Lu Jing lightly patted Meng Shuhe’s back to help her catch her breath. “Drink slowly.”
Meng Shuhe lifted her eyes to look at Lu Jing, who was inches away. Looking at him like this, it really seemed as if he had come to settle the score for her stealing his purity.
But he wasn’t angry that she had taken it; instead, he wanted her to take responsibility?
Lu Jing asked, “What business do you have in Chang’an Cheng these few days? Do you need my assistance?”
Meng Shuhe shook her head. “No need, it’s already been settled.”
The waiter arrived with several dishes. Meng Shuhe looked at the food before her. The crucian carp soup was not white at all, and one whiff revealed a heavy, fishy smell.
Meng Shuhe scooped a bowl and took a light sip, her brows furrowing slightly. The little one in her belly had lied to her—this carp soup was absolutely revolting, and the sautéed shrimp were also overwhelmingly fishy.
Lacking any appetite, Meng Shuhe ate just enough to line her stomach and thought about returning to the Meng family. As soon as she stood up, she saw Lu Jing following her.
Meng Shuhe paused and asked, “Young Master Lu, what are you doing following me?”
Lu Jing replied, “I’ll see you back. Where are you staying in Chang’an Cheng?”
Meng Shuhe didn’t dare let Lu Jing know she was the daughter of the Pingyuan Houfu, so she said, “I’m going back to the manor.”
Lu Jing looked at Meng Shuhe and said, “My carriage happens to be right there. Let’s go back to the manor together.”
Before following Lu Jing onto the carriage, Meng Shuhe whispered a few words into Lan’er’s ear, telling her to go to the Pingyuan Houfu to inform them that she was going to the manor to recuperate.
As soon as Meng Shuhe entered the carriage, she was pulled into Lu Jing’s embrace.
Falling suddenly into his arms, Meng Shuhe felt a faint fragrance waft toward her nose. “Young Master Lu, what are you doing? Let me go.”
Lu Jing did not release her. He lowered his head and whispered in her ear, “You’re still calling me Young Master Lu? Have you forgotten what you called me the night before last?”
Meng Shuhe truly did not want to recall the events of that night. She felt the tips of her ears turn a burning red.
She cleared her throat and said, “Young Master Lu, we were both drunk the night before last. Let’s both just forget what happened that night and act as if it never occurred.”
Lu Jing’s phoenix eyes narrowed slightly. “Never occurred? You stole the purity I kept for nineteen years. How can you act as if it never happened?”
Meng Shuhe coughed lightly. Was Lu Jing really going to settle the score for her taking his innocence?
“Young Master Lu, I was drunk that night. It was truly a moment of drunken confusion; I didn’t intentionally mean to take your purity.”
Meng Shuhe continued, “I… I… let’s just treat that night like a dream. Neither of us needs to be entangled with the other.”
Lu Jing said coldly, “You took my purity. How can you brush it off with the excuse of being drunk?”
Meng Shuhe whispered, “Then… how about I give you ten thousand taels of silver as compensation?”
Ten thousand taels was no small sum.
Lu Jing was moved to angry laughter. “My purity is only worth ten thousand taels?”
Meng Shuhe asked, “Then, in Young Master Lu’s opinion, how should I compensate you?”
“Give me a title.”
Lu Jing looked at Meng Shuhe and said, “Marry me.”
“You can’t agree to him! Mother, you absolutely cannot marry Lu Jing! If you marry him, your whole life will be ruined!”
Hearing the child’s voice, Lu Jing frowned slightly. He looked at Meng Shuhe in his arms and asked, “Did you hear the voice of a young child?”
Meng Shuhe hadn’t expected that Lu Jing could also hear the little one in her belly. She shook her head slightly. “I didn’t hear anything. Is it possible Young Master Lu didn’t sleep well last night and is hallucinating?”
The carriage interior was clear at a glance, and there was no child. Lu Jing could only suspect that he had indeed hallucinated.
Lu Jing took hold of Meng Shuhe’s hand. “Since the deed is done and we have shared the Rites of Duke Zhou, you must give me a title and marry me…”
Meng Shuhe pulled her hand away. “Young Master Lu, marriage is a grave matter decided by parents’ commands and matchmakers’ words. My parents are still in Jiangnan Cheng. This marriage will have to wait until I write to ask my parents.”
“Your parents are in Jiangnan?”
Lu Jing looked deeply at Meng Shuhe. Was she still unwilling to tell him she was the daughter of the Pingyuan Houfu?
Meng Shuhe nodded. “Yes, don’t you already know? My parents are in Jiangnan.”
Lu Jing gave a faint smile. “Fine. Then once we return to the manor, you shall write a letter to Jiangnan to discuss our marriage with your parents.”
Meng Shuhe turned her gaze toward him. “Young Master Lu, if you want to marry me, you also need your parents’ permission. You should also go back and discuss our marriage with your parents…”
Lu Jing smiled faintly. “My parents have been urging me to marry for a long time. They will certainly agree to our union.”
Meng Shuhe was momentarily dazed. Didn’t the little one say Lu Jing loved someone else and only married her out of necessity because of the pregnancy? This didn’t quite look like that.
Pingyuan Houfu.
The Meng family was dining together in Huajian Tang.
When Lan’er entered and saw the family laughing and chatting happily, she felt the injustice of it all on Meng Shuhe’s behalf.
“Marquis, Madam, my lady sent me to deliver a message. She has been feeling unwell these past few days and wishes to stay at the country manor for a while to relax.”
Hearing Lan’er’s words, Xie Qing’an looked at Shen Qian and Meng Ruoli with a complicated expression, ultimately able only to sigh.
“Lan’er, take good care of your lady.”
“Yes,” Lan’er complied.
Meng Ruoli glanced at the departing Lan’er, her heart full of triumph.
So what if Meng Shuhe was arrogant? Wasn’t she now forced to flee back to the country manor in disgrace?
She was now the Shizi-fu-ren of Zhenguogong Fu. In two days, she could even attend Jiayu Gongzhu’s poetry gathering, while Meng Shuhe was only fit to stay in that rural manor, hidden away like a shameful secret.
On the carriage journey back, Meng Shuhe was preoccupied with her thoughts. Once they returned to the manor, she went to her room and closed the doors and windows tightly.
“Little Xiu, are you still there?”
“Mother, don’t believe Lu Jing’s words. You absolutely must not marry him.”
Meng Shuhe sat on the small couch and said, “But why do I feel that Lu Jing isn’t like what you described? He doesn’t seem like he’s being forced to marry me because of the pregnancy. Lu Jing doesn’t even know I’m the daughter of the Pingyuan Houfu yet, but he’s willing to marry me. It doesn’t seem right that he would refuse his beloved because her status was too low to be Taizifei, only to marry me…”
Lu Xiu huffed. “Heh, Lu Jing is a man of many schemes. He definitely has Anwei stationed around you. It’s likely he already knows you are the daughter of the Pingyuan Houfu.”
“Hmm? Anwei?” Meng Shuhe was startled. “What are Anwei?”
Lu Xiu explained, “Anwei are specially trained guards within the imperial family. They hide in the shadows to monitor or protect others, coming and going without a trace.”
Meng Shuhe said, “But I feel like Lu Jing isn’t marrying me out of reluctant necessity…”
Lu Xiu countered, “He is being forced. Didn’t you hear Lu Jing say just now that Grandfather and Grandmother have been urging him to marry? Since Lu Jing can’t marry the woman he loves, he’s just looking for a woman he can use to appease Grandfather, so Grandfather doesn’t bestow a marriage to a real daughter of a prestigious family upon him.
“Mother, although you were born into a Marquis’s family, you grew up in the countryside. You won’t be able to stir up any storms in the Donggong’s inner court, unlike those noble daughters in Chang’an Cheng who have dreamed of entering the palace since childhood and know how to win people over. Furthermore, the Pingyuan Houfu clearly favors that fake daughter. You have no maternal family to rely on. Therefore, you are the best candidate for Taizifei for Lu Jing to use as a shield for Grandfather; he can manipulate you as he pleases.”
Meng Shuhe fell into deep thought again. Even if she was from a noble family but grew up in the country and was “easy to manipulate,” she was still a “second-marriage” woman.
As the Taizi, if Lu Jing couldn’t marry his low-born beloved as Taizifei, could he really marry a woman who had been previously engaged or considered “soiled”?
Though her mind was a mess, sleepiness overcame her. Amidst her pondering, she fell asleep on the small couch.
She didn’t wake until dusk.
When Meng Shuhe woke up and opened the door, she happened to see Lu Jing arriving.
Lu Jing looked at Meng Shuhe’s loose hair and sleepy eyes, giving a faint smile. “Did you just wake from a nap?”
Meng Shuhe hummed in affirmation.
Lu Jing walked to her side and said, “It’s time you wrote the letter to discuss our marriage with your parents.”
Meng Shuhe looked into Lu Jing’s deep phoenix eyes and asked, “Lu Jing, since we are already discussing marriage, I haven’t asked you yet—where are you from? How many brothers do you have in your family? And what does your father do?”