“One flower per branch is called ‘orchid’; several flowers per branch are called ‘spike’; when flowers bloom at both the top and bottom, it’s known as a ‘brotherly spike’; so naturally, flowers that grow side by side should be called a ‘married couple spike.’”

As soon as they drew near, Miss Duan was already speaking eloquently.

“This line of reasoning seems familiar—where have I seen it before?” Qiu Huan chimed in with a smile.

When Duan Yunhe saw her approaching, she exclaimed in delight, “Fengze!” Then she looked puzzled at the spot where she had been standing just moments ago and realized that Cheng Jingtian and Ming Zhen were nowhere to be found.

Yuan Mo hadn’t really been paying close attention to Duan Yunhe’s “lecture” either; it was only after Qiu Huan arrived that he seemed a bit uneasy, and he glanced at her, clearly at a loss.

“Do we even have ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ these days?” After scanning the area briefly and finding no trace of them, Miss Duan decided to leave them alone and turned back to chatting with Qiu Huan: “Or maybe ‘The Story of the Stone,’ ‘The Mirror of Wind and Moon,’ ‘The Record of the Love Monk,’ or something like that.”

Seeing how interested she was in the topic, Qiu Huan also began to think carefully, though she simply ignored anything she couldn’t understand, saying only, “No, not those—you’re talking about ‘Old Tales of Jinling.’ It was written by a famous author from the former Liang Qiu dynasty, during the era of the ‘Archery Dynasty.’” The Archery Dynasty had been overthrown by Liang Qiu five or six hundred years ago, so despite being a highly talented writer, very few people know his name today. It’s only because Qiu Huan usually reads widely across all kinds of poetry, prose, travelogues, and miscellaneous essays that she happens to be familiar with him; otherwise, even if you randomly picked a young official, chances are he wouldn’t know who he was, since the imperial examinations don’t test this sort of knowledge.

Hearing this, Duan Yunhe clicked her tongue in amazement and grabbed Qiu Huan’s arm, asking whether she happened to have any other works by this author—novels or poems would do. As for that, she couldn’t recall so clearly, after all, books are heavy; one can’t exactly carry so many along on an outing, and she’d just toss aside anything she didn’t like or found too bulky. So she told Duan Yunhe to wait while she searched first.

Just when they finally managed to calm Miss Duan down, Yuan Mo suddenly became awkward again, avoiding eye contact and refusing to look at Qiu Huan as if he’d done something shameful.

Before he could say anything, Duan Yunhe took Qiu Huan’s arm and, with an ambiguous smile, hinted at him, “You’ve got something for Fengze, haven’t you? Why aren’t you showing it off?”

Upon hearing this, Yuan Mo’s expression became crystal clear—damn! He actually blushed! Qiu Huan felt she’d never been more astonished in her life; she barely managed to keep herself from rolling her eyes and asked, “A Mo, what’s wrong with you?”

Yuan Mo paused for a few seconds, composed himself, and then returned to his usual poker face, replying, “It’s nothing. I just happened to find a ‘couple spike’ a little while ago.” With that, he handed the item in his hand to Qiu Huan, and before she could even make out what it was, he said he needed to go check on Ming Zhen and Cheng Jingtian and turned away.

She was completely dumbfounded by this whole sequence of events—what was going on? Yuan Mo had been with her for over a decade without ever causing a scene, so why did he suddenly act so strange after only a few minutes with Duan Yunhe?

—Thank goodness Miss Duan had no idea what Qiu Huan was thinking, or else she’d surely punch her in the face.

“See?!” Duan Yunhe chuckled. “I knew this ‘couple spike’ was bound to be given to you by Yuan Mo—Fengze must be so thrilled she can’t even speak!” Qiu Huan gave her a blank stare, and she realized her remark was a bit far-fetched, so she stuck out her tongue and added, “Just kidding—don’t take it to heart! Otherwise I’ll just go play by myself and stop being your third wheel.” And sure enough, she went off to play with Bai Pao on her own.

It was only then that Qiu Huan took a closer look at the ‘couple spike’—sure enough, it was a plant with several flowers growing side by side, and although calling it a ‘couple spike’ was a bit of a stretch, after all, playing with grasses is just for fun, so there’s nothing wrong with it.

A strange feeling welled up inside her.

“Xiao Mo, do you like the scent of agarwood?”

“…It’s okay. Why are you asking about this?”

After all the playful banter, it was almost dinnertime. Poor Ming Zhen was sent off to cook for his beloved sister, while those waiting to eat casually asked Yuan Mo, “Here, take this.”

“Here you go,” Qiu Huan said, holding out a deep purple sachet, but her eyes didn’t meet his as she spoke. “The last batch of agarwood I bought wasn’t very good quality, so I ground it into powder instead. Since I don’t really use sachets anyway, I made one for you.” In fact, her needlework skills were quite good; she just usually finds it too much trouble and rarely makes things herself.

Yuan Mo never expected Qiu Huan to actually make a sachet for him, and he was a bit at a loss. It wasn’t until she reminded him again that he finally came to his senses.

Just then, Cheng Jingtian walked in and immediately spotted the sachet in Qiu Huan’s hand, his eyes lighting up in an instant.

“Xiao Huan, did you make this?” Without even noticing her obvious gesture of handing it over, he reached out and took it, then sniffed it: “You actually put agarwood in it—what a fine thing! I remember you never wear these before. Why don’t you give it to me instead? I really like it.” With just a few words, he declared the sachet’s new owner, looking completely innocent and upright, with not the slightest hint of embarrassment about taking someone else’s property.

It wasn’t that Qiu Huan hadn’t anticipated Cheng Jingtian snatching the sachet right out of her hands—she’d had a bad feeling the moment she saw him. But when Cheng Jingtian started talking, she thought she couldn’t let him know this was meant for Yuan Mo, or he’d tease her again, so she momentarily lost focus.

Now this really was a messy situation that couldn’t be easily untangled. If Qiu Huan, who had intended to give something to someone but failed, could be considered unhappy, then Yuan Mo, who watched helplessly as someone else received a gift meant for him and was about to hold it in their hands only to have it snatched away by another, was far more than just unhappy—his entire aura turned cold.

Qiu Huan was already feeling dejected; whenever she was around, Yuan Mo rarely used his freezing power, and this was clearly an exception. She sighed, wondering why nothing good ever happened when she ran into Cheng Jingtian. To make matters worse, the guy who stole someone else’s gift showed absolutely no awareness of it, happily playing with his newly acquired toy—perhaps he knew full well what he was doing and was deliberately acting this way just to tease them.

End of Chapter 22: First Break, Then Build