As the year-end approached, very few officials from various regions were traveling far on government business. On this day, the only guests at Gucheng Courier Station were the Eldest Grand Princess and her entourage.
After days of arduous travel, they had finally received the Eldest Grand Princess's order to rest for a full day. Everyone in the convoy—from the Eldest Grand Princess herself down to the cook—was sound asleep, and even the horses in the stable had dozed off from exhaustion.
At the third quarter of the yin hour, the entire Gucheng Courier Station was silent, except for one person who simply refused to sleep.
Gu Zhao woke at his usual time, full of energy. He got up, lit a lamp, and rummaged through his trunks for clothes.
One regrets not having enough books when reading them, and one regrets not having enough clothes when choosing them. Gu Zhao laid out all the garments he had brought with him—a dazzling array spread across the small station guest room, covering every corner.
He looked from left to right, then from right to left, circling the room three times, yet still couldn’t find a single outfit that pleased him.
Today, he was going to purchase supplies for the military, an official errand. By protocol, he should wear his official robe. But if he did, the atmosphere would be too solemn.
They hadn’t had a proper chance to be together in days. This rare opportunity, Gu Zhao didn’t want to make things too formal, nor did he want Zhu Qingyu to feel pressured.
After all, he was a high-ranking official—no one in Gucheng would dare question his choice not to wear official attire. So, the official robe was eliminated in the first round.
Then what should he wear?
Yesterday, he had worn a purple-tinged outfit, and from such a distance, she had still noticed him. So, it was better to pick a bright color, something easily recognizable, to make it easier for her to find him.
The dark tones—black, blue, green—were too subdued and not eye-catching enough, so they were eliminated in the second round.
What remained among his clothes were various shades of red and purple, all bright, but each with different patterns and styles. Gu Zhao was indecisive. Every piece seemed acceptable, but none felt good enough.
Vice Minister Gu, who navigated the official circle with ease, found himself trapped in a major dilemma over this trivial matter of choosing clothes.
So he put one outfit on, then took it off, then tried another, and so on, going back and forth. He kept changing until the chen hour, and seeing time running out, he hastily picked a dark red gown, dressed, straightened his appearance, and hurried down to the station’s main hall to wait.
Gu Zhao hadn’t waited long when footsteps came from the staircase. He looked up, and the moment he saw her, he froze.
This was the first time Gu Zhao had seen Zhu Qingyu in her official robe. She had even tied her hair up and wore a jade crown. Though her change in hairstyle didn’t make him mistake her for a man, she looked strikingly different from her usual self today.
The dark green official robe draped over her added an air of sacred inviolability and authority. Even her temperament seemed altered—more gallant and spirited, exuding a remarkable handsomeness.
If she had entered officialdom a few years earlier and stood in the court, Lord Zhuang himself would have had to yield to her in terms of sheer elegance.
Beautiful she was—still—but whereas before Gu Zhao saw her as a flower, today he saw her as a mighty tree.
The same person, yet everything felt different.
Everything was perfect, except for one thing.
Gu Zhao fixed his gaze on the jade crown atop Zhu Qingyu’s head. The longer he looked, the more irritated he became. Frowning, he asked:
“This jade crown of yours—where did it come from?”
It wasn’t in the luggage he had prepared for her. He didn’t know who she had borrowed it from. It couldn’t be Xie Ze, could it?
“If you needed a formal headpiece, why didn’t you come to me to borrow one!”
Zhu Qingyu was still getting used to wearing an official robe for the first time, and she was especially unfamiliar with the regulations for such attire. Seeing Gu Zhao frown, she grew anxious:
“What’s wrong with the jade crown? Does it violate some rule? If it does, tell me right away, and I’ll return it to the Eldest Grand Princess.”
Yesterday, when Zhu Qingyu had chosen her official robe, Aunt Zhuyue had offered no objections. In fact, she had even brought an extra maidservant this morning to help dress her hair and place the crown.
Aunt Zhuyue spoke with great confidence:
“Wearing an official robe means you must have your hair styled properly, or it won’t look right. It was too late last night, and the shops aren’t open yet now. We need it at once, so buying one wouldn’t work. I borrowed a jade crown from the Eldest Grand Princess for you to use. She herself likes to style her hair when riding and has many such crowns. I rummaged through her collection, and this green jade one is the best—fine quality and perfect against the dark green official robe.”
As Aunt Zhuyue spoke these words, the maidservant helping Zhu Qingyu was just fastening the jade crown onto her head.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Qingyu almost wanted to kneel before Aunt Zhuyue.
First, she had a top-ranking official move boxes of clothes, and now she had borrowed a hair ornament from the Eldest Grand Princess for a mere sixth-rank officer like herself. This Aunt Zhuyue even dared to dig through the Eldest Grand Princess’s jewelry chest to pick something out.
This Aunt Zhuyue was too incredible—her actions were too reckless, day by day making Zhu Qingyu’s heart race with unease.
So when she caught Gu Zhao frowning at the jade crown on her head, Zhu Qingyu became very tense:
“I’ll go back and change it right now!”
Upon hearing that it was borrowed from the Eldest Grand Princess, Gu Zhao’s expression softened from anger and frustration into a smile. He said:
“This jade crown suits you perfectly. No need to change it. When we finish our duties today, I’ll get you some more. Come, let’s go have breakfast.”
Zhu Qingyu followed him as he walked out:
“It’s already past the Hour of the Dragon. You haven’t eaten breakfast yet?”
Gu Zhao chuckled:
“I overslept.”
Naturally, Gu Zhao wouldn’t have breakfast at a street stall. True to the refined tastes of an aristocrat, he led Zhu Qingyu to the most luxurious inn on the busiest street of Gucheng.
When the meal arrived, consisting mostly of soups and porridges, Zhu Qingyu didn’t eat. Instead, she said:
“You go ahead. I’ve already eaten. What time do we need to be there? Will we be late?”
Gu Zhao caught the nervousness in her voice and noticed how rigidly she sat in her formality.
Suddenly, he realized that for him, today’s task of purchasing military medicine supplies was an ordinary errand—so routine it didn’t even require his personal involvement.
But for her, it was very different. It was her first official assignment since becoming a medical inspector and stepping into the bureaucracy.
She was bound to be nervous.
This feeling was exactly like when he, at the age of eight, took on his first duty—going alone into the palace to serve as the emperor’s study companion, sitting in a side hall waiting to be summoned by the Empress Dowager.
Back then, he had also been anxious and lost, not daring to touch the snacks and tea the maids brought him.
Gu Zhao pushed the delicious pastries closer to Zhu Qingyu and said,
"Have a taste. It's very sweet. My Lord Zhu, you don't need to be nervous. The magistrate of Gucheng has returned to his hometown for mandatory mourning, so now in Gucheng, the highest-ranking official is the county magistrate, a full seventh rank. That means, apart from me and the Eldest Grand Princess, your rank is the highest in Gucheng at the moment. The one who should be nervous is the Gucheng County Magistrate waiting for you at the county office. That magistrate is probably sitting in his office crying his heart out right now. Saying this, my Lord Zhu, does it give you some courage?"
Although Zhu Qingyu felt the County Magistrate was unlikely to weep as dramatically as Gu Zhao described, the realization that apart from him, her rank outranked everyone she was about to meet today did calm her nerves.
Zhu Qingyu picked up a pastry and took a bite:
"I have courage now. Thank you, my Lord Gu. This really is very sweet."
