CH 15

Seeing that Yuan Ci Xian was willing to settle down, Lu Shi Qing raised his body slightly to reduce her burden, let go of his restraint on her, then took a deep breath, suppressed the discomfort from sticking close with other people, closed his eyes, and listen to the noise outside.

Unexpectedly, in the next moment, a faint wind suddenly sounded in his ears.

He opened his eyes suddenly, and saw a dog’s legs infinitely zooming in, heading straight to his forehead!

It turned out that Xiao Hei, who had been stupidly watching the two people fight, realized something later, and was ready to rescue its master.

Lu Shi Qing breathed tightly, and hurriedly turned his head to hide.

Yuan Ci Xian was also horrified—oh my little darling, such a pretty face, you’re going to commit a crime!

She quickly raised her arm and pushed the dog’s paw away.

Xiao Hei was a loyal dog. Seeing that its master seemed to be crushed happily, it knew that it was in trouble, so it shrank its head and turned its head away, no longer looking at her.

Yuan Ci Xian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Each one of them were too difficult to serve.

The Huihu didn’t find anything, and after a while they finally gave up and left. The moment the door lock “clicked”, Lu Shi Qing raised his hand and pushed open the lid.

Yuan Ci Xian crawled out, holding on to the edge of the box and panting silently, while staring at him sullenly.

Lu Shi Qing felt guilty for a while when he saw her, turned his back in embarrassment, and lowered his head to continued his business.

Before she came, he was rummaging through the contents of the box.

Yuan Ci Xian was also curious about what was inside, so she immediately shifted her attention and squatted by the side to watch him take out the bundles of silks. When the secret layer was pried open, it turned out to be a pile of brand-new sharp arrowheads.

Lu Shi Qing didn’t seem to be surprised. He took out a piece of black cloth from his chest to rest his hands on, twirled one up and put it under the light to see, and then returned the thing to its original place, closed the lid of the box, and raised his chin to signal her to leave.

Yuan Ci Xian had seen all kinds of arrowheads since she was a child, so naturally she was not attached to them. She jumped out of the back window quietly with him, thinking that these Huihu merchants did a lot of business, but their hearts were also quite thick, actually letting two people and one dog come and go so easily.

…

After bypassing people’s eyes and ears, away from the slums, and to a wilderness overgrown with grass, Yuan Ci Xian was then able to speak with ease. She squatted down to teach Xiao Hei who had just caused her troubles: “Your surname is Hei (black), you should lose this fat (fei) body, you know? When I return, I will tell brother to reduce your food by two pieces of meat every meal!”

Xiao Hei gave a bitter “woo” sound.

Lu Shi Qing stopped when he heard the sound, and when he turned around, he saw her taking off her veil, grabbed a lump of fur on Xiao Hei’s neck. Her eyes were fierce, her lips, which were as red as her dress, opened and closed, kept blabbering on: “…I know your intentions are good, but do you know that if you want to step on someone, you can’t step on his face? You let Assistant Minister Lu ruin his looks, then how many young ladies in the capital will have to wail like ghosts day and night? This is a crime, and it will not be allowed in the future!”

A woman who could tame a dog was worthy of respect.

Lu Shi Qing looked at her a few more times with respect, his eyes slowly moved down from her fair and delicate neck, until he saw the beautiful scene of “the bright moon shining on the ditch”.

The shallow moonlight above the head fell on this place, and it seemed to be a bit more gorgeous.

A gust of wind blew through, and the vines and grass on the wilderness rustled and fell down. He suddenly had the mood to look up to the sky.

The moon was bright and the stars were sparse, and the Milky Way could not be seen, tomorrow morning should be a good weather.

He looked at the moon in place for a long time, but didn’t see her get up, so he took the initiative to ask: “Has County Princess finished with the training?”

Yuan Ci Xian’s chattering mouth closed in an instant, then she got up and said, “Yes, yes, more or less.”

He continued to ask: “Dare to ask what is County Princess’s intention of following Lu to come here tonight?”

She hesitated for a moment, then put on a confident look, and replied: “I didn’t follow you. I accidentally noticed that something was wrong with this group of businessmen. I found it myself. How could I know that I will run into you? By the way, there’s a maid who came with me, I have to pick her up.” After saying that, she turned around and was about to escape.

Lu Shi Qing didn’t bother to pursue the matter of the flatbread anymore, shouted at her, “Come back.”

Yuan Ci Xian turned her head, saw him frowning while saying, “No need to do unnecessary thing, someone will help her out of trouble.”

From this point, it seemed he really arranged an inside man.

She nodded: “Then thank you Assistant Minister Lu for your help.” After thanking him, she asked again, “How are you going to go back?”

Lu Shi Qing didn’t answer, turned around and walked across the road, bringing a horse that had been tied here beforehand.

Yuan Ci Xian’s eyes lit up at once: “Can you give me a ride?”

Lu Shi Qing didn’t say yes or no, but his gaze fell on her excessively open collar, and asked first: “What about County Princess’s own clothes?”

She didn’t know why he asked this all of a sudden, and was taken aback before answering: “Not here.”

“There is a curfew, you will be stopped and interrogated by the Jinwu Guards who are on night patrol if you wear a Huihu dress. At that time, it will bring trouble to Lu.”

Oh, after going around for a long time, it means you won’t take her back?

“Then what should I do? Do you have extra clothes?”

“Nope.” Lu Shi Qing pointed to the veil in her hand, “Just wear it to cover the front of the dress so that people can’t see that it’s a Huihu dress.”

“….” just like that then you can’t see it? Afraid it only works on a blind man.

Seeing her standing still, he said impatiently: “Please County Princess don’t delay Lu anymore.”

What you so fierce about. Yuan Ci Xian pouted and put the veil back on, saw him sitting on the horse, then said coldly to her: “Get on the horse.”

Look at this manner!

She endured her anger and get on in front of him, but unexpectedly he swung his horse’s head to avoid her: “Behind.”

She looked up and said in surprise, “Sitting in the front is more stable, if you make me sit in the back, I will fall.” It was impossible for him to allow her to hug his waist.

After Yuan Ci Xian finished speaking, remembering his strange behavior in the box before, she asked curiously: “Assistant Minister Lu, what treasure are you hiding in front of you that I cannot see?”

“…”

She asked, looking suspiciously in front of him, her eyes sweeping back and forth like a broom.

Lu Shi Qing had calmed down for a long time, the tent that was erected had already fell down, but his scalp still numb from her stare, so he dropped the honorific for a while: “I’ll count to three, and if you don’t come up, you can ride the dog back by yourself. One, two…”

“Don’t! I’ll come up, I’ll come up.”

Yuan Ci Xian obediently sat in the back, her heart was puzzled, and after for the horse gallop away and was blown by the wind, she seemed to suddenly had a divine light of enlightenment, and shouted “Ah”.

Lu Shi Qing pulled the rein and stopped the horse, turned around and said while frowning, “Don’t suddenly shout, you’ll really fall if you scream again.”

He was about to raise his whip after he finished speaking, but she poked his shoulder cautiously and asked, “Assistant Minister Lu, did you pitch a tent just now?”

“…”

What did she say? Was it the tent he knew? Wait, how did she know this?

The concept of men and women that Lu Shi Qing had carefully constructed over the past twenty years collapsed in an instant.

He was completely stunned, then hesitatingly asked: “…What did you say?”

He hoped that he had heard wrong. However, Yuan Ci Xian repeated it clearly.

At this time, Lu Shi Qing had to face reality.

He kept turning his head to look at her while gritted his teeth: “…Yuan Ci Xian, where did you hear this, do you know how to be ashamed?”

Judging by his reaction, Yuan Ci Xian knew that she was probably right.

In fact, she couldn’t be blamed for knowing too much, because she joined the army with her father before, and accidentally listened to some dirty words from the old men in the barracks. She had a high level of comprehension, so she understood at once.

Yuan Ci Xian was a little aggrieved, and asked: “Why would I need to be ashamed? Obviously it’s you who should. Assistant Minister Lu, do you like me?”

In Chang’an City, the young ladies who threw branches at Lu Shi Qing was indeed so many that it could be gathered into Hundred Family Surnames, but none of them were so direct, so… shameless.

He looked at her like an immortal looking down on human world, and answered very definitely: “No.”

Yuan Ci Xian tore off her veil, and then said with some accusation: “If you don’t like me, why did you pitch a tent in front of me? Could it be you’re like this with everyone?”

As soon as her words fell, there was a piercing neighing sound from a distance, when she looked up, she saw someone in the middle of the road at the front hurriedly reined their horse. The horse’s hooves rose high and then fell, the person on top almost staggered and thrown down.

She recognized the person immediately. It was her brother.

It’s over, did she speak too loudly just now?

Yuan Yu recovered from the 100,000-point shock, immediately got off the horse, whipped the whip and held it tightly in his hand, and walked quickly in her direction.

Seeing this, Yuan Ci Xian quickly dismounted as well. Lu Shi Qing glanced at the two brother and sister, sighed, and followed suit.

Yuan Yu had long legs, and he arrived in a few steps in a rage, and his mouth was full of curses: “Lu Zishu you bastard, what did you do to my sister!”

Before he finished speaking, he lifted his hand and raised his whip. Yuan Ci Xian was so shocked, her head went blank, then immediately strode in front of Lu Shi Qing.

However, when the whip fell with a “snap”, she didn’t feel any pain at all.

Yuan Ci Xian was stunned for a moment, then opened her subconsciously close eyes, and saw an arm in front of her forehead, on that well-define hand there was a hideous red mark.

Lu Shi Qing deflected the whip with his bare hands. However, the horse whip was not a soft whip, and Yuan Yu didn’t spare any strength under his rage. He deflected it this time, the momentum was stopped, but it was inevitable to hurt himself.

Yuan Ci Xian groaned and swallowed a mouthful of saliva to suppress her shock.

Scared her to death, she must have been possessed by some kind of ghost just now, actually ran to become a hero that save the beauty. If she really received this whipping, afraid the hero’s appearance would not be able to win the heart of the beauty again.

Yuan Yu stared at the two of them, then broke out in a cold sweat from shock. He never expected that Yuan Ci Xian would take the whip for others, and when he realized, the water that was splashed out could not be taken back. Fortunately, Lu Shi Qing still had a little conscience.

He was so stunned that he forgot to pull back, Lu Shi Qing also held the whip and remained motionless, looking down at the pale-faced Yuan Ci Xian in a daze.

Yuan Ci Xian was thinking: it’s over, it’s over, the hand of the future Imperial Teacher, the right hand of the future Imperial Teacher! Now the feud is getting bigger!

She looked at Lu Shi Qing’s torn back hand, pulled the whip from the two of them, threw it on the ground, and said to Yuan Yu, “Brother, what the hell are you doing!”

Yuan Yu was stunned by her yelling, “I… ”

She took a step forward, blocking Lu Shi Qing, and said: “A gentleman uses his mouth, not his hands, but brother actually punished people indiscriminately! Do you know what Assistant Minister Lu’s hand will do in the future?”

Yuan Yu was confused, his momentum completely gone: “What do you mean…?”

Lu Shi Qing also didn’t understand, and turned his head to look at her.

In order to save the relationship between the two families that was about to break down, Yuan Ci Xian earnestly patted the horse’s butt: “Assistant Minister Lu is well-educated and a great talent; conversant with things past and present; after telling this point, can know another point; rich in wisdom and good at planning, never miscalculated; stand tall and see far, and had visionary vision… This hand of his will helped the world in the future! With your whip, you will destroy the country and society of Great Zhou!”

“…”

“…”