Lu Dingfeng stood up straight, reluctantly shuffling over to Chu Tianjiao.
"Young Miss, enjoying the moonlight?"
Chu Tianjiao looked up at the sky. Forget about the moon, she couldn't even see a single star.
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she asked softly, "How have you been adjusting these past few days?"
Lu Dingfeng pouted pitifully and complained, "Little daughter-in-law, being a maid is really too difficult, boo hoo hoo..."
Chu Tianjiao immediately turned her head away, afraid she might vomit if she let her imagination run wild.
A few days ago, Chu Tianjiao had Qingluan assign an old woman to specifically train Lu Dingfeng in proper etiquette and manners.
That old woman was skilled at disciplining young maids. No matter how wild and untameable a girl was, in her hands, they would all end up docile and obedient.
Lu Dingfeng, a founding emperor who rose to power through rebellion, had never learned to be subservient.
Those coy and delicate feminine manners were even less likely to be quickly mastered by a rough man like Lu Dingfeng.
As such, he was often punished.
The old woman had endless methods, from forbidding him to eat to making him stand in the sun for half an hour balancing a bowl of water on his head.
Lu Dingfeng had tried to resist, but in Chu Tianjiao's courtyard lived twelve Warrior Maids, each one stronger in martial arts than him.
The old woman had Chu Tianjiao's orders, and the Warrior Maids only obeyed Chu Tianjiao's commands. After two failed attempts at rebellion that didn't make any waves, Lu Dingfeng had no choice but to meekly submit.
After listening to Lu Dingfeng's tearful complaints, Chu Tianjiao asked with a smile, "Are you hungry again? Trying to sneak into the kitchen to steal some food?"
Seeing that Chu Tianjiao had seen through him, Lu Dingfeng decided to go all out. He lifted his skirt, plopped down on the ground, and mimicking how Sister Sang Shen had thrown a tantrum yesterday when asking her for money, he wailed, "I'm starving! I quit! This life is truly unbearable..."
Chu Tianjiao stood there with her mouth agape in shock, then pointed at Lu Dingfeng and snapped, "Shut your mouth!"
Lu Dingfeng peeked at Chu Tianjiao's expression out of the corner of his eye, realizing he might have gone too far. He quickly fell silent, lowered his head, and pleaded cutely with his fingers pressed together, "Young Miss, how about a late-night snack?"
Chu Tianjiao's forehead was covered in black lines. This drama queen of an ancestor, had he conquered the world for the Chu family's ancestors in his past life through his acting skills?
"Who on earth taught you to act like this?"
Lu Dingfeng bragged shamelessly, "Nanny Li's little grandson is now my good buddy."
Chu Tianjiao hadn't expected this great-grandfather to be such a social butterfly. He'd only been here a few days, yet he not only knew Nanny Li but had even become buddies with her little grandson.
However, it wasn't until early the next morning, when Nanny Li came with her little grandson to ask Sang Shen for the chestnuts she had snatched, that Chu Tianjiao understood what Lu Dingfeng meant by "buddy".
But that's a story for another time.
Chu Tianjiao patiently asked Lu Dingfeng to sit properly, then questioned him, "Great-grandfather, have you ever heard of the fire turtle?"
Lu Dingfeng's eyes flashed. He stood up, straightened his back, and his demeanor changed instantly. If not for the fact that he was in a woman's body, he would have looked quite imposing.
He brushed the dust off his clothes, tried to lower his voice, and slowly said, "Fire turtle? I seem to have heard of it, yet also seem not to have..."
Chu Tianjiao had been worrying about Old Madam Chu's cold poison all day.
Since Wang Elderly Physician had said that the fire turtle could cure the cold poison of the thousand-year ice jade, and he had seen it in an ancient book, Chu Tianjiao thought: perhaps Lu Dingfeng, who had lived two hundred years ago, might know the whereabouts of the fire turtle.
Hearing Lu Dingfeng's ambiguous answer, Chu Tianjiao grew anxious:
"Great-grandfather, have you heard of it or not?"
"I have heard of it."
When Chu Tianjiao pressed for details, Lu Dingfeng snorted dissatisfiedly, rubbed his stomach and said, "I'm very hungry now, I can't remember anything."
Left with no choice, Chu Tianjiao had to send Qingluan to the main kitchen to fetch a late-night snack.
After a table full of sumptuous snacks was set in Chu Tianjiao's room, Chu Tianjiao and Lu Dingfeng returned to the room. Lu Dingfeng began to wolf down the food while gesturing for Chu Tianjiao to pour him wine.
Chu Tianjiao, needing something from him, gritted her teeth and endured it. After pouring him a full cup of wine, she asked, "Can you remember now?"
Lu Dingfeng, focused solely on his feast, completely ignored Chu Tianjiao's question.
Chu Tianjiao couldn't bear it anymore and threatened in a sinister tone, "Sang Shen, Old Guo from the stables is a widower. I feel sorry for him. What do you say about pairing you with him?"
Lu Dingfeng, who was swallowing a pork knuckle, almost choked. He coughed while waving his hands, "Not suitable, not suitable!"
After he finished coughing and saw Chu Tianjiao's mocking expression, he realized she was threatening him again with the matter of arranged marriage.
Lu Dingfeng glared at Chu Tianjiao and complained:
"When there's nothing wrong, it's Sang Shen, when you need something, it's great-grandfather. Little daughter-in-law, you're too utilitarian!"
Chu Tianjiao couldn't be bothered to humor him. She pulled the wine cup in front of him towards herself, "Speak if you want to. If you don't want to talk, you don't need to eat either."
Lu Dingfeng was enjoying his meal too much to stop. He snatched back the wine cup, drank it in one gulp, and said, "This fire turtle is a rare creature. I also encountered two by chance at Crimson Flame Mountain."
"Crimson Flame Mountain?"
Chu Tianjiao had never heard of this mountain name within the borders of Li Country.
"It's not far from the Capital City. I've forgotten the exact location."
Lu Dingfeng wasn't trying to fool Chu Tianjiao. After two hundred years, he really had forgotten.
If the fire turtle wasn't so precious, he wouldn't have even remembered the name Crimson Flame Mountain.
Chu Tianjiao questioned Lu Dingfeng for a long time, but seeing that she couldn't get any useful information, she had to let him finish eating and leave.
The next day, Chu Tianjiao went to the second branch early in the morning to find Chu Ye.
After the courtyard's old woman announced her, Chu Ye came out from the courtyard. Hearing that Chu Tianjiao had something to discuss, he guessed it must be about Old Madam Chu's cold poison, so he led Chu Tianjiao to his study.
Although she only stood at the courtyard gate briefly, from the fact that Madam Xue didn't appear and the maids in the courtyard were all walking on tiptoes, Chu Tianjiao estimated that Chu Ye and his wife must have had a big fight last night.
Chu Ye held the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, which strictly speaking, was a civil official position.
But he had transferred from the military to the Ministry of War, and didn't quite fit in with those civil officials who had come up through the imperial examination system.
The Chu family members were all born with very handsome features.
Chu Ye had three more parts scholarly air than his other brothers, and in his youth had been the object of admiration for many young ladies in the Capital City.
Today he wore a blue wide-sleeved robe, his back straight, his steps vigorous, a departure from the deliberately maintained scholarly image he usually presented.
Even from a distance, Chu Tianjiao could feel the agitation emanating from her second uncle.
Chu Ye usually loved to affect an air of refined taste, and his study was decorated very elegantly.
Chu Tianjiao got straight to the point and asked, "Second Uncle, have you ever heard of a mountain near the Capital City called Crimson Flame Mountain?"
Chu Ye indicated that he hadn't heard of it.
When he learned that there might be fire turtles on this Crimson Flame Mountain, Chu Ye pulled out a map of the area around the Capital City from his bookshelf and began searching.
Chu Tianjiao also helped look, but from the map, they could see that within a three hundred li radius of the Capital City, there was no mountain called Crimson Flame Mountain, though they did find several mountains with similar names.
"Second Uncle, I want to go to this place myself to look for clues."
Chu Ye was a bit worried, "Tianjiao, the Emperor hasn't agreed to cancel your engagement to the Fourth Prince yet. It's not appropriate for you to leave the city at this time."
Chu Tianjiao was determined to break off the engagement and didn't care about the royal family's thoughts on her. She insisted, "Compared to Grandmother's cold poison, my engagement isn't that important. If His Majesty doesn't agree to cancel the engagement, I'll just keep pretending to be ill and delay it."
Chu Ye thought for a moment. The matter of Old Madam Chu's poisoning was still being kept secret from outsiders.
Indeed, there was no one more suitable than Chu Tianjiao to search for the fire turtle.
"Alright then, be careful on your journey and take more people with you."
After reporting to Old Madam Chu, Chu Tianjiao selected twelve Warrior Maids and set off with Lu Dingfeng and Qingluan.
"Young... Young Miss, can I really go out of the city with you?"
When they arrived at the stable to choose horses, Lu Dingfeng was very excited. He approached a chestnut-colored thoroughbred and tried to grab its reins.
The horse turned its head away haughtily, not moving an inch no matter how Lu Dingfeng pulled.
Lu Dingfeng tried to mount the horse, but the thoroughbred kicked out, knocking him to the ground.
Chu Tianjiao walked over and gently stroked the neck of the prized blood-sweating horse. She affectionately pressed her face against it and whispered, "Xiao Hong, it's been three years."
This five-year-old blood-sweating horse was Chu Tianjiao's mount, which had accompanied her to the battlefield in her previous life. It had died in her final battle against the Western Rong People.
Xiao Hong seemed to sense a spiritual connection and nuzzled against Chu Tianjiao.
Lu Dingfeng watched enviously from the side and turned to ask the stable boy, "Where's my horse?"
The stable boy led a brown mare to Lu Dingfeng and said ingratiatingly, "Miss Sang Shen, you've just learned to ride, right? This mare has a gentle temperament and is perfect for you."
Although Lu Dingfeng's martial skills weren't great, he had been proficient in horse riding and archery in his previous life. Even after two hundred years, his mounting posture remained graceful and agile.
The stable boy gave a thumbs up and praised, "Miss Sang Shen, you have exceptional talent. Just your mounting posture alone surpasses most beginners."
Lu Dingfeng felt quite pleased by the stable boy's flattery and flashed him a toothy smile.
The stable boy's face instantly reddened, and his gaze towards Lu Dingfeng grew even more fervent.
Lu Dingfeng raised his head proudly and was about to pull on the reins to start moving when he heard someone shouting at the stable boy, "Old Guo, what are you dawdling for? Can't move your legs after seeing a pretty young girl?"
Lu Dingfeng's whole body trembled as he asked in shock, "You're Old Guo from the stables?"
