Young Master Chen: "But Chu Yening, I missed your...
After seeing the letter written by Luo Ling himself, the manager of Cuiyu Pavilion knew that the eldest son of the Luo family was now in the capital. He knew that the group must have something important to tell him when they came to Cuiyu Pavilion. So he quickly sent someone to rush to Jiangnan via the post road.
After the Luo family left the capital, all three branches except the eldest branch of the Luo family went from being a prominent aristocratic family to a merchant family.
Over the course of ten years, Luo Chen, the eldest son of the third branch of the Luo family, had expanded his business throughout the country, with businesses scattered across various regions. His goods, transported along the post roads, and the number of merchant ships entering and leaving the country daily were countless. He was now one of the wealthiest men in the land, renowned throughout the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, where he was known as Young Master Chen.
With the travel permit personally given by the crown prince and their identities, the group in Chongqing Prefecture parted ways with Mu Tong and Song Zijin, who were traveling separately from Lu Yu and her daughter, in the suburbs, and also set off for the capital through mountains and rivers.
The journey was long, involving changing boats and horses along the way, traveling north along the Han River, and it wasn't until just before the New Year that they finally returned to the capital.
Snowflakes are falling on the ancient road pavilion that stretches for a hundred miles on the outskirts of the city.
The carriage returning from Jiangnan had been waiting there for several days, and Pu Niang and Feng Hua were already standing outside the carriage, gazing into the distance. Not far away, a young man dressed in a dark blue robe and a black cloak also stood in the pavilion, gazing into the distance.
Feng Hua was anxiously waiting: "Second Master, how much longer until the young lady arrives? Could something have happened to her on the way?"
Qin Weixi, who nearly perished in a river on his way back to the capital, awoke in Jiangnan after several days of unconsciousness, bearing numerous arrow wounds. This experience has become a source of unease for the Luo family.
Pu Niang felt uneasy thinking about her young mistress who had suddenly died.
Luo Chen, standing to the side, calmly replied, "I sent people to meet you these past few days, and judging by the time, you should arrive today."
Before long, a carriage slowly approached the ancient road pavilion. A moment later, a person stepped down from the carriage. The girl smiled brightly, wearing a light green silk dress and a moon-white cloak. Her bright black hair was casually tied up with a wooden hairpin. She was being helped down from the carriage by a man dressed in a black fox fur coat.
Soon the carriage curtain was lifted again, and a man in a blue robe covered with a white fox fur coat stepped down from the carriage. The two men stood on either side of the girl, both with handsome faces and extraordinary bearing.
The girl in the silk robe had already run and rushed towards Pu Niang, who was also going to meet her.
"Pu Niang!"
Pu Niang smiled and hugged her tightly, her smile so wide her eyes disappeared: "Oh my, you still look like a little baby!"
Upon seeing this, Luo Chen hurriedly stepped out of the pavilion and rushed towards the woman in green. He looked closely and asked, "Is my sister alright?"
Tao Qingyun chuckled. She had spotted the man in black standing in the pavilion from afar earlier, but hadn't dared to recognize him.
"Luo Chen! Brother Chen! What brings you to the capital?"
Upon hearing this, Chu Yening glanced up and looked over.
Luo Chen, still smiling, took another step closer while holding a woman's bright red cloak: "It's been a long time since I've seen my cousin, and my grandmother has been missing her for months. I thought it would be good for me to come to the capital."
Chu Yening unconsciously frowned slightly, looked at the tall and handsome man standing opposite him, and then met his gaze. Neither of them gave an inch.
Chu Yening smiled suddenly, his sharp eyebrows and bright eyes sparkling. But when he saw the girl beside him with her bright, sparkling eyes, his expression turned serious again.
"Is Grandma alright? How are Father and Mother? Has Mother's insomnia improved? Is Father still keeping himself cooped up in his study and unwilling to leave the house? And cousin, how many shops do you own now?"
Hearing those sweet words, Luo Chen smiled even more gently: "Everything is fine, everything is fine. We're all thinking about you, worried that you're not eating or sleeping well, whether you've lost weight or gotten sick. Grandmother keeps saying she wants to see if that pretty little girl is really as well as my eldest grandson in the capital says."
"As for how many shops I own, I'll tell you slowly when we get back to the mansion and sit down with my cousin."
Qin Weixi listened quietly, and upon learning that the Luo family in Jiangnan was all well, she felt at ease.
She quickly turned around and smiled at Chu Yening, who had been silent beside her, only to see him looking at Luo Chen with a pair of slightly inquisitive eyes.
Qin Weixi suddenly remembered the wolf king she had seen in the mountains when she was a child, which was eventually killed by Chu Yening and Jiang Yuanjun. At that time, the wolf king had also been watching them from a distance with the same expression.
She put aside her doubts and said to Luo Chen, "This is..."
Before she could finish speaking, Tao Qingyun interrupted, laughing as she said to Luo Chen, "If you say this is your fourth brother, he might have to think about it. But if you say this is the boy who climbed the wall of the Grand Secretary's mansion with me back then and scared Liang Gou'er so much that he cried for his father and mother, do you think he'll recognize him?"
Luo Chen shook his head and chuckled after hearing this: "We weren't young back then, how could I not remember?" As he spoke, he nodded to Chu Yening across from him, seemingly ignoring the unfriendly look Chu Yening was giving him.
Tao Qingyun laughed heartily, her gaze sweeping over the man before finally stepping forward and patting Chu Yening's left shoulder: "I'm not saying this to be mean, but we were still far from here, and in that moment of distraction, I almost mistook one of your brothers who had been living among the common people!"
Chu Yening remained silent.
At this moment, Feng Hua and Pu Niang walked over, both carrying the joy of a long-awaited reunion.
Tao Qingyun glanced at the snowflakes falling softly from above and said, "How come it's winter so quickly?"
He turned back to the group and said, "I've been out for a while now, so I need to go back to the manor to see my old man. Fourth Fox, are you going back to the manor?"
Xue Zhao and the others, along with Mu Tongzi, escorted Lu Yu and her daughter back to the capital. The eight hundred elite soldiers who had been scattered elsewhere were reunited. Lu Yu's appearance and the resurrection of Sun Shaopu and others gave them hope after ten years of forbearance.
Chu Yening then spoke up, "I parted ways with Jiuqu; he returned to the Marquis's residence, and I went to the Luo residence."
"Huh! You've been out for so many days, aren't you going back to your residence first?" Tao Qingyun asked in surprise.
Qin Weixi looked at Tao Qingyun and suddenly smiled. Tao Qingyun, puzzled, lightly flicked her forehead: "Little Seventh Sister! What are you laughing at?"
Qin Weixi smiled but remained silent. She didn't think that the Prince Yantai, the sharp-tongued third brother in Xiaohe's words, and now the fox fourth brother, was a cunning fox. Instead, she thought he was a majestic wolf king who could run freely in the mountains and forests.
Feng Hua held onto her arm tightly, saying, "I sat with Miss on the way back to the manor."
Chu Yening had already boarded the carriage by himself. Before the girl, whom Feng Hua was clinging to tightly, could answer, he reached out an arm and pulled her over, then lifted her onto the carriage with one hand in an instant.
"Fourth Brother!" Qin Weixi felt a cold wind blow past, and Feng Hua, who had looked like a little squirrel, had become a different person. Only Feng Hua was left standing there, stunned.
Luo Chen, who was getting off the carriage, was also taken aback by the scene before raising his eyes to meet those sharp, dark eyes. The two were once again locked in a fierce confrontation.
Tao Qingyun waved a folding fan to block the flying knives, and said with a hum, "Brother Chen, if A-Ling knew that you were returning to the capital for the evening, she would surely prepare a welcome banquet for you. We will go to the Luo residence for a drink together later."
Luo Chen quickly turned his gaze and nodded to Tao Qingyun.
Outside the carriage, the snow was still falling. Inside, Chu Yening wrapped his long arms around Qin Weixi, trapping her in his embrace, and then leaned down to kiss her.
Qin Weixi's heart pounded like a deer's, and it wasn't until his warm breath gradually calmed down that they reluctantly parted.
But the whispered words that had just been uttered after he entered the carriage still echoed in his ears: "Qin Luo! His eyes look the same way I look at you!"
"Just thinking about the ten years I missed out on you makes me insanely jealous!"
This time, Qin Weixi didn't wait for him to get close. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressed her head against his chest, and hugged him tightly.
A soft whisper brushed past my ear, but the person in my arms was truly there before me.
"But Chu Yening, the ten years I missed with you, I would be heartbroken to the point of madness!"
Outside the carriage, a vast expanse of white snow still stretched out, the wheels rumbling as they headed towards the capital, a place that had brought them both laughter and tears. She stretched out a hand and hooked two fingers around the corner of his mouth, instantly creating a smile on his handsome face.
"Chu Yening, you have me in your eyes, and I have you in mine."
Late at night at the Luo residence.
The group set up two banquets discreetly in the dining hall of the mansion. Chu Yening had already been summoned to the palace by Emperor Kang Le to inquire about matters concerning the Luo family in Jiangnan and the eldest son of the second branch of the Luo family who had suddenly returned to the capital. He then hurriedly left the palace that evening.
Qin Weixi looked towards Jiang Yuanjun, who had arrived one after the other with Chu Yening, and then looked behind him. Apart from A Xiao, there was no one else there.
She smiled faintly and said, "Ah Fu didn't come?"
Seeing that she had returned to the capital unharmed and had found Lu Yu, Jiang Yuanjun smiled and said with a gentle gaze, "She went to Xiaguang Peak a few days ago."
Qin Weixi nodded upon hearing this but did not speak again, but Jiang Yuanjun sensed the faint disappointment in his eyes.
It was rare for everyone to be present this time. There were two tables in the dining hall. Song Yangzhong and others from Jiuququeshe sat with the Luo family and A Xiaofacai, while the other five sat with Zhao Shuhan, Ping An, and Luo Chen.
Everyone listened as Luo Ling recounted the interesting events that had recently occurred in the capital.
He laughed and said, "You left the capital a few days ago, and Liang Xu sent people to keep watch outside my Luo residence. After discussing it with A-Jun, we decided to pretend we didn't see them. Later that evening, I had Luo Yuan bring Ping An back. Since there's nothing to do at the government office these days, I thought I'd like to have a game of chess with Ping An."
"When Liang Xu learned that I had brought people back to the manor, he couldn't sit still. In the dead of night, when the city was under curfew, he brought his Liang family guards and knocked on the gate of my Luo family. He said that a family in the city had been robbed, and judging from the direction they were heading, they were coming to my Luo family manor."
“I hesitated for a moment, and Luo Yuan blocked the search from behind. When Liang Xu saw this, he thought I was hiding someone. Perhaps it was because he saw my younger sister disguised as A Shuo on Gulou Street that day. He forcibly searched the mansion and finally woke up the sleeping Ping An in the east wing outside my study.”
Luo Ling smiled, a rare occurrence, as she said, "When Liang Xu learned that it was Ping An, he was so angry that his face turned ashen."
Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this. Tao Qingyun asked with bright eyes, "I bet this isn't the end of it! Ah Ling, if you seize an opportunity, you won't let it slip away so easily."
Luo Ling nodded, and Luo Yuan said at the next table, "Young Master is someone who never gets involved in messy things. The first time he submitted a memorial impeaching Liang Shuwen, the Emperor naturally had to stand up for Young Master. Didn't you see that after they finished their duties, old Liang was like a firecracker, scolding everyone he saw, and went home looking utterly defeated?"
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