Chapter 9 Chasing Men

 

In the end, Lu Shi Qing was sent out politely and enthusiastically, and he walked towards a side gate of Yuan Mansion that did not face the street.

Yuan Ci Xian took a detour through the back window and had a “random encounter” with him in the corridor. She apologized in person and said a lot of polite words, said with pity: “Please, Sir, tell His Highness for me, His Highness is very talented, and I admire him very much. I also want to make a deep friendship, but I really have someone else in my heart, and I am afraid that too much interaction with His Highness will make Assistant Minister Lu misunderstand in the future, so I have to let down His Highness’s love.”

He wanted to say that Assistant Minister Lu would not misunderstand. But he couldn’t.

Lu Shi Qing felt a big wave in his heart, but there was nothing on his face. He nodded and returned the salute, indicating that it was okay. After returning to the carriage, he took off his mask and clenched his back molars with hatred.

Well, now tell him how to report it back to Zhang Zhuo!

After he left the mansion, Yuan Ci Xian was also arrested by Yuan Yu.

The brother and sister fought for a while because of Lu Shi Qing a few days ago. Yuan Yu talked until his mouth went rotten but he still couldn’t convince this stubborn person, and now he continued to persuade earnestly: “Ci Xian, if you want to use the delaying tactic, brother won’t stop you, but the Zhang family and the Li family all have good-looking master, why should you insist on the Lu family? You can see Lu Zishu’s rotten popularity in Chang’an, and you will know that with his difficult nature, sooner and later you will kowtow until your head broken!”

Yuan Ci Xian touched her forehead while looking at him: “Saying such morbid stuff, how can it be so exaggerated?”

“I feel like you won’t give up if you don’t hit the south wall! You say, you sneaking in and out of the room, and now deliberately told an outsider. Isn’t that just shouting it to the world?”

She nodded: “I, Yuan Ci Xian, have a crush on someone, and I want to shout it to the world, so that everyone knows and it has to spread all over Chang’an City in a day.” She pulled his sleeves while smiling, “Brother stop arguing, quickly tell me, what time Assistant Minister Lu usually go to court, and which way he took to go home?”

…

The next day, Yuan Ci Xian went to block people.

Regarding Lu Shi Qing, she had her own plans. Her brother was right, if it was only a temporary expediency, it was indeed not had to be him, this person could even be said to be the worst choice. There were plenty soft persimmons to pick, but she still looking for one that was hard to bite, why she asked for trouble?

But she approached him for the sake of long-term consideration.

Brother was idle in the capital, and had no way to inquire about many things in detail, so she could only believe in her dreams and took one step at a time.

She had calculated it, Emperor Huining did have many favored courtiers, but if it was in line with the phrase “the most favored” of the people in the dream, at the moment afraid it was really Lu Shi Qing.

In terms of official position, he was Assistant Minister of Chancellery. The current dynasty set up two such officials, both the second-in-command of the Chancellery Department, who were close attendants of the Son of Heaven, could enter and exit the forbidden center, had more contact with the imperial court on weekdays, and also participated in the decision-making of various government affairs. In this position, if you are loved by His Majesty, you are likely to ascend to the top in the future and become the master of the clouds and rains.

In terms of deeds, she heard that a few years ago, when Emperor Huining was attacked by an assassin and seriously injured, at time when he was dying, he did not call the eunuch or his son, but called this person Lu Shi Qing, which showed his weight in the emperor’s heart.

What’s more, according to what Zheng Zhuo said in Furong Garden last time, this person was also the teacher of Thirteenth Prince.

If Lu Shi Qing was the one who participated in the plot to force Emperor Huining to abdicate many years later and assisted the Thirteenth Prince to ascend to the throne, it would be very interesting.

Lu Shi Qing returned to the mansion by the carriage as usual.

Today, he was not on duty to attend His Majesty, so he was a little more leisurely. Unexpectedly, when he was closing his eyes and recuperating his mind, the carriage suddenly stopped, causing his elbow on the table to slip.

He frowned and said to the outside: “What happened?”

There was no movement outside the curtain for a long time.

He called again: “Zhao Shu.”

A trembling and agitated voice sounded: “Ma… Master, I, I just saw a fairy…”

“…”

“A fairy riding a horse!”

“…”

Lu Shi Qing was so annoyed by his incoherent words that he lifted the curtain of the carriage, and when he raised his eyes, he met a pair of eyes full of autumn water and rippling waves.

The woman was dressed in a men suit, wearing an apricot red lapel robe, Persian trousers, with a water bag at the waist, and a pair of small golden brocade boots. She was sitting on a light golden Ferghana horse, looking at him with a smile.

He recognized this horse, it was awarded by Emperor Huining to Yuan Yu last year to congratulate him on his wedding.

He also recognized this person, Yuan Ci Xian.

She smiled and asked immediately: “Assistant Minister Lu, what a coincidence, are you going to Yongxing Lane?”

Lu Shi Qing’s hand squeezed on the curtain, said “hmm” expressionlessly, and nodded to her as a greeting.

She smiled even more happily: “I live in Shengye Lane, which is diagonally opposite to you, just a street away from you.”

Lu Shi Qing didn’t intend to stay any longer, and said nonchalantly: “The narrow road is hard to pass, County Princess please go first.” After finished speaking, he didn’t see Zhao Shu to be moving. He turned his head and saw that this kid had drool flowing down his chin, so he gritted his teeth and called, “Zhao Shu…!”

Zhao Shu hurriedly returned to his soul with a few “Oh” sounds, he lifted the rein with one hand, ready to turn the horse’s head to make way, and wiped his saliva with the other hand.

Lu Shi Qing couldn’t bear to see such a filthy scene, he frowned and was about to put the curtain down, but was interrupted by Yuan Ci Xian: “Assistant Minister Lu, it’s hot, and you worked hard at court. I have an ice box here, which carry sour plum soup, do you want to drink?”

She lifted the box in her hand and waited for his answer with a smile.

His hand holding the curtain froze, and he curled his lips and said, “It’s a hot day, and it’s hard for County Princess to go out. Why don’t you drink it yourself.” After saying that, he loosened his hand and put down the curtain.

Yuan Ci Xian was not annoyed, she pressed the horse’s belly to move forward, and said through the curtain: “Assistant Minister Lu, you don’t want to drink it now, maybe you want to it drink later…”

Lu Shi Qing thought she was trying to persuade him to accept the ice box, and was about to say “no need”, but she paused and said, “I’ll take you back to your house, if you change your mind along the way, just ask your groom to call me.”

“…”

Lu Shi Qing almost thought that he heard it wrong, but then saw her immediately ordered Zhao Shu: “Brother Zhao, continue to drive, my horse runs fast and can keep up.”

Are you serious?

Zhao Shu was captivated by this “Brother Zhao” shout, but he was still a little clear-headed, turned around and asked, “Master?”

Lu Shi Qing was not afraid of such aggressive tricks, “hehe” smiled: “Then listen to County Princess and go back to the house.”

The carriage rolled forward. Soon, he couldn’t laugh anymore.

He originally thought that Yuan Ci Xian was just joking and scaring him, but couldn’t believe she actually kept her words and followed him. No matter how fast the carriage goes, the horse’s hoof outside the curtain followed closely all the way.

That’s right, when it comes to speed, who can compare to the Ferghana horse bestowed by His Majesty?

Then, something even more unbearable happened to him.

He heard in the streets and alleys, people talking about this eye-catching steed, and the woman on the horse greeted everyone warmly.

“Old man, isn’t my horse beautiful? That’s right… I’m sending Assistant Minister Lu back home! What, it’s windy, you can’t hear clearly? Oh, let me say again, I’m sending our court Assistant! Minister! Lu! —go back home!”

“Grandma, you ask who Assistant Minister Lu is? You don’t know, but our court Assistant Minister Lu is very powerful. He passed as Tanhuacandidate who came in third place in the imperial examination at the age of fifteen… What was your grandson doing at this age?”

“This young lady, you said you admire Assistant Minister Lu? Oh, this is not allowed, because our Assistant Minister Lu is already taken, and he…”

“Yuan Ci Xian!” Lu Shi Qing couldn’t bear it anymore, gritted his teeth to interrupt her.

She immediately stopped obediently, and waved goodbye to everyone with a smile: “…ah, it’s getting late, folks, let’s talk again later.”

It was the first time in Lu Shi Qing’s life that he truly experienced what it means to “parade yourself ostentatiously around town”. After getting away from the noisy area, he took a deep breath and ordered the carriage to stop in a cold voice.

Yuan Ci Xian leaned down a little, moved to the side of the carriage curtain and asked earnestly: “Assistant Minister Lu, what did you call me for?”

There was a dead silence in the carriage, and after a long while, a calm voice came out: “Troubling County Princess to send off all the way here. This place is not far from my humble house, just hand over the ice box to my servant.”

If it’s like this early on, wouldn’t it be done already. Why bother to move in this heat that make her sweat so much.

Yuan Ci Xian was really tortured by the sun, and didn’t want to stop for a moment, so she handed the box to Zhao Shu, and then leaned over again and said, “Assistant Minister Lu, you don’t need to be polite. In fact, in terms of rank, I am above you, but when you see me, you don’t get off the carriage, and you still call me by my name, so it’s not because you don’t respect the social ranking and intend to offend, but because you want to get close to me?”

Lu Shi Qing couldn’t answer these words.

There was a crisp “crack” sound from the carriage, as if someone had crumpled the rice paper into a ball.

Yuan Ci Xian smiled: “If you don’t speak, it means you’re agree. You drink this sour plum soup while it’s cold, we will meet again later.”

…

Lu Shi Qing returned to the house with a sullen face all the way.

Behind him, Zhao Shu eagerly followed with a box in his hands, sounded like broken record all the way: “Master, so this is the legendary Lancang County Princess! Oh, she’s truly…”

Truly beautiful that make people completely speechless, not enough power to speak!

He was suffering from not being able to find words to describe her, when he suddenly saw the old lady walking towards him, then immediately shut up.

Lu Shi Qing stopped, and his sullen face softened a little: “Mother.”

Xuan shi stepped forward with a smile: “My son, mother will buy some autumn clothes for you in a few days, you come to my room to pick and choose the patterns…” She paused here, her eyes stopped on the box in Zhao Shu’s hand, “What is this?”

Lu Shi Qing gave Zhao Shu a meaningful look.

He hurriedly replied: “Back to the old lady, this servant run into some peach blossomgood luck today, on the way met a young lady, she insisted on giving this box to this servant, saying that it contains sour plum soup to relieve summer heat for this servant.”

Xuan shi’s smile did not decrease: “Yeah, that’s really some luck.”

Lu Shi Qing coughed uncomfortably: “Mother, son will go back to the room first.”

Xuan shi nodded and motioned him to go, waited for the person to walk away, then her expression changed, and said to the maid next to her: “This bastard, did he think his mother has never seen the world! The box is made of high-quality yellow rosewood, and the carving is so exquisite, where Zhao Shun able to provoked such peach blossoms! You quickly send someone to find out.”

Zhao Shu was sweating all over from telling lies, followed Lu Shi Qing all the way to the door of his bedroom, and asked in a low voice, “Master, this sour plum soup?”

Lu Shi Qing stopped and turned back: “If you’re not afraid of being poisoned to death then drink it.” After saying that, he opened the door and closed it with a “bang”.

Zhao Shu said “how can it be poisonous” all the way and retreated.

Lu Shi Qing calmed down for a while, waited for Zhao Shu’s noisy voice to go away. He stood frowning in front of a bronze mirror in the room, brushed the front of his clothes, opened his mouth to say something, but could not say it, he adjusted his belt again and tried to change his very indifferent attitude, said: “A-Zhao, there is something I need to explain to you…”

He stopped here, paced back and forth twice, softened his face a little, and said to the mirror again: “A-Zhuo, I thought about it, I should explain this matter to you as soon as possible. Yesterday I told you that Lancang County Princess turned you down, and I don’t know the reason. The thing is, it’s really hard for me to say it, so I lied to you. Actually she…”

He stopped again, took a deep breath, and shook his head again: “A-Zhuo, I think you have heard what happened in the city, you must not misunderstand this matter, I and …”

He gritted his teeth, shook his head again, and started again. After so many times, he was really annoyed and raised his voice: “This Yuan Ci Xian…!”

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Outside, Xuan shi was shocked and speechless, she was silent for a long time before she could speak, then asked to the inside, “Son! Did you hide the young lady of Yuan family in the room?”

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TN: I love love love shameless character!!