Xiao Ruxu

She had seen the first brick laid upon the wall. She had seen the first student step through the gate.

She watched it grow, little by little, like a tree she had planted with her own hands.

From seed to seedling, from seedling to sapling, from sapling to the shade it now cast so generously.

If Gu Chengyin were to see her again, to see her now, to see this grand gift she had prepared for him...

What expression would he wear?

Would it be surprise? Deep emotion?

Or that expression she could never decipher, the one that hid his every thought?

Just thinking about it made Cui Zilu look forward to it with great anticipation.

Her eyes curved into crescent moons, the corners of her mouth lifted high.

Her entire face was inscribed with the words: I simply must know the answer.

She sat behind the desk, sunlight streaming in through the carved wooden window.

It fell upon her plain white robes, sharply outlining her slender waist.

She looked like a flower set in motion by the wind, every petal stretching wide.

Confident without apology, proud as if it were her birthright.

“Zilu.”

Just then, a lazy, mature female voice came from the doorway.

It was like a jar of aged Huadiao wine left too long; when the lid was opened,

the aroma was no longer sharp, but it was deeper.

There was no urgency in this voice, no enthusiasm—only a tenderness polished by the passage of time.

Cui Zilu looked closely, and her eyes instantly sparkled.

The calm and composure on her face shattered in that moment, breaking into a thousand glittering fragments on the floor.

Reflected in those fragments was the little girl who would never grow up in her mother’s presence.

“Mother!”

Cui Zilu rose immediately, her movements so swift they stirred a breeze, flipping a few pages of the list on the desk.

She rounded the desk, taking two steps at a time, hurrying toward the noblewoman at the door.

Her plain white robes fluttered in the wind, her ponytail cutting a sharp arc behind her.

The white jade hairpin gleamed in the sunlight, like a meteor streaking across the sky.

Cui Zilu threw herself into Xiao Ruxu's arms, rubbing against her vigorously.

Xiao Ruxu stood still, one arm around Cui Zilu's back,

the other hand coming to rest on Cui Zilu's head.

Like a wind that had blown for ten thousand years—neither hurried nor impatient, neither hot nor cold—

it simply stayed there, quietly keeping company with the land it had caressed through the ages.

“You’ve done well managing this place. Truly my daughter.”

Cui Zilu lifted her head from Xiao Ruxu’s embrace, her eyes bright, the corners of her mouth lifted high, her whole face brimming with joy.

“Hehe! If it weren’t for you advising me, Mother, I wouldn’t know what to do now.”

This was the truth.

The Chenglu Academy—from nothing to something, from a patch of wasteland to its present scale—every step had relied on Xiao Ruxu’s guidance.

Not a hand-holding approach; Xiao Ruxu never made decisions for Cui Zilu, she only helped her see where each road led.

Xiao Ruxu took Cui Zilu’s hand and led her to sit down beside a chair.

Her fingers were slender and fair, impeccably maintained, showing no sign of age.

But if one looked closely at Xiao Ruxu’s eyes, they would find things hidden there that spoke more of her age than any wrinkle could.

It was the certainty of one who had seen too much and experienced too much—someone who had stayed up countless nights reviewing memorials alongside Cui Shifan,

steadying the great ship of the Qinghe Cui clan through endless political storms in the imperial court.

“After all, you are the only daughter your father and I have. Of course I must help you.”

With that, Xiao Ruxu shifted the conversation:

“Your father went to the Crown Prince’s Palace today.”

Her tone remained as light and airy as before.

But those words struck Cui Zilu’s ears like a thunderbolt, and her expression tensed in an instant.

Her eyes widened, her pupils contracted, and the high lift at the corners of her mouth froze.

Cui Zilu knew very well why Cui Shifan had gone to the Crown Prince’s Palace.

She and Xiao Ruxu had discussed it many times—from whether to propose marriage, to when to propose, to how to propose—every detail had been debated thoroughly.

But Cui Zilu never expected it to happen so soon, so quickly that she thought she still had at least a few months.

So quickly that she thought she still had enough time to prepare herself mentally,

so quickly that the news crashed down on her like a basin of cold water,

yanking her roughly from Xiao Ruxu’s warmth and tossing her into a sea of anxiety and unease.

“Father went so suddenly, without even letting me know in advance... could Her Highness... take offense...”

Cui Zilu had meant to say Brother Chengyin, but the address caught at her lips, and she forced it into “Her Highness.”

Because in the face of marriage negotiations, she felt the four words “Brother Chengyin” were too intimate.

Too much like a little girl speaking of her secret crush, rather than a noble daughter from a prominent clan discussing the great matter of her lifelong commitment.

Cui Zilu needed to appear more mature, calmer, more worthy of her status as the eldest daughter of the Cui family.

Xiao Ruxu watched her daughter’s reaction, a glimmer of amusement rising in her eyes as she said, unhurriedly:

“Even if Her Highness has objections, what can she do about it?”

“In the end, it’s your Brother Chengyin’s decision that matters.”

Cui Zilu’s cheeks flushed slightly. Her eyelashes dipped, casting a small, fan-shaped shadow beneath her eyes,

hiding emotions of anticipation and fear alike in that shadow.

“Mother, you’re teasing me again~!”

Xiao Ruxu raised an eyebrow, unconcerned.

“Oh?”

She dragged the word out a little longer, with just the right hint of playful malice:

“Isn’t it usually quite affectionate when you call him? Why the shyness now?”

Cui Zilu fidgeted, twisting her fingers inside her sleeves, biting her lip, puffing her cheeks slightly.

This had been her habit since childhood—she would puff her cheeks when nervous, when shy, and even when happy.

She thought she had grown up, that she had become someone who could stand on her own.

But in front of Xiao Ruxu, and in the presence of those four words, “Brother Chengyin,”

Cui Zilu’s growth was just a shell. Beneath the shell lay hidden the little neighbor girl with her hair in twin buns.

But soon, Cui Zilu’s expression changed again.

From shyness to tension, from tension to unease.

“Then... what if Brother Chengyin refuses?”

When these words left her mouth, Cui Zilu clenched her fingers tightly inside her sleeves.

Her lips pressed into a thin line, her gaze shifted from Xiao Ruxu’s face to her own hands,

and to the Chenglu Academy she had built with countless days and nights of painstaking effort.

She had done so much, prepared so much, transformed herself from a little girl who only knew how to act spoiled into a daughter of a noble house who could stand alone.

Cui Zilu thought that would be enough.

She thought that would qualify her to stand by Gu Chengyin’s side.