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Winter passed and spring arrived. Before long, it was the fifteenth day of the first month of the eighteenth year of Daye.
Today was the Lantern Festival. After nightfall, the markets of Xuchang County in Yingchuan were bustling with activity, a complete reversal of the desolate, bleak scene from when Yuwen Huaji had ruled the place.
Today was the fifteenth day of the first month, the Lantern Festival. The holiday had been celebrated as far back as the Western Han, but it only became a folk festival in the Central Plains—and indeed throughout the realm—after the Han and Wei dynasties.
Now, in the final years of the Sui dynasty, most of the Central Plains had already fallen under the Twin Dragons Army's control. With the suffering of war behind them, and with the curfew lifted for tonight, people naturally weren't about to let this important festival pass them by.
And, naturally, Xu Ziling, young marshal of the Twin Dragons Army, wasn't about to let it pass him by either.
Of course, he wasn't going out to celebrate with the people. It was because Shi Qingxuan, who had said two years ago that she would return to the Central Plains when she had time, had indeed come back. She had even made a special appointment to meet him at an elegant garden villa not far outside the city, a place perfect for admiring the moon.
When the moon rose above the willow branches, lovers met after dusk.
With a beautiful confidante traveling a thousand miles to meet him, Xu Ziling certainly wasn't going to let such a wonderful opportunity pass him by!
So, after making arrangements and getting everything ready, he saw that it was getting late and arrived at the exquisite garden villa early, just after dark. There, as