80. Gold Hairpin
Her words were no different from usual, she just asked him softly.
"Did you ask the late emperor to grant General Lou's engagement?"
Xuanyuan Ying paused and looked up at Yun Zhihe.
She still looks calm and composed, and her eyes are still clear.
Xuanyuan Ying closed his eyes and nodded.
…
Lou Zhi has had the same personality since he was a child, dull and inflexible. He grew up on the battlefield when he was young, and was sent back to the already impoverished Lou family after General Lou died in battle.
He didn't have a strong presence in the Lou family. He had a strange personality, his parents were both dead, and he was not good at playing music, chess, calligraphy, or painting. No one liked him.
The noble gentlemen in the capital could not stand seeing him look so dull and boring.
The young man swung the silver bell on his head and chuckled, "This is a gift from my mother. She said I have good etiquette and will make a great husband in the future. She gave it to me as a reward. It looks so beautiful."
He received envious glances from many young masters.
Lou Zhi, who was standing beside him, also looked up at the silver bell in his hair and blinked slightly.
General Lou was defeated and died in battle, and the Lou family fell into poverty. Not many people would buy jewelry for such an unpopular person like him. At this moment, they only looked at the silver bell on the young master's head and thought it was beautiful.
The young man saw Lou Zhi's gaze and looked a little disgusted.
"Hey...what are you looking at?"
The other young masters laughed and said, "I'm afraid you are envious?"
I could hear him muttering, "I don't know what's with that creepy look and that awful temper. He's so scary..."
Lou Zhi paused and shook his head.
He was quiet and had a strange temper, which made the young masters dislike him.
Although General Lou died in defeat in battle, he was still a loyal minister. In order to win a good reputation, the court officials asked their sons to take General Lou's only son Lou Zhi out for fun.
The young masters were disgusted with him and reluctantly brought him up to Lou Zhi, but they never gave him a good look.
The young man with the silver bell paused, as if he thought of something fun, took off the silver bell on his head, and looked arrogant.
"Hey, Lou Zhi, you don't speak all day, so we thought you were dumb. So, if you answer our questions, I'll give you this silver bell, okay?"
He doesn't.
It would be so much fun to let this strange-tempered mute speak a few words, and then take Yinling and run away after he finishes.
Lou Zhi paused, fixed his gaze on Yin Ling, and nodded.
The young masters became interested and chattered about cosmetics, calligraphy and painting, etiquette, music, chess, calligraphy and painting. They looked at him and asked, "Do you know these?"
Lou Zhi couldn't answer any of them.
"How come you don't know anything? Are you really a gentleman?"
There was also a young master who laughed mockingly and asked him, "If you can't play the piano, chess, calligraphy or painting, then what can you do?"
Lou Zhi thought for a moment, shook his hands lightly, and then spoke slowly.
"……kill."
As soon as the words fell.
The young masters scattered in panic, shouting, "He was born with his father dead, and grew up on the battlefield! Maybe he's possessed by a ghost!"
"Run! Run!"
"I told you not to bring him! He's so scary—"
In the end, only Lou Zhi was left standing there, looking blankly at the scattered young masters. He stammered but still said nothing.
He was silent for a while, and when he changed his gaze, he saw the silver bell that the young master had just dropped in a hurry.
There were tiny flashes of light under the low sun.
Lou Zhi pursed his lips, squatted down, picked up the silver bell, and before he stood up, he saw a pair of beautiful boots appear next to the silver bell.
Lou Zhi looked up and suddenly met Xuanyuan Ying's eyes.
He stood high above, looking down at Lou Zhi who was squatting, with a look of arrogance.
He said, "You have a good temper."
"Um."
Lou Zhi paused, then nodded.
Just as he was about to pick up the silver bell and stand up, the silver bell was suddenly stepped on by Xuanyuan Ying.
Lou Zhi was confused for a moment and then looked up at Xuanyuan Ying.
Xuanyuan Ying tapped the silver bells with his foot a few times and sneered, "Things that are not presentable are not worth showing off."
"I'll give you something better."
He stretched out his hand, and every gesture was filled with noble pride. Then he took off the golden hairpin on his head. His ink-like hair fluttered in an instant, illuminating his deep eyebrows.
Xuanyuan Ying leaned forward and lowered his head, handing the golden hairpin in his hand to Lou Zhi.
Lou Zhi was stunned for a long time, lowered his eyes to look at the silver bell that was deformed by Xuanyuan Ying's feet, and then looked at the beautiful and luxurious gold hairpin in Xuanyuan Ying's hand.
He didn't say anything, just watched, and after a long time he reached out and picked up the gold hairpin.
My fingertips are cold.
Xuanyuan Ying's lips curled up slightly.
…and thus began a wonderful friendship.
Xuanyuan Ying, whom the young masters of aristocratic families could not reach, had a person behind him whom they looked down upon - Lou Zhi.
At that time, Queen Mother Cheng was a favorite of the court and held a very high status. Countless people wanted to curry favor with her, and even the sons of aristocratic families were indoctrinated with the idea of currying favor with Xuanyuan Ying.
But Xuanyuan Ying especially disliked them. He was so arrogant that he didn't care about their courtesy at all, and even felt a little disgusted with them.
No one expected that Lou Zhi would be involved in this.
Although it was friendship, Lou Zhi was still the same as before, well-behaved and indifferent, and next to Xuanyuan Ying, he was like a follower.
Xuanyuan Ying rarely encountered flatterers, and the two of them maintained a plain friendship until Xuanyuan Ying got married.
Before Xuanyuan Ying got married, it was in the bamboo forest. It was rare for him to look so cold and haggard. He lowered his head and asked Lou Zhi, who was sitting on the stone bench, "Ask him."
"What do you want to do in this life?"
Lou Zhi was sitting on a stone bench at that time, looking up at Xuanyuan Ying's eyebrows and eyes dimmed by the sunlight.
"As long as your life is not dull, that's all."
Xuanyuan Ying lowered his eyes to look at him, his voice hoarse.
“…I won’t do that.”
He was sent to the late emperor's bed by Cheng Guo's mother a few days ago. He struggled all night before finally emerging trembling as if fished out of the water. He looked disheveled, with sticky hair stuck to his face.
His eyes were blank.
Queen Mother Cheng hated him for not having spent a night with the late emperor, and she wanted to use this as evidence to make the late emperor marry him.
At that time, Xuanyuan Ying was lying on the bed, looking haggard and miserable, but he just forced a smile.
He raised his eyes to look at Mother Cheng, and smiled sarcastically and arrogantly.
Mother Cheng was so angry that she threw her sleeves and left.
But in the end, she reached an agreement with the late emperor to marry him into the palace as queen.
Xuanyuan Ying closed his eyes and said to Lou Zhi with his head down.
Stubborn and serious.
“…I won’t do that.”
"I will live a glorious life and be admired by everyone."
Then the two parted ways, Xuanyuan Ying entered the palace, and Lou Zhi stayed in the boudoir waiting to be married, and they never met again.
Afterwards, the late emperor sympathized with the Lou family's poverty and the death of General Lou, a loyal minister, in battle. His only son, who was about to get married, needed to marry off in a grand manner to show the emperor's favor, so he granted him marriage to Xiao Qinniang.
Xiao Qinniang was a prominent figure in the capital at that time. She was young and good-looking, and she held military power at a young age.
However, General Lou died in battle a long time ago, so why grant him the marriage now?
The building is decorated with red makeup for ten miles, and the wedding is in style.
Yun Zhihe stroked Xuanyuan Ying's chin with his fingertips and looked down at him.
"At that time, Xiao Qiniang and Deng's Second Mother were good sisters, and they trained in the army together."
Xuanyuan Ying closed his eyes and said "hmm".
Deng Erniang and Xiao Qinniang were known as the two heroes of the army at that time. Unfortunately, they died at a young age before Lou Zhi got married.
Xuanyuan Ying spoke in a hoarse voice.
“…She died because of Lou Zhi.”
Yun Zhihe paused.
"She was deeply in love with Lou Zhi, and because of Lou Zhi's arranged marriage, she fell off her horse after getting drunk and died."
Yun Zhihe pursed her lips and saw the tears in Xuanyuan Ying's eyes.
His eyes were slightly red, showing a rare vulnerability.
Yun Zhihe spoke.
"In order to take back Xiao Qinniang's military power and prestige, you asked the late emperor to grant Lou Zhi to Xiao Qinniang in marriage."
"But she never imagined that Xiao Qiniang had feelings for Deng Erniang. Because of Deng Erniang's death, she hated Lou Zhi and beat and abused him day and night."
Xuanyuan Ying's lips turned pale. He looked at Yun Zhihe deeply and spoke in a self-deprecating tone.
"I knew that Deng Erniang liked Lou Zhi, but I still arranged for him to be married to Xiao Qinniang."
"……It was my fault."
He knew at that time that Deng Erniang liked Lou Zhi, and her joy was almost overflowing, but only Lou Zhi, with his dull personality, could not see it.
But in order to obtain the military power in Xiao Qinniang's hands, he still sought the imperial decree from the late emperor to grant the two of them a marriage.
His reason was, "Your Majesty and I are both disgusted with each other. Your Majesty is extremely dissatisfied with this marriage. I only want to find a satisfactory marriage for my brother, someone who loves and understands me. I beg Your Majesty to grant this."
"Lou Zhi is the only son of General Lou Lao. General Lou Lao is a proud and loyal minister, so he is naturally worthy of Madam Xiao Qi."
See, that's what he said.
He spoke in a subtle and roundabout way, appearing to be a man in the palace who cared about his brothers.
Really?
He clearly... wanted to use his brothers to gain control of the military power in Xiao Qinniang's hands.
...just for myself.
He originally thought that even if the two of them had no feelings for each other, they could still cultivate it. Xiao Qinnan was a young hero and could easily please her husband.
I originally thought... this was a good marriage...
But no one would have thought that Xiao Qinniang's hobby of polishing mirrors was actually because she was filled with hatred for Deng Erniang's death.
Xuanyuan Ying took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
However, Xiao Qinnan hid her brutality so well that no one could see it. It was not until Lou Zhi murdered his wife that he realized how ridiculous the arranged marriage was.
Xuanyuan should desperately compensate Lou Zhi with prestige, power, military authority, high position, money...
But, Yun Zhihe is the only one who can't do it.
When Lou Zhi asked for permission that day, he asked him, "Is it true?"
Xuanyuan Ying was stunned for a long time before he spoke in a hoarse voice, "...It's true."
Lou Zhi also looked at him for a long time at that time, and smiled as if relieved.
"really."
He always knew.
He always knew why he married Xiao Qinniang.
He always knew how this friend in his life had taken advantage of his marriage and his life.
Xuanyuan Ying asked, "So, do you hate me?"
Lou Zhi was a little confused. He slowly shook his head and said, "No."
Xuanyuan Ying lowered his head and covered his face with his hands. It was a rare occasion for him to do so. His shoulders were shaking and his voice was hoarse.
"……sorry."
"sorry."
"I know I still owe you a lot, no matter how much... money, power... I—"
Xuanyuan Ying's trembling voice was suddenly interrupted.
"I don't like it."
Lou Zhi's voice was hoarse, his expression was calm and unperturbed.
"I don't like money, power, or gold hairpins."
"I liked the silver bell you were stepping on, but it was broken by you. I can only take over your gold hairpin."
He repeated it again.
“…I don’t like it.”
Lou Zhi paused, "I said I would always be loyal to you and die for you. I will not hate you."
"I've always known."
Xuanyuan Ying cried out, but just murmured and chattered incessantly.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
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