Snow in the third month was unexpected. It was the season for spring outings, and now spring scenery had turned into a snowscape, which made it fresher than anything the capital had seen in years. Young lords and young ladies swarmed out of the city in droves, each afraid of arriving too late and finding the mountain snow already trampled and spoiled. Wei Rao was leaving the city too, but she was going to celebrate the birthday of her maternal grandmother, Lady Shou'an. When the rumors about her grandmother's years as a royal wet nurse in the palace were flying, Wei Rao's mother, Madam Zhou the younger, was still a little girl, and Wei Rao was not yet born. After Wei Rao grew up and heard the gossip, curiosity made her ask her grandmother about it. Her grandmother declined to discuss palace affairs and would only explain how she had come by her title. Before she left the palace, the Yuanjia Emperor had asked what reward she wanted. Deeply moved, her grandmother recalled ...
Hearing Hu Mian's words, Hua Xiangwan felt a sudden stillness settle over her. She sat down beside Hu Mian and couldn't help taking her hand. For a moment she felt as though she had gone back to her youth, when she hadn't been alone. Her mother, her master, her senior brothers and sisters had all stood behind her then, and Hehuan Palace had never needed her to hold up the sky. It was nothing like what came later, when she had to carry the palace alone, until even Ling Bei, who had always been timid and couldn't so much as carry the palace banner into battle, had become the Right Envoy of Spirit. "You're right," Hua Xiangwan said evenly. "If that day ever truly comes, I'll kill him with you, Senior Sister." "Why do you always say such unlucky things?" Hu Mian laughed. "Wanqiu, you're so used to brooding over everything. Don't think too much. I know Qin Minsheng's nature. He wouldn't do anything to hurt me....