Chapter 42 Sowing Discord – She's practically tearing the roof off someone else's house! ...
Le Zhao has only been awake for less than two days, and Meng Shutai has already come looking for her?
Now that they've met, won't they hit it off immediately and the two families separate?
Le Jin gasped, rolled over and got up from the floor, then lay down beside Le Zhao's bed, crying and making a scene.
"I don't care! Just promise me—"
"They clearly said back then that the marriage would be up to my own wishes!"
"Brother is lying!"
Le Zhao was choked and helpless, and a little sweat appeared on his forehead.
Le Jin's crying and fussing were more of a headache for him than the real wounds on his body.
He knew his younger sister's personality all too well; she always wanted to have what she wanted.
I wonder what kind of bewitching potion this young master Meng gave her. She wanted to repay him with her body after spending some time with him?
After considering this, Le Zhao really wanted to meet the famous eldest son of the Meng family in Luoyang.
"What's the use of you forcing things in marriage? Why don't you ask the other person?"
With his arm wrapped in gauze, he could barely touch her. Le Zhao coaxed and pleaded, "Get up! You're so old already. Throwing a tantrum like a little dog, what kind of behavior is that?"
Le Jin raised her wrinkled little face in disbelief and howled even louder.
"My little ancestor, you..."
Le Zhao was amused by her and gently pinched Le Jin's cheek.
"Isn't returning to your brother's side a joyous occasion? Why is Lady Le so sad?"
The soft flesh at her fingertips trembled at the sound, and Yue Zhao saw that Yue Jin immediately stopped crying.
She turned to face the elegant young man who had entered the room, and asked him defensively, "What are you doing here?"
Le Jin's words were barbed, but the visitor wasn't annoyed; his temper was as gentle as cotton.
"I heard that Mr. Yue and Mrs. Yue have returned to their old residence, so I came to pay them a visit."
Le Zhao glanced at the incomparably noble man before her. He was tall and elegant, with lowered eyebrows and eyes, gentle and respectful. He was indeed handsome, his radiance captivating the world.
"I am Meng Shutai from Luoyang. I heard that Young Master Yue was injured at my Meng residence, so I have prepared a small gift for him, firstly to welcome him back, and secondly to apologize to him."
"The sound of chess pieces."
He called out softly, and Qisheng returned with a square black lacquered box with gold trim. It looked heavy and very valuable.
Meng Shutai accepted the gift with both hands, but instead of opening it for display, he looked at Le Jin, who had been staring at him.
"These private items in the box... Lady Yue, you should avoid them for now."
"Why?"
Meng Shutai said nothing more, only smiled and shook his head at Le Jin.
Le Jin's heart skipped a beat. Could this box contain a marriage certificate?
She was about to ask another question when Le Zhao interrupted her.
"Little Jin'er, is Baoyin still waiting for you?"
Bao Yin's condition is slightly better than Le Zhao's. Fortunately, Le Zhao protected her with all his might, and she was not seriously injured in either of the two incidents. She was just shocked and agitated, and she will recover after a few days of quiet rest.
But when Le Jin saw Bao Yin's abnormal appearance, she was reminded of the time when she had abandoned her alone in the suburbs of Beijing.
Being cruelly abandoned by a young lady you grew up with at a critical moment of life and death is something no one could bear.
So Le Jin made a promise with Bao Yin that she would be there as long as Bao Yin was awake, and in the past few days she has spent more time with Bao Yin than with Le Zhao.
But how can she leave now?!
Le Jin stood anxiously in place, stamping her feet, her face flushed as she looked at Le Zhao, hesitant to speak, her teeth clenched tightly.
Here we go again...
When Le Zhao saw her like this, he was at a loss. He could only blame himself for spoiling her too much.
In the end, he nodded to his "unruly" sister.
"I'll consider your matter. Go now."
Le Jin blinked, overjoyed!
I knew it; Le Zhao wouldn't be heartless towards her.
She beamed and rushed to Le Zhao's side, saying in a sweet, flattering voice, "Brother, you're the best!"
After saying that, she ignored Meng Shutai, picked up her skirt, and skipped out the door.
The sound of chess pieces waiting outside the door.
Le Jin stopped abruptly, her eyes darting around, and questioned him from a distance, drawing the sound of the chess pieces away.
"What rare item is in your husband's box? He won't even let us see it."
"I have no idea."
Le Jin narrowed her eyes and leaned closer: "You really don't know?"
Qi Sheng looked completely innocent. "Of course, the young master put it in himself. Nobody knows what it is."
Inside the room, Meng Shutai walked slowly towards Le Zhao, like a graceful Bodhisattva stepping down from a lotus platform. The box contained the treasure meant to save all sentient beings.
"Thank you for your kindness, Young Master Meng. However, I am bedridden and unable to entertain you. I hope you will forgive me."
Meng Shutai smiled and said gently, "It's alright. My visit is already an intrusion. Your health is of utmost importance. Once you recover, I will personally welcome you to my residence and host a banquet to show my hospitality."
As he spoke, he had already given a general overview of Yue Zhao's injuries, and now he asked her with concern:
"Why don't I open the box for you, my lord?"
Before Le Zhao could reply, Meng Shutai's jade-like fingers unfastened the brass clasp on the side of the box, lifted the lid, and left only the black tray at the bottom of the box and—
A human head.
Le Zhao stared in disbelief, his body involuntarily leaning back: "This!"
He recognized the head.
He had thick, bushy eyebrows and a long beard, with two knife scars running diagonally across his eyebrows.
He was one of the villains who ambushed him in the Meng family's villa, intending to kill him.
He actually died, and his head was placed in a box after being beheaded.
A swollen, pale, dead head was only half an arm's length away from him. Even someone as resolute as Yue Zhao suddenly felt dizzy and lightheaded, his stomach churning with the medicine, and he almost vomited.
However, the immortal gentleman holding the severed head remained calm, even showing some gentle apology, and spoke leisurely:
“My lord should know that four years ago my younger brother and I were kidnapped by the bandits of Tiger Head Mountain.”
Meng Shutai raised his wrist at the right moment, causing his head to bounce slightly.
"He is the bandit leader."
"When I heard the news of the evildoer's crime at the Meng family's villa, I immediately ordered a thorough investigation. Sure enough, the perpetrator had a long-standing grudge against us and had mistakenly injured my lord."
Meng Shutai's voice was like a spring, extremely pleasant to listen to, but as Le Zhao listened, he broke out in a cold sweat.
This person is definitely not simple.
He had met hundreds and thousands of people, but none of them were as...cold, treacherous, and unusual as Meng Shutai.
An instinct flashed into Yue Zhao's mind: his sister shouldn't get entangled with him.
He swallowed hard, forcing himself to remain calm so that he could barely meet Meng Shutai's gaze.
“I see. Young Master Meng, there’s no need to blame yourself. My sister and I have been separated for many days, and it was Young Master Meng who took good care of her… So it’s even.”
Since it's a balanced account, there's no question of who owes whom, and there's no need to create any further entanglements.
Meng Shutai covered the head back with the box lid and placed it carefully next to Le Zhao's pillow.
His eyes were like the lush green shade under the bright sun in summer, flashing and dimming in the wind, with light and shadow intertwining among the branches and leaves.
"It can't be eliminated."
Meng Shutai smiled bitterly, recalling his childhood.
"The marriage was arranged hastily back then. You and I both know that this marriage certificate was only meant to bring me good luck, but it has trapped Lady Le, forcing her to spend her whole life for a man she doesn't even know."
"I owe her."
Meng Shutai's phoenix eyes shone brightly, and his expression was earnest. "When we were at Huayan Temple, I told Lady Le that I intended to break off the engagement."
"really?"
As if a lifeline had been extended before him, Yue Zhao's eyes and brows instantly brightened.
However, the next moment, Meng Shutai suddenly put on an embarrassed and shy expression.
"But Lady Le..."
What's wrong with her?
Le Zhao felt a vague sense of unease and stared intently at Meng Shutai without moving.
"She loves me very much."
Meng Shutai spoke as if he were discussing how the cat's paws had torn the gold thread on his sleeve, a tone that was both helpless and subtly indulgent.
"He not only broke off his relationship with his old lover Feng Yu'en in Shuzhou for me, but also barged in and forcibly kissed me while I was bathing..."
"What!"
Le Zhao's body stiffened, his emotions a jumbled mess, like a pot of sticky, glutinous lotus seed porridge that had been overturned.
Good heavens!
I thought that girl would suffer some grievances because she was all alone and living under someone else's roof. It's a shame that he was so badly injured that he couldn't even get out of bed, yet he still felt sorry for her. It turns out she was climbing on the roof and tearing off the tiles at their place!
“Even if she set fire to Huayan Temple a while ago, it doesn’t matter. I can take the blame for her. But I consider myself to be pure and virtuous, and I have never met a woman like this before…”
Le Zhao's heart was pounding; he was both angry and in pain, and he was almost fainting.
Arson? She dared to commit arson!
Meng Shutai ignored him and continued talking to himself.
"I have come here to remind you, my lord, that Lady Le's feelings for me are like a raging fire in the wind, and I'm afraid they cannot be extinguished."
"If you, sir, intend to take her back to your residence..."
Meng Shutai sighed for a long time, and said understandingly, "This matter cannot be rushed."
A shadow fell beneath Le Zhao's high brow bone, and he was as cold as ice.
He said that no matter how much this girl threw a tantrum, she was determined to marry him; it turned out she had been obsessed with him for a long time.
Overwhelmed by dizziness, Le Zhao closed her eyes tightly and tried her best to regulate her breathing.
"Thank you for coming to inform me, Young Master Meng. Otherwise, that ignorant fool might still be keeping it from me."
Le Zhao opened her eyes, and when she looked at Meng Shutai again, there was a hint of apology in her eyes.
Regardless, it would be incredibly disgraceful if word got out that such a handsome and upright young man had almost been defiled by Le Jin before marriage.
"Zhao will definitely write home to inform her parents that they will discipline her more strictly. They have spoiled her too much at home, which is embarrassing for you, Meng Langjun."
Meng Shutai shook his head, showing great magnanimity.
"It's not a bad thing that Lady Le is so frank and enthusiastic; Shutai doesn't dislike her at all, but rather appreciates her. As for the marriage between the two families, my lord, please consider it carefully."
Le Zhao was quick-witted and could tell that Meng Shutai had politely declined the marriage proposal and given him time to maneuver. This was exactly what he wanted, a good thing, but who would have thought that Le Jin would do such a thing!
He thought she had changed her personality, but it turned out she was just lying to him.
We can't ignore it anymore.
She resented him, hated him, and was angry with him, and Le Zhao would show no mercy this time.
Meng Shutai calmly observed the myriad colors on Le Zhao's face, his heart pounding as if he were adrift in a small boat, feeling as if he were on a celestial abode. He then excused himself, saying that he would not delay Le Zhao's recovery.
Before even leaving the Yue family's courtyard, the sound of chess pieces could be heard as her husband hummed a melodious little poem.
Whenever the young man is happy, he hums a tune softly.
Listening to the sounds of chess, I couldn't help but feel happy too.
However, a clumsy old man suddenly rushed out from the side corridor, and just as he was about to bump into the young man, the chess player spoke up and shouted:
"Watch where you're going! Why are you crashing into my husband like that?"
Meng Shutai's face instantly turned cold. He gave Qisheng a look, indicating that he shouldn't argue with the old man.
He stepped forward and gently comforted the old man who had been startled by the sound of the chess pieces, saying, "Please don't be offended, sir. Please go ahead."
The old man was none other than Uncle Gu. Seeing that he was an important person, he didn't dare to say much, but simply pointed outside the house.
"It's nothing serious, I just went out to buy some sweet cakes."
Sweet cake.
Meng Shutai smiled knowingly, "Did your wife give the order?"
"Yes. The maidservant by your side has fallen ill again. She told me to quickly go and buy some sweets to coax her."
“I know your wife loves the sweet cakes from this family. Why don’t you come with me, sir? I’ll buy them for her, and you can return them to her.”
"Ah, that's perfect! You're so thoughtful, my lord!"
Uncle Gu was a distant relative of the Le family. He had no children and was a widower.
I don't know if it's because he's getting old and has gained more experience, or if he's thinking about his merits in guarding the house, but he always likes to chatter on and on.
Just as Meng Shutai lifted the curtain and boarded the carriage, he suddenly heard his second uncle, Gu, who was following beside the carriage, muttering to himself in a daze:
"This little bastard we picked up outside is so lucky! To have met such a handsome husband..."
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