Chapter 63: The First Meeting of the Male and Female Leads in a Sweet Romance Novel
-Hanging Flower Gate-
Danruo, accompanied by her maid, happily greeted the guests.
Upon seeing the woman who had come with her servants, Danruo's smile vanished instantly. "What are you doing here? What brings you here again?"
Lang Zhizhi recognized the maid in front of her as the cunning servant of the young mistress: "You promised to let me see your young master, but you chased me away when I didn't see him. Of course I have to come again."
Upon hearing this, Danruo was incredulous. How could someone be so shameless? She immediately blocked the center of the hanging flower gate, saying, "Last time when you left, you kept saying you were delirious and not my young master's savior. You begged to leave, and now you're turning around and accusing us of driving you away? How can you go back on your word like this?"
Lang Zhizhi cursed Lang Qingwan in her heart for being such an idiot, actually saying that she had hysteria.
"What do you mean I went back on my word? It was you who didn't keep your promise. You said you'd bring Jiang Wei back to see me, and what happened? Humph! You're the ones who broke your word and have no integrity." Today, she was determined to see Jiang Wei no matter what. She would never again be so easily pushed aside by that idiot Lang Qingwan.
Danruo: "How dare you! How dare you call my young master by his name so casually?"
"You were the one who insisted on seeing my young master last time, and you were also the one who made a scene and said that my young master had done you no favor. You are really shameless, girl. Whether you are grateful or not depends entirely on your words."
“My eldest son said that you didn’t save him, so stop trying to claim any favors.”
Li Linsu had just picked up Lang Mingxuan and returned to the guest room in the outer courtyard when he heard from the servants that a dispute had broken out at the hanging flower gate, so he rushed over.
Then Danruo stood with her hands on her hips, fluently using her tongue.
He immediately scolded, "Danruo, what are you doing? How dare you be so disrespectful to your guest!"
Danruo froze on the spot, pointing at Lang Zhizhi and saying, "Young Master, this person is a liar. Last time she..."
"Shut up! Miss Lang is my guest. Don't be rude." After scolding Danruo, Li Linsu looked at Lang Mingxuan apologetically and said to his sister, "This maid is unruly. Don't be angry, Miss Lang."
Lang Zhizhi glanced at Danruo, who looked aggrieved but dared not refute, and deliberately stuck out her tongue at her.
Danruo stomped her foot in anger.
"elder brother."
Li Lianniang walked out from behind the hanging flower gate, looked at Lang Zhizhi, and said calmly, "So your guest is Miss Lang. Danruo was rude. I apologize to Miss Lang on her behalf. I hope Miss Lang will not hold this maid against her."
Lang Zhizhi said with dissatisfaction, "How can you apologize for someone else? Doesn't she have a mouth?"
As soon as he said that, the expressions of the people present changed slightly. Lang Mingxuan glanced at Lang Zhizhi and said with a smile, "My sister is naughty. Please forgive her for making the young mistress laugh."
Then Lang Mingxuan turned to Li Linsu and said, "Brother Li, I'm sorry, I can't discuss poetry with you today. Let's reschedule for another day."
While apologizing, she pulled Lang Zhizhi outside.
Li Linsu, confused, chased after her, saying, "Brother Lang, that maid was just being unreasonable, please don't be angry..."
Lang Mingxuan's smile remained unchanged, but he was not persuaded to stay. "Brother Li, please don't misunderstand. I suddenly remembered that I forgot to bring some things. Let's make an appointment another day, another day."
"Brother, let me go, I..."
Lang Zhizhi struggled, but before she could finish speaking, Lang Mingxuan glanced at her, and she immediately shut up in fright.
Ignoring Li Linsu's attempts to persuade him to stay, Lang Mingxuan left directly.
After leaving the Jiang family home, Lang Mingxuan finally spoke, "You've been to the Jiang family home? What did you do to tarnish their reputation?"
Lang Zhizhi opened her mouth, "What kind of expression is that? What do you mean by ruining my reputation? I am Jiang Wei's benefactor. Shouldn't I go to him to ask him to repay my kindness? But your sister ruined my plans and was such a coward."
Hearing her speak ill of his sister, Lang Mingxuan clenched his fists involuntarily, but still corrected her, saying, "When have you ever done anything to be kind to Young Master Jiang? Also, you shouldn't call him by his name."
Lang Zhizhi said with dissatisfaction, "It's just a name."
“He holds an official position. You should address him as ‘Sir’ or ‘Young Master,’ not by his name. That would be extremely disrespectful.”
"I know, I know." Lang Zhizhi waved his hand impatiently, then suddenly said with a smile, "Brother, you have to help me, I need to see Young Master Jiang..."
"what you up to?"
“Let him repay the favor,” Lang Zhizhi said matter-of-factly.
Lang Mingxuan frowned slightly. "When did you do him any favor? How come I didn't know about this? We don't lack money now, so we don't need to repay any favors."
“I don’t care, I just want to see him, otherwise I won’t say anything else about the poems.”
Lang Mingxuan: "...Okay, I'll think of a way."
Zhao Xian only heard about the Lang siblings' brief visit to the Jiang family afterward.
After reviewing the information from Lou Bai's surveillance team, it was found that Lang Zhizhi was appearing more and more frequently.
After the poetry collection sold well, the Lang siblings moved away from their original courtyard, making surveillance less of an option.
After Jiang Liangxu fell from his horse, the imperial physician came to change his dressing. Because he needed to rest and not move around, he stayed in the study.
Zhao Xian went to the study every day. The study was filled with books. Jiang Liangxu rested on the couch behind the study, with Qin Da taking care of him.
While the maids and servants waited outside, Zhao Xian read books alone in the tea room. The length of time she spent reading depended entirely on the thickness of the book. Sometimes, if she couldn't finish reading it and the book was too interesting, she would take it with her.
The main purpose is to provide superficial companionship; with her presence, she can effectively block visitors from entering.
The book she picked up that day was very thin, and Zhao Xian wasn't particularly interested in it. She quickly flipped through it and put it back.
Remembering that she had heard Granny He mention Jiang Heng that morning, she came out of the study and instructed, "Go to the Second Young Master's courtyard."
Jiang Wei requested family punishment on behalf of his father. Jiang Heng had been beaten for quite some time now, and it was unknown how well his injuries were healing.
After being punished by family discipline, he sent someone to the city guard camp to ask for a leave of absence for another half month.
Upon arriving at Jiang Heng's Qingjian Pavilion, the servants knelt on the ground.
Zhao Xian gave a wink, and Shaoyao pushed open the door and went inside. She came out shortly after and reported, "Madam, the Second Young Master is not in the room."
Glancing at the servants kneeling in the courtyard, Zhao Xian didn't even get out of the sedan chair. "Tell me, where did the Second Young Master go?"
Instead of resting properly at home after being disciplined by the family, he still has the energy to run around everywhere.
Almost instantly, Zhao Xian thought of the Lu family.
The old nanny in Jiang Heng's courtyard lowered her head and said, "Reporting to Madam, the Second Young Master can't stay still and said he wants to go out of the manor for some fresh air."
Zhao Xian asked in confusion, "Isn't it the Lu family?"
"Has he been going out for some fresh air these days?"
The old woman shook her head: "No, I only left the manor today because I felt better."
-Lu Family-
Lu Zhaoying was quite surprised to see Jiang Heng. She knew he had been punished according to family rules, but she didn't know how serious his injuries were: "Why are you here? Please sit down."
Jiang Heng didn't sit down, as his buttocks were still injured: "I'm fine, I was just worried about you, so I came to check on you."
His brother granted him an extra half-month of leave, and he was supposed to return to the city guard camp when the spring imperial examinations began.
Before returning to the city's defensive camp, he was always uneasy, especially since Lord Lu had been imprisoned since that day.
Looking at Jiang Heng's concern, Lu Zhaoying couldn't help but feel touched, but she still pulled her hand away from his palm: "Young Master Jiang shouldn't have come."
Jiang Hengyi grabbed her hand as she tried to pull away: "What are you talking about whether I should come or not? You're my fiancée. Can't I even come to see you?"
"We're calling off our engagement."
"No, I hid the token. This didn't work out. I'm still your fiancé, and you're still my fiancée."
Lu Zhaoying felt that he was being rather childish at this moment: "I already know from my brother the seriousness of Father's dereliction of duty. Even if you say that, marriage is not just a matter between two people, but also concerns our two families..."
Before Lu Zhaoying could finish speaking, Jiang Heng interrupted her: "Why isn't marriage a matter between two people? From now on, it'll be just the two of us sleeping on the wedding bed. How can we squeeze in anyone else? That won't do, it'll just delay us."
"Jiang Heng." Lu Zhaoying angrily punched him with her fist. "I'm talking to you about this very seriously."
Jiang Heng grabbed her wrist and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her waist so their bodies were pressed together. He grinned and said, "I'm being very serious about our future. Yingying, believe me, I only consider you my wife."
His gaze was so earnest that Lu Zhaoying could only see herself in his eyes, and her heart melted completely. Yet, she asked somewhat guiltily, "Why are you so good to me?"
"You're my fiancée, isn't it only right that I treat you well?"
Jiang Heng placed his hand on Lu Zhaoying's forehead: "It's not hot. What nonsense are you talking about? Are you scared by my father's annulment of the engagement? I was just trying to remind my father-in-law. I didn't really want to annul the engagement. Believe me."
Lu Zhaoying looked at the person in front of her. When they met, he was thirteen years old and she was eleven.
Her father was still working in the Northern Government Office and didn't even have the right to attend court and meet the emperor. At that time, the place they lived in was not the Lu Residence as it is now.
When her father wasn't busy, he would come home for dinner; when he was busy, she and her mother would bring him food.
He suddenly appeared on duty at the North Office one day, wearing ill-fitting patrolman's clothes. She had overheard people gossiping that he was probably a relative of some high-ranking official who had been forced into the position.
His face was particularly sour back then, as if someone owed him something. His words were also unpleasant. Perhaps it was because his face was so sour and he couldn't speak properly that he was teased by his fellow patrolmen, who made him do all the dirty and tiring work.
He wasn't familiar with the terrain and got lost several times while catching chickens and pigs for his neighbors.
When Lu Zhaoying saw him cry, she was incredulous. He looked taller than her brother, how could such a big person cry just because he got lost?
She took him out many times, and as they got to know each other better, she learned that he was only thirteen years old, younger than her brother.
The reason he was assigned to the Northern Office was not because he had relatives working there, but because he had made a mistake and almost killed someone, so he was being punished.
She recognized him as the second young master of the Jiang family when she accompanied her mother to offer incense and saw him standing next to a beautiful woman, dressed in different clothes and exuding an air of nobility.
Only after inquiring did they learn that the beautiful woman was actually the wife of the third-rank official, the Commissioner of State Affairs, and that he was the second son of the Jiang family.
At that moment, Lu Zhaoying was filled with anger and resentment at being deceived. In the more than six months they had known each other, he had never revealed his identity.
Lu Zhaoying was thirteen years old at that time, and her mother forbade her from going out freely anymore, saying that it was time for her to be introduced to potential partners.
Lu Zhaoying was unwilling to accept this. Given her father's official position, he could probably only choose from among his colleagues. She had seen many of the officials, and none of them were good-looking.
After discovering his identity, Lu Zhaoying had a different feeling; he was the person with the best identity that she could get in touch with.
It has a bit of a retaliatory feel to it.
At that time, she tried to test him by deliberately mentioning that her mother had arranged a marriage for her. He didn't react at all and even joked that she had an older brother, so he couldn't carry her out of the house and give her a dowry.
...
Lu Zhaoying reached out and gently touched Jiang Heng's face: "Brother Heng."
Jiang Heng's expression changed slightly: "Didn't I say I wouldn't call you 'brother' anymore?"
He almost watched her get engaged to someone else because of those repeated calls of "brother".
"Young Master, my young lady does not receive guests. Please leave."
A maid's voice rose in a reminder from inside the courtyard.
Immediately following was a man's reprimanding voice:
"You maid, I came to visit my cousin, and you chased me away without even announcing yourself? How could my cousin have such an unruly maid?"
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