196, Unlock a new identity
196, Unlock a new identity
"Are you comfortable, sir?"
"Well, you can try harder."
“…”
After losing three games of chess in a row, Lu Mingfei got a job as a masseur.
The old man lying on the recliner with his eyes closed enjoying his massage was the one who had just won five games of chess in a row from him.
Lu Mingfei even began to suspect that Zhao Lang had deliberately let him win the one game out of the five games he usually played with Zhao Lang?
When he heard Zhao Lang laughing, he realized that he had asked the same question.
"Don't laugh!" Lu Mingfei was so angry that he reached out to cover Zhao Lang's mouth to prevent him from laughing. "I knew it, you must have set me up on purpose!"
At this time, the guards and secret guards outside the house heard the conversation in the house. If they did not know that their young master and the young master Lu in the house had an innocent relationship, they would have suspected that their young master and the young master Lu were doing something shameful in the house.
Zhao Lang pulled away the hand covering his mouth and dragged the people behind him to the front. Looking at Lu Mingfei's angry expression, he couldn't help but laugh again, "You've got to accept the loss."
"It's your own poor chess skills, who can you blame?"
"…I blame myself…"
"Isn't that right?"
Following Zhao Lang's eye signal, Lu Mingfei could only stand back and continue working as a masseur.
While massaging Zhao Lang's temples, he absentmindedly chatted with Zhao Lang about the situation in Beijun. "I heard the snow is even heavier in the north. Have you received any news from Beijun recently?"
"The snow is so heavy this year, I'm worried about what the Hu people will do."
"The border has never been peaceful, but you are in Kyoto Prefecture and don't know some news." Zhao Lang, who grew up in Beijun, knows the situation in the north better than anyone else.
Over the years, he has received letters and things from his family, and learned some news about Prince Ding's Mansion in Beijun.
The letters from home were written to him by his mother and younger brother. His younger brother was now six or seven years old, a little younger than when he first came to Kyoto Prefecture.
As for his father, he hadn't received a single letter from him in the past few years. It was as if the Ding Palace no longer had him, the Crown Prince, and his father no longer had him, the legitimate son. And the other people in the palace wouldn't write to him. His relationship with the others in the palace wasn't close enough for them to write to him.
Regarding his family's feelings towards Beijun, Zhao Lang went from expectation to disappointment, and then from disappointment to indifference. After he no longer had expectations, he never felt disappointed.
Over the years, he had built up a group of people under his command, one of whom was a caravan that traveled exclusively to the north to do business. Therefore, the news he now knew about the north came from people on his side, not from letters from home.
His mother's letters to him were mostly about things in the palace, while his younger brother's letters to him were mostly about studying and missing him.
Zhao Lang had complicated feelings towards his biological brother, because his arrival replaced his position in his mother's heart and made him, the prince, dispensable in Prince Ding's mansion.
However, he still recalled the feeling he had when he first received the letter from his brother. Compared to the feelings and relationships he had with his half-brothers, his feelings for this brother, who was born to the same mother, were different.
Compared to letting his half-brother or other half-brothers in the Dingwang Mansion take the position of the prince, he would rather see his own brother who was born of the same mother as him become the prince of the Dingwang Mansion.
At least, if this brother, who was born to the same mother, succeeded his father as the Crown Prince, it would not threaten their mother's position in the Ding Palace. No matter which of the two brothers succeeded their father in the future, they would not kill the other and would treat their mother well.
So, after realizing this, Zhao Lang had actually begun to accept the existence of this biological brother. Consequently, over the years, whenever he received letters from his brother, he would reply and send some things back to Prince Ding's mansion in Beijun for his mother and brother. As for his father, he probably didn't need the attentions of a son far away in Kyoto.
Lu Mingfei noticed that Zhao Lang didn't respond. He leaned over and saw that the young master was deep in thought with his eyes closed. He didn't know what he was thinking about. "What are you thinking about? Why did you suddenly stop talking?"
"I remembered some things at home. Okay, no need to press it, I'm going back." Zhao Lang held Lu Mingfei's hand that was pressing on his head, sat up straight, and stood up.
"Okay, I'll take you out." Lu Mingfei picked up the cloak hanging on the rack and put it on Zhao Lang. Then he took a down coat and put it on himself, and put on the hood of the coat.
In the past two years, their clothing factory business has been growing bigger and bigger, and the down jackets produced every year are not enough to sell.
However, since last year, some people have followed suit and started making down jackets like them.
Lu Mingfei wasn't too surprised to find someone making down jackets for them. In weather like this year, he'd rather those merchants just follow suit and make more. However, down jackets were expensive, so they wouldn't be cheap, especially since they were made of silk and other more expensive fabrics. Only the wealthy could afford them.
However, their workshop has always been on the affordable route, mainly because the fabrics they use are not very good, so the prices are not too high. But even so, their workshop is still profitable.
Two people came out one after the other.
Lu Mingfei opened the gate of the yard and let Zhao Lang out.
"I'm leaving, you go back." Zhao Lang looked back at the young man standing in the door, then turned around and walked back to the next yard.
Lu Mingfei watched Zhao Lang leave before closing the door to the yard.
When he returned to the room, he saw two teacups and two lounge chairs on the table. He remembered that Zhao Lang was sitting here playing chess with him just now, but now he had gone back to the yard next door. He suddenly felt reluctant to let Zhao Lang go.
It seemed that after they grew up, he found that Zhao Lang no longer stayed in his house. Every time Zhao Lang came here, he would come to his place to drink tea and play chess with him, and then he would go back to live in the courtyard next door.
However, his room always had a bunk bed, with a quilt and pillow on the top. His two younger brothers used to sleep in his room, but now Lu Mingrui sleeps at the braised food shop and doesn't come back here to sleep at night, so the top bunk in his room just stayed there, and no one slept there anymore.
But every time Zhang Qi cleaned his room, he would clean the upper bunk as well.
After taking off his coat and hanging it back on the rack, Lu Mingfei walked to the fireplace, took out the copper kettle, poured some hot water into the washbasin, and then added some cold water. After soaking it, he put the washcloth into the water.
He wet a face towel with water, wrung it out, and wiped his face twice, then wiped his hands. He didn't waste the water from washing his face, but poured it into the foot basin and washed his feet before going to bed.
Perhaps he dreamed at night about what he thought about during the day, and he dreamed all night long.
In the dream, he and Zhao Lang were walking in the snow with a group of guards. The snow was so vast that they could not see the end of it. They walked and walked, but they could not get out of the snow.
…
After walking in his dream for a whole night, when he woke up the next day, Lu Mingfei found that he did not feel relaxed after a night's sleep, but felt even more tired.
What kind of dream is this! I feel as exhausted as if I ran a 100km marathon in one night!
Lu Mingfei raised his hand to his forehead and couldn't help laughing.
The quilt in winter makes people nostalgic. However, although he wanted to stay in bed, he thought of his parents who were already working in the store, and Lu Mingrui who must have gotten up early to help with the housework. As a brother, he couldn't stay in bed all day.
So, after staying in bed for about ten minutes, he finally got up.
"Shuashuashua——"
I heard someone sweeping the floor outside.
Lu Mingfei got up, put on his clothes, opened the door, and saw Zhang Qi sweeping the snow outside. "Good morning."
"Brother, are you awake? There is food on the stove. Do you want me to take it to your room?" Zhang Qi stopped sweeping the floor and asked his brother who came out to open the door.
"No, I'll go eat over there myself." Lu Mingfei walked outside and felt the cold winter. He looked at the man who had been sweeping snow outside for who knows how long and said, "It's very cold outside. You don't need to sweep anymore. Put down the broom."
"It's okay, I'll just sweep it a few more times and it will be done. The New Year is coming in two days, so it's better to sweep the yard clean to celebrate the New Year." Zhang Qi said with a smile.
"It's been snowing non-stop these past few days. You sweep the snow clean just as you're about to do it, and it starts snowing again. Just put it aside and don't sweep it. Why waste your energy?" Lu Mingfei walked over, took the broom from Zhang Qi's hand, and put it at the base of the wall.
Because the braised food shop is open during Chinese New Year, they've eaten their New Year's Eve dinner there for the past two years. Everyone goes to the shop during Chinese New Year, so whether the yard here is cleaned or not doesn't really matter.
"Brother, go eat first." Seeing this, Zhang Qi didn't want to go against his brother, so he walked towards the kitchen and said, "The store made dumplings yesterday, and I went there this morning and brought some back. There are some cooked dumplings warming up on the stove, and some uncooked ones are left outside. I'll cook them when I want to eat them."
After entering the kitchen, Zhang Qi took off the bamboo lid on the stove, revealing the food inside.
Lu Mingfei picked up a dumpling with a pair of chopsticks and put it into his mouth. He turned around and asked Zhang Qi: "Have you eaten yet?"
"I've eaten. I went to the store this morning and ate there." Zhang Qi moved a stool over to the table. "Brother, please sit down and eat. I'll bring you something to eat."
"No need to get it. I can just get a bowl and eat it myself." Lu Mingfei told Zhang Qi not to bother. He went to get a bowl and filled it with dumplings for himself, leaving the rest on the stove to continue heating.
After he had eaten his fill, he called Zhang Qi to join him. The two of them closed the door to the yard, locked it, and then walked out.
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