Chapter 117 She's Not Right
"Those who can enter Qingyun Academy are the best students in Changhe County. How could they absorb even a little ink?" Lu Mingchao joked with a smile in his eyes.
Wei Tang muttered quietly, "He doesn't look very smart."
Lu Mingchao was speechless.
Wei Tang also realized that his words could easily leave people speechless, "Sister Lu, can you tell me about going to Beijing?"
"My parents always said that if my brother could pass the imperial examination, our family would go to the capital."
"Okay." Lu Mingchao let Wei Tang hold her arm and rest his head on her shoulder, while she vividly recounted her trip to the capital.
Another half stick of incense.
The servant in Wei Zhou's yard came into the small flower hall to report that Lu Yao was waiting for her outside the yard to go home together.
"Sister Lu, can I see you off?" Wei Tang blinked his beautiful almond eyes with an earnest look.
At this moment, Wei Tang's eyes were bright.
It is as bright as climbing to the top of a mountain and overlooking the stunning view of blooming mountain flowers.
Lu Mingchao did not expose the truth. "Then I'll trouble Sister Wei."
Wei Tang jumped up happily, smoothing his clothes and tidying up his hair. "No trouble, no trouble, it's my duty."
Lu Mingchao put on his cloak and walked out of the flower hall with Wei Tang.
Looking at Lu Yao's back from afar, he was wearing a green robe, elegant like the morning light floating on the water, gentle like the spring breeze caressing the willows.
But when he turned around and his eyes fell on that cold face, the warmth disappeared.
In an instant, the scene changed to snow shining on the cold moon and cold wind blowing on the dead branches.
Wei Tang lowered his eyebrows and did not move forward when he reached the Chuihua Gate.
"Sister Lu, I'll take you here."
From a distance, Wei Tang bowed and saluted towards Lu Yao, then quickly lowered his head to look at his toes, feeling quite panicked as if he was facing a powerful enemy.
Naturally, he missed Lu Yao's nod in return.
"Then I'll go back with my second brother first. We'll meet again next time if we have the chance."
Lu Mingchao folded his cloak and walked towards Lu Yao.
"Chao Chao, let's go." Lu Yao slightly turned his body to try to block some of the whistling cold wind.
As he turned the corner, Lu Mingchao caught a glimpse of Wei Tang looking at Lu Yao in a foolish manner.
Affectionate and restrained.
Brave and polite.
Lu Mingchao retracted his gaze, sighed in his heart, and stopped thinking about it. "Second brother, is Ah Yan here?"
Overthinking is useless.
Lu Yao nodded and said, "I'm already waiting outside the Wei Mansion."
Lu Mingchao smiled and said, "Let's go faster. Don't let Ah Yan wait too long."
Outside the palace.
Xie Yan stood beside the carriage, his figure slender and upright, like a pine or cypress that could not be crushed by a blizzard.
The wind blows up the cloak, and the hunting sounds.
Lu Mingchao seemed to be able to imagine Xie Yan's heroic figure as a young man on the battlefield.
"A Yan." Lu Mingchao trotted to Xie Yan's side.
Xie Yan smiled and said, "The wind is strong, let's get on the carriage first."
The carriage moves forward.
Lu Mingchao lazily leaned on the cushion and recounted the process of her testing Cheng Zhi, asserting that "Cheng Zhi is not right."
"Brother, have you and Cheng Zhi met in the Wei family's garden?"
"Do you remember what she said to you at that time?"
Lu Yao frowned slightly. "I have never met her in private."
"Every time I visited Wei Zhou, I was in the front yard. Even when I went to admire the flowers, I went to the front garden. I never stepped through the hanging flower gate."
"The women I saw were either maids or servants of the Wei family. How could there be Cheng Zhi?"
"If I hadn't kept it a secret, to this day I still don't even know what Cheng Zhi looks like."
Lu Mingchao frowned.
Wei Tang's expression and tone did not seem to be deliberately slanderous.
Lu Yao was even more disdainful of lying about this matter.
"Second brother, is there a possibility that you mistook her for a maid?"
"Think carefully, not long before Big Brother and Cheng Zhi met, did you encounter any strange people or strange things in the Wei family garden?"
Hearing Lu Ming's anxious voice, Lu Yao closed his eyes and recalled.
Gradually, Lu Yao's jade-like face turned cold. "During that time, a maid from the Wei family stopped me in the garden. She was shy and timid, but she forced a handkerchief with love poems embroidered on it into my hand. She said she was willing to serve me as a slave, and only asked me to give her a chance."
"I knew it was inappropriate, so I rejected her on the spot and then told Wei Zhou about it."
"She had a bun similar to the maids in the Wei Mansion, and her clothes were almost the same color. She also talked about being a slave, so..."
"What bad luck!"
"Brother, what kind of vision do you have to fall in love with a woman like this?" Lu Yao's voice revealed a hint of anger, and every word was filled with undisguised disgust.
"I was stupid. I thought it was the servants in the Weizhou Courtyard who caused those people to be fined for no reason."
Lu Mingchao took out a handful of juicy cherries and placed them in Lu Yao's palm. "Second brother, calm down."
Lu Yao's anger stagnated. "You are making tea around the stove and you are eating and taking it?"
"I'm just thinking about my second brother." Lu Mingchao followed suit and said, "Ayan, you eat too."
"Now that you've calmed down, go on."
Lu Mingchao was the first to twist one and put it in his mouth. The juice splashed in his mouth. It was so sweet that he felt extremely satisfied.
After eating several of them, Lu Mingchao continued, "She first recommended herself to my second brother, and then she met my eldest brother at the temple fair not long after. The earrings happened to fall into my eldest brother's mushroom basket."
"During the rainy season, there are at least 19 mushroom sellers in the town, if not 20."
"And even if a girl who is known for her shyness and reserved manners doesn't know much about mushroom varieties, she should ask the old woman selling mushrooms or the young wife. Her first choice should never be the eldest brother."
"Don't tell me that all the mushroom sellers in Lotus Town are ferocious men and only my eldest brother looks like a good guy."
"After becoming engaged to the eldest brother, she undressed in the ruined temple and wanted to give herself to him."
"My brother didn't touch her, but she still lost her virginity. This shows that she was also having affairs with other men. As to whether she was forced or took the initiative, I won't speculate."
"But, what does she want?"
Lu Mingchao really couldn't understand it.
Could it be that he is frivolous by nature, or that he is so emotionally repressed that he wants to release his emotions by indulging his desires?
The more I think about it, the more confused it becomes.
"There is no impenetrable wall in the world. Just check again." Xie Yan raised his hand and rubbed Lu Mingchao's frowning brows, and said loudly.
Lu Mingchao stroked his fingertips and thought for a moment, "Check Master Cheng."
Lu Yao bent his fingers slightly and tapped the carriage lightly. "Chao Chao means that Master Cheng already knows about Cheng Zhi's loss of virginity?"
"Just check it out, and you'll know." Lu Mingchao said in a deep voice.
"I still don't want to believe that a woman at her prime would degrade herself over and over again for no reason. Perhaps the reason is what she fears the most and what she wants to escape from the most."
The wheels of the carriage waded through the snow and water, getting closer and closer to Changxi Village.
Winter solstice.
The curling smoke from every household seems to have become more fragrant and pleasing to the nose.
From time to time, you can hear the sound of the mother scolding the child after stealing food. It is a chaotic and yet extremely lively scene, which can quietly soothe a troubled heart.
Spend the Winter Solstice Together】