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The Lu Mansion in Yongxingfang welcomed a distinguished guest today.
Early in the morning, the Sixth Prince Zheng Zhuo came to visit, saying that he was there to see Minister Lu who had fallen into the water in Furong Garden yesterday and was bedridden due to shock.
Lu Shiqing was in the room, leaning on the couch with his clothes on, reading a scroll of chess manual. When he saw him, he was annoyed: "What are you doing here?"
Zheng Zhuo laughed uncontrollably, "Didn't you come to see us because our Minister Lu didn't go to court? I see you look good, I'm afraid you're hiding because you feel embarrassed about what happened yesterday!" Seeing that he was about to get up, he quickly gestured to stop him, "There's no need to be polite between you and me, just sit down. I still have to apologize to you for this matter."
Lu Shiqing didn't bother to be polite and glanced at him lightly: "Next time you run into something related to the Lancang County Lady, don't drag me along."
Yesterday morning, he came out of Xuanzheng Hall and was about to go back home, but Zheng Zhuo dragged him to Furong Garden, where he ran into bad luck.
Zheng Zhuo clenched his fist and coughed: "I'm afraid that's not possible. I really came here today just for this girl."
"Why, didn't you two reach an agreement yesterday?"
"This girl is very smart and she is not someone who can be fooled easily."
He sneered: "I'm afraid your appearance is not worthy of others' attention."
"You can do it, will you go?"
In return, Lu Shiqing glared at him.
Zheng Zhuo stopped joking and asked, "Look, did Yuan Shichen tell her the whole story? Otherwise, why would she start by asking me if I really wanted to marry her?"
"Shichen" is Yuan Yu's pen name.
Lu Shiqing shook his head: "Not like that." He was silent for a while, then pulled the corner of his mouth, "When she came to Beijing this time, she was accompanied by the King of Southern Yunnan's confidants, but they were sent back halfway. Do you know why?"
Zheng Zhuo thought about it and roughly understood what he meant.
"She did this because she knew that once the King of Diannan's confidants entered the imperial city, it would give the court officials something to talk about, and they would report it to the Saint. From this, it can be seen that this woman is not a simple-minded person. She entered the capital at the critical moment when you won the support of Yuan Shichen. She must have some plan."
Zheng Zhuo nodded frequently at first, but couldn't help laughing when he heard the last sentence: "What can a little girl plot?" He frowned again after asking, "Or, is it the intention of the King of Southern Yunnan?"
Lu Shiqing shook his head, indicating that it was difficult to say for the time being.
"No matter what, we have to listen to the Yuan family's opinion. I have an appointment with her in three days. When the time comes, you can be my lobbyist again like you did last time."
Lu Shiqing did not respond for a moment, but raised his eyes and said, "The saint ordered you to marry, which is a plan to kill two birds with one stone. If you want to take advantage of the situation, I will not stop you, but you must know that this road is very dangerous, both for you and the Yuan family."
He smiled indifferently: "What are you afraid of? Aren't you in control of everything?"
Lu Shiqing glanced at him, but didn't say anything else and agreed.
…
The next morning, the Lu family received a pile of rich gifts: a pair of jade rings of excellent quality, a pair of exquisite sachets, a pair of skillfully woven love knots... It seemed like a young lady from some family had brought all the tokens of love at once, and for some reason, they came in pairs.
Old Madam Lu Xuan and Young Miss Lu Shuangyu looked at the pile of tokens and fell into deep thought.
Xuan narrowed her eyes and examined them quietly.
She only had one son, so it was obvious who these things were for. But the Lu family, whose hands were tired from receiving gifts, had not seen such a scene for more than a year.
The reason was that in early spring of last year, her good son ruthlessly rejected the love of the princess of the dynasty, which caused a sensation in the city. Since then, all the young ladies in Chang'an have the desire to do something bad but not the courage to do it, fearing that if they get married with her son, they will cause displeasure to the noble lady and lose their lives.
She looked at him for a long while, and the more she thought about it, the more surprised she became. She asked the servant, "Which young lady is so courageous?"
The servant replied: "To answer the old lady, these were sent by the Yuan family..."
"Ah?" Lu Shuangyu opened her mouth as big as a date.
"The Yuan family said that once before, the Lancang County Lord's family dog bit a pair of jade rings that belonged to you, so they came to apologize."
Lu Shuangyu had been depressed for a long time and had no appetite. She finally recovered. Hearing this, sad memories came back to her mind. She bit her lip and said, "She wanted to apologize to my brother, so she should send a pair of jade rings. What's the matter with this sachet and the heart-to-heart settlement?" Then she pulled Xuan's sleeve and said, "Mother, this Lancang County Lady must have taken a fancy to my brother!"
Isn't it obvious that this is such a simple and crude thing
Xuan glanced at her and said, "Of course. If they don't like your brother, how can they like you?"
Lu Shuangyu pouted: "Mother!" Is she her biological daughter
Xuan Shi didn't have time to deal with her at the moment. She thought for a moment and asked the maid, "You told me earlier that when Zishu came back from Furong Garden, he had a square brocade handkerchief on his body, and it looked like a woman's. Where is that brocade handkerchief now?"
"Madam, my husband was thrown away on the spot."
Xuan frowned and asked, "What words are embroidered on that handkerchief?"
"I don't know about this. But I heard that the ladies in Hibiscus Garden that day were Madam Yuan, who is now a married woman, and the Princess of Lancang County."
Xuan's brows relaxed, thinking, "Great, great!" She tilted her head and whispered, "Go check whether this handkerchief was indeed made by Miss Yuan."
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a man's voice: "No need to check, it's hers." It was Lu Shiqing who came to the main hall after hearing the noise of the person who gave the gift.
He frowned deeply and said as soon as he entered the room, "Mother, you want to arrange a love match for no reason?"
Xuan looked at him and said, "What do you mean by without reason? Look at these things. They were all sent by Miss Yuan. If that's not what you think, could you please tell me a clear and innocent reason?"
Lu Shiqing paused, looking down at the box on the table. It was made of chicken wing wood, of good quality, with complete patterns and no patchwork. The lotus petals were symmetrical, and it was not uncomfortable to look at.
But when he saw the items inside, he frowned even more: "Hurry up, take it down and test it for poison."
Xuan was surprised.
He stepped forward to explain, "Mother, something must be wrong when things are out of the ordinary. General Yuan and I have never gotten along, and he may have used the name of the Princess of Lancang County to tease me. I have something important to do, so I won't accompany you for now." After saying goodbye, he added to the maid, "Wait, don't check it, just throw it away."
Xuan couldn't stop him, so she had to let him go, feeling it was a pity.
Lu Shiqing hurried back to his room, paced back and forth a few times, and finally took out a silver mask from the cabinet. He then picked up a jade pen pillow on the table and inserted it into the groove in the wall. He waited for the secret door to slowly move open, then bent down and went down the secret passage.
…
Inside the Yuan Mansion, Yuan Cixian received a report from the servant that the gifts had been delivered, so she rewarded them. After that, she sat in front of the dressing mirror with her chin in her hands, not knowing what she was thinking about.
Shicui and Jianzhi were both afraid of her sinister expression. One of them said, "Young lady, if you want to do something else, you might as well tell the maids as soon as possible. The work you have done is not fine enough after all."
She tilted her head and saw that the two had large dark circles around their eyes. She smiled and said, "The scent sachet and the knot are well made this time. There is no need for anything else for now. You two should have a good rest. You don't need to serve me at night."
Shi Cui nodded: "But will this method work? I heard from others that Minister Lu is not interested in women at all, maybe he is interested in men's sexuality!"
"Where did the rumor come from? I haven't heard of it."
Jianzhi continued, "Rumors are mostly exaggerated, but there is no smoke without fire. Look at Minister Lu, he is twenty-two years old, his wife is vacant, and he has no concubines. Over the years, many young ladies in Chang'an have rushed to marry him, but none of them succeeded. I went out to investigate for you yesterday, and I heard a terrible story."
Yuan Cixian became interested: "Tell me about it."
"Young lady, do you know Princess Shaohe? She is the only daughter of the current empress, and is famous for her beauty. Unfortunately, she married into a marquis's mansion at the age of sixteen, and became a widow a few days later. When she was nineteen, which was last year, Princess Shaohe fell in love with Minister Lu and intended to marry again. Guess how Minister Lu rejected her?"
She tilted her head and thought for a moment: "I heard that he lost his father at the age of nineteen, so he must be using mourning as an excuse."
Jianzhi shook his head: "If that's the case, it's still a mercy. Little lady, you don't know that Princess Shaohe has a beauty mole under her left eye, but not under her right eye. Minister Lu said that he felt uncomfortable all over after seeing it, and couldn't look at it for more than a second. It's really impossible for me to spend the rest of my life with you."
Later, rumors gradually spread in the capital that Lu Shiqing was not interested in women. After all, he didn't even love the fairy-like Princess Shao He, so he probably wouldn't look down on any woman in his life.
Yuan Cixian didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Shi Cui's face was filled with sorrow: "Minister Lu doesn't even take such a noble person seriously. Do you really want to face the challenge head on?"
As soon as she finished speaking, there was a knock on the door. The servant came and said that the master wanted the young lady to go to the study.
Yuan Cixian remembered the agreement with Zheng Zhuo and thought that the gentleman had arrived, so he hurried over and said to Yuan Yu, "I will hide behind the screen. Brother, remember to do as we agreed last night."
Yuan Yu heard the footsteps approaching outside, nodded to tell her not to worry, and pushed her inside to hide.
The person who came was Lu Shiqing.
Yuan Yu felt guilty. Seeing that he seemed to be looking over the screen after he sat down, he quickly drew his attention back and said, "Sir, thank you for running around twice for my sister. Thank you for your help."
Lu Shiqing thought to himself that it was more than two times, it was already four times, and his voice was very well disguised: "General, you are polite."
Seeing that he did not try to turn his head again, Yuan Yu breathed a sigh of relief: "Your Highness's intention, in fact, I already know it very well, there is no need for you to repeat it. But you and I have met several times, but I still don't know your name, and I have always called you 'Sir'..."
He only said half of the sentence, expecting the other party to understand.
Previously, he had never questioned this person out of courtesy and because he knew that the identities of such staff members were always secretive. This question today was Yuan Cixian's explanation.
Lu Shiqing replied in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "My surname is Xu, my given name is Shan, you can call me whatever you want."
Yuan Yu was stunned when he heard the name, and asked in surprise: "Are you... Are you Xu Congxian, the layman from Xunyang, Mr. Xu?"
"I am fortunate that the general has heard of your kindness and I am unworthy of your kindness."
Yuan Cihan behind the screen was also surprised.
She had heard of Xu Shan's name even though she was in Yaozhou. She heard that he was good at chess. More than a decade ago, he defeated Mr. Xu, a national champion at that time, in Xunyang, Jiangzhou, and became famous. Since then, he has been low-key, rarely showing his face, and devoting himself to mountains and rivers, and has been secluded for many years, so he is called "Xunyang Hermit" by the world.
Although she asked her brother to inquire about the identity of this person, she did not hold much hope for him to be honest at first. But it was obvious that if the other party wanted to forge the account, he should have chosen an unknown person, not a character like Xunyang Jushi. After all, if you want to distinguish the true from the false, it is likely that a game of chess will be enough.
It seems that this time, Zheng Zhuo came with sincerity.
But then again, how was an innocent hermit like Xu Shan invited to come out of seclusion
Yuan Yu's heart trembled for a long time before he calmed down. His original momentum weakened a lot: "Mr. Xu took the time to come here, Yuan will answer you directly."
He cleared his throat and recited the speech he had memorized beforehand: "Looking at the current Great Zhou, the position of crown prince has been vacant for a long time, but the sage has not made any plans to appoint a new one because of the previous experience of the crown prince. He has only been studying the art of weighing and weighing, and has been suspicious and fickle, which has exacerbated the turmoil in the court and the country, resulting in the emergence of many factions and people's hearts are divided."
"Under such circumstances, Your Highness wants to realize his ambitions in private, and in public, Your Highness wants to criticize the current situation. As for Yuan, it would be good to keep himself out of trouble, but seeing what the Saint has done to guard against the Yuan family over the years, I feel that this is impossible. In order to prevent the Yuan family from becoming the object of the emperor's suspicion and a pawn of checks and balances, Yuan should choose a wise master as soon as possible. This is the original intention of Yuan's cooperation with Your Highness."
Lu Shiqing listened quietly, but his eyes were fixed on the flower and bird screen in the room.
Yuan Yu continued to recite: "If my sister marries His Highness, it will be a reassurance from His Highness to the Yuan family, and it will also be a reassurance from the Yuan family to His Highness, which is undoubtedly the icing on the cake. But Yuan thinks that since the above intentions have been made, which makes His Highness and I have a good match, what's the harm in not adding this flower?"
This reply is flawless and really impressive.
As soon as Lu Shiqing heard this, he knew that he had come prepared. He was afraid that persuading him any further would be counterproductive, so he said, "Xu has understood the general's intention and will convey it to Your Highness intact."
Yuan Yu recited all the words Yuan Cixian had told him. He was so nervous that he was sweating all over. He almost forgot that there was one more thing. He quickly added: "It would be great if you could understand. It's not that I don't want to facilitate this marriage. It's just that my sister already has someone she likes. You may know this person..."
Lu Shiqing blinked twice and pretended to listen attentively.
Yuan Yu frowned, slapped his thigh angrily, gritted his teeth, and said reluctantly: "It's Minister Lu of our dynasty!"
The expression behind Lu Shiqing's mask suddenly became very interesting.
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