Mi Lan arrived at the Mi Family residence just as the evening sky was growing dark.
As the entourage passed through the garden, they caught sight of a middle-aged woman eagerly craning her neck at the entrance of the main hall—it was Mi Lan's mother, You Mei.
Mi Lan quickened his pace and ran up to his mother. You Mei looked him up and down, as if checking whether her son had any aches or pains. "Lan, you've been inspecting the spirit fields all day," she said. "Are you tired? Mother has brewed some lotus seed and Qi-tonifying broth for you, come and drink it right away." With those words, she pulled Mi Lan into the hall.
Mi Lan drank down the lotus seed and Qi-tonifying broth handed to him by his mother in one go, though he didn't find the broth particularly tasty, nor did he believe it could genuinely replenish his Qi. After all, every time he drank it, there was no noticeable improvement within the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion, nor had it ever allowed his Eighth Layer of Body Refining, which had been stagnant for over half a year, to break through to the ninth layer.
Yet this was his mother's good intention, so he had to drink it.
You Mei was originally the second young miss of the You Family, one of the four great families. Having been betrothed to Mi Quebi since childhood, the You Second Young Miss—who had never lifted a finger to do heavy work—had no culinary talent whatsoever. On the rare occasion when the mood struck her, she would follow the head chef to cook a dish or two, only for Mi Quebi to complain that it tasted terrible, after which she stopped cooking altogether. From then on, she simply took precious medicinal herbs for replenishing Qi, nourishing blood, and maintaining youth, followed the advice of an alchemist, and boiled them directly with crystal sugar into a broth to call it a day, grandly naming them: lotus seed and Qi-tonifying broth, blood-jujube nourishing soup, whitening and beauty-enhancing dew, and so on.
You Mei was very confident in her culinary skills. After all, her husband, who managed all the myriad affairs of the Mi Family on a daily basis, was always full of vitality after drinking it; their eldest daughter, Mi Ai, was a renowned beauty; and their second son, Mi Shui, had already reached the Seventh Layer of Great Accomplishment at the age of twenty—a realm that ranked in the top four among all the youth in the entire Donghai City. All of these achievements were thanks to her tonics. As for their third son, Mi Lan, though his cultivation wasn't much to speak of, at least his complexion was fair, tender, and plump, wasn't it?
"Mm, delicious," Mi Lan put down the bowl in his hand and said insincerely.
"Delicious is good. Oh, Ah Lan, you know what? Nana sent word that she's coming to visit Yijia Town in the next few days, so you must treat her well," You Mei said, grasping her son's plump, fair hand.
"Nana is coming?" Mi Lan's narrowed eyes lit up.
"Don't worry, Mother, I will definitely treat her well," Mi Lan hurriedly assured her.
In Mi Lan's mind flashed the image of Qin Nana, who used to follow at his heels when they were children. Back then, she was also fair and chubby. The two of them would join the other children of the four great families in fights, often getting beaten up together, and occasionally playing house.
Yes, a long time ago Mi Lan had known that Qin Nana would be his wife, since the two of them had a childhood betrothal. He had also heard that Qin Nana was now seventeen, no longer the chubby little girl of his memory, but the pearl of Dongshan Prefecture—the most famous beauty in Dongshan Prefecture. Indeed, Qin Nana was the daughter of Qin Anbang, the Commandery Governor of Dongshan, and the daughter of the most powerful man in the entire Dongshan Prefecture.
Why was the daughter of the Dongshan Commandery Governor betrothed to the third young master of the Mi Family?
Going back twenty-five years, Qin Anbang was merely a poor scholar in Donghai City, a struggling fellow of twenty-five who still couldn't afford a wife. That year, Mi Lan's grandfather, Mi Duoduo, went to Donghai City on business and happened to run into Qin Anbang, who was selling his last remaining old house and two meager mu of land in a desperate final bid to achieve fame at the Imperial Capital. Mi Duoduo gave Qin Anbang fifty silver coins—the old house and meager land were originally worth only five silver coins. Mi Duoduo told Qin Anbang, "I believe you will make the imperial roster," leaving Qin Anbang moved to tears of gratitude.
Originally, Mi Duoduo had just been making idle talk, simply forging a good connection to help a pitiful soul, never expecting that Qin Anbang would place high in the imperial examinations that very trip. Three years later, Qin Anbang returned home in glory to serve as the Registrar of Donghai City.
Upon hearing the news, even Mi Duoduo was stunned for a moment. Casual, idle investments could yield returns like this? Then why not invest a bit more?
Qin Anbang, then serving as the Donghai Registrar, received the full support of the Mi Family and finally managed to gain a firm foothold in Donghai, becoming a person of some renown. Three years after returning to Donghai City, he finally took a beautiful wife, bringing an end to his thirty-one years of bachelorhood.
That year happened to coincide with the execution of the City Lord of Wan'an City—neighboring Donghai City—by the empire for corruption. Learning the news, Qin Anbang visited the Mi residence overnight and happened to see You Mei, who was pregnant with their third child. He brought up his hope of arranging a marriage alliance with the Mi Family so that they would stand together through thick and thin. As one knew, under the Tianwu Empire, official corruption was dealt with with extreme severity, so marriage alliances between officials' children and wealthy aristocratic families had become a trend: one had power and the other had wealth, wouldn't a powerful combination be wonderful?
The very next day, the Mi Family dispatched Mi Quebi to the Commandery Governor's Mansion, bearing eight local investments. Happily receiving eight merit reports, the Governor recommended Qin Anbang upward.
Half a year later, the imperial decree arrived, officially appointing Qin Anbang as the City Lord of Wan'an City. Coincidentally, around this time You Mei gave birth to Mi Lan, while Qin Anbang's wife conceived a child, and the two families formally established the childhood betrothal. In the end, Qin Anbang brought up that if it were a girl, the marriage would be set, but if it were a boy, they would let it go and become brothers instead.
Mi Duoduo had actually been unhappy at first. He had thought that if the Qin family had a boy, his Mi Family naturally had a newborn girl, didn't they? Then reflecting that the other man was now a City Lord whom he couldn't afford to provoke, yet refusing to suffer a loss just like that, he once again dispatched the two brothers Mi Quebi and Mi Queding overnight to Wan'an City. They flooded Wan'an City and its five subordinate towns with Mi Family medical clinics, spirit herb shops, and tailoring workshops. Seizing the opportunity of the new City Lord's ascension, they completely opened up the Wan'an City market, which had previously been rather difficult to enter.
The following year, the Qin City Lord's wife gave birth to a baby girl and named her Nana. True to his word, the City Lord did not renege, and the childhood betrothal between her and Mi Lan was officially put in writing. However, from then on, the City Lord took two concubines in his strenuous efforts to sire a male heir.
Having obtained the betrothal document, the Mi Family went completely wild. After all, in this day and age, people of standing cared about their reputation and would never commit a breach of promise. Over the next decade, the utterly frantic Mi Family spent gold like water. What? The Qin City Lord lacked political achievements? Then they would build large workshops to stimulate local productivity, build roads to solve the difficult travel conditions in the mountainous areas at the bottom of Wan'an City, and construct a large wharf by the Qing River. This not only resolved the transportation issues for several cities under Dongshan Prefecture, but also stimulated trade among them and even led ordinary people in the surrounding cities toward prosperity, didn't it? They even launched free medical clinics in the name of the City Lord, dispatching Mi Family members to the countryside to solve the people's difficulties in seeing a doctor... Thus, a decade later, the former Governor—who had received the lion's share of the political achievements—was promoted to the East Domain, and the City Lord of Wan'an City became the new Commandery Governor, while the Mi Family also became one of the wealthiest groups in the entire commandery.
Mi Lan thought to himself that while Uncle Qin was in Wan'an, he used to be able to play with Nana often, but ever since Uncle Qin became Commandery Governor and Nana's family moved to Dongshan, it had been seven years since he last saw Nana, hadn't it? He heard that she later took up martial arts under some sect or another; I wonder how she's doing now? Well, he would be seeing her soon enough, wouldn't he?
Stating that he needed to rest, Mi Lan bid farewell to his mother, traversed the deep courtyards, and entered his very own personal courtyard. He told Zhang Ya and Wu Zhua, who had accompanied him all day, to go back and rest, and then slipped into the wooden bathing tub prepared for him by the maidservants. Thinking about how he would soon be reunited with his fiancée Nana, he felt utterly blissful inside...