previous rounds, each with extraordinary talent and great beauty. In groups of three to five, they either sang sweetly or danced gracefully, frequently casting affectionate glances at Wei Qingxun, hoping to gain her favor. Wei Qingxun sat leisurely on the central throne, looking down with a smile at the crowd of women, her expression like that of a contented monarch watching concubines compete for favor. After each group’s song and dance, Wei Qingxun would also look around to see the spectators’ reactions. When Wu Zhenzhen and Ding Xiyao appeared, she spotted them at the right moment, calmly waiting for Wu Zhenzhen to turn and look at her, then smiling leisurely when their eyes met.
After the last group finished performing, a server presented Wei Qingxun with ten flowers, including peonies, Chinese peonies, pomegranates, and roses. Wei Qingxun half-opened a white gold-sprinkled folding fan, covering her face below her beautiful eyes, and whispered her choices to the server. The server then sent the flowers one by one to the beauties she had selected, asking them to pin them on. Without exception, the chosen ones approached Wei Qingxun with radiant smiles to bow and thank her, and Wei Qingxun nodded with a smile, gifting them some jewelry as meeting presents.
When the last peony was pinned in the hair of her final selected dancer, the unsuccessful candidates all sighed in disappointment, hanging their heads dejectedly as they prepared to leave. At this moment, Wei Qingxun suddenly broke off a small branch of red flowering quince from the vase on the table before her, stripping away excess flowers and leaves to leave only one bloom at the tip. She then picked up a small bamboo bow, stood up, turned and walked down the steps, leaping onto the white horse waiting under the willow tree. She rode around the field once, her eyes still smiling as she surveyed all the women in the arena.
The women didn’t know what she intended, but each stood hopefully in place, their gazes ardently following her.
Wei Qingxun finally reined in her horse in the center of the field, facing Wu Zhenzhen’s direction, and with a smile drew the bamboo bow, shooting the flowering quince branch like an arrow. The quince flew straight out and struck Wu Zhenzhen’s hair ornament, inserting itself in her hair like a hairpin.
The spectators seemed to awaken from a dream, then burst into cheers, praising Wei Qingxun’s ingenious action.
Wei Qingxun rode her horse to Wu Zhenzhen’s side, leaning down to extend a hand to her, saying in a tone that was both command and invitation: “Come up.”
Wu Zhenzhen was focused on escaping from the detestable Ding Xiyao beside her, so without much hesitation, she quickly gave her hand to Wei Qingxun, letting her pull her onto the horse.
Wei Qingxun was half a head taller than Wu Zhenzhen and now held her half-embraced in her arms, spurring the horse to gallop toward the garden exit. The people gathered inside and outside the main gate saw the horse charging toward them and hurriedly retreated to both sides, making way. Thus Wei Qingxun rode away in a cloud of dust, quickly taking Wu Zhenzhen far from the scene.
Wei Qingxun guided the horse toward the outskirts of the city, saying to Wu Zhenzhen on the way: “I just heard someone say you also submitted a bid for the official land and lost to me. Are you angry with me?”
Wu Zhenzhen replied: “I wouldn’t say angry, but I find it strange—why are you willing to pay so much to buy it? That land isn’t worth it.”
“The land isn’t worth it, but you have to carefully serve the local officials,” Wei Qingxun said frankly. “Someone hoped I would bid high, so I had to comply. After all, the bigger your business gets, the more you have to act according to officials’ faces. If they’re satisfied, you can earn back elsewhere what you lose in one place. If you offend them, they can make you spit out everything you’ve earned before.”
“Who asked you to buy it?” Wu Zhenzhen asked. “Li Tang or Ding Xiyao?”
Wei Qingxun smiled without answering.
Wu Zhenzhen thought for a moment and said: “If you’re afraid of offending local officials, you shouldn’t have brought me out today… Didn’t you see Ding Xiyao beside me? He…”
“He was harassing you—I could see that,” Wei Qingxun laughed near Wu Zhenzhen’s ear. “So I decided to help you escape this way. As for whether I’m afraid of offending him… I might have had concerns before, but not anymore.”
Wu Zhenzhen asked in surprise: “Why?”
“Because of Prince Wei,” Wei Qingxun said, then looked back over her shoulder and slowed the horse’s pace, saying to Wu Zhenzhen: “Let him tell you himself.”
Wu Zhenzhen now also heard another horse pursuing them from behind. Looking back, she discovered that the rider catching up was actually Zhao Ai.
Zhao Ai rode his horse before them, blocking Wei Qingxun’s path, then stared coldly at Wu Zhenzhen and commanded: “Get down.”
This frost-covered expression was one Wu Zhenzhen had never seen before, and she couldn’t help feeling somewhat bewildered. After hesitating, she still dismounted under his compelling gaze.
Zhao Ai rode closer to her, leaning down to extend his hand—an action almost identical to Wei Qingxun’s earlier gesture.
“I can hire a carriage to go home…” Wu Zhenzhen tried to refuse, but was quickly cut off by his loud rebuke: “Stop talking nonsense—get up here!”
Wu Zhenzhen was still surprised by his unprecedentedly forceful tone and was pulled onto his horse while still in a daze.
He had her sit in front of him and rode away under Wei Qingxun’s amused gaze.
Wu Zhenzhen was half-embraced in his arms, feeling awkward and quite stiff in posture. She could sense his anger but didn’t understand why he was so furious. After traveling silently with him for a while, she finally heard Zhao Ai speak coldly: “You don’t take anything I say to heart.”
Wu Zhenzhen was startled and instinctively asked: “What did you say?”
“I told you long ago,” Zhao Ai said, “that neither of us should ride the same horse with others anymore!”
This statement made Wu Zhenzhen quickly recall what had happened the day she first met him, feeling for a moment as if it were a lifetime ago. She also felt somewhat moved, and faced with his youthful jealousy, she didn’t know how to respond properly. After a long while, she finally murmured softly: “She’s a woman…”
“Women aren’t allowed either,” Zhao Ai snorted coldly, displeased. “She likes wearing men’s clothing, dressing androgynously to flirt with girls—it’s really annoying to watch!”
“You saw what happened at the flower adorning contest too?” Seeing Zhao Ai’s tacit agreement, Wu Zhenzhen couldn’t help telling him: “Second Brother, actually… before I entered the palace, I also liked wearing men’s clothing to flirt with girls.”
He was silent for a moment, then said: “That’s different. When you wear men’s clothing, that’s called heroic elegance.”