The tea aroma fills the nose and is slightly hot.

Fu Xiaoguan looked at Hu Dajia carefully, thinking that if his mother were still alive, she would probably be about the same age.

Mr. Hu lowered his head, fiddling with the tea set, and said, "I still remember it was the fortieth year of Taihe. At that time, your mother was about fifteen years old, just like them."

"At that time, we were both studying at the Jixia Academy. I was unknown, but your mother was already a talented woman famous throughout the capital."

"During the Mid-Autumn Festival in the fortieth year of Taihe, the Lanting Poetry Gathering was a lively event. Your mother and I naturally went, as there were many talented people there. Back then, we were filled with dreams, always believing that stories of talented men and beautiful women were the most beautiful endings in life. The most famous scholars in Shangjing at that time were Yan Shidao, Xi Xunmei, Qin Ziyou, and…" Mr. Hu looked at Dong Shulan, "and your father, Dong Kangping."

Dong Shulan was stunned. Was her father a famous scholar back then? She didn't know. She only knew that her father was busy with official duties every day and often fiddled with an abacus when he came home. She had never seen him write poetry or anything like that.

Seeing Dong Shulan's surprised expression, Mr. Hu said with a smile, "There's no doubt that your father was very famous back then."

"Who is Qin Ziyu?" asked Fu Xiaoguan.

"Qin Bingzhong's second son died of illness in the fifth year of the Xuanli reign."

So that's how it is. No wonder I've never seen it before, nor heard Old Qin talk about it.

"If we followed the script of the talented scholar and beautiful woman, your mother should have married Yan Shidao, because Yan Shidao is very handsome. Back then, Yan Shidao was much more handsome than you are now. Of course, it's also because the Yan family is a prominent family. Xu Shaoguang, your grandfather, wanted Yunqing to marry into the Yan family. Yan Shidao also admired your mother very much, and the Yan family had no objections. So this should have happened... We all thought it would happen this way."

Fu Xiaoguan listened very carefully. After all, this was his mother's story, and his father had never mentioned it before, probably because he was afraid of upsetting her.

"In the spring of the 41st year of Taihe, a high-ranking official named Fu came to Linjiang. He came to participate in the Spring Imperial Examination. At that time, no one took him seriously because he was not famous."

Fu Xiaoguan was surprised at this moment. So the honest fat man was once a juren?

"This man often came to Hongxiuzhao. At that time, Hongxiuzhao was already very famous. Your mother wrote the lyrics and I composed the music, which attracted many dignitaries and talented people. This official Fu was generous and well-connected, which allowed him to meet many scholars. As a result, he entered your mother's field of vision."

"Of course, your mother just thinks this fat guy is stupid and has a lot of money, and she never thought of being with him."

"A lot of things happened after that. Your father didn't participate in the Spring Examination that year. It was said that the reason was that he received a warning from the Yan family. Your father once got drunk at Hongxiuzhao and said that he only loved Yunqing. At that time, Yan Shidao and other talented people were also there. Yan Shidao was naturally not happy about it and warned the official Fu. Of course, not many people know about this. I just heard about it. I guess only your father knows the details."

"Perhaps your father was just that angry, and he chose to fight Yunqing. Yunqing rarely came to Hongxiuzhao during those two years, probably to avoid him. I'm not sure what happened during those two years, but Yan Shidao didn't marry your mother, and then there was this terrible thing about Yunqing eloping with your father in the winter of the 43rd year of Taihe."

Mr. Hu took a sip of tea and looked out the window. After a long moment, he turned back to look at Mr. Fu and said seriously, "Actually... from the beginning to the end, your mother didn't like your father!"

Fu Xiaoguan felt this was wrong, and he argued, "But I've read the story my father inscribed on my mother's tombstone. They met on the banks of the Qinhuai River in the spring of the 41st year of Taihe, and then got to know each other at Lantingji. Two years later, my father's proposal to the Xu family was rejected, so my mother escaped and eloped. My father still loves my mother deeply. After my mother passed away, he only took one concubine. If it weren't for Your Majesty's decree, he would still have only one concubine. This must be a story of mutual love."

Mr. Hu lowered his head and smiled. "Now everything is in the past, and things have changed. Just treat it as my random talk. But if you ever have the chance to visit the Wu Dynasty, go find Yu Yu, the wife of the Marquis Dingguo of the Wu Dynasty and the Ninth Princess's second aunt. Your mother had a better relationship with the Second Princess than with me. I think the Second Princess knows the most about what happened in those two years."

Fu Xiaoguan frowned. What did Mr. Hu mean by saying this to him?

Is there some other secret between Dad and Mom?

Mr. Hu seemed to see through Fu Xiaoguan's confusion. "I love Yunqing deeply. This mystery has troubled me for more than ten years. I have been to the Wu Dynasty and met the Second Princess, but she never told me anything about what happened. She just said to me, 'Everything is in the past, so let it go.'"

"You are Yunqing's son. I think the Second Princess will tell you."

This still wasn't right. Mr. Hu seemed to be suggesting that he wasn't Mr. Fu's son, but rather that his father and mother had been married in the spring of the 44th year of the Taihe reign, and had given birth that winter. His father and mother had been together since the winter of the 43rd year of the Taihe reign, and nothing else had happened during that time—even if his mother had no feelings for his father, as his father had said, time together naturally fostered affection.

So are those old things still important?

Fu Xiaoguan thought those were not important.

So he just smiled and said, "Thank you, Master Hu, for talking about my mother. Thank you, Master Hu, for going to the Dong Mansion to plead for me after I offended Shulan."

"I just sent Dong Kangping a jar of wine and wrote a few words. You don't have to thank me. Isn't this a blessing in disguise?"

Only then did Dong Shulan understand why her father had written her a note when they were in Linjiang. It turned out... Mr. Hu and her father had a friendship back then.

"In that case, we will take our leave."

"Well, when you have free time in the future, come and sit with me often."

"As it should be. Goodbye."

"Go ahead."

Fu Xiaoguan and his group left Hongxiuzhao. Sitting in the carriage, Fu Xiaoguan looked at the two girls and suddenly asked, "Do I look like my father?"

Yu Wenjun chuckled, "Don't tell me, it really doesn't look like it."

"You should take after your mother. From what Mr. Hu said, your mother must be very beautiful."

Fu Xiaoguan nodded, that should be the case.

When they arrived at the gate of Dong Mansion in Wuyi Lane, Su Mo handed the box containing 200,000 taels of silver notes that he had been carrying on his back to Dong Shulan. Fu Xiaoguan asked him to send Yu Wenjun to the gate of the palace, and then he and Chunxiu walked towards the inn.

He kept his head down, thinking about what Mr. Hu had said, but he couldn't figure it out, so he put it out of his mind.

Chunxiu went to her room. Fu Xiaoguan opened the door and just walked in when he heard a bang. He felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and his eyes went black, but he did not fall to the ground.

Two men in black grabbed him and put him in a sack. Then one of them lifted him up, jumped out of the rear window, and disappeared into the night.