Chapter 152
The strong wind made the big trees outside the house sway constantly, and one of the trees was blown down the next morning.
Lu Jiaxue took Yi Ning to the side room of his study. He asked the servant to find a copybook for her while he went to the outer room to handle some matters.
Seeing him so relaxed, so unconcerned about her refusal, Luo Yining wanted to bite Lu Jiaxue to death. He said she was stubborn, so was he a new person? He'd been that bad-tempered for years, smiling no matter what anyone said. But in reality, he was incredibly stubborn and wouldn't change his mind.
After a while, she calmed down her anger, threw the copybook aside, and spread out a piece of Chengxintang paper to practice calligraphy.
Sunlight streamed in through the bamboo curtains, and the wind outside was a bit chilly. Luo Yining walked to the window, intending to close it, when he heard someone outside say, "My Lord, Zeng Yingkun has agreed to testify that Luo Shenyuan had been involved with his son. But he has a condition: I hope you can spare his students..."
"Let him go?" Lu Jiaxue sneered, "When he sent people to hunt me down, he was very efficient."
Upon hearing this, Yi Ning turned slightly to look outside. Lu Jiaxue sat at the head of the table on the right, with several men in official uniforms standing before him, looking somewhat servile.
Yining's fingers picked up the bamboo curtain and listened quietly.
Although the surrounding furnishings have changed, the house remains the same as it was many years ago. Even the privet tree planted outside is lush and leafy.
"I understand what you mean, Lord. Shall I go back and pass on the message immediately?"
Lu Jiaxue waved his hand again: "Zeng Yingkun still thinks he is the general and is negotiating terms with me. Tell him that the lives of those people are now in my hands. Let him think carefully."
The man just accepted the order and left.
Only after seeing the man walk out of the study did Yining lower the curtain and go back to the table to continue practicing calligraphy.
Soon Lu Jiaxue came in through the curtain and asked her, "What are you writing?"
Walking over to her side, he noticed her handwriting was sharp and beautiful, without any trace of girlishness. Lu Jiaxue's smile faded. He remembered that Luo Yining couldn't write, so she had asked him to help copy the Buddhist scriptures for the old lady. He took it in one hand and saw that it was a piece of "Xiao Yao You".
He didn't like reading. His study only contained military books and maps, but no leisurely reading. Yi Ning was copying from memory.
He said sarcastically, "Your third brother, the top scholar, really taught you well."
Lu Jiaxue suddenly remembered something and looked carefully at Yining's handwriting, which seemed familiar. He immediately became cautious. He grabbed Luo Yining's hand and said, "--Your Third Brother Luo married you. What is your relationship with him?"
Luo Yining said calmly: "I grew up with him, and he taught me to study."
Lu Jiaxue smiled, narrowed his eyes and said, "Luo Yining, I tell you, I can let you go now, but don't let me find out that you have any connection with other men. Otherwise, I won't care whether you have a happy life or not, understand?"
Luo Yining endured it, after all, she couldn't beat him. She said, "I just heard you discussing with your subordinates about Zeng Yingkun's identification of Luo Shenyuan. What? Are you trying to frame a loyal and honest person?"
"Luo Shenyuan can be considered a loyal and good man? You think too highly of him." Lu Jiaxue sat down beside her and saw her standing beside him, wearing a light green calamus-patterned Hangzhou silk jacket and a plain white embroidered skirt. Although she stood straight with resistance, at least she was still standing beside him. His tone was much more relaxed. "Do you remember when I helped you copy Buddhist scriptures?"
"Your handwriting was terrible back then," he said with a faint smile, "I was afraid you would embarrass me if you showed it to others, so I copied it for you."
"I also wrote your betrothal gift list myself."
Lu Jiaxue leaned back on the armchair. This man, who had spent his entire life in the military and held immense power, spoke in an exceptionally gentle tone when he recalled the past, as he had already thought about it countless times in his heart.
"Among my brothers, I'm the worst at studying. Back then, I practiced calligraphy so hard for you, and it really helped me improve. A few days before I married you, I lay under the candlelight..." He pointed at the candlestick, "writing every stroke, you may never know."
"You're talking nonsense!" Luo Yining frowned, her heart skipping a beat for some reason, and she interrupted him, "You didn't even know me at that time, how could it be for me?"
Lu Jiaxue stared at her for a long time, his lips curled slightly: "Are you stupid? If I didn't want to marry you, with your status, it wouldn't be so easy to marry a bastard from a marquis's mansion."
The Luo family she was born into in her previous life was indeed incomparable to the current Luo family. Her father was the governor of Shunde Prefecture, but he was only a fifth-rank official.
She knew it wasn't easy... At the time, her stepmother wanted to marry off her younger sister, and it was only after she had acted politely and softly in front of her grandmother that she finally agreed. But thinking back, her grandmother had indeed agreed too quickly, and her stepmother's face always looked grim when she went to pay her respects.
"I've seen you before." He looked a little further away. "At the Shunde prefect's house. You were only fourteen years old at the time, with your hair in a double bun. You were with your younger sister and older sister, and they ordered you around. You went away respectfully, but when you served them tea, you put bitter gourd in their teacups..."
He thought of the girl in the pink, diamond-patterned jacket, her face delicate as a peach, covered in a layer of fine white velvet, gleaming in the early winter sun. She added the bitter gourd with deft, composed composure. Crouching against the wall, he couldn't help but laugh, startling her.
He said to her at that time: "What bad things are you doing?"
"What do you mean by doing something bad?" She came back to her senses and saw that he was dressed in ordinary clothes. She glared at him, "How did you get in? This is the inner courtyard. Servants are not allowed in!"
"How do you know I'm the servant?"
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