Chapter 2 Fear of Dog

 

The man had no smile on his face, his eyes were indifferent, and he said “young lady” with his lips, but the breath that came out was cold.

The Great Zhou Dynasty advocated eclecticism, liberalized folk customs, and seldom restrained women. People like Yuan Ci Xian who travelled in men’s clothing were not unconventional, and it was no big deal to be exposed.

It’s just that this fiery-eyed man did not seem to be a modest gentleman who had been praised since ancient times. On the contrary, he was full of inexplicable pickiness and arrogance, which made people feel uncomfortable.

Yuan Ci Xian didn’t know yet that the Lu family’s Master named “Shi Qing” was notorious in Chang’an City for his face that stinker than the soles of his shoes.

Lu Shuang Yu, the youngest daughter of the Lu family, was shocked beyond words.

Seeing this, Yuan Ci Xian stopped speaking in a rough voice, and said to her in her original voice: “Young lady’s good intention, I very much appreciated, but as your esteemed brother said, I am not a man.”

Listen to this tender voice, how could it not be a young lady’s voice?

Lu Shuang Yu was stunned, her eyes looked at the other person’s face a few times before she finally come to her senses, her heart turned a thousand times in an instant, her face flushed red, but she continued to speak stubbornly: “I don’t believe it, you must be work together with brother to cheat me!”

Yuan Ci Xian and Lu Shi Qing glanced at each other.

Seeing this unfriendly glance, Yuan Ci Xian felt a little strange. She was surrounded here on a hot day, so she deserved to be uncomfortable, but why did this man look like she owed him 800 taels of gold?

How can he treat his “sister-saving benefactor” like this. It’s not her fault that she has a face that can eat both men and women.

She lost her patience and said, “Esteemed brother and I have never met before, so how can we work together? As for cheating, it’s even more ridiculous. If you don’t believe it, find me another day after I restore my women’s appearance.” She then put on a fake smile and said, “It’s hot, I’ll take my leave.”

Lu Shuang Yu was about to cry.

Maybe it was self-deception, but she still didn’t give up. She spread her arms in front of Yuan Ci Xian and refused to let her go. She bit her lip and said, “If you don’t leave your name, where will I go to find you? You obviously have guilty conscience!”

Yuan Ci Xian glanced at Lu Shi Qing: “What’s my surname, and where my home is, ask your esteemed brother to go back and check.”

This official uniform was the regulation of fourth-rank official in the court. How could a person who get that position at such young age be a simple character? Checking someone’s identity was a simple matter.

Lu Shi Qing glanced back at her lightly, and said to his sister in a cold voice, “Shuang Yu, go back.”

Lu Shuang Yu retreated with a pout.

Yuan Ci Xian nodded slightly to her and no longer stay.

It’s just that she didn’t get her wish, because after taking a few steps, she heard an abnormal noise behind her that sounded like a beast dog kicking on the ground, and at the same time, a short and sharp scream sounded.

She paused, turned around, and saw a huge black dog jumping out of nowhere, rushing towards Lu Shi Qing like an arrow, and when it swooped in front of him, it snatched a piece of jade from his waist in one bite.

With a “click”, the dog snapped the jade pendant into two halves, stared at him with a greedy-eyes beside his feet, and a low roar rolled from the bottom of his throat.

Seeing this scene, Lu Shuang Yu, the one who screamed, forgot to cling to Yuan Ci Xian for a while, hurriedly stood in front of Lu Shi Qing, and said loudly, “Brother, don’t be afraid!” After saying this, she raised her hand and instructed the guards, “What are you doing, hurry up and take down this wild dog!”

Yuan Ci Xian was turning around, hearing this sentence “Brother, don’t be afraid”, she almost fell and stepped on her right foot with her left foot.

Taking a closer look, she saw that the man with the arrogant expression just now had a stiff back, his face was as white as paper, his eyes were wide open, and his lips were trembling. Where still have his previous imposing manner.

The wind blew, and a pea-sized bead of sweat slid down his neat temples, dripping on his tense jaw and dangled there.

He remained motionless and stood with his hands behind his back, but his fists were clenched so tightly that the knuckles were slightly blue.

Several guards hurriedly arrested the dog in a panic. The atmosphere was frozen for a time.

Yuan Ci Xian was stunned for a while, then she couldn’t hold back and laughed out loud.

As soon as the dog was under control, Lu Shi Qing quickly returned to his original state, concentratedly taking a slow breath, then turned sideways stiffly, and gave Lu Shuang Yu a cold look.

Lu Shuang Yu let out a short “ah”, and immediately understood what stupid thing she had done.

Dogs were her brother’s weakness. Originally, this was supposed to be a family secret, and her brother also tried his best to cover it up, but she called him many times in front of outsiders and revealed this secret. Now people who don’t like him in the court always took a fierce dog like this to tease him. For example, Yuan Yu, the only son of Diannan Prince who stayed in the capital.

She carefully looked at Lu Shi Qing, covered her mouth tightly, and signaled that she would never talk so fast again in the future.

It has spread all over the capital, what do you mean with future?

Lu Shi Qing gritted his teeth, suppressed his anger, and looked at the person who was striding towards the resting Pavilion.

Compared with Lu Shi Qing here, this person was more muscular and burlier, with a darker complexion, and he walked with a neat and unrestrained posture of a military people. It was exactly the only son of the Diannan Prince, Yuan Yu.

When he approached, Lu Shi Qing curled his thin lips, paused each word, and asked with gnashing teeth: “General Yuan come to look for the dog?”

How could such a well-trained hunting dog appear for no reason, it must be ordered by someone. Now the owner of the dog was here.

Yuan Yu first glanced at Yuan Ci Xian, seeing his younger sister looked like she was watching a play, didn’t seem like being bullied, he turned his eyes back to the front: “Assistant Minister Lu is really Yuan’s bosom friend.” After saying that, he took the dog from the guard’s hand, lowering his eyes in distress, “Oh, my little Heihei, I finally found you!”

The black dog, who was still fierce just now, immediately lowered his eyes, tears filled his eyes, as if he had just been beaten.

Yuan Yu put the dog on the ground, slapped his head as if suddenly realize: “Yuan forgot, Assistant Minister Lu and dogs are not agreeable, has our family dog ​​frightened you?”

Lu Shi Qing smiled and tore off the other piece of jade pendant from his waist, handed it over, and avoided answering: “Since the dog has taken a fancy to Lu’s jade pendant, it’s better to take both piece.”

Yuan Yu thanked him, raised his hand to accept it, and lowered his head, “Still not thanking Assistant Minister Lu?”

“Woof woof!”

Lu Shi Qing’s handsome face froze, and his forehead was covered with sweats again.

Yuan Ci Xian suppressed a smile.

Yuan Yu seemed to have noticed her at this time, deliberately not revealing her identity, and said while pleasantly surprised: “Ah, brother Xian, you’re here! We agreed to talk in the house today, and I have been waiting for you for a long time, so I went out with my dog to take a look… Now there’s no need to wear out one’s iron shoesto search all over the place, and it doesn’t take much effort meet!” After saying that, he looked like he wanted to hook her shoulders.

Exaggerated, too exaggerated.

The corners of Yuan Ci Xian’s mouth twitched slightly, seeing the Lu’s brother and sister staring at them like idiots, she hated iron for not being steel and said: “Brother, don’t act anymore, they already know that I am a woman.”

Yuan Yu’s smile froze, and the hand that was about to hook her shoulder suddenly turned, clapped his palms heavily, rubbed them together, coughed awkwardly, and said to Lu Shi Qing, who had cold eyes, “Well… in that case, it’s getting late, let’s bid farewell. Assistant Minister Lu, please go first?”

Lu Shi Qing glanced at the blocking dog in front of him, kept smiling, and said calmly: “In terms of status and grade, General Yuan is above Lu, so you should be the one to go first.”

Yuan Yu waved his hand: “No, no, no, grades are all illusory, you also know that I’m just an idle general, and it’s my honor to talk to His Majesty’s trusted person like you. You should go first, please go first!”

At a stalemate, Lu Shuang Yu hesitated for a moment, bit her lip and made up her mind: “Brother, why don’t I ‘go first’, and you follow me!”

Lu Shi Qing’s smile could not be maintained, he glanced at her fiercely, then flicked his hand to open the way.

“Woof!”

One step forward, suddenly heard the dog bark. He paused, turned sharply, and detoured towards the other end of resting pavilion with a livid face.

Lu Shuang Yu followed closely.

Yuan Ci Xian couldn’t bear it any longer, she collapsed on the bench with her hands holding her stomach.

Yuan Yu didn’t think it was enough, continued to add fire, and shouted at the back of the group: “Assistant Minister Lu please walk slowly, be careful of falling!”

When the people left, he sat down beside her, put his hands on his knees, and asked Yuan Ci Xian with raised eyebrow: “What’s the matter, you barely arrived in Chang’an but already provoke this kind of person.”

What kind of person is this kind of person?

She restrained her laugh and looked innocent: “It’s not my fault, if you don’t believe me, ask Shi Cui.”

Shi Cui explained the matter from beginning to end, then finished: “Master, young lady has just arrived, and she doesn’t want to cause you trouble, so she tried her best to endure it.”

Yuan Yu patted her head after listening to this, then said, “It’s all brother’s fault. It seems this surnamed Lu may have recognized you at first sight, so he deliberately showed his face and used his grievance with brother on you.”

Yuan Ci Xian blinked her eyes strangely: “How could he recognize me? I was not here since last year… oh, the day I entered the palace with father to receive the reward coincided with the beginning of court, but there’s a hundred officials gathered…”

She thought, she tied her chest, drew thick eyebrows, and darkened her complexion, how could he see through her woman’s body so sharply. It turned out he had seen her face.

She glanced at Yuan Yu: “Then I have to ask, how did brother provoke ‘this kind of person’.”

Yuan Yu opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything. Seeing that she was looking at him so calmly, he had no choice but to pout: “It’s just because this person has too many eccentricities. When he sees asymmetrical and uneven objects, his whole body is uncomfortable. You just saw it, there are two pairs of identical jade pendant hanging from his waist, one on the left, one on the right. How can ordinary people have this?”

She was stunned for a moment, recalled then nodded: “A strange person.”

No wonder the dog took a piece of jade, he simply didn’t even want the other piece.

“Exactly! You don’t know, when I returned to the court, I only sticking out half an arm away from the line of officials, and it made him uncomfortable. He just asked the other officials to pass the word to me one by one, and told me to be stand properly and orderly. His Majesty was talking, when he saw the rustling and whispering underneath, he was not happy, and asked what we were doing. He came out without changing his face, and told in front of the whole civil and military official in the court the embarrassing thing of me not standing properly!

“You say, he is the serving official of the fourth grade, and he has to attend every court meeting. As for me, I’m a non-essential person. I can go to Xuanzheng Hall to see the world on the first and fifteenth days of the month, so it’s such a rare occasion. But he can’t stand his eyes not clean, insisting to bully people like this?”

Yuan Ci Xian couldn’t sit up straight from laughing, wiped her tears for a while and said, “Afterwards, how did His Majesty punish you?”

Yuan Yu Even became angrier: “Obviously it was him who was so picky regardless the occasion, but His Majesty only lectured me!” After that, he sighed, “Don’t mention it, who makes people get His Majesty’s love, and have the ability to be favored and be proud?”

Yuan Ci Xian originally still wanted to laugh, but her face changed slightly when she heard this: “You mean, this Assistant Minister Lu is His Majesty’s favored minister?”

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