Chapter 18

Cement sealing

"..."

Lu Qin was stunned. The anger that had been building up in her chest suddenly dissipated, replaced by a sour feeling.

You keep saying you have me in your heart, is that true?

She had imagined many possibilities, but she never expected him to ask this question suddenly.

"Never mind."

Before she could speak, Hao Jingshi suddenly released her, letting his hands hang at his sides, and took a step back. "Whatever you want. Anyway, you'll always say the nice things. I don't want to know anymore."

"..."

Lu Qin remained stunned, not understanding what he meant by his defiant remark.

After he pulled his hand away, she instinctively tilted her head slightly towards him, her cheeks feeling a sudden chill.

After a long while, she suddenly realized something, and a conclusion slowly popped into her mind.

Hao Jingshi just wanted to know if she truly loved him.

After gradually figuring this out, Lu Qin slowly lowered her eyes, feeling a tightness in her chest.

She seems to have... misunderstood Hao Jingshi.

He had no intention of taking a concubine.

So everything was instigated by Aunt Zhao, who used the fact that Lu Ping had no children to make Old Madam Hao dislike her as a daughter-in-law, thus making her agree to let Lu Ping enter the household...

Lu Qin seemed to wake up from a dream, and not wanting to argue any longer, she took a step forward and reached out to take Hao Jingshi's hand as if seeking reconciliation.

“My husband, of course I care about you and what you’ve said. Even if you only mentioned taking a concubine once, I’ve kept it in mind. How was I supposed to know you’d changed your mind? Since you don’t want to take a concubine, then let’s not talk about it anymore. I won’t bring it up again.”

"Oh."

To Lu Qin's surprise, Hao Jingshi looked at her for a while, but instead of trying to smooth things over as usual, he laughed self-deprecatingly, "You change your tune so quickly, do you really think I'm a fool?"

"What……?"

Lu Qin asked the question reflexively with her mind in a daze, but then suddenly realized something was wrong.

Sure enough, Hao Jingshi shook off her hand, seemingly an outburst after holding back for a long time.

He said in one breath, "Lu Qin, you used to fawn over me in every way, just for the sake of the clothing shop, didn't you? Now that you've achieved your goal, I'm no longer of any use to you, so you're indifferent to me now, aren't you?"

"..."

"All the nice things they said were lies to make me happy so they could take advantage of me."

"…………"

Suddenly exposed by his furious outburst, Lu Qin froze, finally understanding why he was so angry.

She looked at him, and in an instant, she was overcome with a fear of losing him, and for a moment she didn't know how to explain.

It wasn't that she was afraid the clothing shop wouldn't be able to open, nor that no one would treat her illness, nor that no one would protect her.

She was simply afraid of losing him.

Seeing that she stood there dumbfounded and didn't try to explain, Hao Jingshi was completely disheartened. He laughed, as if he had confirmed the answer.

“Lu Qin, from the day the clothing shop opened, I could tell that something was wrong with you. You don’t have any deep feelings for me at all.”

"..."

"I shouldn't have believed your nonsense. What kind of woman understands another woman best? If I could wear clothes I designed myself, I would die without regrets..."

Seeing that Hao Jingshi was becoming more and more composed, Lu Qin panicked and hurriedly waved her hands haphazardly.

She blurted out, her voice trembling, "Husband, what nonsense are you talking about? Of course I'm sincere towards you. I'm not lying to you. I really love the design you made..."

"You are just as hypocritical as your aunt."

Hao Jingshi abruptly interrupted, his expression indifferent, and his tone of voice also became indifferent.

He uttered those words lightly, yet they weighed on Lu Qin's heart like a massive boulder.

She felt breathless and desperately tried to grab him: "It's not like that, how could you think that, Hao Jingshi, I..."

Hao Jingshi dodged to the side, clearly indicating that he no longer believed her.

"Since you're sincere, you should be more sensible and consider the young master's feelings. You can arrange the concubine tomorrow."

"Oh, and remember to choose gentle and considerate ones, not scheming ones. It would be best to start with ten or eight; I don't mind having too many."

After saying that, he left without looking back.

Even though his knees were still aching, he stubbornly continued to stride forward, walking faster and faster.

"..."

Lu Qin stood there, staring at his back. After a long while, a dull ache began to throb in her heart.

She raised her head and looked out the window.

A bird is flying south, flapping its wings vigorously despite the wind.

Actually, she's just like this bird; she prefers to face challenges head-on rather than run away from them. But with Hao Jingshi, she's at a loss.

Sometimes when she saw him, she thought, "I'll just avoid him for a bit, and pretend nothing happened."

But obviously, running away was useless; the thing she least wanted to happen still happened.

Hao Jingshi might... never talk to her again.

As Lu Qin stared blankly at the doorway, she heard rustling footsteps coming from the fitting room.

Ling'er, who had hidden herself because she heard the argument, tiptoed over and frowned when she saw the young master walk away.

“Young Madam, why are you doing this to yourself…” Seeing her eyes redden, Ling’er took out a handkerchief with heartache. “Although the young master doesn’t say it, I can tell that he cares about you. He has never mentioned taking a concubine.”

Lu Qin shook her head, pushed away the handkerchief offered to her, and felt only exhaustion.

After sharing a room with Hao Jingshi, she did feel a bit dazed, often thinking carefully about the various moments they had spent together. However, she felt that Hao Jingshi was simply keeping his promise and fulfilling his responsibilities as a husband, treating her well and treating her well, without any extra feelings involved.

Ever since the matter of taking a concubine stood between them, she kept her distance from him and refused to get any closer to him.

She always thought that Hao Jingshi had whispered in Hao's ear and that Hao's mother had lectured her, so she assumed that taking a concubine was a done deal.

But just now, Hao Jingshi pinched her chin, stared into her eyes, and asked a question that stirred up waves in her heart like pebbles thrown into a river.

Was she truly in love with him?

Actually, this problem has been bothering her for a long time.

She only just got the answer.

However, she realized it a little too late.

As Lu Qin had predicted, from that day on, Hao Jingshi became extremely cold towards her, even taking away her bedding and no longer sharing a room with her.

As Lu Qin looked at the empty ground, a thought began to grow stronger in her mind.

She did not want Hao Jingshi to take a concubine.

She wanted Hao Jingshi to come back willingly.

...

The weather is gradually getting colder, geese are flying south, and leaves are turning yellow and withering.

Lu Qin, holding the hot water bottle that Ling'er brought, began to look out for unmarried young ladies from various families for Hao Jingshi. She even had portraits drawn and brought them over for him to choose from.

But Hao Jingshi simply told her to put it down and then sent her away without giving her another glance, nor did he mention who he had taken a fancy to.

He didn't say anything, and Lu Qin didn't care, she continued to deliver the gifts to him. When he ignored her, she sent Ling'er to deliver them instead.

When Ling'er returned, she told her that the portraits on the table were piling up and there was hardly any room left, but the young master still ignored them, as if she were invisible and the portraits were invisible as well.

After thinking about it, Lu Qin stopped sending him portraits and instead copied a love poem every day, folded it into an envelope, and sent it to him.

But the letters were also piled up, just like the portraits.

A few days later, even Master Hao and Madam Hao noticed that they had a falling out, and they even tried to reconcile them when the two came to pay their respects.

To everyone's surprise, Hao Jingshi not only ignored the advice, but also stopped going home and stayed at the clinic, not appearing for seven or eight days.

At her in-laws' urging, Lu Qin reluctantly took some desserts to him, hoping to ease the tension.

But as soon as he entered the clinic, he was coldly turned away.

As Lu Qin stood outside the door with her hands on her hips and a food box in her hand, Xuan Lan suddenly jumped down from the tree and secretly told her that the young master hadn't actually looked at the portraits of those women at all. He had secretly flipped open the letters a few times, and then pretended not to have seen them before putting them back.

He would often space out at the clinic, looking like he had just broken up with his girlfriend. He would shoo her away as soon as she came, but if she didn't come, he would stare at the door as if hoping she would come.

Xuan Lan deliberately embellished the description, portraying a grumpy young master as a pure and innocent young man. But to be fair, Hao Jingshi was indeed only eighteen years old.

Lu Qin was both amused and exasperated upon hearing this. She never expected that she would not only experience time travel but also the ordeal of chasing after her husband.

In Hao Jingshi's eyes, she was clearly a villain who cheated people out of both money and feelings.

However, he deserved it for running away from the wedding, so they're even now.

After guessing that Hao Jingshi had feelings for her, Lu Qin decided to seize the opportunity to win him over and make him open his heart again.

She thought about it but couldn't come up with a good solution, so she simply pestered him relentlessly, coming to the clinic every day to persuade him to go home.

At first, Hao Jing would shoo her out without even looking up, but she wouldn't leave. Later, he got tired of talking and just said, "I'm not going back," before ignoring her completely.

Seeing that he wasn't going to chase her away, Lu Qin sat down to the side and started talking to him shamelessly.

"My lord, the clothing shop only made a few hundred coins yesterday. That Lu Ming guy, I don't know what kind of crooked tricks he used, to steal all our customers. I'm so angry. Tomorrow I'm going to send a few undercover agents to check it out."

"Well, I'm not just concerned about the clothing shop; I was just venting. Don't you want to hear it? Let's talk about something else then. These past few days you haven't gone to pay your respects, and Mother is furious. She said she'd break your legs. I've been constantly praising you to her, begging her not to punish you. Humph, haven't I been good enough?"

Hao Jingshi ignored her.

So you finally realized he didn't like what you were saying? Too late! I'm not going to believe this nonsense anymore!

He remained silent, so Lu Qin continued talking to herself, saying that she would return to the clothing shop after she finished and come back the next day.

"Husband, are you coming home today? Well, it seems you're not. I'm so angry! I finally know what happened. That idiot Lu Ming is doing business under my name. The customers all think that his shop is a branch of ours and is cheaper here, so they go there to buy."

"That idiot! I was thinking I wouldn't bother with him if he did business honestly, but he actually tried to ruin our reputation. I'll deal with him sooner or later."

"Idiot" should mean the same thing as "stupid idiot," right? It's definitely an insult for me. I won't care if you get bullied.

Hao Jingshi still ignored her.

After Lu Qin finished speaking, she returned to the clothing shop and came back on the third day.

"Husband, let's go home. Mother said your birthday is coming soon and she's going to throw you a banquet. Is there anything you like? Oh, by the way, I'm already making that sachet you mentioned last time. Sigh, actually, my needlework is pretty bad. It used to take me ages to sew a sock... But don't worry, I promised, and I won't go back on my word. I've even become Ling'er's apprentice. I'll definitely finish it for you in a few days."

Now that you know how to make sachets, the good old days are over, I don't care anymore.

Hao Jingshi still ignored her.

Lu Qin ignored him, left after speaking, and then came back on the fourth day, the fifth day, and the sixth day...

Hao Jingshi ignored her, Hao Jingshi ignored her again, Hao Jingshi ignored her yet again...

Like being heartbroken after a breakup and then sealing your heart with cement.

Lu Qin was both amused and exasperated, but for some reason, the more she looked at him, the cuter he seemed.

Oh no, she's about to fall in love, and right when he's locked up his heart away from love.

There was no other way, so she continued to go to the clinic without fail.

The seventh day, the eighth day, the ninth day, the tenth day... until the nth day.