Chapter 23
Lin Qingyu refused so decisively and brought up the matter of Marquis Nan'an. Pan was both respectful and afraid of the son of her savior and dared not say much. She quickly changed the subject and talked about the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Lin Qingyu listened absent-mindedly. It was his negligence that he didn't think of this. Since Lu Qiaosong has lost the ability to pass on his family line, Marquis Nan'an will naturally focus his attention on Lu Wancheng. Although Lu Wancheng has been ill, he can still be cured if he tries hard.
At night, Lu Wancheng returned to his room after taking a bath and found that Lin Qingyu looked at him in an unfathomable way. He immediately had a bad feeling: "What's wrong?"
Lin Qingyu asked: "How are you doing lately?"
Lu Wancheng smiled and said, "You check my pulse every day, you should know me better than me."
"I'm not asking about your condition." Lin Qingyu's eyes moved down to a certain place and raised his chin, "Will it... get up again?"
Speaking of this, Lu Wancheng became a little melancholy, and said with resentment in his eyes: "I have been drinking the medicine you prescribed, and you still have the nerve to ask me."
The side effects of the medicine are temporary. He will recover if he stops taking the medicine for a few days, or if Lin Qingyu gives him two injections. In other words, whether he can do it depends entirely on whether Lin Qingyu allows him to do it.
At first, he felt insulted, but later he just lay down and accepted it. Just as Lin Qingyu said, he couldn't use it after all, so it didn't work. Struggling was tiring.
Lin Qingyu nodded: "Then come to me when you need it, and I will give you acupuncture to help you get up."
Lu Wancheng was puzzled: "Why would I need it?"
Lin Qingyu coldly spat out a few words: "Carry on the family line and continue the incense."
Lu Wancheng is a smart man, he should understand what I'm saying. Sure enough, Lu Wancheng smiled knowingly: "So that's how it is, our Qingyu was interviewed."
Lin Qingyu didn't have the patience to beat around the bush with him anymore, so she asked, "Do you want to take a concubine?"
Lu Wancheng looked at Lin Qingyu's serious expression, and the words "Of course I don't want to" came to his lips but were swallowed back badly. He pretended to be entangled: "I do want to, but not completely."
Lin Qingyu frowned slightly: "Speak human language."
"To be honest, I've lived for almost twenty years and I've never even held a girl's hand. Before I die, it would be nice if I could experience the feeling of a soft and warm woman in my arms, right?"
Haha, a few days ago I was still praising him for having no one in his room and for his promising future, but today I’m thinking about her soft jade and warm fragrance.
Dog stuff.
Lin Qingyu was about to make a sarcastic remark when he inadvertently caught a glimpse of the other person's upward curve on his lips and sneered in his heart. Lu Wancheng obviously did it on purpose. If he took it seriously, he would lose.
Lin Qingyu asked calmly: "Then what kind of woman do you like? Tell me so that I can help you choose one."
Lu Wancheng really thought about it seriously and gave a rather superficial answer: "She's pretty, has a good temper, and won't be mean to me."
"Got it," Lin Qingyu said, "I'll help you pick one tomorrow, go to sleep."
Lu Wancheng was a little confused: "Are you asleep already?"
"Otherwise? Do you have anything else to say?"
Lu Wancheng tried to hold back, but couldn't help it, and asked across the screen: "Qingyu, you don't really want to help me take a concubine, do you? From a universal point of view, I am your husband."
Lin Qingyu joked: "Husband? How can I have a husband? I only have a brother with a different surname, and I am looking for a sister-in-law for myself. In the future, your children will have to call me 'Uncle Lin'."
Lu Wancheng couldn't help but beat his chest and stamp his feet: "Can you please stop talking about sworn brotherhood?"
"Why don't you mention it?" Lin Qingyu sneered, "Who was it that was clamoring to become sworn brothers with me at that time?"
Lu Wancheng choked up: "Then I regret it. Anyway, we didn't swear an oath of blood at that time, so it doesn't count."
"No, once a brother, always a brother."
"According to what you said, one night of marriage is worth a hundred nights of love."
"Indeed," Lin Qingyu ruthlessly exposed, "but you didn't get married to me at that time."
Lu Wancheng was speechless, hugging the pillow and gritting his teeth: "Why the hell didn't I come a day earlier..."
Afterwards, Lu Wancheng went to see Marquis Nan'an in person. It is unknown what the two of them talked about in the study, but in any case, Marquis Nan'an stayed in the ancestral hall for a night and had a lot more white hair. The matter of Lu Wancheng taking a concubine ended in nothing.
Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and the remaining summer heat is almost gone. Sweet osmanthus flowers are just beginning to bloom in the courtyard. My summer clothes are already thin, but I am too lazy to put on more, as if this would allow me to stay in the summer a little longer.
Spring brings life, and autumn brings death. Since ancient times, autumn has been a sad and lonely season. Lin Qingyu's mood has also been affected by the season. He has been in a low mood for the past few days, with a cold face to everyone. He locks himself in the study all day long. The food that Hualu sent to him remains untouched after half a day.
Lin Qingyu also hated himself for being so depressed. He knew very well that being depressed was useless. Unfortunately, he still can't control his emotions.
He was staring at the book in a daze when the door creaked open. Lu Wancheng walked into the study room carrying a plate of snacks and said with a smile, "Qingyu, look what good things I brought you."
Lin Qingyu said: "Thank you, I'll just leave it there."
Lu Wancheng was dissatisfied: "So perfunctory, you didn't even look at it."
Lin Qingyu took a look and saw that it was freshly made osmanthus cake. She guessed it was made from the osmanthus tree in the yard. "I see. Get out."
Lu Wancheng stood there without moving. Lin Qingyu knew he was looking at him, but he was too lazy to respond. He tried to continue reading, but the presence of someone was too strong for him to concentrate. He closed his eyes, looked up and asked, "What else do you want?"
Lu Wancheng said softly: "Qingyu, you are angry."
A tone of statement that is completely affirmative.
Lin Qingyu said calmly: "I didn't." He was not saying one thing and thinking another. He was indeed not angry at the moment, he just didn't want to talk.
"Are you angry because I slept too much?" Lu Wancheng peered around Lin Qingyu, "Then I won't sleep, okay?"
Lin Qingyu chuckled: "You? Impossible."
Lu Wancheng was also very self-aware: "It seems unlikely. Then how can you be happier?" Lu Wancheng sat down next to him, put his chin on the table and looked at him, "How about I touch your abdominal muscles? Oh no, I don't have abdominal muscles now...then I'll touch your head?" As he said that, he leaned his head closer.
Lin Qingyu covered her eyes with one hand and pushed Lu Wancheng away with the other: "Leave me alone, okay?"
Lu Wancheng reluctantly said, "Okay, then remember to eat something."
As soon as Lu Wancheng walked out of the study, Huan Tong immediately came up to him: "Young Marquis, how are you?"
Lu Wancheng shook his head.
Huan Tong was a little anxious: "What happened to the young master? He hasn't eaten for the whole day."
Lu Wancheng thought for a moment and said, "It shouldn't be my fault, otherwise he would have told me to get out. So, when will the results of the Imperial Medical Bureau exam be announced?"
Huantong suddenly realized: "It's today!"
"Sure enough," Lu Wancheng looked back at the thin silhouette on the window, "This is difficult, it's definitely not easy to coax him."
Huan Tongye was worried: "What should I do then?"
"What can I do if I can't coax her?" Lu Wancheng said lazily, "Go back to sleep."
Huan Tong was greatly disappointed: "How could you be like this, young marquis? You are too good at retreating when faced with difficulties."
Lu Wancheng nodded Huantong's head and said, "Believe me, your young master just wants to be alone now, so let's not bother him. Besides, I believe he can adjust himself."
Hearing the footsteps of the two people going away, Lin Qingyu breathed a sigh of relief.
Whenever he had any troubles in the past, Lin Qingyu could always calm down as long as he kept himself company with medical books. But now, he tried hard to stare at every word in the book, but he just couldn't concentrate. He was restless and fidgety, and he didn't know where his mind was.
Lin Qingyu left Lanfeng Pavilion alone and walked aimlessly in the mansion. There are many fallen leaves in the palm garden, and I know with a sigh that autumn has arrived. When he first arrived at the marquis's mansion, it was still snowing and a charcoal brazier was burning in the house. But in the blink of an eye, half a year has passed.
Marquis Nan'an was often not at home. Liang's Lu Qiaosong stayed at home to recuperate, and Lu Niantao was too tired to run around their bedsides and rarely showed up. Unknowingly, he became the real master of the Marquis' Mansion. The servants were both respectful and afraid of him when they saw him. It seemed that no one had remembered the humble and humiliating experience he had endured when he married into the marquis's mansion as a man to bring good luck.
Lin Qingyu looked up at the square vermilion wall, and it seemed as if he could still hear the hawkers' cries outside. I wonder what kind of lively scene is taking place in front of the Imperial Medical Bureau, four streets away from the Marquis’ Mansion. Are all his former classmates, those who are not as good as him, those who envy him, standing in front of the list, looking for their names with anticipation and fear?
If he had not felt compassion for Lu Wancheng and had not asked for an extra six months for Lu Wancheng, where would he be at this moment?
As the autumn wind blew, Lin Qingyu spread out his hands, letting the sweet-scented osmanthus flowers fall into his palms, and made a wish -
He was willing to fast for seven days in exchange for the person he hated failing the exam.
That's right, he is such a petty person. He just can't stand seeing people he hate living better than him.
Lin Qingyu imagined Tan Qizhi's expression after failing the exam, and felt a little better. He heard hurried footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Huan Tong running out of breath: "Master, you are so happy!"
"What can I be happy about?"
"Tan, Tan Qizhi failed the exam!"
Lin Qingyu was stunned.
Huan Tong said excitedly, "Besides Tan Qizhi, there's also that young master Wang who said you looked like a woman, and young master Liang who slandered you for cheating in the exam... none of those people you disliked, young master, passed the exam! Isn't this a great joy?"
Lin Qingyu finally reacted: "You went to the Imperial Medical Bureau?"
"Yes, I went to see the Imperial Medical Bureau to see the results."
"Who asked you to go?" Lin Qingyu asked, and he already had the answer in his mind.
"It's the young marquis," Huantong said, "He said the young master would like to hear this."
Lin Qingyu's mood was indescribably complicated. Why did Lu Wancheng know even such secret and vicious thoughts of his? Who on earth is he!
Lin Qingyu threw down the osmanthus in his hand and said, "Let's go back."
After returning to Lanfeng Pavilion, Lin Qingyu subconsciously looked for Lu Wancheng. I didn't see anyone, but I heard a whistle as clear as the song of an oriole.
Following the sound, I saw Lu Wancheng sitting on the porch with his back against the fence, looking as lazy and casual as ever. After meeting his gaze, Lu Wancheng put down his whistle hand, and the ending tone was filled with a smile: "You're back, come and eat."
A young man is leaning on the railing under the corridor, looking at the world with a smile and without any care in the world.
Lin Qingyu thought that he gave up the once-in-three-years exam in exchange for half a year of life for the person in front of him, which was a loss for him no matter how he looked at it.
Fortunately, Lu Wancheng whistled well, so it seemed... it wasn't a complete loss.
Lin Qingyu smiled, her smile was like a faint cloud and moon: "Okay."
The author has something to say: The second update will be in the evening~
①From Tao Yuanming's "Reply to Liu Chaisang"
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