ATLAS TRANSLATES

Fan Qingchen was someone who was very obsessive about relationships.

As a young master from a noble family, Lu Yun had received education since childhood emphasizing “a gentleman should be proper and refined, gentle as jade.”

Something must have gone wrong with this education when it came to Fan Fourth Young Master. Fan Qingchen had an inexplicable obsession with Luo Lingyu. Lu Yun believed that young masters who had feelings for Luo Lingyu would never truly let go. But Fan Qingchen’s sticky persistence, like a stubborn plaster that couldn’t be peeled off, was particularly annoying.

Especially now, right after Lu Yun had just been mocked by Luo Lingyu.

Behind him, an angry voice rose. Fan Qingchen’s eyes were blood-red, his face covered in dark clouds. He coldly watched as the young man in blue robes ahead in the thin crowd slowly put down the child’s drum he was holding and turned around. Although Lu Yun was in a bad mood, his face didn’t show it. To Fan Qingchen, this man’s face was as white as jade, his bearing exceptional — even doing nothing seemed like mockery.

The same noble bearing and appearance!

While he was being forced by his family to break off the engagement, Lu Yun seemed so carefree. His father’s scolding, the family’s pressure, the slander against Luo Lingyu… one thing after another.

As noble young masters, they were supposed to sacrifice themselves for family interests.

At this time, Fan Qingchen didn’t know that Luo Lingyu had returned to Nanyang. In his eyes, Lu Yun was his only enemy. His dear Luo sister, the girl he had waited for so many years… Fan Qingchen’s eyes were as red as dripping blood. His servants couldn’t catch up in time and watched as their young master’s dark shadow lunged forward, reaching for the new magistrate of Nanyang.

Lu Yun’s robes fluttered slightly as he unhurriedly stepped diagonally backward.

Fan Qingchen charged again!

It was early morning, the sky still dim, with the city walls shrouded in thin mist. In the damp air, there were few carriages on the street. The atmosphere was tense, occasionally broken by the calls of early market vendors and the sizzling sound of oil being pressed from sesame cakes. At this small alley entrance, as the two young masters began fighting, the atmosphere instantly froze.

Watch how they moved like dancing dragons, like cranes parting waves, their movements flowing like clouds and water!

“Young master, young master, please stop!”

“Lord, you must not!”

Not only were Fan Qingchen’s servants frightened, but Lu Yun’s followers were also scared. These servants were the magistrate’s followers and soldiers from the army. They never knew that this Lu Third Young Master, who usually only held writing brushes, would have moments of physical fighting. People from both sides rushed forward to stop them, finally managing to pull back Fan Qingchen who had been throwing punch after punch.

Fortunately, it was a small alley, and fortunately there weren’t many people on the road in the early morning. Plus, the vendors had already fled the alley. The unseemly behavior of these two young masters wasn’t seen by others — otherwise, given Lu Yun’s reputation, who knows what people would say.

After being stopped, Fan Qingchen was held firmly by the servants. His facial muscles were tense, his whole body trembling slightly. His eyes fixed on Lu Yun as he said darkly: “Was it you who told my father that Luo sister was carrying your child, which is why my father wants to break off the engagement?”

Lu Yun raised an eyebrow: “Can’t Fan Lord keep anything from you?”

Mockingly implying that whatever the Fan family head said, he would tell his son.

Fan Qingchen gritted his teeth: “What does it matter to you? Whether I marry Luo sister or not, whether she’s carrying your child or not, what difference does it make? Do you think just because I know the father of the child in her belly is you, I won’t marry her?”

Lu Yun’s eyes darkened slightly — times were liberal.

Premarital relations between men and women, women accidentally becoming pregnant before marriage, or even women having relations with other young masters and carrying their children… all could still lead to marriage. People rarely commented on such matters, but top families had their pride.

For prestigious families like the Lu and Fan families, while they could accept a lady having previous relations with others, their bloodline could not be mixed. Such families typically wouldn’t accept a woman bringing another man’s child into marriage.

The Fan family was already dissatisfied with Luo Lingyu’s background. After Lu Yun spoke with Lord Fan, he voluntarily brought up breaking off the engagement and expressed strong support for a good marriage between Lu Third Young Master and Lady Luo.

Fan family’s Fourth Young Master Fan Qingchen’s love for Lady Luo, by this point, could no longer influence the Fan family’s decision to break off the engagement. As the Fan family moved to end the engagement, Lu Yun was pleased… how could Fan Qingchen accept this?

Fan Qingchen sneered: “She’s carrying your child? I don’t believe it. My Luo sister isn’t the type to give others leverage over her, making herself vulnerable. Why don’t you find a doctor and let everyone see clearly?”

His expression was almost manic: “You’re defaming Luo sister’s reputation, you despicable person, so vicious… My father was deceived by you, but I’ll never believe your sweet words.”

“You think I can’t marry her just because you won’t let me? I watched her grow up, I protected her… I’ve been guarding her since she was ten, not letting anyone touch her. When others bullied her, I helped her. If she shed a single tear, I would kill that person. When the Luo family treated her poorly, I stood up for her, killing all those ladies who bullied her…”

Lu Yun said calmly: “You weren’t helping her, you only made her situation worse.”

The Nanyang Luo family treated Luo Lingyu poorly? How could they say it was poor treatment — at most, they didn’t cherish her as much as their own daughters. But in Fan Qingchen’s eyes, all of this was mistreatment. And Luo Lingyu, being such a strong-minded person… she said she wanted to be a “clinging vine,” but looking at her words and actions, where did she show any such tendency? She clearly couldn’t stand others controlling her life, which is why she both feared and hated Young Master Fan.

Fan Qingchen roared: “That’s still better than you! The lady I’ve guarded for four years, yet she’s to be yours… What right do you have to please her? I treat her better, and how is my Fan family inferior to your Lu family? If only she would stay with me in Nanyang, if only she would marry me… but you ruined everything…”

Fan Qingchen’s eyes were red, staring at Lu Yun like a snake. His limbs were restrained by servants and couldn’t move, but his voice turned into an odd mumble, like sleep-talking: “I won’t let you have your way… Luo sister is mine, even if she’s carrying your child, she’s still mine. I cherish and love her, I should be the one to marry her…”

Lu Yun: “…”

Even in his bad mood, Lu Third Young Master felt a sense of absurdity, realizing that Fan Fourth Young Master’s obsession was no longer normal. Being stared at by such a person made one extremely uncomfortable. No wonder Luo Lingyu repeatedly told him she was afraid of Young Master Fan…

Before Lu Yun could think further, Fan Qingchen’s servants broke out in cold sweat, not daring to let their young master say another word and offend the new magistrate.

A bold servant directly covered Fan Fourth Young Master’s mouth, preventing Fan Qingchen from speaking more.

The servant forced a laugh: “We’ve embarrassed the Lord. Our Fourth Young Master hasn’t accepted our master’s words yet… Our master will persuade Fourth Young Master later. Please don’t take Fourth Young Master’s words to heart. Our master asks the Lord to rest assured that the Fan family will break off the engagement soon, and wishes the Lord and Lady Luo a happy marriage. The Fan family will certainly send people to attend the wedding feast.”

Lu Yun looked at Fan Qingchen’s cold eyes and smiled coolly: “With your Fourth Young Master in this state, I can’t be at ease… After you return, please convey my wishes to Lord Fan. I hope the Fan family will keep your Fourth Young Master confined and not let him go out, lest he offend my fiancée. If my wife miscarries, the Lu and Fan families will surely become mortal enemies.”

Poor Luo Lingyu wasn’t even pregnant, how could she miscarry?

Yet Lu Yun spoke with complete confidence, not blushing at all, and others could only nod.

The Fan family servants agreed to Lu Yun’s words, promising they wouldn’t let Fan Fourth Young Master out to offend anyone. When Lu Yun and Fan Qingchen’s cold gazes met again, he didn’t trust the Fan family and was about to instruct his own people to watch Fan Qingchen at the Fan residence when a soldier called from outside the alley: “Commander Lu, Commander Lu—”

This soldier ran into the alley, and before catching his breath, he saluted and reported: “The general has sent new news from the front lines — the Northern Kingdom has sent envoys to our Southern Kingdom, requesting the Commander to arrange people to receive them.”

Lu Yun was stunned, his tone playful: “Why are Northern Kingdom envoys coming to the Southern Kingdom at this time?”

Aren’t we still at war?

How improper of the Northern Kingdom people?

…

The Northern Kingdom’s intentions were easy to guess — they wanted to win the war. But now that the war seemed to have no progress, they sent envoys to try other approaches. Surrender was impossible, but other paths might end the war.

Although the Northern Kingdom’s military strength was superior to the Southern Kingdom’s, they clearly didn’t want to keep expending their forces here.

The war between the Southern and Northern Kingdoms paused first, with the Northern Kingdom envoys stopped outside the Southern Kingdom unable to enter. Only after people went to inspect and confirm there was no danger, and procedures were completed, could they enter the Southern Kingdom. General Wei Cong was impatient about managing envoy matters, and now that there was a commander, and the commander was their Southern Kingdom’s famous handsome man, General Wei simply handed over the troublesome matter of receiving envoys to Lu Yun — it was said that among the envoys was a beautiful princess, and since there was a beautiful princess, arranging for Lu Third Young Master, such a pretty face, to go would surely be appropriate.

For several days, people kept coming to ask the general about the envoy matter. General Wei became annoyed and simply took his personal guards out of the city for military drills, not bothering with these matters.

General Wei only wanted to fight battles, naturally believing that since the court sent Commander Lu, and Lu Third Young Master wasn’t going to the battlefield, he should handle such matters.

However, the arrival of the envoys was confidential at this time, and ordinary families couldn’t get this information. Nanyang’s great Fan family only wondered why there had been no fighting for two days; they heard some rumors but didn’t ask. As for small gentry families like the Luo family, they had no way to know what was happening in Nanyang.

The Fan family was breaking off the engagement, and Luo Lingyu was about to become again a maiden waiting to be courted, a beautiful lady sought after by young masters.

After returning to the Nanyang Luo family, Luo Lingyu’s first action was to send gifts to everyone in the family — tea leaves unique to Jianye, green dumplings, ice wine, and more. She brought these and gave some to everyone. After being away for half a year, the lady was still so thoughtful upon her return, and evidently, Luo Lingyu was about to marry into Jianye’s Lu family’s Third Young Master. The Nanyang Luo clan people praised endlessly, and when facing Luo Lingyu, they all carried a hint of fawning.

Previously, they only knew that Fan Fourth Young Master was madly in love with Luo Lingyu. That person was already not quite normal, and no one explored the reasons for his infatuation.

Now even Lu Third Young Master wanted to marry Luo Lingyu…

When the Luo family ladies came to see Luo Lingyu, their tone carried more or less some sourness. They were also very embarrassed because when Lu Third Young Master visited, the young master was so elegant that they also wanted to marry him. Because of this marriage desire, hiding behind screens, who knows how much mockery they drew in Lu Third Young Master’s heart. The Luo family ladies were extremely jealous and said, half-true and half-false—

“Who knows what kind of seduction you used again. Is Lu Third Young Master brainless to fall for your tricks?”

“You’re marrying above your station, you must be submissive. Sister, can you tell me how you pleased him?”

“Is he really marrying you as a wife, not taking you as a concubine? But sister dear, with someone like Lu Third Young Master, even if he marries you as a wife, when he wants to take concubines later, you can’t stop him, right? Ah, who made our family status so much lower than theirs, you should be grateful he’s willing to marry you.”

The maid Lingyu, who came from the Jianye Lu family, listened from the side and was furious. Luo Lingyu was a guest at the Lu family, and moreover, the Lu family had no girls. Usually, whoever came to stay at home, no matter who they were, were cousin young ladies, so Luo Lingyu’s treatment at the Lu family was quite good. But there were many ladies in the Nanyang Luo family, and they all knew Luo Lingyu for many years, knew her background, so they one by one spoke quite unpleasantly.

And Lingyu was very angry: The young lady wasn’t even married yet, and they were already saying their Third Young Master would take concubines. How irritating.

While the maid was full of anger, Luo Lingyu had thick skin.

Dealing with these ladies who knew her inside out was naturally different from dealing with the cousin young ladies from Jianye. She laughed lightly and had the maid open the large box full of things.

Luo Lingyu swayed her waist slightly, rising to lead these ladies to admire the things she brought. Fine silks and satins, gold and silver jade items, rhinoceros horn and black gold, mountains of gold powder. The box opened brilliantly, dazzling… The gentry ladies who were used to fine things covered their mouths and let out light exclamations.

Luo Lingyu smiled while supporting her cheek, her face blooming like flowers, both alluring and pure.

The lady said in a delicate voice: “These are all gifts from Brother Xuechen.”

“He gave me so many of his account books, so many that I couldn’t finish reading them all, staying up late every day. He’s really such a bother.”

“When I came to Nanyang, Prince Hengyang originally wanted to escort me, but Brother Xuecjen insisted on letting me ride in his carriage. When I said I didn’t want to, he even got angry with me. Ah, Brother Xuechen really has such a childish temper.”

The ladies were speechless: …What? Even Prince Hengyang was eager to escort her? How could Luo Lingyu’s charm be so great? Couldn’t men see her true nature?

Luo Lingyu spoke in soft whispers to show off, her manner light and casual yet constantly emphasizing her initiative, leaving the Luo family ladies with nothing to say. This lady didn’t care at all what they said. The Luo family’s influence wasn’t great enough, and seeing Luo Lingyu show off how Lu Yun loved and admired her, the Luo family ladies couldn’t stand it and left, annoyed by Luo Lingyu.

The maid Lingyu was amazed: The young lady was so naughty, actually teasing people like this.

…

But Lu Yun hadn’t come to see Luo Lingyu for a long time, and the Luo family ladies whispered whether Lu Third Young Master had changed his mind and didn’t want Luo Lingyu anymore. Luo Lingyu held her chin high, naturally not taking their sour words to heart. However, as Lu Yun still didn’t come, she gradually became uneasy. That night it was clearly he who was in an awkward position, she had only laughed at him once behind his back. Lu Yun wouldn’t stop coming to see her just because she mocked him once, would he?

She was still waiting for him to come make amends, so she could show the Luo family ladies clearly.

If he never came, who could she show off to!

Moreover, she was also afraid he would change his mind about marrying her… Luo Lingyu felt wronged, she was still worried whether he would die, she specially came to Nanyang to help him, yet he ignored her. And she hadn’t done anything wrong, she just wasn’t pregnant, that’s all. How could that be her fault? It was his own lack of ability.

Yet he became angry from embarrassment and took it out on her.

Luo Lingyu lounged at home, eagerly waiting for Lu Yun to find her, becoming more and more uncomfortable as she waited. The Luo family people also waited until they became somewhat scared. They didn’t know that Lu Yun wasn’t in Nanyang at this time, didn’t know Lu Yun had left Nanyang to receive the so-called envoys. They only knew that the Fan family was breaking off the engagement, yet Lu Third Young Master paid no attention to Luo Lingyu.

Madam Luo came to probe, asking if there was any misunderstanding between Luo Lingyu and Lu Third Young Master.

Luo Lingyu told Madam Luo about their argument, hiding the details, seeking advice from the elder. Madam Luo suggested that Luo Lingyu go see Lu Third Young Master — for someone as proud as Lu Third Young Master, there was nothing wrong with a lady trying to please him… After Luo Lingyu prepared some food, she was pushed out the door by the anxious Madam Luo.

…

Luo Lingyu felt deeply embarrassed and afraid of being recognized, sneaking out without daring to take the main road. When she arrived at the military camp, only the maid Lingyu was with her. But the military camp wouldn’t let them in. Luo Lingyu and the maid held their food boxes, anxiously pacing outside.

Luo Lingyu remained silent, watching Lingyu plead with the guard.

Suddenly, she felt a burning gaze fixed on her.

The lady turned her head to look.

Outside the military camp, hoofbeats thundered like lightning as General Wei Cong led his troops back to camp. Sitting high on his horse, he caught sight of the beautiful lady below who was like a morning dewdrop, and immediately took a deep breath, staring dumbfounded—

“A celestial maiden has descended…”

General Wei had a sudden thought: Such a beautiful lady, he’d never seen before— He dismounted and cupped his hands in greeting, laughing heartily: “…Could you be the Princess?”

“Is the Princess coming to our Southern Kingdom for a peace marriage? Must it be to His Majesty?”

Her dress flew like wings, her waist slender. Behind was the thunderous sound of troops training in the camp, while before her the clouds were high and the wind clear. Luo Lingyu’s autumn-pool eyes widened as she stared at him in bewilderment.

General Wei thick-skinedly moved closer to her: “Princess, what do you think of me?”

Luo Lingyu: “…”