Chapter 149: The True or False Master (6)
6
The carriage moved slowly, and the two systems squatted outside the window, not looking at the scene in the carriage.
They are used to it and can even chat casually in this situation.
"The B-level world is getting more and more difficult. Not only the world themes are getting more difficult, but also the host's identity is getting more difficult."
"Don't mention it. My minister almost cried when he woke up."
"Same goes for my host."
"He can cry too?!"
"He's afraid that your host will dislike him."
In the carriage, Zhu Qingchen was locked tightly in Lu Que's arms, unable to move.
Zhu Qingchen buried his face in his arms, unable to speak clearly, and could only pat his back with his hands: "Let go... Li that... Lu Que... let go..."
Lu Que hugged him tightly and explained in a low voice: "Zhu Qingqing, I have no problem. This is just the role setting of the villain."
Zhu Qingchen was still struggling: "Let go first..."
Lu Que thought he didn't believe it, so he continued, "I've tried it, it doesn't affect my normal movements, I can even hold you and run around the yard three times. The other parts are fine and can be used normally."
Lu Que paused and said aggrievedly: "Zhu Qingqing, please don't despise me."
Zhu Qingqing struggled to get out of his arms, raised her head and said to him: "Gurgle Gurgle——"
Lu Que finally reacted and relaxed his arms a little.
Zhu Qingchen came back to his senses, raised his fist, and hit Lu Que hard on the chest: "I told you to let go, and you almost drowned me."
Lu Que frowned: "Drowned?"
Drown in my arms.
Zhu Qingchen rubbed his cheeks, sat next to Lu Que, and looked at him seriously.
Lu Que sat up straighter, with his back erect, so that Zhu Qingchen could take a good look at him.
He has no problem! He is in great shape!
Zhu Qingchen lowered his eyes and his gaze fell on his left foot hidden under his clothes.
No wonder Lu Que refused to get off the carriage just now, and no wonder Lu Jiming was so confident in him.
So that's why.
Zhu Qingchen reached out his hand again, trying to pull at his shirt hem, but Lu Que held his hand back: "Nothing to see."
Zhu Qingchen insisted: "Let me see."
"No, it's nothing serious, you can't look at it." Lu Que held Zhu Qingchen's wrists with just one hand.
"I want to see!" Zhu Qingchen looked at him seriously and said firmly, "If you don't let me see, I will jump out of the car!"
Lu Que held him down and didn't give him any chance to jump out of the car.
"Let me see if you have any broken bones or skin. Let me see if it's serious."
Zhu Qingchen struggled hard in his arms, like a pigeon flapping its wings and a rabbit kicking its feet, and Lu Que could hardly hold him down.
Lu Que held his hands tightly and held his waist: "No, you can't look at it."
Zhu Qingchen turned around and threatened him without any deterrent effect: "I will really hate you! Show me!"
Lu Que met his slightly red eyes, hesitated for a moment, and finally reached out his hand and gently covered Zhu Qingchen's eyes.
Zhu Qingchen's eyes were dark, and he could only hear Lu Que's low voice: "No, Zhu Qingqing, you can't look at it. I'm fine, but you can't look at it."
Zhu Qingchen's eyelashes brushed across his warm palm, and then something wet stuck to his palm.
Lu Que's heart sank, and he quickly let go of his hand and looked down at him: "Zhu Qingqing?"
Zhu Qingchen's eyes were red and he tried hard to hold back his tears, but he couldn't help crying out loud.
He grabbed Lu Que's collar and asked loudly, "Why don't you show it to me? It won't hurt to show it to me. Why don't you show it to me? Let me see it!"
"If there's no problem, there's no need to look." Lu Que stretched out his hand, wanting to wipe his tears.
When he stretched out his hand halfway, he remembered that his left hand had calluses on it because he was holding the cane, which made Zhu Qingchen uncomfortable, so he switched to his right hand.
He wiped Zhu Qingchen's eyes with his thumb, but Zhu Qingchen pushed his hand away: "I'm not crying, why are you wiping?"
"Oh." Lu Que took his hand back and held his hand again.
Zhu Qingchen's eyes were red, and he looked at him angrily: "Let me take a look."
Lu Que still said the same thing: "Zhu Qingqing, not this time."
Zhu Qingchen didn't know what he was insisting on. He just wanted to take a look to see how serious it was.
They are so familiar with each other, they grew up together, took baths and slept together, what has they not seen?
Why can't he look after being injured? What is he shy about?
Zhu Qingchen had a stern face and couldn't figure it out.
Suddenly, there was a "swish" sound in the carriage.
Zhu Qingchen came to his senses and looked down.
There was a hole in the sleeve of his shirt, and Lu Que's thumb stuck out of the small hole.
"What are you doing?" Zhu Qingchen was startled and quickly pushed his hand away, pulling his sleeve to cover the hole in it.
Lu Que tried to explain: "Zhu Qingqing, your sleeves have gone up, I want to help you pull them up."
When he was struggling just now, Zhu Qingchen's undershirt showed out from his sleeves. His shirt was washed white and a little small, so it kept coming up. Lu Que felt that he was uncomfortable, so he always wanted to help him pull it off.
As a result, it was torn.
Zhu Qingchen covered his sleeves to prevent him from seeing: "Li, you are really annoying."
He originally thought that he would not be discovered if he wore this undershirt inside, but...
I shouldn't have worn this one if I had known.
Before Zhu Qingchen finished speaking, he suddenly thought of something.
He seemed to understand why Lu Que refused to let him see his injured leg.
It's so embarrassing.
Just as he didn't want Lu Que to see the holes in his shirt, Lu Que also didn't want him to see his injured left leg.
During those days when they faced illness or hardship alone, during those days when they faced the Marquis' Mansion or Lin Laosan respectively, they were able to handle it with ease and knew when to advance and retreat.
They didn't take the Marquis' Mansion and Lin Laosan seriously. Even if they had to walk with crutches in front of everyone in the Marquis' Mansion, even if Lin Laosan pointed at them and called them poor, they didn't care even if they lived in such a shabby house and wore such shabby clothes.
Because they don't care about these people at all.
But now...
With their loved ones right beside them, how can they openly reveal their most embarrassing side to the world?
She used to be a school official, a tutor, and the rose of the empire, but now she has become a poor teacher wearing torn clothes.
He used to be an emperor, a president, and an imperial marshal, but now he has become a lame villain who has to walk with a cane.
They both felt embarrassed and wanted to hide it as much as possible and show their best side to each other.
But……
None of them seemed to succeed.
There was silence in the carriage.
Zhu Qingchen lowered his head, trying hard to hide the patch on his sleeve, and stopped pestering Lu Que to see his injured leg.
Lu Que also hid his left leg and whispered, "Zhu Qingqing, you will know later, there is no difference."
"Yeah." Zhu Qingchen responded sullenly, fiddling with his sleeves and whispering, "I'm so busy."
Lu Que nodded and agreed, "Yes, I'm very busy."
After an unknown amount of time, the carriage stopped.
Lu Que lifted the curtain, and Zhu Qingchen finally raised his head and looked out the window.
They arrived and saw a small restaurant outside the window.
Zhu Qingchen looked at the plaque with the words "Xiao Guanchao" and felt that it looked familiar.
Lu Que explained, "There is a restaurant called Guanchao Lou in the capital, and restaurants in other places also gave themselves such names in order to establish their reputation."
"Oh." Zhu Qingchen scratched his hair, "But I always feel that the name 'Guanchao Tower' seems a little familiar."
He turned around and saw Lu Que had picked up the wooden crutch and was ready to go down.
Zhu Qingchen said quickly: "I'll go down first..."
Lu Que refused him: "It doesn't matter, I just want to show you that I can walk."
"Yeah." Zhu Qingchen sniffed and looked at him seriously.
Lu Que lifted the curtain, first felt the way with his crutch, then stepped forward with his uninjured right leg and landed steadily.
He turned around and held out his hand to Zhu Qingchen: "Come down."
Zhu Qingchen put his hand in his and got off the carriage.
Lu Que booked a private room in the restaurant, and the two of them walked into the restaurant.
I don't know if he practiced secretly, but Lu Que was quite skilled in using the cane. He was tall, but he didn't put his whole weight on the cane, he just used it as a tool.
He walked steadily, neither fast nor slow, neither hurried nor slow, with the aura of a superior.
If you don't look carefully, you can't really tell.
But when Zhu Qingchen saw his appearance, his eyes couldn't help but turn red and he wiped his eyes.
Lu Que hurriedly whispered to him, "Zhu Qingqing, it's okay. I'm not in any pain, and I'm not walking slowly. It doesn't affect me at all. Why are you crying again?"
Zhu Qingchen raised his head and defended himself with his red eyes: "I didn't cry."
Lu Que teased him, "Are you angry and crying because you saw that I am taller than you and walk faster than you even with a cane? Zhu Qingqing, you are a little fool."
Zhu Qingchen hit him again: "Go away."
The waiter of the restaurant came forward and said, "Two guests, please come in."
The waiter saw Lu Que's clothes and his walking stick and said quickly, "Sir, please come to the lobby on the first floor..."
Lu Que said calmly, "We have booked a private room on the second floor." The waiter glanced at his cane and hesitated, "This..."
"Just lead the way."
"Okay."
Lu Que didn't let Zhu Qingchen help him. He walked up the stairs steadily with his crutches, came to the private room on the second floor, and sat down.
The waiter greeted them: "Please take a seat, my two guests. The food and drinks will be served soon."
"Thank you." Lu Que nodded slightly, picked up the tea on the table and poured a cup for Zhu Qingchen. "This place is remote, just eat something casually. When we return to the capital, I will take you to Guanchao Tower for a meal."
Zhu Qingchen responded: "Okay."
The waiter will be here at any time, and to avoid any unexpected events, they won't talk about the important things now.
Zhu Qingchen fiddled with his torn sleeve, making the hole bigger and bigger.
Seeing that he was still unhappy, Lu Que grabbed his chair and dragged him over.
"Eh?" Zhu Qingchen was startled and looked up at him quickly, "What are you doing?"
"Sit closer." Lu Que asked in a low voice, "Why are you unhappy again? Didn't you see everything just now? There was no impact at all. I didn't feel any pain, and I didn't fall down. Why are you unhappy?"
"I..." Zhu Qingchen looked at him and pursed his lips, "But... that is..."
"How about I hold you and walk around the room a few times?"
As Lu Que spoke, he stood up and put his arms around his knees.
"Stop! Stop, stop, stop!" Zhu Qingchen reacted and quickly reached out to push him away, "I won't cry anymore, I won't cry anymore! Put me down!"
Only then did Lu Que let go of his hand and put him back on the chair.
Zhu Qingchen whispered: "I just feel sorry for you, why don't you know what's good for you?"
Lu Que said seriously: "Zhu Qingqing, I don't want you to pity me. Before I came to see you, I practiced walking with crutches every day, not to make you pity me."
"Yeah." Zhu Qingchen pursed his lips and corrected, "It's not 'pity', it's 'heartache'."
"Don't feel sorry for me." Lu Que said seriously, "I want you to like me, be happy and joyful when you see me, just like I feel when I see you."
Zhu Qingchen turned to look at him, thought for a moment, and finally nodded: "Yeah."
Not long after, the restaurant waiter brought the food.
Lu Que told him not to come and disturb him unless necessary.
The waiter responded hurriedly and closed the door when he left.
Lu Que picked up some vegetables and meat for Zhu Qingchen: "Eat more. I felt that you have lost weight when I grabbed your wrist just now."
Zhu Qingchen was so poor this time that he had to share his food rations with his students, so of course he lost weight.
Lu Que piled a small mountain of food in his bowl and told him to eat it slowly.
Zhu Qingchen asked as he ate, "So the villain this time is the eldest son of the Wenyuan Marquis's mansion?"
Lu Que nodded: "Disabled villain, the villain system says this is a classic."
Zhu Qingchen frowned, as if he couldn't understand: "Where is the classic?"
——The protagonist is Lu Jiming’s elder brother, the eldest son of the Marquis’s Mansion, and the villain of the book, Lu Que.
Born to Marquis Wenyuan's first wife, he suffered from a leg disease since childhood. He could neither take the imperial examinations nor join the army, and he could not even inherit his family's title.
So he was gloomy, jealous and tyrannical.
The second son of Marquis Wenyuan's second wife, Lu Jiming, was in good health and had great intelligence.
It can also be seen from his name, Jiming Jiming, that the old marquis hopes that he can inherit the family business of the Marquisate and the title.
The disabled eldest son was jealous of the healthy and intelligent second son and framed him repeatedly.
When he was young, he was framed in front of his father for breaking a vase, and in front of his teacher for not writing an article.
Of course, these problems were resolved one by one by the clever protagonist, and the villain brought trouble upon himself and became more and more disgusting.
Lu Que added: "This is just a background introduction. Zhu Qingqing, I have never done anything to frame anyone. This is not me."
He wanted to maintain his image in Zhu Qingqing's mind.
"Got it." Zhu Qingchen nodded, "What happened next?"
Later, Lu Que became more and more gloomy.
Although Lu Jiming told him many times that after he inherited the title, he would let him stay in the Marquis' Mansion and would not treat him unfairly.
But Lu Que still targeted him.
He deliberately spread rumors to ruin Lu Jiming's reputation.
He deliberately delayed Lu Jiming's participation in the imperial examination, hoping to cut off his path to becoming an official in the court.
He even helped Lu Jiming get married to a man.
He thought that as long as Lu Jiming married a man who was not presentable, the old marquis would not let him inherit the title.
But he didn't expect that after Lu Jiming and Lin Jingzhe got married, although they were not in love, they still respected each other.
He even discovered that Lu Jiming might be slowly falling in love with Lin Jingzhe.
So he pushed Lin Jingzhe to discover Lu Jiming's secret, and let Lin Jingzhe find out that the person Lu Jiming likes is his "brother" Yi Zizhen.
As expected, Lin Jingzhe started making a fuss and wanted to divorce Lu Jiming.
With his own efforts, Lu Que caused unrest in the Marquis's Mansion and the Earl's Mansion and turned the whole place upside down.
He was in the dark, watching this farce with great satisfaction.
But not long after, Lin Jingzhe's family persuaded him to calm down, and Lin Jingzhe actually decided not to make trouble anymore and to reconcile with Lu Jiming.
How could Lu Que allow Lu Jiming's family to live in peace?
So he planned a kidnapping.
He sent people to kidnap Lin Jingzhe and Yi Zizhen, took them to the cliff, and forced Lu Jiming to choose between the two.
As he expected, Lu Jiming, who had not yet realized his true feelings, directly chose Yi Zizhen.
The villain sneered and then pushed Lin Jingzhe off the cliff.
At the moment when Lin Jingzhe fell off the cliff, Lu Jiming suddenly saw clearly what was in his heart——
It turns out that the person he really likes is Lin Jingzhe.
Seeing a flash of panic on Lu Jiming's face, the villain laughed loudly towards the sky, feeling extremely refreshed.
"I knew it." Zhu Qingchen twitched his lips, "That bandit must be you."
Lu Que quickly said, "It was written by the original book, it has nothing to do with me!"
He said, "If I want to kill Lu Jiming, I can just do it directly. I can poison him, kidnap him, or kill him with a knife. I can kill him anyway. Engaging in these messy conspiracies and tricks will only achieve half the result with twice the effort."
He had never seen anyone kidnap two people and force them to choose between them in his life.
Since both of them have been caught, why not just kill them together? Why are you making such a mess?
Zhu Qingchen looked at him curiously: "Big villain, what are you thinking about? You are not thinking..."
"No." Lu Que said quickly, "Zhu Qingqing, I dare not lay a hand on your students. I absolutely do not dare."
Lu Que continued, "Besides, Lu Jiming chose Yi Zizhen, which proves that Yi Zizhen is more important. I should keep Lin Jingzhe and push Yi Zizhen down. I won't kill your students."
After Yi Zizheng's death, a gap was created between Lu Jiming and Lin Jingzhe that could never be bridged.
Lu Jiming would vent his anger on Lin Jingzhe, wondering why it wasn't Lin Jingzhe who died; Lin Jingzhe would complain, wondering why Lu Jiming didn't choose him at that time.
They will never be able to reconcile and will never have peace.
This is the perfect solution that the villain should have thought of.
Instead of letting Lu Jiming choose, he chose whichever one he said.
Zhu Qingchen looked at him suspiciously: "What are you thinking about?"
"No." Lu Que raised his hand, "I'm a good person! A good person!"
Zhu Qingchen pursed his lips: "But it's true, you are a bit aggrieved to be the villain. Lu Jiming didn't see his true feelings clearly, you helped him see them clearly; Lu Jiming didn't know that he liked Lin Jingzhe, you helped him know it."
Zhu Qingchen concluded: "He is not a villain stirring up trouble, but a matchmaker."
A matchmaker who escorts the so-called love between the protagonists.
The ending, of course, is that Lin Jingzhe jumped off the cliff but did not die and was rescued.
Lu Jiming finally recognized his own heart, and "chased his wife to the crematorium". He took care of Lin Jingzhe personally, apologized sincerely in front of Lin Jingzhe's bed, and drew a clear line between himself and Yi Zizheng.
After all the hardships, Lin Jingzhe finally got Lu Jiming's love.
With the help of Lu Jiming, he let go of the past and reconciled with his family. He no longer worried about who loved whom more. As long as he loved Lu Jiming and his family, that was enough.
In the end, the two of them worked together to uncover the mastermind behind the incident and executed the villain.
——A happy ending.
While eating, the two of them briefly discussed the situation on their side.
Zhu Qingchen gnawed on the duck leg and asked, "What are you going to do now?"
"Do nothing, don't interfere in their affairs, and don't kidnap them. Just wait and see what happens." Lu Que said calmly, "What about you?"
"Same as you." Zhu Qingchen smiled, "However, there is a forced plot correction. We must go back to the capital, but Jingzhe and I can't go back so easily."
The duck leg was a little choking, and Zhu Qingchen drank another mouthful of soup: "At least the Earl's Mansion should come to pick him up in person and clarify Jingzhe's identity in public."
"We'll wait until we get to the capital and then we'll fight back. After all, they haven't done anything excessive yet. If they persist and continue to bully Jingzhe, I will definitely retaliate."
"Yeah." Lu Que nodded and scooped another spoonful of soup for him.
Zhu Qingchen added: "I don't know how the emperor's officials here behave. If they are more upright, then it will be fine. I won't suffer too much in court. If they..."
Lu Que said: "No, the emperor and officials here are all OK."
Zhu Qingchen was puzzled: "How do you know? Did you see them in the capital?" "Yes." Lu Que nodded, "and they all have a good teacher."
"What do you mean?" Zhu Qingchen was even more confused. "What are you talking about?"
"You'll know when you get to the capital."
"Why didn't you tell me? Why wait until I got to the capital? Tell me now."
"No, I can't tell you." Lu Que smiled and helped him roll up his sleeves. "Eat quickly. I'll help you mend the hole in your clothes later."
After the two of them finished dinner, Zhu Qingchen ordered three more ducks in marinated sauce to be packed up, ready to take back to the village and feed them to the students.
Lu Que borrowed needle and thread from the waiter, sewed Zhu Qingchen's sleeves, and then sent him home.
In the carriage, Zhu Qingchen looked at his centipede-like sleeves with a bit of disgust: "Li, your sewing is too ugly, not as good as what I sewed myself."
Lu Que leaned against the wall of the carriage, held his hand, raised it high, and admired it carefully: "It looks good, Zhu Qingqing, it's so beautiful."
*
Ten days passed like this.
Lu Que felt sorry for Zhu Qingchen living in such a shabby place and having poor food. He couldn't openly help him fix his house or buy him clothes, so he had to take him out to eat secretly.
Every time Zhu Qingchen had a meal, he never forgot his students and always packed food for them.
Lin Jingzhe and a few other kids followed Zhu Qingchen and actually gained a lot of weight.
As time went by, the news spread throughout the village.
Mr. Zhu is indeed of an extraordinary status. Someone sends him roast chicken and braised duck every day!
Look, such a rich person actually wants to send food to Master Zhu, so Master Zhu must be more powerful!
Early that morning, Lin Jingzhe heated up the snacks that the teacher had brought back last night on the stove, and then cooked a pot of rice porridge.
The teacher and the student had breakfast together.
Lin Jingzhe said, "Master, the weather is good today. I am going to water the fields. When the sun gets brighter at noon, I will come back and finish yesterday's homework."
"Well, sure, you can just think it over."
"Then will the teacher have class today?"
"today……"
Before Zhu Qingchen could answer, suddenly, a call came from outside the courtyard gate that had just been repaired by Lin Jingzhe.
"Jingzhe! My child!"
Zhu Qingchen put down his bowl and chopsticks, then looked out the window.
A group of people were dressed in luxurious clothes, with servants and maids, standing outside the door looking in.
Lu Jiming shouted: "Lin Jingzhe? Zhu Qingchen! I brought people from the Earl's Mansion!"!
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