“Tell Accountant Yang later to separate our accounts from the Lu family’s clearly,” Fang Qianxue gazed at the rolling clouds on the horizon. “If they want to let that woman suck them dry, I won’t be involved.”
Outside the Lu family study.
“Brother Yan, when did you return?” Lu Changqing had just emerged from the Pine Sound Residence when he saw a man in a blue robe standing outside his study. He felt slightly uneasy. “Do you need something from me?”
“Of course I do,” Yan Fenghua said sternly, his eyes darkening as he looked at him. “Even an outsider like me knew to follow the Fang family to Luzhou to pull strings after they were exiled. But you, as the Fang family’s son-in-law, washed your hands of it completely!”
“You’ve misunderstood me, Brother Yan. Before my teacher passed away, he instructed me to take care of Qianxue and not to interfere in other matters,” Lu Changqing waved his hand, dismissing the maid at the study door, and walked straight into the study. “Prince Yong’s treason case is no small matter. I’m being cautious to protect Qianxue.”
Yan Fenghua snorted coldly and followed him into the study. “I heard you brought a woman back from Jiangning and plan to marry her with a proper ceremony. Is this how you protect Qianxue?”
“Stop calling her Qianxue so casually! She is my wife, Lu Changqing’s wife. When did it become your place to address her by her given name?” With only the two of them in the study, Lu Changqing laid his cards on the table. “Yes, I am going to marry Miaoyan. So what? Fang Qianxue is a woman of the Lu family. The Three Obediences and Four Virtues are her duty!”
Over the years in the officialdom, he had been constantly frustrated, already jealous of Yan Fenghua’s higher position. The thought that Yan Fenghua had once sought to marry Fang Qianxue only added to his irritation.
“Have you forgotten the vow you made on the day Yao’er and Yuan’er were born?” Yan Fenghua, furious, grabbed his wrist.
Reminded of this, Lu Changqing suddenly recalled that the birth of the two children had been difficult. He had knelt outside the delivery room all night, swearing to the heavens that if Heaven spared his wife and children, he would treat them well for the rest of his life, or else be struck by lightning.
Whether the vow had worked or not, the next morning, Fang Qianxue had safely given birth to a pair of twins.
“I haven’t forgotten!” Lu Changqing broke free from his grip. “I, Lu Changqing, will keep the vow I made. Besides, I’m only marrying Madam Xu to continue my brother’s line. I never said I wouldn’t treat Qianxue and the children well!”
The vow that night had been sincere. When he learned that Fang Qianxue and the twins were safe, he had truly thought, “With a wife like this, what more could I ask for?”
But…
People change.
Prince Yong died, the Fang family fell, and Xu Miaoyan appeared.
“Brother Lu! That Madam Xu’s background is unclear and full of suspicious points. Think carefully!” Yan Fenghua urged.
“Suspicious points?” A flicker of light flashed in Lu Changqing’s eyes, but only for a moment. “Say no more! Miaoyan is a rare auspicious sign for our Great Yong dynasty, naturally incomparable to ordinary women. My feelings for her are beyond ordinary understanding!”
“Grandfather’s suicide was not an admission of guilt. There is more to Prince Yong’s case…” Fang Qianxue whispered the words on the letter, slowly closing her eyes.
How could this be?
They clearly said Grandfather left a confession of remorse!
She searched her memory for the later plot of the novel The Powerful Minister’s Younger Uncle and Dual-lineage Succession, Pampering Her to the Bone. Prince Yong was undoubtedly the villain. The male lead’s older brother exposed Prince Yong’s treason, after which the male lead, Lu Changqing, investigated and executed Prince Yong’s remaining followers, earning great merit and rising swiftly in rank.
But her brother Fang Jue mentioned in the letter that there might be some hidden circumstances regarding Prince Yong’s case. Could it be that the so-called great merit of the male lead was entirely fabricated?
“Qianxue, what are you thinking about?” A familiar man’s voice, tinged with the smell of alcohol, sounded beside her ear.
“Why didn’t you have someone announce your arrival, Second Master?” Fang Qianxue opened her eyes and hurriedly tucked the letter in her hand into the drawer. Fortunately, Lu Changqing had never shown much interest in what she was reading and wouldn’t snatch it away to look.
“I wanted to surprise you, so I told the maids not to disturb you,” Lu Changqing sat down beside her and asked softly, “What were you looking at just now?”
“Fang Jue sent a letter,” Fang Qianxue closed the drawer. “It didn’t say much, just that he, Mother, and the uncles are all in good health.”
“I guessed Yan Fenghua must have come to see you,” Lu Changqing pulled her into his embrace, his voice growing husky. “Qianxue, let your husband stay with you tonight.”
He had just recalled youthful passions and had drunk some deer antler wine in the study, feeling the need to find a place to vent his pent-up desires.
Xu Miaoyan had been putting on airs all day, refusing to let him touch her. These past few days, he had been repeatedly rebuffed, so instead of going to Song Sheng Residence, he came to Fang Qianxue’s place.
Fang Qianxue tried to break free but found the man’s grip surprisingly strong. “It’s still early. Don’t let the maids see and laugh at us.”
“What’s there to fear? We are husband and wife, after all.”
Fang Qianxue suddenly remembered that during their playful moments in the past, they had used the same lines. But now, instead of the flutter of excitement she once felt, there was only resistance.
The man, however, could no longer restrain his desire for intimacy and pressed forward like a wild horse.