Chapter 15: The marriage certificate was read aloud in public. What exactly does Lu Wensheng like about him...?

The next day, the sky was clear and the weather was exceptionally fine. The bright sun shone warmly, and there wasn't even a hint of a chilly breeze.

The only drawback was that it wasn't the kind and gentle Song Zhiyun who woke Lu Wensheng up, but Lin Shoubai, dressed in a flying fish robe and holding an embroidered spring knife.

In her hazy state of consciousness, Lu Wensheng saw Lin Shoubai's cold face, but thinking she was having a nightmare, she turned over, covered her head with a soft pillow, and tried to continue sleeping.

The vast city of Yanjing was teeming with secret police and spies, forcing Lu Wensheng to be constantly cautious. He dared not remove his breast wrap except when bathing, and his clothes were always impeccably tailored, even in the height of summer.

"Lord Lu, His Highness has been waiting in court for a long time, please wake up!" It was rare for Lin Shoubai's voice to carry a hint of urgency.

He had long heard of Lu Wensheng's unreliability, but he never expected him to be so unreliable as to even dare to stand up the Crown Prince. Now, with the Imperial Guards lined up beside his bed, he could still turn around and continue to sleep in.

Lu Wensheng slept soundly, but half an hour earlier, all the officials in the court had suffered from His Highness's low mood for a long time because of her.

His Highness wanted to discuss the details of the trade in detail, but because he had barely slept the night before and was somewhat tired, he propped up his right hand, pressed his fingers to his forehead, closed his eyes, and softly called out, "Editor Lu."

The hall was silent; no one answered.

So His Highness raised his eyes, his voice slightly raised, and called out again: "Editor Lu!"

Silence remained.

By the third call, His Highness had abruptly stood up, his voice suddenly turning deep: "Lu Wensheng!"

The sound was like a boulder falling into a shallow pool, plunging the Fengtian Hall into an instant deathly silence; even the rustling of fabrics ceased abruptly. The civil and military officials exchanged glances, only then realizing that Lu Wensheng had not come to court at all.

His Highness was so angry that he laughed on the spot, a smile curving his lips, but his eyes were extremely cold.

"Lord Lu, His Highness has decreed that you must appear before the court within two quarters of an hour, or you will be dismissed and investigated according to the law!" Lin Shoubai had given up on waking Lu Wensheng normally; he had directly resorted to the tactic commonly used by the Embroidered Uniform Guard—intimidation!

He knew that Lu Wensheng was a hot commodity in the examination room.

Lin Shoubai thought this method would be useful.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths... until dozens of breaths passed, Lu Wensheng started snoring because of his contorted sleeping posture.

She was indeed quite tired these past two days, and winter mornings are generally very easy to sleep in.

Song Zhiyun peered out the door for a long time before finally overcoming her fear of the Imperial Guards. She peeked out and whispered respectfully, "Our Shengsheng has always loved to sleep in late. No one but that person can wake her up."

Lin Shoubai was silent for a moment, then waved his hand to signal his men to make room for Song Zhiyun.

A familiar touch came from his shoulder, and he smelled a familiar scent with his breath. Lu Wensheng woke up instantly.

It's almost the end of Mao Shi (5-7 AM)? So fast!

With remarkable foresight, Song Zhiyun covered Lu Wensheng's mouth, then put down the official robe in her hand and said first, "Get up quickly. These officials have invited you to court. I've washed and dried your blood-stained official robe. Get up and put it on."

Lu Wensheng met the line of Imperial Guards beside the bed and nodded mechanically, her beautiful peach blossom eyes widening into large, round eyes.

It's over, it's over, it's over! They've even mobilized the Imperial Guards to summon her to court. Is Shen Hegui regretting it and wants to get rid of her?

Song Zhiyun reminded him, "Be quick and get to court within 15 minutes."

Time was of the essence, and he was being watched by several pairs of emotionless eyes. Lu Wensheng moved quickly, hurriedly put on his official robe, washed up hastily, grabbed the memorials and rushed out, not even having time to grab his breakfast.

With the Imperial Guards clearing the way and Lu Wensheng riding his horse, they finally arrived at Fengtian Hall just in time.

He walked unimpeded across the threshold in black and white official boots. Without glancing to either side, Lu Wensheng proceeded directly to the foot of the throne, adjusted his robes and sash, and prostrated himself in a full-body salute: "Your subject Lu Wensheng greets Your Highness, may Your Highness live a thousand years!"

Lu Wensheng was filled with anxiety. She walked quickly, but didn't hear any discussion from inside the hall. Could it be that everyone in Fengtian Hall had been waiting for her for the past two quarters of an hour? The atmosphere was so silent and oppressive. Could it be that someone had submitted a memorial impeaching her?

Shen Hegui leaned against the dragon head armrest, remaining silent and deliberately leaving Lu Wensheng waiting for a while.

He both loved and hated Lu Wensheng, and didn't know what to do with him. Killing him would be a pity, but keeping him around would only cause him more trouble.

Unable to bear the ever-growing silence, Lu Wensheng thought that whether he stuck his neck out or not, he would still be killed, so he might as well do it himself and still have a chance to struggle.

She held the memorial high, her voice clear and resonant: "This is the memorial His Highness asked me to write yesterday. I've drafted a rough outline of the key points of the truce agreement, the details of the trade regulations, how to resettle the refugees, what seeds to provide, and how much land to allocate. The first draft is rough and needs to be discussed and revised with you gentlemen."

In the past, she would have taken all the credit, since it was the culmination of her hard work. But now that she has no backing, she can only share the credit with everyone else.

Lu Wensheng appeared impeccably respectful on the surface, but in his heart he had already cursed the dog prince countless times.

Shen Hegui nodded slightly to Feng Gou, signaling him to go down and retrieve Lu Wensheng's memorial.

Thinking of the credit that was about to be distributed, Lu Wensheng was quite reluctant to part with it. His knuckles were tightly gripping the memorial, turning slightly white. Feng Gou used a clever trick to tug at it several times before Lu Wensheng finally let go.

"Eunuch Feng." Shen Hegui's slightly lazy voice came from behind Feng Gou: "Read it out and let everyone hear it. If there is anything inappropriate, we can discuss it while everyone in the court is here."

The memorial was a standard yellow-covered, white-background folded paper, and in principle, it should not have any extra folds. Therefore, when Lu Wensheng caught a glimpse of that unusual corner of the paper out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but pause for a moment.

When she finished writing yesterday, it was clearly flat, so when did it get an extra corner? The color of the paper also seems slightly different.

Feng Gou turned to the first page of the memorial.

Huh! Why is there a loose page tucked inside the memorial? Could it be that Editor Lu has already drafted the truce agreement? He has to help Lord Lu claim the credit for this.

With that in mind, Feng Gou unfolded the paper and began to read it aloud.

As Lu Wensheng watched Feng Gou unfold the papers, she finally remembered what she had done before going to bed the night before.

The marriage certificate she wrote with all her talent!

Feng Gou could read, but not understand the meaning, so he read most of the half of the marriage certificate: "Qian is strong and Kun is harmonious, the way extends to Yin and Yang. The Milky Way is brilliant, adorning the chapter of intertwined branches..."

Feng Gou wondered why the editor was writing it sentence by sentence, but he didn't stop reading and kept reading quickly: "We will pave a hundred miles of brocade as a road, and gather ten thousand crabapple trees as a screen... We will drink from rhinoceros horn cups, and the waves will reflect the amber light of acacia... We will lean on pine and ivy together, and remain unblemished through the cold of the years. We will play the zither and lute in harmony, and become clearer as we pass through the world. We will tie our arms with a red thread, and make a pact to grow old together. We will write our oath on red leaves and write our contract in cinnabar..." This seems a bit off!

While Lu Wensheng was still debating whether to speak up and stop him, Feng Gou had almost finished reading.

Lu Wensheng: "..." Why so efficient, reading so fast!

Shen Hegui sat up straight the moment Feng Gou finished reading the first sentence. He couldn't believe it. Had his attitude yesterday not been clear enough? They dared to hand over the marriage certificate in front of everyone!

Shen Hegui stood up, took the marriage certificate directly from Feng Gou's hand and read it himself. After reading it, he walked down the steps of the imperial palace.

Now, he was at a loss as to how to deal with this audacious and lustful Lord Lu. The marriage contract was crumpled terribly by Shen Hegui: "Excellent! Excellent! Truly excellent! Lord Lu, as expected of a scholar who passed the imperial examination, has written such a fine marriage contract!"

Upon hearing the words "marriage certificate," Feng Gou immediately knelt down, as if he had brought trouble upon Lord Lu!

Yesterday, when I saw Lu Wensheng doing his task, the official almost couldn't stand up and knelt down with Feng Gou. Luckily, a colleague helped him up.

"Your Majesty, I can explain. The marriage certificate was inserted by accident. It was truly my fault..." Lu Wensheng wanted to explain the whole story.

"Enough, Lu Wensheng! I don't want to hear your sophistry!" He turned to the side and raised his hand, saying to Feng Gou, "Bring me the memorial!" He wanted to see what other shocking things were written in the memorial.

Lu Wensheng couldn't understand it. He just wanted to explain why he had accidentally slipped the marriage certificate in, but that was just a way of making excuses.

She hesitated for a moment, then finally chose to remain silent. She prostrated herself on her knees.

Oh well, since Shen Hegui is one of the feudalistic overlords and also her boss, whatever he says goes! Office workers who argue with their superiors rarely end up well.

Shen Hegui had assumed the memorial would contain nothing but decadent words, but it turned out to be quite serious. He glanced at the respectfully prostrate Lu Wensheng and slowly squatted down.

Time seemed to have returned to the night before last, except that today Shen Hegui's black robe had a dark dragon pattern on it, and he did not use the qilin or luanfeng that a crown prince should use according to etiquette and rules.

Shen Hegui pinched Lu Wensheng's cheeks again, forcing her to look up. The force was not strong, but it carried an inescapable control. Before the slight pain could be clearly felt, it was quickly soothed by the scalding heat of his palm.

Does Lu Wensheng like him that much? What exactly does she see in him? Is it his face, his status, or something else?

The calloused thumb unconsciously rubbed against Lu Wensheng's smooth, jade-like cheek, the familiar touch awakening memories from Shen Hegui's dream.

Suddenly, a long-dormant restlessness surged up from the depths.

Shen Hegui's pupils trembled: It was Lu Wensheng in my dream!? No, that's not right, the person in my dream was clearly a woman, but the sensation came from him!

Shen Hegui found it hard to accept at first. His reason turned into cold water in the twelfth lunar month, pouring down on him. The agitation that rose for a moment subsided in the next instant, so quickly that Shen Hegui did not even notice.

He gave Lu Wensheng a deep look, then stood up with extreme disgust, saying, "For the sake of this memorial, I will not hold it against you this time. Go to the Hanlin Academy and be on duty. Do not appear before me unless necessary!" He was trying to distract Lu Wensheng.

"Your Majesty's decree is obeyed." What a lunatic! He probably wants to use this opportunity to break her neck. Oh dear, how am I supposed to live from now on? Maybe I should pull some strings and ask for a posting to a remote area? If I'm a compiler and I'm posted to a remote area, nine times out of ten I'll be a county magistrate, which is such a low-ranking position. Wherever I go, I'll only encounter my superiors.

Forget it, I'll just stay in my old position. Maybe after a while, Shen Hegui will forget about me. It's just a pity about this memorial she poured her heart and soul into. I should have known better than to write it so carefully.

A note from the author:

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