Chapter 17 Lover
Chapter Summary: My Meal Partner and My Lover.
"No need..."
Xu Luchuan intended to leave a few words and then gracefully depart. Unexpectedly, his uncooperative stomach suddenly let out a thunderous roar. The atmosphere instantly became awkward, and Xu Luchuan stiffened as he turned to look back.
But then Liu Shiyu smiled warmly and pointed to the table full of delicious food. Her warm eyes seemed to say: "Why don't you stay and have some?"
Xu Luchuan stood there, caught in a dilemma.
Feng Rong was quick-witted and hurriedly stepped out of Qihua Pavilion, nodding and saying, "Your Highness is so kind as to say that Young Master Xu may stay and finish his meal before leaving. I will go and get you a bowl and chopsticks right away. Please wait a moment, Young Master Xu."
"Thank you... for your trouble." Xu Luchuan responded involuntarily, now he had no room for maneuver.
Liu Shiyu sat down in the pavilion and then waved to the people outside, "Xiao Lü, come here quickly, there's freshly grilled pork. Aren't you hungry? You eat first."
Xu Luchuan stepped back into Qihuating, just as Feng Rong brought out a clean set of bowls and chopsticks from the front yard and offered them to him. After nodding again, she left, leaving only him and Liu Shiyu in the courtyard.
"Why did you invite me to dinner?" Xu Luchuan sat upright beside Liu Shiyu, looking down as he asked, "Didn't you say we should pretend we'd never met?"
"No reason why." Liu Shiyu picked up a piece of roasted meat and put it in her mouth. Perhaps the temperature of the charcoal fire had not yet subsided, causing her to stir the meat in her mouth for quite a while.
Xu Luchuan seemed dissatisfied with Liu Shiyu's answer and asked doubtfully, "Is there no reason?"
After finally swallowing the meat, Liu Shiyu quickly picked up the tea beside her to smooth her mouth. Turning her head unintentionally, she replied in a low voice, "If I had to give a reason, it would be... Xu Luchuan, why were you crying today?"
As soon as Liu Shiyu put down his tea, Xu Luchuan took two sips. But before the tea could even reach his throat, Liu Shiyu's words made him cough repeatedly.
Xu Luchuan casually put down his teacup and explained, "I'm sleepy."
"Tired?" Liu Shiyu said, her hand still busy picking meat for herself. "I haven't heard that the Court of Justice has any major cases to handle. Are you all so busy?"
Xu Luchuan remained silent. He absolutely could not tell Liu Shiyu that his insomnia was caused by his constant longing for her. So he took Liu Shiyu's guess as an admission.
However, Liu Shiyu didn't find such an answer inappropriate, so she simply didn't ask any further questions.
The meal was quiet, with the two mostly exchanging words about whether or not to eat. In the end, it was Liu Shiyu who put down her chopsticks first.
Sitting across from Xu Luchuan with her face in her hands, Liu Shiyu suddenly asked with a smile, "Xiao Lü, can you come and eat with me often in the future? Of course, the Princess's Mansion has more than just roasted meat; there are many other delicious dishes as well."
Seeing that she was enjoying her meal, Xu Luchuan was puzzled by Liu Shiyu's inexplicable request: "Why should I eat with you for no reason, when we're not even related?"
"Yes, why?" Liu Shiyu tilted her head and looked out of the pavilion. "Why did you have dinner with me? And what makes you think you should eat with me..."
Liu Shiyu pondered this, but Xu Luchuan remained silent, and the two of them fell silent.
Not far away, the humid summer heat, along with the cool moonlight, and the shattered breeze, fell into the lotus pond.
After a long while, Liu Shiyu, who had been observing everything, sighed softly and said casually, "Xiao Lü, I've always wanted to ask. Liyang, it's been so long since we last met, why haven't you married yet? I remember you're a year older than me. Nineteen, if you were in Jinling City, your children would already be young."
"Take Zheng Luo, for example, who used to play polo with you. He later married Miss Bai, and I heard he's pregnant with his third child."
Xu Luchuan listened indifferently; he didn't care about other people's lives. He didn't think that kind of life was what he wanted. But looking up, he couldn't help but respond, so he asked in return, "Don't talk about me, aren't you the same?"
When Xu Luchuan recalled the unfounded argument he had during that day when he was sheltering from the rain under the eaves of Guangling, he found it amusing.
Liu Shiyu looked back at the person in front of her and joked, "Of course we're different! I'm very busy."
Xu Luchuan smiled at this. It was rare for the two to treat each other so peacefully, and he actually found it quite nice. But the harmonious atmosphere didn't last long, because Liu Shiyu suddenly thought of something and exclaimed with his hands clasped together, "That's right!"
"What?" Xu Luchuan asked. Liu Shiyu got up and sat down next to him. "Xiao Lü, if you become my true love, wouldn't we be considered strangers? Wouldn't you then have a reason to come and have meals with me more often?"
"No!" Xu Luchuan frowned and stepped back, while Liu Shiyu proudly crossed her arms. "What do you mean? You're not willing to be my lover?"
"Be her lover? Liu Shiyu, you're dreaming." Xu Luchuan rested his palm on the table, afraid of losing to her.
Seeing this, Liu Shiyu pouted and said unhappily, "Why! What's wrong with being my lover? Am I that bad?"
"not good!"
"That's not up to you!"
The more Xu Luchuan argued, the more unwilling Liu Shiyu was to back down, and the two were on the verge of exchanging blows under the Qihua Pavilion. This angered Xu Luchuan, who stood up and retorted in a deep voice, "If I insist on refusing, what can you do to me?"
"Hmm...hmm..." Liu Shiyu lowered her arm and began to draw circles on the table with her fingers. "This princess thinks that the current magistrate of Liyang is not doing a very good job. Seeing how familiar Lord Xu is with Liyang, should this princess do him a favor and help him be transferred back to Liyang? After all, it's hard to leave one's homeland."
Faced with Liu Shiyu's threat, Xu Luchuan's face darkened with anger, but he remained silent, clenching his fists tightly.
Seeing Xu Luchuan remain silent, Liu Shiyu secretly began to imitate his drunken manner from that night, "I don't want to go back. Liu Shiyu, I beg you. No matter what... don't send me back to Liyang... I'll do anything you want, just don't send me away... I... beg you..."
"I wonder who said that!"
"Liu Shiyu." Xu Luchuan turned his gaze and suddenly called her name, "You're so close to me, aren't you afraid I might do something to you?"
Liu Shiyu looked up and gazed at Xu Luchuan, and the last words she uttered moved him deeply.
"You won't, I believe you."
"Trust me?" Xu Luchuan asked in surprise.
In his nineteen years of life, apart from his mother, no one else had ever believed in him, nor was anyone willing to believe in him. Even after he had tried his best to learn and actually followed the path they had asked him to take, it was still the same.
The Xu family in Jinling was like this, and so was the Xu family in Liyang.
A sense of powerlessness spread, and his world crumbled. Years of resentment and bitterness all merged into one mess.
Liu Shiyu smiled, but she knew perfectly well what was going on in her heart.
She trusts the person in front of her. But she doesn't place her safety on this meager trust.
Liu Shiyu had witnessed too many changes in Jinling City. She knew clearly that all her fearlessness could only originate from herself. Only she herself could break her. Therefore, Xu Luchuan could not harm her. Below Shao Yuan, no one could harm her either.
But is she really not afraid of anything?
Under the bright lights, Xu Luchuan suddenly leaned closer to her. While pressing down on her shoulder, he said seriously, "I can agree to be your lover. But I have one condition: if it's arranged by your parents or a matchmaker, or if we go our separate ways, you must break off all ties with me and not bother me."
With the person right in front of her, Liu Shiyu felt inexplicably nervous. Her waist was pressed tightly against the corner of the table, all her arrogance gone. She softly replied, "Okay, I promise you."
Xu Luchuan stared at Liu Shiyu's flushed face and sneered.
Liu Shiyu, you're finished.
Seeing Xu Luchuan lost in thought, Liu Shiyu waved her hand in front of his face twice, "Are you done talking? Isn't it my turn?"
"Speak." Releasing the hand that was holding hers, Xu Luchuan turned around and sat down. Liu Shiyu straightened up and rubbed her shoulders. "Although from today onwards you are this princess's lover, our relationship is limited to this princess's residence. Once we leave this princess's residence, we will still be unrelated to each other, just the two of us."
“But Xu Luchuan, I assure you. In this princess’s residence, you can be yourself. No one will mind, and no one will care.”
"Therefore, from today onwards, I hope you will take good care of me."
Liu Shiyu picked up the new tea in the old cup, wanting to clink it with the one in front of him, but Xu Luchuan ignored him. Liu Shiyu didn't mind, and happily clinked the cup he had placed on the table with his own, then smiled and drank the new tea.
After setting the cups and saucers back down, Liu Shiyu looked at Xu Luchuan and said, "It's getting late, shouldn't we head back?"
"Hmm." Xu Luchuan stood up without much expression. Stepping out of Qihuating again, he simply said, "I'm leaving."
Liu Shiyu did not see him off, but simply watched as Xu Luchuan leaped from the eaves and disappeared into the distance. Only after he had completely vanished from sight did she stroll out of Qihua Pavilion, gazing thoughtfully at the distant courtyard wall.
She wondered if today could be considered "absurd".
After a long while, Liu Shiyu turned around and walked briskly towards the central courtyard. Seeing Feng Rong and Le Xin standing silently in the distance, she called out loudly, "Feng Rong, Le Xin, quickly go and tell people to prepare! This princess is going to dig a secret passage in the mansion!"
"???"
Feng Rong and Le Xin exchanged bewildered glances, unsure what to say. But when they finally spoke, they both replied in unison, "Yes, Your Highness."
...
On the Xu family's side, Xu Luchuan landed steadily in his residence, Jihanzhai. He took a few steps through the darkness and had just reached the light when he heard a gloomy accusation from behind him.
"Where did you go?"
Xu Luchuan stood with his back turned, forcing back the helpless sigh from his heart. Then he turned around solemnly and asked respectfully, "Elder brother, you're still awake?"
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