The strong wind outside made the large trees sway incessantly, even breaking one by the next morning.
Yining was brought to the side room of Lu Jiaxue’s study. He had a servant find a calligraphy copybook for her, then went to the outer room to handle business.
Seeing how nonchalant he was, completely unconcerned whether she refused or not, Luo Yining wanted to kick Lu Jiaxue to death. She might be stubborn, but wasn’t he just as bad? For so many years he’d maintained that same rotten temperament, always smiling regardless of what others said, but in reality extremely obstinate and unwavering once he made up his mind. She had said she wouldn’t compromise, and he certainly wouldn’t change either.
After a while, she finally calmed her anger and tossed the copybook aside. She laid out a sheet of Chengxin Hall paper to practice calligraphy.
Sunlight filtered through the bamboo blinds as the cold wind blew outside. Luo Yining walked to the window intending to close it, when she overheard people talking outside:
“My lord, Zeng Yingkun has agreed to testify that Luo Shen Yuan and his son were in contact. However, he has a condition – he hopes you can spare his students…”
“Spare them?” Lu Jiaxue gave a cold laugh. “He was quick and decisive enough when he sent people to assassinate me.”
Hearing this, Yining turned slightly to look into the outer room. Lu Jiaxue sat in the seat of honor on the right, with several officials in uniform standing before him, appearing somewhat obsequious.
Yining’s fingers played with the bamboo blind as she listened quietly.
Though the furnishings had changed, the room remained much as it had been years ago. Even the privet tree planted outside still had lush branches and leaves.
“I understand, my lord. Shall I go relay the message immediately?”
Lu Jiaxue waved his hand again. “Zeng Yingkun still thinks he’s a general, trying to negotiate terms with me. Tell him that the lives of his people are in my hands now. Let him consider that carefully.”
The man then took his leave.
Yining saw him exit the study before letting the blind fall and returning to the table to continue practicing calligraphy.
Soon after, Lu Jiaxue lifted the curtain and entered, asking, “What are you writing?”
He walked over to her side and saw that her handwriting was sharp and beautiful, without any trace of feminine delicacy. Lu Jiaxue’s smile slowly faded as he remembered that Luo Yining didn’t know how to write, which was why she had needed his help to copy Buddhist scriptures for the old madam. He picked up the paper and saw she had written “Free and Easy Wandering” from the Zhuangzi.
He didn’t like reading much. At most, his study contained some military texts and maps, with no leisurely books. Yining must have written this from memory.
He said mockingly, “Your scholar of a third brother certainly taught you well.”
Suddenly, something occurred to Lu Jiaxue. He examined Yining’s handwriting closely, finding it somewhat familiar. Lu Jiaxue immediately grew cautious. He grabbed Luo Yining’s hand and demanded, “What exactly is your relationship with this third brother who married you?”
Luo Yining replied calmly, “We grew up together. He taught me to read.”
Lu Jiaxue chuckled, narrowing his eyes as he said, “Luo Yining, let me tell you – I can tolerate you for now, but don’t let me discover you have any romantic entanglements with other men. Otherwise, I won’t care about your so-called ‘little days.’ Understand?”
Luo Yining heard this and held back her anger, knowing she couldn’t overpower him physically. She said, “I just overheard you discussing with your subordinates about Zeng Yingkun testifying against Luo Shen Yuan. What’s this about? Are you trying to frame loyal officials?”
“You think Luo Shen Yuan counts as a loyal official? You’re giving him too much credit.” Lu Jiaxue sat down beside her, noticing she stood straight beside him, wearing a light green damask jacket with iris patterns and a plain white embroidered skirt. Though she stood stiffly in resistance, at least she was by his side. His tone softened considerably, “Do you remember when I helped you copy Buddhist scriptures back then?”
“Your handwriting was atrocious at that time,” he said with a hint of a smile. “I was afraid you’d embarrass me if you showed it to others, so I helped you copy it.”
“I also wrote your betrothal gift list with my hand.”
Lu Jiaxue leaned back in the armchair. This man who had spent his life on the battlefield and now wielded boundless power spoke with unusual gentleness as he recalled the past, having turned these memories over in his mind countless times.
“Among my brothers, I was the least skilled at reading. But for your sake, I practiced writing diligently and truly improved. In the days before marrying you, I would sit hunched over by candlelight…” He pointed to the candlestick. “…writing each stroke meticulously. You probably never knew.”
“You’re talking nonsense!” Luo Yining frowned, her heart inexplicably skipping a beat as she interrupted him. “You didn’t even know me back then. How could it have been for my sake?”
Lu Jiaxue stared at her for a long while, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. “Are you stupid? If I hadn’t wanted to marry you, given your status, it wouldn’t have been so easy for you to marry even a concubine-born son of a marquis’s household.”
She knew it hadn’t been easy… At the time, her stepmother had wanted to marry off her legitimate sister instead. It was only after she went to curry favor with her grandmother that the old lady agreed. But thinking back carefully, her grandmother had indeed agreed suspiciously quickly, to the point that her stepmother always looked displeased when paying respects to her.
“I had seen you long before,” he said, his gaze growing distant. “At the Shunde prefect’s residence. You were only fourteen then, wearing double-loop buns. You were with your legitimate sister. You probably don’t remember, but there was a three or four-month-old puppy that had just been bought for the prefect’s kitchen. The lively pup had chewed up some things and was beaten by a servant, who knocked out its teeth. It was nearly dead…”
He recounted the events of that year.
Lu Jiaxue thought of that young girl in a pink diamond-patterned short jacket, illuminated by the early winter sunlight, her delicate face like a peach with a fine layer of white down. She had seen the puppy being beaten but said nothing at the time. Later, however, she secretly came looking for it, carrying a small celadon plate with some sheep’s milk. She searched through the grass and flower beds beside the kitchen.
Following the trail of blood, she found the puppy trembling and covered in blood, hiding in the bushes. She was still young then, full of sympathy. Her hands shook at the sight, but when she brought the sheep’s milk to the puppy’s mouth, it couldn’t eat. Yining didn’t know what to do in her distress. Her grandmother disliked dogs, complaining that they were shed everywhere. As a result, none of the sisters in the family dared to even keep a cat. She wasn’t favored by the adults and no one would indulge her in keeping pets, so she didn’t dare take it back. Instead, she used a small porcelain spoon to feed it.
At the time, he was a guest at the Shunde prefect’s residence and saw her kneeling on the stone path feeding the puppy. He watched quietly for a long while.
The prefect’s son said to him, “Lu Si, what are you looking at?”
As a concubine-born son in the marquis’s household, he lived cautiously. The marchioness was formidable, keeping the concubine-born sons in check. His mother had originally been the marchioness’s maid and didn’t dare get close to him after giving birth. He grew up like a stray dog, bullied by his brothers as a child, yet still having to smile and curry favor with them. Outside, however, everyone respected him and no one dared offend him. Having grown up through hardship, seeing her feed the puppy now gave him a strange sense of pleasure.
“Mind your own business!” He stood up. “I’m not going horseback riding today. You go by yourself.”
He didn’t hear the prefect’s son calling after him as he walked out, quietly approaching to stand behind Luo Yining. He bent down and said to her, “Even if you keep feeding it, it will still die.”
Startled by him, Yining accidentally bumped the puppy’s mouth with her spoon. The puppy whimpered in pain.
She asked angrily, “What are you doing, scaring people like that!”
Lu Jiaxue felt like he was tempting a child. He smiled and teased her, “Its mouth is all torn up. If you don’t bandage it, it will die even if you keep feeding it. Are you stupid?”
The strange man was dressed in fine clothes, clearly of noble birth if not the prefect’s son then an honored guest. But his words were too impolite, yet she couldn’t afford to offend him. Yining didn’t want to deal with him, so she picked up the puppy and stood, preparing to go somewhere else.
Oh, she had quite a temper.
“If you beg me, I’ll help you save it,” Lu Jiaxue said lazily. In truth, he had no sympathy for the puppy – he just wanted to tease her. He was three or four years older than her.
She hesitated for a moment before stopping to ask, “Will you take it to a doctor to be bandaged?”
“Of course,” Lu Jiaxue said. “You can’t go out, but I can come and go as I please.”
The puppy lay in her arms, pitifully hanging its head. It had been so lively when first bought, but now it trembled in fear at the slightest touch. She looked at the puppy and said, “Then I beg you to take it to a doctor.”
It was unexpectedly easy, and Lu Jiaxue lost some interest. He reached out to take the puppy, thinking it was just a small matter. Later, when he went horseback riding, he would drop it off at a clinic, leave a few scattered coins, and promptly forget about it.
It wasn’t until he saw her lingering repeatedly at the entrance, while he was drinking with the prefect’s son, that he remembered. His heart skipped a beat – he had left her dog at the clinic for several days already.
He went out, and Yining excitedly came up to ask, “Is the dog better? Can it eat now?”
Only then did Lu Jiaxue remember to check on her dog. He went with the prefect’s son to the clinic. Not knowing his identity, the clinic said the dog wouldn’t eat and had been thrown out half-dead. It had probably become dog meat soup by now. Lu Jiaxue smashed the clinic’s sign, and when he returned, Yining was full of hope that he would produce the dog.
Lu Jiaxue felt a twinge of guilt and lied to her: “The clinic is taking good care of it. Why would you want to bring it back now?”
“You’re right,” Yining said happily. She couldn’t bear to see cats and dogs suffer, so as long as nothing was wrong, she was content.
She sincerely told him, “Thank you. You’re a good person.”
She believed her dog was living well somewhere in the world, and that was enough for her.
Later, however, the prefect’s son accidentally let slip that because the dog they sent had died, Lu Jiaxue had smashed the clinic’s sign, and they didn’t dare come ask for compensation. He called Lu Jiaxue a hooligan.
When she found out, she became despondent. Lu Jiaxue saw her cry. She crouched where she had picked up the dog, tears falling steadily. Lu Jiaxue felt both guilty and heartbroken. He went over and said to her, “Don’t cry anymore. I’ll get you another dog.”
She wasn’t moved by this at all and insisted stubbornly, “I don’t want another dog. You said you’d save it. Give me back my dog.”
Lu Jiaxue thought she looked as pitiful as a little puppy herself. He had a strange feeling in his heart, wanting to take her home and care for her properly.
Seeing her cry, he placed his hand on top of her head, tentatively patting it to comfort her.
She was startled and looked up at him as if he were a scoundrel, then quickly moved away. Lu Jiaxue even smiled at this.
But later, when he was about to return to the capital and wanted to see her one last time, she had already left the prefect’s residence with her grandmother and others to return to their countryside home in Shunde.
At the time, he thought that when she came of age, he would propose marriage to her. Because of that strange feeling – he couldn’t describe what it was exactly, but it was tingling and very gentle.
Later, when arranging the marriage, he was surprised to find she didn’t recognize him. He realized this little girl had probably never properly looked up to see what he looked like. So she couldn’t even remember him.
When he successfully married her and saw a virtuous, dignified wife, he was a bit surprised. It wasn’t until they gradually got to know each other that she slowly let down her guard. Like a cat tentatively exploring its surroundings, she quietly revealed her true nature. Lu Jiaxue cherished her and immediately pretended not to notice, even accepting it readily. This allowed her to completely relax her vigilance.
So this cat was not only willing to show her claws but also to sleep on his lap and even scratch at his pant legs. Because she had decided he was harmless.
After hearing his words, Luo Yining was lost in thought for a long time.
She had never known that Lu Jiaxue had seen her before. He had even intentionally sought to marry her. Thinking back carefully now, she seemed to recall doing something like that as a child. As for that man, his face was blurry in her mind, without a clear image.
Lu Jiaxue’s expression was very grave. His voice was somewhat hoarse as he said, “Do you think I killed you to challenge Xie Min? … I went to great lengths to marry you. After your death, I didn’t even dare look at your memorial tablet for long. Do you think I would kill you for something like that?”
Luo Yining was silent for a long time. She vaguely recalled that memory. The night was cool as water, and she stood stiffly. Lu Jiaxue rested his head against her waist, his voice softening, “Yining, come back to me… and I’ll stop pursuing others.”
“How should I tell you…” Luo Yining took a deep breath. She put her hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him away. “Forget that I can no longer trust you or like you. You are now General Lu, my adoptive father, and I am already married. This is impossible now, do you understand?”
Lu Jiaxue laughed coldly. “What does being your adoptive father matter? I don’t mind being your adoptive father.” He stood up and moved closer to Luo Yining, saying, “But this talk of you being married – I find it very unpleasant. Let me tell you, as long as Luo Shen Yuan remains your husband for even one more day, I will never let him off.”
“You bastard!” She suddenly kicked him. “I’ve said so much to you these past few days. Do you listen to anything? Let me go back!”
Lu Jiaxue allowed her to hit him, unmoved. Instead, he smiled and said, “You’re finally angry?”
Luo Yining felt this approach wouldn’t work with a military officer, especially not Lu Jiaxue. She caught her breath and rested for a moment before turning to walk towards the door.
Unexpectedly, the two subordinates were still there. Seeing her suddenly rush out, they looked at each other in surprise.
Luo Yining didn’t want to look at them and walked straight out. Under the eaves, the maids Lu Jiaxue had assigned to her blocked her way, not allowing her to wander around.
Ye Yan finally caught a glimpse of this legendary woman. He silently gave a thumbs-up to his deputy commander. It was a fleeting glimpse, but she lived up to her reputation. And judging by her demeanor, she had quite a temper. At least, she was the only one he had ever seen dare to kick Lu Jiaxue.
Lu Jiaxue slowly strolled out from the inner room, appearing to be in a good mood. He even called out loudly, “I’ll take you out tomorrow. Go back and rest well.”
Outside, only the sound of the wind could be heard.
Yi Ning paused at his words. She had been closely guarded, unable to leave. If Lu Jiaxue was willing to take her out, perhaps this was a golden opportunity.
She glanced at the maids behind her. They were all tall and strong, each towering over her, a testament to Lu Jiaxue’s intense caution.
But where exactly did he intend to take her?
In the study, Ye Yan hesitated for a moment before bowing respectfully. “Lord Hou, this lady is…”
“It’s none of your concern,” Lu Jiaxue interrupted, waving his hand dismissively. “Just make sure not to offend her.”
He could provoke her, but he did not want anyone else to.
“Yes, yes,” Ye Yan acknowledged quickly, understanding his place. “If you are busy, perhaps I could return tomorrow?”
“No need to rush,” Lu Jiaxue continued, his gaze growing colder. “Deliver this to the Luo residence.”
He pointed to a letter on the table. “The day after tomorrow, I will enter the palace to see the Emperor. Inform Luo Shenyuan that this is the final deadline.”
Although Luo Shenyuan was merely her brother and they had no conjugal relationship, Lu Jiaxue disliked anyone considering themselves Yi Ning’s husband.