In the Buddha hall, only two candles burned on the altar. The room was filled with smoke, dim and hazy. Through the haze, Lu Yun suddenly appeared before her. Luo Lingyu stared at him through her foggy mind.
She didn’t even react when he touched her cheek. She just kept staring blankly. Lu Yun’s lips curved into a smile as he scooped her into his arms, ready to carry her out.
Luo Lingyu finally snapped alert. “No! I won’t go!” She needed to pray for her second cousin. She wanted the Lu family to see her sincerity. If she left now, all her efforts would be wasted.
Lu Yun smirked, not bothering to argue. As he carried her out, Luo Lingyu struggled weakly but couldn’t break free.
Desperate, she turned her head and saw his long fingers gripping her shoulder. Without hesitation, she bit down on his wrist.
“Ouch!” Lu Yun jerked in pain.
His grip loosened reflexively. Luo Lingyu tumbled from his arms onto the ground. She knelt there covered in cold sweat, coughing as her long hair fell into her mouth.
Lu Yun crouched down and gripped her flushed face. His grip was so tight her cheek went numb. He stared at her like a demon, sneering: “You dare bite me?”
Luo Lingyu froze at his expression. She tried to push away his hand but couldn’t. She wanted to cry. This demon! Who asked him to save her anyway?
“You wouldn’t listen to me otherwise…” she trembled.
Lu Yun smiled. “Try biting me again?”
Lu Yun had everything – good background, manner, looks. He was probably talented too. Though Luo Lingyu hadn’t seen proof of his talents yet, the way the young ladies flocked to him and how the city called him “Jade Prince” meant they couldn’t all be blind.
Someone of his status, admired by all the ladies in the city… probably had never been bitten before.
“I won’t dare,” Luo Lingyu swallowed her anger.
She struggled to think clearly, looking up at him with pitiful eyes. Lu Yun raised an eyebrow, internally scoffing. But then he really looked at his cousin.
Her face was like the moon, eyes like stars, lips painted red. Her long hair was messy, spring clothes wrinkled. Looking up at him, her beauty was otherworldly, eyes shimmering like spring water.
Though feverish and flushed, she didn’t look unwell. Instead she had a sort of disheveled beauty, like a flower waiting to be plucked…
Lu Yun’s face went blank. Was she trying to seduce him again?
“Cousin, I’m really not interested in women,” he said coldly.
Luo Lingyu felt awkward. “…”
“Third cousin, I know you care about me,” she took a deep breath, tears gathering. She saw Lu Yun’s contempt but ignored it.
“But I really can’t leave. Maybe my sister asked you to help me, but she’s young and doesn’t understand. Right now I can only pray here for Second Young Master. Only if he wakes up do I have any hope.”
“If Second cousin doesn’t wake up, even dying to apologize wouldn’t be enough. I’ve already knelt for a day and night. I can’t give up at the end.”
“If the Old Madam and Madam Lu see me like this day and night, maybe their resentment will lessen. Third cousin, I…”
Lu Yun reached out.
He pulled her back into his arms. Her head hit his chest again, making her already fuzzy mind even more confused. Lu Yun stood up holding her. Luo Lingyu was extremely anxious – what kind of person was he? Had she poured her heart out for nothing?
“Third cousin, please listen…” she croaked.
Lu Yun started walking.
Poor Luo Lingyu was too afraid to shout in case the servants outside heard. Lu Yun completely ignored her pleas. She got really angry. She’d never met someone so annoying!
She stopped calling him “cousin” and used his name directly: “Lu Yun! Lu Yun, Lu Yun…”
The Third Young Master’s lips curved in a half-smile: “Calling spirits?”
“When you like someone it’s ‘Third Cousin’, when you don’t it’s ‘Lu Yun’. How shallow you are, little sister Luo.”
Luo Lingyu’s face burned in his arms. First, she’d never been carried by a man like this before and couldn’t break free. Second, Lu Yun actually called her “little sister Luo” – wasn’t that what he called Huan’er? Third, she felt like Lu Yun was teasing her again…
As Lu Yun stepped out of the Buddha hall, his tone changed to cold indifference: “Stop yelling. I’m just taking you to rest a while. Someone will pretend to be your shadow as a stand-in. I’ll send you back at dawn. Then you can kneel until the end of time if you want.”
Luo Lingyu froze at his words. She peeked over and indeed saw a maid with her head lowered entering the Buddha hall just as Lu Yun carried her out.
The maid was similar in height and wore the same clothes and hairstyle. From behind, she did look somewhat like her. Moonlight shone down as insects chirped in the courtyard.
Luo Lingyu’s fingers curled into Lu Yun’s embroidered clothes as cold sweat broke out again.
Third Young Master Lu was being way too bold!
This was Second Young Master’s courtyard. Taking advantage of the late hour when the elders had left and servants were gathered in the Second Young Master’s quarters, he’d simply arranged to clear people away so he could take her.
Luo Lingyu’s hair stood on end. Being carried in a young man’s arms, there was nothing she could do now but bury her face in his chest, praying no one would see her face.
Luo Lingyu trembled and pressed herself closer to him, trying to meld her slim waist, full chest and slender neck into his body. Lu Yun paused. A tingling sensation spread from his chest through his whole body, making him slightly dizzy.
He rarely got this close to women. He stopped walking, lost in thought.
Luo Lingyu was nearly scared out of her mind by his casual attitude while essentially kidnapping her. She stammered: “Third cousin… why did you stop? If we’re not going, please take me back?”
Lu Yun snapped back to attention and started walking again.
By the time they reached “Clear Courtyard”, Luo Lingyu was exhausted from her fever and anxiety over Lu Yun. Whether through his arrangements or luck, they hadn’t run into anyone on the way.
Inside the room, Lu Yun set her down on the couch. Luo Lingyu’s legs were weak and she was drenched in cold sweat.
Lu Yun raised an eyebrow – she who was being carried was sweating more than him who did the carrying.
The maids in the room had been waiting. As soon as the lady arrived, Jin Yue came forward with a thin cloak to cover Luo Lingyu: “Don’t worry miss. First wash up, then our master will check your pulse and give you medicine. You’ve had it rough, miss.”
Luo Lingyu was shocked: “Your master… will check my pulse?”
She looked up and met Lu Yun’s downward gaze. Lu Yun said: “Would you rather have a doctor come? The fewer people who know about this, the better.”
Luo Lingyu pulled the cloak tighter around her shoulders. She tried to flatter Lu Yun: “I was just surprised Third Cousin knows medicine. You’re so talented… Actually I read medical books too, so Third Cousin and I share this interest.”
Lu Yun showed interest: “What kind of medical books do you read?”
Luo Lingyu stammered. She cursed herself for speaking nonsense while feverish. After a long pause with no answer, Lu Yun’s eyes showed contempt again, seeming to decide she was lying again…
Provoked by his look, Luo Lingyu got angry. He’d seen her true nature, but she still wanted to prove something to him. She blurted out: “I read books about beauty and skincare. I really read them daily, I even brought many beauty books when I came to the Lu family. If you don’t believe me, you can go see yourself. I’m not lying.”
Lu Yun: “…”
His look changed from contempt to something else: Beauty? Skincare? With Luo Lingyu’s looks, did she really need that…?
Luo Lingyu really was shallow to the extreme.
After Jin Yue took her to wash up, Lu Yun changed his clothes then came back to prescribe medicine for her and had it brewed. Luo Lingyu didn’t ask about Luo Yunhuan.
She lay on the couch with her eyes closed, obediently accepting the Third Young Master’s care without causing more trouble. Now that she was being taken care of, Luo Lingyu finally had time to think:
How should I resolve this crisis?
Indeed, from start to finish, she never thought of asking Lu Yun for help. Luo Lingyu was selfish and believed everyone was the same. Though Third Young Master Lu helped her due to her beauty, she still believed she could only trust herself.
Watching the lady determinedly stay awake despite her high fever as she repeatedly wiped her sweat with a wet cloth, Jin Yue looked at her with increasing curiosity.
Luo Lingyu probably didn’t know this was the first time Lu Yun had brought a woman to his chambers.
Jin Yue thought: It seems my good impression of Miss Luo wasn’t wrong. This young lady has unlimited potential.
Meanwhile, trapped in nightmares, Second Young Master Lu Xian wasn’t as fortunate as his third brother.
It was just falling in water, but he was lost in terrible dreams, unable to wake. In his dreams, he watched in horror as the timeline of dreams and reality connected.
He saw that after he recovered, the family elders were furious. Despite cousin Luo Lingyu’s tears, they forcibly put her on a boat to send her back to Nanyang.
The Luoyang Lu family’s main line was gone, and the remaining Nanyang Lu family had fallen from grace. Who would want to stay with relatives unless absolutely necessary?
The dream timeline moved hazily forward… Lu Xian felt guilty about his cousin but couldn’t stop his family. He continued his idle court position, spending his days reading and writing.
His life’s ambition was to have a few close friends, a beautiful wife by his side, traveling and enjoying life like the famous scholars of the South.
Then suddenly the dream timeline accelerated. In Jianye’s warm waters, Luo Lingyu returned to the city!
She became Empress!
In the dream, the Lu family was shocked, not knowing how to interact with their cousin who had become Empress. There was a rift between the young lady and the Lu family, slightly shaking their position…
Then the scene changed to the border.
Lost in dreams, Lu Xian watched helplessly as countless arrows flew. Under the heavy gray sky, his third brother Lu Yun’s white robes flew like a crane as he stood on the battlefield walls, covered in blood and sweat, countless arrows piercing his chest…
Lu Xian screamed and rushed forward: “Third brother, Third brother…!”
Author’s Note: Second Young Master Lu’s situation isn’t quite reincarnation, this setup is quite interesting~ pretty impactful~
I was really silly haha, when I first wrote this part I was confused why everyone said Little Sister Luo married better in her past life, when clearly this life has the best choice. Today I finally remembered – oh right, I researched how powerful noble families were historically but readers don’t know that…
So let me explain, the historical period I’m referencing is before the Tang dynasty, when noble families were extremely powerful and didn’t really care about the imperial family, they could break engagements as they pleased. It was like “emperors take turns, next year it’ll be my family’s turn” kind of feeling.
You can see in my story too, Prince Chen often comes personally to find Third Young Master Lu to play, because the Lu family’s noble status has even deeper roots than the imperial family.
Little Sister Luo’s past life wasn’t tragic, but this life with Third Young Master Lu is definitely the best choice. Keep reading, I think I made the setup of fate quite interesting O(?_?)O
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