The next day, the sun shone brightly.
Or rather, it was a scorching summer day.
Even within Chunhe Garden, with its lovely scenery, lush vegetation, pond, and Purple Bamboo Grove, there was still a trace of oppressive heat.
Chen Yi fared better.
After achieving success on the Martial Path, the Qi within his body had many wondrous uses; immunity to heat and cold was one of them.
Xiao Wuge and Xiao Die suffered somewhat.
Xiao Die in particular had not had a moment's rest since rising at the hour of the tiger.
First, she attended to Xiao Wuge getting out of bed, then served Chen Yi as he washed and dressed.
Since Xiao Jinghong and Su Zhenyue were not in the mansion, Pei Guanli also needed Xiao Die to wake her and help her get properly dressed before arranging breakfast.
It could not be called anything but exhausting.
Yet Xiao Die took joy in it.
As a maidservant who had lived in the Marquis's mansion since childhood, being valued and appreciated by her masters already meant she had been blessed with good fortune.
So she was content.
"son-in-law, the mansion has been so lively these past few days."
Chen Yi blew on the rice porridge in his porcelain bowl and took a sip. "What's been lively? Those guests should have left already, shouldn't they?"
Four days had passed since Old Master's Birthday Banquet, and he had remained inside Chunhe Garden without going out.
It was not truly because he worried about the effects of that Calligraphy Copybook and His Majesty's Oral Decree. Rather, the guests from Shuzhou City and the Marquis's mansion needed time to depart.
He simply did not wish to exchange empty pleasantries with people he was unfamiliar with.
"Most of the mansion's guests left yesterday. Only the