Lu Yiling let Chu Che put on her shoes and socks, then walked up to Qi Yuning and said, "Mother."
Qi Yuning pulled Lu Yiling over and said, "Do you know the difference between men and women? Chu Che is a man, how can you let him touch your feet?"
Lu Yiling said, "Chu Che has been serving me since he was a child. I don't treat him as an outsider."
"But he is an outsider after all, and he is also the uncle of the current emperor. How can you let the uncle of the current emperor wash your feet?"
Lu Yiling said, "I understand, mother. I won't let Chu Che wash my feet anymore. Are you leaving?"
Qi Yuning nodded and said, "It's getting late, it's time to go. Remember to come back often. If you really can't stay here any longer, then come back as soon as possible. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Lu Yiling nodded and said, "Goodbye, mother. Please take good care of my sister for me."
Qi Yuning smiled faintly and said, "Okay."
"Daddy!" Lu Yiling shouted when she saw the man in purple robe coming down from the fields.
Qi Yuning looked at Lu Ze and asked, "You're here too?"
"I've been waiting for you to come back and see me. You can also come and see your mentor. I never thought he would accept Lingling as his disciple."
Lu Yiling said, "That's because I'm qualified to be your junior sister."
Lu Ze smiled faintly and said, "My mentor is old. You can't make him angry like you do at home."
"I'm the most well-behaved person, how could I possibly make him angry?"
Qi Yuning nodded and said, "That's right, let's go."
"Goodbye, Daddy and Mommy."
In the setting sun, Lu Yiling waved to her parents and watched them go away.
Lu Yiling looked at Chu Che and said, "I'm so tired. I can't even walk back. Please carry me."
Chu Che squatted down and let Lu Yiling lie on his back and said, "Okay."
Lu Yiling climbed onto Chu Che's back. Under the sunset glow, the girl leaned on the boy's back and fell asleep with her eyes closed. Chu Che sent Lu Yiling back to the room. Looking at her peaceful sleeping face, he felt his heart beating rapidly.
Chu Che slapped his face and said, "Chu Che, don't think too much!"
…
In September, Qi Yuning received the rice and grain sent by Lingling, and also sent a portion to the palace, but Lingling did not come back even on her birthday.
The following spring, Qi Zhiyuan and Chu Xiaoxiao got married. Lu Yiling and Chu Che went to Shuzhou to visit friends with Fang Daru, who was already over eighty years old, but they did not come.
It was not until winter that Lu Yiling and Chu Che, both seventeen years old, returned from Jiangnan.
Qi Yuning looked at the returning Lu Yiling, who was much taller than before, and said reluctantly, "Don't leave this time. Your grandmother's health has been getting worse. She has been worried about you for the past year. Besides, you are seventeen years old. Even if mother is reluctant to let you go, your marriage must be put on the agenda."
Lu Yiling smiled faintly and said, "Well, I won't leave this time. In two months, Chu Che will take part in the Spring Examination. If he can enter the Dali Temple by then, I can get married."
Qi Yuning said, "Whether Chu Che enters the Dali Temple or not has anything to do with whether you get married or not."
Lu Yiling said, "My uncle won't let me enter the Dali Temple. He's very stingy and is only willing to give me an insignificant sinecure.
If Chu Che can enter the Dali Temple, then I can use him to gain power and choose someone else to marry.
If Chu Che can't get into the Dali Temple, I will find a husband who works there and marry him."
Qi Yuning: "...How can you treat marriage as such a joke?"
"No kidding, anyway, I don't like any man in this world. There are few men in this world who are as devoted to their wives as the men in our Lu family and don't take concubines. There are many men like my uncle, who always say they are deeply in love, but in fact, they have always had concubines.
It is extremely difficult to find a husband who loves me and can be with me forever. It is better to find a husband who I can control and who can interfere with the power in the court."
Qi Yuning said, "Lingling, mother still hopes that you can find a husband you truly love. Are you still thinking about your brother Han?"
"No, he's just my brother. I've long disliked him. Now I just want to work for the court, to seek the welfare of the people of the world, to punish evil and promote good. As for who I marry, that's up to me."
Lu Yiling said, "When I learned that my uncle was going to participate in a talent show in the spring, I no longer believed in the deep affection that men in this world talk about."
Qi Yuning said: "But your father treats mother..."
"He only did it because of the Lu family's ancestral precepts. Without the Lu family's ancestral precepts, he might have already had countless beauties. A husband is of no importance to me."
Qi Yuning smiled faintly and said, "You have misunderstood your father."
Lu Ze entered and asked, "Why did you misunderstand me?"
Qi Yuning looked at Lu Ze and said, "Lingling said that if it weren't for the ancestral teachings, you would have taken in countless concubines?"
Lu Ze said to Qi Yuning, "Don't listen to Lingling's nonsense. Lingling, you're already seventeen. How can you sow discord as soon as you come back?"
Lu Yiling even begged for mercy with a smile: "Daddy is an exception, but there are many men in the world who are as amorous and fickle as my uncle. I'm going back to rest first."
Qi Yuning saw Lu Yiling's back and pressed his temples with a headache. "This kid really is just obsessed with entering the court. He even wants to take advantage of her marriage..."
After hearing Qi Yuning's thoughts about Lingling, Lu Ze said, "Everything is destined to happen. There's no need to worry too much about her marriage."
"Alas!" Qi Yuning sighed and said, "I heard that something happened to the Queen Mother in the palace?"
Lu Ze said, "The Empress Dowager was critically ill and fainted, her life hanging by a thread, but she has regained consciousness in the past two days. I see that the Empress Dowager is clamoring for Your Majesty to hold the imperial selection and give birth to a prince as soon as possible. In fact, her condition is not serious. After all, Your Majesty has been in power for seven years and has only one daughter, Princess Shiyi."
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