As if a needle had lightly landed, Lu Zhi put his hands in front of him.
He turned his head to look at Yu Xi. Yu Xi’s small face flushed red, and she copied his posture, putting her hands in front of her too, only crossed together, looking rather nervous.
“You’ve already forgotten everything I said,” Lu Zhi said coldly. “Never do such a frivolous thing again.”
Yu Xi lowered her head, quietly rubbing the fingers that had just touched Lu Zhi’s hand, she hadn’t gotten enough of it yet.
Besides, no one had seen, and he was already her husband, and so handsome too, touching him a little wouldn’t get her thrown in jail. Was there any need to be so stingy about it?
Of course, these thoughts she only dared think secretly to herself, not dared say in front of Lu Zhi.
Seeing that she said nothing, Lu Zhi had nothing more to say to her either. Although Yu Xi was his wife, the two of them were more like strangers.
And Yu Xi wasn’t the ideal wife he had in mind either, she still needed proper training.
After a while, Lu Zhi lowered his hand, and Yu Xi’s hand drifted close again.
Lu Zhi frowned at her, and she pulled her hand back as if startled, looking somewhat wronged.
Lu Zhi remembered, was it last year or the year before, on his way home from court, he had seen Yu Xi and his younger brother Lu Ping strolling on the street together.
Yu Xi had casually tossed her handkerchief to Lu Ping to wipe his sweat, and Lu Ping had looked flattered beyond measure, as if he’d received some enormous favor.
Lu Ping had kept that handkerchief for a long time, even taking it out especially to use during the New Year last year.
Although Lu Ping had in the end betrayed Yu Xi, that didn’t stop Lu Zhi from feeling contempt for his past behavior.
At this moment, he stopped walking, and Yu Xi stopped with him.
Lu Zhi said, “Say again what I just said.”
Yu Xi clenched her fingers. Xique behind her grew a little anxious, they’d only been married one day, and the young master was already treating Miss like this. What would things be like later!
Yu Xi’s voice was as faint as a mosquito’s. “You said… you said not to do this again in the future.”
“Not to do what?”
As husband and wife were one, if Yu Xi wouldn’t follow the rules, Lu Zhi would have to teach her.
“Not to… not to…” Yu Xi stammered, and finally had to tell the truth. “I forgot.”
She looked at Lu Zhi pitifully, and said in a coaxing tone, “I’ll definitely remember next time, just let it go this once.”
Lu Zhi clasped his hands behind his back, and hearing this, said in a deep voice, “If there’s a next time, you’ll copy out what I said ten times, until you remember it.”
With that, he turned and walked on ahead.
Watching his tall retreating figure, Yu Xi’s expression turned a mix of annoyed and sweet. She stomped her foot, then hurried to catch up. “Husband, wait for me.”
After entering the courtyard, Lu Zhi went to the study to handle official business. Yu Xi had wanted to follow him in too, but was blocked outside the door.
Yu Xi thought about it and let it go, Lu Zhi was usually busy, and she’d best not disturb him too much during the day. There were still plenty of days ahead; there would always be time for her to have him to herself.
Passing through the small gate, Xique finally couldn’t hold back, and said quietly, “Miss, don’t feel bad. This servant will go pack our things right now, let’s go home.”
“Not going home,” Yu Xi said, not only unbothered but pulling Xique’s hand, her face full of infatuation. “Xique, he’s really so handsome. I really like him. Don’t say things like that.”
Even remembering how Lu Zhi had just scolded her, Yu Xi thought it was very much like the male lead in the romance novel she’d been reading lately, “My Abstinent Tutor”, and she was the female lead being reprimanded for not following the rules in class.
Thinking of the male and female leads in the novel holding hands, embracing, and doing this and that, Yu Xi’s face turned red. Even though she’d just been scolded, it had felt strangely wonderful!
Xique looked at her mistress, not knowing for a moment what to say. If only she’d stopped Miss from buying those romance novels back then, now her mind was practically ruined from reading them.
Xique gave up. “As long as Miss is happy…”
Yu Xi went back to the rear courtyard and saw that the servants had already changed the large red bedsheet on the bed, replacing it with the pink brocade sheet embroidered with twin lotuses that she had brought with her.
Yu Xi had nothing to do as usual, so she came back, kicked off her shoes and socks, and lay down on the daybed to read her novel.
Meanwhile, in the study.
Lu Zhi had been going over documents for a while when the young attendant Xuanyu came in. “Young master, the second young master is causing a fuss, insisting on coming back.”
Lu Zhi tossed his brush into the water dish. “Has that mistress of his been found?”
“No. It seems the second young master sent her to Jiangzhou; she can’t be found for now.”
Lu Zhi said coldly, “That mistress is already pregnant. Once found, give her a dose of abortion medicine and let her leave on her own.”
Xuanyu hesitated. “Then how should we deal with the second young master?”
Lu Ping had no idea that Lu Zhi and Yu Xi had married. Letting him come back now wouldn’t be a good thing.
Lu Zhi picked up a fresh goat-hair brush. “Keep a close watch on him. Don’t let him return to the capital.”
·
Yu Xi had been reading her novel for a while and was about to take a nap when she heard rustling sounds in the courtyard. She propped herself up to look, and saw it was the Lu family’s third son, Lu Fan.
Lu Fan was only ten, the youngest son of the Lu family, at exactly the age where he was a nuisance to everyone. He usually loved going to the Yu family to find Yu Xi’s younger brother Yu Chao, the two together were quite the pair of pests.
Lu Fan slipped in through the gate, eyeing Yu Xi suspiciously. “So you really did marry my eldest brother?”
Yu Xi glanced at him and couldn’t be bothered to answer.
Lu Fan, who was familiar with Yu Xi, pulled up a stool and sat beside her. “Say something, did you really marry my eldest brother?”
Annoyed by his noise, Yu Xi said impatiently, “I married your eldest brother yesterday, didn’t you see?”
“Oh, right…” Lu Fan stared at Yu Xi for a while, then grabbed a lychee from beside her to eat. “So what do you think of my eldest brother? Is he better than my second brother?”
“Your second brother isn’t even fit to be compared to your eldest brother,” Yu Xi said, her mood improving at the mention of Lu Zhi, smiling brightly. “Your eldest brother is like an immortal from the heavens, your second brother is stinking mud on the roadside. If I’d known your eldest brother was this good-looking, I never would have let your second brother be my fiancé for so long.”
Lu Fan looked at her with admiration. “Only you would think my eldest brother is good, whenever I see him I hide, he’s stricter than even my tutor. To be honest, even my tutor at school is afraid of him.”
“You don’t understand,” Yu Xi lectured him. “Your eldest brother is the most handsome man in the whole capital. When he’s stern it’s one kind of charm, when he smiles it’s another kind of charm. Let me tell you, when picking a husband, you should pick a handsome one.”
Lu Fan didn’t understand what “charm” meant. “I don’t get it, and I’m not picking a husband anyway. But have you ever seen my eldest brother smile?”
Yu Xi was perfectly calm about it. “No, but he’ll smile someday, after all, he’s my husband.”
Lu Fan fell silent, swallowed the lychee in his mouth, stood up, and paced back and forth around her a couple of times.
“Tsk,” Yu Xi said, “why are you pacing around here?”
Lu Fan’s expression turned complicated. “I really think you and my eldest brother don’t match, and your temper is so bad, my eldest brother probably doesn’t like you either.”
In his heart, Yu Xi and his second brother were the perfect match made in heaven, one who did nothing all day but read romance novels and got angry at the drop of a hat, and one who did nothing but fight crickets and fawn over Yu Xi, the two were simply a match made for each other.
And in Lu Fan’s mind, though his eldest brother was stern and rarely smiled, he was impressive, the top scorer of the imperial exam in the twelfth year of Chengan, and the youngest cabinet minister. If he were to marry, he should marry someone equally dry and cold but skilled at managing a household.
No matter how you looked at it, that shouldn’t be Yu Xi.
Hearing this, Yu Xi looked at him for a moment, then smiled and waved him over. “Come here, I’ll tell you a secret.”
Lu Fan walked over, puzzled. “What secret?”
Yu Xi swung her arm and smacked him on the head with her romance novel, bang, bang, bang, saying fiercely, “Let me tell you, the person your eldest brother likes most in all heaven and earth is me! If you make me unhappy again, I’ll knock your head clean off!”
Lu Fan, having been hit, clutched his head and retreated to the doorway, aggrieved. “Fine, fine, I won’t say it anymore.”
Yu Xi warned him, “If you dare tell your eldest brother what happened today, I won’t let you off either!”
Lu Fan pouted. “I know, I know.”
After taking a beating, Lu Fan behaved himself, mooched a few more lychees off Yu Xi, and finally headed out, muttering to himself as he walked that a real man could wait ten years for revenge, and that one day he’d surely get even.
Just past the moon gate, he ran into Lu Zhi returning to the back courtyard.
Lu Zhi said, “What were you off doing?”
Lu Fan, afraid of Lu Zhi, shrank his neck. “Went to see sister-in-law. Sister-in-law gave me lychees to eat, sister-in-law’s so good to me, I’m very grateful to her.”
His forehead was still red. Lu Zhi nodded. “Watch where you’re walking from now on. Also, you’re already ten years old, boys and girls should keep their distance. Don’t come to the back courtyard anymore from now on.”
Lu Fan nodded hurriedly. “Got it, big brother, I’ll go now.”
With that, he fled as if for his life, too terrifying, living in the same courtyard with both a male tiger and a female tiger at once, simply too terrifying!
After Lu Fan left, Lu Zhi paused at the moon gate before continuing on.
Madam Lu had come by earlier, saying she already knew that he and Yu Xi hadn’t consummated the marriage last night.
Lu Zhi hadn’t explained much, he truly had no wish to touch Yu Xi right now.
Hearing this, Madam Lu hadn’t tried to persuade him either, only saying, “Xi’er is still young, and she’s the only daughter the Yu family has, it’s normal for her to be a bit naive. You’re her husband, even if you don’t consummate the marriage for now, you should still try to spend more time with her. She’s someone’s good daughter who married in, she shouldn’t suffer here in our family.”
Madam Lu’s words made sense, and Lu Zhi didn’t argue. After finishing the documents at hand, he headed to the back courtyard.
Originally there hadn’t been many servants attending Lu Zhi’s courtyard, but after Yu Xi married in, Madam Lu had picked out another group of people to send over to serve.
At that moment, two young maids were whispering in a corner. “The young master didn’t even spend the night in the bridal chamber last night. I bet it’s because the young master doesn’t like the young mistress.”
“It could also be because of that other matter, after all, the young mistress used to be the second young master’s fiancée. The two were engaged for so many years, who knows if anything happened between them…”
Xuanyu cleared his throat, and the two maids turned to see Lu Zhi’s darkened face, and dropped to their knees in panic, begging for mercy. “Young master, spare us! This servant will never gossip recklessly again!”
Lu Zhi said to Xuanyu, “Call the steward to have them sold off.”
Even though everyone already knew about the matter between Yu Xi and his younger brother, Lu Zhi didn’t want to hear people talking nonsense behind her back.
After all, Yu Xi was now his wife.
Walking into the back courtyard, Lu Zhi smelled a familiar fragrance, the incense Yu Xi wore.
He stepped into the room, and through the beaded curtain, saw Yu Xi lying on the daybed, seemingly absorbed in something.
She hadn’t noticed anyone come in at all. She opened her mouth, and the maid beside her fed her a segment of lychee flesh. Her feet were crossed and raised, bare of shoes and socks, her round toes painted with bright red nail color.