Another New Year

With the year-end approaching, the group, having rested enough, set off for Chang'an.

As she lifted the carriage curtain on the way, she felt that her action was somewhat familiar. She suddenly remembered that she had taken Fan Lingzhang's carriage back around this time before.

He'll definitely make a huge scene when he goes back, given the two weeks that's left.

Sure enough, upon arriving at the city gate, Xu Gang was immediately embraced by Fan Lingzhang as soon as he stepped off the carriage.

"You're finally back."

Cong Lan hugged Sui He, but before she could speak, she heard Fan Lingzhang's sticky and affectionate words from the side.

Sui He released him impatiently, "What are you doing in front of the child?"

Cong Lan ignored her, unable to hear her, and continued to hold her in his arms.

On the other side, Fan Lingzhang was in the same situation. Despite Xu pushing him for a long time, he couldn't be driven away.

"Zirong? Let go of me, I can't breathe."

"Oh." Fan Lingzhang pursed his lips and released the person, still looking unhappy.

"I'm back now, aren't I? The situation was urgent, and I didn't have time to tell you." Sui Zhixu's fingers entwined around his single jade earring, gazing into his eyes with calm and gentle eyes.

"I'm worried about you."

"I'm back safe and sound. Let's go home together." Sui Zhixu, in his arms, found it amusing and reached out to pull his cheek.

"Want to spend the New Year with me?"

"want!"

As Xu Qianqian smiled, her icy face resembled blooming peach blossoms in March, especially her peach blossom eyes, which were full of warmth.

Fan Lingzhang spun her around in his arms before placing her on the carriage.

"Nonsense!" Cong Lan's soft snort fell into Sui Zhixu's ear, her ear tips turning slightly red, and she couldn't help but pat Fan Lingzhang's chest.

He followed Sui Zhixu onto the carriage, chattering incessantly about his New Year's plans along the way.

“Madam Jiang, we should go back now. The King said that you are not suited to be away from home for an extended period of time.”

"I understand." Jiang Li's gaze remained fixed on Sui Zhixu, who seemed very happy.

Jiang Li only looked away after the carriage entered the city, then turned and went down from the city wall.

“She wasn’t this happy even in Miao territory,” Jiang Li whispered.

The maid standing nearby didn't hear clearly, and before she could even open her mouth, she found that the person had already walked away.

As the year draws to a close, some are happy while others are sad. After returning home, Jiang Li stayed in her room, while the others each had their own strange behavior.

In contrast, the Prime Minister's residence was brightly decorated. Pei Qinglian was so annoyed by the young master Pei's child that she quickly ran from the Duke of Pei's residence to the neighboring residence.

"Your courtyard is full of beautiful scenery!" she exclaimed as she entered.

Yue Ling, lying on her back on the plum tree; Sui Zhi and Xu, brewing wine under the tree; Liu Lü, practicing martial arts; and Dan Hong, roasting sweet potatoes.

Sui Zhixu: "Hmm?"

Pei Qinglian sat down next to her, raising her empty wine glass to indicate that she should pour her some wine. "Let me have some peace and quiet here. The kids at home are really bothering me."

She raised an eyebrow, picked up the white porcelain wine pot, and poured her some wine. "Where are they?"

"Ayan ran off with Sanlang. As for that one, I heard that Xi Yushao and his sister are looking for a house, and he's eagerly going over there!"

Pei Qinglian's tone was unfriendly, and all her pent-up anger was poured onto the wine glass, causing the white porcelain saucer to crack with a snap.

Sui Zhixu: "..."

She wasn't about to argue with her over a wine glass, so she got her another one and poured her some more wine.

"Be careful not to cut yourself," she said gently.

"I know." Pei Qinglian rubbed her temples. "Is she so angry that her head is full of mush?"

Sui Zhixu shook her head; she didn't understand.

Fan Lingzhang didn't interrupt their conversation, but instead poured wine for Sui Zhixu with a tender and affectionate look in his eyes.

While drinking, Pei Qinglian accidentally caught a glimpse of it, closed her eyes, and felt like she was about to get a sty.

"I don't think we should be here."

She didn't know when Ah Xu and Master Fan of Yunlai Tower got together, and how they could openly come to the Prime Minister's residence. Their relationship was quite complicated.

Sui Zhixu could hear her words, smiled, a strange emotion flashing across his eyes, but ultimately said nothing.

A sweet aroma wafted through the air, so sweet that even Pei Qinglian, with her extensive knowledge, had never smelled anything like it before. She turned around and carefully examined what Dan Hong was roasting over the fire in her hands.

"What new tricks has Dan Hong come up with this time?" Pei Qinglian knew that Dan Hong liked to tinker with all sorts of strange poisons, and subconsciously assumed it was something else.

"It's not poison." Seeing her expression, Sui Zhixu knew she was mistaken. He put down his wine glass and said calmly.

"It was sent by a merchant whom Zi Rong knew from the martial arts world. It's called sweet potato, and it tastes alright."

Pei Qinglian shook her head. "I've never heard of it."

"Perhaps it's a variety from overseas."

“That’s true.” Pei Qinglian smiled and teased her, “I’ll have to try it later. If it’s not good, I’ll come over from next door every day to bother you.”

She smiled but remained silent, knowing that Xu had clearly come here to find some peace and quiet.

A gust of wind swept by, and the bright red plum blossoms blooming on the branches trembled slightly in the wind. The wind blew up the remaining snow on the ground, and the white willow catkins and fallen red petals intertwined, bringing a refreshing fragrance to the people under the tree.

"Ah-choo!" Yueling jumped down from the tree, touched the tip of her nose, and said, "Why is the wind blowing on such a beautiful day? Can't a person sleep?"

She strode forward, snatched the wine glass from Sui Zhixu's hand, and downed it in one gulp. "Good wine! It would be even better if it were stronger. Winter is all about strong liquor!"

Sui Zhixu glanced at her and said, "You're really going to be picky? How old are you, still trying to steal my wine? I won't prepare wine for you next time."

Yueling rushed up to her with a smile, "Oh, my good apprentice, I know you're the best. What's yours is mine, and what's mine is yours. Why should we distinguish between each other? Considering I worked hard to break down the mechanism a few days ago, even if I didn't do anything special, I still put in a lot of effort."

"My dear disciple! You can't do this to me—"

"Ahhh—" As long as Xu remained unmoved, Yueling simply ripped off the corner of her clothes and started howling.

"Alright." Sui Zhixu rubbed her temples, feeling a bit of a headache from her nagging. "If you can't cry, then don't cry. I've prepared everything for you. Even if you lose some of mine, you won't lose any of yours."

Yue Ling wiped away non-existent tears and winked at Sui Zhixu, saying, "I knew you were filial to your teacher."

Pei Qinglian turned her head away as if she hadn't seen anything. In her memory from childhood, the Imperial Preceptor was an ethereal being, untouched by worldly affairs.

But at such a young age, they indulge in wine and meat, swallow flowers and lie in wine, and act shamelessly and brazenly.

"Little Danhong, what are you baking?" Yueling sniffed the air and smelled the aroma wafting from Danhong's hands. She ran over to her.

Seeing this, Xu chuckled and occasionally exchanged a few words with Fan Lingzhang.

When asked about the "mechanism" Yueling mentioned, Sui Zhixu simply said that she always knew how to embellish her own image.

The mechanism was the one they couldn't solve during their investigation of the Prime Minister's residence.

A while ago, Fan Lingzhang was sorting through some of Lu Kou's belongings at home when he found a unique set of keys and asked her if they were useful.

There were three keys in the string. After fiddling with them for a while, Xu felt that the shape of the keys was somewhat familiar, so he called out Yueling's name.

I went to that courtyard that no one had set foot in all year round, and tried many times. Finally, I arranged the three keys into a specific shape and inserted them together. Great, there was nothing inside again.

It was an extremely small rectangular space, and Su Zhixu suspected that he had taken the items inside before.

But she couldn't remember anything. She searched Fan Lingzhang's house again but couldn't find anything else. All she found were the jewelry, clothes, and various rare treasures that Fan Lingzhang had prepared for her before.

Even during the three years after her "death," Fan Lingzhang would still prepare fashionable clothes and jewelry for her every now and then.

She asked him why.

“I thought that if the truth about my wife’s death were ever revealed, I would go with these objects to be with her, and she would have nice clothes to wear. Moreover, this would make me feel that my wife has always been by my side and has never left.”

As Xu lowered her head to drink, a plum blossom petal fell into her wine cup, reflecting her face in the wine. Lately, he had been speaking incoherently.

He asked her if she could never remarry, and then said that the man she remarried must be better than him, that she couldn't marry anyone, and that he was actually not bad either...

They kept pushing it back and forth like that.

He didn't wait for her reply, perhaps out of fear, or perhaps because of his own thoughts, but she always thought, who could be better than him? No one, at least not in her heart.

"Actually, there's something else I wanted to say today." Pei Qinglian sighed, startling Sui Zhixu, who was deep in thought.

"What?"

"What are you thinking about? You're so lost in thought." Pei Qinglian flicked her forehead twice in annoyance.

It didn't hurt, but it was a little itchy. She rubbed it casually and asked, "What happened?"

Pei Qinglian leaned closer to her, only to find Fan Lingzhang smiling behind her. Her face darkened, and she whispered in her ear, "Private matters, he..."

As soon as he realized what was happening, he grabbed the man and pulled him up with such force that even Pei Qinglian was shocked.

She said casually, "Go play with Yueling, we need to talk about something."

Fan Lingzhang looked resentful, but she didn't see it at all, so she left sullenly.

Pei Qinglian admired her. If she had had this skill back then, Lu Songjin would have been completely obedient to her. But that was just a dream.

She put those things out of her mind and said, "Have you heard the rumors circulating?"

"Hmm? About me?" Sui Zhixu pointed to himself.

Pei Qinglian pried off the hand that was pointing at her and pointed to the east.

Xu didn't understand. Heading east, he found himself in Sui He and Cong Lan's courtyard.

"What did my father do this time?"

Pei Qinglian choked with anger, "You are truly a fine lady of the Prime Minister."

She was puzzled. In their family, besides her father, even the neighbor's big yellow dog could get into a fight. Who else could spread rumors?

Cong Lan argued with the dog simply because he was drunk and went to the neighbor's door to ask the big yellow dog if his wife loved him the most.

The dog, annoyed by his harassment, barked at him impatiently. Cong Lan, drunk and out of his mind, assumed the dog meant Sui He didn't love him and immediately got angry and started arguing with the dog.

"Who is that?" Sui Zhixu couldn't figure it out.

Seeing that she looked confused, Pei Qinglian stopped playing games with her and leaned closer to her, saying, "It's the Cheng family."

"Cheng Zhijie?"

Did he embezzle? Did he commit a crime? Then Father would have dealt with it before rumors started spreading.

"Rumors are circulating that Mingyi intends to break up the lovers Cheng Langjun and Liu Xi, threatening Cheng Langjun to marry into the Marquis's mansion. Recently, many storybooks have been written based on them."

"Mingyi? Alian, are you sure you didn't hear wrong?" Sui Zhixu looked up, as if she had heard something unbelievable, her usually calm face revealing surprise.

“She’s as obedient as a rabbit, how could she possibly threaten Cheng Zhijie?” Sui Zhixu thought about it more and more and it seemed impossible. Besides, wasn’t Cheng Zhijie very attentive to Mingyi when he brought her to her father?

Pei Qinglian shook her head and uttered cold words, "The rumors outside are quite detailed, claiming that Mingyi had an affair with Cheng Zhijie while she was still on the estate, and that the Princess brought Mingyi back because of Cheng Zhijie's arrangement, and then threatened Cheng Zhijie to marry her. There are all sorts of rumors circulating outside, some saying that she was pregnant out of wedlock, and others saying that she has something on Cheng Zhijie."

"In short, according to the rumors circulating in the streets, Cheng Zhijie and Liu Xi were a couple who were torn apart by Mingyi. They even brought up the old story of Mingyi being sent to the manor, and the language was so vulgar that it cannot be repeated."

Sui Zhixu frowned, "Utterly absurd."

"I heard from the Marquis's residence that Madam Cheng was furious and threatened to divorce Mingyi. She has now placed Mingyi under house arrest. In a couple of days, Cheng Zhijie will be visiting the Prime Minister, and he should bring Mingyi with him. You can inquire about it."

"good."

Break up lovers and threaten to take their place.

Such outrageous claims show that people really love to stir up trouble.

She remembered her mother telling Cheng Zhijie to keep an eye on his mother, but now something still happened.