ATLAS TRANSLATES

When the young lord suddenly stood up and left, Luo Lingyu was still bending forward talking to him. His abrupt movement left her stunned.

By the time Lu Yun had walked away, she finally reacted to her delayed response and hurriedly stood up: “Brother Xuechen, listen to me, there’s a misunderstanding…”

Under the grape trellis, lush and heavy clusters of deep purple grapes hung from the vines, frames, and wall corners.

Light filtered through the green foliage onto the ground, creating dancing patterns of light and shadow that fell upon the rapidly departing young lord. Though his eyes were covered with gauze, his arms brushing past the trellis frames as he walked, his face remained tense.

Despite not being able to see, he didn’t slow his pace or need to feel his way around.

In contrast, Luo Lingyu chasing after him was very anxious: “Lu Yun, Lu Yun!”

Luo Lingyu was slightly out of breath, her chest heaving up and down from running so much, appearing delicate and fragile. Her elaborate brocade robes and silk sashes restricted her movement too much.

After just a few steps, her cheeks were flushed from the sun. Luo Lingyu glared at the lord in front of her, feeling extremely frustrated — she had dressed up so beautifully and charmingly, yet he couldn’t even see it.

Not only could he not see, but he had turned and left so quickly, making her chase after him breathlessly, leaving her with no energy to act coy.

She couldn’t even find a chance to act spoiled!

But Luo Lingyu couldn’t let him leave. Lu Yun was already an extremely difficult person to talk to. If he left now, wouldn’t it be even harder to repair their relationship in the future? If he left, she would have to seek help from other young lords. That would mean having to put on another act, and she might not even get the results she wanted…

Luo Lingyu persevered despite the difficulty. Even though chasing him exhausted her, she kept following. As the lord’s robes fluttered, she quickly reached out and grabbed his hem. Lu Yun tried to pull his sleeve away, but Luo Lingyu firmly refused to let go.

Lu Yun’s face was cold as frost as he said sternly: “Let go! Go find your fiancé!”

Luo Lingyu: “Though he is my fiancé, I have absolutely no feelings for him…”

As soon as she said this, she saw a cold smile appear on Lu Yun’s face.

Her heart dropped as she realized the flaw in her words, then heard Lu Yun’s voice cut like a blade, each word piercing: “No feelings for him… you have no feelings for anyone! You have a fiancé, yet what am I to you? So I’m just an afterthought? Just someone you’re playing with while keeping me completely in the dark? You…”

He was too angry to continue speaking, his chest seized with pain. The veins on his forehead trembled as he had to use extreme restraint and control to suppress the urge to strangle her…

What utter humiliation!

Lu Yun had never suffered such insult before!

He had always been pursued by noble ladies, and which one didn’t treat him with reverence? Yet with Luo Lingyu, he had been reduced to an afterthought. Was he just an afterthought, used to satisfy her vanity? Did she feel accomplished manipulating Jianye’s famous “Jade Lord” in the palm of her hand?

Luo Lingyu tightly gripped his sleeve, speaking urgently: “How would I dare toy with you? I truly don’t know why I suddenly have a fiancé! Before coming to Jianye, there clearly wasn’t this marriage arrangement. It must be the people from Nanyang…”

Lu Yun thundered: “Luo Lingyu!”

Luo Lingyu trembled in fright, her face pale as she stared at the tightly pressed line of his jaw below the white gauze, momentarily not daring to continue.

Under the grape trellis, the renowned jade-faced lord’s expression was almost twisted with anger.

His body rigid, he spoke through gritted teeth: “Do you think you can deceive me like a three-year-old child? You didn’t know you had a fiancé, and you also didn’t know you were entangled in feelings with someone? Why did you rush to come to Jianye, why are you in such a hurry to marry? And why only to noble families? If you haven’t been playing with others’ feelings, why do you need to hide from people like this? If you haven’t been flirting with someone, why would they inexplicably come to propose marriage?”

“With your methods, would you really be unaware when someone develops feelings for you?”

“You owed emotional debts, and then came to seduce me?! Using me to solve the mess of problems behind you?”

“You only sought me out when you could no longer hide it! What makes you think I, Lu Yun, am so easily fooled, to be led around by you?!”

Luo Lingyu: “…”

The more he spoke, the paler her face became. By the end, even the hand gripping his sleeve started trembling. Her face was a sickly white, her eyes filled with panic. She barely managed to brace herself against the bamboo trellis behind her to avoid being forced down by Lu Yun. The embarrassed, flustered expression appeared on the young lady’s face again — Lu Yun was truly formidable, seeing through her completely.

She had only mentioned having a fiancé, and before she could even explain, he had already seen through her true intentions.

He had always been like this, seeing through her essence, cutting straight to the core. Though she knew how formidable he was, she still insisted on entering the tiger’s den…

Luo Lingyu released his sleeve, covered her face as she collapsed sitting down, her shoulders trembling as she cried.

Lu Yun stood three steps away, still standing perfectly straight, his face still rigid.

Luo Lingyu truly felt wronged in her heart: “I really haven’t done anything… I was only ten when I first arrived in Nanyang, what could I have done? It was him who kept fixating on me, coming to the Luo family to find me from the very beginning…”

Lu Yun sneered: “…Don’t tell me you didn’t flirt with anyone.”

Luo Lingyu was completely flustered: “I was dependent on others’ charity. When someone treated me well, naturally I was moved. At most I just went along with it… Later when I discovered his vicious character, I became somewhat afraid of him and dared not associate with him anymore. But the Fan family is a great household in Nanyang, I couldn’t afford to offend them.”

Lu Yun: “Couldn’t afford to offend them, so you just ‘went along with it’ again?”

Like unraveling silk thread strand by strand, he truly didn’t miss a single detail. Whenever she tried to gloss over something vaguely, Lu Yun would force her to go back and explain again. It was quite embarrassing, especially in front of Lu Yun.

Luo Lingyu always tried to avoid letting him see her unfavorable sides when in his presence. But as fate would have it, he always seemed to catch her at her worst. Her good qualities were overshadowed and dimmed by her magnified flaws.

Fortunately this time she truly hadn’t deceived him much, and was somewhat innocent.

The occasional emotions that leaked through her words, showing her fear and wariness of that Fan lord, made Lu Yun’s ugly expression improve somewhat.

Eventually, Lu Yun had crouched in front of her, listening to the lady leaning against the grape trellis stammer about how she was forced out of Nanyang: “…There wasn’t a single proper thing about him. After personally witnessing him kill my maidservant, I became especially afraid of him and didn’t dare go out anymore. Perhaps knowing I was scared, he became friendly with me again… When I was fourteen, he once hinted at wanting to marry me, and that’s when I was most afraid.”

The young lady bit her lip, saying reluctantly: “You probably think I’m greedy for wealth and power, that I’ll marry whoever treats me well. But I don’t want to marry a madman either. I was so young, I didn’t want to be tormented for a lifetime…”

Lu Yun scoffed: “Never thought about changing him, training him?”

Luo Lingyu blushed, he truly hit the mark with every word and sentence. So she became even more flustered: “…How could a madman be trained?”

Luo Lingyu carefully observed Lu Yun, seeing him lower his face as shifting light fell on his long eyebrows while he pondered the truth in her words. He was so handsome that even the curve of his brow ridge was exceptionally beautiful when he was silent. Lost in thought, Luo Lingyu unconsciously recalled the tearful words of her wet nurse Mdm Qin. Mdm Qin said she always liked the same type of men… Luo Lingyu didn’t understand what Mdm Qin meant by “the same type,” because in her view, Lu Yun was completely different from that Fan lord.

Even at his angriest, Lu Yun still had more righteousness about him, with few dark sides.

Though she was so vulgar, she still felt that such a noble and refined lord was wonderful.

She was lost in thought, comparing the differences between the two lords, when suddenly her forehead hurt. She cried out, raising her hand to cover her forehead as she glared at him angrily. Sure enough, Lu Yun’s knuckle was still curved — he had clearly just flicked her forehead. Luo Lingyu felt guilty, so she could only endure her anger. But Lu Yun seemed to feel that one flick wasn’t enough to vent his hatred, and he flicked her brow again.

This time Luo Lingyu was in so much pain she almost cried. She endured it: “Why are you hitting me? Why do you always hit me? You can scold me if you want, but don’t use your hands…”

Though Lu Yun clearly couldn’t see, his hand accurately pinched her cheek. Luo Lingyu was in agony, the tender flesh of her cheeks turning red between his fingers.

She whimpered as she heard Lu Yun say hatefully: “Luo Lingyu, I can finally see clearly now. Scolding you is completely useless, you have no memory at all. You…”

Luo Lingyu stammered: “I just wanted you to help me with something…”

Lu Yun was a hateful person — when he got angry, he took it out on her, abusing her face in all sorts of ways. Luo Lingyu was very vain and especially treasured her beautiful face, yet he was squeezing and pinching it like this. She quickly became angry too. She struggled hard but couldn’t break free from his mistreatment. Luo Lingyu reached behind her randomly. She felt a bunch of grapes and yanked them down to throw at him: “…Stop pinching my face!”

A bunch of dark purple grapes flew over and hit Lu Yun in the face. Grape juice dripped down as Lu Yun was stunned by the hit, not dodging her sudden counterattack.

Lu Yun: “…You dare to hit me?”

Luo Lingyu took advantage of his daze to scramble to her feet. Lu Yun pursued closely as she repeatedly said “don’t come near me” while frantically grabbing whatever was convenient above her to throw at his body and feet.

Poor Lu Yun couldn’t see, and the lady in front of him was so fierce — he was hit several times, his stone-blue robes stained with streaks.

At their feet lay scattered grapes and juice. The couch where Lu Yun had been sitting earlier was covered in fallen leaves.

Lu Yun: “Stop throwing things at me!”

Luo Lingyu: “Then stop chasing me! Agree to help me!”

Lu Yun was laughed from anger — who would want to agree to help her? Luo Lingyu’s persistent nature once again left him in awe. Even after things had gotten this bad, she still remembered her “fiancé” in her heart. That fiancé of hers had made Lu Yun so angry he wished he could forget everything. He reached out to grab and pull her, but Luo Lingyu just kept dodging and throwing things at him.

The young lord’s ear twitched as he heard a faint “crack” sound. He quickly stepped forward, his expression changing slightly: “Luo Lingyu, come here!”

Seeing him approach only made Luo Lingyu hide more fearfully. Lu Yun kept hearing continuous “crack” sounds that confused his hearing, making it temporarily impossible to locate her position by sound.

Lu Yun bumped into several frames, and this time he heard a thunderous crash as the grape trellis above began collapsing. Luo Lingyu’s sharp gasp immediately let Lu Yun hear her location.

As she watched helplessly as the lush trellis fell, with nowhere to escape as it crashed down from all sides, Lu Yun rushed over in a few steps and embraced her. He pulled her into his arms and rolled with her on the ground. The world spun as the grape trellis suddenly collapsed, bamboo poles clattering down.

Luo Lingyu coughed from being choked.

Lu Yun had rolled with her out from under the trellis, blocking the last frame with his raised arm. When the thunderous sounds around them ceased, Luo Lingyu finally raised her face from his embrace to see Lu Yun’s calm expression.

She anxiously pulled at his sleeve to check him: “Are you hurt? Did you get hit anywhere?”

She had fallen into his embrace, her soft chest trembling against his arm.

Lu Yun paused for a moment before saying: “…I’m fine. What’s the situation now?”

Luo Lingyu raised her head to look around and said: “Brother Xuechen, it’s very bad now. There’s a fallen frame beside you, and Sister Jinyue is coming this way — I’m waving for them not to come over. There are many bamboo poles, trellises, and leaves scattered on the ground around us, along with grapes. Grape juice has also stained our clothes, my sleeve is dirty, and you have some marks on your chin…”

The footsteps of the maids came and went, and the young lady in his arms spoke in clear, bright tones, using his inability to see to her advantage, letting her voice entice his imagination.

Imagining all the greenery on the ground, the scattered grapes, and the beautiful young lady before him as lovely as a flower in full bloom. Her voice was gentle and soft as a spring breeze… making Lu Yun’s body suddenly feel hot.

Lu Yun reached back to grasp her delicate wrist that was resting on his sleeve. The young lord’s fingers lightly rubbed it, smooth as snow-white jade, making one’s heart flutter slightly. His hand pressed against her wrist as his fingers unconsciously wandered upward, slipping into her sleeve.

Lu Yun couldn’t see with his eyes, and he felt nothing, but Luo Lingyu could see their situation. Kneeling by the grape trellis, surrounded by green leaves and grapes, Lu Yun’s jade crown was askew with strands of hair falling across his face. His expression remained impassive as his fingers wandered over her wrist.

The combination of his indifferent expression and the intimate caress of his fingers created layers of tingling sensations that climbed up from her wrist.

Luo Lingyu very deliberately slapped his hand with her other hand: “…Don’t touch me randomly.”

Lu Yun raised an eyebrow: Such half-hearted resistance?

Luo Lingyu’s very perfunctory resistance made him realize how accepting she was of him.

Lu Yun suddenly leaned forward and pecked her lips.

He waited for a long time, and after some hesitation, Luo Lingyu still didn’t avoid him. The young lord knelt there, maintaining his false air of aloofness even now. Luo Lingyu cursed him inwardly — since he wouldn’t move, she had to twist and turn, putting on an act as she delivered herself into his embrace. Lu Yun laughed softly and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Luo Lingyu very consciously put her arms around his neck, allowing him to lean down and lightly sniff her neck once.

The young lord’s hand squeezed her waist as his lips pressed against her collarbone, his soft breathing trailing down her neck. That casual, teasing breath brushed against her neck, thread by thread, faint and subtle. Luo Lingyu let out a light gasp, raising her neck as her body stiffened slightly.

Tilting his head with a hook of his lips upward, Lu Yun smiled: “Never done this with other young lords?”

Luo Lingyu: “…”

He was still jealous even now! She slapped him again, still without force, just symbolically showing her attitude.

Lu Yun: “Am I the only one?”

He seemed somewhat satisfied at last.

Pressing down on the young lady, he leaned forward as desire and emotion drifted between them. Words left half-spoken were better left unsaid. Their breaths barely touched, again and again. Brief contact followed by immediate separation. Their sleeves overlapped as the young lord pressed down like a jade mountain falling, and though Luo Lingyu raised her hands to push against his chest, it was useless.

If only he could see…

Luo Lingyu sighed wistfully in her heart as Lu Yun pushed her down onto the ground. He leaned down, and just as their lips were about to meet, Luo Lingyu said softly: “If you kiss me, you have to agree to help me.”

Lu Yun paused: “For example?”

Seeing him relent somewhat, Luo Lingyu was delighted inside and wouldn’t let this good opportunity pass: “You don’t need to do much. You just need to send a letter to Nanyang, just put some pressure on the Fan family there, saying you admire me. The Fan family in Nanyang surely wouldn’t dare offend the Lu family of Jianye…”

Lu Yun smiled mockingly: “Who admires you?”

Luo Lingyu blushed and humphed as his lips touched hers again. She mumbled: “…It’s just to fool him… I really don’t want to marry him…”

His lips entwined with hers again, and when they parted, the young lady let out a soft moan, half-sigh half-whimper, making their pressed-together breaths become somewhat irregular.

With their faces touching, Luo Lingyu’s hands rested on his neck, somewhat suggestively urging him on, indicating that if he wanted to kiss her he should hurry up, instead of repeatedly almost touching her lips but not quite. It was making her face red and her heart restless and annoyed.

Lu Yun leaned down but stopped again — Luo Lingyu almost wanted to kick him.

Lu Yun asked: “How does your Fan lord compare to me?”

Luo Lingyu: “…”

He was still hung up on this! His jealousy had lasted far too long… He clearly already knew she didn’t like that person anymore, yet still… While feeling both amused and exasperated, Luo Lingyu felt a sweet sensation rippling through her heart.

She looked at his face with eyes full of smiles, finding even the white gauze covering his eyes somewhat handsome. The young lady murmured: “How could he compare to you… He’s not as learned as you, not as talented as you, not as pursued by ladies as you, not even as good-looking as you… He’s inferior to you in every way.”

Lu Yun’s face showed a smile as Luo Lingyu continued praising him: “Even blind, you’re still the most handsome blind man in the world.”

Lu Yun: “…”

He said softly: “If you don’t know how to speak properly then be quiet. Who are you calling blind? My dear sister Lingyu…”

She had become his “dear sister Lingyu” again as their lips met, finally kissing properly this time.

…

Luo Lingyu was very pleased with herself – that day’s sacrifice of her complexion had worked extremely well. Though Lu Yun kept saying he “wasn’t lustful,” he was still repeatedly seduced by her beauty, led along by her.

Once Lu Yun was no longer angry, he would surely be willing to write the letter she wanted sent to Nanyang.

She needed to dissolve that marriage contract on her, and even if she couldn’t marry now, her future husband, once she had him wrapped around her finger, would be willing to let her “borrow his influence.”

Luo Lingyu put her mind at ease again and started working on the task Lady Lu had assigned her — inviting more young ladies to visit the Lu residence, as Lady Lu wanted to find suitable wives for the young lords of the family.

Although the Lu family typically only arranged marriages with certain families, within that acceptable range, the young lords still had some freedom of choice.

Lady Lu didn’t mind, but what Old Lady Lu was most dissatisfied with now was probably the relationship between Lu Yun and Luo Lingyu. Old Lady Lu was contemplating how to break up these two, as she didn’t want her grandson to marry a girl without any family background. Fortunately, Lady Lu needed Luo Lingyu’s help at this time, so while Luo Lingyu remained unaware, she helped block several of Old Lady Lu’s attempts to break up the relationship.

When Luo Lingyu brought the list of invited young ladies for Lady Lu’s review, she had a sudden inspiration and thought of how her Lord Zhou was still unmarried.

Luo Lingyu blushed: Now that she had Lu Yun, she didn’t dare provoke him, and temporarily didn’t want to marry Lord Zhou anymore. But she could help pick a virtuous wife for Lord Zhou… after all, Lord Zhou had been so good to her, and besides, this way she could continue to maintain connections with Lord Zhou, who appeared to have a bright future ahead.

Taking the list of young ladies that Lady Lu had approved, along with the accounts from the cosmetics shop she had opened together with Lord Zhou that she wanted to show him, Luo Lingyu left the Lu residence and took a carriage to the Zhou residence.

Having not seen Zhou Yangling for several days, Lord Zhou’s gentle and refined image had been turning in her mind — she really liked the gentle qualities this lord possessed, though it had nothing to do with love, she simply found him comfortable to be around.

On the same day, a boat slowly sailed into Lake Xuanwu, arriving at Jianye’s dock.

In the cabin of the boat, an exceptionally handsome young lord reclined against a chair, flipping through a roster of Jianye’s young lords.

He casually turned past the page about Lu Second Young Master, but when the portrait and name stopped on the next page, this lord on the boat smiled: “Lu Yun, courtesy name Xuechen, styled as the Plum-Seeking Recluse, aged nineteen, is the third young master of the Lu family’s main line, and simultaneously a world-renowned gentleman scholar. Famous in his youth, in recent years his appearances have been extremely rare, and he has just taken up an official position at court.”

Closing his eyes, he had already sketched out a real lord based on the unparalleled handsome portrait he had seen.

Fan Qingchen, the “Lord Fan” that Luo Lingyu kept referring to, knocked on the chair’s armrest thoughtfully: “Allied by marriage with the Luo family, and with such great influence in Jianye, the Lu family’s power is clearly what Sister Luo loves. Moreover, this Lu Third Young Master has handsome features, is tall and slender with long limbs, has red lips and white teeth with looks that could be called gorgeously transcendent, and is said to be brilliantly talented — he’s clearly also Sister Luo’s type… Heh, no wonder she’s so content she’s forgotten her home, unwilling to return to Nanyang.”

His face darkened, though his lips still held a smile, it was full of sinister intent that would terrify people.

Just one look at Lu Xuechen and he had nothing more to say, knowing that Luo Lingyu would definitely like this person. Luo Lingyu’s aesthetic tastes had always been stable. Though she appeared fickle and seemed not to care much about anyone, the time she spent staring at certain types of young lords was always longer than others.

This point was clearest to Fan Qingchen, who had been watching her for years.

Luo Lingyu just liked that type of young lord who seemed both nobly pure and untouchable, yet also seemed romantically unrestrained and ready to be plucked.

Fan Qingchen sneered: If he hadn’t failed to keep it hidden, she should still be liking… him instead!

He had the marriage contract here, and Lu Third Young Master was constrained by his reputation… he wanted to see how his Sister Luo planned to escape now.

Covering his face with his sleeve, Fan Qingchen muttered to himself, laughing softly and continuously: “Such a naive young lady… In this world besides me, what noble young lord would sacrifice so much for you, yet you still dislike me… Won’t you just come home obediently with me… I really miss you, my… Sister Luo.”

His voice grew weaker, almost a whisper.

Broken and faint, the young lord’s suppressed, hoarse, crying-laughing pants and moans echoed through the cabin.