CH 95

Lu Shi Qing almost spit out a mouthful of blood, and when Dou Azhang turned around in surprise, Lu Shi Qing also looked at Hong Ju for a moment, and said to her in a serious tone, “Huang Ju, you misheard. This young master Dou called ‘Hong Ju’, not you.” As he spoke, he gave her a hinting wink.

Seeing this, Dou Azhang hurriedly came up to him and cupped his hands: “Assistant Minister Lu, please forgive Dou’s uninvited abruptness.” Then he looked at Hong Ju, “Miss Huang Ju, troubled you to take this trip, but Dou is looking for Miss Hong Ju from your mansion.”

Seeing that he believed it, Lu Shi Qing twitched the corner of his mouth at him with a smirk, signaling that it’s okay. But he saw that Hong Ju was confused for a while, and then seemed to understand something, A pair of water-stained hands wiped the top of the coarse cloth, and said honestly: “Master, you are a busy person, so you may not recognize this servant. This servant is not called Huang Ju, but Hong Ju!”

“…”

Did he wink at her for nothing? Did she know that his winks were very precious, except for Yuan Ci Xian, wouldn’t he throw them away easily?

Dou Azhang was also a little confused now, and asked: “Could it be that there are two Miss Hong Ju in your mansion?”

Lu Shi Qing nodded immediately, and said seriously: “Yes, there are two, I misremembered it just now.”

Dou Azhang opened his mouth into the size of a jujube, looking suddenly enlightened, but then heard Hong Ju on the side saying in surprise: “No, Master, you are wrong again, our mansion only has one Hong Ju, this servant!”

“…”

Dou Azhang frowned and tried to confirmed: “The Hong from Honghua , and the Ju from Juhua ?”

Hong Ju nodded affirmatively: “The Hong from Honghua, the Ju from Juhua.”

After she said that, she saw that Lu Shi Qing gritting his teeth with hatred, desperately twitching the corner of his eyes at her, so she said in panic: “Master, what’s wrong with your eyes, do you want this servant to call a doctor for you?”

“…” Call! Call to pry open her brain!

Lu Shi Qing had an expression of hating iron for not becoming steel, and suddenly heard a voice from a distance: “What are you doing at the gate?” When he looked up, he saw Yuan Ci Xian coming towards the gate of the mansion with Shi Cui’s help.

When he saw this, how could he still remember this Hong Ju or that Huang Ju, Dou or no Dou. He hurried forward to meet her and took her from Shi Cui’s hand: “Why do you come out?”

Yuan Ci Xian heard that he had returned, but he was entangled with people in front of the mansion, so she came to see what was going on. Now that she saw Dou Azhang, she understood. She turned her head and told Hong Ju to retreat, and then asked him: “Brother Dou, why are you looking for our Hong Ju?”

Dou Azhang still pondering about Lu Shi Qing’s weirdness just now, when he heard this, he hurriedly bowed to her and explained: “Miss Hong Ju of your mansion had saved Dou’s life on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. Dou has always wanted to thank her face to face, but never had the chance.”

“Brother Dou,” Yuan Ci Xian glanced at him, “a real man dare to think then dare to act, and the way of talking is straightforward. You have sent over a hundred of these sour poems, so just say, you fell in love with our Hong Ju, don’t you?”

His mind was exposed, and Dou Azhang’s face immediately turned red to root of his ears, and he stammered: “La… Lady Lu, this, I…” He struggled for a while then said, “It’s not that I dare to think but not dare to act, it’s just that the rules in the family are strict. I’m afraid that my grandfather will not treat Miss Hong Ju well after knowing the truth…”

After he said it, he quickly waved his hands: “But I definitely don’t mean to belittle Miss Hong Ju, I just need to meet her and ask her how she feels. If she is willing to follow me, I will settle everything, and I will not cause her any grievances, and marry her grandly.”

Lu Shi Qing gritted his back teeth angrily.

He kind of understood Yuan Yu’s feelings when he married his younger sister. What about grandly, can the daughter of his Lu family not be grand? Instead let’s see if he, a down and out scholar, is qualified enough. If he remembered correctly, Dou Azhang failed in the preliminary round of imperial examination this year, ranking at the bottom of the list!

Bottom of the list!

It didn’t matter what the prestige and status the Dou family in Chang’an, he was not someone who care about these things, but how could Dou Azhang be a useless talent!

Sensing his displeasure, Dou Azhang hastily added: “Of course, since Miss Hong Ju is working in your mansion, she must obtain the consent of Assistant Minister Lu for this matter.”

Seeing Lu Shi Qing’s face was so ominous, Yuan Ci Xian tugged at his sleeves, motioned him not to speak, and said, “Brother Dou, Assistant Minister Lu already understands what you mean. But I like Hong Ju very much, and I’m reluctant to marry her casually. If you want to marry her, you have to show sincerity.”

Dou Azhang hurriedly said: “Lady Lu, please say.”

Yuan Ci Xian bent her lips and smiled: “You, first study hard with Assistant Minister Lu, then at next year’s imperial examination, write an essay for us to see. At that time, Miss Hong Ju will give you the answer.”

Yuan Ci Xian said this, not because he must earn fame, but to give him a chance to change Lu Shi Qing’s mind.

Dou Azhang always thought that the key to this matter was to ask Hong Ju’s feelings, and then comfort the elders in the family. But he didn’t expect to encounter obstacles at the Lu family’s side first. Seeing the couple’s attitude, he had no choice but to temporarily suppress his doubts.

In fact, the reason why his name fell to the bottom of the list was because he accidentally ate too much natto the day before the preliminary round of imperial examination, which made a flood broke out for a thousand miles that day. But he couldn’t explain such embarrassing thing to the big shots, and only promised to study hard.

And secretly vowed never to eat natto again.

When Lu Shuang Yu learned that her brother had accepted that inflexible nerd as a student, she felt like she would be thrown out as soon as she reached marriageable age, and was so sad that she couldn’t eat for several days.

It just so happened that Yuan Ci Xian couldn’t eat as well, and followed her sister-in-law to worry.

She was starting to have morning sickness.

Back then, Ge Zheng said that she would have a hard time eating. Since she didn’t see any special symptoms in the next few days, she thought it was the old doctor’s alarmist talk at first, but now she really believed it.

Now her body felt sleepy and weak every day, and for several days in a row, she still felt dizzy and nauseated from time to time, and could hardly eat. Xuan shi thought every way to let her eat more, even asked someone to heat food for her all day long, so she could take a few mouthfuls whenever she could eat.

She knew that it would be impossible not to eat, so she forced herself to swallow.

Lu Shi Qing was so busy during the day, and only able to take care of her when he returned home later. When he was not there, no matter how uncomfortable she was, she just lay on the couch and didn’t show much in front of Xuan shi. But when he returned, she became unrestrained and blamed him for making her pregnant with two at once, causing her to suffer double the pregnancy sickness.

Lu Shi Qing choked, thinking that a few days ago she still said that it was her credit, but now that it suddenly became his fault.

But seeing her dizzy look, how could he be willing to retort back. He thought that the credit was hers, the fault was his, there was nothing wrong with that. He rolled up his sleeves, apologized, personally fed and dressed her, and almost carried her to urinate early in the morning, but naturally beaten out by her soft punch.

After going on and off like this for a month, in early Eight month, Yuan Ci Xian’s morning sickness finally eased a little. Seeing that she was able to eat and sleep again, and she ate more than before, Lu Mansion’s hanging heart gradually settled down.

However, two months later, when early winter arrived, Yuan Ci Xian was worried about other things again.

She found that Lu Shi Qing had fattened her.

Nearly five months pregnant, her lower abdomen was already bulging and swollen, not to mention her waist could no longer be seen, her face was a lot rounder, and her legs and feet were often swollen. Seeing that she became like the famous white elephant in the Pyu Kingdom, but she couldn’t reduce her food, Yuan Ci Xian felt bitter. She didn’t want to stand side by side with the tall and lean Lu Shi Qing, for fear that this mountain would fall and flatten him.

The pair in Yuan Ci Xian’s stomach was also restless. After a while, one day in late Tenth month, she felt a wriggling sensation in her lower abdomen for the first time, like a small fish slipping past. In the next few days, this symptom became more frequent, and she realized belatedly that it was the child who was moving.

After telling Lu Shi Qing about it, the man’s pleasure every night became bending his back and listen next to her stomach.

After more than half a month, he also figured out the time when the child was most naughty and active. One day later, he suspected that Yuan Ci Xian ate less during the day and was starving the two babies. In the cold weather, he deliberately got up in the middle of the night to feed her.

Yuan Ci Xian kept complaining, asking him if he only care for the baby and forgot about the mother.

Of course Lu Shi Qing didn’t mean that. He was thinking about how to comfort her, when he suddenly stared at some part of her increasingly plump body, and asked, “Does it hurt?”

Four months ago, Yuan Ci Xian’s twin peaks were uncomfortably painful, and she couldn’t sleep because of it several times at night. At first, she refused to tell Lu Shi Qing, but after he found out, he made a decisive decision: rub it when it hurts.

In fact, rubbing was useless, it was just that he himself was itchy, and now it was not as uncomfortable as before. She threw him a sharp gaze and rejected him, but after she fell asleep, a annoying pig’s paw still lifted the front of her clothes.

Yuan Ci Xian saw that he really didn’t give up, and after hiding a few times, she decided to forget it and indulged his addiction.

These days, Lu Shi Qing really never broke the precept once. Although the doctor said that after the first three months, it was not impossible to have sex occasionally, but he was afraid that once the precept was broken, then at that time he would not be able to hold back, and would act violently, possibly hurt her and the child, so he kept struggling to hold back all this time.

Yuan Ci Xian was the kind of person who eat soft but not hard. Seeing that although he had strong self-control, but he was indeed endured hardships, so she took the initiative to help him find other ways to relieve himself several times.

During his vegetarian days, he got a few bargains, so he was already satisfied.

Only this time, not long after Lu Shi Qing’s hands was exploring for a while, Yuan Ci Xian’s breathing became heavier.

She was not a wood, and she had a lot of fun with him in midsummer, and later she remembered that taste from time to time, but it was just for the sake of the two in her stomach, that she was also enduring just like him. Right now, she didn’t dare to indulge him anymore, fearing that he would set her on fire too, and would not be able to hold back, so she pushed that head away when he brought his mouth closer.

Lu Shi Qing swallowed, quickly moved away obediently, turned to his back and panted twice, breathing in as if he was trying to restrain himself.

Yuan Ci Xian didn’t even need to touch him to know what he looked like now.

The two of them didn’t speak for a while, until Lu Shi Qing suddenly lifted the quilt unbearably, and quickly said: “You sleep first.” After saying that, he got off the bed, and seemed to be going to the clean room.

Yuan Ci Xian thought that he was probably going to jump into the tub to calm down, so she hurriedly called him: “It’s winter, don’t use cold water.”

Lu Shi Qing paused, then turned around and said: “I won’t take a bath, and if I catch a cold, I will infect you.”

“So what are you…” Halfway through the question, she figured it out on her own, “You want to do it yourself…”

Yuan Ci Xian knew that many men would do this, but she was sure that according to Lu Shi Qing’s arrogant temper, coupled with his clean disposition, he had never done that kind of thing.

She couldn’t even imagine what he would do by himself, It seemed too cruel for him, and just the thought of it made her feel uneasy.

Seeing him turning around to leave, she hesitated for a moment, pulled her face and said, “Come here, I’ll help you.”

Lu Shi Qing shook his head: “You’ll get tired, just sleep, I’ll come back later…”

“There is a way not to get tired, I saw it in the book.” She interrupted him, winked at him, and said, “Come here!”

He stood there for a while, then skeptically walked to the side of the bed, and heard her say: “Pull it down and come here.”

He hesitated to do so, and looked at Yuan Ci Xian who was lying on the edge of the bed in confusion. She was staring at him, frowned and struggled for a long time, then took a deep breath, as if she had finally made up her mind, then brought him to her mouth.

It was only then that Lu Shi Qing understood what she was trying to do, and when he was only a few inches away from her lips, he withdrew suddenly, panting slightly: “…don’t!”