After Wei Qinglou returned home, he couldn't help but think of her.
I recall her calm, bright eyes, and her powerful words.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that Zhu Jiayu was right.
So he declined the invitations from his friends and devoted himself to reading history, writing essays, and formulating policy proposals.
He remained secluded for three months. After three months, Wei Qinglou felt like he was growing weeds all over his body. Just then, the third young master of the Duke of Xuanguo's mansion invited him to go horseback riding outside the city. He didn't hesitate for long and readily agreed.
But on that day, he led his horse out and happened to see Zhu Jiayu on the street.
Zhu Jiayu cast a disdainful glance at him, as if to say, "I knew you wouldn't stick to it."
Wei Qinglou led his horse to the city gate, feeling increasingly frustrated. He then handed the horse to the guard beside him, wandered around the city for a while, and returned to his residence to continue his studies.
Later at noon, news came from outside the city that his horse had gone mad in the woods and then died.
If Wei Qinglou had been on that horse at the time, he would have surely died.
Half a month later, the matter was finally investigated and found out that it was Chang Taifu's men who had given the horse the drug.
However, that person was too secretive, and there was insufficient evidence pointing to Grand Tutor Chang, so they couldn't do anything to Chang Beiqiu.
Wei Qinglou sat in the courtyard all night, and the next day he went to the palace and asked his uncle, the emperor, for the position of Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.
After becoming the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, he solved many strange cases, and his reputation and image in the capital city rose accordingly.
People started coming to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion to propose marriage.
Actually, this has happened before, but those people were mostly considering the power of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, unlike now, where they are interested in Wei Qinglou himself.
The Duchess was very pleased with this and asked him what kind of girl he liked.
As Wei Qinglou flipped through the portraits of the noble ladies, a figure vaguely appeared in his mind.
He put down the picture book, rode his horse out of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, and stopped outside the Jiang residence.
This stop lasted for the entire afternoon.
It wasn't until almost evening that Zhu Jiayu came out of the Jiang residence.
Wei Qinglou's handsome face scrunched up like a dog soaked in the rain, his eyes filled with grievance as he looked at the woman walking gracefully: "Why did you take so long to come out?"
"Is there something you need, Young Master Wei?"
"I listened to you and now I'm an official in the court, wielding power. Why don't you listen to me and divorce Rong Heng?"
Zhu Jiayu: ?
She took a step back.
She no longer loved Rong Heng, but when she thought of how much her father liked Rong Heng when he was alive, she could never bring herself to bring up the matter of divorce with him.
But she didn't understand what this had to do with Wei Qinglou.
She thought that this was probably just the way people from Yujing spoke and acted—incoherent and illogical.
Wei Qinglou frowned even more: "Have you forgotten our agreement at the Yun residence?"
"That doesn't count as an agreement, does it?" Zhu Jiayu asked in surprise.
“Why doesn’t it count?” Wei Qinglou said coldly. “You must have forgotten what you promised me.”
His attitude was so resolute that even though Zhu Jiayu believed he had an excellent memory and could not possibly forget something so important, he couldn't help but doubt himself under his questioning.
She frowned as well: "Perhaps there is such a thing, but, Young Master Wei, I am now a married woman, we..."
Wei Qinglou nodded: "I understand."
He gave her a deep look, then rode away.
The Duchess didn't know what he was going to do so hastily, but the picture albums on the table were still there, so she called her son over to continue looking at them.
Wei Qinglou took the picture album from her and put it aside, saying gently, "Mother, I have a girl I like."
"You've got one so soon?" The Duchess raised an eyebrow, suspecting that he had just gone out and fallen in love with a girl at first sight. "Which family's daughter is she? We should pick an auspicious day to invite a matchmaker to our door."
Wei Qinglou said in a heavy tone, "This is not urgent, she still has a husband."
But it was gone very quickly.
He turned and left the hall, leaving only the Duchess clutching her chest, slumped in a chair, and shouting, "You scoundrel! Don't come back!"
A few months after that day, Wei Qinglou gathered a lot of evidence of Rong Heng's crimes and presented it to the emperor.
The Emperor was furious, sentenced Rong Heng to punishment, and ordered him to be executed in the autumn.
However, considering Rong Heng's past contributions, his family was not confiscated, nor was his wife punished.
Zhu Jiayu became a widow overnight.
She accepted the result with pleasure, but from then on rarely went out.
She didn't want to attract criticism.
After the year of mourning had passed, it was still the wife of Imperial Censor Jiang who advised her, "Since you are still young, you should go out and see the world. You can't just grow old and die in this mansion, can you?"
So Zhu Jiayu began to occasionally attend some banquets.
People still ridiculed and gossiped about her, but Zhu Jiayu just smiled and didn't bother with them.
She felt that none of those things mattered.
She gets angry occasionally, and when she does, she'll throw a glass of wine at someone's head, then calmly sit down. Some people say she goes too far, to which she retorts, "What's so far-fetched about this? I'm not here to make friends or choose a husband. What can't I do?"
The people invited her to a banquet, originally just wanting to see her make a fool of herself. Who would have thought that after a year of seclusion, she wasn't as miserable and resentful as everyone expected, but instead remained as radiant and beautiful as before, making everyone grit their teeth in hatred.
Gradually, more and more young men began to encounter Zhu Jiayu on the street. Among them were young scholars, military officers from the barracks, and even a few sons of noble families.
Wei Qinglou, who had been promoted to Minister of Personnel, dealt with them all.
Then he started going to the Rong residence whenever he had free time.
They never come empty-handed; today they bring osmanthus cake, tomorrow crabapple cake; this time they bring property, next time they bring land deeds.
He has bribed everyone in the Rong family.
But one day, he didn't show up again until evening.
Zhu Jiayu was pruning the flowers in the front yard. When dusk fell, she finally called Luzheng in disappointment and asked her to sweep up the leaves and leaves on the ground before closing and locking the door.
"Isn't Madam being too heartless? I haven't come all day. Aren't you worried that something might have happened to me or that I'm sick? Why did you have the servants lock the door after only waiting this long?"
Zhu Jiayu looked up at the sound and saw Wei Qinglou perched on the wall.
She sneered, "Evil lives on for a thousand years, I think Young Master Wei will live a long life!" She paused, then put on a stern face to hide her humility, "Besides, who said I was waiting for you?"
Wei Qinglou also laughed: "Really? I seem to remember that Uncle Fu usually trims the flowers in the front yard?"
He was laughing when suddenly his foot slipped and he fell off the wall.
Zhu Jiayu rushed to his side and knelt down, helping him up. She asked anxiously, "Are you alright?"
Wei Qinglou grasped her hand in return and chuckled in a low voice, "Concerned about me?"
(End of article)
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