Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Before my mother died, she left me a handkerchief.

After I came of age, I used it to drop hints at every eligible young man in the city.

Unfortunately, I dropped it so often the edges had started to curl, and I still hadn’t managed to marry myself off.

These past few days, I heard that a son of the Cui clan had come from the capital to Chuzhou and would be hosting an elegant gathering in the bamboo grove inside the city. I immediately put on the finest outfit I owned, took my handkerchief, and went out.

To set off my beauty, my maid Xiao Mei voluntarily painted her face pitch-black. Once we arrived, she looked around with nothing but a pair of snow-white eyeballs.

“Oh? That young gentleman looks unfamiliar.”

Green woods, emerald bamboo, wine cups drifting down a winding stream.

I cast my gaze toward the place where the young men had gathered. Sure enough, there was an unfamiliar face standing among them. Listening to the commotion from the crowd, everyone was calling him Young Master Cui.

“So he’s the son of the Cui Family?”

He was handsome and refined, with a long, graceful face that still held a trace of youthful innocence.

In Great Ye, the Cui clan might not be among the very top aristocratic families, but it was certainly no lowly house. And although this Young Master Cui had been raised under the name of his legitimate mother, he was still only a concubine-born son.

In that case, he was fair game.

I gave Xiao Mei a look and was just about to make my move when the voices around me suddenly fell silent. You could have heard a pin drop.

The young men and women all turned to look behind me.

The wind sang through the bamboo. A noble person was arriving.

I hurriedly pulled Xiao Mei back onto the side path. Behind us, the sound of wooden clogs crossed the stone pavement and stopped before the bamboo mats.

It was morning, the daylight clear and bright, yet the newcomer seemed to glow like snow from Mount Gushe, as if any stronger sunlight would melt him away. Two Lady Attendants removed the nobleman’s wooden clogs. In stockinged feet, he stepped lightly onto the mats, the fabric brushing softly against the green bamboo seating with a faint rustle.

Serene and elegant.

Young Master Cui stepped out from the crowd, his expression earnest. “Cousin.”

To say every man in the city had received my handkerchief was, of course, impossible.

There was at least one man I absolutely did not dare to provoke.

That was the Wang Clan Legitimate Son, Wang Yu.

The Wang Clan stood at the head of the great aristocratic houses. Even a concubine-born son of theirs was not someone a mere concubine-born daughter from a tiny, lowest-rank clan like me could cling to, let alone this man, who had enjoyed a pure reputation from a young age and had a Grand Princess for a mother.

So Xiao Mei and I hid beneath the trees and watched as Wang Yu and Young Master Cui spoke for quite a while. Only when the others had scattered into the bamboo grove to send wine cups drifting along the stream did Young Master Cui finally take his leave of Wang Yu and gradually walk deeper into the grove.

I seized the opening, immediately led Xiao Mei along a shortcut, and tossed my handkerchief onto the bamboo path he was bound to take.

After that, I strolled forward at an unhurried pace.

Before a single breath had passed, I heard footsteps hurrying up behind me. “My lady, you dropped your handkerchief!”

I smiled to myself and slowly turned back.

Shoulders level, brows relaxed, the curve of my lips natural and gentle. From every angle, I had to be flawless.

In his eyes, I saw a slender, beautiful young maiden.

My garments, like mist and drifting clouds, enveloped a delicate body as tender as a flower about to bloom, making my figure look all the more soft and graceful. I was like a light boat riding over waves of snow through a sea of white blossoms.

Seeing him stare at me in a daze, I lowered my head, pressed my lips together, and smiled with perfect restraint. “Yes. Thank you, my lord.”

At my reply, he quickly bent at the waist and bowed.

“I am Cui Zhan. Greetings, my lady.”

Cui Zhan had a delicate, long-featured face, and his expression was exceedingly gentle. He looked like someone easy to get along with.

The more I looked, the more satisfied I became, so I did not take back the handkerchief he offered.

“So you are of the capital’s Cui clan. Since childhood, I have often heard of the Cui clan’s founding merits, and even more often of your honored family’s Cui Family Instructions, said to be the finest book in Great Ye for the instruction of younger generations. What a pity I have never had the fortune to read it.”

Seeing that my words were mostly praise, Cui Zhan flushed with excitement. “How could that be called having no fortune?”

“If you are willing, my lady, I can send a servant to fetch it right now.”

“How could I possibly trouble you so?”

At that, his voice grew urgent. “It is no trouble, no trouble at all. Before sunset, I will be sure to have it delivered into your hands!”

Hearing this, I smiled with my lips closed.

After that, he accompanied me in a leisurely walk along the path. As for Xiao Mei, she had very sensibly fallen far, far behind us.

When we reached a small pavilion deep in the grove, we had barely exchanged a few words before an old servant suddenly appeared ahead.

“Young Master, Young Master Wang is calling for you.”

Cui Zhan was somewhat reluctant to part, but in the end, he left with lingering hesitation.

Before he went, he urged me again and again, promising that he would definitely return soon and asking me to wait here for him just a little while.

Heh.

If I waited for him, wouldn’t I be lowering my own worth?