CH 25.3

Unable to hear the answer, Xuan shi continued: “Son, can Mother come in?”

Lu Shi Qing and Yuan Ci Xian looked at each other, jumped up in unison, and almost bumped their heads together.

One of the two didn’t want to appear in front of the future mother-in-law in such a sneaky manner, and the other didn’t want his mother to misunderstand and forced him to go to the Yuan family to propose marriage.

Lu Shi Qing hurriedly stopped her: “Mother, please wait a moment.” Then he looked around and pointed a direction to the flustered Yuan Ci Xian.

Yuan Ci Xian tacitly understood and quickly rushed away. He hurried to the door, calmed down for a while, straightened his clothes, then opened the door and said, “Mother, are you looking for me?”

Xuan shi looked over his shoulder to the inside: “Is there anyone else in your room?”

Lu Shi Qing affirmatively shook his head: “No.”

Xuan shi stepped into the room, and said worriedly: “Mother heard that a servant was ordered by me to bring you tea, but Mother has never given such instruction, could it be someone try to harm you…” She looked around and asked, “Is there really no one here?”

Lu Shi Qing was silent, then said resolutely: “No one come here, there has always been one person here. Mother, don’t worry. ”

Xuan shi let out an “Oh”, looked at the old robe on his body, and said strangely: “Didn’t you ask someone to prepare water earlier, why haven’t you take a bath yet, the water is going to be cold.” She said then glanced at the direction of the clean room.

Lu Shi Qing couldn’t help but tighten his back. He liked to be clean on weekdays, and there was even a clean room in his study. If he had unfinished business at night, he would take a bath here after dinner. Just now, Yuan Ci Xian was chased inside by her.

He hurriedly said: “Just now, Son remembered some unfinished task, so it’s a bit delayed.”

Xuan shi‘s eyes were already stained with suspicion, but there was still a smile on the corner of her mouth, she said: “It’s alright, you are busy outside, I’ll go inside to see if the water is cold. It’s autumn, and it’s cold at night, you can’t be too careless.”

Hearing this, Lu Shi Qing hurriedly reached out to stop her: “Mother, I have a sense of proportion, I won’t freeze myself, you go and rest first.”

But Xuan shi was determined to go in, and pushed his hand away, still smiling very gently on her face: “Why are you so polite with Mother? Mother will come back after trying the water.”

She was unstoppable. Lu Shi Qing didn’t want to get rough with his mother, so he had to follow her into the room, and was about to hide his face with a headache, but saw that the clean room was empty, and there was no one inside.

He heaved a sigh of relief in doubt. Xuan shi‘s steps also paused, and her eyes scanned back and forth inside.

The clean room was simply furnished, and people could see the inside with one glance. At this moment the screen was closed and the windows were fastened from the inside, it seemed that there was really no problem. The suspicion in Xuan shi‘s eyes gradually faded, and she walked to a few wooden buckets in front of the door, bent over and touched the outer wall of the bucket, and said, “It’s still warm, hurry up pour the water and take a bath.”

She said while nodding her chin towards the bath barrel in the room. She then paused.

Wait, this bath barrel seems pretty big.

Lu Shi Qing obviously realized it too, seeing that she seemed to want to step forward, he picked up the wooden bucket first, and said, “Okay, I’ll take a bath now, mother, you go back.”

As he spoke, he carried the water and walked towards the bath barrel. When he reached the side of the barrel and looked down, he couldn’t help but frown.

Yuan Ci Xian squatted inside with her arms folded like a mushroom, looking up at him pitifully.

It was not that she didn’t think about jumping out of the window, but because the window was locked, if she chose to escape, there would definitely some noise. Just now when she heard the movement outside, in a moment of desperation, she had no choice but to step into his bath barrel.

Seeing that he didn’t pour water in, Xuan shi felt suspicious again, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Lu Shi Qing turned around and said, “No, I just saw some dirt on the wall of the barrel, but it’s not a problem.”

After he finished speaking, he picked up the wooden bucket, tilted it in, and mouthed to Yuan Ci Xian: Get out of the way.

This barrel was only so big, where would she go? Yuan Ci Xian refused to obey, shook her head desperately with a bitter face.

Lu Shi Qing really had no choice but to pick an empty spot, avoid her and pour the water in, and then went to pick up the other buckets and poured them one bucket at a time.

Only then did Xuan shi believed him, told him a few words, and went out.

When she was completely gone, Yuan Ci Xian, who was soaked in water, stood up with a “splash”, wiped the water stains on her face carelessly, and yelled at the person in the room who pretended to be ready to untie his belt: “Lu Shi Qing, you are too much——! ”

Lu Shi Qing was so stunned by her yelling that he didn’t even pay attention to her calling him by name. Seeing her battered look, he turned his head in embarrassment, and coughed: “I…”

He couldn’t speak, and when he saw the towel on the towel rack, he took it and handed it to her without looking sideways: “You wipe it.”

Yuan Ci Xian was still in the water, she was so angry that she slapped it violently, and the water splashed everywhere. Fortunately, she was wearing a servant’s coarse clothes at the moment, and when it was wet, it was not sticking to the skin and not see through, otherwise she might want to gouge Lu Shi Qing’s eyes.

She said coldly: “I won’t wipe. Do you think you’re the only who’s a clean freak? Don’t you love to be clean? Then I don’t need your towel!”

Lu Shi Qing frowned, turned his head, and very gentlemanly kept his gaze above her neck, explaining: “It’s new.”

She choked, and still said angrily, “New ones also won’t do, the one you touch won’t do!”

Lu Shi Qing took a deep breath. He disliked others for so many years, but this was really the first time he had been disliked by others.

He sighed and reminded: “Little ancestor, you are in my bath barrel.” Why do you dislike his towel.

Mentioning this, Yuan Ci Xian became furious, but it was difficult to get off from a tiger, and she couldn’t climb out in front of him, so she slapped the water again to vent her anger, until the water splashed all over his face. She then said: “You get out.” And took the towel from him.

What could Lu Shi Qing do? Seeing that the sky was getting dark, he lit a candle for her, and then went outside dejectedly. After a long while, he heard a sneezing sound coming from inside. He frowned, and knocked on the lattice door to questioned, and as expected, he heard Yuan Ci Xian wailing: “What should I wear…?”

He coughed lowly: “The clothes on the wooden hanger… also new.” Yes it was new, the one he was going to change into.

Yuan Ci Xian looked at it, rubbed her nose and muttered, “No, if I go home wearing your clothes, my brother will break my legs. You have to get me a women’s clothes.”

Lu Shi Qing finally asked Lu Shuang Yu for help.

Yuan Ci Xian took the brand-new autumn dress from Lu Shuang Yu, whose jaw was almost fall to the ground, put it on and went back to the mansion aggravatedly.

The next day, Lu Shuang Yu reluctantly went to Yuan Mansion to visit and asked her if she had caught a cold. Yuan Ci Xian was not so delicate, but because she saw that Lu Shuang Yu was coming here at the order of her elder brother, she deliberately blew her nose and sneezed a few times in front of her.

Sure enough, in the evening of that day, the Lu Mansion sent someone to deliver a bunch of medicine.

For several days in a row, Yuan Ci Xian didn’t go to Lu Shi Qing again, ready to pretend to be sick and make him apologize. It wasn’t until the Ghost Festival, when Emperor Huining presided over the Yulan Basin ceremony at Wangji Temple, and ordered the Yuan family’s brother and sisters to attend, that she met him face to face.

According to Buddhist legend, the Yulan Basin Festival was a day to relieve the suffering of deceased relatives. Because the so-called “pay careful attention to one’s parents’ funerary rites, and the people’s virtue will be stronger“, in the Great Zhou Dynasty when Buddhism flourished, on this day people from the common people to the imperial family would set up vegetarian meals for the monks, go to temples to for perform transcending ceremony, pray for repentance, and wish the living relatives a long life.

Wangji Temple was an imperial temple dedicated for court ceremonies, located in Daning Square in the northeast of Chang’an City. Yuan Ci Xian who got the emperor’s order, dressed in black clothes, drove with a group of imperial children, then walked behind the emperor’s chariot. From a distance she saw the towering pagoda, the golden light of the sunrise shone on the top of the pagoda, shrouding the whole temple majestically and solemnly.

Yuan Ci Xian was the imperial clan’s daughter, but not from the main imperial family, so she was at the back of the team. Of course, she was still ahead of Lu Shi Qing and other civil and military officials.

When they arrived at Wangji Temple, the emperor’s chariot landed on the ground, and the Jinwu Guards cleared the way, leading everyone to the Daochang. In front of them, there were seven huge banners with the names of the previous emperors of the Zhou Dynasty written on them.

There was silence all around, and even the sound of reciting sutras could be heard from far away.

When stepping over the threshold, Yuan Ci Xian saw that Emperor Huining seemed to pause for some reason, and when she stepped forward, she saw a dying autumn cicada lying on the ground, thinking that he was avoiding it just now.

It was not that the emperor really had such a benevolent heart, but on this occasion, killing was considered a taboo that violated the ancestors, and would bring disaster to the Great Zhou. Such a small cicada, if the emperor accidentally steps on it, he could still cover the sky with one hand, but if it was someone else, they might be charged with beheading.

Yuan Ci Xian tugged at Yuan Yu’s sleeve, signaling him to be careful.

The first ceremony of this Yulan Basin was to welcome the ancestors into the Daochang.

The Daochang in the temple was spaciously arranged, with offerings neatly placed on an altar several feet long in the middle. There was a huge bronze sacrificial tripod in front of it, which was filled with incense ash. On the side stood the most famous monk in the nobility’s inner circle of Great Zhou, Master Xuyuan, and several outstanding monk disciples under his name.

The golden bell rang, ringing three crystalline sounds. The palace people who carried seven huge banners with black characters on the red background entered. Emperor Huining followed closely behind, took three sticks of fine incense from the monks, then guided by the eulogy of Master Xuyuan’s mouth, he worshiped to the heavens. Then it was the turn of the imperial relatives in the back. After one worshiped, one exited, and the next entered.

There were many imperial relatives, and after such a while, Yuan Ci Xian was bored with waiting, and she could only stare at the backs of the heads of the nobles in front of her in a daze. However, when Zheng Zhuo stepped forward, the monk who handed the incense shook his hand and accidentally scattered the incense ash on the back of Zheng Zhuo’s hand, making her wandering mind came back.

This fresh incense ash should be piping hot. The monk was startled, and hurriedly apologized. Zheng Zhuo stopped him with a gesture, probably not wanting to cause more trouble on such an occasion.

Yuan Ci Xian wondered why the rest of the people were doing well, and when it was Zheng Zhuo’s turn, something went wrong.

She had some suspicion and wanted to find a chance to check his injuries. When he exited Daochang and passed by her side, she took out a bottle of ointment from her sleeve and stopped him.

The reason why she carried the ointment with her was also because she was afraid of being burned by the incense ash, so she was prepared.

Zheng Zhuo was taken aback for a moment, then saw that Yuan Ci Xian pointed to the back of his hand, mouthed: Wipe it.

He smiled, said “thank you” to her silently, then raised his hand to take the ointment, applied it and handed it back to her, then nodded to her to say goodbye.

Yuan Ci Xian glanced at the redness on the back of his hand calmly, nodded at him, turned her head to watch him leave, but suddenly met a cold light.

Among the civil official’s line, Lu Shi Qing who was dressed in sacrificial attire was looking at her, his slanted phoenix eyes almost narrowed into a slit.