After “parting ways” with Huo Shiran, Lu Jiaojiao felt as though even the air filling her lungs carried the sweet taste of freedom.
Rather than returning directly to her own courtyard, she changed direction and made her way, with practiced familiarity, toward the warm pavilion in the Huo residence’s rear garden. She remembered clearly that at this hour, Grandmother Huo would usually be there listening to music or worshipping the Buddha.
Sure enough, the moment she stepped into the covered corridor outside the pavilion, she heard the old lady’s cheerful voice drifting from within.
The senior maid stationed at the entrance immediately broke into a warm, kindly smile when she saw Jiaojiao. She did not even bother to announce her arrival, simply lifting the curtain and saying,
“The Young Madam is here! Please, come in. The Old Madam was just talking about you.”
Lu Jiaojiao gathered her skirts and entered with graceful composure.
A faint fragrance of sandalwood filled the warm pavilion. Grandmother Huo was reclining on a cushioned couch by the window, a string of prayer beads in her hand. The moment she saw Jiaojiao, her eyes curved into a smile, and she beckoned her over.
“Jiaojiao is here. Come, sit beside Grandmother.”
“Grandmother,” Lu Jiaojiao called sweetly.
She obediently walked over and sat on a small stool beside the couch, moving with such natural ease that it seemed as though she had grown up there all her life.
“How is it? Are you settling in well in our home? That scoundrel Ran’er hasn’t been bullying you, has he?”
Grandmother took her hand and looked her over with concern. Her gaze paused briefly on the tiny scab at the corner of Jiaojiao’s lips. A knowing smile flickered across her face, but she thoughtfully chose not to mention it and merely patted Jiaojiao’s hand gently.
“If he dares to give you any trouble, just tell Grandmother. I’ll take my cane and give him a good whack!”
“Please don’t worry, Grandmother. Your granddaughter-in-law is doing very well,” Lu Jiaojiao replied, lowering her eyes and putting on the shy appearance of a newlywed bride.
Inside, however, she was practically bursting with delight.
See? This was what it meant to have a solid backing!
Just then, a maid announced from outside that one of Madam’s senior attendants had arrived with several newly acquired bolts of brocade from Jiangnan, inviting the Old Madam and the Young Madam to choose their favorites first.
Madam Zou’s chief maid entered carrying several bolts of shimmering, brilliantly colored fabric and said with a smile,
“Madam said that the Young Madam is still young and would look best in brighter colors. This begonia red and moonlit white are the newest patterns from the palace. There were only a few bolts in total, and Madam specifically instructed us to let the Young Madam choose first.”
Warmth filled Lu Jiaojiao’s heart.
Her mother-in-law’s favoritism could not have been more obvious.
She politely declined at first, but under Grandmother’s insistence, she finally “reluctantly” accepted the most precious bolt—the begonia-red brocade.
Then the chief maid lowered her voice and said to Jiaojiao with a smile,
“Young Madam, Madam also asked this servant to pass along a message. The small kitchen made your favorite crab roe pastries and almond tea today, and she has already had them sent to your courtyard.”
By the time Lu Jiaojiao left Grandmother’s courtyard, she felt utterly refreshed and invigorated.
On her way back, every servant she encountered in the Huo household—whether a steward or a young maid—greeted her respectfully and warmly. Their eyes were filled with friendly smiles.
She even ran into one of Huo Shiran’s personal attendants.
The attendant looked even more nervous upon seeing her than he ever did around his own master. He bowed awkwardly, stammering through his greeting and avoiding her gaze, as though he were terrified of this newly appointed Young Madam.
Lu Jiaojiao could barely keep herself from laughing out loud.
For her, living in the Huo residence was practically a home-field advantage.
She had the right time, the right place, and the support of everyone around her!
Aside from a certain person named Huo Shiran, who was nothing more than an annoying stone in her shoe, everything else was going perfectly.
She strolled leisurely back, making plans in her mind.
The crab roe pastries had to be eaten while they were still hot. When she returned, she would enjoy her food first.
And then…
Perhaps she should visit the storeroom and see whether her dowry had been properly arranged.
The thought of Huo Shiran sitting alone in his study, sulking—or perhaps gritting his teeth every time he caught sight of the bite mark on his neck—made Lu Jiaojiao’s mood even brighter.
Yet after wandering around the Huo residence and receiving so much affection from the elders and respect from the servants, her initial feeling of triumph gradually settled.
In its place, a faint and almost imperceptible loneliness quietly crept into her heart.
The Huo family was small and uncomplicated. There were none of the tangled branches, concubine-born relatives, and sprawling family connections common among great aristocratic households.
The residence was peaceful, certainly.
But…
It was also a little too quiet.
Above all, there was no one her own age with whom she could truly share private thoughts.
Huo Shiran’s elder brother, Huo Qichen, was much older than the two of them. He had long since become an accomplished general in his own right and was usually stationed at the border, returning to the capital only occasionally.
His wife, Madam Qin, had an excellent temperament, but she was still Jiaojiao’s elder sister-in-law—and already a mother. Every day, she was occupied with the food, clothing, and daily lives of her three little troublemakers.
Between her and Jiaojiao, the newlywed younger sister-in-law, there was inevitably a natural distance created by their difference in age, experience, and position within the family.
Thinking about this, Lu Jiaojiao suddenly felt both amused and irritated.
She stopped walking.
Standing beneath the moon gate connecting the front and rear courtyards, she looked toward the tall old locust tree in the courtyard ahead.
For a moment, she seemed to see two tiny figures wrestling beneath that very tree.
One was tugging at the other’s little topknot.
The other was biting the first on the arm.
Their faces were red with fury as they fought over a chirping cricket.
Wasn’t that how the two of them had first ended up playing together?
Or rather—
Fighting together?
In that military camp filled with rough, burly men, the little daughter of the Marquis of Yongning and the youngest son of the Marquis of Wu’an had been the only two children close in age.
The other children were either too young or too old.
Only the two of them were alike—two “companions” who had been forced together by circumstance.
There had been no one else to play with.
So they could only play with each other.
Even if playing eventually turned into fighting.
And fighting somehow always ended with them coming back together again.
She had once believed they were natural-born enemies.
But now, she suddenly sensed something almost absurd beneath it all—
A strange sort of dependence on one another.
“Just what am I thinking?” she muttered under her breath.
Then she started walking again.
“Even if he’s the only one left, I’ll still fight with him!”
“And I absolutely have to win!”