Second Madam said in tears, “If only you had a brother! Sadly, you don’t have any brothers. If you can’t find a good husband, what will happen to you after your father and I die?”


  Then she said to Old Madam Qiao, “Mother, although we have been separated from the Duke Mansion, we are still family, and I wish to adopt a son of Third Brother-in-law…”


  Old Madam Qiao had such a plan for a long time, but the Duke’s third brother was not born by her but by a concubine. Although he respected her as her nominal mother, she couldn’t just order him to give one of his sons to her second son.

  “When Jinniang gets married, Third Brother-in-law will return from the Southwest, at that time you can talk to him about this, Mother.” Second Madam said to Old Madam Qiao.

  Old Madam Qiao said, “We will discuss this matter later.”


  Second Madam didn’t say anything more about it. When she saw Qiao Jinniang coming over, she said, “Jinniang, this is the first time you will celebrate the Spring Festival in Chang’an. I suggest you go to the lantern show in Chang’an tomorrow. It’s very beautiful.”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “Okay.”


  It was New Year’s Eve again.

  Early in the morning, Qiao Jinniang made wine and fermented lantern dumplings, and then she made lanterns and prepared lantern riddles.

  When she went out in the afternoon, she found that the trees on both sides and the bridge were covered with all kinds of lanterns, and all kinds of candles were placed beside the steps of the stone bridge.

  At the entrance of the main street, there were huge lamp wheels, lamp trees, lamp posts, etc. All made by rich families. These were all to be placed at the gate of the imperial palace for nobles to view and admire.

  And countless people could also come to watch.

  Envoys from various vassal states would greet the Emperor on the main street today.

  Today’s palace banquet would be more interesting than usual. At least it wouldn’t be as solemn as the one on New Year’s Eve. On both sides of the palace, there were palace lanterns made by noble girls and childen.

  If you solved the riddle written at the bottom of a lantern, you could take the lantern away.

  Generally, if there were unmarried couples, other people wouldn’t obliviously take away the lanterns belonging to them.

  The young noble girls and children all came out to admire the lantern show.

  Holding Lu Xi in her arms, Qiao Jinniang tried to solve the lantern riddles one by one, and when she came to the third one, she saw Lu Chen coming toward her with a rabbit lantern.

  Lu Chen gave the rabbit lantern to Qiao Jinniang and whispered into her ear: “Oh, it’s finally the Lantern Festival.”


  Seeing that everyone was looking at them, Qiao Jinniang took a step back. “What are you talking about? Xi’er is here.”


  Lu Chen took over Xi’er, handed the rabbit lantern to Qiao Jinniang, smiled at her, and said.

  “After the palace banquet is over, come to me, and I will take you to enjoy the most beautiful Lantern Festival in Chang’an!”


  Lu Xi said, “I want to go too, Daddy.”


  Lu Chen: “You promised Daddy that you won’t disturb Mommy and Daddy at the Lantern Festival, right? After today, you can go out of the imperial palace to play with your mother for a few days.”


  Little Lu Xi snorted and said pitifully to Qiao Jinniang, “I want to be with you, Mommy.”


  Qiao Jinniang seldom refused Little Lu Xi. “Okay.”


  At this moment, Lu Chen really wanted to stuff little Lu Xi back into Qiao Jinniang’s belly.

  “Zhou Siming, the lantern you took just now belongs to Miss Qin.”


  Junior Duke Rong tapped Zhou Siming on the shoulder and said.

  “I’m afraid you don’t know that the Lin family and the Qin family have even set the date for Lin Mo and Qin Miaomiao’s wedding, which will be in the autumn of next year. So why did you take their lantern?”


  Zhou Siming gave the lantern in his hand to Junior Duke Rong and said, “I mistakenly took it.”


  Junior Duke Rong touched his head in bewilderment. “I never saw you being interested in this kind of stuff before. Okay, I’ll give it to Lin Mo.”


  Qiao Lu searched for a long time, but couldn’t find Fulu’s lantern. When he asked around, he was told that Fulu’s lantern had been taken by someone long ago.

  Although Fulu didn’t have a good reputation, her identity was quite noble.

  She was Princess Shou’an’s only daughter. Marrying her was a very tempting short cut to wealth and power for those men from poor families.

  Hearing this, Qiao Lu couldn’t help being a little dispirited. She said that she wanted to marry him, but why didn’t she come to him after he came back from his academy?

  During the palace banquet, many young people were absent-minded.

  Knowing what they were thinking of, Emperor Huilin allowed them to leave when it was just dark.

  Emperor Huilin would take the Queen to the highest tower in the imperial palace to admire the lantern show on the main street tonight.

  Just before he left, however, his dragon robe was grabbed by a small hand, and Little Lu Xi smiled at him and said.

  “Grandpa, Daddy said that beautiful fireworks could be seen on the highest tower in the imperial palace, but only you can go there. Is that true?”


  Queen Zhou waved to Little Lu Xi. “Xi’er wants to go?”


  “Yes!” Little Lu Xi blinked his beautiful phoenix eyes.

  Emperor Huilin looked around, only to find that Lu Chen and Qiao Jinniang had long disappeared.

  He couldn’t help but get angry. How could there be such irresponsible parents!

  After leaving the imperial palace, Qiao Jinniang was still a little worried about Xi’er. “What if His Majesty doesn’t take Xi’er with him?”


  “Don’t worry. My mother will take care of him,” Lu Chen said.

  Hearing this, Qiao Jinniang dropped the little burden in her heart and followed Lu Chen onto his little red horses.

  “Where are you taking me? Isn’t it said that the scenery on the main street is the most beautiful?” Qiao Jinniang asked, “I just saw many people on the imperial palace walls.”


  Lu Chen said, “The tallest building in Chang’an is the Wild Goose Pagoda in Cilen Temple. If you look down from there, you can see the fiery trees and silver flowers in the entire Chang’an.”


  Qiao Jinniang followed Lu Chen up the Wild Goose Pagoda, and when she reached the fifth floor, she felt a bit tired.

  Seeing this, Lu Chen put her on his back and walked to the top of the tower. Looking down from the top of the tower, everything on the ground looked tiny. Here, they had a panoramic view of the entire Chang’an.

  With the glittering lanterns all over Chang’an, it was as beautiful as in a fairyland.

  By the river, there were gradually people putting lanterns in the river and letting them float away to pray for blessings. Under the round moon, the river glittered with golden light, like the Milky Way in the sky. And there were brilliant fireworks in front of the gates of the imperial palace.

  Qiao Jinniang leaned on the railing and looked down. “Easterlies of the night call to bloom blossoms of a thousand trees, as if blowing adrift stars that drizzle like rain. I didn’t know the meaning of this poem before, but today I know how beautiful this scene is!”


  In Qiao Jinniang’s memory, the Lantern Festival was lively. There were always people coming and going on the street, and there were all kinds of lanterns, but it was the first time she saw such a grand scene.

  Lu Chen put his arm around Qiao Jinniang’s waist and said, “No matter how beautiful the scenery is, it’s no match for you.”


  Qiao Jinniang looked back at Lu Chen and said, “Humph, honey-lipped. If you really think so, you wouldn’t have left without telling me your identity last year.”


  Lu Chen hugged Qiao Jinniang and said, “I know I was wrong. But I am fortunate that I can still spend the Lantern Festival with you.”


  Qiao Jinniang turned back and said, “Okay, I’ll forgive you for the sake of the beautiful scenery today.”


  The fireworks were blooming, all kinds of huge lantern trees were lit, and the craftsmanship of the lantern wheels was amazing

  On the main street, there were even fire dragons and fire phoenixes dancing…


  On such a good day, looking at such a beautiful sight, Qiao Jinniang didn’t want to mention the unhappy past.

  Lu Chen lowered his head and kissed Qiao Jinniang’s lips.

  Qiao Jinniang closed her eyes, and wrapped her arms around Lu Chen’s waist, letting him launch a fierce “offensive” on her…


  The two kissed for an unknown amount of time until they heard the sound of the bells ringing in the temple.

  Only then did Lu Chen leave her lips and said, “This is in a temple after all. I’ll take you to my courtyard here.”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “If I don’t go back home, I’m afraid my parents will be worried.”


  “I’ll have my secret guards tell them where you are.”


  Qiao Jinniang and Lu Chen went to Lu Chen’s courtyard in the south of Chang’an and asked in a quiet tone to him, “Since you have endured for so long, can’t you endure until we get married?”


  Lu Chen lowered his voice and said, “Do you know that the wedding date is at the end of March? Do you want me to wait for almost another hundred days?”.