Chapter 488 Why does Lu Xiaowu treat him this way?

A group of well-dressed, slick-haired young men were arguing heatedly about who was Zhu Junning's lover. To Prince Rui, Prince An, and the Imperial Guards, the scene was both amusing and laughable.

But in the eyes of Zhu Junning and his daughter, it was an immense humiliation. It was as if their Lingnan Prince's Mansion was being trampled on like mud. First, they were beaten up by Prince Rui on some random pretext, and then their daughter was humiliated in this way by several纨绔 (sons of spoiled brats).

Even with his shrewdness and decades of self-cultivation, the Prince of Lingnan couldn't maintain his composure. He trembled with rage, roared, and was about to charge forward to fight Lu Xiaowu and the others. But he was stopped by Prince Rui after only two steps.

“It takes two to tango,” Prince Rui said sarcastically. “Why is the Prince of Lingnan so angry?”

That's utter nonsense; it takes two to tango. These spoiled brats are just blatantly slandering him. Little do they know, the leader is the grandson of Marquis Anyuan, Jiang Yu's direct cousin. He's definitely here for revenge because Jiang Yu's affair was exposed.

He reached out to push Prince Rui, wanting to continue charging towards Lu Xiaowu and the others. How could Prince Rui let him pass? He grabbed his arm and forcefully shoved him, causing him to stumble. The Prince of Lingnan, already at the peak of his rage, could not tolerate this. He charged forward and engaged Prince Rui in battle once more.

He had just been brutally beaten and was already injured. Now, blinded by rage, his punches and kicks were completely disorganized, and he was knocked to the ground by Prince Rui in just a few moves. The Prince of Lingnan, pinned to the ground, had never felt such intense regret; he shouldn't have come to the capital.

If he hadn't come to the capital, his mother wouldn't be imprisoned now, her fate uncertain. The reputation of their Lingnan Prince's Mansion wouldn't be so humiliated. More importantly, whether he could even return to Lingnan was still unknown. And given the current situation, the possibility of him not being able to return was extremely high.

He lay on his back on the ground, the bright moon shining in the night sky, its faint light stinging his face.

“Your Highness Prince Rui suddenly barged into my Lingnan Prince’s Mansion, shouting threats to kill my father. Now your anger should have subsided, shouldn’t it?” Zhu Junning walked up to Prince Rui, looked up at his handsome face, and couldn’t suppress the soreness in her nose, which then filled her eyes with tears.

Prince Rui didn't even look at her. Instead, he lowered his head and looked down at the Prince of Lingnan. His voice was as cold as ice as he said, "Zhu Chong'ao, you know in your heart where my hatred for you comes from. You'd better hope that I won't come looking for you again, or I will tear you to pieces."

"Qin He'an, you too..."

“Father.” Zhu Junning interrupted the Prince of Lingnan before he could speak, then looked at Prince Rui and said, “Your Highness Prince Rui, can we leave things here today?”

Prince Rui glanced at her coldly, lifted his foot from the chest of the Prince of Lingnan, turned his head and said to Prince An in a low voice, "Let's go."

Prince An's sharp gaze swept over the Lingnan Prince and his daughter. With a wave of his hand, the Imperial Guards removed the knives from the necks of the Lingnan Prince's guards and followed Prince Rui and Prince An out.

Prince Rui walked up to Lu Xiaowu and his group, his expression softening. He looked at Lu Xiaowu and said, "It's alright, you can all go back now."

Lu Xiaowu pursed her lips as she looked at him, her cheeks slightly puffed out. She bowed respectfully and turned to leave. Seeing this, the other纨绔 (playboys) bowed respectfully and quickly followed Lu Xiaowu. Prince Rui frowned slightly as he watched Lu Xiaowu's seemingly angry back.

He had never crossed paths with Lu Xiaowu, let alone had any grudges against him. Why was Lu Xiaowu treating him this way? However, he had no time to pay attention to this matter at the moment, and with Marquis Anyuan and Jiang Yu present, Lu Xiaowu would not do anything out of line.

He strode out, and as soon as he left the Lingnan Prince's Mansion, he saw Lu Xiaowu arguing with those纨绔 (playboys). He glanced at them, then mounted his horse and rode straight to the palace. Prince An did the same, leading his Imperial Guards away in a roar.

Over here, several spoiled brats surrounded Lu Xiaowu, each offering their own accusations:

"We agreed to go together, and we all rushed up one by one, but you hid in the back."

"That's right, you were the one who brought this up, and everyone came to help you out. Lu Xiaowu, how can you face your brothers like this?"

"Tell me, what exactly happened?"

......

Lu Xiaowu looked flustered when questioned, and chuckled as he bowed to the group, trying to brush it off. But none of them were easygoing, and they weren't about to let him get away with it so easily. They pulled him aside and demanded an explanation.

Lu Xiaowu had no choice but to tell the truth: "You are either married or engaged. I am not engaged yet. I can't ruin my reputation because of Zhu Junning."

...

The scene fell silent for a moment, then several men rolled up their sleeves, ready to beat him up. You care about your reputation because you're not engaged, but those who are married or engaged care even more, okay? If this matter isn't handled properly today, they'll either have their engagements called off, or their wives will cause trouble for them, and they might even get a good beating.

Upon seeing this, Lu Xiaowu quickly took out the silver notes he had prepared beforehand, held them high, and said urgently, "I'll treat you to ten days of dinner at Zuiyuelou."

The group stopped what they were doing when they saw the silver notes in his hand. Then someone said, "Ten days won't do, at least twenty days."

“No, a month,” someone else said.

Lu Xiaowu quickly replied, "Okay, one month at a time, no more than that. If it's any more, I'll have to pawn my underwear."

Hearing him say this, the crowd felt somewhat relieved and pulled him toward Zuiyue Tower. Lu Xiaowu then said with a grin, "This Prince of Lingnan can't do anything to Prince Rui, but he can still make things difficult for us. Let's go home and report this."

Upon hearing this, the group of spoiled brats gritted their teeth again. When Lu Xiaowu made the suggestion, they hadn't thought much about it. After all, Lu Xiaowu was there to protect them, so what did they have to be afraid of? But now that Lu Xiaowu had said this, they realized that even if the King of Lingnan didn't retaliate against them, their fathers would probably beat them up if they heard about what happened today.

The men rolled up their sleeves, ready to beat Lu Xiaowu again, but by then Lu Xiaowu had already mounted his horse, lashed the horse's rump with his whip, and galloped away. The men were seething with anger, but there was nothing they could do; they could only hurry home to report.

Lu Xiaowu rode his horse to the gate of the Marquis of Anyuan's residence and saw the steward smiling at him. He dismounted, and the steward came over, bowed, and said with a smile, "Fifth Young Master, the Marquis is waiting for you in the study."

Lu Xiaowu pursed his lips, hummed in agreement, and walked inside with his head down. He dawdled until he reached the study door, which was open. He tiptoed over, touched the door frame, and peeked inside, where he saw his grandfather, father, and eldest brother were all there.

He cautiously pulled his head back, wondering if he should come back later, when the majestic voice of Marquis Anyuan came from inside, "What are you still standing at the door for? Come in!"