The rain outside had lessened, though it still pattered softly.
Yining held Yu’er’s hand, teaching him to draw. The boy suddenly looked up with innocent eyes and asked, “Aunt, is Yu’er’s drawing good?”
Yining kissed his soft cheek. “Yu’er draws the best.”
Tickled by her kiss, Yu’er nuzzled against her clothes and settled in her arms, focusing intently on his drawing. The child had grown very close to her in just a few days. Last night, he even insisted on sleeping with her.
Luo Yihui had scolded him with mixed amusement, “…Don’t you dare wake up in the middle of the night and come back! I’ll spank you if you disturb your aunt’s sleep.”
After much consideration, Yu’er decided not to sleep in Yining’s room.
Lin Hairu sat nearby, peeling peanuts for them. She removed the red skins, revealing plump, tempting white kernels. These freshly dug peanuts tasted better than dried ones, and Yining usually enjoyed them.
But now, Yining couldn’t muster any interest. Her gaze was fixed on the corridor. Her elder sister had gone to fetch Zhao Mingzhu, as Lu Jiaxue had arrived. Upon hearing this, Zhao Mingzhu immediately went to the front hall.
Luo Yihui approached, surrounded by maids holding umbrellas. She stepped onto the corridor and closed her umbrella. Entering the room, she informed Lin Hairu, “…It is indeed Commander Lu who has come. He says he’s passing through on an inspection tour. Uncle has prepared a banquet in the main house and asked everyone to join.”
Yining suddenly asked, “Didn’t he come to see Miss Mingzhu?”
Luo Yihui shook her head with a smile. “He only learned Mingzhu was here when I brought her over. Hearing how well we’ve been caring for Mingzhu, he even had his subordinates send some precious mountain delicacies. He’s talking with Uncle now and has given gifts to Yiyu and Yixiu.”
Lin Hairu placed the peeled peanuts in a small dish and dusted off her hands. “I’ve been curious about what this Commander Lu looks like. The rumors about him are so exaggerated – killing his brothers and seizing the title. I thought he’d have three heads and six arms! Yining, quickly change into something nice and come with me.” After a pause, she instructed Ruixiang, “Go to Concubine Guo’s quarters and bring Xuan’er along.”
Having forgotten her earlier grudge against Xuan’er, she no longer held it against him.
Yining popped a few peanuts in her mouth, savoring their sweet aroma. “No need to fuss. This outfit is fine.”
Lu Jiaxue was exceptionally skilled at reading people, almost as if it were an innate talent. If you dressed up specially to see him, he’d notice with a single glance and know exactly how you regarded him.
She had no desire to change clothes, lest Lu Jiaxue think they held him in high esteem!
Lin Hairu didn’t press the issue. In her eyes, Yining looked good in anything.
To reach the main house, they had to pass through the bamboo grove outside Zhu Garden and cross a stone-washing pond. The rain continued to drizzle as they walked. Xuezhi held an umbrella for Yining as she strolled. Lu Jiaxue’s guards stood at attention outside the flower hall.
Before Yining even entered, she caught sight of Lu Jiaxue through the rain and bamboo branches. He sat upright in the hall.
Tall and imposing, his sharp edges and coldness had softened somewhat now that he was over thirty. He wore a right-lapelled robe. Years of military campaigns had ingrained an erect posture. His handsome features were deep-set, with slightly protruding brow bones – familiar yet utterly foreign.
It was as if this man had only ever existed in her dreams.
The distant voices of Uncle and Aunt chattering, maids setting out tea, and occasional low responses drifted over. Suddenly, Yining didn’t know how to approach. When the moment came to face him, she still wanted to turn and flee.
In all her years making hairpins, Yining had pondered one question: Why did her sister-in-law say Lu Jiaxue killed her? Each day as she knelt before Buddha chanting sutras, she prayed not only for her deceased husband Lu Jiaran but also for her dead younger siblings, all victims of Lu Jiaxue’s coldness and greed.
Yet when Yining recalled the young Lu Jiaxue, how he’d tease her with a smile, she still couldn’t comprehend it.
He once told her, “You may be bad at matching couplets, but how can your handwriting be so poor? It’s even worse than mine.”
When the Empress Dowager had the young wives copy Buddhist scriptures, she’d enlisted her maid as a stand-in. Lu Jiaxue discovered this and snatched her brush, saying, “Here, let me write a few pages for you. I see even your maid can’t keep up, but your writing is too unsightly. It would embarrass me if others saw it.”
Or when he caught her playing string games with the little maids, he’d sigh dramatically: “When I married you, I thought I was getting a dignified and virtuous wife. How quickly you’ve shown your true colors… Why do you only act so proper in front of others?”
Yining would glare at him coldly. “If you don’t like me, I’ll just go home!”
She’d have the maids move his bedding to the study, forbidding him from sleeping in their room.
Good-natured Lu Jiaxue slept in the study for three nights, his back aching from the cramped couch. Eventually, he came with the string game, smiling. “I’ll play with you. Just don’t make me sleep in the study anymore. The guards are all laughing at me!”
Back then, Yining’s heart had melted. She thought his youthful, handsome features were so appealing, his smile like a hook catching her heart. She felt truly happy. Though he spent each day joking with her instead of attending to proper business, she believed he genuinely cared for her.
Later, after she fell from the cliff and died, dramatic changes swept through the Marquis of Ningyuan’s household. He strode into the manor with a blood-stained sword, his expression numb and cold, wearing armor that reeked of iron. His followers moved with military precision. This was Yining’s first glimpse of this version of Lu Jiaxue. She doubted if this was the same man she knew – he seemed an entirely different person!
Afterward, she overheard her sister-in-law Xie Min telling a maid: “Lu Jiaxue… we truly misjudged him! Such cruelty – he even killed Lu Jiaran… Yining’s family wasn’t high-ranking; how can we be sure he didn’t have a hand in her death? And he dared pin it on me! He’s benefited enormously from this, using his wife’s murder as justification to seize the title of Marquis…”
Lu Jiaxue then became the Marquis of Ningyuan, Commander Lu, wielding immense power. Everything about him differed from the man Yining knew – the Lu Jiaxue who would wake her in the middle of the night to show her the night-blooming cereus he’d secretly cultivated. They’d crouch by the flower all night, but it never bloomed. She’d hit him in frustration, but he didn’t feel any pain, just smiled and said, “If hitting me makes you feel better, don’t be angry anymore!”
Or when she played with puppies, he’d sketch her portrait and have it mounted in her study. Yining found it both infuriating and amusing when she saw it.
But all of this was merely a facade, and she was his best tool for maintaining it. No one, including herself, had ever doubted Lu Jiaxue’s loyalty and obedience. If she hadn’t witnessed those changes with her own eyes, Yining wouldn’t have believed it either.
Yet Lu Jiaxue’s cold, emotionless gaze appeared countless times in her dreams, making her acutely aware that her entire life had been a joke. She couldn’t even see through the man who shared her bed.
But why did Lu Jiaxue need to use her death to make his move? Why didn’t he remarry after she died? What was he thinking?
Yining didn’t know. She felt she no longer wanted to delve deeper. Those matters no longer concerned her.
Luo Yihui led Yining into the flower hall.
Zhao Mingzhu was still beside Lu Jiaxue, talking to him with a radiant smile. “My lord, have you visited Daci Temple? I think the scenery there is the most beautiful. How is my uncle doing lately? I’ve been gone for two days now; I hope he’s not angry?”
Luo Yiyu and Luo Yixiu sat nearby with stiff smiles, silently enduring countless complaints, their postures rigidly correct as they perched on the front third of their chairs.
Lu Jiaxue’s voice had a peculiar deep timbre, but his tone was flat. “Your uncle has been busy lately.”
Seeing Luo Yihui approach, Zhao Mingzhu stood and took her hand, saying, “This is the Sister Hui I mentioned to you. She’s the eldest daughter of the Luo family and has been so kind to me! I’ll be sure to speak well of her when I return.”
Luo Yihui curtsied to Lu Jiaxue, who merely nodded. His gaze shifted to the young girl standing to the side.
…It was indeed her.
Despite her youth, she had already grown into quite a beauty. Her features were ethereal and striking, with a small red mole at the end of her eyebrow… She kept her head lowered, not meeting his eyes.
“This young lady must also be from your esteemed family?” Lu Jiaxue suddenly asked.
Yining’s hand clenched inside her sleeve before she raised her head and said, “Greetings, Commander Lu.”
While others addressed him as “My Lord,” a more respectful yet familiar term, she called him “Commander Lu,” creating an air of coldness.
Lu Jiaxue didn’t know how much of his conversation with Daoyan she had overheard that day. When he learned the young girl was from the Luo family, it hardly mattered anymore. What he had done was treasonous, but the Luo family was barely aligned with him – at least they wouldn’t dare jeopardize their future.
A servant brought in a plate of fresh peach-shaped dates from Southern Zhili, known for their fragrant crispness.
Lord Luo immediately seized the opportunity, smiling, “My Lord, please try these dates. I had them specially procured from Nanjing.”
Lu Jiaxue gazed at Yining for a long while before shifting his attention to converse with Lord Luo.
Yining suddenly recalled that Lu Jiaxue disliked dates, finding their flavor strange. When eating porridge with dates, he would pick them out and put them in her bowl, knowing she enjoyed them.
Yet now she watched as he picked up a date and slowly ate it. His expression remained unchanged, showing neither enjoyment nor distaste.
Then he took another.
“Yining, didn’t you say you wanted to eat some peach-shaped dates?” Luo Yihui suddenly took a plate from the maid’s tray and placed it before Yining with a smile. “This whole plate is for you. Eat as many as you like.”
Lu Jiaxue’s movements suddenly halted. He turned and asked, “You called her Yining?”
Luo Yining set down the plate and stood, asking softly, “Commander Lu, did you not know my name before you came?”
Lu Jiaxue must have investigated before coming to find her, but Yining no longer wished to play along with his act.
Lu Jiaxue suddenly smiled, his handsome features once again familiar to her, his captivating eyes and brows all charm: “I didn’t know. Did you expect me to come looking for you?”
Hearing Yining speak to Lu Jiaxue this way, Luo Yihui’s palms began to sweat. This man was Lu Jiaxue! What was Yining doing? Lord Luo and Lady Chen were also at a loss, all eyes on Luo Yining.
Zhao Mingzhu said, “Luo Yining, how dare you speak to the Marquis like that!”
Luo Yining walked up to Lu Jiaxue and, looking at his familiar face, said directly after a pause, “I don’t know anything, nor did I hear anything. Commander Lu need not worry. What could an ordinary young girl like me understand?”
Lu Jiaxue, having endured so much bloodshed and turmoil, the loss of loved ones, and life’s great ups and downs, found it difficult to be truly moved anymore. This young girl was indeed clever; she knew exactly why he had come to find her and spoke frankly. He adjusted his sitting position and continued questioning, “If you’re just an ordinary young girl, how did you know I was coming to find you?”
Yining held back and said, “I guessed.”
Others couldn’t understand what they were talking about, but they were nervous for Luo Yining.
When Lu Jiaxue heard this, he suddenly found it amusing.
This personality… it was quite similar, and even the name was the same. Lu Jiaxue’s gaze became distant as he recalled someone from his memory who was just like this – inexplicably losing her temper with him, giving explanations that were both laughable and exasperating. Back then, he often teased her, and when she got angry, she paid no heed to anyone, like a kitten’s claws. Though harmless, she insisted on scratching you, determined to make you feel pain too!
He had adored her immensely, cherished her deeply, but in the end, couldn’t keep her by his side.
Sometimes he even felt angry and desperate.
Thinking this, he suddenly became more tolerant of the young lady before him. After all, she was from the Luo family. Let it be. Keeping her quiet would be troublesome; since she was smart, she likely wouldn’t bring trouble upon herself.
“Yining, your name is Yining, right?” When Lu Jiaxue called out these two syllables again, he felt a strange unfamiliarity. He said, “Come here to me.”
Zhao Mingzhu stared at Luo Yining in bewilderment.
Lu Jiaxue was known for his mercurial temperament. One moment he could be all smiles and the next, he might kill with a hidden blade. She thought Luo Yining had offended him and would surely suffer, but somehow Luo Yining had said something to please him, and he didn’t seem angry at all.
Just then, hurried footsteps approached the flower hall.
Luo Yining heard her Third Brother’s nervous voice: “Yining—”
Before he and Luo Chengzhang arrived, they had roughly figured out why Lu Jiaxue was here and knew he had been inquiring about the 12-13-year-old young ladies in the household. It wasn’t hard to guess that Lu Jiaxue had come for Luo Yining, and with ill intent.
After learning this, Luo Shengyuan had gone to the main house, but Luo Yining had already left with Lin Hairu. He then hurried to the elder branch’s residence.
Hearing Lu Jiaxue call Yining over, he immediately called out to stop her.
Yining turned back, but Luo Shengyuan had already stepped forward and grabbed her hand. He placed Yining behind him and bowed to Lu Jiaxue: “Commander, I’ve long admired your reputation.”
Yining had always felt there was something peculiar about Luo Shengyuan. No matter who he faced, he was neither servile nor overbearing. He had been like this before their grandmother, and now he was the same before Lu Jiaxue. He seemed to fear no one, always patient and composed.
Luo Shengyuan looked up at Lu Jiaxue – a future political rival, though their positions were vastly different at this moment. Perhaps it was her imagination, but Luo Yining felt an unusual atmosphere between the two men, and her Third Brother’s grip on her hand was painfully tight.
She could feel Luo Shengyuan’s rapid breathing and knew he must have figured out what had happened and rushed over to find her.
Seeing Luo Shengyuan protectively shielding Yining behind him, Lu Jiaxue knew he had come to her rescue. Of course, he knew of Luo Shengyuan, the top scholar at fifteen, who might have become a jinshi at sixteen if not for mourning his grandmother. These scholarly officials and aristocratic scions had always been two distinct factions. Only Cheng Lang embodied both.
“I’ve heard of Third Young Master Luo’s reputation as well,” Lu Jiaxue said, fingering the ring on his hand with a smile. “I merely have a small gift for your family’s young lady. There’s no need to be so tense.”
He had his subordinate bring over a box, which Luo Shengyuan took directly, not letting Yining touch it. He nodded, “On behalf of my younger sister, I thank the Commander.”
Luo Chengzhang had Luo Shengyuan and his daughter step back as he came forward to bow to Lu Jiaxue: “This humble official is Luo Chengzhang, Magistrate of Baoding Prefecture.”
As the superior, Lu Jiaxue merely nodded, speaking coolly with him and no longer paying attention to Luo Yining.
She was just a young girl after all. Now that she posed no threat, he dismissed her from his mind.
Yining stood to the side, noticing that Luo Shengyuan still hadn’t let go of her hand. A cool breeze blew through the hall, and she suddenly felt cold. Speaking to Lu Jiaxue like that earlier had been extremely risky. If Lu Jiaxue had been displeased, she could have been in serious trouble. Although she had some understanding of Lu Jiaxue and had acted on her instincts, looking back now, she felt like she had danced on the edge of death.
Lu Jiaxue couldn’t see through her, or at least he shouldn’t have been able to.
Lu Jiaxue was in Baoding Prefecture for an inspection tour, so naturally, Luo Chengzhang and Lord Luo had to accompany him. Before leaving, Lu Jiaxue said to Zhao Mingzhu, “Mingzhu, you should return soon too. Empress Dowager Zheng misses you.”
Zhao Mingzhu stood straight, her smile taking on a coquettish air: “I understand. I’ll go back the day after tomorrow.”
The Luo family saw him off to his carriage. Only when Yining saw his blue-curtained, black-roofed carriage disappear and the accompanying guards follow did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Yining couldn’t help but glance at Zhao Mingzhu in the distance and found Zhao Mingzhu looking back at her, her gaze seemingly cold. She approached Yining with her maids and old women, saying in a low voice, “The Marquis is not someone you can aspire to. Don’t harbor any foolish thoughts.”
“What do you mean, Miss Mingzhu?” Yining just smiled. “I don’t quite understand.”
“I’ve seen plenty like you,” Zhao Mingzhu said coolly. “The aristocratic families are beyond your reach.”
Zhao Mingzhu then left with her attendants.
“She’s certainly no proper young lady,” Luo Yixiu, who had a grudge against Zhao Mingzhu, couldn’t help but mock, “Look at her, acting all high and mighty. She’s just Commander Lu’s adopted daughter!”
Yining smiled and said, “Let’s not mind her.”
The two chatted as they walked, the atmosphere quite pleasant.
Meanwhile, after seeing Lu Jiaxue off, Luo Shengyuan’s expression darkened. He strode forward and grabbed Yining’s arm: “Yining, come with me.”
Yining had never heard Luo Shengyuan so angry before.
Even Luo Yixiu was startled, stammering, “I was still talking to Yining…”
Yining waved her hand, wanting Luo Yixiu to wait for her, but she was already being pulled away by Luo Shengyuan.
In Luo Shengyuan’s study, he sat down and took a sip of tea.
The rain outside the latticed window had stopped.
He seemed a bit agitated, or perhaps annoyed. Yining felt it was quite something to see so many emotions on her usually expressionless Third Brother’s face in one day. He must have been pushed to his limit… She had quietly provoked Lu Jiaxue, and it had taken him so long to investigate and find out.
“Third Brother…” Yining said softly. “Are you angry?”
Luo Shengyuan smiled and asked her, “So you know I’m angry?”
Yining stood still with her hands hanging, saying nothing. He could only see the top of her head, that lock of hair still falling along her slender neck, her shoulders thin, her cheeks still tinged with childish pink. Her stubborn silence made him even angrier.
“Do you know why I’m angry with you?”
Yining nodded: “I didn’t tell you… that I met Lu Jiaxue at Daci Temple.”
“Meeting him isn’t the issue,” Luo Shengyuan’s tone calmed a bit, “It’s practically your luck that you happened to overhear him and Daoyan discussing how to kill the Crown Prince during a hunt. Not telling me then is one thing, but why didn’t you tell me afterward?”
Luo Shengyuan stepped down from his seat, approaching her step by step: “If Lu Jiaxue had been more ruthless, he could have killed you in secret. Do you understand?”
As he advanced, Yining stepped back, feeling her brother’s tone grow sharp, almost lunging at her.
No matter how much time passed, she still tended to keep things to herself, trying to solve them on her own. Because no one would help her solve them, it had almost become her nature. Perhaps because it was Lu Jiaxue, she was even more reluctant to let Luo Shengyuan get involved in such a conflict.
The little girl might have been frightened by him, as she remained silent for a long while. Her round eyes looked at him, seeming somewhat nervous. Luo Shengyuan sighed and said softly, “Yining, I’m your Third Brother. If you have any problems, tell me, and I’ll help you solve them.”
He hoped that when Yining faced threats, he would be the first person she thought of.
Not anyone else, not even herself.
“Third Brother, you said that monk… was Daoyan?” Yining finally asked after a while.
Luo Shengyuan glanced at her coldly: “Is that all you got from what I said?”
“No,” she immediately took his arm, coaxing, “I didn’t know that man was Lu Jiaxue…”
“Didn’t know? Then why did you run when you met him?” Luo Shengyuan asked coldly again.
How did he know all this? Even that she had run away.
Yining couldn’t hide it anymore and could only say, “Third Brother, I won’t do it again… Don’t be angry, okay? How about I make you a pair of shoes?”
She looked up at him, her gaze clear and bright. This reminded him of when Luo Yining was little, always trying so hard to please him but pretending it was nothing. Very cute.
His inexplicable anger subsided, and he didn’t know how to express it. After all, even if Yining had made a mistake, it wasn’t a terrible one. She was very clever, recognizing Lu Jiaxue at the temple and facing him fearlessly at the Luo residence, even speaking frankly.
In such a situation, frankness was the best approach.
He shouldn’t be too angry; she had already done very well.
Yining was still very concerned about Daoyan: “Third Brother, quick, tell me, do you know that monk?”
Daoyan was part of Lu Jiaxue’s faction and a hero who had helped quell the Japanese pirates, revered by coastal fishermen.
“Daoyan… is sort of my senior fellow disciple,” Luo Shengyuan said coolly, “We studied under the same master. But he has already become a monk, seeing through the emptiness of all things. If Lu Jiaxue hadn’t forced him out of seclusion, he would probably still be wandering the four corners of the world.”
To think that Luo Shengyuan and Daoyan were fellow disciples under the same master! No wonder he had a zither made by Daoyan himself.
Yining was surprised for quite a while, as in her previous life, she had no idea that Luo Shengyuan had such a connection with Daoyan.
“You should go back now,” Luo Shengyuan said with another sigh, his anger had passed, “By my calculations, Elder Sister should be waiting for you.”
Given how boldly she had acted today, even daring to confront Lu Jiaxue face to face, she was likely in for a scolding when she returned. Luo Yihui surely wouldn’t let her off easy.
In the courier station, candles were lit as Lu Jiaxue reviewed documents.
An attendant brought wine, and Lu Jiaxue took a sip before suddenly closing the document and saying with closed eyes and a cold smile, “Wang Jin is a fool. He’s alerted our prey, and now we’re in trouble.”
The attendant smiled and comforted him, “Why don’t you rest a while before continuing, my lord?”
Lu Jiaxue tossed aside the document in his hand and, after gazing at the guards standing outside for a long while, suddenly said, “Qiao Lin, doesn’t the Luo family’s Seventh Miss look somewhat familiar…”
The attendant thought carefully and said, “Now that you mention it, she does! Our Marquis Wei Ling has a mole at the end of his eyebrow! Though the Seventh Miss doesn’t look like him overall, that mole is in the same spot. Come to think of it, the shape of her eyes is somewhat similar too.”
At the attendant’s words, Lu Jiaxue recalled something. Wei Ling had once mentioned that over ten years ago, he had been involved with a woman outside and might have had a child. He was very fond of her. Later, he went back to look for her, but she had disappeared without a trace. He had searched for a long time in Baoding that year…
It did seem quite similar, especially the mole at the end of the eyebrow, which was almost identical.
This was quite a coincidence – in Baoding, of the right age, and looking so much like Wei Ling.
But she was the Luo family’s Seventh Miss and a legitimate daughter at that.
“Write a letter to Wei Ling and let him know,” Lu Jiaxue instructed without thinking too much about it, “Wei Ling has remained unmarried for years searching for that woman. Perhaps this could provide a clue.”
The attendant acknowledged the order and withdrew.
Lu Jiaxue closed his eyes again and lay back in his chair, silently mouthing that name.
Luo Yining… separated by life and death, it had been ten years, hadn’t it?
To think it had been ten years already.
As he uttered this name, he could almost feel the blood-tinged bitterness and depth within it. In these ten years, from initial anger and despair to the current calmness, he had almost forgotten that there was once someone he loved so much.
But Luo Yining was dead, and he could never get her back. That dark despair was something he never wanted to think about; such emotions could drive a person mad.