Chapter 134 World VI (VI)
Bao Shan trembled and replied weakly, "The Duke's Mansion hasn't held a banquet, and my elder sister hasn't gone on a trip. Naturally, I have to abide by the rules and can't act arbitrarily."
Besides, as a concubine of the Qin family, what reason did she have to look for Lu Wenhe?
Lu Wenhe's dark eyes sank slightly, and he walked forward. The jade pendant with a coiled dragon and pearls on his waist also jingled.
Bao Shan raised her eyes and looked around to see if there were any people passing by. Although this place was secluded, it was not a place that was rarely visited. Bao Shan frowned slightly and said in a measured tone, "Master Lu..."
Before she could finish her words, her slender body was suddenly lifted up, with her toes touching the ground.
Because of surprise, Baoshan opened her watery eyes wide, and her thick and straight eyelashes trembled uneasily.
The wooden box in Baoshan's arms fell to the ground with a thud. The opening of the box was damaged, and all the imitation gold, silver and jewels scattered out.
Bao Shan wanted to clean up the mess on the ground, but her body was firmly held in Lu Wenhe's arms, unable to move at all.
Lu Wenhe leaned over to take a closer look. The white, tender earlobe was completely free of his mark. It was smooth, like the finest white jade, without a single flaw. Lu Wenhe bit down on that whiteness, just like that time at the Duke's Mansion, preserving his unique mark in full view of everyone.
Baoshan was both embarrassed and annoyed, but because her body was controlled by Lu Wenhe, she could only lie obediently on Lu Wenhe's shoulder and let Lu Wenhe do whatever he wanted.
Even if her body softened into water and she could barely stand, Baoshan could still clearly feel from her hazy consciousness that Lu Wenhe's feelings for her were not deep and infatuated.
Instead, he treated her as an object to be played with.
What makes Baoshan different from other women is that she was taken under Lu Wenhe's wing, marked with a mark, and became Lu Wenhe's property.
Baoshan's soft and weak arms gently climbed onto Lu Wenhe's shoulders. She knew very well that her words carried little weight.
If Lu Wenhe insisted on doing so in public, no matter how much she begged, she would not be able to change Lu Wenhe's mind.
So, Bao Shan did not push Lu Wenhe to let go of her. Instead, she leaned softly on Lu Wenhe's shoulder, her voice soft and pleading.
"Don't do it here, please..."
Lu Wenhe let go of the treasured fan and looked at the beauty in front of him, who fell into his arms softly and bonelessly. Her pitiful, docile and powerless appearance further aroused the darkness in his heart.
Lu Wenhe's eyes swept across the wooden box that was tilted on the ground, and he chuckled and said, "You want gold and silver?"
Bao Shan buried her body in Lu Wenhe's arms, clutching Lu Wenhe's clothes with both hands, and refused to speak.
But the warmth coming from her chest made Lu Wenhe realize that Baoshan's cheeks must have blushed with embarrassment.
Lu Wenhe leaned over gently and picked up Baoshan by the waist. As Baoshan wished, he would not stay here, but go somewhere else.
The person in his arms clutched the collar of his clothes with ever greater force.
Bao Shan hesitated for a moment, then finally lifted her head from Lu Wenhe's embrace, revealing a face full of spring. She timidly said, "The wooden box is missing, and my elder sister will blame me."
The eyebrow pencil that resembles a distant mountain now looks like a drop of water staining the inkstone, leaving a large black mark.
Baoshan's cheeks were as white as frost and snow, and she felt fear in her heart when Qin Fu was mentioned.
Lu Wenhe was quite patient with the newly acquired items. He said in a deep voice, "Someone will take care of it."
Hearing this, Baoshan finally let go of Lu Wenhe's clothes with confidence.
The place Lu Wenhe was going to wasn't close. The treasured fan was held in Lu Wenhe's arms, and even through his clothes, he could feel the pulse of the veins in his arms, as steady and powerful as his heart.
When they arrived at a pavilion, the precious fan was carried up the stairs.
Lu Wenhe stopped in front of an elegant house, stretched out his toes and pushed open the hidden door.
The bamboo windows let the house be filled with the elegant scent of green bamboo.
The windows were wide open, letting in warm orange sunlight like a waterfall from a mountain peak. Most of the sunlight poured onto the bed inside the room—also woven from green bamboo, its density and sparseness meticulously arranged, evoking an elegant atmosphere.
This is indeed a place where elegant scholars can recite poems and sing songs and enjoy elegant customs.
The picture of auspicious dragons soaring through the mist hanging on the wall and the orchids placed on the carved wooden table, every detail is elegant and graceful.
The precious fan was placed on the bamboo bed, and the coolness of the green bamboo made the precious fan tremble slightly.
The unfamiliar environment around her made Baoshan feel uneasy. She could only look for Lu Wenhe, hoping to find support and stability from the only person she was familiar with.
Lu Wenhe turned around calmly, picked up the white porcelain teapot on the carved wooden table, and poured tea slowly.
He knew Baoshan's panic, but at the same time he also enjoyed the dependent look from Baoshan.
Baoshan sat alone on the bamboo bed, like a forgotten little animal. She opened her wet eyes and looked at Lu Wenhe.
Baoshan is a gentle person and doesn't dare to talk to Lu Wenhe rashly.
Feeling lost, Bao Shan instinctively grasped at the objects around her. But within reach was only the cold green bamboo. Bao Shan's brows furrowed, her soft eyes filled with bewilderment.
She pondered for a moment, and finally spoke, breaking the uneasy silence in the room.
"Prince Lu, could you please not tell the Qin family what you saw today?"
Lu Wenhe looked normal, but the burning heat in his chest reminded him all the time that his heart was surging.
Lu Wenhe knew very well that he was not a handsome young man.
People are deceived by his appearance and cannot see the paranoia in his bones.
Only Lu Wenhe knows what kind of person he is.
He wasn't originally chosen by the Duke as his heir. Lu Wenhe and his brother were twins. The birth of twins was auspicious, and Duke Lu was initially overjoyed.
But as the twins grew up, the differences between the brothers became greater and greater. They looked different and behaved very differently.
At that time, Duke Lu's official career was stagnant. Believing in the theory of luck, he invited a Taoist monk to calculate his fortune.
After fortune-telling for a while, the monk said solemnly that only one of the twins could be saved and the other could die.
Otherwise, they would fight with each other and bring bloodshed to the Duke's Mansion.
This monk had a good reputation, and Duke Lu trusted him very much and had no suspicion of his own intentions, so he wanted to do as the monk said and send one away and keep the other.
As to which of the twins to keep, there was no dispute among the people in the Duke's Mansion.
Even the Duke's wife, who was ten months pregnant, did not feel any reluctance to let go.
The Duke's Mansion left the docile and well-behaved elder brother behind, and sent the unpleasant and gloomy younger brother to the countryside.
Lu Wenhe was already over four years old when he left the Duke's Mansion.
Everyone in the Duke's Mansion, from Duke Lu to the maids and nannies, thought that Lu Wenhe was young and could not remember anything.
The nanny even put Lu Wenhe's face aside and sighed, saying that Lu Wenhe had a bad fate.
Lu Wenhe sat in the empty sedan chair, his face lacking the lovable look of an innocent child. He listened to the nanny sighing with an expressionless face.
"They share the same father and mother, but they are worlds apart. That person—"
The nanny did not mention the name, but Lu Wenhe knew that she was talking about his brother, the one who was chosen to stay in the Duke's Mansion.
"I spent all my wealth to serve the young master, but I never thought that one day I would be driven to the countryside!
What kind of life is that in the countryside? You face the earth and back to the sky all day long..."
The maid comforted the nanny: "The Duke and his wife will bring the young master back.
After all, they are their own flesh and blood, how could they bear to leave them in such a poor and remote place, to live a hard life."
Upon hearing this, the nanny didn't relax her furrowed brows. She simply said, "Don't try to fool me. As long as the young master is healthy, for the sake of the Duke's Mansion's fortune..."
There will never be a day when Lu Wenhe can be brought back.
Nanny took Lu Wenhe to the countryside. As Nanny said, life in the countryside was not easy. The food, clothing, and daily necessities were very different from those in the Duke's Mansion.
Perhaps she still wanted to return home, so the nanny was quite attentive to Lu Wenhe at the beginning.
But the Duke's Mansion gradually forgot about the young master from the countryside.
The nanny poured out all her grievances on Lu Wenhe.
The nanny's mouth was full of curses, scolding Lu Wenhe for being unpleasant, and her face was gloomy, like an alien.
If he was like the young prince, who loved to laugh and had a gentle personality, he would be the one who stayed in the Duke's Mansion.
His body was covered with bruises and the intense pain made Lu Wenhe's legs weak and he could only curl up in the corner.
Mammy's abusive words entered his head.
Lu Wenhe closed his eyes and wondered if the high, soft pillows of the Duke's Mansion's bed were much softer than the straw "bed." And if the Duke's Mansion's delicacies didn't have the stench of hard steamed buns...
If everything was his.
After being raised in the countryside until he was ten years old, Lu Wenhe finally had the opportunity to return to the Duke's Mansion.
Standing in front of the majestic Duke's Mansion, Lu Wenhe, dressed in tattered clothes, looked out of place.
The Duke's Mansion took him back not to let him return to the Mansion, but to completely sever his relationship with Lu Wenhe and make a formal testimony in front of the clan.
Lu Wenhe's heart was calm, but he pretended to be sad on the surface, which aroused the sympathy of many soft-hearted servants.
These servants secretly delivered the news to Lu Wenhe, allowing Lu Wenhe to better understand Duke Lu's plan.
Lu Wenhe was wandering around the Duke's Mansion when he bumped head-on into the young master who suddenly ran out.
The young prince, dressed in white and wearing a golden belt, was surrounded by many servants.
Lu Wenhe fell to the ground and picked up a small bird.
Its feathers are smooth and its eyes are round and rolling, making it much more beautiful than the mountain birds in the countryside.
The young master thought of his beloved pet and called out anxiously, "Where's Que'er?"
The slaves surrounding him were in chaos again.
Soon, the servant discovered the bird in Lu Wenhe's hand. He reached out and snatched it away, carefully protecting the bird in his palm.
The servant did not know Lu Wenhe. Since Duke Lu wanted to cut off ties with Lu Wenhe, he had to keep the news secret.
Seeing Lu Wenhe's thin body, as thin as paper, the servant thought he was the child of some servant, secretly playing in the Duke's Mansion.
In order to please the young master, the servant raised his arm and hit Lu Wenhe hard in the face.
The strength was truly immense, the brute force of a full grown man.
Lu Wenhe's eyes went dark and his ears were buzzing. He fell to the ground, feeling the sweet and fishy taste of rust in his mouth.
The young master exclaimed softly, "He's bleeding. Will he be okay?"
The servant said in a flattering voice, "Master, don't worry, you won't die. Lowly people have a tough life."
Lu Wenhe heard the tender voice of a child coaxing the bird in his hand, and the group left in a grand manner. The servant turned around and warned Lu Wenhe: "As a servant, don't touch what is not yours. The bird is the master's beloved pet, how can you, a lowly creature, touch it?"
The servant walked away.
There was still darkness in front of Lu Wenhe's eyes, but he was not afraid at all.
The nanny's scolding, the servant's contempt, and the young master's voice coaxing birds intertwined in his mind.
It should have been yours.
Not yours.
It can only be yours...
Lu Wenhe staggered to his feet. He cooperated very well with Duke Lu's move to sever ties, which attracted Duke Lu's sidelong glance and sympathy.
Lu Wenhe got on the carriage back to the countryside. Once he left this time, there would be no possibility of him coming back.
Lu Wenhe did not leave.
The young master suddenly fell ill. It was said that the servant beside him was dishonest and mixed poisonous pollen into the young master's food.
Duke Lu was so heartbroken that he ordered his men to beat the servant to death with sticks.
As for Lu Wenhe, the Taoists said that twins are inherently blessed. However, if two blessings compete with each other, it will be detrimental to one's career. If there is no blessing at all, the Duke's Mansion will sooner or later fall into decline.
There is only one twin left, and Duke Lu will definitely not let Lu Wenhe leave again.
In order to restore the weakened father-son relationship between the two, Duke Lu ordered someone to bring a nanny from the countryside.
He said to Lu Wenhe, "With her by your side, you'll feel more at ease."
Lu Wenhe looked timid and responded softly.
However, Duke Lu's wish was not fulfilled. When his nanny in the countryside heard the good news, her long-cherished wish finally came true, she changed into new clothes and happily rushed back to the Duke's Mansion. However, she fell into a stinking ditch on the way and died miserably.
Duke Lu was so frightened that he wanted to keep Lu Wenhe.
Otherwise, if both twins were gone, what would happen to his career and the fortune of the Duke's Mansion?
Duke Lu caressed Lu Wenhe's head affectionately, then remembered that he hadn't chosen a name for Lu Wenhe yet, so a country name wouldn't work. He then asked softly, "What name do you have in mind?"
Lu Wenhe looked at the wooden sign in the ancestral hall. The bloody smell of that day seemed to have not yet dissipated. He said in a hoarse voice: "Wenhe."
Duke Lu shuddered. This name... was the name of the young master. He tried to get Lu Wenhe to change it. But Lu Wenhe refused to give in and just said, "Lu Wenhe."
Everything should be his, including his name.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
