Baohua Hall.
Liu sat upright on a Huanghuali armchair, twirling a Buddhist string of beads in her hand, and her expression was obviously anxious.
She kept stretching her neck to look outside the hall, muttering, "It's already past 3:45 PM, why hasn't the Marquis returned from the palace yet? Did something go wrong on the way?"
The maid standing by Liu's side shook her head and replied respectfully, "The servant who was sent to the palace gate to inquire about the news just now said that the Marquis seemed to have not left the palace since he left the court."
After hearing this, Liu paused fiddling with the Buddhist beads with her thumb.
Then panic suddenly arose in my heart.
She didn't care to sit in the main hall any longer. Just as she was about to get up and leave the house to find out about Shen Hongliang's news, she heard the loud voice of the servant outside the hall -
"The Marquis has returned home!"
Liu breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly followed the voice to go and greet Shen Hongliang in person.
But as soon as she saw him, Liu was stunned.
Shen Hongliang was not tall, but he was not short either. He just had sloping shoulders, so whenever he wore this solemn and wide scarlet official uniform, he looked particularly thin.
It can be said that people can't support their clothes.
Therefore, his two daughters, Shen Yu and Shen Han, more or less have the problem of sloping shoulders. When they wear formal clothes, Yun Jian has to ask the embroiderer to modify them.
But strangely, Shen Yuan doesn't have this problem.
She has a very beautiful face and a slender and well-proportioned figure.
When Shen Yuan first came to the capital from Yangzhou, Shen Han had taken the initiative to make friends with her. However, after just a few days of getting along, Shen Han began to intentionally distance herself from this elder sister.
Liu could understand her daughter's thoughts.
Shen Han had once seen Shen Yuan just after he came out of the bath.
Shen Yuan usually looks slim, but once he takes off his clothes, his body becomes slim and healthy, like a peak of snow.
Her white legs were straight and slender, her waist was as slender as a willow, but her shoulders were as slender as jade, and the proportions with her graceful neck were perfect.
From hair to toes, every part of Shen Yuan's body is extremely beautiful.
It is normal for Shen Han to feel jealous of his elder sister.
Therefore, Liu advised Shen Han, saying that Shen Yuan was older after all, and when a girl grew up, she would always be more beautiful than a girl of fifteen or sixteen.
When Shen Han reaches Shen Yuan's age, she might be even more beautiful than her.
But having said that, Liu is also a self-aware person.
Shen Yuan's appearance is rare. Unless Shen Han is reborn again, she will always be overshadowed by her elder sister in terms of appearance.
But come to think of it, they are both daughters of Shen Hongliang, so why is Shen Yuan the only one who grows up so well?
Thinking of this, Liu saw that Shen Hongliang, who had just returned, was not only covered in dust and dirt.
The first-rank official uniform embroidered with a crane patch was scratched with several scratches, and he looked gloomy and embarrassed.
Liu asked with concern, "My Lord, what happened to you? How...how did you end up like this?"
Shen Hongliang raised his eyes and glanced at Liu.
When he thought about what happened today, he became furious.
After Lu Zhiyun gave him a beating in front of the intermediate hall, he walked out of the palace in disgrace in front of the other cabinet ministers, like a rat crossing the street.
Not long after we boarded the marquis's carriage, something strange happened.
I don't know if it was because of the hot weather, but the usually docile horse suddenly became angry, raised its front hooves, and neighed several times with its neck raised.
The harder the driver whipped the horse, the more excited it became.
Finally, it swayed from side to side, and the carriage suddenly overturned. Shen Hongliang, who was sitting in it, almost broke his leg.
Shen Hongliang always felt that this matter was not that simple and it was definitely not an accident.
Someone designed it on purpose.
It seems that the Prime Minister is very dissatisfied with him.
Shen Hongliang kept thinking about this matter on the way back to the Marquis' Mansion.
But Lu Zhiyun's character is the most unfathomable. Who can guess what he is thinking?
Therefore, Shen Hongliang glanced at Liu, knowing that she was always a gossipmonger and was a cousin of Kou, the third wife of the Zhenguo Mansion. He asked in a cold voice: "Did you say something nonsense to your cousin Kou, and those gossips reached the ears of the Zhenguo Duke, causing him to resent me!"
Liu naturally did not expect that Shen Hongliang would be so angry when he asked her questions.
So she recalled in panic the conversation she had with Kou recently, and then answered truthfully: "I...I didn't say anything to my cousin, I just mentioned Yuanjie's marriage...and said that Prince Ying just wanted to marry a second wife..."
Having said this, Liu finally came to his senses.
She covered her mouth in shock and quickly apologized to Shen Hongliang, "My Lord... I really didn't mean it. I was just confused... Prince Ying is fighting fiercely with Lu Zhiyun. If I let Sister Yuan become his second wife at this time, it would be tantamount to declaring war on Lu Zhiyun..."
Shen Hongliang looked at Liu deeply and said nothing more.
He felt that he had finally found the reason for Lu Zhiyun's anger, and he also completely gave up his plan to let Shen Yuan marry Prince Ying.
But at the moment, Kang Pingbo was seriously injured after his head was hit by the archway, and he has not yet regained consciousness.
Shen Hongliang couldn't help feeling a little anxious.
He was afraid that Shen Yu and Lu Chen would not be able to get married, and their Shen family would have difficulty finding opportunities to establish a relationship with the Lu family.
——
The Mansion of the Earl of Kangping.
Lu Chen had been in a coma for several days. Mrs. Lu was so worried about her only son that she went to the Duke's Mansion and cried and begged Lu Zhiyun to bring a royal physician from the palace.
At noon that day, Lu Chen's condition finally improved.
The doctor performed acupuncture on his head. When he woke up, he felt an unbearable pain in his heart, as if it was cut by a sharp knife.
As soon as Lu Chen woke up, the first thing that came to his mind was Shen Yuan's delicate face.
He gradually immersed himself in a memory with extremely real scenes——
In the study of the Earl's Mansion, smoke was rising from the stove.
Lu Chen put down the pen in his hand and ordered his servant to spread the divorce letter flat on the table.
Shen Yuan was wearing a straw hat and standing beside the desk.
Because she had been kneeling in the rain for three days, she suffered from an extremely severe cough at this time. She would cough non-stop when she smelled the scent of incense.
Lu Chen listened to her painful cough, but did not ask the servants to extinguish the incense in the censer. He just asked Shen Yuan in a cold voice: "Before you put your fingerprints on it, do you have anything else to say to me?"
Although he and Shen Yuan were only in name only, they had been husband and wife for more than half a year.
The more he interacted with her, the more Lu Chen discovered that although Shen Yuan looked weak and fragile on the outside, she was actually an extremely stubborn woman at heart.
When deciding to send her to Zhuangzi, Lu Chen once told Shen Yuan that as long as she was willing to admit her mistakes to Shen Yu and then concentrate on copying scriptures in the Buddhist temple for half a year, he would take her back to the Bo Mansion from the temple after a long time.
He will still keep the identity of the eldest wife of the Earl's Mansion to her.
But Shen Yuan was very determined about the divorce. When Lu Chen mentioned that if they wanted a divorce, he would have to send her to the manor, she agreed very quickly without even thinking about it.
After hearing Lu Chen's question, Shen Yuan said nothing, but just bit his index finger silently in front of him.
Then he walked to the desk with a frown and pressed a bright red fingerprint on the divorce letter.
"Master, if you put your handprint again, you and I can part ways."
Let's go our separate ways...
After hearing these four words, Lu Chen felt a sudden surge of unspeakable pain in his heart.
The pain was beyond his ability to describe or describe in words.
It can't be explained clearly.
He didn't believe that Shen Yuan was really so relieved.
After spending more than half a year together, he was finally able to admit that he had developed feelings for Shen Yuan.
Lu Chen couldn't do as he originally wanted, which was to keep her in the backyard and deliberately treat her coldly.
Where is Shen Yuan?
Does Shen Yuan really not have any feelings for him at all?
Past.
No, it can also be said that the memories of the past life came flooding back all of a sudden.
Lu Chen's heart was aching more and more. He sat up from the bed, and a fishy and sweet taste suddenly surged in his throat.
The man's eyes turned red, and he vomited a stream of blood into his palm with a painful expression.
When Mrs. Lu entered the room, she saw her son vomiting blood.
But her expression did not show panic, instead she looked a little happy: "It's better to spit it out. The doctor said that as long as you can spit out this turbid blood, you will most likely be fine."
At this point, Mrs. Lu saw that Lu Chen had a gloomy expression, and she wept again, "That concubine of the Shen family is simply a disaster. She killed her own mother, and also hurt you like this... If you were not so indecisive and married the eldest daughter of the Shen family earlier, how could you have suffered such an injury on the Qiqiao Festival?"
Lu Chen's expression gradually returned to calm, and he replied to Lu's question in a serious tone: "I understand, mother. The mistress of the Earl's Mansion wants to choose a legitimate lady."
After hearing this, Mrs. Lu felt even more delighted.
Fortunately, after Lu Chen woke up, he did not become stupid, and seemed to be much more sober than before.
It's great that he no longer clamors to marry that little bitch Shen Yu.
Mrs. Lu gradually stopped crying, and then she told Lu Chen again, "Brother Chen, your fifth uncle's 33rd birthday is coming up in a few days. Although he never celebrates birthdays, you should prepare gifts for him in advance. After all, our Lu family is what it is today thanks to your fifth uncle's position in the court."
Lu Chen nodded as he was told.
The birthday gift for Fifth Uncle Lu Zhiyun must be carefully prepared.
But before that, he had to carefully choose a gift for Shen Yuan.
Lu Chen felt that since he had lived his life again, many things had not yet happened.
The current Shen Yuan would definitely not hate him as much as he did in his previous life.
Although he canceled the marriage with her, it was still not too late.
He still has a chance to win Shen Yuan back.
——
Yong'an Marquis Mansion.
The Kangping Marquis's Mansion sent someone to deliver a small rosewood box engraved with a phoenix pattern to the back door of the Marquis' Mansion, saying that the item would be given to the eldest daughter of the Shen family.
Shen Yu happened to pass by the back door of the Marquis' Mansion that day and overheard the conversation between several people.
The servant of the Marquis' Mansion was embarrassed and asked in disbelief, "This...are you sure you want to give it to the eldest lady? Our eldest lady has broken off the engagement with your master."
The people sent by the Bo Mansion were also completely confused and had no idea what was going on.
Thinking back to how Lu Chen had been unconscious a few days ago because of the archway that fell from the sky, he felt that he might have wanted to give this thing to the second girl, but because he was not clear-headed, he said the three words "eldest girl".
There were nearly dozens of servants in a bo's mansion, and he was not the first person to whom Lu Chen delivered the message.
So the servant who was running errands for the Bo's Mansion said to the servant of the Marquis' Mansion: "This... maybe I remembered it wrong..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Yu had already walked in front of the few people.
The servant of the Marquis' Mansion hurriedly said respectfully, "Second Miss."
Shen Yu glanced at the maid beside him.
The maid immediately understood her master's thoughts and took the small rosewood box into her arms.
Shen Yu said at this time: "I say you are really confused. How could this thing sent from the Kangping Marquis' Mansion not be for me?"
The two servants immediately responded respectfully with a "yes", and then watched Shen Yu leave with the maidservant in his eyes with a reserved look in his eyes.
That night.
Shen Yu then wore the magnolia hairpin carved from Hetian jade and waved it in front of Shen Yuan's eyes.
Shen Yuan looked at Shen Yu's appearance and felt that Lu Chen's brain was probably smashed by the archway.
Because Shen Yu was born with a beautiful appearance, she liked colorful flowers such as peony and crabapple.
She still remembered that the hairpins that Lu Chen gave to Shen Yu in her previous life were also luxurious items inlaid with gold and gems.
Although the material of Hetian jade is precious, it really does not suit Shen Yu's temperament.
Shen Yuan didn't think about it any further.
She only knew that Lu Zhiyun's birthday was coming soon, but she hadn't decided yet what gift to give him.
——
After the servant from the Bo's Mansion returned home, Lu Chen immediately called him to the main hall and asked anxiously, "Have you seen the girl from the Shen family? Does she like that hairpin?"
Lu Chen was talking about the girl from the Shen family, not the eldest girl.
Therefore, the servant boy confirmed in his heart once again that the girl to whom Lu Chen gave the hairpin was Shen Yu, the second girl of the Shen family.
The servant replied respectfully, "The young lady immediately asked the maid to pick up the wooden box containing the hairpins. She seemed very happy."
As soon as he finished speaking, a smile finally appeared on Lu Chen's lips.
He knew that Shen Yuan had a gentle temperament and was a very easy person to get along with.
If others are a little nice to her, her heart will soften a lot.
Lu Chen knew that Shen Yuan's favorite flower was magnolia, and he also knew that although this white jade hairpin was simple, it best matched her classical and gentle temperament.
Since Shen Yuan accepted the hairpin, it meant that she still had some good feelings towards him.
——
Two days later, it was Lu Zhiyun's birthday.
After Shen Yuan and Bi Wu finished settling the accounts with the shopkeeper at Hengshun Building, they were about to go to the restaurant they usually went to.
In fact, it was Shen Yuan who found out about Lu Zhiyun's birthday today from Liao Ge'er.
Brother Liao said that Lu Zhiyun never celebrated his birthday. Whenever the day came, he would cook the same as usual and would not even add one more dish.
Bi Wu remembered a recent order from Hengshun Tower, and said to Shen Yuan, "It turns out that the magnolia hairpin that the second young lady is wearing was ordered in advance by Kang Pingbo at Hengshun Tower, and he spent several dozen taels of silver on it."
Shen Yuan didn't care about the gift Lu Chen gave to Shen Yu, but she kept thinking about how she could find a reasonable excuse to return the deeds and titles of the three shops to Jiang Feng.
In fact, she had tried to return it several times before, but each time Jiang Feng rejected it with the excuse that "there is no reason to return anything our master has given away."
Shen Yuan had no choice but to temporarily help Lu Zhiyun manage the three shops.
She thought that when Liao Ge'er grew up a little, Lu Zhiyun would definitely send him to the academy to study with children of the same age.
At that time, she would return all the three shops and the profits to Lu Zhiyun no matter what.
Shen Yuan was feeling melancholy when he noticed Biwu's expression slightly changed.
She followed Biwu's gaze and saw Lu Chen, dressed in a moon-white gown, walking towards her with two followers.
When Shen Yuan saw Lu Chen, he was calm.
She didn't want to avoid him, so she thought that if she nodded to him, Lu Chen would walk past her.
But who would have thought that after Lu Chen walked up to her, he stopped.
Shen Yuan was slightly surprised, and then she saw the man slightly open his thin lips, as if he had something very serious and heavy to say to her.
"Yuan...Miss Shen, can you come with me to a nearby teahouse? I have...I have something very important to tell you."
Shen Yuandan raised her beautiful eyes and looked at him.
She noticed that Lu Chen's face was slightly depressed, with some dark circles under his eyes, and he looked thinner than he was a month ago.
It seems that his intelligence has not been damaged.
But what was said was obviously not the case.
Shen Yuan didn't want to point out directly whether Lu Chen was stunned by the memorial archway, so he just maintained the proper politeness and replied calmly: "Mr. Kangping, I broke off the engagement with you a long time ago. With our current status, we can't go to the teahouse together to discuss things."
Lu Chen pursed his lips slightly. He actually expected Shen Yuan to say that.
Just when he was about to speak and try to keep Shen Yuan, he saw that she was about to leave with Bi Wu.
Lu Chen felt something was wrong and quickly signaled with his eyes to his followers to stop the master and servant.
Seeing him like this, Shen Yuan's face gradually became slightly angry, and her soft voice also became a little deeper. She asked: "What is Kang Pingbo going to do?"
"I..."
Lu Chen had so many things he wanted to say to Shen Yuan. It was an indescribable joy for him to see her standing in front of him alive again.
He would never forget how heartbroken he felt when he learned in his previous life that Shen Yuan was framed by Shen Yu and died tragically in the farm on a rainy day.
Lu Chen finally got to meet Shen Yuan, and he would definitely not let go of this opportunity.
Lu Chen was about to take a few more steps towards Shen Yuan, but stopped in his tracks when he heard a cold and low voice.
——"Lu Chen, what are you doing?"
Lu Chen was very familiar with this deep, mellow voice.
He just felt that his back suddenly became cold.
After guessing who the visitor was, Lu Chen's expression suddenly changed.
Lu Chen turned around and looked towards the voice, and saw that the person walking towards him and Shen Yuan was indeed his fifth uncle, Lu Zhiyun.
Lu Chen's father passed away early, and among all the elders in the Lu family, the one he respected and feared the most was his fifth uncle who was only ten years older than him.
Not only him, in fact, everyone in the Lu family, from top to bottom, is most afraid of Lu Zhiyun.
When Lu Chen was nine years old, the emperor at that time cleared the old Duke Lu Hongang of his grievances, and the Lu family also turned from a poor and wealthy family with all its members exiled to become the new nobles of the dynasty.
And that year, Lu Zhiyun was nineteen years old.
Lu Chen's third uncle Lu Zhihui is also still alive and is the eldest son of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion.
At the age of nineteen, Lu Zhiyun had made great military achievements for Daqi. He came from a military background and had killed countless enemies on the battlefield.
Even though he prayed for peace that year, he changed his military uniform into a scholar's long shirt and long robe.
But after all, Lu Zhiyun had killed countless people on the battlefield, his hands were soaked in blood, and the arrogance and hostility in him had not dissipated in the slightest.
In fact, Lu Chen's uncle Lu Zhiyang has the same temperament as Lu Zhiyun when he was young, but he is far less intimidating than Lu Zhiyun.
At that time, the servants of the Lu family always said.
Although the Fifth Young Master Lu Zhiyun was handsome and tall, whenever he stood in front of the door, he looked like a living evil spirit.
When insects see him, they fly around him.
No matter how ferocious a dog is, it will immediately stick out its tongue and dare not bark anymore when it sees him.
Although Lu Chen couldn't figure out why Lu Zhiyun suddenly chose to take the imperial examination that year and embarked on the path of becoming an official.
But after so many years, even though Lu Zhiyun's temperament has long become restrained and profound due to his immersion in officialdom, his majestic and sharp aura must be inseparable from his years in the military when he was young.
Thinking of this, Lu Chen saw that Lu Zhiyun, wearing a dark robe, had already walked in front of him and Shen Yuan.
The man is neatly groomed and looks dignified.
When the deep phoenix eyes looked at him, there was inexplicably a hint of aggression.
Lu Chen was a little flustered.
He knew that his fifth uncle had been disgusted with his entanglement between the Shen sisters, and now he had just caught him pestering Shen Yuan, who had already broken off her engagement with him, on the street.
Finished.
Lu Chen's face gradually turned pale.
He was actually caught by his fifth uncle, he was really finished.