Shortly after Gu Yunyao ordered, her maid Song Qin came in, holding a roll of sakura pink brocade with both arms.

"Your Ladyship, here's the feather brocade."

Gu Yunyao nodded and gestured Zhao An. Zhao An took the brocade roll and held it in his arms. Then he turned his heads to ask Gu Yunyao,

"May I use your gold hairpin, Your Ladyship?"

Gu Yunyao was confused, but she didn't ask him why. She raised her wrist, pulled out the gold hairpin carved with a moon, and gave it to Zhao An.

Zhao An looked at the hairpin and pressed his lips. He stabbed the hairpin's sharp top into the brocade and stirred two holes on the smooth brocade.

Song Qin cried out with sorry and pity,

"Oh! What are you doing, Lord Zhao? You destroyed such fine brocade!"

"Song Qin!"

Gu Yunyao snapped. She put her index finger on her lips to quiet her down.

Song Qin was aggrieved, but she dared not say a word.

Gu Yunyao and Zhao An looked at each other tacitly, smiling.

She suddenly put on a ferocious expression, which made her looked like another person.

Gu Yunyao rushed to the rosewood table and knocked a cup over. She shouted as if she wanted everyone in Xiaoye Chamber knew her anger,

"Song Qin, go to the Imperial Ceremony Office with Lord Zhao and asked them how they fulfilled their duties! How dare they send such inferior brocade to me. Did they mean to humiliate me?"

Zhao An pretended to be frightened. He knelt with Song Qin and soothed her,

"Your Ladyship! Please calm down, Your Ladyship! We'll go to the Imperial Ceremony Office at once. Please don't be angry because it's bad for your health!"

"Go now!"

Gu Yunyao's eyes blazed with anger. She gave a flick of her sleeves and gestured him and Song Qin out.

It was a sunny spring afternoon. The smell of earth in the air silently announced a new spring.

As Leng Qingtang was punished, the Seal Keeper of the Imperial Ceremony Office became Lord Feng, who used to be the Pen Keeper.

The office of the Imperial Ceremony Office was in a separate palatial garden in the south of the Palace.

In the Palace of Dayi, all kinds of daily matters in the Palace were kept in detailed records, including grand ceremonies, awards to officials and concubines, promotions and punishments for eunuchs and maids, etc. The Imperial Ceremony Office kept these paper records in a place called "the Shelves Library".

It was high noon that there were only manager Lord Liu, who was on duty today, and a eunuch in the anteroom of the Shelves Library.

As the saying went, "one feels dizziness in spring and fatigue in autumn". The old eunuch and the young eunuch, one bent over the desk and the other lay on the chair. They were both sound asleep that they didn't notice there were some people coming into the anteroom.

Zhao An, together with Song Qin and two eunuchs rushed in like a tornado. Zhao An took the roll of feather brocade from Song Qin and slammed it on the table where Lord Liu was napping at.

Lord Liu was sleeping soundly, and he dreamt of finding a big gold ingot on the road.

The gold ingot glistened under the sunlight. He gazed at this treasurable ingot, bit it with his molar teeth to test if it was genuine gold, and grinned.

All of a sudden, the sunny day turned cloudy. In a sound of thunder roar, Lord Liu woke up from this dream.

He opened his eyes to see two tough figures standing in front of the desk. One stood straight and looked indifferent, and the other raised her eyebrows in anger with her hands on her hips. There were two devils in Lord Liu's view.

"Oh! Lord Zhao and Miss Song Qin! You're quite special guests. What brings you here?"

Lord Liu put on a flattering smile. When he got up to serve them, the young eunuch sleeping on the chair also woke up.

"Humph!" Zhao An snorted with his arms folded. He pouted and gave Lord Liu a stare.

Zhaoyi Yu, the master of Xiaoye Chamber, was much favored by the Emperor now. Almost every day, the Imperial Ceremonial Service sent kinds of awards to her chamber under the Emperor's edict, and more than thirty of those awards left records on Lord Liu's files.

At high noon, her chief eunuch rushed here with her maid and two eunuchs as if he was going to denounce his crime.

Lord Liu had no idea what Zhao An was coming for, so he saluted and put on a smile,

"Lord Zhao, please calm down. What are you doing?"

"Calm down?"

Zhao An jutted his chin forward to confront Lord Liu with his nostrils, taunting,

"Open your blinding eyes to see what did the Imperial Ceremonial Service made!"

Zhao An was white and handsome, but when he put on an acerbic face, he looked repulsive.

In the opposite, Lord Liu froze. Then he looked down at the brocade roll on the table.

On the gorgeous brocade, he saw two obvious holes stabbed by the hairpin.

"This is..."

Shocked, Lord Liu felt both pitiful and panic.

The golden feather brocade was a kind of rare cloth. Hundreds of cotton spinners of the Imperial Ceremonial Service carefully improved the mercerized silk, a tribute of a foreign country, and made two rolls of golden feather brocade in a year and a half.

The clothes made of this brocade light and breath-free. The feather pattern on the brocade would reflect different colors under the changing light.

Zhaoyi Yu was solely awarded a pink roll of golden feather brocade. How could two holes appear on this roll?

No wonder the servants of Xiaoye Chamber were so angry. The Imperial Ceremonial Service was a subordinate body of the Imperial Ceremony Office, and its former director, Madam Liu, had just been dismembered.

It was understandable for servants of Xiaoye Chamber to ask for an explanation here.

"Ooops, Lord Zhao, don't be so angry... How can such rare feather brocade be damaged..."

Lord Liu smiled in panic. He answered in broken sentences and combed his memory at the same time.

He wasn't on duty the day the Imperial Ceremonial Service left the record of sending the brocade to Xiaoye Chamber. So, he wasn't sure whether this roll of brocade had been damaged before it was awarded to Zhaoyi Yu or not.

"You are asking me? Then who am I supposed to ask?"

Zhao An cast him a sidelong glance and asked back in a shrill voice.

Lord Liu fixed his eyes on the brocade on the table, muttering awkwardly,

"Well, people of the Imperial Ceremonial Service shouldn't be so careless. Are these holes bitten by rats..."

Before he had finished his mutter, Song Qin, standing next to Zhao An, took off gloves. She pointed at Lord Liu and scolded,

"Lord Liu, this brocade came from the Shelves Library! How dare this shoddy good be sent to our Her Ladyship's chamber? I guess you are jealous of our white-headed Zhaoyi so you tried to disgust her! You said it's not the fault of the Imperial Ceremonial Service, so it's you the Shelves Library did it! Go and take me to your Seal Keeper Feng to discuss this out."

"Oh! Miss Song Qin, I beg for your mercy!"

Lord Liu was so scared that his legs gave away. Were it not for him supporting himself on the table, he would have collapsed on the ground. They were too tough for him to deal with!

Lord Liu moved around the table to pull Zhao An's sleeves. Zhao An frowned and dodged with dislike.

Lord Liu was embarrassed. He saluted Zhao An,

"Lord Zhao, may I ask had this roll of brocade be carefully checked when it was sent to Xiaoye Chamber?"

"Hey! What do you mean?"

Zhao An rolled his eyes and looked at Lord Liu sharply. The rage in his eyes forced Lord Liu to step back in panic.

"Ugh..."

Zhao An stroke while the iron is hot. He chased over, spat on Lord Liu's pinched and ginger face, and pointed at him to abuse him,

"How dare you query me? You are risking your neck! His Majesty awarded Her Ladyship, and we just took whatever the Imperial Ceremonial Service sent. The manager of the Shelves Library didn't check it when recording it, and you are here to blame me as we found it damaged?"

"I, I didn't mean this..."

The more Lord Liu explained, the deeper the misunderstanding.

Lord Liu felt he was wronged. He shook his hands to Zhao An and Song Qin, feeling that he was swallowing a bitter pill but he couldn't tell anyone what he had suffered.

Zhao An estimated that the situation had developed to his intention. He'd better come to the point in case someone else entering the Shelves Library if he continued arguing with Lord Liu.

He made up his mind and said in a lazy manner as if he had lost the interest of arguing,

"Well, I'm done talking with you. Just give me a solution. I have been away for a long time. I'd like to go back to serve Her Ladyship and report to her."

Song Qin raised her brows and echoed,

"Yes. You'd better be smart. We can't waste time here."

"Yes, yes!"

Lord Liu had been scared for a while. He lifted his arms to wipe his sweaty forehead with sleeves.

He thought it over and came up with a solution. Lord Liu saluted and bowed to Zhao An, speaking in a very humble manner,

"Lord Zhao, I'll let someone take you to the Imperial Ceremonial Service. There is another roll of feather brocade. You can have a check and bring that intact one for Her Ladyship, Zhaoyi Yu. Just leave the rat-bitten roll there and let the spinners to mend it. What do you think?"

Zhao An nodded reluctantly. He still looked arrogant,

"Since this is the case, Song Qin will go there with you."

Lord Liu asked the young eunuch,

"Feng, go to the Imperial Ceremonial Service with Miss Song Qin."

Song Qin made eye contact with Zhao An and slammed on the table, shouting,

"Lord Liu, you are keeping yourself clean. Just send a eunuch, and you want to get rid of me? Everyone knows the madams in the Imperial Ceremonial Service are good at arguing! You are willing to watch us bustle about in vain if we can't persuade them to change the brocade, aren't you?"

"Fine, fine! My bad! I'll go with you!"

Lord Liu couldn't bear their harassment anymore. He waved hands to them, surrendered.

Zhao An sneered with his hands at his back,

"That's fine. I'll wait here. It's not that I like to seek you trouble, but I can't do a bad job. If Her Ladyship is not pleased, she will teach me lessons! Lord Liu, we are the same kind. Do you think I am right?"

Lord Liu nodded with a bitter smile. He echoed,

"Yes, yes, you are right! Miss Song Qin, let's go to the Imperial Ceremonial Service."

"Song Qin, check the brocade carefully."

Zhao An took a chair to said down, looking at Song Qin significantly.

Song Qin understood and replied to him with a smile,

"Don't worry, Lord! I'll take some time to check it carefully this time."

Then she left with Lord Liu and the eunuch Feng.

Zhao An and two eunuchs stayed in the Shelves Library.

It was so silent around that cool-headed Zhao An tensed up for some reason that he couldn't describe.

He asked a eunuch to guard and then entered the Shelves Room behind with another eunuch, seeking their objective among shelves of paper files.

After a long while, on a shelve in the west, they found the copy of the rosters that recorded names of the Spring Banquet damsels and programs.

In excitement, Zhao An put the two books in his clothes as if he was afraid of them had legs to run away.

He gasped deeply and looked at the anteroom on the alert. He started seeking the record by date in detail.

Zhao An was gifted with an extraordinary retentive memory. He could remember all the things he had seen.

Because of his poor family and many siblings, he carried on his father's job early and fed his family with excellent gardening skills.

If he could afford to study, depending on his retentive memory, he could have achieved a political position to bring honor to his family and clansmen.

However, maybe he would never meet her again, Gu Yunyao, the woman he wanted to love and protect forever.