Mid-Autumn Festival in the eighteenth year of Fenghe reign of the Great Qi Dynasty.
As night falls, the sky is ablaze with colorful clouds.
On the official road, the sound of horses' hooves echoed.
A young man in a light white robe and flowing belt rode a tall, blue-maned horse along the official road, his clothes fluttering and his black hair flying.
That face, not yet fully grown but already exuding beauty, was so stunning it defied gender...
Behind them, the boys on horseback laughed and joked, one of them calling out, "Ah Yuan, slow down, wait for us!"
The boy in white turned around, his narrow eyes shining like stars: "Hurry up, or we'll miss the Mid-Autumn Festival fireworks."
"Alright, Yuan, if you don't want to watch the fireworks, then don't!" A young man in blue laughed. "It's just a matter of you watching the fireworks while everyone else watches you!"
Our A-Yuan, more beautiful than fireworks!
"Hahaha……"
The boys on horseback let out hearty laughter.
Young Yuan Yuan turned around again, raising his long, thick, dark eyebrows: "If you keep talking nonsense, believe me, I'll rip out your tongue?"
The boys burst into laughter again.
The group, bathed in starlight, drove into the capital city.
In the capital, lanterns and decorations were everywhere, and the air was filled with the delicate fragrance of mimosa flowers. The streets were bustling with traffic and people.
After entering the city, the boys scattered noisily, each heading home.
The Yuan residence had long strings of lanterns hanging outside its gates.
The signboard was illuminated exceptionally brightly.
The horses stopped outside the Yuan residence. Before Yuan Yuan could even dismount, a servant rushed over and said, "Third Young Master, you're back?"
"Hmm." Yuan Yuan nimbly dismounted and smiled as he instructed, "Give Wu Duo some better fodder!"
"It's a holiday today, so I'll feed it a few carrots; it loves them!"
Wuyou was indeed his blue-maned horse.
The servant took the reins: "Don't worry, young master, I will take good care of Wu You!"
Yuan Yuan shook off imaginary dust from his clothes, smoothed out a wrinkle on his sleeve, and stepped through the door...
The Yuan family is a family of renowned doctors.
Our ancestors included several renowned imperial physicians.
The current head of the Yuan family is named Yuan Shanglu.
Yuan Shanglu entered the Imperial Medical Academy in his early years and studied under the previous head of the Imperial Medical Academy. Not long after he turned thirty, he was also promoted to head of the Imperial Medical Academy...
In previous years, a grand palace banquet was held during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and imperial physicians were always present on such occasions.
As the chief judge of the Imperial Hospital, Yuan Shanglu had to be stationed at the hospital.
All told, he hasn't spent Mid-Autumn Festival with his family in almost ten years.
This year, the emperor specially granted Yuan Shanglu a day off so that he could spend the Mid-Autumn Festival with his family.
The matriarch was overjoyed that her son could finally spend the holiday with his family!
Therefore, all Yuan family descendants who are away from home, whether direct descendants or collateral branches, must return to the capital this year to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival!
On the laurel tree in the Yuan residence, hung many orange lanterns, peach blossom lanterns, rabbit lanterns, and other lanterns with riddles pasted on them...
The mansion was filled with the sweet aroma of osmanthus blossoms and mooncakes.
Even from the outer courtyard, you can hear laughter and chatter coming from the inner courtyard.
It was lively, but also boring.
In the outer courtyard, Yuan Yuan reached out and took down an orange lamp, holding it up to his eyes to look at the riddle written on it.
Just then, a voice rang out from behind the artificial hill not far away: "...Young Master, this folding fan was painted by the Third Young Master himself!"
Please, please give the fan back to me…
"Get out of my way! Don't touch me!" a loud, arrogant voice shouted. "It's just a fan, isn't it? I've got my eye on it, so it's mine!"
Yuan Yuan wanted it, so he was told to draw another one himself!
"This young master wants this one!"
The servant, his voice trembling with anger, cried out, "Young Master, please, give me back the fan..."
"Shut up!" another slightly affected and sarcastic female voice snapped, "It's your young master's good fortune that he's taken a fancy to what your young master has!"
My son is incredibly learned; he could recite poems at the age of three and write poems and paint at the age of five…
And your young master, he spends his days doing nothing but riding around on horseback with a group of young nobles, chasing after cats and teasing dogs...
Given his mother's messy past, if he weren't handsome and favored by Consort Yuan, who would care about his flower paintings!
Everyone knows that even his own father, the head of the Imperial Medical Academy, ignores him…
"You're talking nonsense! My young master is not an uneducated good-for-nothing! The master loves my young master dearly!"
"What good is it if adults love him? His mother hates him!"
"You're talking nonsense..."
The argument was still going on over there.
Yuan Yuan picked up the rabbit lantern beside him and walked around the artificial hill.
There stood a chubby boy, about fourteen or fifteen years old, dressed in a royal blue brocade robe, holding a folding fan painted with a vibrant, exquisite piece of black jade...
Beside them, a girl in pink with a slender waist and a round face had her arm pressed against the chubby boy, and unconsciously hooked her toes, wrapping and rubbing against the boy's leg.
The chubby boy's breathing changed slightly, and he began to pant.
This scene is truly unbearable to look at.
Yuan Yuan took three steps at a time and walked over to the servant who was squatting to the side crying. He looked down at him and asked, "Qi Xi, why are you crying?"
The servant looked up and was immediately overjoyed: "Young master, oh dear..."
"Useless." Yuan Yuan moved the orange lamp forward, illuminating the tear stains on the servant's face.
The voice, still youthful and clear, said, "Get up and wipe your tears."
The servant choked up for a moment, raised his sleeve, and was about to wipe his face when a snow-white silk handkerchief was handed to him.
The servant blushed, quite embarrassed, and whispered, "Thank you, young master..."
Yuan Yuan smiled.
Standing to the side, Yuan Song couldn't stand it any longer. He grabbed the maid's slender waist, glared angrily at Yuan Yuan, and yelled in a hoarse voice, "Yuan Yuan! Are you blind?"
I'm standing right here, and you don't even know to call me brother?
elder brother?
Yuan Yuan then looked up, a hint of surprise appearing on his beautiful, androgynous face: "So, Big Brother is here too."
Yuan Song was furious: "You...you..."
Yuan Yuan's gaze shifted to the folding fan in Yuan Song's hand, and his youthful, clear voice said, word by word, "To take something without asking is to steal."
Why did you take my folding fan without my permission, elder brother?
steal?
This word struck a nerve with Yuan Song.
Yuan Song's eyes narrowed into slits with anger as he roared, "Yuan Yuan! I took your things..."
"Does that mean you think highly of me?" Yuan Yuan interrupted Yuan Song: "Didn't your elder brother's maid just say that she looked down on me?"
"Give me back my fan."
Yuan Song was furious.
Her bulging belly was almost bursting out of her brocade robe.
Looking at Yuan Yuan's beautiful yet aloof face, Yuan Song threw his folding fan on the ground.
He defiantly stomped his folding fan twice, lay down on the ground, and began to wail, "Grandmother! Grandmother..."
Soon, people from the inner courtyard poured out.
Men and women crowded half the courtyard.
The elderly lady at the head of the group was dressed in an elegant and dignified purple outfit. Her full head of white hair was styled into a glossy bun and adorned with gorgeous pearl hairpins.
His face was covered in wrinkles, and his high cheekbones gave him a sharp and stern look.
Upon seeing Madam Yuan, Yuan Song, in his hoarse voice, began to complain: "Grandmother, I took Yuan Yuan's folding fan and he pushed me!"
Grandmother, Song'er fell and it hurts so much!
Upon hearing this, the matriarch, without asking why, fixed a sharp and sarcastic gaze on Yuan Yuan's face: "Yuan, apologize to your brother!"
Young Yuan Yuan pursed his thin lips: "Grandmother, I don't want to apologize for something I didn't do..."
Before I could finish speaking, my knee suddenly hurt.
With a "thud," his knees hit the ground.
Madam Yuan, dressed in white, cradling a bright-eyed, obedient, and gentle three-year-old boy, withdrew her foot and said coldly, "Apologize to Song'er!"
Yuan Yuan placed his hand on his knee, then stubbornly raised his head: "Mother, I didn't..."
Madam Yuan's voice remained icy: "Apologize!"
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