Chapter 10
Hao Jingshi is an idiot
After angrily running back to her dormitory, Lu Qin calmed herself down and spread out paper and pen to copy the "Rules for Women".
But the more she tried to calm it down, the less she could, so in frustration she simply wrote a big "Hao Jingshi is an idiot" on a piece of paper.
You idiot, would it kill you to speak properly? Why did you have to deliberately provoke her?
You big idiot!
Zhilan, who was grinding ink nearby, tilted her head to look at the words she had written: "Miss, what does this idiot mean...?"
Lu Qin crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it aside, chuckling, "This is my pet name for my husband, you don't need to understand."
"Oh..." Zhilan nodded, half understanding, but looking at the young lady's eerie smile... was it really a term of endearment?
“Miss.” She smiled, her eyes narrowing, “Actually, I think… the young master cares about you, otherwise he wouldn’t have rushed back to help you out of that predicament.”
"He cares about me?" Lu Qin dipped her brush in ink and said dismissively, "Come on, didn't you hear what he just said? Even if a dog is punished, he'll come back to save it!"
"That's just the young master being stubborn, how could Miss not understand?" Zhilan muttered. "This servant doesn't think the young master is a bad person, nor is he as dissolute as Aunt Zhao described..."
Upon hearing this, Lu Qin paused, her mind wandering for a moment.
Yes, if even Zhilan can understand it, how could she not understand it?
With Hao Jingshi's personality, who would dare force him to do something he doesn't want to?
On his wedding night, so many servants failed to bring him back to the mansion. If he hadn't come back willingly today, why would he have bothered with other people's business?
He clearly guessed that his parents would be angry, and he came back specifically to save her.
Otherwise, he could have simply pretended to be dead and ignored it.
Lu Qin thought and thought, but still couldn't understand why he came back, so she simply stopped thinking about it.
She said impatiently, "Why bring him up? Let's grind the ink, otherwise we'll never finish copying it."
"Yes." Seeing that she didn't want to listen, Zhilan said no more.
Accompanied by the moon and stars, the master and servant began to copy the "Rules for Women" by lamplight and candlelight.
The women's work consists of ten volumes, totaling tens of thousands of words. Lu Qin roughly calculated that unless she stayed up all night, she wouldn't be able to finish copying it by noon the next day.
Moreover, the brush was too difficult to use, and the candlelight was not as bright as the electric light. Copying under such harsh conditions was a great challenge, no, torture.
An hour later, Lu Qin rubbed her blurry eyes and began to miss the sodium hyaluronate eye drops she had used half a bottle of before she transmigrated.
At this moment, Zhilan brought over tea and said with concern, "Miss, if you are really tired, please take a rest. I will help you copy some."
"No need, I'll finish copying it right away."
Lu Qin blinked her dry eyes, dipped her brush in ink again, and continued writing.
Actually, there are still about 10,000 words left... but she didn't want Zhilan to suffer along with her.
Besides, the two people's handwritings were different, and Old Madam Hao wasn't stupid; she could naturally tell the difference.
"Yes." Zhilan had no choice but to massage her shoulders and then light a few candles together.
Lu Qin didn't dare to rest for a moment and copied until the latter half of the night. She felt sore back, dizzy, and her fingers were trembling.
Although she has felt better these past few days and is no longer as breathless as before, she is still weak and cannot withstand staying up all night like this.
Zhilan could see that she was struggling and frowned as she advised, "Miss, why don't you rest? Your health is important. I'll go and plead with Old Madam Hao. She won't be so heartless."
Lu Qin waved her hand: "No need, don't bother the old lady at this time. I'll just rest and I'm not that weak."
After saying that, she rubbed her temples and got up to walk around.
But the moment she stood up, her mind went blank, and she fell backward uncontrollably.
...
"Squeak".
A faint sound reached my ears.
Lu Qin gradually regained consciousness. When she opened her eyes and woke up, she found herself lying on the cold ground.
The surroundings were quiet and dim. She sat up blankly, slowly recalling that she had fainted from exhaustion while copying books, and then…
Did I time travel again?
By the faint moonlight, Lu Qin looked around and tried to make out the place she was in.
Carved table, arched opening, dressing table, swaying gauze curtains in front of the bed, neatly folded quilts on the bed...
Sure enough, it was the familiar location and the familiar recipe; she had returned to the Lu residence.
It was still in her boudoir, and the furnishings inside were exactly the same.
With a sense of normalcy, Lu Qin stood up and took a few steps.
The doors and windows were tightly shut. She peered out the window and saw that the area around her bedroom was pitch black. But soon she saw a faint light in the distance, as if a night watchman was passing by with a lantern.
Fearing being discovered, Lu Qin quickly moved away from the window and stood in a blind spot to watch.
The light drew closer, accompanied by a whisper.
"Mother, are you saying that Hao Jingshi may have discovered something, which is why he wants to buy our shop?"
Hearing Hao Jingshi's name faintly, Lu Qin paused for a moment and moved forward slightly.
Two figures, one tall and one short, were slowly approaching. She squinted and immediately recognized the taller, pigeon-toed figure as Lu Ming.
So the petite woman who followed Lu Ming and whom he called "Mother" was Aunt Zhao.
Lu Qin gazed at her longingly. Aunt Zhao was incredibly beautiful, with peach blossom eyes and cherry lips. At first glance, she didn't look like Lu Ming's mother, but rather like his elder sister.
However, she is more plump than before, which means she is living a very comfortable life.
"Silly boy, keep your voice down."
Aunt Zhao quickly pulled him aside and cautiously looked around, "Don't you know that walls have ears?"
"Walls have ears," Lu Qin thought guiltily, tugging at her lips.
Every time she traveled back to the Lu family mansion, she would have some unexpected gains, and this time was no exception.
"Mother, don't worry." Lu Ming patted his chest proudly. "I've checked several times already, there's no way anyone will come to Lu Qin's house."
Hearing him say that, and seeing that no one had passed by for so long, Aunt Zhao felt a little relieved.
She patted her son's shoulder twice: "You too, you lose your head as soon as you're given a little bit of benefit, you sell yourself without thinking it through."
Lu Ming completely lost his imposing manner in front of the servants, and muttered embarrassedly, "Mother, as you know, Chang Le Fang is chasing me for money, and I'm really a bit short on cash, so this is just in time..."
"You good-for-nothing!" Aunt Zhao glared at him, her angry expression even more endearing. "Once you've earned the money and paid off your debts, you'd better stop now and never go there again, do you hear me!"
"I understand." Lu Ming lowered his head obediently.
Seeing her son's knowing look, Aunt Zhao felt helpless and couldn't bear to scold him, so she changed the subject, "Alright, let's not talk about this."
She then slowly analyzed, "Think about it, that kid previously boasted that he would never marry her even if he died, and even dared to stay out all night on their wedding night. Now, why is he taking such good care of Lu Qin, treating her illness, and even willing to take the punishment for her? There must be something wrong with this."
Upon hearing this, Lu Ming seemed to understand: "Could it be... that Lu Qin has played some trick to get Hao Jingshi to deal with us?"
“Definitely.” Aunt Zhao tapped her palm lightly with one hand and said, “I thought Lu Qin would suffer greatly after marrying into the Hao family, but I didn’t expect that this girl is so clever and has managed to win over her husband.”
Lu Ming panicked, "Mother, you have to think of something! My father's health is getting worse and worse. If Lu Qin doesn't die, she'll have to take a share of my father's money! And I'll never be able to pay off my gambling debts!"
"What's the rush? Your mother is here," Aunt Zhao said calmly and quietly. "It seems that with Hao Jingshi around, we won't be able to kill Lu Qin."
"It seems we need to think of another way."
"Find another way?" Lu Ming's worried expression remained unchanged. "But the shop has been sold, and Yu Gui has already been driven out of the mansion. We'll lose all contact with the Hao family from now on. How are we supposed to make a move?"
“Yu Gui has been driven out of the Hao family, but Zhi Lan is still here,” Aunt Zhao said in a drawn-out, evasive voice.
"Zhilan?" Lu Ming asked, puzzled. "She's a maid Father bought, and she's extremely loyal to Lu Qin. Can she really do anything for us?"
Aunt Zhao smiled meaningfully.
“Son, Zhilan’s maternal family also has elderly and young members.”
"Tomorrow morning, you must ride at full speed to Zhilan's hometown and bring her parents here to be placed under house arrest. Zhilan is timid and afraid of trouble, and dares not disobey."
Lu Ming paused for a moment, then beamed with joy.
"Mother is so smart!"
A chill suddenly ran down Lu Qin's spine as she listened, and she couldn't help but curse inwardly.
That gambling addict Lu Ming and that vicious Aunt Zhao not only harmed her, but also dragged innocent people into it.
Seeing the two people leave with lanterns, Lu Qin became extremely anxious and turned around to ram her head against the wall to try and get back to the Hao residence.
There's no time to lose. Lu Ming is leaving tomorrow morning, so she needs to tell Zhi Lan first so she can take her parents and leave this place to a safe place overnight.
...
My head feels foggy.
When Lu Qin woke up, she heard Zhi Lan call her "Miss" in her ear.
She opened her eyes, glanced around blankly, and realized that it was already dawn.
"Miss, you're awake." Zhilan leaned closer and breathed a sigh of relief. "You were so exhausted last night that you fainted, so I went to find the young master. He said..."
Upon seeing Zhilan's face, Luqin suddenly remembered something.
not good!
It's almost dawn, and Luming will be setting off soon!
She didn't pay attention to what Zhilan was saying; she pushed herself up and sat up abruptly, preparing to put on her shoes and get out of bed.
As a result, when he moved his leg, he suddenly kicked something.
The "thing" that had been kicked suddenly moved, and Lu Qin was stunned for a moment before realizing that Hao Jingshi was sleeping next to her.
"..." Hao Jingshi got up in a daze, seemingly grumpy from being woken up, "Can't you see that I'm sleeping..."
As she spoke, she met the eyes of Lu Qin, who was completely bewildered.
Both of them were stunned for a moment.
Lu Qin immediately remembered her business and quickly put on her shoes and got out of bed.
“The young master has been watching over you all night.” Zhilan thought she was worried that she hadn’t finished copying the “Rules for Women”, so she quickly helped her up and chased after her. “Miss, don’t worry. The young master said he will go and report to the old lady in a little while. You can start copying it when you’re better. He will send it over whenever you finish copying it.”
Lu Qin didn't have time to explain; she rummaged through chests and cabinets, stuffing gold, silver, and clothing into her bundle.
She threw things all over the place. Hao Jingshi heard the noise and stood up impatiently, rubbing his sleepy eyes. Just then, a crumpled piece of paper flew over and hit him on the forehead, then fell to the ground and rolled once.
Hao Jingshi hissed and picked it up to open it.
It was written in black and white on the white paper: "Hao Jingshi is an idiot."
"..."
Although he didn't understand what "idiot" meant, he was certain it wasn't a good word.
He turned his head and saw her pack a bag in no time. He suddenly became more awake, and his morning grumpiness subsided a bit.
"Zhilan, take this." Lu Qin shoved the bag into Zhilan's arms and pushed her away without explaining, "Hurry up, leave here, go home, hurry up, hurry up."
Zhilan was shoved and took a step back, then stared blankly: "Miss, what are you doing... are you still half asleep?"
Hao Jingshi, clutching the crumpled paper, said inexplicably, "I was just teasing you a bit back then. Was it really necessary to go back to your parents' house in a huff?"
"Hurry up!" Lu Qin hurriedly pulled Zhi Lan and ran outside, explaining in a rapid-fire manner, "After Yu Gui was kicked out, Aunt Zhao lost her people to gather information. They plan to threaten you and send someone to look for your parents as soon as it gets light. You must get there before them, or it will be too late!"
Her speech and pace were too fast and hurried, making Zhilan feel dizzy and disoriented as she listened and ran.
"Are you having hysteria? Running around outside in your undershirt?"
Upon seeing this, Hao Jingshi rushed to the door and blocked Lu Qin's way.
"What Aunt Zhao? Did you ask the Duke of Zhou about her?"
"..." Lu Qin knew that she couldn't explain it to him, so she simply grabbed his hands and said with a pitiful look in her eyes, "Husband, have Xuan Lan send her out of the city on the fastest horse. I'll explain to you when we get back."
Hao Jingshi froze for a moment, then shrank back: "You, you stop keeping me in suspense, explain it to me now."
"It's too late!" Lu Qin gritted her teeth, her voice sounding more like a sob. "Husband, I'm begging you! I'll do anything you want for me after you come back!"
here we go again……
She even said she wasn't crying.
Helpless, Hao Jingshi flicked his sleeve and withdrew his hand.
"Okay, now you can lie back down."
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