Chapter 95 Pretending to be stupid with a clear conscience
Lu's mother rushed over, grabbed Lu's father's arm tightly, and cried out:
"You can't be so heartless! He's the only son in the Lu family! Xinghe, say something! Apologize to your father!"
Lu Xinghe was also shocked by his father's unprecedentedly resolute attitude.
He suddenly looked up, his face drained of all color, deathly pale.
His parents' words were like an icy tide, washing away his last bit of strength to struggle. He couldn't bear the devastating consequences of his willful and reckless behavior.
Despair and helplessness enveloped him, as if all his strength had been drained, leaving only a heart as cold as ashes.
He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, the last glimmer of light in his eyes seemed to have faded, leaving only a deep twilight.
He kowtowed to his parents again with great difficulty, his face showing a weary resignation.
"Father, Mother, your son... knows he was wrong."
"Son, go now... and bring Shen Yuejiao back."
"Everything... is up to my parents to decide."
His few words, spoken with the strength of a lifetime, seemed to have exhausted all his energy, and his shoulders slumped slightly.
After saying that, he stopped looking at his parents' reaction, struggled to get up from the ground, and felt a burning pain on his back, but that was nothing compared to the pain in his heart.
...
Meanwhile, at the city gate.
As soon as Su Xiaoyu rushed out of the city gate, her eyes anxiously searched around.
Finally, in the crowd, Shen Yuejiao's ornately decorated carriage was soon spotted heading toward the official road.
Su Xiaoyu's heart tightened, and she used the last of her strength to run wildly, blocking the carriage at all costs.
"Sh-!"
The coachman was startled by the sudden appearance of the figure and quickly tightened the reins.
The horse was startled, and its front hooves reared up, almost trampling Su Xiaoyu.
"Girl, are you out of your mind?!"
Su Xiaoyu ignored them completely. When the carriage stopped, she went around to the front and patted the carriage.
"Stop the car! Sister Yuejiao, it's me, Xiaoyu!"
The carriage curtain was quickly lifted by a slender white hand, revealing Shen Yuejiao's pale and haggard face.
When she saw Su Xiaoyu, her eyes lit up for a moment, but then the light quickly dimmed, covered by a layer of alienation and pain.
"Little Fish, what brings you here?"
Shen Yuejiao's voice was a little hoarse, but she deliberately maintained her composure, "There are too many people and too many eyes here, you should go back quickly, or you might be punished if you delay your work."
Su Xiaoyu looked at her and asked, "Yuejiao, why did you suddenly leave without saying goodbye?"
Shen Yuejiao avoided eye contact and casually made up an excuse: "I... I just suddenly missed my parents and wanted to go back to see them."
How could Su Xiaoyu believe such a clumsy excuse?
Ignoring the maid's attempts to stop her, she scrambled onto the carriage shaft using both hands and feet. The maid tried to stop her, but Shen Yuejiao wearily waved her hand.
"You all go down first and keep watch from a distance."
The maids withdrew as instructed, leaving only the two of them in the carriage.
Su Xiaoyu was panting, her gaze sweeping anxiously over Shen Yuejiao's red and swollen eyes, her forced composure barely concealing her sorrow, and the fragile air surrounding her that seemed as if she could break at the slightest touch.
Su Xiaoyu's heart sank slowly.
She reached out and grasped Shen Yuejiao's icy hand, looking directly into her eyes. "Yuejiao, look at me. Did your cousin... bully you?"
These words were like a key, instantly unlocking the defenses that Shen Yuejiao had been so desperately trying to maintain.
She trembled violently, and the tears she had been holding back finally burst forth, rolling down her cheeks in large drops.
"No... Don't make wild guesses..." Her voice choked, but she stubbornly turned her head away, unwilling to admit the heartbreaking truth.
Su Xiaoyu felt an overwhelming pang of heartache.
She stopped asking questions and silently reached out to hug Shen Yuejiao's trembling body tightly, pulling her into her arms and patting her back gently, as if comforting a child.
"Don't be afraid, Yuejiao, don't be afraid, I'm here." Su Xiaoyu's voice was gentle yet firm.
"No matter what happens, I'll stand by you."
The warm embrace and unconditional trust caused Shen Yuejiao's tense nerves to completely break down. She could no longer suppress her sobs and burst into tears in Xiaoyu's arms.
"Young Master Lu, please wait. My young lady has instructed that she does not wish to see you. Please leave."
Outside the carriage, the voice of a maidservant could be heard trying to stop them.
The crying in the carriage stopped instantly. Shen Yuejiao abruptly raised her head, her eyes filled with panic.
Su Xiaoyu patted her hand and gently comforted her, "I'll go take a look, don't be afraid."
After saying that, she composed herself, lifted the carriage curtain, and got out.
Lu Xinghe was being stopped by the Shen family's maids, looking anxious. When he saw that the person getting out of the car was Xiaoyu, he was clearly stunned for a moment.
His face first showed surprise, then he felt embarrassed and ashamed.
His gaze darted away, and he called out dryly, "...Little Fish."
Seeing his appearance, and remembering Shen Yuejiao crying her eyes out in the carriage, Su Xiaoyu's anger flared up. Her small face turned unusually cold, as if covered with frost, and her voice was devoid of any warmth.
"Yuejiao doesn't want to see you right now, so what are you doing here?"
Lu Xinghe was stung by her attitude. He opened his mouth and explained, "I...I'm here to apologize. What happened last night...it was my fault. I was a jerk. I drank too much, I..."
"Apologize?"
Su Xiaoyu's eyes sharpened as she pressed on: "Lu Xinghe, stop with your weak excuses. Drunk? Can you really let mistakes in this world be so easily dismissed with just 'drunk'?"
"Yuejiao traveled all the way from Qinghe County to find you. Who was she doing this for? She humbled herself and went to great lengths to be good to you and your parents. Everyone in the capital can see her intentions. How could you not know?"
"You're just enjoying her kindness, but you're pretending not to know and playing dumb with a clear conscience."
Lu Xinghe's face turned pale and then flushed as he was caught off guard. He hurriedly defended himself, "I...you know perfectly well that I already have someone else in my heart. How can I accept her kindness? I have never made any promises to her."
Su Xiaoyu sneered: "So this is your excuse for 'having someone in your heart'? Is this how you accept her sacrifices with a clear conscience, and then immediately question her and insult her with the most vicious words after the incident?"
This was the first time Su Xiaoyu had spoken to Lu Xinghe with such sharp and incisive language, precise and incisive.
Like a scalpel, it dissected all his hypocritical excuses on the spot.
"Even if she wanted to scheme against you, was it worth sacrificing her own reputation and resorting to such despicable means? Lu Xinghe, have you ever considered that she might also be a victim!"
Lu Xinghe froze abruptly, his face filled with astonishment.
Su Xiaoyu continued to add insult to injury: "Now that you've come chasing after her, apologizing profusely, is it because you genuinely realize your mistake and feel sorry for her being hurt? Or is it because your Lu family can't afford to offend the Shen family, and your Lu family's future can't be ruined, so you had no choice but to come?"
"Are you thinking that since it's already happened, you might as well just marry her, thus preserving the reputation of your Lu family and gaining the support of the Shen family—a win-win situation?"
boom!
Lu Xinghe felt as if his secret had been exposed, as if he had been stripped naked and thrown out on the spot. He felt humiliated and ashamed.
But he couldn't refute Su Xiaoyu's words.
Because what she said was true.
“Lu Xinghe, let me tell you! Yuejiao is not a tool for your Lu family to get through the crisis, nor is she a sacrifice for you to make up for your mistakes and appease your conscience.”
"If you come after her just to bind her to you with so-called 'responsibility' and 'marriage,' making her spend her life with a husband who has someone else in his heart and who has insulted and hurt her, then you are not saving her, but destroying her in a more cruel way!"
"You're even more despicable than when you lost control last night!"
These words struck Lu Xinghe like a thunderbolt, leaving him pale and staggering backward.
It turns out that all the thoughts that were hidden in his heart, thoughts that he himself did not want to think about, were so ruthlessly torn apart by Xiaoyu and exposed to the light of day, which was so despairing!
Lu Xinghe's throat was dry, and his face was as white as paper. He opened his mouth, ready to explain.
But then a soft yet authoritative voice rang out from behind—
"It's you, you little brat, who bullied our Jiaojiao!"
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