Let Me Pursue You

The Lu Mansion of Yongxingfang welcomed a distinguished guest today.

Early in the morning, the sixth prince Zheng Zhuo came to visit, saying that he came to visit Lu Shilang, who was bedridden and frightened by falling into the water in Furong Garden yesterday.

Lu Shiqing was in the room, leaning against the square couch in his clothes, reading a volume of chess records, and when he saw him, he was annoyed: "What are you doing here?"

Zheng Zhuo couldn't stop laughing: "Isn't it because Lu Shilang didn't go to the court, so he came to take a look? I think you look good, and you may have hidden yourself because you were ashamed of yesterday's shame!" Seeing that he wanted to get up, he He hurriedly made a gesture to stop, "There is no need to be polite between you and me, just sit down. I have to pay you for this matter."

Lu Shiqing was unceremonious, and gave him a light glance: "Next time you encounter something related to the Lord Lancang, don't drag me along."

Early yesterday morning, when he came out of the Xuanzheng Hall, he was going back to his residence, but he dragged Zheng Zhuo to the Furong Garden, but he ran into bad luck.

Zheng Zhuo clenched his fist and coughed: "I'm afraid it won't work, I really came here for this girl today."

"Why, you two didn't talk about it yesterday?"

"This girl has exquisite seven orifices, and she is not someone who can be fooled at will."

He sneered: "I'm afraid your skin is not enough for others to see."

"You can, you go?"

In exchange for Lu Shiqing's sharp eye.

Zheng Zhuo stopped joking and asked, "Look, but Yuan Shichen told her the ins and outs? Otherwise, why would she ask me if I really wanted to marry me?"

"Shichen" is Yuan Yu's character.

Lu Shiqing shook his head: "It doesn't look like that." He was silent for a while, then twitched the corner of his mouth, "She was accompanied by the Prince of Diannan's cronies when she came to Beijing this time, but these people were repatriated halfway, do you know why?"

Zheng Zhuo thought about it deeply, and probably understood what he meant.

"The reason why she is like this is because she knows that once the confidants of the King of Diannan step into this imperial city, they will definitely give the courtiers a reason to talk to the saint. From this point of view, this woman's mind is not simple, and Just when you won Yuan Shichen's support and entered Beijing, you should have a plan."

Zheng Zhuo nodded frequently at first, but he couldn't help laughing at the end: "What can a little girl plot?" After asking, he frowned, "Or, is it the meaning of the King of Southern Dian?"

Lu Shiqing shook his head, signaling that it's hard to say for now.

"No matter what, you have to listen to the Yuan family again. I have a three-day appointment with her. When the time comes, you will be my lobbyist again like last time."

Lu Shiqing didn't respond for a while, but raised his eyes and said, "The sage ordered you to get married. It's a plan to kill two birds with one stone. If you want to play tricks, I won't stop you, but you have to be clear, this road is very dangerous, for you, for Yuan. Home is dangerous."

He smiled indifferently: "What are you afraid of, isn't it under your control?"

Lu Shiqing glanced at him, and agreed without saying anything else.

…

Early the next morning, the Lu Mansion received a stack of generous gifts: a pair of fine jade rings, a pair of exquisite and elegant sachets, a pair of delicately woven concentric knots... as if some young lady would be able to express her feelings. The keepsakes were all over the place, and for some reason, they were all in pairs.

Mrs. Lu Xuanshi and Mrs. Lu Lu Shuangyu looked at the pile of tokens and fell into deep thought.

Xuan's phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, quietly examining them.

She has only one son, and it goes without saying who these things are for. But the Lu Mansion, who used to receive presents with hands sore, hadn't seen such a scene for more than a year.

The reason is that in the early spring of last year, her good son mercilessly rejected the court princess's love proposal, which caused a lot of trouble in the city. From then on, all the little ladies in Chang'an were ungrateful, fearing that they would marry her, and they would offend the nobleman, and their lives would be in danger.

She looked at it for a while, and the more she thought about it, the more curious she asked the servant: "Which young lady is so courageous?"

The servant replied: "As for the old lady, these are all sent by the Yuan family..."

"Ah?" Lu Shuangyu's mouth was as big as a jujube.

"The Yuan family said that a time ago, the family dog ​​of the Lancang County Lord bitten a pair of jade rings belonging to Mr. Lang, so they made an apology."

Lu Shuangyu had been depressed for quite a few days, not thinking about food and drink, so she managed to calm down. Hearing the words brought back her sad past, she bit her lips and said, "She wants to apologize to Brother, just send the right jade ring. This sachet and What's going on with the settlement?" Then he tugged at Xuan's sleeves, "Mother, this Lancang county lord must have taken a fancy to my elder brother!"

Such a simple and rude thing, isn't it obvious?

Xuan Shi glanced at her: "Of course. People don't look down on your elder brother, but also on you?"

Lu Shuangyu pursed her mouth: "Mother—!" Is she really her own?

Xuanshi has no time to talk to her right now. She thought for a while and asked the servant girl: "You told me earlier that when Zishu came back from Furong Garden, he was wearing a brocade handkerchief, which seemed to belong to a woman. Where is the brocade handkerchief now?"

"Go back to the old lady, Mr. Lang was thrown away on the spot."

Xuan frowned: "What words are embroidered on the brocade handkerchief?"

"I don't know about this servant girl. But I heard that the lady in Furong Garden that day, besides Mrs. Yuan who is already a married woman, is the Lord of Lancang County."

Xuan's brows stretched out, Miao, Miao, he tilted his head and whispered: "Go and find out if this brocade handkerchief is indeed from Miss Yuan."

As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a male voice: "There's no need to check, it's hers." It was Lu Shiqing who heard the news of the gift giver and came to the main hall.

He frowned deeply, and said as soon as he entered the room, "Aniang, you didn't have any reason, and you want to mess up some mandarin ducks?"

Xuan Shi looked at him: "What is no reason? Look at these things, they are all sent by Miss Yuan. If it's not what A Niang thinks, you can tell me an innocent reason?"

Lu Shiqing's footsteps faltered, and he looked down at the box on the case. The chicken wings are made of wood, the variety is good, the texture is complete, there is no patchwork, the lotus petal pattern is symmetrical, it is not uncomfortable to look at.

But when he saw the object inside, he frowned even more: "Hurry up, you guys, take it down for a drug test."

Xuan's face was shocked.

He stepped forward to explain: "Aniang, there must be a demon when things go wrong. General Yuan and I have never dealt with each other. Maybe he borrowed the name of Lancang county lord to make fun of me. My son still has important matters. I'm here, so I won't be with you." After saying that, she resigned, and added to the maid, "Wait, don't test it, just throw it away."

Xuan Shi couldn't stop him, so he had to let him go, feeling a pity in his heart.

Lu Shiqing hurried back to the room, paced back and forth a few times, remembering Zheng Zhuo's explanation the day before yesterday, finally took out a silver mask from the cabinet, picked up a jade pen pillow on the table, embedded it in the groove in the wall, and waited. The secret door slowly moved away, and he bent down the secret passage.

…

In Yuan's mansion, Yuan Cixian received a reward from the servant, and when he heard that the gift had been delivered, he gave them a reward. After that, he sat in front of the makeup mirror with his cheeks propped up, wondering what he was thinking.

Seeing her sinister expression, Shi Cui and Cai Zhi felt fear in their hearts. One said: "Little lady, what else do you want to do, why not tell the maids as soon as possible, the work that has been driven out is not refined enough after all."

She turned her head and saw that there was a **** circle around the eyes of the two of them, and said with a smile: "This time the sachet and concentric knot are well done, there is nothing else needed for now, you two can rest well, and you don't have to serve me at night."

Shi Cui nodded: "But will this method work? The servant girl has heard people say that Lu Shilang is not close to women at all, maybe he is more masculine!"

"Where did the rumor come from? Why haven't I heard of it?"

Picking up a branch and saying: "The rumors are mostly fueling, but there are no waves without wind. Look at this Lu Shilang, he is in his twenties, the main house is vacant, and there is no concubine. In recent years, so many young ladies in Chang'an have followed suit, and none of them have succeeded. The maidservant went out to investigate for you yesterday, and heard something terrible."

Yuan Cixian became interested: "Tell me and listen."

"Little lady, do you know Princess Shaohe? She is the only daughter of the empress of the current dynasty. Princess He fell in love with Lu Shilang and intended to remarry. How do you think Lu Shilang rejected her?"

She tilted her head and thought for a while: "I heard that he lost his father at nineteen, so he must have used filial piety as an excuse."

Picking up branches and shaking his head: "If that's the case, I'm still being sympathetic. The little lady doesn't know that Princess Shaohe has a beauty mole under her left eye, but there is no one under her right eye. Lu Shilang said that he felt uncomfortable seeing it. , I can’t even look at it with a single glance, and I really can’t spend the rest of my life with your lord.”

Later, rumors gradually emerged in Beijing that Lu Shiqing was not a womanizer. After all, she doesn't even love the celestial Shaohe Princess, so she probably won't look down on any woman in this life.

Yuan Cixian couldn't laugh or cry.

Shi Cui's face was full of sadness: "Lu Shilang doesn't even look down on such a noble person, the little lady really wants to face the difficulties?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she heard someone knock on the door. The servant came to report that the gentleman invited the young lady to the study.

Yuan Cixian remembered the agreement with Zheng Zhuo, thinking that the gentleman arrived last time, so she hurried over and said to Yuan Yu: "I will hide behind the screen, brother, remember to come as we discussed last night."

Yuan Yu heard the footsteps approaching outside, nodded her head to reassure her, and pushed her to hide in.

It was Lu Shiqing who came.

Yuan Yu felt guilty, and saw that he seemed to be looking at the other side of the screen after sitting down, so she pulled his attention back first: "Mr. has been running around twice because of his younger sister, so I'm tired."

Lu Shiqing said in his mind more than twice, this is four times, and his voice was well disguised: "You are welcome, general."

Seeing that he didn't try to tilt his head anymore, Yuan Yu breathed a sigh of relief: "Your Highness's intention, in fact, Yuan is very clear, so I don't need you to repeat it. But you have met me several times, but I still don't know your name. I always use ' Sir' address..."

He only spoke half of what he said, expecting the other party to understand.

Firstly, out of politeness, and secondly, because he knew that the identities of these staff members were always kept secret, he never explored this person. Today's question is Yuan Cixian's explanation.

Lu Shiqing replied neither humble nor overbearing: "My surname is Xu, and my first name is Shan. You can call him whatever you want."

Yuan Yu was stunned for a moment when he heard the name, and asked in surprise, "Aren't you... Could it be Xu Congxian, a layman in Xunyang, Mr. Xu?"

"Fortunately, the general heard and appreciated it, and Xu deserves it."

Yuan Cixian behind the screen was also very surprised.

She had heard about Xu Shan's name even in Yaozhou. I heard that this person is good at chess. More than ten years ago, he defeated Mr. Xu, the national player at that time, in Xunyang, Jiangzhou, and became famous since then. Because of his low-key behavior afterwards, he seldom showed his face, and he devoted himself to the mountains and rivers, and lived in seclusion all the year round, so he was called "Xunyang Layman" by the world.

Although she entrusted her elder brother to inquire about the identity of this person, she didn't have much hope for him to be honest with him at first. But obviously, if the other party intends to make a fake, they should choose an unknown character, not a character like Layman Xunyang. After all, if you want to distinguish the authenticity, it is likely that a game of chess is enough.

It seems that this time, Zheng Zhuo came here with sincerity.

Just having said that, how did an innocent hermit like Xu Shan be invited out of the mountain?

Yuan Yu's petite heart trembled for a while before he calmed down, and his original momentum weakened a bit: "Mr. Xu took the time to come, and Yuan Mou will answer you straight to the point."

He cleared his throat, and poured out the words he had memorized in advance: "Looking at the current Zhou Dynasty, the position of the crown prince has been vacant for a long time, but the sage has not made any new plans for a long time because of the lessons learned by the previous prince. Suspicion and impermanence have exacerbated the turmoil between the government and the public, so that there are many parties and people are not in harmony."

"Under such circumstances, in private, His Highness wants to show his grand plans, and in public, His Highness wants to criticize the current evils. For Yuan, it is good to be alone, but seeing the precautions the sage has taken against the Yuan family these years, he feels It is impossible. In order to prevent the Yuan family from becoming the object of the emperor's suspicion and a **** for check and balance, Yuan should choose the Ming Lord as soon as possible. This is the original intention of Yuan and His Highness to cooperate."

Lu Shiqing listened quietly, but from the corner of his eye, he paid attention to the flower and bird screen in the room.

Yuan Yu continued to recite: "If sister She marries His Highness, it will be a reassuring ball from His Highness to the Yuan family, and also a reassuring ball from the Yuan family to His Highness. It is undoubtedly the icing on the cake. But Yuan thought that since the above The original intention is to make me agree with His Highness, so why not add this flower?"

This answer is watertight, really powerful.

As soon as Lu Shiqing heard it, he knew that he had come prepared, no matter how much he persuaded, he was afraid that it would backfire, so he said: "Xu has already understood the general's meaning, and will definitely convey it to His Highness as it is."

Yuan Yu recited all the words Yuan Cixian explained, already sweating profusely from nervousness, and almost forgot that there was one more thing to say, so she quickly added: "It is best to get your understanding. It's someone my sister already likes. Maybe you know this person..."

Lu Shiqing blinked twice, as if listening attentively.

Yuan Yu frowned, slapped his thigh and gritted his teeth resentfully, and said reluctantly: "It's our Minister Lu!"

Lu Shiqing's face behind the mask suddenly became very exciting.