The ninth day of the month.
Favorable for: building stoves, job promotions, travel, and moving house.
Unfavorable for: nothing in particular.
The sun shone brightly today.
Warm sunlight streamed into Old Lady Jiang's bedchamber early in the morning.
Her bedroom was well-positioned, with cheerful light and a splendid view.
She wasn't awakened by the sunlight, but by pain.
Old Lady Jiang, who had never truly known hardship in her life, was now experiencing genuine suffering.
Her chest ached at the slightest touch.
Every breath was labored.
She felt short of breath.
Sitting up hurt, but lying down was painful too.
She called for Wan'er.
However, a maid came instead.
"Miss Wan'er has gone out, my lady. What do you need? This servant can fetch it for you," the young maid said tremulously.
These past few days, Old Lady Jiang had been in a foul mood. Sister Lühen's head had been struck by the lady's medicine bowl, possibly leaving a scar.
The little maid knelt at a safe distance.
Old Lady Jiang wondered what could be more important than her injury that would cause Wan'er to leave.
"What's happening outside?" she asked.
The maid, keeping her head lowered, replied, "Everyone has gone to watch Lord Jiang receive his honors. The imperial court has come to offer amnesty."
Old Lady Jiang suddenly thought of Jiang Changtian's face and Heir Apparent Han, feeling as if the wound in her chest had reopened.
It shouldn't have been like this, it shouldn't have.
But that little beast's life was too tenacious.
She had sent Aunt Yao to deal with him many times, yet somehow he always escaped.
Later, Aunt Yao suggested letting him marry and have children. Once he had someone he cared about, he would have a weakness they could exploit.
One misstep led to another. They should have killed that beast early on.
Old Lady Jiang wanted to discuss this with her eldest son, but then remembered that Huaisheng had moved out.
The sun shone brightly.
The crowd was thick.
Colors were vibrant.
Women were in the majority.
Jiang Wan didn't squeeze into the crowd but instead reserved a private room.
She was somewhat afraid of Jiang Changtian, but she also believed in knowing one's enemy. Hiding all the time wouldn't solve anything; she had to see him eventually.
It wasn't proper for a young lady like Jiang Wan to book a private room alone, so she used the excuse of taking her mother out for some fresh air.
Wu rarely went out.
After moving to the separate courtyard, she hadn't shown her face in public.
This was one of the few times she had ventured out, and everything seemed novel to her.
She observed the young ladies below and could even hear the bold, playful banter from the neighboring private room.
She never imagined that the defiant youth who had once called her "Elder Sister-in-law" would now be the dream lover of so many young women.
Ming County was remote, with liberal customs, and the young women's words were quite daring.
Even Wu, a married woman with children, found herself blushing at their talk.
Jiang Wan, however, remained calm, seemingly lost in thought. She had even brought a Go manual with her, which she consulted from time to time.
Wu actually wanted to share her experiences of living in the separate courtyard with her daughter, and also wanted to ask if Wan'er had adjusted well. She also hoped Wan'er might ask about her own adjustment.
But seeing Wan'er so focused on her Go manual, with a composed and dignified demeanor wherever she went, Wu hesitated to speak.
She felt ashamed to burden her young daughter with her worries at her age, especially when she couldn't even take care of her daughter properly.
Resignedly, she looked out the window.
There was a tree outside with a few chirping birds.
She could see Heir Apparent Han sitting on a high platform not far away.
Her expression darkened.
Wan'er hadn't said anything, hadn't asked, but Wu always felt that her intelligent daughter knew everything.
Jiang Wan seemed to be concentrating on her Go manual, but her attention was actually on another person on the high platform.
That young man in armor looked more mature than when she had last seen him, but he still wasn't quite like the man in her dreams. The dream version was more steady and imposing; the current one still looked somewhat boyish.
Not intimidating at all.
So he had come.
Had he met Jiang Yu then?
Jiang Yu, without memory loss.
And she wouldn't become his maid.
Would they still have any connection?
Although Jiang Wan had never liked Meng Shaoxia,
they had been engaged in her dream, after all. She had lived with the identity of Meng Shaoxia's fiancée for a long time.
That feeling was profound and frustrating.
She couldn't understand why, despite being superior to Jiang Yu in every way, Meng Shaoxia of that time had no place for her in his heart.
It was vexing.
That emotion was somewhat irritating, and Jiang Wan focused intently on the Go board.
The board was a crisscrossing tangle of moves.
Suddenly, wild cheers erupted from the crowd.
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!"
"Jiang Er, Jiang Er!"
"Master Jiang, Master Jiang!"
Wu looked down to see a long-haired man in a crimson robe jump down from his horse. Instead of striding forward, he went to the carriage and lifted the curtain.
Then he extended his hand to help a woman down from the carriage.
His actions suggested that the person alighting must be an extremely delicate woman.
However, the woman who stepped down was tall, almost as tall as him.
It was his wife, Qin Luoxia.
Dressed in a dark red robe, she was even more valiant and dashing than him. This woman possessed a kind of handsome beauty that was strangely exciting and heart-stirring.
Wu suddenly remembered how Aunt Yao and her mother-in-law used to describe Qin: just a country woman, not fit for polite society, who couldn't even look people in the eye when speaking, timid and small-minded, with a large frame and clumsy manners, even less refined than a rough servant girl. Such a woman couldn't even enter the main hall, fit only for menial tasks in the outer courtyard, lest she offend the eyes of noble people.
But now, where was there any trace of that awkwardness?
With a simple flying cloud hairstyle and a single silver hairpin, she greeted people with a smile, her gaze bright and open.
Wu even felt that the woman's gaze had swept over her, making her feel as if she'd been caught peeking.
Next to alight was Elder Sister Yu.
Wu remembered when Elder Sister Yu had been caught by Aunt Yao in their home. She had been like a wild animal, kicking and hitting, even biting people, and cursing crudely.
But now, as Elder Sister Yu jumped down from the carriage, she was no less graceful than her own Wan'er.
Wan'er tended to overthink, unlike most girls her age.
Elder Sister Yu was much more lively, her smile bright and simple, easy to read at a glance, which was reassuring. Her eyes were spirited as she gazed directly at the man on the platform, and she even waved to greet him.
She was still the same Elder Sister Yu.
Jiang Wan's gaze had left her Go manual at some point. She saw the waving girl and felt a sharp pang, especially when she noticed the man on the platform nodding and smiling in response. Her heart filled with even more bitterness.
Wu saw an old woman carrying a little girl getting off a carriage. The little girl held her head high, looking around with curiosity at everything as if it was all new to her, smiling happily.
Heir Apparent Han had been posing confidently on the platform.
He didn't have any celebrity pretensions. He held the highest status here, unmatched by anyone else. It was understandable that these country girls who had never seen much of the world would be enthusiastic.
He sat regally on the high platform, looking down upon the masses.
Then he saw Jiang Er arriving on horseback.
Was that man really Jiang Er?
Heir Apparent Han's pupils constricted slightly, and his whole body began to tremble faintly.
Impossible, absolutely impossible.
