On the top floor of the pavilion.
Jia Huan pushed open the door.
"Huan'er, you beat a whole pack of grassland Tatars to death! You were magnificent!"
Concubine Zhao approached in high spirits, took Jia Huan's arm, and chided him with a smile:
"We were all on tenterhooks for you. When she saw you step onto the martial stage, little Daiyu was so anxious her eyes filled with tears."
"Don't bring up embarrassing things!" Lin Daiyu lowered her delicate head, her cheeks reddening, then lifted her eyes to steal a glance at Brother Huan.
The beauties chatted and laughed merrily. They knew nothing about martial arts, but Brother Huan had certainly been magnificent. Without his righteous intervention, the entire Jianghu would have been unable to hold its head high.
"Mother, when are you returning to the Capital?" Jia Huan asked.
"Do you have official business to attend to?"
"I'm leaving Jiangnan tomorrow."
At those words, Lin Daiyu felt an emptiness settle in her heart.
Concubine Zhao considered it. "It's not often I get to travel for pleasure. I'll stay another eight or ten days."
Jia Huan agreed.
As they spoke, someone knocked softly on the door.
"Come in!"
More than a dozen women entered the room, including the daughter of Peach Blossom Island's master, with An Xuan'er bringing up the rear.
After offering a formal greeting, the island master's daughter introduced them with a smile:
"Thousand-Household Commander Jia, they're from Medicine King Valley and have a presumptuous favor to ask."
Jia Huan's expression remained unchanged.
"Go ahead."
The dignified woman leading them handed Concubine Zhao a rosewood box and said gently:
"Madam, these are gifts from Medicine King Valley."
"What are they?"
The dignified woman answered with a smile:
"Our finest complexion-enhancing, skin-moisturizing ointment, along with pills that nourish and