Lu Jinzhi walked to the entrance, where a carriage was waiting. Qiao Yin was stepping onto the footstool, about to board.
Lu Jinzhi strode forward. “Have you finally come to your senses? No more finding other men to play hard-to-get with me? It’s wise of you to know how to apologize by sending tea. Considering you took the effort to make tea for me, I’ll forgive you this time and not hold it against you.”
Lu Jinzhi rambled on, but the person who had been facing away from him, about to board the carriage, suddenly turned around, looking at him with astonishment:
“Lu Shizi? Are you sleep-talking or sleepwalking?”
“Xue Wanran?!”
“It’s me, Lu Shizi. I heard your servant was looking for calming tea in the streets. I happen to have a jar here, made by a royal physician, extremely rare but highly effective for calming the nerves.”
Lu Jinzhi’s expression changed drastically as he stared at the woman before him in shock.
Why was it Xue Wanran? Where was Qiao Yin? Where was Qiao Yin?
Lu Jinzhi lowered his head and opened the porcelain jar in his hand. A medicinal smell wafted out, completely different from the calming tea Qiao Yin had prepared for him. Qiao Yin’s blend had the fragrance of tea and flowers, not this unpleasant odor.
Without a second thought, Lu Jinzhi angrily threw the jar in his hand.
Clatter—
The porcelain jar shattered on the ground, scattering the calming tea everywhere.
Xue Wanran stared in disbelief at the mess on the ground, her face darkening completely.
“Lu Jinzhi, even my father couldn’t bear to drink this tea. I kindly brought it to you as a gift. If you didn’t like it, you could have returned it to me. What do you mean by smashing it? Are you deliberately trying to humiliate me? Is this how you treat people, Lu Jinzhi? Is this the upbringing of your Duke’s Estate?”
Furious, Xue Wanran pointed at Lu Jinzhi’s nose and berated him.
Lu Jinzhi watched Xue Wanran’s red lips and white teeth moving, standing there as if entranced.
He had thrown away Qiao Yin’s things before, but Qiao Yin had never spoken to him so fiercely.
He hadn’t asked her to bring it, so why was she so angry?
“I don’t want your calming tea. I don’t want anyone’s except Qiao Yin’s. Don’t get the wrong idea.”
“What?”
Xue Wanran believed she had known Lu Jinzhi for years, and her father was one of his teachers. Even if they weren’t close friends, they were at least acquaintances.
Even if he didn’t like her, he should have shown some respect for her and her father, for the sake of future interactions.
Who would have thought he would be so lacking in gentlemanly manners, speaking so harshly without any regard for her reputation as a woman?
Then again, if he were truly a man of such manners, how could he have let Qiao Yin become a laughingstock for four years?
Had she been blind before? How could she have liked such a shallow and hypocritical person!
Xue Wanran seemed to wake up in an instant, and when she looked at Lu Jinzhi again, her eyes were filled with anger.
“Who’s getting the wrong idea? I think it’s you! Not only are you delusional, but you’re also daydreaming! Qiao Yin has been circling around you for four years, and you can’t even recognize her? You’re not only ungrateful but also blind and heartless! Are you waiting for her to serve you tea and water? Pah, dream on!”
“Let me tell you, I just came from the Jing’an Marquis Estate today. I saw Qiao Yin and Xie Yu’an together with my own eyes. I watched Xie Yu’an personally go to the Qiao residence to pick her up. The entire Qiao family is as familiar with Xie Yu’an as if he were one of their own.””Xie Yu’an is a hundred times better than you. Only a fool would think of hanging themselves on your crooked tree!”
As Xue Wanran spoke, she observed Lu Jinzhi’s expression. She watched as his face gradually darkened, then flushed red, turning from red to green, and from green to white—like an overturned palette of paints.
Seeing his expression and recalling how Lu Jinzhi had treated Qiao Yin like a plaything, summoning her at will and dismissing her just as easily, along with his earlier self-righteousness when he smashed the tea jar, Xue Wanran felt nothing but satisfaction!
“Lu Jinzhi, just wait to drink the wedding wine at Qiao Yin and Xie Yu’an’s celebration.”
Before leaving, she couldn’t resist adding one last jab!
Even after Xue Wanran’s carriage had long disappeared into the distance, Lu Jinzhi remained standing in place, his expression complex—a mix of humiliated anger and a dark, unsettling gloom.
Zhuye timidly glanced at his master, his heart filled with worry.
He had served the Young Master since childhood. Whether in studies or scholarly pursuits, the Young Master had always been the best among his peers, growing up surrounded by admiration and praise. Never before had he been publicly lectured and pointed at like this on the street.
Could the Young Master handle it?
“Young Master, are you alright?” Zhuye asked softly.
Lu Jinzhi turned to look at him. “Zhuye, do you think what Xue Wanran said just now is believable?”
Seeing the eager look in Lu Jinzhi’s eyes, desperate for validation, Zhuye suddenly felt a pang of pity for his master. Against his better judgment, he shook his head.
Lu Jinzhi breathed a sigh of relief. “Seeing is believing, hearing is doubtful. I don’t believe it either.”
All he remembered was Qiao Yin’s lingering attachment and relentless pursuit of him.
No matter how good Xie Yu’an was, it didn’t matter. He hadn’t just appeared out of nowhere. If Qiao Yin had liked him, she would have chased after him four years ago.
“Jinzhi! Jinzhi! Something big has happened!”
Just after Xue Wanran left, a carriage stopped in front of Lu Jinzhi, and Chu Wenjing jumped out in a frantic hurry.
Chu Wenjing gasped for breath. “Guess who I saw at the racecourse today? I saw Qiao Yin.”
Lu Jinzhi’s previously gloomy face suddenly lit up with hope.
Of course, today’s gathering had been arranged long ago. Qiao Yin must have remembered the time and gone to the racecourse specifically to look for him.
After catching his breath, Chu Wenjing continued, “She was with Xie Yu’an. Did you know? To make Qiao Yin smile, Xie Yu’an traded a genuine painting by Lord Gu with Yan Ruyu for a horse and gave it to Qiao Yin.”
As if afraid Lu Jinzhi couldn’t picture the scene, Chu Wenjing described it in vivid detail.
“Qiao Yin was overjoyed when she saw the horse. Her smile was brighter than peach blossoms in March.”
“Then Xie Yu’an personally taught her how to ride. Do you know how he taught her? He held her by the waist—oh, my, the two of them didn’t even try to hide their closeness. They were so intimate.”
“Enough, stop talking.”
A deathly stillness settled in Lu Jinzhi’s heart as he interrupted Chu Wenjing in a low voice, but Chu Wenjing, too caught up in his excitement, didn’t notice his expression.
“I haven’t even gotten to the important part yet. The important part is that Yan Ruyu, for some reason, went over and asked Qiao Yin if she wanted to come to the Duke’s residence to visit you since you were sick. Guess what Qiao Yin said?”
Like embers reigniting, a flicker of hope sparked once more in Lu Jinzhi’s heart.Over the years, whenever he fell ill, Qiao Yin was always the first to notice and the most concerned about him. If he coughed, she would prepare loquat water for him; if he sniffled, she would immediately fetch a warm cloak to ward off the cold, even more attentive than Zhuye.
Last year during the harsh winter, he caught a cold, and no number of doctors could cure him. Eventually, they found a folk remedy that required a hibernating water snake as medicine. That very day, Qiao Yin went to break the ice and search the snake’s den to find the remedy for him.
Qiao Yin cared the most about his health.
“How did she reply?”
“If he’s sick, then he’s sick. When sick, call a doctor—what does he need me for? Wait until he’s dead, then call me—it won’t be too late.”
Chu Wenjing vividly recounted Qiao Yin’s words, repeating them word for word…