In the Xu Residence, Zheng Furen watched as Zhichun and the others placed the gift box on the cabinet and couldn’t help but say to Xu Moxiu, “You only stayed at your sister’s place for one night, why did you bring back so many things? Your sister married into a prestigious family. If her mother-in-law thinks she’s helping her maiden family financially again, it wouldn’t be good.”

“These were given by Yin Furen. When I returned, the items were already placed in the carriage, and I didn’t feel right returning them. I checked, they are all things like fruit, flower tea, and such. It should be fine to keep them.” Xu Moxiu said as he sat down beside Zheng Furen’s bed.

Zheng Furen sighed and said, “Before, I was worried that your sister would suffer after marrying there, but I didn’t expect Yin Furen to be a good mother-in-law. This is also your Jiejie’s good fortune.”

Xu Moxiu, thinking about what Zhao Huanxi had told him, didn’t respond to Zheng Furen’s words and instead said, “Mom, Yin Furen’s fourth daughter’s mother-in-law, Wu Furen, wants to arrange a marriage between her nephew from her maiden family and Hui’an. The young master of that family is surnamed He, and we were classmates. His father holds a position in the court. He Gongzi’s character is not problematic. Jiejie wants to maintain a superficial relationship to save Wu Furen’s face. So that whether it succeeds or not, we need to go through the motions. She suggested that I take Hui’an to Zhaohua Temple during my next ten-day leave to have a look at that He Family. What do you think?”

Zheng Furen asked, “We have no previous dealings with Wu Furen. Why did she suddenly think of arranging a marriage with our Hui’an?”

Xi Moxiu said, “Wu Furen’s son married Yin Furen’s fourth daughter, which establishes a relationship between her (Zhao Jiazhen) husband’s family and Jing Guogong Residence. If she arranges for her nephew from her maiden family to marry Hui’an, it would mean that her maiden family is also directly related to Jing Guogong Residence’s First Branch.

Zheng Furen’s eyebrows lightly furrowed. “If it’s for this reason, it’s not good.”

She pondered for a moment and said to Xi Moxiu, “Nian’an is decisive. You and Hui’an should listen to her arrangements for this matter.”

Xu Moxiu understood.

✦

On the Royal Street, Zhao Huanxi was horseback riding with Qian Ming, He Lun, and a few others, while Zhiyi and Zhi’er was driving the Guogong Residence’s carriage, following not too far behind.

“Huanxi Laodi, how is it? Isn’t it more fun to come out and play than to be bored in the residence?” Qian Ming stopped in front of a shop selling ice-cold drinks, tossed a piece of silver to the shop assistant, and asked him to bring some mung bean cold water.

“En!” Zhao Huanxi wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand, feeling genuinely delighted. It had been a long time since he had ridden a horse. After learning at the age of twelve, his mother had never let him go to the horse ranch to ride again.

Huo Qingzhe, noticing the frequent glances from the young ladies and women around them, confidently brushed aside the bangs on his forehead and said to He Lun, “Why do I feel like the ladies are particularly fond of us today? It must be because I look especially handsome and charming today.”

He Lun mocked, “Knowing oneself is the essence. Are they really looking at you?”

Following his gaze, Huo Qingzhe turned his head and saw Zhao Huanxi taking a bamboo tube from the shop assistant, tilting his head back to drink the cold water. A white line ran from his jaw to his neck, with smooth and graceful contours. Even the rolling of his Adam’s apple seemed more delicate than others. Not to mention that it was pleasing to the eye for men to watch, let alone women.

He couldn’t help but make a “tsk” sound, but didn’t mention it and picked up the bamboo tube to drink water.

After all five of them had finished drinking the cold water, they returned the bamboo tubes to the shopkeeper.

Zhao Huanxi asked Qian Ming, “Qian Xiong, where should we go next?”

Qian Ming suggested, “Today happens to be the open day for the Xiangguo Temple. Shall we go take a look?”

“Sure, my wife was just talking about wanting to eat Wang Daoren’s honey pancakes a couple of days ago,” Ge Jingxuan said.

“Then I’ll go see the embroidery by Huineng Xiao Shitai,” Huo Qingzhe said with a smile.

“Shall we?”

“Let’s go!”

The five of them turned their horses and headed towards the Xiangguo Temple.

At noon, the five of them left the Xiangguo Temple and headed straight for the Baxian Restaurant in the city. Following the waiter’s guidance, they made their way to the second floor. Huo Qingzhe said, “I heard that there’s a new singer in the restaurant. Both her looks and skill are wonderful. I wonder if we’ll have the chance to hear her sing a song today.”

The waiter said, “Sorry to disappoint dear Gongzis, but Wei Guniang has caught a cold these days and can’t sing.”

The disappointment was evident on several people’s faces. As they looked around on the second floor, they saw Zhu Zhifu and six other Gongzis sitting at a table near the eastern railing, chatting and laughing. Each of them was accompanied by a courtesan with heavy makeup, serving them wine and food.

“Damn, what bad luck!” Qian Ming spat to the side, cursing.

He Lun suggested, “How about we go to another place?”

Huo Qingzhe chuckled and said, “Why should we move? It wasn’t us who lost face last time. Right, Huanxi Laodi?” He put his arm around Zhao Huanxi’s shoulder and sat down at a table near the western railing, under the watchful eyes of Zhu Zhifu’s group. He loudly called for the waiter to bring drinks and food.

Zhao Huanxi saw Zhu Zhifu looking at him unfavourably and coldly stared back at him. Ever since he learned about Zhu Zhifu’s enmity with Xu Nian’an and his brother, he had also considered Zhu Zhifu as one of his enemies.

Qian Ming and the others asked about Zhao Huanxi’s dietary preferences and quickly ordered a table full of dishes.

“Shall we call some girls up from downstairs?” Huo Qingzhe looked at the table next to Zhu Zhifu’s, seeking the opinions of Qian Ming and Helun.

“Up to you guys, I’m not interested,” Ge Jingxuan said.

“I’m not interested either,” Zhao Huanxi added.

Qian Ming put his arm around He lun’s shoulder and laughed, “Look, newlyweds are surely different from us old married couples.”

He Lun replied, “Who’s an old married couple with you? Get lost!”

Ge Jingxuan laughed loudly, while Huo Qingzhe went downstairs and picked three girls to come up. When the three girls arrived, they immediately noticed Zhao Huanxi, who sat by the railing like a jade beauty. Their eyes lit up, and they all rushed to get close to him.

“Hey hey, where are you going? Qian Gongzi, He Gongzi, and I are the ones you should be serving,” Huo Qingzhe called out, stopping the three girls.

The three girls were disappointed for a moment, but then they thought that it was also good to sit at the same table with such a handsome yet beautiful young man.

The table became lively as everyone started drinking and eating.

Across from the Baxian Restaurant, on the second floor of the building diagonally opposite, the guests in the private room facing the street were cleared out. Qingxiang Junzhu sat down there and, looking out the window, caught sight of Zhao Huanxi on the second floor opposite.

There were bamboo curtains and columns in between, so she could only see half of his body. She could only see his face when he sat up straight. His demeanor was very good. Even when dining with friends, he mostly sat upright, and every frown and smile fell into the eyes of Qingxiang Junzhu.

She saw him holding a silver cup in his left hand, his fingers fair and slender, with skin as smooth as ice and jade, extremely beautiful.

She saw him slightly puff up one side of his cheek while eating, his expression focused, and then he suddenly smiled for some reason, his eyes shimmering, and his lips rosy and teeth white.

“Zhao Huanxi…” Qingxiang Junzhu leaned on the window sill, smiling. “The eldest legitimate grandson of Jing Guogong Residence, our statuses match.”

Suwei, who was sitting opposite her and pouring tea for her, couldn’t help but remind her, “Junzhu, this Zhao Gongzi got married two months ago.”

“What does being married matter? Divorce and separation are always options, aren’t they?” Qingxiang Junzhu sat up straight, angrily throwing her fan at Suwei. “I didn’t ask for your opinion, you spoilsport!”

Zhao Huanxi who was unaware that someone was spying on him, was happily eating and listening to Qian Ming and the others talking about absurd and amusing stories. Suddenly, from the next table, Zhu Zhifu’s voice could be heard shouting, “I paid you to accompany me, not to ogle at someone else! What the hell are you looking at?”

Not only did he scold her, but he also reached out and pinched the back of the neck of the girl next to him, pressing her face into the soup bowl on the table. The soup had just been served and was still hot, so the girl struggled but couldn’t make a sound.

The other girls were frightened and trembling.

The Gongzi surnamed Ni sitting at the table with Zhu Zhifu opened his folding fan and fanned himself while glancing at Zhao Huanxi. He coolly said to Zhu Zhifu, “Don’t bother with these cheap women. They have no idea that those handsome young masters will steal their business (because he’s too beautiful).”

Qian Ming was furious and wanted to curse, but Huo Qingzhe reached out and placed his hand on his shoulder, saying, “Everyone, I just learned a funny poem recently. Let me recite it for you.”

He cleared his throat and loudly recited, “Alone in the study, his hand becomes his wife. This feeling is not known to others. If he switches from left hand to right hand, it’s like divorcing the wife and marrying another. Drops falling on the ground bit by bit, generations to come will all bear the surname Ni (mud).”

The phrase "his hand becomes his wife" suggests that he is engaging in self-pleasure.
The last two lines use a pun on the surname Ni (倪-ní), which sounds like the word for "mud" (泥-ní) in Chinese. It suggests that the drops falling on the ground (ejaculation) that becomes mud will lead to descendants who will all bear this surname.

Qian Ming, He Lun, and Huo Qingzhe slapped the table and laughed uproariously. Even the more reserved Ge Jingxuan couldn’t help but chuckle. Only Zhao Huanxi, with food in his mouth and cheeks puffed out, looked confused.

Before he could react, the dishes from the next table were thrown over.

How can they tolerate this? The two tables instantly clashed, and the girls screamed as they ran downstairs.

Although Zhao Huanxi didn’t know what had happened, if the other party had thrown plates first, then they were in the wrong, no question about it: it was time to fight!

Zhu Zhifu has always felt that last time, it was only because of his momentary carelessness that he was taken advantage of by that coward Zhao Huanxi. This time, as soon as the fight started, he grabbed a soup bowl and charged at Zhao Huanxi.

His tablemates naturally knew about his grudge with Zhao Huanxi, so they didn’t compete with him but instead went to beat up Qian Ming, Huo Qingzhe and others.

Seeing him holding the soup bowl, Zhao Huanxi couldn’t help but recall the scene where he had pressed the face of the girl into the bowl just now, and then he thought of the incident where he had broken Xu Moxiu’s arm, so he picked up a bench.

Zhu Zhifu stopped: “…..”

Since he didn’t come over, Zhao Huanxi walked towards him.

“You damn, don’t come over here—” Zhu Zhifu retreated backwards while pointing at Zhao Huanxi, who was holding the bench.

“You can rest assured, I won’t hit your head today,” Dong Jiejie said that hitting the head can easily be fatal. After following Master Qu for so long, he also knows which parts of the body can be hit and which cannot.

Zhu Zhifu threw the soup bowl towards him and then ran.

Zhao Huanxi dodged with a turn of the head, chased after him, and smashed the bench on his back.

Zhu Zhifu stumbled and fell to the ground. Zhao Huanxi threw the stool at him and then there was a flurry of punches and kicks, beating Zhu Zhifu until he screamed like a pig. Not satisfied yet, Zhao Huanxi saw a pot of turtle soup on their table, picked it up, poured it over Zhu Zhifu’s head, and then clapped his hands before standing up straight.

Turning around, he saw Qian Ming, Helun, and the others still fighting. On Zhu Zhifu’s side, there were two more people, and the more refined Ge Jingxuan was getting beaten badly. Hurriedly, he walked over, grabbed the hairpin of the person riding on Ge Jingxuan and swinging fists, pulled him over, and punched him in the jawbone.

Master Qu said hitting someone here could easily cause unconsciousness.

Perhaps Zhao Huanxi’s strength wasn’t enough; one punch didn’t knock the person out, but it did make him stagger back repeatedly.

Zhao Huanxi saw that Master Qu’s teachings were effective and his confidence soared. He went up and with three or four strikes, he knocked the person down, then went to help Huo Qingzhe and Helun.

Although he had just started practicing martial arts and was not very skilled, he was still better than these dandies who had never learned and only knew how to fight blindly.

After the big fight, all of the people on Zhu Zhifu’s side were down. Huo Qingzhe tossed a silver ingot to the waiter, saying, “This is our bill for food and drinks. They started it, so they should pay for the damages!” With that, the five of them swaggered out of the door, mounted their steeds, and with a whoop and wild laughter, rode away.

On the opposite second floor, Qingxiang Junzhu stood at the window, her eyes shining brightly as she followed that elegant and graceful figure in purple, excitedly grabbing Suwei’s arm and saying, “Did you see that just now? He looks so refined and handsome, yet he can fight so well! I want him, I want to marry him!”

Suwei frowned, “But…”

Qingxiang Junzhu scolded, “Shut up! I have my ways.”