General, you should rest now; the lady is even more ruthless.

A leisurely day.

After having breakfast, Jiang Qiqi sat in the courtyard eating almonds.

These days, Xiang'er has truly kept her word, keeping an eye on the small kitchen for every meal and preparing all sorts of nutritious foods for Jiang Qiqi.

All sorts of expensive ingredients are served on the table as if they're free, and after the meal there are snacks, fruits, and afternoon tea, with countless dried fruits and desserts.

She was afraid of eating Shen Luo out of house and home.

The effect is quite obvious.

Jiang Qiqi pinched her belly, which was starting to show, sighed, and picked up the storybook on the table to continue reading.

Of course, it's the kind where the male protagonist is based on Shen Luo.

"General Shen flew through the midst of the army and took the enemy general's head with a single stroke."

He didn't stop; he lightly touched the air a few times and landed in front of me.

'Ah Yao, I propose to you with the head of this enemy general as my betrothal gift. Will you accept?'

Shen Tianluo held a long sword in one hand and a bloodied head in the other, his eyes filled with sincerity and expectation.

"I...I'm willing," I said shyly, surrounded by the attention of my fellow soldiers.

"That's great! Yao, you've agreed! I, Shen Tianluo, am going to marry Yao!" Shen Tianluo happily picked me up and spun me around.

I was so shy: "Put me down quickly, so many people are watching."

'Who dares to look at my woman, Shen Tianluo's woman?'

......"

"Madam," Nineteen said as she entered the courtyard, "the master requests your presence."

A week has passed since the day the spy from the General's Mansion was captured.

During this time, everyone was busy with their own things; he was in the study, and she was in the main courtyard, and neither of them disturbed the other.

This was the first time he had ever contacted her.

In the study, Shen Luo sat in a wheelchair, holding a letter in his hand.

Nineteen knocked lightly on the door: "Master, Madam has arrived."

"Come in."

Shen Luo sat in the chair, her long hair neatly combed and secured with a hair crown and hairpins, without a single stray hair, making her look clean and tidy.

Today, unusually, he wasn't wearing his fitted general's uniform, but rather a loose-fitting white robe, with a small sword hanging at his waist—whether it was for decoration or real, I couldn't tell.

When Jiang Qiqi saw the person dressed in white sitting in the chair, she inexplicably thought of the storybook she had just read.

Imagine Shen Luo's expressionless face, and say, "Who dares to look at my woman, Shen Luo's woman?"

Hahaha!

Shen Luo looked at Jiang Qiqi's increasingly contorted face: ? ? ?

"Ahem." Shen Luo coughed lightly twice. "A letter came from the Empress's palace saying that a spring banquet will be held in the palace in three days, and we have been invited to attend. What do you think?"

A spring banquet? They've invited us?

Jiang Qiqi was surprised that Shen Luo would ask for her opinion on such matters. She thought that Shen Luo, as a young general, was the kind of person who was used to making decisions on his own.

But this is good too; Jiang Qiqi feels that she is being respected.

Shen Luo is indeed a person whose word is law, whether in the mansion or in the army.

But when he faced Jiang Qiqi, he always felt that she was different from others; she had thoughts and emotions... which made him realize that his previous ideas were wrong.

The woman he married was not a useless vase or a parasitic vine clinging to him.

So, in a situation like today, he didn't hesitate to ask Nineteen to call her over and discuss the matter with her.

"Yes, in previous years, officials were not allowed to participate in this kind of palace family banquet, but this year Her Majesty the Empress said that the flowers in the Imperial Garden were in very good bloom and it would be a pity if no one saw them. So she invited officials of the second rank and above in the palace to attend with their families."

As for the real reason, everyone knows the answer but keeps it to themselves.

Jiang Qiqi thought that ancient banquets would be roughly the same as modern ones.

A group of people sit together, eat, chat, and watch a song and dance performance for a while.

The guests and hosts exchanged toasts and drinks. Finally, everyone was in high spirits and they gracefully withdrew.

"The Empress's invitation has arrived. If I don't go, I'm afraid it won't be easy to explain."

Shen Luo thought for a moment and said, "If you really don't want to go, I can help you find an excuse."

"No need, that would be too much trouble. I don't have anything else to do anyway, let's go together." She wasn't keen on these kinds of occasions, but she wasn't afraid of them either.

“Over the years, I’ve always stayed in my backyard, rarely interacting with outsiders, and I’ve never attended such a lively banquet before, so I’m quite curious.” She hadn’t forgotten her persona.

Shen Luo then remembered that she had told her before that Jiang Qianzhong had disliked her for many years because she was considered unlucky and forbade her to appear in public.

Naturally, I've never attended such a banquet before.

Watching her recount the story so easily, as if it were someone else's, he couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.

"Then we'll go together."

"Okay. But I'm not very familiar with the rules. If I do something wrong, please don't be ashamed of me, General," Jiang Qiqi said half-jokingly.

A smile appeared on Shen Luo's face: "No, it won't happen."

Jiang Qiqi didn't understand whether he meant she wouldn't embarrass him, or that he wouldn't despise her for being embarrassing.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

On the outskirts of Beijing.

On the rugged mountain road, a pale yellow sedan chair was descending.

The sedan chair was escorted by guards in front and behind, and maids on both sides, with the group protecting it tightly.

At this moment, the curtain of the sedan chair was lifted, and a young girl peeked out.

The girl had an orange headband tied around her head, with a tassel hairpin on each side, and an orange teardrop-shaped gemstone hanging on her forehead.

Her skin wasn't as fair as most girls'; it was more of a yellowish-brown. She had a captivating yet not gaudy appearance, and was quite beautiful. If you looked closely, you could also see that her eyes weren't the black of people from the Central Plains, but a rare orange color.

"Xiao Lian, when will we arrive in the capital?"

The maid called Xiaolian approached the sedan chair and said, "Your Highness, we will definitely arrive before dark today."

Sitting in the sedan chair was Princess Chen Zhizhi, the fourth princess of the Nanyue Kingdom. She resembled her mother, Consort Yao, more, and had a more exotic appearance.

Chen Zhizhi rested her hands on the window, her head on her hands, her face full of anticipation: "Do you think Brother Shen Luo will meet me at the city gate?"

She sent a letter to the general's mansion early in the morning to say that she had returned today.

"Princess, the General Who Protects the Nation is so busy, with countless affairs to attend to. I think he probably doesn't have time."

Chen Zhizhi wasn't angry when she heard this. She tilted her head and smiled nostalgically, "It's good to be busy. I just love seeing Brother Shen Luo looking down on the world."

She turned to look at Xiaolian: "I've been at this Cloud Top Temple for three months now, and I wonder what the palace has become. It must be incredibly boring without me in it."

"That's right, our princess is the emperor's ray of sunshine. His Majesty is overjoyed whenever he sees her, and he wishes he could give her the best of everything in the world."

Chen Zhizhi snorted, she didn't care: "Xiao Lian, you know me, I don't want the best in the world."

"I know, I know, our princess only wants the General Who Protects the Nation."

Chen Zhizhi reached out and poked Xiaolian's forehead: "You're so clever."

"I'll be of marriageable age in nine months. Then I'll go with my father to ask for an imperial decree to marry my brother Shen Luo. My father will be very happy to have his favorite daughter with his most valued minister."

"By the way, Princess. Her Majesty sent word that the Empress will be holding a spring banquet in three days. She said that all officials of the second rank and above will be attending with their families. Her Majesty asked if you would attend or if you would need to rest for a few days due to the long journey."

"Rank 2 or above? Then Brother Shen Luo will definitely come. I won't rest, I want to participate too."

Just thinking about seeing Brother Shen Luo as soon as she returned to the palace made Chen Zhizhi so happy she almost laughed out loud.

Xiao Lian chuckled: "Alright, I knew you'd make that choice, Princess."

"Hmph, Little Lian, what are you laughing at? Be careful, or I'll hit you."

"Oh, Princess, have mercy!"