Would Penglai Snow be willing to watch Zhoufeng marry and have children, and then watch...
Another winter has arrived in the blink of an eye.
The first snow in the capital.
Feng Hua and several maids from the manor were having a great time building snow lions in the courtyard of Tingyu Pavilion, while Qin Weixi stood by the window, watching the people outside and Pu Niang mending clothes by the light.
Just as she picked up a candied fruit and put it in her mouth, Feng Hua, who was piling snow, suddenly exclaimed in surprise towards the distance, "Wow, so many Kongming lanterns! Miss, come and see!"
Qin Weixi propped himself up on a small table, using the leverage to lean out the window and see countless bright lights slowly rising into the night sky. Soon, fireworks burst forth, dazzlingly illuminating the entire night sky in an instant.
"It's because Young Master Zheng is getting married, and also because his great-grandmother is about to celebrate her birthday, so the whole Zheng family is celebrating together."
Qin Weixi turned around and saw Luo Ling and Chu Yening appear in the courtyard, walking side by side.
She asked, "Is it from the household of Zheng, the Left Censor-in-Chief?"
The two brushed the snow off their shoulders, and Luo Ling had already lifted the curtain and entered the warm room.
"Exactly."
Upon seeing this, Pu Niang quickly got off the bed and took off the cloaks from the two people who had already entered the room. She then took them outside, shook them repeatedly, and carefully dried the snow water by the stove.
The three people inside the house all held cups of hot tea and watched Pu Niang bustling about with smiles. Pu Niang also murmured with gentle eyes, "How can we not dry this snow water? It would be terrible if we caught a cold." As she said this, Pu Niang held up her clothes and sighed softly, "There is no mistress in the mansion. The huge house is so quiet and cold. What should we do?"
Luo Ling chuckled: "Is Pu Niang saying this to me?"
Pu Niang didn't hide anything: "That's right."
Luo Ling said, "Isn't Seventh Sister the mistress of this mansion?"
Pu Niang feigned displeasure: "What this old servant meant was that I could stand with you, young master, and have a capable and caring mistress by my side."
Chu Yening chuckled softly upon hearing this.
Luo Ling feigned surprise and joked, "I never realized Pu Niang was so eloquent. You mustn't rush this mistress, or she'll run away."
Upon hearing this, Pu Niang immediately put down the clothes she was holding and ran over: "Young master, do you have a girl you like? This old servant must send a letter to Jiangnan tonight."
Qin Weixi, her eyes crinkling with amusement, watched the old man and the child engaging in a game of cat and mouse. She quickly stood up and said to Pu Niang, "This house is only so big. If you keep talking, my brother will have nowhere to hide. As for the mistress, shouldn't everything be done naturally?"
"When the time is right, I will naturally follow in the footsteps of Young Master Zheng and marry the lady you have been longing for, Pu Niang, with all the formalities and a grand procession."
Pu Niang was surprised, turned around and opened her mouth to say, "Really?"
After Pu Niang left, since guests were visiting the young ladies' home in Tingyu Pavilion, they could no longer build snow lions in the courtyard, so they went around to the front of the library.
The three siblings in the room drank another cup of tea before Chu Yening stood up and said, "Brother Luo, shall I take your sister with me?"
Qin Weixi was peeling a segment of the tangerine that he had sent him some time ago, but the sour fruit made his teeth ache.
A pair of bright eyes glanced at the falling snowflakes outside the window and asked, "Are we going to Lord Zheng's residence for a banquet?"
However, Chu Yening only stared at her for a moment before turning back to Luo Ling and saying loudly, "Yening will return the jade intact before the city gates."
"However, Brother Luo and his sister are also my most precious possessions—"
Before long, a magnificent horse, its body as black as satin, galloped through the streets and alleys toward the city gate.
On a snowy night in Penglai, fireworks once again illuminated the capital city's first snowy night. Beneath the magnolia branches, Chu Yening, draped in a dark purple belted robe and a black fox fur cloak, and Qin Weixi, in a moon-white silk dress and a bright red fox fur cloak, both looked up at the clusters of lights under the snowy night.
Chu Yening held her hands, which were already freezing cold, in his palms with great care: "Are you cold?"
"It's not cold." Qin Weixi smiled and shook her head, her bright eyes fixed on him: "Fourth Brother, did you release the Kongming lantern?"
Chu Yening, who had been rubbing her hands together to try to raise their temperature, paused upon hearing this.
Countless Kongming lanterns drifted through the falling snow. She and he gazed at each other, their eyes meeting in perfect unison. Qin Weixi smiled and said, "Fourth Brother, I am in your eyes."
Chu Yening brought her hands to his lips and gently kissed them. Then he leaned closer to her, smiled, and whispered in her ear, his eyes filled with tenderness: "So we can only love each other, not kill each other."
Then he chuckled softly, tucked a stray hair behind her ear, and gently flicked away a crystal-clear snowflake from the pearl flower adorning her temple.
"Luo Luo...would you be willing to be the mistress of my Jingning Marquis's mansion?"
"Would you like to see Stormwind marry and have children, then see its children's children born, and then see Stormwind one day become an old Stormwind..."
Before Chu Yening could finish speaking, Qin Weixi suddenly chuckled, and two blushes quietly rose on her fair face, making her look radiant and charming.
Fireworks burst forth once more overhead on a snowy night in Penglai. At this moment, Chu Yening seemed like a young man again, laughing joyfully and freely, just like when he was a spirited and dashing youth.
"Qin Luo, your fourth brother originally wanted to wait until that day so that you could have peace of mind, but your fourth brother will not be able to wait that day."
"Lolo, I'll give you a carefree life."
Chu Yening quietly approached from behind, then wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her deep into her fox fur coat, burying his chin in her neck.
A moment later, he took something out of his pocket and handed it to her again.
Qin Weixi had initially thought it was jewelry, but instead found a stack of silver notes, still warm from being held in his arms. He recalled that he had carried them all the way here on horseback.
"Here is your recent salary, take it."
Looking at everything before him, Qin Weixi felt that he couldn't cry or laugh at the same time, but a single tear that had been swirling in his eyes finally spilled out and dripped onto his palm.
Chu Yening quickly went around to her, reached out and wiped away her tears, and said with a smile, "Who said you wouldn't cry? Hmm?"
Qin Weixi burst into laughter through her tears, looking at him and saying, "You're not crying, you're dreaming."
Chu Yening feigned astonishment: "Then didn't your fourth brother open his heart to the girl he loved today for nothing?"
“Then let it remain in my dreams.” Qin Weixi smiled even more brightly, and after a moment she asked, “Then why did you bring me here?”
Penglai is not a good place for her now, but it still holds the scent of her brother's brief stay.
Chu Yening said, "It's snowing. I came to see Brother A-Shuo so he knows I'm still here and doesn't need to worry. I will treat his younger sister well. I will cherish her, value her, and love her. If she's unhappy, I will try my best to make her happy. If she secretly cries again, I will coax her to laugh, and then I will cry even harder than her, reflecting on how I didn't treat her well, until she laughs it all off and knows that her fourth brother is there to protect her..."
In an instant, a soft, warm touch pressed against his lips without hesitation, and then he saw the girl in front of him quietly wrap her arms around his neck, lingering there for a long time.
He then gently stroked the back of her head, responding to her passionately and unrestrainedly.
"Qin Luo, you must remember, you will always be my first choice, Chu Yening."
He placed the fox fur coat covering him on a stone stool under the magnolia tree, then pulled her over to sit on the stool. Soon after, he handed her a gold-inlaid jade butterfly hairpin from his hand hidden behind his back, a token of love that General Chu Lanzhe had given to his beloved wife years ago.
His mother told him before she left that she would give this to the most precious treasure in his heart, the girl he loved most, one day.
“I promised to give it to you, and I will. When will your fourth brother go back on his word?”
Qin Weixi smiled, watching him quickly insert the hairpin into her temple again. She then grasped his cool hairpin in her hand, holding it tenderly in her palm: "Fourth Brother, you've given me everything you have. What can I give you in return?"
"Hmm...you." Chu Yening suddenly took a step forward, then knelt on one knee in front of her, using the magnolia branch planted by the founding emperor as proof, and looked at her with deep affection: "Qin Luo, I will make up for the ten years I was absent from you, little by little."
A clear cough suddenly sounded behind them. Chu Yening had his back to the person, but Qin Weixi could clearly see a young man in coarse cloth standing under a flowering branch in the distance.
She stood up abruptly and stood side by side with Chu Yening. Because it was snowing lightly tonight, she hadn't thought about leaving the manor. She had removed her makeup early and stayed in the greenhouse watching Feng Hua build a snow lion in the courtyard. Before leaving the manor, Chu Yening didn't let her put on makeup.
He said at the time: Qin Luo, there are some things that your fourth brother would really find difficult to do in front of Xiao Xing.
Qin Weixi looked at the young man with wariness, but Chu Yening pulled her forward and said gently, "He's one of us."
The young man in coarse cloth laughed heartily upon hearing this, then clasped his hands in a respectful greeting to Chu Yening, before glancing at the girl beside him and bowing to her as well.
Qin Weixi curtsied in return.
Xue Zhao asked, "My lord, is the young lady the daughter of the Duke of Dingguo?"
Chu Yening nodded.
"From now on, you shall address her as Madam."
Upon hearing this, Qin Weixi's ears perked up instantly, but he quickly returned Xue Zhao's faint smile.
Upon hearing this, Xue Zhao was initially taken aback, but then he burst into hearty laughter. He said, "Back then, the Marquis secretly left us eight hundred elite soldiers to wait in the shadows, hoping to avenge our humiliation one day. Now that the Marquis has found his beloved, although the great revenge of the Chu family has not yet been avenged, the General would surely be very gratified if he were alive."
Qin Weixi suddenly realized that these were the eight hundred elite soldiers who had gone to Jiangnan to look for her years ago, loyal to Uncle Chu and devoted to the Chu family.
And these people, like the wooden children, disappeared from this world without a name or surname.
Xue Zhao then said, "Back then, we were a step too late and failed to save the young lady. We have also failed the Marquis's trust."
This time, Qin Weixi took the initiative to step forward and perform a full curtsy, saying generously with a smile, "Thank you, General Xue. Now that I am standing safely before you, I have not failed this important trust."
Upon hearing this, Xue Zhao laughed heartily and then explained why he had risked coming here recently.
After the incident involving Prince Jing, the number of patrolling soldiers in the city increased even more than after the incident involving the Star Gazing Tower. These eight hundred elite soldiers were originally scattered throughout the Great Xia, or had followed General Chu Lanzhe in his campaigns. Now they are also secretly taken care of by the Chu family army, which is scattered in various places. However, with the increase in the number of soldiers in the city, the hundred or so who remained in the capital could no longer stay in the capital.
After listening, Chu Yening pondered for a long time before saying to him, "Go and find Lady Lu."
"Who?" Xue Zhao asked.
"Li Mou's wife."
Without stopping, Xue Zhao led the remaining several hundred people, disguised as craftsmen, away from the capital and headed south to meet up with the heir apparent of the Duke of Dingguo, as mentioned by Chu Yening.
Within a few days, Xue Zhao and Mu Tong hurriedly sent two letters, each sealed with mud and containing secret messages, to the two mansions.
Inside the Luo residence, several people sat around the desk in Luo Ling's study. Song Yang and Jiu Que She carefully examined the seals on the two letters and then pieced together the secret code that the Chu family had established years ago.
The group stood up and looked at the line of small print, all knowing in unison that the long-awaited dawn had finally arrived.
Tao Qingyun murmured to herself, "Chongqing Prefecture—"
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Author's Note: The Chongqing Prefecture arc is about to begin! [doge emoji with rose in hand]
Candy, candy! [Let me see!]
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