Chapter 55 Not forgiving her and Lu Xiuyi was a mistake from the very beginning...
"Sister Huaiyin, you're only a little better, why are you up today?" Whispers drifted in from outside the window.
“I was worried about the girl and wanted to come and see her.”
“The young lady hasn’t woken up yet. My aunt stayed up all night and her face turned pale before I persuaded her to go home. You should go home and rest too! The general will be here soon. I’ll call you as soon as the young lady wakes up.”
The rustling footsteps gradually faded into the distance until they could no longer be heard.
Immediately afterwards, the door was pushed open, and the person who entered walked very lightly.
After an unknown amount of time, the person lying on the couch finally managed to lift their heavy eyelids.
Familiar curtains came into view, and the scenes before she fainted flashed through her mind. Thinking that she was safe, Meng Yu breathed a sigh of relief.
His gaze slowly moved downwards.
A large face suddenly loomed large in front of her, startling her. She instinctively pulled the quilt tighter and shrank into the corner.
Seeing her terrified face and fearful eyes, Lu Xiuyi felt a surge of sorrow, his eyes instantly reddening, but he forced himself to suppress the tears.
He slowly bent down and sat on the edge of the couch, reaching out his trembling hand to her. He gently grasped her wrist, and seeing that she did not resist, he gently pulled her into his arms, comforting her in a hoarse voice: "Yu'er, didn't you tell Huaiyin that a woman's chastity is never beneath her skirt? That's absolutely true. Besides, this matter is not your fault. I have already tied up the mastermind and tied her up in the front yard. Don't worry, I will never let her off."
If she weren't so weak that she couldn't move easily, he would have taken her back to the manor long ago.
Lu Xiuyi's voice choked, and his words were incoherent. Meng Yu was completely confused, but when she heard that he had found the mastermind, she immediately realized what was going on. She quickly sat up from his arms and raised her hand: "You arrested Meng Yin?"
When Meng Yin was mentioned, Lu Xiuyi's gentle expression vanished instantly. He gritted his teeth, as if he wanted to tear her to pieces: "She is so vicious. It's already too good for her that I haven't torn her to pieces."
Meng Yu's heart skipped a beat. The fact that he could say that meant he had already made a move against Meng Yin, but hadn't yet gone so far as to kill her.
She quickly explained, "I'm fine. The people she sent couldn't do anything to me."
Even though things had come to this point, Lu Xiuyi thought she was still trying to protect Meng Yin, which was why she was being so stubborn. So he said gently, "Yu'er, don't worry, I'm here for you. She has committed such an unforgivable crime against you, and I absolutely cannot let her go."
The fact that she returned safe and sound was the best comfort for him; chastity was of no importance to him.
Helpless, Meng Yu remembered that he had suddenly brought up chastity earlier, so she raised her hand and said, "You don't think I've been done to by those people, do you?"
Lu Xiuyi stared wide-eyed, not saying a word, but his gaze was filled with "Isn't that right?"
She sighed silently: "That was what they intended to do, but they didn't succeed. Huaiyin and I escaped in time."
“But Huaiyin clearly said that you lured those people away and came back covered in dirt, with your clothes torn to shreds.” Lu Xiuyi said awkwardly, suppressing his wildly beating heart. And when he took her, she did indeed look like that.
"After separating from Huaiyin, I ran up the mountain to distract them, but I ended up at the edge of a cliff. They pounced on me, and I accidentally fell to the bottom. On my way back, I slipped and fell down the slope, and passed out. When Huaiyin came looking for me, I was still in a daze, so I didn't have time to explain."
Perhaps because she had just woken up, she signed very slowly, and Lu Xiuyi's heart gradually calmed down with each rise and fall of her hand.
At this moment, the bitterness overwhelmed him, and he could no longer hold back. He suddenly hugged Meng Yu tightly, and tears streamed down his face.
A woman's chastity is not measured by her skirt. Meng Yu was genuinely surprised to hear these words from him. After hesitating for a moment, she raised her hand and gently patted his back.
It took him half a day to calm down before he stopped crying.
After leaving her shoulder, Lu Xiuyi turned his face away, and Meng Yu understood, so she naturally didn't look at him either.
There was water and a towel in the room. She got up, wet the towel, and handed it to him. Seeing that the sky outside was already dusky, she was about to open the door and go out to check the situation.
Ignoring his disheveled appearance, Lu Xiuyi turned around and grabbed her, asking, "Where are you going?"
His face was streaked with tears, a stark contrast to his usual decisive and authoritative demeanor. Meng Yu withdrew her hand: "How long have I been unconscious?"
“It’s been a whole day and night since last night.”
“I’ve been sleeping for so long, my aunt must be very worried. I’ll go and check on her.”
So that's all there is to it. Lu Xiuyi breathed a sigh of relief, but then suddenly remembered that she had seen his tear-streaked face, so he quickly turned his face away and said, "Okay, go ahead!"
Upon arriving at Aunt Shen's room, Yan'er and Huaiyin, having learned that she had awakened, also rushed over. Overjoyed to see each other after surviving such an ordeal, the group looked at each other with tears in their eyes, embracing and crying for a while before gradually calming down.
After a conversation, Meng Yu learned what Lu Xiuyi had done to Meng Yin.
Speaking of Meng Yin, Yan'er spat with disgust: "I thought she was so powerful, but she went crazy just because I took off her outer garment. Doesn't she realize how she treated our young lady?"
The hundred or so people of the Meng family were all carried over and watched helplessly as Meng Yin's outer garment was ripped off. Overwhelmed by shame, Yuan Shi and Meng Yanqing fainted on the spot.
Meng Zhangzhou wanted to plead for mercy, but when he saw Meng Yu covered in blood and being carried back by Lu Xiuyi, he couldn't say a word.
Upon hearing the news that Meng Yin had gone mad, Huai Yin still felt a sense of relief: "If the two people she hired hadn't been so foolish, the young lady and I would never have escaped their clutches."
Almost all the beggars in the capital gathered at the City God Temple. If they couldn't escape, they would definitely be tied up there. Just thinking about the scene made Huaiyin shudder.
Now that they had escaped and Meng Yin had gone mad, Meng Yu no longer harbored the hatred she felt for her during their escape. However, Meng Yin was too cruel, and Meng Yu didn't intend to plead for her. She only asked, "Has the general said how to deal with her?"
Yan'er replied, "Speaking of which, the general's dispatch of a large number of people to search the outskirts of the city when the young lady went missing also alarmed the officials. In order to protect the young lady's reputation, when we heard that the general had returned to the officials, he only said that the young lady had been kidnapped by assassins. He originally wanted to pin the blame on the fourth young lady and then hand her over to the prefect for sentencing. But now that the young lady has returned, I don't know how the general will deal with her."
"Yu'er, what do you want to do with her? Or rather, what do you want me to do to vent your anger?" As he was speaking, Lu Xiuyi stepped in.
His expression had returned to normal, and his eyes were no longer red. However, there was a probing look in Meng Yu's eyes, and he unconsciously coughed lightly again.
Hearing this, she looked away and shook her head: "I'm fine, and I don't need to vent my anger, but she went too far. I will never forgive her, and I never want to see her again."
Darkness fell quickly, and the lights in the room were still off. Meng Yu's face was hidden in the shadows, her expression somber. Lu Xiuyi moved his lips, but ultimately asked nothing.
The Meng family had a small estate in the countryside thirty miles away, guarded by only two rough-working women. Lu Xiuyi ordered one of the women to come to the capital and take the injured Meng Yin to the countryside in an oxcart. Without giving any instructions, he forbade her to step out of the estate again, let alone appear in the capital.
When Madam Yuan woke up and heard the news, she cried uncontrollably. She tried to stop them but was powerless to do so. Meng Shuang was ordered by Meng Yanqing to stay in her room and was not allowed to send Meng Yin away.
***
When Meng Yu fell down the hillside, all four of her limbs were injured to varying degrees, and even her shoulders and neck were scratched by branches and stones, leaving several bloody marks. It took more than a month for her injuries to fully heal.
However, the scar was hard to fade. When he lifted his sleeve, a long gash was exposed to the sunlight, which was quite shocking.
"The north wind is blowing here. Since you've come out to sit, why don't you wear that light blue fox fur coat with green patterns?" Just as I was staring blankly at the wound, Lu Xiuyi's voice came from behind me.
Meng Yu lowered her rolled-up sleeves and raised her hand: "Didn't you go to the palace?"
"I'll come back naturally after I get what you need."
Lu Xiuyi nodded in response, a mysterious smile playing on his lips. He walked past her and sat down at the other end of the swing set, opening the object he was holding in his hand. A small round box contained a white paste, and as soon as it was opened, a faint fragrance filled her nostrils.
"This is something I specially asked the Emperor for for you. It's called Jade Complexion Cream. There's only one box left in the palace."
Meng Yu had heard of the Jade Complexion Cream's fame a few years earlier when she was in Xuzhou: "I've heard that the Jade Complexion Cream is most effective at removing scars and fading blemishes. Among its ingredients, the Jade Lotus is the rarest. It grows on snow-capped mountains and only blooms once every ten years. Such a precious thing, and there's only one box left, the ladies in the palace will definitely fight over it. How could it possibly be your turn?"
Lu Xiuyi gently rolled up her sleeve, his fingertip touching a little jade cream: "You are no ordinary person now. You are the only daughter-in-law of the official's elder sister, and also the only wife of his nephew. Hearing that you were injured and have scars, he naturally rewarded you."
His tone was slightly raised, as if her becoming his wife was something he could be proud of for the rest of his life.
Meng Yu looked up and saw Lu Xiuyi with his head down, his fingertips, which were covered in Yu Rong ointment, gently applying it to her wounds.
Her wound had already scabbed over, but his movements were still so gentle, as if he was afraid of hurting her.
As she looked at him, Meng Yu suddenly felt a pang of guilt.
After they got married, she never gave him anything, and her desire to run away never changed. But he came to her with a sincere heart, almost without any pretense or falsehood.
However, this sense of guilt only lasted a few breaths before being completely overwhelmed by the surging tide she brought.
Her relationship with Lu Xiuyi was a mistake from the very beginning.
He shouldn't have schemed to have her take his place in the bridal sedan chair, and he shouldn't have forced her to stay by his side. Even though he had always been there to support her, all of this trouble stemmed from him.
Lu Xiuyi suddenly looked up, a smug smile on his face, and asked, "Is it pretty?"
Meng Yu's wandering thoughts were instantly pulled back, and she frowned with a puzzled expression.
After wiping the scars on her hands, Lu Xiuyi turned her around by the shoulders, making her turn her back to him, and applied the lint to the scars on her shoulders and neck. Then he stood up, half-squatted down to her feet, lifted her skirt, and applied the lint to the wounds on her legs.
Meng Yu hesitated to answer, but he didn't insist on the answer. He carefully instructed her, "Apply the Jade Complexion Cream once a day for half a month, and these scars will disappear completely. You don't need to remember it; I'll remember these things. By the way, tomorrow is New Year's Eve. There will be lanterns on the streets. This is your first time spending the New Year in the capital. Do you want me to take you to see them?"
Before Meng Yu could react, she had already nodded subconsciously.
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