Chapter 15 Chapter 15 Contradiction

The sky was dim and dusk was falling. The carriage was heading out of the city along a secluded place, and the movement in the carriage was intermittent.

The sleeves of his clothes tangled silently, and the scarf brushed across the boots, which were sweaty and hot.

The crabapple-colored hair tie fell to the side of her neck, rippling like water waves as it fluttered, leaving a thin layer of water sheen on the cushion.

The blurry and dim light magnified each other's senses. Lu Chen gritted his teeth, and the veins on his forehead throbbed.

He couldn't see her expression, and it felt like there was a huge gap in his chest that could never be satisfied.

"Xiaoxiao, turn back." Lu Chen's voice was low and hoarse. His warm palm with thin calluses covered the softness from behind, and he seemed to be begging, "Look at me."

Zhe Rou held onto the cold, hard wall of the car, her fingertips turning white from exerting force, and she suppressed the sound that was about to burst out of her lips, without responding.

Her mind was in a mess. She didn't know how to face Lu Chen, nor did she know how to face herself.

Having shared the joys and sorrows in Taozhou for four years, no one knows Lu Chen's difficulties better than her.

In order to heal his injured leg, he had endured countless hardships. He had hope again and again, but was met with disappointment again and again. He fell down countless times, and his clothes were soaked with cold sweat due to the pain. Water would flow out if he squeezed his leg lightly.

When he first entered the military camp, the military achievements he had fought so hard for were taken away by others. He had no one to turn to for help and could only continue to rush to the front of the battle and be a soldier who risked his life for his life.

She had seen Lu Chen at his most miserable and vulnerable, crying silently in the rain alone.

She knew that returning to Shangjing and reviving his family was his obsession.

He crawled out from the sea of ​​blood and corpses, struggling to get to where he is today. How could it not be difficult for him to avenge his father and make a name for himself?

She also remembered Lu Chen's kindness, and how he stayed up all night to take care of her when she was sick.

Her parents died early and no other relatives treated her well, so she was particularly greedy for the warmth of this world.

But the younger she was and the more sincere her feelings were, the more she couldn't stand his playing both sides and flirting with others.

A heart seemed to be torn into two halves, one half of compromise and the other half of resentment.

I hated him for deceiving me, and I hated myself for not being cruel enough. I was at a loss and couldn't find a way out.

Noticing that she was biting her lip to endure, Lu Chen felt a surge of hidden anger in his heart. Without thinking, he bent two long fingers and inserted them directly between her teeth, teaching her to bite and vent her anger: "What's the point of biting yourself, huh?"

Unable to describe the feeling in her heart, Zhe Rou whimpered and bit his knuckles tightly.

It seemed as if she gave him as much pain as he gave her pleasure.

A faint fishy-sweet taste spreads between the lips and teeth.

As night fell in the quiet suburbs, two panting sounds echoed in the cramped carriage.

Finally, Lu Chen turned her face, forced her to turn around, hooked his tongue around hers, and kissed her deeply and passionately, swallowing up all the blood between her lips and teeth.

The next moment, a numbing sensation penetrated her bones, and a thin mist appeared before her eyes.

Lu Chen grabbed her exhausted body, wiped away the sweat, carefully wrapped her in his outer robe, and held her tightly in his arms.

"Xiaoxiao." Lu Chen stroked her sweaty hair and called out in a hoarse voice, "Please don't be angry with me anymore, okay?"

After the confusion, the afterglow faded away, and Zhe Rou curled up tiredly, feeling only an indescribable sense of loss and loneliness.

It's like a lonely boat floating on the sea, with no idea where it came from or where it is going.

Pingchuan and Nanheng were guarding several feet away. They heard from afar that the carriage had become completely quiet. They looked up and saw that it was getting late. The city gates would be locked in a few hours. The two looked at each other and played rock-paper-scissors in tacit understanding.

The next moment, Pingchuan gave Nanheng a dejected look, then tiptoed to the front of the carriage and asked carefully, "My dear, the city gates are about to be locked. Should we go back?"

Not long after, Lu Chen responded in a muffled voice in the carriage.

Pingchuan answered yes quickly, whipped his horsewhip, and drove back to the city.

The carriage was slightly bumpy all the way back to the mansion. Zhe Rou was already extremely tired and fell into a deep sleep.

Lu Chen helped her clean up, then sat down beside the couch, and gently stroked her eyebrows with his fingertips covered with light calluses. He stared at Zhe Rou's peaceful and tranquil sleeping face and was silent for a long time.

Seeing her eyelids red and slightly swollen from crying, and her brows still slightly furrowed even though she was already asleep, Lu Chen felt full of pity, as if the beating thing in his chest was being gripped by her, and it hurt so much.

It’s not that I don’t feel guilty, it’s not that I don’t feel sad.

When the Lu family encountered trouble, he fell from being a favored child to a nobody overnight.

After his father died, the usually gentle and elegant scholar was tortured in the dungeon of the Imperial City until his flesh was torn and his face was unrecognizable.

His always proud and self-satisfied mother, with disheveled hair and a disheveled appearance, clutched his arm like a madwoman, her nails digging deep into his flesh as she screamed, "Sanlang! You must live. You must come back alive and revive the Lu family!"

But he was uncertain about his future and could not protect himself. His hands and feet were shackled. The escorting soldier pushed him away and hit him hard on the shoulder with the wooden stick in his hand.

At that time, he had nothing. He was ambushed on the way to exile, and was shot by an arrow. He had a high fever and had no money to see a doctor. He could only lie in the City God Temple and grit his teeth to endure it. He didn't dare to die, but he couldn't afford to live either.

Fortunately, he met Yaoyao.

She was born so thin and frail, but she used all her strength to support him and walked forward, round and round, tired and sweating all over, but she looked up and smiled at him, praising him for being so great and walking a few more steps today.

Countless times, he would look down and see the small whorl of hair on her head, which looked so pitiful and cute.

In fact, he was full of resentment at that time, and he suppressed his fear of becoming a disabled person all day long. But she had obviously suffered a lot, but she always looked at him with a smile, comforted him softly, and helped him stand up again and again.

There will never be anyone else in this world who can treat him like this, and accompany him step by step out of the mud, only he.

So he admitted his mistake and felt guilty.

But he doesn't regret it.

Now that you have decided to enter the game, you should make your move without regrets.

He wants power and a future, and he also wants women.

He is a decisive, paranoid and desperate person. He is born with a gambling nature and is willing to take unconventional measures to achieve his goals.

Otherwise, how could he have gritted his teeth and stood up again, and then walked back to Shangjing step by step from the remote border town where he was in danger of death?

If he had a weaker and more hesitant temperament, he would have become a nameless skeleton buried under the heavy yellow sand after three years of exile in Taozhou.

Wait a little longer.

Once the Xu family's affairs are settled and he earns a phoenix crown and a bridal robe for her, they will have a long life to live.

Although his sister-in-law is a little unhappy with him now, he is very patient and can always coax her into softening her heart slowly.

**

At night, Xu Mansion.

There is a gilded Boshan incense burner with a running beast pattern in the study. The elegant fragrance of Xun Ling Shili Incense overflows from the incense burner, and a line of smoke curls up as if it is about to burn straight into the sky.

Xu Chong sat behind the nanmu desk, listening to his staff's reports.

"...News has arrived from the Imperial Palace that the Third Prince has infuriated the Emperor again today for unknown reasons, even being denounced as 'unlearning brotherly love, cold-hearted and hard-hearted.' These words are truly harsh... I have considered this over and over again, and the only person the Emperor could consider a brother to the Third Prince is probably Young Prince Xie..."

"There's another important matter. I've recently heard that someone is secretly investigating the salt and iron transportation in the Huaihe River and Lianghuai areas. It seems that they've already traced the investigation to the bandits near the Han Canal. We have to be on guard against this, after all..."

Halfway through his words, there was a sudden burst of shouting and scolding outside the study. The staff's expression tensed and he immediately fell silent.

Xu Chong's expression also showed a bit of hostility. When he raised his eyes, he saw Zhou with a gloomy face, walking to the door like a gust of wind.

Xu Chong gave his staff a look, signaling them to leave for the time being. He then looked at Zhou calmly, "Why are you so anxious?"

Seeing his faint impatience, Zhou's anger flared up even more. "This is all your idea! Rong Niang left the house happily today, but when she came back, she was like a lost soul. She locked herself in her room and refused to see anyone. Look, it's already this late, and she hasn't even had her evening meal yet!"

Xu Chong was so preoccupied with other matters today that he hadn't paid much attention to this place. He couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

Zhou had been fuming for a long time, and upon hearing his question, she immediately took offense. "I told you that the Lu family had a concubine and wasn't a good match, yet you insisted on sacrificing my precious daughter! Now she's lost her heart, and seeing how her husband truly dotes on another woman, how can she not be sad?"

As she spoke, she gritted her teeth in hatred and recounted what had happened by the Jinming Lake during the day, such as how Lu Chen doted on Ning and how he protected her under himself when the mad horse rushed out of the paddock.

After slowly understanding the whole story, Xu Chong breathed a sigh of relief. It was very common for men in this world to have concubines and favorites.

If the young man from the Lu family was completely indifferent to women, pretended to be loyal, and only interacted with Shiliu Niang, he would start to suspect that she was pretending to be evil.

After a moment's hesitation, Xu Chong said nonchalantly, "Tell Rong Niang not to worry about such an insignificant thing. Tell her to talk to Lu Sanlang some other day and ask him to send the person away."

Thinking about it carefully, this is a good opportunity. He is also willing to see what the young man from the Lu family will do.

But Zhou didn't agree to his idea. Her eyebrows immediately raised and she said anxiously, "Just look at the way Lu Sanlang treated me on the court today. It's obvious that he treats me like the apple of his eye. Even if we send her away for now, it will still be a problem in the future. Who knows if he will secretly keep her as a concubine?

Besides, if she gets pregnant and gives birth to a lowly bastard child, does that mean a girl like me, Rong Niang, will have to compete for favor with those unworthy people in the future? I'm going to be so upset!"

Xu Chong patiently listened to Zhou's long and rambling ramblings about the women in the backyard, then sneered, "I don't think it's a big deal."

"She's just a mere ant-like woman. Since Rong Niang finds her an eyesore, then as her father, I will find an opportunity to get rid of her."

Zhou was slightly stunned when she heard this. After a while, she slowly frowned and hesitated. "I don't think it's okay. Killing people without any reason is... this is truly a sin. Besides... how can a living person win against a dead person?"

Xu Chong choked, looked up and asked impatiently: "Then what do you want to do?"

Zhou thought for a moment and made up her mind: "Give me some capable people. We women in the backyard have our own social skills. Let's try my method first. If it doesn't work, we can try something else."