Chapter 1 Heavy Snow

In the first year of the Shengli calendar, just after the New Year, it snowed heavily. The staggered pagodas stood in the snow and mist, and Luoyang became a fairyland overnight. When Ming Huashang looked up, she could see the golden phoenix soaring into the clouds and the nine dragons hidden in the mist above the Wanxiang Temple. Even with such heavy snow, it could not hide the phoenix's vigor and vitality as if it was flapping its wings and ready to fly.

Ming Huashang withdrew her gaze and sneezed because of the cold.

Zhaocai kept on talking to her as usual: "My dear, you usually like to sleep in, but today is the day to pay respects to the old lady, how dare you sleep in?"

A big red cloak covered Ming Huashang from head to toe. The cloak was decorated with rabbit fur, and the fine and soft fur collar covered most of her face, making even her voice unclear.

Zhaocai seemed to have heard what the girl said, but when she looked back, the face that was more delicate and beautiful than the New Year pictures was buried in the white hair, and it didn't look like she was talking. She thought it was because the wind outside was too strong and she misheard, so she continued to nag Ming Huashang: "Madam, you can't be so careless anymore. You are the eldest daughter of our mansion, the daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo. In the past, you didn't care about it, and no one dared to say anything to you, but after the New Year you will be sixteen, and it's time to get married. Madam passed away early, and your marriage still has to be arranged by the old lady. If you don't show more enthusiasm, how can the old lady remember you?"

Zhaocai started talking about marriage, and it was like she had opened a box of conversation, and she spoke at length. She first looked forward to the young men in Luoyang who had not yet arranged a marriage, and then emphasized Ming Huashang's superior family background. Finally, she concluded: "My lady, although you never pick and choose, and have never been bothered to compete for fame in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, but with the Duke's Mansion and Erlangjun here, you will definitely be able to arrange a good marriage."

Zhaocai is indeed worthy of being her maid, she can dress up the glittering exterior so beautifully. The capital of the gods is full of noble families, dukes and marquises, and there are especially many famous ladies. Ming Huashang never competes for the reputation of being good at playing the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. Is it because she doesn't want to?

Even the extremely partial personal maid knew that Ming Huashang's only advantage was his family background, which shows how much of a genuine salted fish Ming Huashang himself was.

Ming Huashang sighed again. Even Zhaocai was more ambitious than her, which made Ming Huashang feel a little ashamed. Of course, she was not ashamed that she didn't work hard, but she felt guilty that she might disappoint Zhaocai.

Because she no longer has the advantage of family background.

Ming Huashang got up late today, not because she was sleepy, but because she had a nightmare last night. In the dream, a slim and beautiful woman with a graceful temperament came to the Ming family, saying that she was the daughter of the Ming family and produced physical evidence.

After a period of chaos and war, her father, Duke Zhenguo, walked out from the backyard. It seemed that he had investigated the matter thoroughly and told a story from the past with an expressionless face.

At that time, Wang Yulan, wife of the Duke of Zhenguo, gave birth to a pair of rare twins, the elder brother was named Ming Huazhang and the younger sister was named Ming Huashang. Unfortunately, Wang Yulan had a hemorrhage after giving birth and passed out before she could see the children, thus giving the evil slaves an opportunity to cause trouble. When the Duke of Zhenguo named the children, he did not know that the younger sister of the twins had been swapped.

This evil slave was Wang Yulan's wet nurse, Su. Everyone in the inner house had to respectfully address her as Nanny Su. Nanny Su worked as a servant in a noble family. She actually owned some land in the countryside, which was considered a small fortune in the local area.

However, this little property is not enough compared to the Duke's Mansion. It happened that Nanny Su's daughter-in-law gave birth to a daughter. Nanny Su was possessed by a devil and secretly swapped the two children, allowing Ming Huashang, who was supposed to be a farmer's daughter, to enjoy seventeen years of wealth in Luoyang, while the real daughter of the Duke's Mansion became a commoner, settled in the countryside, and became the granddaughter of a slave, Su Yuji.

Seventeen years later, Su Yuji, a young woman who grew up in a farming family but was still outstanding, learned everything and went to the Ming family in person. Only then did the Duke of Zhenguo realize that the legitimate daughter, with whom he had been living day and night for seventeen years, was actually a fake.

After the truth was revealed, the entire Ming family was in shock. The Duke of Zhenguo even wanted to order his servants to harness the carriage and send Ming Huashang back to the farmer Su family. In the end, the prince Ming Huazhang couldn't bear it and stepped forward to stop it, and the Duke of Zhenguo reluctantly gave up.

But even so, Ming Huashang was still driven to a side courtyard to fend for herself, and the real daughter Su Yuji changed her surname back to Ming and was able to recognize her ancestors. In the dream, Ming Huashang was still so innocent, eating and sleeping every day, without any worries.

This clearly showed that Hua Chang always persisted in not striving for progress, no matter whether things were going well or badly. So on a moonlit night, she fell asleep and died silently.

She didn't even know how she died.

After waking up, Ming Huashang was shocked in the darkness for a long time. The pain seemed to still remain in her body. She stared at the brocade tent for half the night and only closed her eyes at dawn.

Not long after, she was awakened by Zhaocai and Jinbao, who came to pay their respects to the old lady.

After thinking about it for half the night yesterday, Ming Huachang was much calmer when she went out this morning. But she still couldn't figure out who wanted to kill her and why?

Before Ming Huashang's identity was exposed, she was just an ordinary noblewoman in Luoyang City. Her father, Ming Huaiyuan, the Duke of Zhenguo, was an old minister of Emperor Gaozong's reign. Now that the empress is in power, the Ming family is not valued, but with the shadow of their ancestors, they are not in dire straits. There are a lot of families like this in Luoyang, and there is nothing special about them.

Her mother, Wang Yulan, was a daughter of the Wang family of Taiyuan. She came from one of the five surnames and seven noble families and had a very noble reputation. However, the family had long since become an empty shell under the suppression of Emperor Gaozong and the Empress. Now it only had a good reputation but no longer had any political influence.

Wang Yulan and Ming Huaiyuan had three children together. The eldest son died at the age of two. The remaining two children were the twins.

Unfortunately, Wang Yulan passed away after giving birth to the twins. Ming Huashang and Ming Huazhang lost their mother at birth. Duke Zhenguo lost his son and his wife, so he felt very sorry for the siblings and doted on them. For them, Duke Zhenguo did not even remarry. He devoted himself to raising them all these years and did not even have any illegitimate children.

My father had already inherited the title, but because my grandmother Ming Zheng was still alive, he did not divide the family and lived with his second uncle Ming Huaiyuan and third uncle Ming Huaihan. Both uncles had married and had children.

This is the situation of all the people in the Ming family, it is not complicated. Ming Huashang wondered, are the second and third wives trying to kill her?

It is possible. Nanny Su dared to replace the blood of the noble family. How could Ming Huashang be worthy of continuing to live in the Ming family with such inferior blood flowing in her body?

Or is it the real daughter Su Yuji?

It made sense. After all, Ming Huashang had replaced her identity and family, and was living a wealthy life in Luoyang. Now she had to shamelessly rely on the Ming family. It was understandable that she was so angry that she took action.

Or maybe his father, Duke Zhenguo, or his elder brother, Ming Huazhang?

It seems that everyone has a motive, but none of them is so absolute. The second and third houses will be separated from the mansion sooner or later. Nanny Su replaced the blood of the Duke of Zhenguo, not theirs, so why would they do this? To put it bluntly, even for the sake of the family property and title, the second and third houses should have poisoned Ming Huazhang. What's the point of poisoning Ming Huashang?

The real daughter Su Yuji returned with great momentum and overthrew the fake daughter Ming Huashang. Ming Huashang had already been swept away and lived in seclusion in a side courtyard. She was quiet and did not cause trouble or scheme. Why did Su Yuji have to kill her?

As for Ming Huazhang, it was even more unnecessary. If he really wanted Ming Huachang to die, he would have just let go of the Duke of Zhenguo and let her go back to the Su family. If she had any accidents on the way or at the Su family, she would have disappeared without a trace. Why did Ming Huazhang go to such lengths and let her continue to live in the Ming family and then dirty his own land?

Is that the Duke of Zhenguo? Ming Huashang tried to think about it, but she couldn't imagine that her father, who always responded to her requests and obeyed her in everything, could be so cruel.

After so many years of father-daughter relationship, just because she was switched by the elders and deceived the Ming family, the Duke of Zhenguo wanted to kill her? Was the companionship and indulgence of her father all these years fake?

Ming Huashang's head hurt from thinking about it. She didn't like this feeling at all and suspected that everyone around her wanted to kill her.

It's not that she didn't doubt the truth of this dream, but everything was too detailed. The little movements of the Duke of Zhen in the dream, the behavior of the people around her, were exactly the same as in the real world! Even until now, Ming Huashang still clearly remembers the appearance of the real daughter Su Yuji.

Could a face she didn't recognize appear in her dream? Ming Huashang didn't know. She glanced at a fork in the road and paused, suddenly changing direction.

Zhaocai was still counting the eligible men in each family in front, and when she came to her senses, she found that there was no one behind her. She was shocked and turned around to see Ming Huashang walking in another direction with a huff. She quickly caught up with him and said, "Madam, Yanshou Hall is over here, where are you going?"

Ming Huachang could not forget the pain of death in her dream, and she did not want to doubt her relatives who she lived with day and night, so she wanted to verify whether her dream last night was true or false.

She clearly remembered that in her dream, after her identity was exposed, she moved to a side yard. There was a tall osmanthus tree in the yard, and the fragrance filled the whole garden. Before she went to bed, she specially collected the fallen osmanthus petals and planned to make osmanthus cake the next day.

Then, she never woke up again. When she died, the delicate and soothing scent of osmanthus flowers still lingered in her nose.

Ming Huashang could no longer tolerate this suspicion, so she decided to go to the side courtyard in her dream to see if there was any osmanthus tree.

This place is remote and deserted, few people come here, and no one cleans the snow on the road. Ming Huachang stepped on the snow, which was up to her calves. She was unmoved and continued to walk towards the courtyard in her memory.

Zhaocai chased after her, struggling to keep up with her steps: "Madam, what are you doing?"

Ming Huashang said nothing. In front of her was the side courtyard where she was exiled in her dream. She did not give herself a chance to hesitate and pushed the door open with force.

There was snow inside, so it was not easy to open the door. Ming Huashang used all her strength to push the door open a crack. Zhaocai was anxious watching from behind, and hurried forward to help her push the door open: "Madam, why did you think of this place? If you like, I will ask the servants to come and sweep the snow. Please be careful not to fall."

Ming Huashang had no time to pay attention to Zhaocai's chattering. She stared at the scene in front of her and had lost the ability to speak.

It was cold in the first month of the year, and there was no greenery in the courtyard except for a bare tree standing in front of the window. Although it was very different from the scene in her dream, Ming Huachang had already recognized familiar traces from the trunk of the tree.

Yes, it was here. She clearly remembered that she had seen a bowl-sized scar on the trunk of the tree while shaking the osmanthus in her dream. The size and location of the scar were exactly the same as in her dream. The furnishings in the yard and the appearance of the house...

Ming Huachang's shoulders relaxed suddenly. She knew that she could no longer be lucky. She had been held in the palm of the hand of the Duke of Zhenguo for many years and had never set foot in such a remote and deserted courtyard. If the dream was made up by her, how could she have known it in advance and even dreamt about the scar on the osmanthus tree in the courtyard and the orientation of the house?

That dream was not a fantasy, but real, or in other words, it was a precognitive dream.

Zhaocai was still nagging behind him to ask someone to sweep the snow. Ming Huashang let out a breath and said softly, "No need."

Zhaocai didn't hear clearly, so he came closer and asked, "What?"

"No need to call anyone. It would be a big fuss." Ming Huashang turned around, holding the cloak, and staggered towards the Yanshou Hall. "It's getting late. Let's go and pay our respects to grandma."

Zhaocai hurried to Ming Huashang's side and pulled her fur collar tight: "My lady, don't worry. You are the only daughter of the Duke, the apple of the Ming family's eye. What's the harm in paying your respects earlier or later? Please walk slowly to avoid catching a cold. If you like that osmanthus tree, I will have it transplanted to our courtyard."

"Don't do that." Ming Huashang hurriedly stopped Zhaocai from speaking and said quietly, "Zhaocai, you should be more restrained in the future and stop bullying others with such bullying words all day long."

Zhaocai was stunned by what he said: "Bullying others by taking advantage of your power? It's just a common thing, how can it be considered bullying?"

Ming Huashang shook her head slightly and said nothing more. Now she was the famous dragon and phoenix twin of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. No one would mind her if she went to the palace late and spoke arrogantly. But once she was exposed as a fake, that ordinary thing would become a life-threatening talisman.

Ming Huashang still has no idea how she died, when, where, by what, or who was behind it. Which god did she offend to cause him to want to kill her?

Oh yes, she remembered that in her dream, Su Yuji came back at the age of seventeen. She was the same age as Su Yuji and was sixteen this year. That was to say, she would die in at most one year.

Ming Huashang rubbed her face distressedly. She was just an ordinary waste who lived a life of idleness and waiting to die. She had spent the past 16 years lying down whenever she could and never quarreled with anyone. The only person she had offended was probably her master who taught her the arts of calligraphy, painting, and needlework. If there was any grudge, couldn't they just talk it over? Why did they want to kill her?

Ming Huashang walked into Yanshou Hall with such grief on her face. The maid in the upper room saw Ming Huashang coming and hurried out to greet her, and helped her to open the curtains warmly: "Second Madam, you are finally here. The old lady has been talking about you for several times. Oh, why are your hands frozen red? Please come in quickly."

In the room, Mingyu was kneeling beside the couch, massaging the old lady's legs, while Mingshuo was snuggling in the Third Lady's arms, acting coquettishly. When she saw Ming Huashang coming, she snorted coldly and stood up reluctantly.

Ming Huashang took off her snow-soaked hood, stood still, and saluted everyone in the room one by one: "I am late. I greet my grandmother, second aunt, and third aunt. I hope my eldest sister and third sister are doing well."

The old lady of the Duke of Zhenguo glanced at Ming Huashang calmly, then retracted her gaze and said calmly, "Sit down. How did the servants serve you? Why are Second Lady's hands frozen red?"

Although Ming Huashang is the only daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo, because the Ming family has not yet split up, she is ranked together with her sisters from the second and third branches, with the second rank.

Zhaocai immediately knelt down to apologize. Ming Huashang said, "Grandmother, it's not their fault. I saw snow on the road and stayed for a while because I wanted to play. It's all my granddaughter's fault. It has nothing to do with them."

This was the eldest son's only surviving daughter, who lost her mother at birth. Old Madam Ming didn't know how to deal with her, so she said, "Since you're asking for mercy, forget it. Baoqin, get the hand warmer and warm the second lady's hands."

She bowed with the zither in her arms and retreated leisurely. She soon returned with a gilded hand warmer with grape, flower and bird patterns and knelt down meekly beside Ming Huashang: "Second Madam, please raise your hands."

Ming Huashang looked at her grandmother's most capable maid, and then thought about the names of her own four maids, which meant to bring in wealth and good fortune, and she sighed deeply for her own lack of education.

Ming Huashang raised her fingers, held the zither and came forward with the hand warmer, gently massaging Ming Huashang's fingers that were slightly stiff due to the cold. Ming Huashang actually wanted to say don't bother, just pour her a cup of hot tea, but in front of her grandmother, she didn't dare to be so rude, and silently endured the maid's elegant and meticulous service.

Ming Huashang had been talking in the front room when she came in. Now that everyone was seated again, Second Wife Zhao hurriedly brought up the previous topic: "Mother, I heard that Princess Taiping will hold a banquet in Feihong Garden in two days, and Prince Wangsun will attend. Our three daughters are all unmarried, mother, what do you think of this Feihong Banquet..."

After Second Madam Zhao finished speaking, not only did the Second Wife's daughter Mingyu stop what she was doing, but the mother and daughter from the Third Wife also raised their heads and looked fixedly at Old Madam Ming, their expectations evident in their words.

Princess Taiping is the most proud princess now. She is the only daughter of the empress and the daughter-in-law of the Wu family. She is in and out of the palace and has unparalleled glory. Even the crown prince and the crown prince's wife are far inferior to her. When she holds a banquet, the people of the Li Tang royal family dare not not show up. The princes and dukes of the Wu family will also attend. It can be said that it is the most ideal occasion for the daughters of Luoyang to choose a son-in-law.

The second wife's daughter Mingyu is seventeen this year, and the third wife's daughter Mingshuo is younger, but also thirteen, both of them are in the prime period for marriage. If they can go to Princess Taiping's Feihong Banquet, get the personal attention of a certain prince and son, and fly into the emperor's family in one fell swoop, then the rest of their lives will be secure.

Four pairs of eyes were eagerly waiting for Madam Ming to speak, and even the maids were eavesdropping. Among those present, Ming Huashang was probably the only one who had no interest in the blind date banquet, oh no, the Feihong banquet.

She will die next year, what's the point of talking about marriage? Can marrying into the royal family save her life?

No, maybe she will die faster. Now the empress is old, and there is a debate in the court about whether the prince should have the surname Wu or Li. The empress has never made a clear statement on this. If she accidentally marries the wrong person, let alone glory and wealth, I am afraid that the whole family will die.

Obviously, the old lady had also thought of this. She had experienced the bloody storm during the Chuigong years, and she was still terrified by the years when people were beheaded and exiled for a disagreement. Now that the empress is old and the Zhou Dynasty has reached a critical point, who knows which side will be favored by fate next?

Before the situation became clear, Madam Ming was not willing to make a bet too early, but Princess Taiping's invitation was a great honor, so who would dare not go?

Madam Ming was a little embarrassed. She glanced at Ming Huashang, who looked at her nails carefully and had no ambition at all, and made up her mind in an instant: "Thanks to His Majesty Taiping for looking favorably upon us and sending an invitation to the Ming family. However, the mountain road to Feihong Garden is narrow and it is difficult for carriages and horses to pass. The gentlemen can ride horses, but it is really inconvenient for the ladies."

When the second and third wives heard this, they all showed regret, knowing that they could not go to the Feihong Banquet. Unexpectedly, Mrs. Ming changed the subject and said, "Erlang is skilled in archery and horse riding, and is well-known for his talent. It's just right for him to meet some friends at the banquet. Second mother, you and your brother should go together."

Ming Huashang was stunned, thinking she had heard wrongly: "Me?"

It was also a coincidence that just as Madam Ming mentioned Erlang, a maid's joyful voice came from outside the door: "Madam, Erlang is here."

The door curtain was opened, and the cold wind blew in the snow, blowing away the dull warm fragrance in the room. Ming Huashang turned around and saw a tall, red figure passing behind the carved window. A pair of slender, flawless hands lifted the glass curtain, and the fingertips were even more shiny than the glass beads that had been burned into ice cracks.

The colorful glass beads jingled and collided, making a continuous clear sound. The gorgeous pearl curtain made the face behind it look even whiter than the snow, as if it was a piece of white jade with a gold edge. A light glance from the dark eyes filled the room with clear brilliance and boundless color.

The young man ignored the frozen gazes in the room. He lowered the pearl curtain and bowed slightly to Madam Ming in front of him: "Grandson Huazhang greets Grandmother."