Lanqin, supported by Yuxiao, walked slowly, her mind preoccupied with Wuxiha's marriage. The Fourth Master had brought up Wuxiha's matter with her a while ago. At the time, Lanqin couldn't accept it; her eldest daughter, the apple of her eye, how could she be of marriageable age?

"Master, watch your step!" Yu Xiao reminded Lan Qin when he saw that she was walking unsteadily and that she was thinking about something.

"Yu Xiao, what do you think of Fourth Princess's personality?" Lan Qin came back to her senses and turned to ask Yu Xiao.

"If you ask me, our Fourth Princess is truly a good girl. She's kind-hearted, innocent, and warm-hearted," Yu Xiao quickly said. Normally, the maids' impression of Wu Xiha was that of an innocent and romantic young lady, cheerful and kind-hearted, without any airs of a typical noblewoman. The maids all liked Wu Xiha.

“But she is a prince’s princess. It’s not enough for her to just be kind and warm-hearted.” Lanqin looked at the rooftops in the distance. The arched beasts were covered by snow, only their general outlines were visible, which added a touch of interest. Sparrows hopped on the white jade railing in front of the house, seemingly pecking at something in the snow.

Lanqin found it strange. The snow had been falling for three days and three nights. What could possibly be in the snow that sparrows could dig out?

"Master! Look, it looks like the Fourth Princess!" Yu Xiao had sharp eyes and saw a small figure with a double bun and the upper half of her body peeking out from under the white jade railing.

Lanqin stopped in her tracks, wanting to see what Wuxiha was doing.

Ushiha and her personal maid, Lüzhi, were crouching low, secretly hiding on one side of the railing, their backs to Lanqin and the others. Ushiha held a cicada-catching net in her hand, slowly raising it towards the sparrows that were hopping and pecking at the railing.

"Oh dear! I'm still too slow!"

This attempt, of course, yielded nothing! The sparrows had already flapped their wings and flown away the moment they were caught in Wuxiha's net.

"Gege, how about we make a bigger net?" Green Branch said quickly when she saw that Ushiha was unhappy.

"I didn't expect these little sparrows to be so hard to catch!" Ushiha was unhappy. He stuffed the net into Green Branch's arms and got up to go back to the house.

"Mother!" As Wuxiha turned around, he caught sight of Lanqin standing under the eaves not far away, watching him!

"How old are you? Why do you still like to catch things to play with?" Lanqin walked in step by step, holding Yuxiao's hand.

"It's boring. Mother, I don't like doing needlework. Anyway, there are plenty of embroiderers in the manor, why should I learn those things!" Ushiha has never been interested in needlework or cooking since she was a child. She prefers to find storybooks or other strange and miscellaneous books to read.

"How can your sister sit still!" Lanqin glared at Wuxiha, thinking to herself: Wuxiha was a child she hadn't really disciplined, and she was just like Lanqin, disliking being restrained; while Bechuk was like the Fourth Master, naturally a bit more reserved.

"Does my sister like those things? I certainly don't," Ushiha pouted. But she had already linked one arm with Lanqin's.

"What are you doing? Judging from your expression, I know you must have something to tell me again." Lanqin looked at Wuxiha's sycophantic smile and knew that she must be up to something again.

"Mother, I'd like to go to the temple fair in the south of the city on the day of the tomb sweeping, okay?" Ushiha smiled ingratiatingly, her young face, just turned thirteen, radiating the boundless glow of youth. Lanqin noticed that Ushiha was becoming more and more like her, and her heart was filled with affection for her.

"No, your father won't allow it. Besides, there will definitely be a lot of people that day. What if something happens?" Lanqin refused without even thinking.

"Mother, I've already come of age, how can I still be a child? I'll be fine, I'm a grown-up now," Wuxiha complained to Lanqin. Lanqin watched this little girl who had grown up under her watchful eye, gradually transforming into the graceful young woman she was today, and felt a pang of sadness. How could the innocent and adorable little princess of yesterday have become a young woman about to be married!

Unacceptable!

Lanqin inwardly groaned. When she was thirteen, she was still a first-year junior high student, but in this era of queues (traditional Manchu hairstyles), her daughter was already being considered for marriage. Lanqin could hardly accept it, and now the Fourth Master had asked her to convey this message to Wuxiha, instructing her to diligently learn needlework from the needlework nanny and to master household management skills. What made Lanqin even more embarrassed was that the Fourth Master had actually asked her to discuss matters of the heart with Wuxiha—that is, matters of the flesh.

Good heavens, a thirteen-year-old girl, who hasn't even had her period yet, and you're already going to talk to her about those inappropriate things? Lanqin herself actually entered the Fourth Master's mansion before she was even fourteen, but in her heart she was a thirty-year-old single woman, which was different from Wuxiha at this moment.

“In your mother’s eyes, you are still a child. Besides, there were activities in the manor that day, how could you run out!” Lanqin suppressed her discomfort and patiently taught her daughter.

"Mother, it's the same every year, what's so fun about it? It won't make a difference if I'm not there. Mother, if you won't let me go to the temple fair, then let me go find my maternal grandfather. I'll go find my cousin Zhen to play with." Seeing that one plan had failed, Wuxiha immediately came up with another.

Since Lanqin's support, the entire Lingzhu family, young and old, had divided the property according to seniority. Lingzhu and Anjia naturally lived with their eldest son, Lanqin's elder brother, who had now risen to the position of Grand Secretary, a sixth-rank official, but still a position within the Grand Secretariat, promising a bright future. Furthermore, Lanqin had Anjia invest some money as a shareholder in Daqing Hot Pot, and now her annual dividends amounted to tens of thousands of taels of silver. Yang's second son, Qiufu, had been transferred back to the capital and was now serving as a seventh-rank official in the Court of State Affairs, much to Yang's delight. Qiufu had married the daughter of a local wealthy man in Xiangyang, and naturally brought her back with him. Lanqin had reserved a courtyard for him when the family divided the property, and Qiufu and his wife now lived there. Dissatisfied with her daughter-in-law, Yang continued to live with Qiu Gui and his wife. However, since leaving Lan Qin, Qiu Gui had been lazy and irresponsible, nearly squandering the shops Ling Zhu had assigned him. Yang had confronted Ling Zhu several times, but was always rebuffed, leaving her too ashamed to return. Meanwhile, Ma and Ayinda's lives were improving. Ayinda had married a woman arranged by Lan Qin—a granddaughter of Physician Yang—and the young couple lived happily together. Liu's son, Keda, had begun preparing for the imperial examinations, and they had moved away from Ling Zhu's side to live in the courtyard assigned to Keda.