The next day, at the beginning of the day, Shen Muyu changed into a simple dress and quietly left in a carriage.
She first went to her usual cosmetics shop, asked the shopkeeper to bring out the new cosmetics and let her try them one by one. After selecting a few good ones and paying the bill, she went to the candied fruit shop to buy candied fruits. She casually bought some candied lotus root and loquat cakes before saying that she wanted to go to Fanlou to eat lamb tongue skewers and asked the coachman to turn around and head towards Fanlou.
When the carriage arrived at Fanlou, it was nearly 1:45 AM.
Shen Muyu led Dongqing inside at a leisurely pace. Dongqing asked the innkeeper, "Has a young master Lu come to reserve a private room?"
The shopkeeper glanced at Shen Muyu not far away and assumed that it was a young lady and her husband meeting. He then called a servant boy to lead the two upstairs.
Lu Minghe was waiting in the private room. In front of him was a cup of tea, the amber-colored tea filling about eight-tenths full. It had obviously not been touched and had long since lost its heat. It had been a while since the tea was served.
Shen Muyu had Dongqing wait outside, then lifted her skirt and sat down opposite him, offering a half-hearted apology: "Cousin Lu, please forgive me. There were many carriages on the road today, so I'm a little late."
Lu Minghe looked at her, having no patience for pretense, and asked directly: "Where did you get the letter?"
Shen Muyu poured herself a cup of hot tea and took a sip: "My second sister is already the Princess Consort of Qin. If Cousin Lu asks this, people who don't know the situation might think that Cousin Lu is still deeply in love with my second sister."
"You specifically sent a maid to deliver a letter to me, not to say this, right?" Lu Minghe looked at Shen Muyu with some impatience, his former gentle and refined demeanor completely gone.
He tossed and turned all night after receiving the letter from Dongqing yesterday.
He and Zhao Zhao had known each other since childhood and developed feelings for one another. As Zhao Zhao grew older, it became inconvenient for them to visit each other too frequently, so they could only communicate through letters. He was close to Shen Xiuyi, so he often used the excuse of looking for Shen Xiuyi to send her some trinkets he had collected along with letters.
Zhao Zhao would reply to every single one of their letters, and occasionally she would send back a sachet that she had embroidered herself.
He can still recall the feeling when he wrote the letter; with each word he wrote, a sweet joy settled in his heart.
When Zhao Zhao came of age, he couldn't wait to ask his mother to come and propose marriage, thinking that his youthful feelings could finally be fulfilled and that he and Zhao Zhao would be a couple that others would envy.
But in the end, he lost his Zhaozhao.
Lu Minghe's face showed pain, and the bloodshot veins in his eyes became even more ferocious.
Shen Muyu was startled by his appearance. After looking at him closely, she realized that he seemed to have changed a lot. His gentlemanly demeanor had faded, replaced by a sense of dejection and ruthlessness.
She put down her teacup, took out the wooden box she always carried with her, and looked at Lu Minghe with a smile: "I just found these letters by chance, and thinking that they must be very important to Cousin Lu, I came to return them. I didn't expect Cousin Lu to be so impolite." She made a move to leave: "In that case, I won't be a good person."
"Wait." Lu Minghe suddenly stood up and stopped her. Seeing Shen Muyu with her chin raised and a defiant look on her face, he could only patiently cup his hands and say, "I was abrupt. Please forgive me, cousin. Just tell me how you want me to apologize, and I will do my best. But please tell me the whole story of how you found the letter."
Having gained a way out, Shen Muyu then leisurely sat back down.
She pushed the wooden box to Lu Minghe before slowly saying, "It's quite a coincidence, really. This box of letters was originally sent back to the Lu family by my second sister's personal maid. I suppose she was upset because the Lu family broke off the engagement. But who knew that as soon as Bailuo delivered it, the Lu family's gatekeeper threw it out. My maid, Dongqing, happened to be passing by and picked it up. When I looked inside the box, I saw that it was full of letters between you and my second sister. I thought that if I sent it back, my second sister would be heartbroken, so I thought I would find an opportunity to send it back to my cousin."
Shen Muyu's words sounded nice, but Lu Minghe knew that she and Shen Youying had never gotten along since childhood, and "accidentally picking her up" was definitely just an excuse.
But at this moment he had no time to care about the process. When he heard the gatekeeper of the Shen family throw the letter out, his pupils contracted and his fingers, which were tucked into his sleeves, clenched.
"Besides the letters, are there any other items?"
If Zhaozhao resented him for breaking his promise, she would not have simply sent back a letter.
Shen Muyu said, "I don't know about that. Dongqing only found these."
Lu Minghe guessed that perhaps after the gatekeeper threw them out, the valuables were picked up by others, leaving only these letters. He thanked her and asked, "Thank you for telling me this, cousin."
Shen Muyu smiled and said, "I'm not helping you for nothing. Actually, there's a small matter I'd like to ask you for help with."
Lu Minghe said, "Cousin, please speak."
"Ten days from now, Princess Shouning will be hosting her spring banquet. All the noble ladies and gentlemen of Dongjing will be attending." Shen Muyu sighed dramatically. "But as you know, the Shen family is in a difficult situation right now. I'd like to go and clear my head, but I can't get an invitation at all..."
Lu Minghe understood the implied meaning from the music. Invitations to the spring banquet were not difficult for him, so he agreed: "I will have someone send the invitations to my cousin today."
Shen Muyu smiled, stood up and curtsied: "Then thank you very much, cousin."
*
After Shen Muyu left, Lu Minghe sat alone in the private room for a long time.
It was a cloudy day, the sun was obscured by thick clouds, and the world was shrouded in mist. Lu Minghe sat by the second-floor window, feeling as if the leaden clouds were pressing down on him, making it hard for him to breathe.
He sat there from noon until evening, and went home when the rain finally started to fall.
Not wanting to disturb his family, he rode a horse instead of a carriage today, and by the time he returned to the Lu residence, he was soaked to the bone.
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
