Being a second wife is difficult: I'm busy raising children in the Earl's mansion.

The entire household was lightened up by this rare auspicious snow.

The snow started falling in the latter half of the night, silently covering the rooftops and courtyard. When I opened the door in the morning, the whole yard was white, and even the branches of the old locust tree under the porch were weighed down.

Chunlan from the old lady's side sent word yesterday that the children are off school today and don't need to get up early; they can play in the garden all day without any problem.

Sure enough, the children disappeared early in the morning, and Jiang Wan knew without guessing that they had all gone to the garden.

She walked along the veranda and happened to run into Wang Mama coming from the storeroom, carrying a stack of clean cotton handkerchiefs.

"Madam, these are newly delivered to the warehouse a few days ago. I thought it was getting cold, so I sent some to each room." Wang Mama stopped and smiled.

"The snow is wonderful today. It's unusual for the manor to be so lively. Even the cleaning ladies are sweeping the snow more easily than usual. Just now, when I passed by the garden, I met some of the young masters. They were building snow lions in the garden! It looked so interesting."

Jiang Wan smiled as she listened, recalling how lively the courtyard used to be every time it snowed in Jinling.

The younger maids always led the way, carrying bamboo baskets as they wandered through the plum grove, tiptoeing to prune the branches that were in full bloom. The pruned plum blossoms were piled in the baskets, their bright red color glistening with snowflakes.

—It's quite interesting.

She glanced at the handkerchief in Wang Mama's arms and a thought struck her: "It's easy to catch a cold in the snow. Go and tell Granny Zhou in the kitchen to prepare more hot ginger soup and warming soups so that the children can have a bowl when they've had enough fun and rest."

"If the maids and servants in the manor are also playing wildly outside, give each of them a bowl so they don't catch a cold."

Mrs. Wang quickly agreed, adding, "Madam is so thoughtful," before heading towards the kitchen with the handkerchief in her arms.

Jiang Wan continued walking forward, with Qing He following behind her.

As she passed through the moon gate, the sounds of laughter and chatter from the garden could be heard clearly. She listened intently and quickened her pace.

Turning past that clump of low cypress trees, a bright light suddenly appeared before my eyes—

The treetops were covered with fresh snow, and the winter plum blossoms were in full bloom. Several drooping plum branches were bent over by the weight of the snow, with a cluster of white on top of the red petals, which looked very spirited.

Large and small footprints were scattered on the snow, and several maids were picking up fallen petals under the plum tree!

Lu Hui was wearing a thick indigo short coat with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. He was bending over and working with several servants to gather a clump of snow into the middle.

He kept shouting, "Here, here, don't let it tilt!"

He pushed too hard, slipped, and landed hard on his backside in the snow. The servant next to him quickly laughed and went to help him up.

He got up without getting angry, patted his clothes, and continued pushing.

Lu Zhao stood a few steps away, holding a plum branch in his hand. He didn't touch it, but his eyes followed Lu Hui's snowdrift, occasionally giving instructions.

"Brother Hui, add some more padding on the left side, otherwise it will be crooked when it's piled up."

Without turning his head, Lu Hui, panting, retorted defiantly, "You're all talk and no action. Why don't you try pushing it yourself?"

Lu Zhao didn't reply, but the corners of his lips curved slightly.

Lu Wan and Lu Shan, the two little girls, also squatted under the plum tree, picking up fallen petals and pebbles.

The two little girls stood head to head. Lu Wan placed the few red plum petals she had just picked in Lu Shan's palm, and then pointed to a smooth little pebble next to her.

"Look, could this be used as a lion's eye?"

Lu Shan looked down for a while, nodded, and carefully gathered the plum blossoms and pebbles into her bosom, as if afraid of breaking them.

Two maids were helping them tidy up, and the group chattered amongst themselves, discussing which flower would look best on the lion's head.

Lu Wan thought for a moment, then picked out the best-blooming red plum blossom and compared it to the top of the snow lion's head.

Lu Hui happened to look up and saw it, and couldn't help but say, "Don't put flowers on the lion's head, it looks weird."

Lu Wan retorted, pouting, "As long as it looks good, it's none of your business whether I insert it or not."

Lu Zhao added casually from the side, "With flowers on the lion's head, it looks like a military general wearing a hairpin."

Hearing this, Lu Wan became even more enthusiastic. She placed the red plum blossom on the snowdrift, clapped her hands, and said, "So what if she's a military general? Even Mulan wore flowers! Just think of her as a vain lioness!"

Lu Hui couldn't help but burst out laughing, throwing the snowball in his hand directly at his feet, squatting on the ground laughing so hard his shoulders were shaking.

Lu Zhao was speechless, looking down at the plum branch in his hand without saying a word, but his ears turned red.

The entire garden was in an uproar, with laughter and footsteps mingling together. Even the most well-behaved maids under the eaves couldn't resist going out into the snow to watch the commotion in twos and threes.

The courtyard was full of life, as if the snow had melted away all the pomp and circumstance that had been maintained in the mansion.

When Jiang Wan arrived at the garden gate, this was the scene she saw.

She originally only intended to look at her from afar for a while before going to attend to other matters, but before she even got close, Lu Wan, with her sharp eyes, had already spotted her.

Wan'er called out "Mother" from afar, lifted her skirt and ran over, clutching a handful of red plum petals in her hand, panting as she handed them to Jiang Wan.

"Look, Mother, we've picked so many flowers!"

Jiang Wan looked down and saw that the red plum petals in her palm, still covered with snowflakes, were a little cool. The red and white petals looked exceptionally bright.

She reached out and gently brushed aside a few plum blossom petals, smiling as she said, "You've picked so many, they're so beautiful! Under which tree did you pick them?"

Just as Wan Jie was about to reply, she seemed to suddenly remember something more important. Before she could finish speaking, she withdrew her hand and grabbed Jiang Wan's wrist.

"Mother, come quick! We're building a snow lion. Can you help us see if it looks like one?"

Jiang Wan was pulled forward a few steps by her. Looking up, she saw a round snowdrift squatting under the plum tree, looking more like a fat cat.

Lu Hui was squatting nearby, brushing snow off his face. Seeing her approach, he looked up, his face still covered in snowflakes, and grinned. "Mother, you've come at the perfect time. Do you think this lion is fierce enough?"

Jiang Wan approached and slowly circled the chubby, round snowdrift for half a turn before stopping.

Without pointing out that it was far from being imposing, he simply smiled and said, "It is quite large."

He looked at it again, suppressing a laugh, and added, "But it looks like it's missing two ears?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Hui looked down and then bent down to add two more handfuls of snow. Lu Wan clapped her hands and laughed, saying, "It looks just like it!"

Lu Shan also came over, handed the small pebble in her hand to Jiang Wan, and looked up at her, saying, "Mother, this is for the lion's eye."

Jiang Wan took it, squatted down, gently pressed the pebble into the snowdrift, and moved it to the side to adjust its position.

She examined it for a moment, then used her palm to press the surrounding snow down firmly before she was finished.

Lu Shan squatted down beside her, watching intently. As soon as Jiang Wan stopped, she was the first to clap her hands, making a loud clapping sound.

"Alright! The lion has eyes now!"

Lu Wan clapped along, Lu Hui smiled and clapped twice, and even Lu Zhao smiled and slowly clapped twice.

Jiang Wan was a little embarrassed by the commotion, and with a wry smile, she raised her hand to quell it: "Alright, alright, stop drumming, or the lion will wake up."

Her words made the children laugh even harder.

While she wasn't paying attention, Lu Wan quietly went behind her and tucked a small, newly opened red plum blossom behind her ear, saying with a smile, "Mother, don't move, let me put one on you too."

Jiang Wan glanced at it, then raised her hand to straighten the plum blossom a little, her fingertips still feeling a bit cool when they touched the petals.

"This one is in perfect bloom."

She didn't say anything more, but just squatted by the snowdrift, watching the children gathered around the chubby snow lion, discussing what else they should add.

The wind blew some more snow off the plum branches, which fell in fine flakes onto their shoulders and hair, but no one bothered to brush it off.

She was too lazy to brush it off, so she just squatted there, as if she had become a part of this snowy day.

After watching for a while, she suddenly remembered something and turned to Qinghe, saying, "Don't just stand there. Call Qiutang and the others to come and play too. It's rare to have such a nice snow all year round."

Qinghe initially declined, but Lu Wan tugged at her sleeve twice, so she had no choice but to smile and walk down the steps, roll up her sleeves, and squat down to play with the snow with the children.

Amidst laughter and chatter, Lu Hui called over several more passing maids to help carry snow, making the garden increasingly lively.