Zhou Yangling smiled gently: "Sister Luo, I made an appointment with you to return the bells, but you said you already had an appointment. Now I know that you were traveling with... this gentleman."
Luo Lingyu was embarrassed: "..."
After Zhou Lang recovered from his illness, he did ask her to play the chimes, but she was dissatisfied with Lu Yun's evaluation of the chimes that day, and wondered how she could be inferior to Zhou Lang, so she wanted to delay for two more days to study Zhou Lang's chimes; secondly, Lu Sanlang had just kissed her, and she felt that Lu Sanlang had feelings for her, and was afraid that Lu Sanlang would ask her out, so she would never go to another man's appointment during this period. In the end, Zhou Lang was still not as suitable as Lu Sanlang in terms of background, temperament and style...but she didn't expect to meet Zhou Lang at this time.
Luo Lingyu was so ashamed that she lowered her head.
Liu Chu also looked at Lu Sanlang: "Tell me that you have something to do and cannot see me."
Lu Yun calmed down: "...Bringing my cousin to see Mr. Wang is also a big deal. I'm not kidding you."
Liu Chu and Zhou Yangling looked at them together, and their eyes made them look like they had abandoned their families and were in cahoots with each other. This scene was really awkward. Lu Yun and Luo Lingyu each told others that they had important things to do and couldn't leave, but they didn't expect that the two frustrated people would get together. The two went to Mr. Wang to talk, and they ran into Lu Sanlang and Luo Lingyu who were getting together.
Luo Lingyu silently stood behind Lu Yun, letting Lu Yun bear the other party's disapproving looks.
Mr. Wang looked left and right and laughed, "Interesting, interesting. I know Xuechen and the young master have a good relationship. I didn't expect Zhou Lang to know this... girl as well. It seems that we are all family. Come and sit down."
Zhou Lang?
Lu Yun glanced at Zhou Yangling calmly. Zhou Yangling looked at him pleadingly with a hint of panic under her calm eyes. Lu Yun paused and looked at Chen Wang Liu Chu next to Zhou Yangling. Liu Chu sat on the futon and listened to Mr. Wang's advice. It was because Lu Yun didn't accompany him that he remembered Zhou Lang, a talented man he had met a few days ago, and they came together. Liu Chu didn't know that the young man next to him was Zhou Yangling, the daughter of Zhou Tan, whom he had been looking for for many days and wanted to use for marriage.
Then, Luo Lingyu looked at Zhou Yangling nervously and uneasily...
Lu Yun felt a little strange and frowned, wondering why Luo Lingyu looked at Zhou Yangling with such a familiar look... Before he could figure it out, Mr. Wang had finished speaking and asked with a smile, "What do you think?" Luo Lingyu shifted her gaze from Zhou Yangling and began to answer Mr. Wang.
The style of clear conversation, with questions and answers, and debates and explanations, is the most popular way to explore academic issues nowadays.
Several people joined in the conversation, but Liu Chu and Lu Yun did not speak. Instead, it was Luo Lingyu and Zhou Yangling who kept talking.
The atmosphere between the few people was harmonious yet strange.
…
Luo Lingyu was never inferior to others in professional skills. Zhou Lang spoke calmly and gently, while she kept making witty remarks to please Mr. Wang. In the afternoon, Mr. Wang had developed some affection for Zhou Lang, whom he had not met before, and Lu Sanlang's cousin. When the sun was setting in the west, the conversation on this topic came to an end. Mr. Wang was still not satisfied and invited a few people to stay in the mountains to rest.
This was exactly Luo Lingyu's purpose, and she was naturally overjoyed.
Mr. Wang looked at the girl with a friendly look and said, "I am poor in this mountain, and I have nothing. You are from a noble family, and you have servants accompanying you wherever you go. If you can't adapt to this place, you can speak frankly."
Luo Lingyu smiled and said, "Sir, you are joking. I envy your free and easy life the most. How can I not like living in the mountains and enjoying myself? Although I was born into a noble family, my family changed when I was young, and I also suffered a lot."
Lu Yun brushed the dust off his sleeves: "..."
Mr. Wang was very interested and asked about Luo Lingyu's experience. Luo Lingyu then vividly told the story of how she had an accident in Ruyang when she was young, how the Luo family in Ruyang died, and how she was left alone with her sister to seek refuge with the Luo family in Nanyang. How much hardship she had suffered in her childhood, how much inferiority she had felt when living under someone else's roof... When she finished her story, Zhou Yangling and Mr. Wang looked at her with a sigh and pity.
Zhou Yangling said softly, "You've worked hard, sister. Fortunately, you have finally gotten your reward today. Lu Sanlang is a famous scholar in Jianye, and the Lu family is powerful. He will be able to protect you, and you won't have to suffer the pain of displacement anymore."
Luo Lingyu nodded with a gloomy look in her eyes, then turned around and smiled at Lu Yun: "My third cousin is still very good to me."
Lu Yun: “…”
After they walked out, Lu Yun whispered to Luo Lingyu: "How much of your story is true and how much is false?"
Luo Lingyu smiled sweetly, and naturally would not tell him the truth. The two men were talking while pushing and shoving each other. Liu Chu and Zhou Yangling, who were walking behind them, seemed to be thinking about something, and they were both thinking about the relationship between the two men, which seemed unusual.
…
Luo Lingyu told her miserable story to win sympathy, half true and half false. Nanyang was so far away from Jianye, and Mr. Wang would not go to Nanyang to inquire about her life. Nanyang was indeed poor, but there was no shortage of things that a noble girl should learn and have, and Luo Lingyu was used to fighting for herself. She had never done rough work in her life, and had never been self-reliant when the maid was away.
But the big talk had already been said, Luo Lingyu did not dare to show how hardship she could endure in front of Mr. Wang, fearing that she would fall into the trap, so she had to torture herself first. Studying things like well water, Luo Lingyu recalled how the maids used to take care of her, fumbling to fetch water for herself, and boiling water, wanting to take a bath. She had climbed the mountain with Lu Yun for so long during the day, and was covered in sweat. She could hardly bear it in the afternoon.
Lu Yun, on the other hand, had tea with Mr. Wang and exchanged their opinions on the girls selected by the Flower God. Lu Yun doubted the truth of Luo Lingyu's words, so he wanted to see the excitement and see how Luo Lingyu could be self-reliant without a maid. There were only two or three huts. He arrived at the door of Luo Lingyu's hut and was about to knock when he heard a cough behind him. Lu Yun turned his head and saw Zhou Yangling dressed as a man.
Zhou Yangling: "Sanlang, I have something to tell you."
Lu Yun walked a few steps away from Luo Lingyu's house, with a fence behind him. He looked interested and asked Zhou Yangling, "Where is Liu Chu?"
Zhou Yangling: "I made an excuse, saying that I had a cold, and asked him to boil some hot water for me. When the young master saw me fainting from weakness, he believed it, and that's why I had time to come and look for you."