The winter in Mingcheng is extremely cold. It's only November, but snow has already started falling from the sky. The wind, mixed with snowflakes, blows open the curtains of the carriage. Chu Qitong gathers her cloak closer and breathes on her hands before picking up the scarlet pen to continue correcting her younger brother's homework.

She wore a lake blue dress, draped in a deep blue cloak. This contrast enhanced her delicate facial features even more. The maid Lili placed the well-ground ink in front of her and couldn't help but say, "Princess, today's event is just Ming Luan's Plum Blossom Banquet, which is not a big deal. Only noble young ladies are attending. As a princess, there is no need for you to personally go."

Chu Qitong circled the last error on the paper filled with characters, then marked the final stroke before putting down the pen in her hand. She neatly collected the several corrected articles on the desk and looked at Li Luo, saying, "There's no need to talk about status. Ming Luan is my cousin. When she has a banquet, I naturally have to attend. You may leave first and call for me when we arrive at the Ruian Prince's Mansion."

After listening to Chu Qitong's words, Li Luo dared not say anything else. She stood up, lifted a corner of the carriage curtain, and hurriedly got off. People from the entire Ming City often praised their Princess Liuhua for being approachable, never having a hint of arrogance. Even when her carriage passed by children playing on the roadside, she would direct the carriage to take a detour. But Li Luo, who had been by Chu Qitong's side since childhood, knew clearly that their princess was far from being as simple as she appeared.

Although she had been by Chu Qitong's side for ten years, the only side of Chu Qitong that she had seen was his gentle and sweet demeanor towards everyone. However, Lixuan always felt that there was a kind of imposing aura around Chu Qitong, one that instilled fear in her and made her afraid to defy his wishes. Even though Chu Qitong had never punished her in these ten years, she was still extremely fearful of him.

After Li Luo left, Chu Qitong rubbed her eyes, which had been strained from reading for a long time, and slightly opened a gap in the carriage curtain. The roaring wind immediately rushed in, blowing snowflakes into the carriage. They landed on her eyelashes and hair, quickly turning into droplets. Chu Qitong suddenly remembered many years ago, when there was also a heavy snowfall. She had brought three-year-old Aze back to the Qiwu Palace. Now, Aze was also eleven years old, and she had kept him in the Qiwu Palace for eight years. It was about time to discuss with the Emperor and give Aze a separate palace.

Thinking of her younger brother, Chu Qitong's expression became even gentler. She slowly let go of the curtain in her hand, and in that moment, the curtain separated the wind and snow outside the window from Chu Qitong's world. The carriage became extremely quiet for a while, as if there were no other sounds except for Chu Qitong's breathing.

The carriage was moving very slowly on the snow-covered road. The snow outside seemed to have accumulated quite thickly. Chu Qitong couldn't even hear the sound of the horse's hooves hitting the cobblestones. She didn't know how long they had been going straight until the carriage turned a corner, seemingly entering a small alleyway. Chu Qitong knew they were probably about to reach the Ruian Prince's mansion.

Chu Qitong found the bronze mirror that was placed on the carriage and tidied up her hair bun in front of the mirror. Suddenly, the curtain was forcefully pulled open, and the snow-filled wind instantly flooded the entire carriage. Chu Qitong turned her head and happened to see a woman in a red dress jumping in through the carriage window.

The woman seemed to have a fondness for the color red. From the headband on her head to the shoes on her feet, everything she wore was red. Her face was veiled in a red veil, covering everything below her nose. What astonished Chu Qitong was not her sudden entrance by climbing through the window, but her pair of blood-colored pupils shimmering like a pool of fresh blood.

Perhaps it was unexpected for Chu Qitong to be so calm. The woman who had climbed in through the window was slightly stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered. She sat down in front of Chu Qitong and spoke in a particularly flippant tone, "Tsk tsk, I didn't expect to find a little beauty inside this carriage." As she spoke, she reached out and grabbed Chu Qitong's wrist, her fingers pressing against the pulse on Chu Qitong's wrist.

Chu Qitong knew in her heart that the woman in front of her was definitely not an ordinary person. She also realized that the woman had no intention of killing her. Therefore, she straightened her body and quietly watched as the woman got into her carriage, wondering what she was planning to do.

"Little beauty, don't make a sound, I'll hide in your carriage for a while and then leave. If you stay quiet, I won't trouble you. But if you dare to call for help, don't blame me for not being polite to you." Seeing Chu Qitong's silence, the woman came closer to her, leaning towards her ear and spoke softly. Perhaps because they were too close, Chu Qitong felt a slight hint of ambiguity in her tone. The intentionally rising inflection at the end of her sentence was also somewhat seductive. Surprisingly, this slightly teasing tone, when it fell into Chu Qitong's ears, didn't feel repulsive.

Chu Qitong nodded in agreement, and in a casual tone as if inquiring what rice dish Ace wanted at the Qiwu Palace, she spoke, "I won't speak, but I'm just curious. If I were to really speak, how would the young lady respond to me without being polite?"

Perhaps not expecting Chu Qitong to ask such a question, the woman's face showed a moment of confusion. The blood-colored pupils in her eyes spun around, and then her eyebrows and eyes curved slightly. Chu Qitong felt that the woman must be laughing, as if she wanted to prove Chu Qitong's guess. The woman released her hold on Chu Qitong's pulse and gently lifted her veil, revealing her vermilion lips painted with rouge. The corners of her lips curved upwards, and she leaned closer to Chu Qitong, almost pressing half of her body weight onto her. She said, "If you dare to make a sound, I might just assault you, so the little beauty better behave and listen to me."

At the moment when Chu Qitong saw the woman's whole appearance, there was only amazement left in her eyes. She had never expected that there could be someone in this world who was so beautiful that just one glance could move one's heartstrings. Although they were both women, Chu Qitong's heartbeat inexplicably slowed down. When the woman spoke, her breath fell on Chu Qitong's face, and it seemed as if Chu Qitong understood the meaning of the phrase "exhaling like an orchid."

The horse carriage swayed and slowed down. Chu Qitong knew they had arrived at the Rui'an Mansion. She glanced at the woman in front of her. As the carriage came to a stop, Xianliao took the initiative to open a small gap in the carriage door curtain and instructed, "Go and inform Minguan. I will freshen up and join her shortly."

Chu Qitong lowered the curtain and saw the woman lazily sitting in the spot she had just occupied. She looked at her with a half-smile, half-smirk and said, "Beauty, it's not good for you to keep me here without asking anything. What if I have ulterior motives and you can't resist?"

Chu Qitong noticed that when this woman spoke, she would unconsciously raise the end of her sentences slightly, with a hint of seductive intonation. Chu Qitong smiled calmly and said, "Since you sought refuge in my carriage, I can't just kick you out and let you, a young girl, be hunted by enemies."

After Chu Qitong finished speaking, the woman's expression became slightly dazed and somewhat surprised. Even her half-smiling face froze. After a while, she stuttered and asked, "Where did you see that I was in hiding? And where did you see that I was being chased?"

Chu Qitong couldn't quite understand the woman's question. She wanted to tell the woman that her actions had already made it clear, but before she could speak, she heard the woman say with a wry smile, "Actually, I've been outside for a long time. When I saw your carriage, which was decorated extravagantly, I just wanted to come in and warm up." As if to prove her words, after the woman finished speaking, she casually tied on her own veil and, just like when she arrived, opened the curtain and jumped out of the window with great fanfare. When Chu Qitong lifted the curtain to look, the woman's figure was now nothing more than a red dot in the vast snow.