Chapter 46 Part 2

 

Yuan Ci Xian smiled, and after finished talking about business, she remembered Xǔ Sanniang. She felt that she should not be alone with Xu Shan for too long, and said, “How did you come here, Sir, do you want me to send you back?”

Of course Lu Shi Qing heard her intention to chase away the guests, and originally intended to leave, but because he felt unreconciled he suddenly made a scheming plan, cheekily said: “Then I will trouble County Princess.”

Yuan Ci Xian choked. She was just being polite, how could he not understand.

She had no choice but to bite the bullet and said: “Sir doesn’t have to polite, where do you live?

“Yongxing Lane.”

She let out an “huh”, ordered Shi Cui outside to drive to Yongxing Lane, and then asked: “Are you neighbor with Assistant Minister Lu?”

Lu Shi Qing nodded: “It can be said that. Yongxing Lane is full of high-ranking officials and dignitaries, it was naturally not Xu’s turn to live there. But Sixth Prince thought that it was suitable for paying attention to the movement of the courtiers, so he arranged a private house for me. On the surface, Xu is a rich man in Chang’an.”

Lu Shi Qing’s words were true. Every time he did something as Xu Shan, he would first go to the private house through the secret road of the Lu Mansion, exit through the gate of the private house, and return the same way after finishing the work, so as to prevent the possibility of being exposed.

Yuan Ci Xian couldn’t help being curious when she heard this, and asked: “Then you also monitor Assistant Minister Lu?”

Very good, the question came out. He said this in order to naturally lead the conversation to himself.

He nodded and replied: “He is also one of them.”

Yuan Ci Xian said “Oh” and continued to ask: “Do you know what he is busy with these days?”

“Assistant Minister Lu is a hard-working person, he should be busy with government affairs. County Princess hasn’t contacted him recently?”

She pouted and shook her head.

Seeing this, he smiled and said: “Seeing you like this, you must have fought with Assistant Minister Lu.”

Yuan Ci Xian was taken aback for a moment, and looked at him: “Sir has discerning eyes.”

Lu Shi Qing was secretly excited. Everything went so smoothly, the next thing left was to mediate in Xu Shan’s name.

In order to avoid suspicion, he suppressed his eagerness and said slowly: “If County Princess doesn’t dislike it, you can talk to Xu.”

When Yuan Ci Xian pretended to be drunk last time, she had already confided to him about her “feeling” for Lu Shi Qing, so there was nothing wrong with talking about it now, and she simply said: “The reason is that he had a cold, but he lied to me that it was a plague.”

He said “Oh” in a deep voice, and said strangely: “As far as Xu knows, Assistant Minister Lu doesn’t seem to be such a deceitful person.”

Yuan Ci Xian let out a low “humph!” and stopped talking.

Lu Shi Qing’s face behind the mask was stunned. What does this “humph” mean?

He tentatively asked, “Hmm?”

Yuan Ci Xian remained silent and did not answer.

In fact, after she thought about it carefully later, Lu Shi Qing really didn’t intend to lie to her at that time, and even tried to explain many times, but she refused to listen, and refused to believe it after hearing it. In this matter, he was not wrong.

But why did he not look for her for several days, as if the whole journey to the south was just an illusion, and he returned to his attitude before leaving the capital.

Originally, it was indeed she who was looking for someone to be her backer, so she lowered her posture and continued to entangle him. But since she knew that he was a little moved, she inevitably became greedy, hoping that he would also take the initiative, so she deliberately waited for a few days.

But now it seemed that Lu Shi Qing probably knew that her purpose in approaching him was impure, so he despised her, otherwise, how could he not take any action.

Well, if you dislike it, you dislike it. Who can’t live without him? Maybe he will be an unreliable bag of strawgood-for-nothing person in this life. She’s doing well with the Sixth Prince now.

Thinking like this, she suddenly heard Xu Shan sneezed, she hurriedly withdrew her thoughts, blinked her eyes and said strangely: “I was scolding Assistant Minister Lu in my heart, why did you sneeze instead?”

“…”

Lu Shi Qing held his breath, very kindly said: “Oh, what are you scolding him for? ”

“It’s nothing, I’m afraid it will stain Sir’s ears, so it’s better not to mention it.”

This little ancestor!

He endured for so many days, but he couldn’t find a suitable reason to go to Yuan Mansion, and he couldn’t pull his face down to come to the door to apologize, nor he couldn’t wait for her to come to Lu Mansion. And with his leading on today, he thought he could get something out of her.

Lu Shi Qing sighed, he wanted to asked again, but afraid that saying too much would make her suspicious, so he had shut up. When they arrived at Yongxing Lane, he finally made a move: “Thank you, County Princess, for sending Xu all the way. Since you’re here, you might as well go to Lu Mansion to take a look, after sulking for a long time, it’s easy to get sick.”

He calculated that he should have time to change his body.

Unexpectedly, Yuan Ci Xian was so stubborn, and looked like she had no such plan: “I have troubling Sir, please take care on the way.”

Lu Shi Qing had no choice but to dejectedly get out of the carriage.

When he left, Shi Cui, who listened all the way, said to the carriage: “Young lady, don’t you think Mr. Xu is strange?”

Yuan Ci Xian said, “Um. It’s slightly different from before. But Isn’t Mr. Xu in Xǔ Sanniang’s mouth different from what we see? To put it bluntly, we don’t really know him either.”

“That’s true, but this maid thinks that Mr. Xu seems to care too much about you. He and Xǔ Sanniang has already been involved like that, and in front of you he still doing… how could he have clear conscience, telling you to add more clothes, telling you to take care of your body, and even trying to appease your fight with Assistant Minister Lu.”

Yuan Ci Xian did not speak when she heard this.

Shi Cui continued: “In short, this maid thinks that Mr. Xu is not good, at least not in matters of men and women. He is too affectionate, the cold Assistant Minister Lu is actually still much better. You should be more careful.”

Yuan Ci Xian She didn’t want to speculate on Xu Shan’s character, but she knew that she should keep her distance from him, so she said, “I know, I won’t take the initiative to invite Mr. Xu in the future.”

After she answered, she felt tired after being blown by the cold wind for a long time, so she leaned against the wall of the carriage to take a nap, but unexpectedly the stove under her feet was too warm, making her comfortably fell asleep.

This sleep actually sent her back to Lu Bridge, which she hadn’t dreamed for a long time.

This time, she heard a strange female voice on the bridge: “His Highness finally gave up his search?”

The one who spoke behind seemed to be a maidservant: “It seems so, Prince Consort. But this maid heard from Steward Zhou that His Highness is busy outside, afraid he won’t be returning home anytime soon.”

The woman sneered, “He just doesn’t want to see me.”

“Please don’t get angry, lest you hurt the fetus.”

“Even if the child is born, it’s also going to be revealed. Father asked me to climb into His Highness’s bed, and said that once this scandal is publicized, Diannan Prince would definitely not wronged his daughter, and vowed to break off the engagement with His Highness. When the time comes, the Prince Consort position would be mine… But so what if I get this position? His Highness has never touched me from the beginning to the end, even the child…”

The maid lowered her voice and stopped her: “You absolutely cannot talk about this outside! You have to remember, this is His Highness’s flesh and blood, even if he doesn’t resemble His Highness. You see, the Yuan family has brought disaster onto themselves and unable to live, and all the rebellious things have been done. Now even Lancang County Princess is also dead, doesn’t it mean Heaven is helping you? As long as you give birth to this child, the future is long, so why worry about not getting His Highness’s heart?”

Yuan Ci Xian was awakened by Shi Cui’s call, and felt sluggish for a while. Even after she opened her eyes, she still felt like she was in the dream. It was only after being blown by the cold wind that she came back to her senses.

She got out of the carriage in a trance, and walked towards the mansion with her brows tightly furrowed, recalling what the strange woman said in her dream. When she was passing by the reception pavilion, she was suddenly stopped by someone: “Ci Xian is back.”

She came back to her senses, stopped and turned her head. She then saw Jiang Bi Rou and a young lady with unfamiliar face looking at her at the bottom of the steps.

Yuan Ci Xian smiled slightly at Jiang Bi Rou: “Sister-in-law.” Then she motioned to the young lady beside her, “Who is this?”

“This is sister-in-law’s younger sister. She’s two years younger than you, you just call her Can’er”

She nodded, and before she could say hello, Jiang Bi Can called her sweetly: “Hello, Sister Ci Xian!”

Yuan Ci Xian’s smile froze on her lips.

This voice… oh, what a good show.

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