Chapter 122 Second Uncle Returns to Beijing

"This is a good opportunity, young master, you must seize it well."

After saying this, Pei Ling placed the last black piece, put the remaining black pieces in his hand into the chess box, and stood up to leave the elegant room.

Lu Qian was left alone in front of the chessboard, pondering secretly, unaware that his white pieces had been completely destroyed by the black pieces.

After a while, the door of the elegant room opened again.

Chu Yizhou swaggered in, sat down on the couch, took a sip of hot tea, and seeing Lu Qian's absent-minded look, he asked, "What did Pei Ling say to you?"

Lu Qian lowered his eyes and returned to his senses, then casually threw the white piece into the chess box. "Nothing."

"You are not a good brother!" Chu Yizhou pointed at him angrily. After all, they had been in prison together, but he didn't even have this little trust.

"I told you you might lose your head, are you still listening?"

Lu Qian looked at Chu Yizhou with a half-smile.

“…”

Whenever someone says someone is going to lose their head, it definitely won’t be the young master’s head that will be lost.

"Oh, I suddenly remembered that I have something to do at home, so I'll leave first." Chu Yizhou scratched his neck and left the elegant room without any hesitation.

The streets are bustling with people.

Pei Ling took off her veil only after returning to the carriage.

The maid Cui Xin placed her veiled hat on the side table. Seeing her daughter's drooping brows and a face full of forlornness, she asked softly, "Did the daughter tell the young master?"

Pei Ling hummed softly, her eyes dim.

My mother didn't want to go through with this marriage, but she couldn't change my father's wishes. Even before Sister Song even got married, she had already caused my mother to lose her temper and even had a big fight with my father. If she got married in the future, the family would definitely be in turmoil.

She didn't agree with her mother's words, but she couldn't remain indifferent to her mother's grief and anger.

After all, she was sorry for what happened today, Sister Song and Second Brother. She would repay them when she had the chance in the future.

…

There are still seven or eight days until New Year's Eve, and the entire Jin Guo Mansion is shrouded in a festive atmosphere.

The reason is simple: my second uncle Lu Han and his family are going to Beijing to celebrate the festival!

Lizhou was close to the capital, but Lu Hanzhi had been assigned to Lizhou for six or seven years, and his busy schedule made it difficult for him to return to the capital. Old Madam Lu was advanced in years and had suffered a serious illness earlier in the year, so the imperial court granted Lu Hanzhi a few extra days of leave, allowing him to return to the capital to visit his family.

The sun was setting in the west, the light soft. After days of travel, Lu Han's family finally arrived in Kyoto. Eight luxurious carriages entered through the east gate, accompanied by dozens of servants and maids. The procession was enormous and eye-catching.

"Here it comes, here it comes, the second master's carriage is here!" The servant shouted as he ran towards the Duke's Mansion.

The Lu family members were looking forward to it, and everyone had a happy look on their faces.

Song Lingyi, in particular, had never met her second uncle and was curious about what kind of person he was. When the carriages stopped, they saw a calm, broad-foreheaded, middle-aged man stride out of the carriage, followed closely by a beautiful woman with elegant manners.

The couple looked at Old Lady Lu with tears in their eyes. As they were paying their respects, a lively and childish girl jumped out from behind and threw herself into the old lady's arms.

"Grandma, A-Ling misses you, do you miss me?"

"Yes, of course I do." The old lady was so happy that it took her a long time to react and greet the second wife.

The elders held hands and looked at each other with tears in their eyes, exchanging greetings for a long time. The atmosphere was particularly sad. The three siblings stood by, each with their own thoughts.

"She is Lu Ling. She was a troublemaker when she was little and was often punished by her second uncle..."

Lu Yu was whispering to Song Lingyi when she suddenly saw her second uncle's eyes looking at her. She immediately fell silent and kept smiling.

Lu Hanzhi was the governor of Lizhou, in charge of local military and political affairs. He exuded the fierce aura of a military officer, and even with a smile on his face, he still made people inexplicably frightened.

"Ayu, I heard from your father that you have become much more sensible since you came of age. When you were little, you loved to instigate A-Ling to be naughty, but you have grown up in the blink of an eye."

Lu Yu forced a smile: "Second uncle has a really good memory."

After teasing Lu Yu, Lu Hanzhi looked at Song Lingyi next to him. His eyes immediately turned red again. He held the girl's arms and spoke excitedly: "You must be Lingyi, right? You've grown so big... My dear, my second uncle and aunt went to great lengths to find you at the beginning of the year. They were so worried that they couldn't sleep all night. Fortunately, they found you..."

Feeling the strength on her arm, Song Lingyi smiled, secretly sighing that her second uncle was indeed a military officer, as he had such great strength in his arms.

The love from his second uncle finally came to Lu Qian.

This time he didn't say any sad words like "You've grown up so much", he just went up and hit Lu Qian violently, starting with 0 frames, catching him off guard and making him dizzy.

"Why did you hit me?"

Lu Qian has always been unwilling to submit, but facing his second uncle who is a military officer, he is somewhat afraid, and his retorts are weak.

"You're always causing trouble. You're so old, yet you still give me so much worry. You even spent a few days in prison this year. I can imagine how worried your second aunt and I were when we received the letter. We couldn't sleep all night!"

"You two are old and don't sleep enough, what does it have to do with me?" Lu Qian covered his head and rolled his eyes secretly.

Whenever something happens, they can't sleep all night. Instead of issuing an edict to allow them to return to Beijing to visit their families, it would be better to send a royal physician to Lizhou to cure their insomnia.

"You little bastard!"

Lu Hanzhi reached out to pull Lu Qian's ears, but he dodged it swiftly. "I'm already so old, why are you still pulling my ears? You must have made Lu Ling's protruding ears."

"What does this have to do with me?" Lu Ling glared at him.

The old lady coughed lightly at the right moment, and the noisy entrance suddenly quieted down. It was time for dinner, and a banquet was being held at the mansion. People were coming in one after another.

The hall was spacious, and servants came in one after another carrying dishes.

It gets dark early in winter. Nine lanterns, each over a foot high, are placed on the walls of the hall, with fireworks burning high.

The old lady sat in the first seat. It was a rare reunion today. Seeing everyone laughing and talking happily, she couldn't help but feel a lot of emotions in her heart.

After three rounds of drinking, the elders could still hold on, but the younger ones couldn't take it anymore.

It wasn't that he was sleepy, but rather that Lu Hanzhi, when he was drinking, loved to nag the younger generation, bringing up all sorts of minor and major incidents from the letters he'd exchanged over the past few years, like a "homeroom teacher" possessed. Lu Yu, under the pretext of sending Lu Ling back to her room to sleep, took Song Lingyi with her and fled.

…

The courtyard was quiet, with dim candlelight in the room. In the middle of the room stood a copper stove with an animal head, and the charcoal fire was burning brightly.

The three little girls were lying on the bed chatting at night.

Before returning to Beijing, Lu Ling heard that her cousin was engaged to Erlang of the Pei family, and she was very curious.

She had met the second son of the Pei family when she was young. When other young masters from aristocratic families were only thinking about eating, drinking and having fun, he not only entered the Wenlushan Academy, but was also able to debate on behalf of his teacher. His father and mother often praised him in her ears.

"How did my cousin fall in love with Brother Pei?" The little girl was simple-minded and asked straightforward and bold questions.

Speaking of this topic, Lu Yu also became interested.

At that time, my cousin went to Jingjue Temple and came back saying that she was going to get engaged to Pei Erlang. She was so excited for several days that she didn't ask about it in detail.