Chapter 11 Chapter 11 Unknown
After the imperial edict was issued, the Du Mansion, whether it was the front yard, the main yard or the west yard, was as silent as a dark night.
The wind had the chill of late autumn as it blew in from outside the door, disturbing the sinking scent of ink in the room and also turning over the old manuscripts in Du Lingjing's hand, which were collected by her father last year.
The densely packed small characters made her eyes sore. Interrupted by the wind, Du Lingjing closed her eyes.
The imperial decree granting the marriage that day was like a bolt from the blue.
Not only did she not expect this, but the entire capital city was also caught off guard.
This marriage seemed to come out of nowhere. No one could have imagined that the Du family, which was originally going to marry into the Shao family, would suddenly become relatives of the Marquis's Mansion.
But in this "no sign", there seemed to be some inexplicable sign.
At that time, in the Zhenyue Tower, the tea drinkers were all surprised as to why Marquis Lu and Shao Boju appeared at the same time. No one knew who he was going to meet, but she ran into the marquis in a remote stairwell.
The hand on her waist and the inexplicably intimate words...
Du Lingjing asked herself if she knew Marquis Lu at all, but could it be possible that the Marquis actually knew her?
Thinking of this, her heart skipped a beat.
If so, then this strange marriage by imperial decree might be explained.
Shao Boju wanted to marry her, and the whole city was in an uproar before the marriage was finalized. Lu Shenru knew that he wanted to compete with Shao and take the opportunity to use her and the Du family's reputation to win over court officials for King Hui.
The copy at hand gave off a stale smell, and all the bloody events in the court were hidden in the tiny characters.
Since the founding of the country, civil officials and military generals have been at odds with each other, causing many disputes. Civil officials believed that military generals had too many troops and threatened the imperial power, while military generals accused civil officials of stirring up trouble and persecuting meritorious officials and generals.
The struggle between civil and military officials has lasted for many generations, and not only has it not disappeared, but disasters have continued to arise.
When she was eleven years old, her father was not yet a cabinet minister and the late emperor was still alive. However, the Lu family of Yongding Marquis's Mansion was almost wiped out due to the stalemate between civil officials and military generals.
The Yongding Army, led by Lu from Yongding Marquis's mansion, was fighting against a 30,000-strong Tatar army in Ningxia when they encountered a dangerous situation, with more than half of the army trapped in the heart of the Tatars. Lu requested the court to send troops for support immediately, but the court received the Tatars' intention to negotiate peace.
Almost all the civil officials in the court advocated peace talks, which would cost them a temporary loss of troops but would ensure peace for ten or even dozens of years. However, the military generals opposed the idea. The Yongding Army led by Lu was trapped outside and their fate was unknown. If they gave up on rescuing the troops and negotiating with the Tatars, Lu would be doomed. If the Yongding Army was damaged in the future, there would be no one left to stop the Tatars outside the Great Wall.
Civil officials and military generals immediately began to attack each other over whether to advocate war or peace, and the late emperor was hesitant to make a decision.
Du Lingjing remembered that his father wrote a series of letters to the late emperor requesting him to make a decision as soon as possible. Although his father was a civil official, he advocated war like the noble military generals and advocated sending troops to rescue the Yongding Army first and then discussing peace talks.
The situation remained deadlocked for more than a month. Finally, the late emperor resisted the pressure of peace talks and sent elite troops to rescue.
However, before the rescue troops arrived, the Yongding Army fought their way back.
However, the bloody road was too difficult to kill, and the rescue soldiers came too late. Except for the old marquis, the young and strong generals and sons of the Yongding Marquis's mansion were almost wiped out. At that time, Lu Shenru's father, the Yongding Marquis's son, was shot by 26 arrows and buried in the blood-stained desert.
Although the old marquis managed to save his life, he was too seriously injured to go to the battlefield again, so he could only support his eldest grandson Lu Shenru, who took on the important task of the Yongding Army at the age of 13. However, before he could reach adulthood, the old marquis could no longer support himself and passed away.
Fortunately, this young prince lived up to the mission of the imperial edict and took on the responsibility of the entire Yongding Marquisate, the entire Northwest Yongding Army, and the entire border of the dynasty to the north to resist the Tatars.
However, after the bloodbath, the Lu family of Yongding Marquis Mansion could no longer drink and chat with the civil officials in the court, especially those who had advocated peace in the past.
With the two factions fighting each other to this extent, how could the emperor not be worried?
Du Lingjing thought that rather than suspecting that Marquis Lu had known her for a long time or had other intentions, it would be better to say that this strange situation might be the result of the palace's intention to make civil officials and military generals make peace.
If that was the case, then her only possible way to get out of this situation was to convince Lord Lu. If he was unwilling to do so, they could discuss a way to shirk responsibility together.
However, she had to make sure first that he really didn't know her and that the imperial edict was not his intention.
Du Lingjing's eyes became more and more sore, and she couldn't help but stand up, push open the door and window, and look outside.
As soon as the window was opened, the autumn wind suddenly blew a leaf, which seemed to have fallen from the sky and floated onto her cuffs.
It's bamboo leaves.
The wind outside was so strong, but the bamboo leaf floated so gently and softly into her sleeve.
"Quanquan, if you think of me occasionally, I will wait for you in the bamboo forest."
Tears appeared out of my eyes at some point and fell on the bamboo leaves.
She picked up the leaf and held it in her hand, then walked out the door. In the corner of the backyard, there was a clump of green bamboo that had been transplanted from her hometown in Qingzhou.
But Qiulin ran over quickly.
"Girl, are you going to the front yard?"
"forecourt?"
Du Lingjing wanted to go to the backyard, but Qiu Lin said.
"Yes, the Marquis, the Marquis is here to deliver the betrothal gift. He is in the front yard."
Du Lingjing paused.
*
The front yard of Du Fu.
Du Zhiqi looked at the courtyard filled with betrothal gifts and felt a little dazed.
When he heard the imperial edict, he felt that things were going to go wrong.
How could Lord Lu not know that the Du family originally wanted to form an alliance with the Shao family, but now the imperial edict pointed to the Lu and Du families.
But looking at this marquis now, the man was wearing a red brocade robe embroidered with precious flowers and a coral jade crown. He was sitting on a chair drinking tea and he did not seem unhappy.
Du Zhiqi was unsure of what he meant, and asked cautiously and awkwardly, "Why did the Marquis come in person?"
The man raised his eyes and looked at him. "Of course I want that."
This sentence was neither light nor heavy, and Du Zhiqi was even more confused.
Unexpectedly, the Marquis suddenly spoke.
"I wonder how the girl is doing lately?"
Du Zhiqi was stunned. Lord Lu must not be asking about his daughter, but about his troublesome niece.
"She's... okay."
Du Zhiqi said that it was fine, but his heart was in turmoil.
Not only was the Du family originally going to form an alliance with the Shao family, but his niece was also engaged to the Jiang family first, and had been waiting for Jiang Zhuxiu for many years.
How could the Marquis not know?
He felt bitter in his mouth when the servant outside suddenly said, "Master, the eldest girl is here."
Du Zhiqi was startled and subconsciously scolded, "My Lord is talking to me here, what is she doing here? Let her go back honestly..."
Before he could finish his words, he suddenly felt a cold gaze falling on his face.
Du Zhiqi was stunned for a moment and heard the man say.
"It's cold and windy, Master Du should invite the young lady in for tea."
As soon as the words fell, the Du family servant was frightened and ran out. Then the door curtain was lifted and someone walked slowly to the door.
Lu Shenru couldn't help but look over.
She was wearing a bamboo green dress with a green ribbon tied in her hair. She stood in the wind in front of the door, her clothes flying, as if she had just walked out from the depths of the clouds.
When he looked over, she just raised her eyes and looked at him, her eyelashes fluttering slightly.
She stepped forward and bowed to him, "My Lord."
The man immediately held her hand. Her fingertips were cold, but when she held them in his hot palm, she felt like a piece of jade just found out of deep water.
But before he could warm the jade even a little, she had suddenly withdrawn her hand and took half a step away, creating some distance between them.
Only then did he see that she had a thin red string tied around her wrist, with a piece of bamboo leaf that looked like it had just fallen threaded through it.
Bamboo leaves...
The man was silent.
Looking at her again, I saw that her clothes had become loose in just a few days.
Her lips, which were not very plump to begin with, were pale in color, her eyes were dark blue, and her watery eyes were as deep as ice in a spring.
The man's heart sank.
Just because of the imperial decree that she must marry him? She was in such a dilemma?
There is an indescribable feeling of numbness in my heart.
That was how she appeared in front of him that year, and he couldn't help but feel soft-hearted towards her and had to let go.
But now, the man calmed down, pretending not to notice, and smiled at her with the corners of his mouth raised.
"Don't be so polite."
Du Lingjing glanced at him secretly from the corner of her eye.
Inexplicably, she felt that there was an indescribable "intimacy" in the tone of his voice when he spoke to her.
Did he really know her before?
However, before he could finish his thoughts, he heard the man say with a little surprise.
"It turned out that it was the girl that I met at the Pillow Moon Tower that day. I didn't expect that my first encounter with the girl would be like that. I was offended."
First encounter?
Du Lingjing paused and lowered his eyes.
He doesn't know her?
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