Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Excuse me, do I know you?"

At her words, the man paused.

A line of people streamed past, further dimming the lamplight in the corridor. Light and music in the stairwell faded by a third.

Her gaze, a mix of confusion and scrutiny, settled on him.

The man’s lips tightened slightly, his eyes retracting under her scrutiny.

"My apologies. I mistook you for someone else."

Du Lingjing only relaxed when he admitted his mistake.

Given his earlier words and actions, had it not been a case of mistaken identity, she would have been deeply unsettled.

Yet, the man exuded an inexplicable aura that made her reluctant to approach. For some reason, Du Lingjing had no desire for a deeper acquaintance. She gave a shallow bow and turned to leave.

But just as she turned away, his voice sounded again from behind.

"Still, the Moonlit Tower has been rather chaotic these past few days. The young lady might find the smaller teahouses by the lantern market more pleasant for a quiet drink."

He pressed on with his suggestion.

Du Lingjing couldn’t help but raise a brow. When she turned to look at him again, her expression was subtly tense.

The lamplight grew dimmer, the lively warmth of the main hall settling as a cool breeze drifted through the stairwell.

The man paused briefly. "Of course... the Moonlit Tower has its own charms. Still, it’s best not to linger too long."

Having said this, he spoke no more.

Du Lingjing couldn’t fathom why this man held such disdain for the Moonlit Tower, but she truly didn’t want to engage with him.

"Thank you for the advice."

Just then, Ruan Gong hurried down the stairs to fetch her. She turned and swiftly departed.

With her departure, even the faint, lingering scent of books in the hallway seemed to vanish.

The swaying lanterns cast shifting light, playing across the man’s face.

He gently closed his eyes for a moment.

Nearby, in a shadowed corner,

Chong’an, his guard, watched his lord from behind and couldn’t resist whispering to his elder brother, Chong Ping.

"Brother, does the Moonlit Tower owe His Lordship money?"

Chong Ping: "...No."

"Then... did the Moonlit Tower serve His Lordship vinegar? Why is he so sour?"

Chong Ping choked back a laugh, only to see his lord’s body tense slightly.

"Shut up!"

Before the words fully left his mouth, the man turned and asked,

"Did we book a private room in this building? Where is it?"

Chong Ping lowered his head and stepped forward to reply, "Third floor, west wing."

The Shao family had reserved the most spacious private room in the Moonlit Tower’s east wing, leaving Chong Ping to secure the best room with a street view in the west wing.

He saw his lord finally lift his foot and continue up the stairs.

"Let’s go sit there."

*

In the east wing of the Moonlit Tower, Du Lingjing was led into a private room.

The room was tastefully spacious, occupying nearly half the teahouse. Lacquered screens, intricately carved windows, exquisite porcelain, and fragrant tea—everything was refined. The man she had come to meet stood with his hands clasped behind his back by the window, dressed in rich violet brocade and crowned with gold and jade. For a moment, Du Lingjing couldn’t reconcile him with the person she remembered.

About eleven or twelve years ago, when she had first met Shao Boju through the Hu siblings, the Shao family had been struggling. He had often worn ill-fitting cotton clothes.

Hu Tingjun would make an extra set of clothes for him whenever she sewed for her elder brother, so he wouldn’t have to wear patched, ill-fitting old clothes and suffer disdainful looks...

Memories from over a decade ago were as hazy as morning mist, dissipating into the rising sunlight when she tried to recall them.

But the Shao Boju before her now exuded an entirely different air. Du Lingjing’s thoughts drifted momentarily before he turned from the window.

His brows were bold, his eyes deep and spirited.

Du Lingjing stepped forward to greet him, and he raised a hand to wave off formalities. "Jing, you’ve arrived. No need for such courtesy."

Only then did she straighten and notice another man standing beside him, who bore a four- or five-tenths resemblance. Shao Boju introduced him as his cousin, the fifth in their generation, named Shao Wuxing.

Du Lingjing vaguely recalled that Shao Boju’s uncles and cousins had only numbered four. She had no memory of this fifth cousin. He appeared to be in his twenties, with a hawk-like nose and slightly sharp eyes.

"Greetings, Miss Du."

Shao Wuxing bowed to her, and Du Lingjing returned the courtesy.

The three of them then took their seats. The teahouse’s owner personally served tea, exchanged a few polite words with Shao Boju, and withdrew.

Shao Boju seemed perfectly at ease, no trace left of his past awkwardness.

Du Lingjing composed herself and exchanged a few pleasantries with him. She didn’t directly mention the marriage arrangement between their families but deftly turned the conversation to the Hu siblings.

"I recently sent someone to visit Tingjun’s home, only to learn that she, her husband, and Brother Hu’s entire household had vanished without leaving word. Do you know anything about this, Shao-dage?"

She posed the question and watched as Shao Boju nodded knowingly. "I also thought it odd and sent people to search, but they’ve yet to turn up. Xiao Wu," he called to Shao Wuxing, "have you uncovered any leads?"

Shao Wuxing shook his head. "Elder Brother, I sent more men out recently, but no news has returned yet. We’ll hear something soon, though."

Shao Boju instructed, "Then send even more people."

"Yes."

Once they finished, Du Lingjing noticed Shao Boju looking at her.

"I’ll look into the Hu family’s situation. Since you’ve just returned to the capital, Jing, perhaps you should take some time to relax and not worry too much."

Du Lingjing nodded slowly, but the next moment, she looked up and held Shao Boju’s gaze.

"You’re right, Shao-dage. However, in her letter to me, Tingjun mentioned something that might be related to their current situation."

As her words fell, she saw Shao Boju's gaze harden, while his cousin Shao Wuxing's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.

"What is it?" Shao Boju asked.

"Tingjun mentioned in her letter that if I came to the capital, I must search for something in the woods west of Jishuitan," Du Lingjing replied, a look of careful recollection on her face. "She said it was extremely important and insisted I find and keep it safe."

As she spoke, she saw Shao Wuxing's eyes flicker beside his hawkish nose, and Shao Boju asked her bluntly.

"What was it? Did you find it, Jing?"

Both brothers fixed their gazes on her, but Du Lingjing revealed nothing, only shaking her head slowly.

"I sent people to search twice but found nothing."

This seemed to ease Shao Wuxing slightly, and Shao Boju's tense gaze also relaxed.

"Do you know what it was, Brother Shao?" Du Lingjing asked. "Could Tingjun have mistaken the location?"

"I don’t know either. But since your two searches turned up nothing, it must not be there—she must have been mistaken."

Du Lingjing hummed in acknowledgment.

The Hu brother and sister had been missing for over a month, yet Shao Boju dismissed such a significant matter so casually.

Silently, Du Lingjing studied this Tanhua scholar she no longer recognized.

Instead, Shao Boju brought up another matter.

"As for the marriage between our families..." He turned to Du Lingjing with a faint smile. "You already know, don’t you, Jing?"

Du Lingjing nodded.

Shao Boju's expression softened slightly. "Rest assured in this marriage. I won’t mistreat you."

Was that a promise?

She had never heard a promise that sounded so much like a marketplace deal.

But she lowered her eyes and replied, "I understand."

At this point, there seemed little left to discuss.

Their impending marriage felt as impersonal as a transaction between merchant and customer.

Shao Boju called out to the door, and his attendant replied that others were waiting for him elsewhere. He rose to leave.

"Jing, since you haven’t been to the capital in years, enjoy your time at Moonlit Tower. I have urgent matters to attend to and must take my leave."

Du Lingjing politely bowed and saw him out.

Once he was gone, she had no desire to linger in the exquisitely decorated but stifling private room. She instructed Ruan Gong to find a small table downstairs in the main hall.

Nightfall could not dim the Moonlit Tower’s dazzling brilliance. Dancers swayed onstage, lanterns in hand, music and song filling the air.

Du Lingjing sat by a window at the small table. "We’ll wait here."

Ruan Gong acknowledged her order and added quietly, "As you instructed, I’ve posted Chang Pu at Jishuitan."

Du Lingjing nodded and stirred the leaves in her cup, sipping her tea.

The story about Hu Tingjun’s letter asking her to retrieve something from Jishuitan was entirely a ruse—and she had told Shao Boju there was nothing there.

But if Shao Boju still went to Jishuitan...

She slowly drank her fragrant tea.

The Moonlit Tower was packed, and even seated in a quiet corner, she could hear the animated chatter of the patrons.

With the Mid-Autumn Festival just a day away, the entire teahouse buzzed with only one topic.

Someone was discussing the noble families arranging marriages this year. "...All waiting for the Emperor to arrange the matches. Even the Matchmaker God isn’t as busy as His Majesty this year. But the Emperor must attend to those two first—others may have to wait."

Another asked bluntly, "They say the Tanhua scholar will remarry this year. Which noble family’s daughter is it? Has it been settled?"

Someone nearby confirmed it. "That family has already submitted their petition to the Imperial Clan Office!"

"But which family?" The first person still didn’t understand.

The other replied plainly, "The Du family of Chengqing Lane—the late Grand Secretary Du’s household!"

The man was startled. "Grand Secretary Du passed away years ago! Didn’t he only have one daughter, still unmarried?"

"Exactly. Her first betrothed died before the wedding. With her age now, how could she marry as a first wife? She can only be a second wife. Fittingly, the Tanhua scholar is taking a new wife—this Lady Du has some luck!"

"Ah, what a 'rise in status'! Under normal circumstances, with her family’s decline and her age, how could she marry into nobility? At best, she’d remarry some local gentry."

Ruan Gong muttered curses under his breath, but Du Lingjing, the one about to "marry up," remained composed, continuing to sip her tea.

The group then turned to another topic. "...I heard the Marquis of Yongding’s household will welcome a marchioness this year—it’s certain." The man said that in Qianxing Lane, "Someone bet five hundred taels of silver that Marquis Lu will marry his marchioness this year! The imperial decree will arrive in two days!"

The crowd gasped, drawing the attention of half the hall.

The speakers remained unfazed. "Who placed such a confident bet? But I haven’t heard which family is marrying into the Marquis’s household!"

They listed all possible noble families, but none could pinpoint which young lady would suit the Marquis’s station.

Someone remarked, "It certainly won’t be a fallen house like the Du family—definitely not some spinster who never married her betrothed!"

Ruan Gong’s face darkened, and he nearly confronted them, but Du Lingjing quickly stopped him.

She chuckled softly. "They’re not wrong."

The powerful Marquis of Yongding would surely aim high. Of course, she had no intention of remarrying either.

But before her words fully faded, the noisy hall abruptly hushed.

For some reason, everyone turned to look toward the third floor of the west wing.

By the carved railing stood a tall man in dark indigo brocade, poised like a blade of polished obsidian—regal and detached. His gaze swept slowly across the hall before pausing briefly at the secluded table by the window.

Du Lingjing froze.

It was him.

The man who had "offered unsolicited advice" on the stairs.

She didn’t know who he was, but then she heard someone murmur beside her, "So Marquis Lu really is here?"

Marquis Lu?

Du Lingjing's mind blanked for a moment.

The Marquis of Yongding, Lu Shenru?

She looked up, and the man's gaze swept over the crowd before, inexplicably, landing squarely on her.

Du Lingjing went rigid, instinctively turning her head away.

She didn’t look again, but from the corner of her eye, she faintly noticed the man pausing at the railing a beat longer before turning and leaving.

As his figure vanished, the hall quickly broke back into animated conversation once more, though this time, the guests couldn't contain their excitement.

"So the Marquis really came! The eastern tower of Moonlit Tower hosted Tanhua Shao, while the western tower invited Marquis Lu—what's so special about today? Who could bring both of them here?"

There was still a day left before the Mid-Autumn Festival, yet Moonlit Tower was already livelier than the festival itself.

Du Lingjing frowned slightly.

Shao Boju was invited by her, but that Marquis...

Unbidden, his low, husky voice echoed in her mind.

"There are no good people here. It’s better not to come."

His palm burned hot against her, the hand at her waist only tightening its grip...

Her mind wandered briefly, but before she could collect them, Chang Pu suddenly rushed over from the doorway. He had returned from Jishuitan.

Chang Pu darted forward, leaning close to her ear.

When Chang Pu was done, Du Lingjing took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

Ruan Gong watched her face closely, seeing her expression shifted rapidly before she suddenly asked an odd question.

"At Qianxing Fang, are there also many people betting on Shao Boju’s marriage to me?"

Before Ruan Gong could answer, Chang Pu cut in eagerly, "Yes, miss! They’re all waiting for the imperial decree to marry the Shao and Du families so they can cash in!"

But Ruan Gong saw the ghost of a smile on the young lady’s lips as she slowly set down her teacup.

"Then I’m afraid they’ll be disappointed."