CH 21

Lu Shi Qing asked Lu Shuang Yu to go back to her room, and then looked at Yuan Ci Xian: “County Princess, please go back to the mansion earlier, so as not to make General Yuan worry.”

Yuan Ci Xian glanced at the gloomy sky outside, and in the end, she was also troubled by the rain, said: “Okay, I’ll come back tomorrow.”

He frowned: “Tomorrow?”

“Of course, the first two days of injury are the most important, I’ll wrap it up for you again.”

Lu Shi Qing sighed: “Lu is going to court tomorrow morning.”

“Then I’ll come back when you get home.”

Seeing that he was about to decline, she hurriedly made a gesture to stop him: “Don’t say anymore, I’m doing this for your own good. If it’s like your previous stupid wrapping method, you will definitely have a scar in the future. You shouldn’t want to have a scar on your right hand, but not on your left hand, right? If I ask my brother to whip you again, I don’t know if it will be exactly the same!”

“…”

Lu Shi Qing had a bad headache, so bad that he couldn’t think of a reason to reject her, so he had to muddle along and ask the servants to send this big Buddha away first.

Yuan Ci Xian explained to him a few things about food, acted like a cripple and went out. When she arrived at the gate of the mansion, she saw Lu Shuang Yu, who should have returned to her room, standing there holding an oil-paper umbrella, clenched her small face, and looked like she had something to say to her.

She stepped forward and asked: “Young Lady Lu is waiting for me?”

Lu Shuang Yu lowered her eyes and shook her head: “No.” But she kept twisting the handle of the umbrella, as if she was nervous.

Yuan Ci Xian laughed: “Then I will go.”

“Hey!” Lu Shuang Yu moved slightly and stopped her.

She was just pretend to move, turned around and asked, “What is it?”

“I want to tell County Princess, you…” Lu Shuang Yu hesitated for a while, then finally raised her voice, “Don’t try to hit on my brother! My brother has been in love with Shaohe State Princess for a long time, but His Majesty refuses to agree to this marriage, worried that my brother would be hindered in his official career if he became his son-in-law, so he did not grant the marriage for a long time!”

Yuan Ci Xian was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly laughed, and asked, “Who taught you to say this?”

Lu Shuang Yu was startled, then said guiltily, “No…no one taught me, I’m just telling the truth!”

“Then tell me, how do they fall in love with each other?”

She calmed down a bit: “Brother went to Hanliang Hall every few days to teach Thirteenth Prince to study, and Her Highness is often by the side… by the side…” She stayed on “by the side” for a long time without adding anything else, instead she said, “Anyway, my brother likes her, and my mother likes her too. This morning, Her Highness accompanied my mother to Daci’en Temple.”

Yuan Ci Xian let out a long “Oh” then she said: “Okay, I understand.”

Lu Shuang Yu felt her attitude was strange, and asked cautiously: “What do you understand?”

She grinned: “Thank you, Sister Shuang Yu, for reminding me that Hanliang Hall and Daci’en Temple are indeed two good places to buy people’s hearts, I will make good use of them.”

Lu Shuang Yu choked, and didn’t notice that she changed her address, and said in surprise: “You…how can you not listen to what I said?”

Yuan Ci Xian asked her back: “At first you mistook me for a man, fell in love with me at first sight, then searched hard for me for a year. During this time, there’s probably people who persuading you to give up. What about you, did you listen?”

“I…”

Seeing that she had nothing to say, Yuan Ci Xian smiled lightly, and took the oil-paper umbrella from her hand: “Okay, I’ll take this umbrella, you hurry back, just wait for you to call me sister-in-law.”

After saying that she no longer stayed, turned around and got into the carriage, leaving Lu Shuang Yu dumbfounded in place.

…

It was also coincidence that when Yuan Ci Xian passed the entrance of Yongxing Lane, a carriage passed by her curtain. Seeing this, Jian Zhi who was driving asked inside, “Young Lady, look behind, is that Old Lady Lu’s carriage?”

She happened to be thinking about the relationship between Xuan shi and Shaohe State Princess, and when she heard this she stopped, raised the curtain and poked her head out, only to see that the sandalwood carriage stopped in front of the Lu Mansion, and two people came down a moment later. One was indeed Xuan shi, and the other was dressed in a plain skirt, with thin arms and waist, and it looked like Zheng Yun.

The two walked into the mansion gate talking and laughing.

Shi Cui asked: “Young lady, do you want to launch a surprise attack?”

Yuan Ci Xian snorted coldly: “Don’t attack, just go home.”

Seeing that she was unhappy, Shi Cui didn’t dare to say more. But when they near Shengye Lane, heard her speak again: “No, why am I so mad, I don’t want to marry Old Lady Lu.” After speaking, she said to the outside of the carriage curtain, “Jian Zhi, turn it back.”

Jian Zhi hurriedly drove the carriage back to Lu Mansion, she reined in the horse but did not see Yuan Ci Xian move for a long time, then said strangely: “Young lady, we are here, don’t you want to go down?”

Yuan Ci Xian yawned: “To do what, make trouble? I’ll just see when Zheng Yun comes out, and meet her face to face. You keep watch for me.”

After she finished speaking, she closed her eyes to rest.

Jian Zhi stared at the gate of Lu Mansion, afraid of missing anything. But she waited and waited, and half an hour passed, she still didn’t see Zheng Yun. Just when her eyes were sour, suddenly a maid from Lu Mansion came in small steps.

The maid came to her and said politely: “Young Lady, my family’s Master has some words for Lancang County Princess.”

Yuan Ci Xian opened her eyes abruptly, raised the curtain and asked, “What words?

The maid gave her a salute, then said: “Return to County Princess, Master said before your carriage came back, he had already invited Shaohe State Princess to go back. You can’t wait for people, so go home before it’s raining.”

After she finished explaining, she saw that the dark clouds between Yuan Ci Xian’s brows dissipate without a trace, and she smiled like honey: “I see, I’ll go home now, then come back tomorrow.”

… …

The next day, Yuan Ci Xian did what she said and went to Lu Mansion again, but didn’t stay long. She changed Lu Shi Qing’s medicine and returned to Shengye Lane. Convinced that his injury would not worsen, she stopped going out and “recuperated” with a peace of mind for His Majesty to see.

Emperor Huining obviously didn’t realize that this chit of a girl was so scheming, and didn’t suspect that her injuries were fake at all. So he sent people to deliver a lot of medicinal materials and tonics as imperial tribute, as well as many rare playthings to make her happy, saying that such bad thing happened under the Son of Heaven’s feet, and it was the fault of him as her uncle.

Yuan Ci Xian sneered in her heart. She had never considered the emperor as her uncle. Back then her maternal grandmother was just a shu princess who was not favored, and her relationship with the late emperor was not very close. Now that it was one generation later, how could there be any affection left. On the contrary, she and her elder brother had a few drops of the Zheng family’s blood in their bones, which made the old emperor panic all day long.

After being idle for a while, the final month of summer passed in the blink of an eye.

In the seventh month, the first month of autumn, the weather was slightly cooler in the morning and evening, but the sun was still scorching hot in the afternoon. Yuan Ci Xian was irritated by the Indian summer, stayed in the mansion, and remembered Xu Shan out of boredom, so she asked her brother to send someone to deliver a letter, asking if he would be free to attend the verbal invitation last time.

Naturally, she didn’t want to discuss chess skills with Xu Shan. The reason for this was because he came to report the news before, which made her feel Zheng Zhuo’s position and goodwill. At least for now, they were indeed allies of the Yuan family. In this case, she shouldn’t blindly reject. The situation in Chang’an was complicated. It was always a good thing to become enemies with Zheng Zhuo much later, or to reverse the situation in the previous life and not become enemies.

Of course, since the dream reminded her, it was impossible for her to trust Zheng Zhuo wholeheartedly, especially that Xu Shan had always refused to show his face to others, which made her doubt his identity. The last time she made an invitation, she was preparing to test it out.

The next day, Lu Shi Qing was invited to the Yuan Mansion as Xu Shan.

He was really busy these days, but a message from Yuan Ci Xian made him have to leave all the important official duties behind. After all, “Xu Shan” said that he was a commoner and not busy, if he refused the invitation, it would inevitably make her suspicious.

Lu Shi Qing adjusted his posture and went to the reception pavilion of Yuan Mansion, where he saw Yuan Ci Xian standing in front of the window teasing a Hwamei bird. She seemed to be in a good mood, with curved eyes and smiling faces.

He paused and stopped at the doorstep.

Why, she didn’t visit his injury for sixteen whole days, not even sending a message, but now she was looking forward to seeing Xu Shan?