75 The First New Year of Emperor Yang Zhou’s Reign

The day passed swiftly.

The cold winter finally showed sign of decrease and the temperature grew warmer. Even though it was still quite cold, but people could have more activities outside again now. They didn't have to stay holed up in their residence by the fire anymore.

The court was open and naturally, it meant that the officials had started to work again. Nan Hua heard from her brother about what happened at the court and the fact that Empress Dowager had now gained some influence.

However, she didn't really appear in the morning court for a long time and only for a rather short period of time.

The one who took control was mostly the prime minister.

Nan Luo was annoyed at this fact, but he also knew that he couldn't do anything to help. He was nothing more than a 9 years old brat who had only slightly better martial arts.

Soon, it was New Year. Since the previous Emperor had only died and not even 100 days had passed, they couldn't create big party. However, it would be impossible not to celebrate the New Year, thus the celebration was simply slightly toned down.

"Hua'er, Grandpa didn't let us out today." Nan Luo grumbled. Usually the fifteenth day of New Year would be filled with many celebrations, which was called as Lantern Festival. Some people were also happily going out to the street to play. Even if it was toned down, it was still a celebration and naturally, there would be a lot of people.

Lantern Festival was also the most favorite festival for ladies. This was the only chance they were allowed to come out of their house without carriages and mask. They were allowed to blend with the crowd with only some bodyguards for noble ladies to celebrate New Year by lighting up lantern.

The street would be crowded, but everyone was excited. There were countless love stories that people often said when they were talking about Lantern Festival.

Who wouldn't want to meet the man of their dream?

Though, Nan Hua and Nan Luo could care less about that. The real reason why Nan Luo wanted to go out was because of the food and also the shows! The shows to cheer up his twin sister and the food to eat!

"We still have to train." Nan Hua pointed at the back. Her grandfather had gifted her with a lot of new needles since she had used a lot back then. She was not a doctor, so obviously she couldn't do acupuncture with them. However, she mostly used them as weapons to kill.

Even now, she was moving several needles along her fingers without anyone noticing. It was useful to train her fingers' speed, especially since she had to be faster if she wanted to survive better.

Nan Luo scrunched his face. "Grandpa didn't even let us have any rest. Hua'er, come and follow me. I have a great idea."

"What is it?"

"We have to sneak out!"

Nan Hua: "…" how is that a good idea?

The two of them had a short break before dinner. Usually they would spend their time in their respective quarter since it was freezing cold. But this time, Nan Luo brought Nan Hua to another quarter within the residence.

Nan Family might not be the biggest family in the capital city, but their residence was undoubtedly one of the biggest one. They have several buildings inside the residence, most of them were used by the servants or just left abandoned.

The one Nan Luo brought Nan Hua to was an abandoned one.

"Luo?" Nan Hua asked. She glanced at the back where the snow was leaving obvious mark of them coming here. It was indeed snowing but the snow didn't fall fast enough to cover up their track if they come here openly like this.

Nan Luo looked at Nan Hua and grinned. "Come here."

Looking at the ladder he picked up and how he placed it at the back of the quarter, Nan Hua was speechless.

Her twin brother didn't have any talent to sneak out.

"We can use this ladder to go up and once we're up there, we can use the trees to hide our tracks. The snow will leave marks but Grandpa will only be able to trace us up until this house. Follow me."

Nan Hua said nothing and simply erased her presence more as she followed her twin brother. They climbed the wall with the stairs. There were several trees there and Nan Luo skillfully entered one of them. By using the snow and leaves as cover, no one would be able to guess that a young boy was hidden there.

Judging by how skillful Nan Luo was, Nan Hua could guess that this was not the first time he did this.

Nan Luo didn't say anything now as he erased his presence and walked slowly across the branches towards the second tree, then to the third one. His movement was swift and agile. After moving for some time, he would always turn his head to check whether his twin sister was following or not.

Of course, Nan Hua was following closely. Her brother's skill was actually worse than her, so her movement was swifter.

It was simply a bit colder up here.

"Just a bit more and we can get out." Nan Luo pointed to one side with a grin.

Nan Hua nodded.

Swish!

Nan Luo jumped over and stood at the wall. He was still partially covered by the leaves and snow as he inspected his surroundings. Just as he was about to jump out, a voice startled him.

"Young Master, where do you plan to go?"

"H…Hou Liang?" Nan Luo turned to look down and saw Hou Liang stood right beside the wall with his hand on his hips. His expression clearly showed that he was annoyed.

"Old Master had already instructed that you shouldn't go out at all, so where do you plan to go, Young Master?" Hou Liang was pissed off.