Chapter 67
When Yining returned to the main room, Luo Yihui was indeed waiting for her with a sullen face.
She stood obediently and listened to her elder sister's scolding. Luo Yihui scolded her for a long time before saying, "Forget it. What can I do to you? You've been so bold since you were a child. I thought you would be more restrained as you grew up, but you're still the same."
The maid brought a bowl of soup for Luo Yihui to drink. Luo Yihui drank the nourishing soup and waved her away: "Go back and rest. You still have to send Miss Mingzhu back tomorrow morning."
Yi Ning smiled and shook her hand, saying flatteringly, "Eldest sister, I know I was wrong. Please don't be angry with me, right?"
Luo Yihui couldn't help but burst out laughing. Now that she was a mother, her temper had become milder than before. She put her arm around Yining's shoulders and patted her back. She noticed that the little girl had indeed grown taller. The once pleasant milky fragrance on her body had now become a light, refreshing fragrance.
"How could I be angry with you? Even if I am angry, it's because you don't cherish your life." Luo Yihui whispered, "Who is Lu Jiaxue? How could he tolerate others being so rude in front of him? Fortunately, he didn't make a fuss about you today, otherwise I would have to go back and kneel down to beg Lord Dingbei, and ask him to help me beg Commander Lu."
Yi Ning knew that her elder sister was afraid of Lu Jiaxue. Who wouldn't be afraid of him? Didn't she fear him?
After returning home, Yining leaned against the window, quietly thinking. In the darkness, she could only see the lanterns the maid had just lit under the eaves, their soft glow casting a soft glow on the columns and window frames. Crickets chirped in the summer night. Mother Xu brought her some watermelon from Jingshui Town. The sweet, cool juice was delicious, and it even alleviated the heat.
She suddenly thought of the year she first got married. It was a hot summer. Lu Jiaxue was fanning her. She was reading a book while eating melon. Lu Jiaxue looked at her with sweat dripping down his spine, but she ignored him. Finally, when she picked up another piece of melon, he quickly took it. As he chewed, he said, "It's really sweet. No wonder you didn't want to share it with me!"
She looked at Lu Jiaxue, and he asked, "Why, after fanning you for so long, you can't even eat a piece of melon?"
But she thought for a moment, put down the book, and said to him, "Fourth Master, why don't you tell the Marquis to ask for a position as a commander."
He looked at her with an unclear expression, but said with a smile: "Do you also think I am unlearned?"
Of the several illegitimate sons in the Ningyuan Marquis's mansion, he was the only one who lacked ambition, yet he got along well with everyone. Lu Jiaran treated him as the best of his illegitimate brothers, but he always said he was a complete scoundrel, always riding horses and hunting hawks. Lu Jiaxue, far from being ashamed of this, seemed proud of it. After marrying Yi Ning, he became even less ambitious.
Yi Ning couldn't quite recall what she'd said. Lu Jiaxue had simply been perfunctory, never saying a single decent word to her. Back then, she'd consoled herself by thinking that while he wasn't working properly, he wasn't keeping a mistress like the son of the auxiliary general, nor was he ruining the family fortune. At most, he'd gamble on Pai Gow with other young men from aristocratic families.
It wasn't until after her death, watching how ruthlessly Lu Jiaxue cleaned out the Ningyuan Marquisate, that she finally realized what was happening. No one in the mansion, not even Lu Jiaran, had been on guard against him, which was why he was so successful. He had never told her the truth, and he was never the person she had seen him to be. His claims of being unlearned and unskilled, his falconry, were all just a show.
It's really chilling.
Later, whenever Lu Jiaxue walked past her tablet, he never even glanced at the words on it. Later, few people in the Ningyuan Marquisate knew that Lu Jiaxue had a wife. Perhaps he himself had forgotten that the reason he had attacked Xie Min was that she had killed his first wife.
Yi Ning pushed the small plate of watermelon aside and said calmly, "Mother Xu, please take it away."
Perhaps because she'd relaxed a bit after meeting Lu Jiaxue, Yining slept soundly that night. It was a sweet sleep. Qingqu, who was on night watch, gently fanned the burning grapefruit peels in a basin to repel mosquitoes. The room remained silent.
The next day, Zhao Mingzhu was leaving, and Yining and the others wanted to see her off, but when they reached the screen wall, they found that Zhao Mingzhu had not yet gotten up.
When the sun got higher, Zhao Mingzhu finally arrived with her maids. Even with their umbrellas, the girls were already sweating from the sun. Zhao Mingzhu seemed to have just woken up, and a cool breeze blew over her body. Before she left, she smiled and said to Yi Ning and the others, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long today. If you ever come to the capital, please come to see me at the Duke of Ying's mansion. I'd like to invite you to stay for a few days and experience the prosperity of the capital."
The old woman on the other side urged her: "Miss Mingzhu, if you don't leave now, the old lady will be worried!"
Zhao Mingzhu said goodbye to them and boarded the carriage. Several maids came forward from behind, holding boxes. The one in the lead, wearing a blue-green bodice, bowed and said with a smile, "Ladies, this is from our Miss Mingzhu. It's just a small gift, and I'm sorry to bother you with it."
Luo Yiyu's face darkened when he heard this.
They were all of the same status, so Zhao Mingzhu was clearly rewarding them. Who did she think they were? Did she really need to reward them?
Yi Ning was the first to express her gratitude. She returned to retrieve the contents of the box and discovered a carved jade hairpin, exquisitely crafted and a translucent white. This didn't seem like something Zhao Mingzhu would appreciate. Last time, she had only given Yi Ning two gold bracelets; she wouldn't have dared to be so generous. Yi Ning suddenly thought of Lu Jiaxue. This must have been Lu Jiaxue's order. He knew Zhao Mingzhu was spoiled, and this was his way of compensating them for taking care of her. The other box he had given her that day also contained a piece of fine jade.
Yining asked the maid to put the jade away.
Luo Yihui stayed at the Luo family until September before returning. When she left, the sweet osmanthus was fragrant and it was time to eat mooncakes.
Yining's twelfth birthday fell a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival. Previously, due to the mourning period at the mansion, there had been no celebration, but this time, Lin Hairu gave her a lavish birthday ceremony. Concubine Qiao sat at a distance at one end of the banquet table, watching Xuan'er, stunned, sitting next to Concubine Guo. Later, when everyone went into the west side room to eat mooncakes, she finally found a moment to see Xuan'er.
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