Chapter 18 Ningcui Tower: Amidst tender feelings and deep emotions.

Xue Chan stood at the highest point of Dengshan Mountain, her gaze slowly moving down to the long sword in his hand, where she seemed to be frowning.

Jiang Ce quickly concealed his long sword behind his back and watched her silently.

The dazzling light was so intense that it made him dizzy after a while. He couldn't help but squint, and when he looked up again in an instant, the figure on the mountain of lights was already gone.

He didn't know why he felt a sense of loss, so he went to find Zheng Shaoyu.

The lanterns and boats were damaged in the fight at Guanyin Lake, so they were no longer eligible. Therefore, all the charges were placed on Zheng Shaoyu's head.

Zheng Shaoyu carried the colorful silk to find the woman in the embroidered skirt to solve the riddle.

While waiting, Jiang Ce walked up to Dengshan Mountain and stood in that deserted place.

Behind Dengshan Mountain stands an ancient white plum tree, now in full bloom.

Several years ago, when Ningcui Tower was being built, the craftsmen wanted to remove the plum blossom because it was an obstacle. Jiang Ce couldn't bear to see it wither away after so many years of growth, so after discussing it with Jiang Ji, they decided to leave the white plum blossom, which people can hang fortune slips on the tree to pray for every Lantern Festival.

So, did she also hang a sign up there just now?

However, Jiang Ce did not recognize her handwriting and could not find it anywhere.

"Bozhou"

Someone called out to Jiang Ce, and he turned around at the sound.

Not far from him stood an extremely dashing young man, who was both delighted and somewhat timid upon seeing Jiang Ce.

Jiang Ce immediately turned cold and ignored him, leaping down Dengshan Mountain in a few steps.

Unexpectedly, the other person brushed aside the hands of the women beside him and quickly caught up with him, grabbing his sleeve: "Bo Zhou, we've been friends for many years, and now it's been four years since we last met. Are you just going to avoid me like this?"

Jiang Ce suddenly laughed: "Friends of many years? Isn't Deng Yuan our friend? But how could you let her die in prison by your own eyes?"

He ignored Jiang Ce's questioning, loosened his grip on Jiang Ce's arm slightly, and said earnestly with his eyes downcast, "Bo Zhou, I have no choice in the matter."

Jiang Ce lowered his eyes and still sized up his childhood friend. Su Yun, the third son of Prince Ning, was exceptionally talented but also extremely romantic and amorous.

His emotions were mixed. He exhaled and said coldly, "Whatever your reason, we'll go our separate ways. Don't mention the word 'friend' again."

After saying that, Jiang Ce pushed him away and walked down Dengshan towards Ningcui Tower.

Zheng Shaoyu watched the two of them come down one after the other, and his head was throbbing with worry.

Both of them were his friends, and for some reason they had fallen out. He and Xiao Huaiting were caught in the middle, which was quite uncomfortable.

However, over the years, we grew up separately and drifted apart due to our own affairs.

But in the end, they are friends, and there is affection between them.

After thinking it over, Zheng Shaoyu still asked Su Yun, "Would you like to come with us to Ningcui Tower for a drink?"

Su Yun chuckled softly, but a hint of awkwardness crept into her eyes as she watched Jiang Ce's departing figure.

"Bo Zhou will be unhappy."

Zheng Shaoyu thought about it for a moment and then decided to pull him along.

Let's go.

Xue Chan was originally accompanying Cheng Huaizhu to hang a nameplate on the ancient plum tree.

A commotion arose on the lake. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw people fighting over a lantern competition.

However, when the person in the lake came ashore, they discovered that it was Jiang Ce.

After a short while, she left Dengshan Mountain and continued sightseeing along Guanyin Lake with the Cheng family of three.

Cheng Huaizhu ran fast, pulling a string of maids along with her as they played ahead.

Xue Chan had originally been with her, but she couldn't withstand Cheng Huaizhu's constant fussing, and no matter how hard Cheng Huaizhu tried to drag her, she couldn't move her. In the end, she had no choice but to walk slowly behind her.

I crossed a bridge and, amidst the noise, I could faintly hear sobbing.

She leaned forward slightly and saw a little girl squatting on the bridgehead crying while holding a sugar painting.

She glanced at them twice and then went straight across the bridge to find Cheng Huaizhu and the others. As soon as she crossed the bridge, she saw Cheng Huaizhu and Madam Zhou standing together with smiles on their faces, waiting for her.

"You walk too slowly," Cheng Huaizhu said, taking her hand and offering a small complaint.

Xue Chan smiled and said, "Stop complaining. How many times have you complained today?"

The two continued walking, chatting and laughing, discussing whether to eat sweet cakes and wontons. Not far along, Xue Chan watched the children laughing and playing by, and a sense of unease welled up inside her.

She walked slower and slower, turning back several times.

Cheng Huaizhu couldn't help but ask her, "What's wrong?"

Xue Chan made up her mind and told Cheng's father and Zhou Niangzi about it.

Madam Zhou said, "If that's really the case, I wonder how worried my family would be if I got lost."

Mr. Cheng said, "Why don't we go and see if her family has come looking for her?"

Cheng Huaizhu reacted quickly, pulling Xue Chan along as they ran ahead to look for the child. The child was still at the bridgehead, quietly sobbing against a stone.

"Whose child are you? Why are you crying here all by yourself?"

Jiang Yao raised her tear-blurred eyes and saw two young women standing in front of her. But she didn't dare to respond for a moment, and just lowered her head without saying a word.

Seeing that she neither spoke nor responded, Cheng Huaizhu sighed helplessly.

"We officials shouldn't be too afraid."

Cheng Huaizhu squatted down as well and nodded seriously: "Yes, yes, if she's lying to you, she's a complete bastard. Have you ever seen a turtle? The kind that crawls in ponds."

Mingxia and the others behind her chuckled. Madam Zhou said helplessly, "Cheng Huaizhu."

Cheng Huaizhu turned around, looking unhappy: "I was asking her, it's a technique."

Xue Chan said, "Your trick is to make me turn into a giant turtle?"

Cheng Huaizhu couldn't help but cover her face and laugh, only peeking out her bright eyes through her large fingers.

The two's relaxed conversation actually stopped Jiang Yao from crying much, and she blinked as she looked at them.

Seeing her wariness, Xue Chan and Cheng Huaizhu didn't get too close, just chatting casually, and managed to find out some things about her.

She was out playing with her older brother and sister-in-law, but because she was young and ran fast, she bumped into the lantern procession and got separated from them.

After they had only been talking for a short while, Cheng's father arrived with two soldiers from the patrol post, followed by a woman walking hurriedly.

During holidays, there are many people, and people often get lost. They would go to the military patrol post to wait or look for them.

Upon seeing the woman, Jiang Yao immediately came out and called out, "Sister Lüying."

Green Ying quickly stepped forward and embraced her, touching her face: "We finally found her. The Marquis's wife was so worried."

Xue Chan looked at Lü Ying and asked, "Sister, are you working for Old Madam Qi?"

Only then did Lüying realize that it was Xue Chan and the others, and she said with a smile, "So it's the two young ladies."

Cheng's father said softly to the people, "When I went to the military patrol post, I happened to run into the people from the Marquis of Wu'an's mansion who were looking for someone. They said that the third young lady of the mansion had gone missing. I thought they looked alike, so I brought them over to identify her."

Xue Chan looked down at Jiang Yao.

It turns out she is Jiang Shiyu's daughter.

Because they needed to take Jiang Yao to the nearest military patrol post to wait for people from the Marquis of Wu'an's residence to pick her up, the whole group went together.

Cheng Huaizhu shook Zhou Niangzi's sleeve and said, "I'm hungry."

Madam Zhou poked her forehead helplessly: "You..."

Just then, there happened to be a food stall across from the military patrol post, and the group went over and sat down.

"Would the guests like something to eat?"

Mr. Cheng asked, "What are you selling?"

"Wonton and glutinous rice balls, would you like a bowl, my lord?"

Father Cheng first ordered food for Madam Zhou, and then asked Xue Chan and Cheng Huaizhu.

Xue Chan: "Wonton, please."

Cheng Huaizhu: "Of course I want them all!"

"Then let's have three bowls of wontons and two bowls of glutinous rice balls."

"Okay!"

Xue Chan then had Yun Sheng give them some money so that Mingxia and the others could buy whatever they wanted to eat. When they were seated, Jiang Yao came over and sat down next to Xue Chan and Cheng Huaizhu.

Xue Chan asked her, "Do you want to eat some too?"

Jiang Yao nodded: "I'm hungry too."

When the servants offered to pay, Mr. Cheng got up and paid along with them.

The young couple worked quickly and efficiently, and soon steaming hot wontons and glutinous rice balls were served.

The wonton wrappers are as thin as gauze, and the filling of the floating dumplings is sweet, soft, and glutinous.

Luying took a spoon for Jiang Yao and whispered, "Let it cool down before you eat it, be careful it's hot."

Jiang Yao ate very slowly, chewing each bite carefully, but Cheng Huaizhu, who was in a hurry, burned herself.

Madam Zhou said irritably, "Look at you, you're not even as good as a child."

Cheng Huaizhu pouted, chuckled, swallowed the dumpling, and clung to her, saying, "No matter how much you dislike me, I'm still your daughter, and you can't get rid of me."

Xue Chan asked the child sitting next to her, "What's your name?"

Jiang Yao blinked. Just now, Lü Ying had whispered to her that the person in front of her was related to her second brother, so she replied, "Jiang Yao, the Yao of 'distant,' where is my sister?"

"Xue Chan, the Chan in Chanjuan."

"Chanjuan," Ayao blinked, "is the moon."

"Yes," Xue Chan nodded, noticing the rabbit sugar painting in her hand. "Do you like rabbits?"

"My second brother likes rabbits, so this was a gift for him."

“This lamp is pretty.” Jiang Yao tilted her head, looking at her lamp.

Xue Chan smiled and said, "If you like it, I'll give it to you."

Jiang Yao hesitated for a moment: "Really? Can I give it to my second brother?"

Xue Chan placed the rabbit lantern in her hand: "It's yours now, you can give it to whomever you want."

Jiang Yao looked at the lamp in her hand, thought for a moment, and handed the sugar painting to Xue Chan: "Second Brother said that we can't take other people's things for free, so I'll exchange the sugar painting with you."

"Okay," Xue Chan smiled and took the sugar painting.

A gentle spring breeze sways along the banks of the Jinliu River, where lanterns twinkle. Quiet, serene, and beautiful.

As the painted boat glided by, a beautiful woman with peach-blossom cheeks and cherry lips sang a melodious song, her words filled with tender emotions. She was singing "Partridge Sky," and the woman holding a zither was just beginning to sing that verse.

"Tender feelings, deep sorrow. The blue clouds have vanished without a trace. It's only because in a past life, we loved to keep the mandarin ducks separated in two different cages..."

A virtuous and gentle young girl carrying a lantern walked across the opposite bank.

Xue Chan took a closer look and realized that it was Miss Fang.

The man in the jade-colored robe walking beside her, though his face was obscured, listened with a gentle and warm demeanor as he listened to the girl's laughter. His bearing and presence seemed somewhat familiar to Xue Chan, as if he were someone she had known before.

Xue Chan suddenly stood up and walked towards the shore.

Cheng Huaizhu: "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I think I saw someone I know. Maybe I was mistaken." Xue Chan shook her head and smiled, then sat back down.

No sooner had Zheng Tantong sat down than the man in the green robe and jade crown beside him came over.

The two exchanged greetings, and Jiang Ji cupped his hands and said, "I have heard everything. Please accept my bow."

He stood upright and humble, and Cheng's father quickly helped him up, saying, "Young Master, there's no need for such formality. The most important thing is that the Third Miss is safe and sound. It was just a small favor."

When the second drumbeat sounded, the emperor, seated in a sedan chair, personally ascended the city tower to share the joy with the people.

Zheng Tan smiled and said, "The fireworks will be set off when the third drum sounds. Why don't we go to Ningcui Tower together for tea and to watch the fireworks?"

As the group left the stall, Cheng Huaizhu pulled Xue Chan aside and whispered, "Look, look, how well they match."

Xue Chan walked ahead of the two.

She lowered her eyes, lost in thought, wondering if...

Jiang Ce's face appeared in her mind's eye, and Xue Chan's heart sank.

What is she dreaming about?

Someone rushed over: "My lord, my lady, Erlang and the Prince of Ning's heir are fighting at Ningcui Tower!"

A note from the author:

----------------------

Note: "Tender feelings, deep sorrow. The blue clouds have vanished without a trace. It's only because in a past life, we loved to keep the mandarin ducks in separate cages..." — Song Dynasty, Liu Yong, "Partridge Sky: The Night Wind Blows Through the Lingering Smoke"