As morning arrived, Han Mingyi and Du Yunhan went to Sui Yuan Club and arranged for Northern Qi’s and Eastern Li’s departure.

“Xiaoli, make sure to come find me when you visit Northern Qi!” Beiling Yu extended her head out of the carriage to look at Du Xiaoli.

Du Xiaoli gave a nod, which could be considered as making a promise with Beiling Yu.

“Thank you,” Beiling Yicheng expressed his sincere gratitude toward Du Xiaoli before heading into his own carriage.

Seeing that everyone had boarded their carriages, Han Mingyi waved his hand toward the guards and said: “Proceed.”

The several hundred guards started to move out. Ji Liufeng and Han Mingyi mounted their horses and rode to the front to lead the way.

Du Yunhan and Du Xiaoli stood at gates of Sui Yuan Club and watched the group of people and carriages slowly make their departure. When the group turned past a street corner and disappeared from sight, the two people let out long sighs of relief.

“It’s finally all over!” Du Xiaoli exclaimed emotionally.

“This period of time has been hard, hasn’t it?” Du Yunhan said as he looked at Du Xiaoli tenderly. Seeing her sharp jawline, Du Yunhan added with heartache, “You’ve gotten so thin!”

“I’m fine!” Du Xiaoli said as she stepped forward and pulled Du Yunhan’s arm. “Oh, Father, are you going to go propose a marriage for Older Brother now?”

“Look at how eager you are! You’re even more impatient than your own brother. Is the marriage proposal for you or for your brother?!” Du Yunhan said with a chuckle.

“My brother feels even more anxious than I do. It’s just that he’s too embarrassed to mention it. Moreover, Yalan-jiejie is so outstanding. If you don’t make the first move and set him up as the superior choice, what if someone else beats you to it and gets the marriage arranged first? That would be destroying a wonderfully fated marriage!” Du Xiaoli said. “Father, let’s go back.”

“Mm, let’s go. I’ll go over to propose the marriage after changing out of my court robes!” Du Yunhan gazed helplessly at his daughter.

“Xia Yuan, Ying Ge, Qiao Zhu. Move everything home!” Du Xiaoli finished talking and boarded the carriage with Du Yunhan, returning to the Prime Minister’s Manor.

As the competition had just ended, the academy kindly let the students have two days of break, so Du Xiuheng did not go to the academy. Instead, he stayed in his own courtyard and waited with a face filled with anxiousness.

“Young Master, Master and Miss have returned!” Xi Gu ran into the courtyard at flying speed from outside.

Du Xiuheng stood up from his chair and said, “They’ve returned?”

“Mm, I saw Imperial Bodyguard Chang Feng coming toward our courtyard. I imagine he must be coming to call Young Master over,” Xi Gu said and nodded vigorously.

Today was a big day. It was extremely important to the Young Master, so Xi Gu got nervous about it too!

Just as Xi Gu said that, Chang Feng entered the courtyard. When he saw Du Xiuheng, he bowed and said, “Young Master, Master wants to see you.”

With neatly arranged clothes and a calm composure, Du Xiuheng told Chang Feng nonchalantly, “Mm, let’s go.”

Chang Feng brought Du Xiuheng over to Du Yunhan’s study. When Du Xiuheng went inside, he saw Du Xiaoli and Du Yunhan talking about something. Soon after, the two people began to laugh heartily.

“Father, Younger Sister,” Du Xiuheng called out toward them.

Du Xiaoli turned her head to look at Du Xiuheng and remarked, “Father, how about that? Didn’t I say that Older Brother’s very anxious? See, he’s even changed his clothes already! Now, he’s just waiting for you!”

“Alright, I’ll go change my clothes, then we’ll go,” Du Yunhan said before getting up and leaving.

Du Xiaoli looked amusedly at Du Xiuheng, whose face she’d instantly caused to turn crimson from embarrassment, and continued teasing, “Older Brother, are you currently feeling very nervous and excited?”

Feeling even more embarrassed because of Du Xiaoli’s gaze, Du Xiuheng glared at her. “You’re still talking about that.”

“Haha, Older Brother, this reaction and expression of yours… are exactly the same as Yalan-jie’s!” Du Xiaoli covered her mouth and roared with laughter. Seeing that Du Xiuheng’s face had become completely red, Du Xiaoli stopped teasing him and instead asked, “Have you prepared the things for the betrothal?”

“Yes, I’ve already prepared them.” Du Xiuheng took out a jade pendant. He had gone to the jade artifact store to have this custom piece made. His name was engraved on it. “If you hadn’t given me all that money, I wouldn’t have been able to buy a jade pendant like this!”

“I think this pendant is of pretty good quality. It’s just right to use for a betrothal.” Du Xiaoli took the jade pendant to have a look at it, then she returned it to Du Xiuheng. “Have Father take a look later.”

“Alright,” Du Xiuheng said with a nod and put away the jade pendant.

The two people chatted for a while in the courtyard. When Du Yunhan emerged after changing his clothes, they all prepared to leave.

“Father. Older Brother, I’ll arrange to have lunch waiting at Cyan Bamboo Park for your victorious return!” Du Xiaoli smiled and waved at her father and brother. She waited for them to depart before returning with Xia Yuan.

As they were passing by the garden, they happened to see Xie Yu and Du Xueqi at the pavilion. The weather was becoming chilly, so the two women were already wearing coats.

Seeing Du Xiaoli, Xie Yu smiled while greeting her, “Third Miss.”

“Third Older Sister, you’ve returned!” Du Xueqi’s miserable expression immediately turned into one filled with smiles the moment she saw Du Xiaoli.

Du Xiaoli walked over to the pavilion and asked, “Third Concubine and Fifth Younger Sister, what are you doing?”

“Third Older Sister, Mother is teaching me how to recite poetry,” Du Xueqi replied.

Du Xiaoli saw the Book of Songs on the table and said, “That’s great. So why the long face?”

“I can’t do it, so Mother was punishing me!” Du Xueqi said with a lowered head.

She had heard from her mother and a servant girl about how Du Xiaoli had won at this year’s Academy Competition and achieved great honor for their country. So, she really admired Du Xiaoli and wanted to become someone like her. However, Du Xueqi could not even remember poetry well. This gave her a feeling of defeat.

“Cough cough—— Cough cough——” Xie Yu suddenly broke into a violent coughing fit and only stopped after quite a while.

MoonWhisperer, TWIP's Thoughts

Apologies to the readers read who my note about us dropping the novel... I thought I deleted it quick enough. Guess not, haha.

The sponsor was unable to find someone to take over the novel, so I've decided to just work on it alone in the meantime.

This means if you're an advanced reader, the chapters won't be available at fixed dates until I'm free enough to build up some stock (which is not anytime in the near future).

Public releases will be as per usual, 2 at the end of the month.

Thanks and happy reading!

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