Lu Shiji was still flipping through case files. He finished reading the last page before finally lifting his eyes, his expression cool and distant. “Let her in.”
“Yes.”
A moment later, Song Qinghe hurried inside.
“Brother Shiji.”
Her face was pale, her eyes red from crying. Her steps were unsteady, and she almost fell. She had to grab the back of a chair to steady herself.
“What is it?” he asked.
Lu Shiji had always been like this. Ever since he was young, he seemed almost emotionless. Nothing ever stirred him. People often said he was gentle and refined, like a clear breeze or warm jade.
But only Song Qinghe knew how cold he truly was.
It felt as though nothing in this world could touch his emotions, and no one was worthy of doing so.
She had long been used to this. Yet now, looking at his calm, familiar brows and eyes, a sudden thought crept into her mind.
If Shen Lichu had appeared here today in such a miserable state, would he still be this indifferent? This calm?
Song Qinghe looked at him with pleading eyes. “I don’t know what happened. I suddenly came into contact with rose pollen. Before this, the cousin miss gave me a gift for no reason at all. The Old Madam asked her a few questions about it, but then the Duchess came and made trouble, dragging all the servants from my courtyard out for punishment.”
“Brother Shiji, I beg you, please speak on my behalf. Ask the Duchess to spare the innocent servants in my courtyard,” Song Qinghe said, her voice already choking with tears.
Lu Shiji looked at her, his expression unchanged. “Are you here to plead for those servants, or are you here to clear your own name?”
Song Qinghe froze.
Her hidden thoughts had been exposed so suddenly that the words caught in her throat. For a moment, she could barely breathe.
Tears streamed down her face as she said, “I truly don’t know how this started. But ever since Shen Lichu entered the Duke’s residence, there have been constant incidents…”
Lu Shiji’s voice turned faintly cold. “You’ve always been cautious. When you were five, you even knew to avoid a handkerchief that had touched roses. A hairpin covered in rose pollen—are you really saying you couldn’t tell?”
Song Qinghe’s face grew paler by the second. Even her pupils trembled.
When she was five and had just been brought into the Duke’s residence, the late Madam didn’t yet know she had asthma. She casually picked a rose and wiped her hands with a handkerchief.
Seeing that Song Qinghe had just eaten some flower cakes and had crumbs at the corner of her mouth, she reached out with that handkerchief to wipe her lips.
Song Qinghe immediately dodged, frightened, and said, “There’s pollen on the handkerchief.”
Such a small thing from ten years ago—and he still remembered it.
Song Qinghe stood there stiffly, unable to speak.
After a long while, she finally spoke in a trembling voice. “I… I just thought Miss Shen looked innocent and harmless. She even took the initiative to give me a gift, so I felt grateful and let my guard down. Who would have thought she hated me so much? Brother Shiji… do you not believe me?”
It didn’t matter whether others believed her or not. As long as Brother Shiji believed her, that was enough.
She knew very well that if Brother Shiji did not want to marry, no one could force him. He had always kept everyone and everything firmly on his own chessboard.
No one could make him do anything—no one, not even the Duke.
The corner of Lu Shiji’s lips twitched slightly, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.
Would Shen Lichu really grow jealous because of him?
Two years ago, Shen Lichu learned that he had dealt with Li Ming, allowing Song Qinghe to successfully divorce and leave the Li family.
She came to see him carefully.
“I heard that Madam Song has divorced.”
He was cold and detached, busy with his official work, not even looking up. “What does that have to do with you?”
Shen Lichu pressed her lips together. After pausing for a few breaths, as if finally gathering her courage, she said, “I… I’m also willing to divorce.”
His fingers holding the wolf-hair brush paused slightly. He lifted his eyes to look at her. His calm, dark eyes were already filled with undercurrents.
Shen Lichu’s voice trembled faintly. “If it weren’t for me back then, you and Madam Song wouldn’t have been separated. This is all my fault. I’m willing to give up the position of Duchess and let the two of you be together openly and properly. But I have one condition.”
The corner of his lips curved faintly. Rarely patient, he asked, “What condition?”
Shen Lichu seemed to sense a chance of hope. Her eyes lit up as she stepped forward. “I want to see my aunt.”
The Duke was already dead. Fourth Young Master Lu had died of illness. The Duchess, stricken by grief, had lost her sanity and was recuperating in Jinxiu Garden.
That was what outsiders knew.
But Shen Lichu knew the truth. The Duke had been killed by Lu Shiji. Fourth Young Master Lu had also died at Lu Shiji’s hands. Her aunt had been driven mad by Lu Shiji and was now on the brink of death.
In the entire Duke’s residence, only one person truly held power now.
Lu Shiji alone.
Lu Shiji stayed silent for a long time. Lichu’s heart pounded uneasily, the tension in the room feeling even more frightening than the day he killed his own father.
He stood up and walked toward her.
The pressure from his presence hit her all at once. Lichu trembled and stepped back again and again, until her lower back hit the edge of the table. There was nowhere left to retreat.
He smiled, but it was chilling. “Shen Lichu, you still dare to bargain with me?”
She shook her head quickly. “No, no conditions. I don’t want any conditions. I’m willing to divorce. I’ll leave the Duke’s residence immediately.”
Terrified, she tried to turn and run, but he grabbed her face with one hand and forced her to turn back.
She met his dark, heavy eyes, and her whole body went cold.
There was no trace of a smile left on his face. He felt like a bloodthirsty wolf. His fingers holding her cheek slowly moved, brushing across her bright red lips.
“You’ve really grown bold. Now you even dare make decisions for me.”
Her face turned paler and paler. Her lips trembled. “I… I didn’t…”
He leaned closer. His warm lips burned against her ear as he spoke in a cold voice. “A’Li, tell me, how should I punish you?”
Her face turned completely white. She struggled desperately to push him away, but he caught her with one hand and pinned her onto the desk.
Her tears soaked the papers on the desk as she cursed him in fury, wishing him a miserable death.
Her eyes were filled with fear, trembling, hatred, regret, and humiliation.
Everything except jealousy.
The corner of Lu Shiji’s lips lifted slightly again. Had she… finally learned jealousy now?
Song Qinghe was still speaking urgently.
“Madam Shen is trying so hard to push Shen Lichu onto you. There must be some kind of scheme! And now Shen Lichu is acting so arrogantly, clearly determined to marry you. If the late Madam knew about this, she would definitely be restless in her grave!”
Lu Shiji suddenly spoke, his eyes cold. “Are you warning me?”
A chill shot up Song Qinghe’s back. It felt like her blood froze. She couldn’t even force out a single word.
Outsiders only knew Lu Shiji as gentle and polite. But Song Qinghe knew his arrogance.
That was why she tried so hard to separate herself from the ordinary girls outside — staying proud and refined, hoping to stand beside him as his equal.
But he could see straight through people’s hearts. There was nowhere to hide.
He tapped his fingers lightly against the desk, his voice indifferent. “You’re trying to use my mother to remind me to stay away from Shen Lichu.”
Song Qinghe shook her head in panic. “No, that’s not it…”
Lu Shiji said calmly, “Before my mother died, she was still worried about you. She told me to take good care of you. Thinking about it now, I really can’t neglect you. I’ll have the Old Madam arrange a good marriage for you as soon as possible, so you can marry and leave soon.”
Song Qinghe’s pupils shrank suddenly.
Lu Shiji had already lost his patience. “Consider it repaying the bit of connection you had with my mother.”
Song Qinghe’s voice trembled. “Then… what about us? What about our—”
She suddenly met Lu Shiji’s cold, emotionless eyes. The chill cut straight to her bones.
Her whole body shook.
Lu Shiji said coldly, “You should know, I hate being threatened.”
Song Qinghe’s face turned deathly pale. She spoke quickly, “I was wrong. I made a mistake. Brother Shiji, please forgive me this once. I’ll never—”
“Xiping.”
Xiping hurried forward and gestured for Song Qinghe to leave, his tone firm. “Miss Song, this way please.”
Tear stains covered Song Qinghe’s face. She opened her mouth to speak, but the heavy, dark pressure in the room made it hard for her to breathe.
In the end, she could only lower her head and follow Xiping out like a walking corpse.
Lu Shiji remained seated behind the desk, leaning back into his chair, lightly tapping the armrest with his fingers.
— “If the late Madam knew, she would be restless in her grave.”
The corner of his lips lifted slightly. In his cold eyes, there was a faint, bloodthirsty darkness. Why would his mother be restless?
Once he washed the Duke’s residence in blood, she would naturally be at peace.
As for Shen Lichu.
That was what she owed him.