A scoundrel is always a scoundrel!
Leaning against the door wall, the sounds of birds, insects, and maids talking drifted in and out. Moonlight flowed like water across the ground. Lu Yun’s gaze lowered, staring at her chest hidden by the large cloak. His silver crown held his hair, but a strand had fallen loose, touching his brow. His lips curved in a faint smile. Even though he couldn’t actually see anything, Luo Lingyu still raised her arm to slap him—
The raised hand was caught by the alert young lord. His nails still scratched at her delicate skin.
Lu Yun pressed her hand and raised an eyebrow: “Want to slap me again?”
Luo Lingyu: “…You tease me like this, why shouldn’t I slap you?”
Lu Yun replied politely: “Then should I shout out who was dancing earlier?”
Luo Lingyu bit her lip in anger. Her hand was pinned against the wall, unable to move. She could only glare at him with fiery eyes, questioning him — Lu Xue Chen, reflect on your behavior!
You’re supposed to be the Plum Seeking Recluse, how can you be so unrestrained in private? Outside you act noble and proud, barely acknowledging when ladies speak to you. Who knew you enjoyed teasing people so much in private! Even if my words and actions don’t always match, what business is it of yours? Maybe I upset you that first time on the boat when I made you jump in the water, but I already saved you at Mount Zhong. Can’t you just leave me alone?
Luo Lingyu’s eyes were misty, flowing like lake water, like scattered stars in the dark.
Lu Yun lowered his eyelids, staring at her eyes, seriously checking if her tears were real or fake. He paused, loosening his grip on her hand slightly. His breath floated near her nose as his eyes lowered, long lashes casting shadows: “Switching to tears now? That won’t work on me either.”
Luo Lingyu quickly held back her tears that were about to fall — she’d almost forgotten this man was cold-blooded and heartless, unmoved even by a beauty’s tears.
Luo Lingyu tilted her head back and spat at him. Lu Yun frowned and turned away as she said sweetly: “My business has nothing to do with you anyway. Even if you spread rumors… but you’re not the type to spread rumors, are you? Let me go, or I’ll call you a ‘lecher’ and let everyone see Lu Yun’s true face. If I can’t be happy, neither will you.”
Luo Lingyu’s lips curved up in a provocative, confident smirk. She knew Lu Yun wouldn’t go around telling people his cousin was not a good person. If Lu Yun was the type to spread rumors, how was it that only he truly knew her real face until now? Others might just think she wasn’t that kind, but Lu Yun knew she probably couldn’t even match an ordinary person’s moral standards.
She didn’t do evil things, but she admitted her moral standards were extremely low.
Lu Yun murmured: “It seems little sister Yu’er is determined to go all the way… Do you plan to pretend your whole life, as long as you marry a suitable husband?”
Luo Lingyu: “As long as I can marry a suitable husband, don’t worry about me, I can pretend my whole life…”
Seeing Lu Yun lower his eyes with an unreadable expression, he was silent for a long while, his grip on her arm loosening again. Not knowing what he was thinking, Luo Lingyu was anxious to change clothes and go out to meet guests. Seeing him still pressing against her without moving or speaking, she kicked him lightly with her toe.
Lu Yun’s eyelashes trembled as he came back to himself.
Luo Lingyu lowered her voice: “Let me go, don’t worry about me… Lu Third Master is so busy, it’s not good to suddenly come talk to me about this, right?”
Lu Yun was startled: “You still don’t know?”
When he and several scholars had passed by her screen earlier, would ordinary people pass by so easily? Only the five scholars who needed to watch every competition would pass by right after she finished… Lu Yun had thought she must have guessed, but surprisingly she hadn’t suspected anything.
Luo Lingyu: “Know what?”
Lu Yun smiled, his breath brushing her nose, the smile intimate and gentle: “Actually, there’s something I think you should know, otherwise you’ll regret it. Just ask me…”
“I don’t want to know! I won’t regret it! And I definitely won’t ask you!” Luo Lingyu cut him off decisively.
Her reaction was so quick that even Lu Yun was startled. After Lu Yun was stunned several times, this time when Luo Lingyu struggled slightly, she broke free from his grip on her wrist.
Luo Lingyu fled from in front of him, and as she fled, she couldn’t help but get angry seeing his handsome, romantic face—
Luo Lingyu raised her knee and, while Lu Yun was still dazed by her actions, drove it hard upward. For a beauty like her who couldn’t be protected by ordinary families, when she came to Jianye from Nanyang, the Luo family elders had found a female instructor to teach her some self-defense moves. She knew that kneeing a man upward was a very deadly strike…
The female instructor had been vague and didn’t explain the reasoning, but Lu Yun was truly fortunate to be the first young lord that a Luo family lady treated this way.
Lu Yun’s body reacted quickly. When she kicked upward, he instinctively shifted to the side, avoiding the most lethal impact. But even at an angle, he was still grazed by Luo Lingyu who didn’t know her own strength. Lu Yun let out a muffled groan, hunching over and dropping to his knees, one hand bracing against the ground as sweat beaded on his forehead.
He said hoarsely: “Luo Lingyu! Come back here…”
His face was an unprecedented shade of iron gray: In all his life, Lu Yun had never been treated this way by a lady. This little girl, did she know…
Luo Lingyu had run three zhang away. She looked back uncertainly, seeing that he had really fallen. Luo Lingyu was startled, seeing sweat suddenly appear on Lu Yun’s forehead. He remained hunched over, unable to stand up, just like when she had kicked his knee before. But even then he hadn’t been this… Lu Yun called hoarsely for her to come back, but Luo Lingyu naturally refused.
In her panic, Luo Lingyu didn’t even have time to change clothes. She stayed by the door: “Don’t- don’t call me, you bullied me first… I’ll go find a doctor for you right now!”
“Don’t- don’t you dare die!”
Hearing she was going to find someone, Lu Yun’s voice became urgent as he struggled to stand: “Don’t—”
“Bang—”
The door had already opened, and the young lady rushed out in a panic.
Leaving Lu Yun alone collapsed miserably on the ground, enduring the intense pain in a certain area. For a moment, he harbored deep hatred for Luo Lingyu – if she had injured him there, she could forget about marrying any suitable husband in her life. He would bind her tightly to him, never letting her escape… The door opened and several young lords came over to help him, asking: “Lu Yun, what happened? Lady Luo said you were ill, she was crying so hard she could barely speak.”
Lu Yun: “…”
He maintained a calm face, standing up steadily. Brushing off the dust from his clothes, Lu Yun said casually: “It’s nothing, I was just joking with her.”
Several young lords looked at him suspiciously. They couldn’t read anything from his face, so they could only nod and change the topic: “Lady Luo is Lu Yun’s cousin, right? She’s truly a beauty. That dance earlier was stunning – even Qiniang’s future price at Chengyu House will probably skyrocket. And she’s so kind too – when she saw you were unwell, she frantically looked for help. When we met her, Lady Luo was crying so hard she could barely breathe.”
Lu Yun forced a smile through the pain, inwardly mocking: Crying so hard she could barely breathe? More like scared so badly she could barely breathe.
Luo Lingyu returned to the group of ladies with a heavy heart, hearing praise everywhere for the earlier “Racing to the Moon” dance. The men were all asking about the dancer’s background. Qiniang received countless flowers but was too anxious to accept them.
On Luo Lingyu’s side, lords and ladies also came to talk to her, wanting to know who she was.
Everyone surrounded Qiniang and Luo Lingyu, instinctively feeling that since Lady Luo was so talented, if she choreographed the dance and wrote the music, she must have also arranged the grand and magnificent bronze bells.
Zhou Yangling tiredly withdrew from the scene.
The restored ancient bronze bells were precious, and she didn’t trust others with such physical work, so she had done it all herself. After finishing, Zhou Yangling fought through her discomfort, barely managing to have servants leave a message for Luo Lingyu saying the bells would be kept at her place first.She walked away unsteadily supported by servants.
Just then, Prince Chen and others came over wanting to see the bronze bells. In the mixed crowd with everyone gathering toward the center, Zhou Yangling kept her head down and bumped into someone again.
Stumbling backward, she only vaguely saw a figure flash before her eyes. She murmured: “You again…”
The servants supporting her exclaimed: “Young Lord!”
They watched in shock as the young lord fell to the ground unconscious.
The servants were stunned: “…” Was this young lord made of ice, shattering at a touch?
Prince Chen fell silent, also not expecting this. He crouched down and said quietly: “Where does he live? I’ll take him back.”
When Zhou Yangling came to Jianye, she had made quite a stir. But after arriving, she had let her servants follow several poor scholars sent by her father to seek Prince Chen’s patronage, while she went off alone. The current servants were not Zhou Yangling’s original ones and had little loyalty. When a noble offered to take the young lord home, they quickly gave the address. Watching that noble lord easily lift the young lord, seemingly finding the weight surprisingly light, Prince Chen lowered his head in surprise to look at the pale, closed-eyed, beautiful young lord in his arms.
Liu Su didn’t say much more, just had the servants lead the way as he turned and strode away.
Meanwhile, Luo Lingyu was still worried. What should have been an extremely happy occasion now had two problems: first, she hadn’t changed out of the clothes under her cloak and feared someone might notice something was wrong; second, she was terribly worried about how Lu Yun was doing.
Luo Lingyu ordered her maid to inquire about Lu Yun, just as Lady Chen Xiu passed by with utmost dignity. Hearing this, Chen Xiu, who knew this woman was fake and kind, said coldly: “You’re putting on an act even for this? If you want to know how Lu Yun is doing, why don’t you go see for yourself? Though he still has to judge the next competition – even if you’re his cousin asking him to go easy on you, you shouldn’t bother him at this time, right?”
Luo Lingyu: “…”
She caught the key point.
A wave of dizziness hit her, crashing into her and leaving her bewildered with darkening vision, as terrible guesses emerged. Why did Lu Yun need to judge the next competition? Her quick teasing of him, his several attempts to tell her “I have something to tell you” which she never listened to… Now- now! Luo Lingyu could barely breathe: “W-w-why does he need to judge the next competition?”
Chen Xiu glanced at her – did she really not know?
It seemed the relationship between these cousins… was nothing special after all.
The displeasure in her heart retreated somewhat. Chen Xiu stared at Luo Lingyu: “Naturally because Lu Yun is one of the five scholars judging this year’s ‘Flower Goddess Selection.’ These past days so many people have worn down the path to the Lu family gate trying to speak with Lu Yun; so many ladies gather around Lu Yun… You didn’t think it was just because of his charm, did you?”
Luo Lingyu collapsed into a seat, face deathly pale. The shock was too great – her palms tingled as she felt weak and wronged beyond measure. Was she wrong to simply think someone had great charm? How could Chen Xiu, who didn’t value beauty, understand beauty’s attraction to the opposite sex? Luo Lingyu herself had great charm, with lords gathering around her wherever she went. Of course she thought Lu Yun was the same.
Heavens, while other ladies were busy trying to curry favor with Lu Yun, Lu Yun had sought her out on his own, yet she had been busy pushing him away. Not only did she push Lu Yun away, she had kicked him. At that time he seemed unable to stand up…
She had been so principled in saying she didn’t want him involved with her – no, that wasn’t her true feeling, she did want him involved! If he didn’t manage her situation, what would happen to her “Flower Goddess” title?
Lu Yun, Lu Yun… Third Cousin… her Plum Seeking Recluse, Brother Xue Chen… all seemed to have flown away like clouds in the sky. And even if she begged him now, he would surely despise her character…
Chen Xiu observed the spectacular changes in Luo Lingyu’s expression.
Watching this lady suddenly stand and quickly walk out, grabbing people to ask where the next competition was and where Lu Yun was.
While Chen Xiu looked down on her, Luo Lingyu searched the whole venue frantically, sweating profusely trying to salvage her mistake. As she rushed away anxiously, she bumped into Lu Xian who was arriving.
Lu Xian was formally and happily leading Prince Hengyang behind him to introduce to Luo Lingyu: “Cousin, Prince Heng…”
Luo Lingyu said urgently: “Second Cousin, I have something to find Third Cousin about, I have to go!”
Though carrying herself with a noble lady’s bearing, her steps were hurried. The lady came running lightly and left running lightly. As she brushed past them, Lu Xian turned back but couldn’t catch even a sleeve – his Luo cousin had already vanished into the crowd. In the flickering lantern light with heads crowded together, no one could see clearly where the path forward lay.
Beside him, Prince Hengyang Liu Mu kept his face dark, holding back anger before exploding: “…This is the cousin you said greatly admired me?!”
Lu Xian laughed dryly: “There must be some misunderstanding…”
Lu Xian wailed inwardly: Cousin, Luo Cousin, what are you doing? That scoundrel Third Brother – of all times to look for him, why now! Your Elder Brother finally got Prince Hengyang to come talk to you, and you left without even looking at him. You… As the future empress, shouldn’t building a connection with your future husband be instinctive?
And Third Brother too, causing trouble everywhere! And that Prince Chen… I’ve told Third Brother so many times, why hasn’t he cut ties with Prince Chen yet? Even without knowing the future’s path, Prince Hengyang is His Majesty’s most beloved royal brother. With just one imperial edict, his prospects are surely more reliable than Prince Chen’s, right?
…
The remaining two days of the “Flower Goddess Selection” passed peacefully. Luo Lingyu watched every competition carefully, aiming to get close to Lu Yun and apologize. But in these two days, Lu Yun completely avoided her. Sometimes when their eyes met, just as Luo Lingyu would show a pleasing smile, his face would darken and he would turn away. When she pushed through the crowd to chase after him, Lu Yun would stride away swiftly, vanishing without a trace.
The only good news was that she probably hadn’t kicked him too hard, as he walked normally.
Luo Lingyu was utterly dejected, her mood extremely anxious. She could only return to the manor dejectedly with Lu Xian after the Flower God Selection ended.
In the following days, lords and ladies rushed to select their top three choices and went everywhere seeking connections to visit the five scholars. Even if they couldn’t become “Flower Goddess,” having scholarly discussions with the scholars was still an elegant affair.
The other scholars were all old men, so Lu Yun naturally had the highest popularity.
But unfortunately, Lu Yun had just received an official position and attended court daily for work, hardly ever coming to the Lu manor.
The newly arrived ladies could no longer try various ways to encounter Lu Yun by chance like the cousin ladies who had lived at the Lu manor before.
As the Lu family host, Luo Lingyu entertained the ladies while inquiring about the current standings in the Flower God Selection. There were many opinions—
“Lady Chen and Princess Pingning are fighting neck and neck. But you’re not bad either, Lady Luo. Your dance choreography was so interesting – these past days at Chengyu House everyone wants to request Qiniang to dance. Her bookings can’t even be secured.”
“Don’t worry, Lady Luo. We can’t see Lu Yun, but don’t you live at the Lu manor? Lu Yun works during the day, but he has to return to sleep at night, right? Your news must be more accurate than ours. Lady Luo, help us inquire too?”
“Don’t worry. He is your cousin after all, he should give you very high scores, right?”
But one lady hesitated: “I- I heard my elder brother say, when he was talking with Lu Yun, he accidentally saw his scores. It seems he only gave Lady Luo a ‘C’?”
Luo Lingyu’s whole body shook, her face turning white as snow: What? A C?!
The ladies looked at each other: …How could Lu Yun be so harsh to his cousin? If his scores for his cousin were so low, wouldn’t his scores for them be even lower…
Luo Lingyu collapsed onto the table, filled with grief. The ladies felt extremely sympathetic but didn’t know how to comfort her. They could only say a few random words, all suggesting she use her Water Pavilion connection to try persuading Lu Yun to change his evaluation.
After comforting Luo Lingyu, the ladies felt that with Lu Yun’s extremely low scoring strategy, there seemed little point in waiting at the Lu manor… They each found excuses to leave the Lu manor and went to inquire with other scholars.
After a long, long time, having been devastated for two whole days, Luo Lingyu finally clutched her heart and bravely got up, turning her gaze to “Clear Court” — No, she couldn’t give up! The results weren’t out yet, Lu Yun still had a chance to change his scores…
Just as the other ladies said, she and Lu Yun lived in the same Lu manor – roughly estimated, they could be said to be sharing the same room… With such an intimate relationship, if she couldn’t move Lu Yun, she wouldn’t accept it. Even if he despised her, she would endure!
Forcefully suppressing the embarrassment and awkwardness of facing Lu Yun, Luo Lingyu’s mind began working again. After a moment, she called her maid: “Let’s go to the kitchen and make some good food to send more portions to ‘Clear Court’…”
…
Though Luo Lingyu felt her prospects were dim, the lords’ evaluations of her were actually quite good.
After the five days of “Flower Goddess Selection” ended, almost all the lords in Jianye remembered this beautiful Lu family cousin and inquired everywhere about her.
In court matters, Lu Yun was targeted by Prince Hengyang Liu Mu along with Prince Chen, busy to distraction daily with no time to worry about his cousin. But Lu Xian only held an idle position – though he had recently been asking his father for a real position, he was still quite free for now.
The lords inquiring about the cousin lady gathered much more around Lu Xian.
Lu Xian was a bit dazed from all the inquiries.
After court, Lu Yun saw his second brother being surrounded again. The frail scholar Lu Xian couldn’t push away the crowd. Lu Yun glanced over, seeing his second brother’s pleading look in the crowd and arms struggling to leave the crowd. Lu Yun’s mouth twitched as he dutifully went over to rescue Lu Xian. As Lu Yun approached, Lu Xian was being questioned by Qi An: “Who in your family can make decisions about your cousin’s marriage? Someone must be able to decide, right?”
Lu Yun’s steps halted: Marriage?
They were already discussing marriage?
Lu Xian thought the same. Lu Xian’s face was bitter – he only wanted to match Luo cousin with Prince Hengyang, but Qi An who appeared halfway seemed even more persistent than Prince Hengyang. Lu Xian forced himself to say: “When Luo cousin came to our home, naturally she meant for the Lu family to help arrange her marriage. In our family, the one who can decide for Luo cousin would be my aunt, right? Luo cousin originally came looking for her. What is it, does Qi An want to marry my cousin?”
Lu Yun stared at Qi An.
His gaze was cold but burning. Though his eyes were very calm and quiet, he stared so intensely that Qi An felt like sitting on pins and needles, uncomfortably shifting closer to Lu Xian.
Qi An awkwardly whispered to Lu Xian: “I do like her, but my family probably won’t agree. For noble families like ours, there are many things to consider when taking a wife…”
Lu Xian’s gaze turned cold.
Qi An hesitated: “If I persuade my elders, and you speak with your aunt, how about letting Luo sister be a concubine? The Qi family is also a wealthy noble family in Jianye, and I don’t have that much say either. But I truly love Luo sister – even as a concubine, I would cherish and love her…”
Lu Xian was stunned, lost in thought: Right, he had somewhat forgotten Luo cousin’s background…
In Jianye’s environment full of top noble families, it really wasn’t enough.
The Luo family now only had the fallen Nanyang Luo clan left, an ordinary scholar family – how could they arrange marriages with Jianye’s wealthy noble families? Being a concubine seemed like Luo cousin would be marrying up.
Then, the story in his dream… Lu Xian was shocked with doubt: Was it that Prince Hengyang loved cousin to the extreme, or did Prince Hengyang have other motives? What role did his cousin play in his dream? Was what he saw the truth? Was Luo cousin truly happy in the dream?
Was profit more important, was the mysterious future more important, or was Luo cousin’s happiness more important?
What did he really know?!
Lu Xian’s peripheral vision met Lu Yun’s careless expression, the latter looking away indifferently. Lu Xian’s heart ached as he thought of Third Brother’s outcome — what should he do to change it? Third Brother died at the border… If he could keep Third Brother from ever going there, would he stay safe forever?
Then how to keep Third Brother from ever going there…
Lu Xian stared intensely at Lu Yun.
Lu Yun raised an eyebrow.
Lu Xian: “Third Brother, what do you think about being a civil official?”
Lu Yun: “…”
He said expressionlessly: “Second Brother, I am already a civil official.”
Lu Xian: “…”
He meant staying a civil official forever… Third Brother really didn’t understand his good intentions… Lu Xian sighed and walked away with his sleeves. They were taking the same road back to the manor, so Lu Yun followed Lu Xian’s steps.
Qi An left behind was confused: Wait, does anyone still remember him? Hadn’t he just been asking about marrying Luo sister? What was with the attitude of the two Lu lords, had they forgotten about him?
…
It was impossible to forget.
For the rest of the day at work, Lu Yun’s mind kept returning to Qi An’s words about wanting to make Luo Lingyu a concubine. Each time he thought of it, the irritation in his heart deepened. By the end, he couldn’t focus on work at all and had to take leave to return to the manor early. Back at “Clear Court,” the main hall was brightly lit, but surprisingly Jin Yue hadn’t sent maids to wait in the courtyard for Lu Yun’s return.
Lu Yun walked through his courtyard, smelling wafts of delicious food and hearing endless laughter.
He suddenly pushed aside the screen, standing in the doorway to see two women sitting by the dining table talking.
Luo Lingyu was speaking and laughing cheerfully, her words light and quick, making Jin Yue laugh continuously as she leaned forward, looking at Luo Lingyu with friendly eyes.
Behind Jin Yue, Zhi Yue served their dishes, her lips pouting enough to hold soy sauce. Zhi Yue unhappily shot several secret glares at the cousin lady opposite, when suddenly she saw the young lord standing silently in the doorway and dropped her chopsticks in fright: “My- my- my- my lord—!”
Compared to the maid’s panic, Luo Lingyu remained graceful and elegant. Setting down her chopsticks and turning around, the lady smiled like a flower, looking at him with warm admiration, sweetly saying: “Brother Xue Chen, you’re back?”
Brother Xue Chen?!
Lu Yun stared at her door, a flash of absurd disorientation in his heart: He actually felt they were like close master and servant, with the lady of the house playing with her maid.
While he was like the pitiful master who came home to find no hot food because his wife was too popular with the servants.
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