Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Gaffe
After dinner in the evening, Lu Shenru went to the outer study.
Du Lingjing saw Qiu Lin frowning. She looked at the two maids Yingbi and Xiangyi in the Marquis' Mansion busying around, cleaning up the room inside and outside. She didn't know what to do.
Du Lingjing looked over and saw Qiu Lin approaching and whispering, "The Marquis not only prepared a wedding dress for the young lady, but also prepared clothes for all four seasons and placed them in a pearwood cabinet. The needlework of the Marquis's mansion is really amazing. They can make clothes for the young lady without even measuring her body. It makes us seem useless..."
Old men who have been making clothes for many years have this skill. They can measure with their eyes instead of their hands and still be almost accurate.
This is the Mansion of Marquis Yongding. Du Lingjing was not surprised, but she did not expect that the clothes could be made so quickly in the mansion. It had only been a short time since she and that man decided to get married, but the clothes were already made, just waiting for her to marry in.
It was an imperial decree to arrange the marriage. No one could have expected that she would marry that marquis. Even he himself said it was the emperor's will, but it was difficult to disobey.
But Du Lingjing always had an indescribable strange feeling.
She couldn't explain it clearly at the moment, so she didn't discuss it in detail with Qiulin. She just felt that her mind was in a mess from last night to tonight. She didn't like this feeling and called Qiulin.
"Please fetch me a book that I haven't finished yet."
Study books to calm your mind.
Qiulin was delighted after receiving the instructions. The girl was editing the letter just like she was editing a book. She felt relieved to return to the familiar place.
However, Qiu Lin took the book and also took the lamp that Du Lingjing usually used to edit books. After trying it twice but it didn't light up, he suddenly remembered that the lamp had suddenly broken a few days ago.
"Still can't light it up?"
Du Lingjing took it personally and tried to light it. The lamp seemed to give her face and lit a small flame, but before the flame could become strong, it suddenly went out.
After that, it no longer lights up.
The two maids from Marquis Qia's mansion retreated, and the room was quiet for a while.
Seeing that the girl's expression was gloomy, Qiu Lin looked around, picked up the lamp prepared by the Marquis' Mansion and took a look.
"Look, young lady, the lamps in the mansion are made by the master craftsman from Xi'an!"
This was the lamp made by Jiang Zhuxiu himself, after he had spent a whole day learning from the Xi'an craftsman.
But it was not the lamp he left for her.
Du Lingjing remained silent and finally turned on the old lamp that had inexplicably gone out, but it didn't light up.
When people leave, it’s like a light goes out.
Even she got married just three years after he left.
Du Lingjing felt a sore nose and closed her eyes.
The lights in the room were dim, Qiu Lin couldn't bear to see the girl like this, so he hurriedly said.
"Miss, have you forgotten? We still have many lanterns at home that were sent by Sixth Master and made by Third Master himself. I will ask Changpu to go and get them all!"
Du Lingjing opened her eyes after hearing these words.
But she hesitated.
This lamp is not easy to carry. What if it is damaged on the road?
She was thinking silently when someone lifted the curtain and walked in.
The low light made the man's already tall and majestic figure look even more upright.
He looked at them and spoke.
"I heard that this kind of lamp is made with a special method. If it bumps too much along the way, the light won't have the magical effect of not trembling or dispersing."
He said, "In my opinion, it is better not to go out of your way to get it."
Du Lingjing was also afraid that it would be damaged by the bumps and was reluctant to take it away.
But when he said this, Du Lingjing looked over.
Didn't he even let her keep the things of her predecessors?
Du Lingjing lowered her head and looked at the lamp that wouldn't light up no matter what she tried.
Somehow, this lamp suddenly broke before the wedding and would never light up again.
A bitter feeling spread in her heart, and she held it carefully in her palm, as if she was talking to Qiu Lin, but also not.
She whispered.
"Take a few less. Even if they are broken and can't hold the light, it doesn't matter, as long as they can light up."
When she said she would go over, Qiulin responded immediately and was about to go down to arrange for Changpu to return to Qingzhou.
Before she could take a step forward, she heard the man speak again.
Lu Shenru looked at the person holding the lamp in front of the desk. She held it with both hands and looked down.
In such a large room, she could not see anything else but the off light.
He couldn't help but say, "Your eyes are easily sore. If the lamp can't keep the light, what's the difference between it and an ordinary lamp? It will hurt your eyes."
Du Lingjing was stunned, and Lu Shenru just looked at her.
The next moment, she suddenly said something.
"The lamp my husband made himself will not harm my eyes no matter what."
As soon as he finished speaking, it seemed as if all the lights in the room were going out.
Lu Shenru looked at the person in front of him with a tense face and held the lamp even tighter in his hand.
Husband... ... She was clearly married to him.
The man stood in silence.
Qiu Lin was startled and couldn't help but secretly clench his hands for the girl.
Du Lingjing was also stunned.
She didn't know why she said this suddenly. She slipped up.
But once she had said it, she couldn't take it back.
The lights in the room were dim and flickering.
Time seemed to be stretched into long shadows by the lamp, and every breath was extremely long.
Qiu Lin had beads of sweat on her forehead, and she thought that if the Marquis got angry, she would protect the girl no matter what.
Du Lingjing couldn't help but recall that she had said similar words in front of him before, but they had not yet gotten married at that time, so what about him now?
She doesn't know.
But the man suddenly spoke.
His voice, which seemed to be hoarse due to injury, became even hoarseer at this moment.
"What I mean is that the lamp made by Jiang Jieyuan himself is extraordinary. It just can't be lit at the moment. We can find a lamp maker in Xi'an to repair it. Madam, do you think this will work?"
Qiu Lin opened his eyes wide in surprise.
Du Lingjing also paused, then turned to look at the marquis in surprise.
The man let her look at him.
But her gaze briefly met his eyes and then moved away to the black boots on the edge of his brocade robe.
He walked up to her and came to her side. His fingertips touched her hand holding the lamp, and he lifted her up from the bottom to hold the lamp.
"I didn't mean anything else." He said, "If I said before that your relationship with Jiang Jieyuan was a thing of the past and should be forgotten, and if I made you unhappy, it was my fault. I apologize to you."
It was Du Lingjing who made the "inappropriate" remarks just now, but it was this marquis who apologized.
Not to mention Du Lingjing, Qiu Lin was secretly surprised first.
Du Lingjing was stunned, not knowing how to respond for a moment. The man called Qiulin, "Qiulin, go down first."
The situation was a bit complicated, Qiu Lin didn't want to leave yet, so he turned and looked at his girl.
Seeing that the girl didn't say anything, but didn't object either, she actually agreed.
Qiu Lin looked at the marquis, then looked at his own girl, and looked back and forth several times, so he had no choice but to go down.
As soon as she left, the light in the room only illuminated the two people at the table, and the light was half bright and half dark between the two people, shuttling back and forth.
The temperature of his palms was completely different from Sanlang's.
Du Lingjing always used a hot water bottle to warm her hands and then went to warm Sanlang's hands. Sanlang would not let her, saying that it was normal to have cold hands in cold weather, and he would not allow her to warm them, and told her to warm herself.
And now, her fingers were burned by him, but he also warmed her cold hands.
She thought of what she had just said, "husband."
Sanlang is not it, he is.
She pursed her lips and spoke again.
"I made a mistake."
The firelight revealed her furrowed brows, and the confusion in her eyes rose like thick fog.
But unlike the cold look she had when she mentioned her "husband" before, her tired eyes revealed a hint of apology.
Lu Shenru gently stroked her fingers.
"It's okay. Just don't let anyone take it away. Let's find someone to fix it, okay?"
He walked over and looked at her features carefully. This time, after she was stunned for a moment, she slowly nodded.
"Okay."
Lu Shenru asked Chong'an to take the lamp away. She watched the lamp being taken away but didn't say anything more.
He took a deep breath, sighed slowly, and just looked at her quietly.
It turns out that she is soft-hearted and cannot stand being tough at all.
On the contrary, she would feel guilty if she accidentally hurt him.
Okay.
... ...
At night, Du Lingjing could only use the lamp in the marquis's mansion temporarily and repaired the ancient books for half an hour.
The marquis did not leave. Chong'an brought him a stack of books, and he sat at the table on the other side and read with her for half an hour.
But after half an hour, Du Lingjing's eyes felt a little hot, so he stood up and walked over to help her blow out the lamp.
It was indeed getting late, so the maid brought water for the two of them to wash.
There was no maid to light incense tonight, but when sitting on the edge of the bed, Du Lingjing couldn't help but think of last night.
At that time he said, "It's not too late when you are ready."
How long will this preparation take?
As she was thinking about it, he sat over and untied her belt.
All the maids retreated immediately, and Du Lingjing's back slightly tensed.
He whispered, "Just taking a break."
She subconsciously wanted to refuse, but when she thought about her inappropriate words just now and how the marquis had patiently apologized to her, she couldn't stretch out her hand to refuse.
She half closed her eyes and let him gently untie her outer clothes layer by layer. He stopped at the bellyband on her chest.
The small lamp left by the bed softly illuminated half of her face.
Her feathery eyelashes cast a long and curled shadow, which was reflected on the slender bridge of her nose. At this moment, she looked so "well-behaved" which was rare to see.
Lu Shenru passed over the edge of her clothes, held her waist tightly, carried her to the bed, and then held her in his arms.
Her naked back pressed against his hot chest, and she couldn't help but shiver when their skin touched.
He couldn't help but pause.
He wanted her to get used to him slowly, but he also wondered if she would reject such a close distance.
But no.
But the man himself was speechless, so he had to speak.
"Go to sleep. You have to go to the palace tomorrow."
... ...
When Du Lingjing woke up, it was still dark, and there was the sound of water dripping from the bathroom next door.
From time to time, a man came out, wearing a new set of clean pants, with two strands of dripping hair falling on his forehead, and walked towards him with his upper body naked.
When he saw that she woke up, he brought her clothes and seemed to want to help her put on them. However, this time Du Lingjing took the clothes in her hands and put them on herself.
The two of them didn't want to delay any longer, so they went into the palace after dinner.
The emperor met them in the imperial study, but when they arrived, the emperor was busy with other things and only Lu Huairu was there.
The elder sister was five years older than Lu Shenru and was thirty years old this year. However, Du Lingjing noticed that although the imperial concubine had a young face, she did not feel out of place when sitting at the head of the table and chair made of golden nanmu wood.
Du Lingjing was not quite sure about her personality, but she was somewhat similar to that marquis.
But she vaguely remembered hearing rumors about her when she was in the capital.
It is rumored that Lu Huairu, the eldest daughter of the Yongding Marquis's mansion, had her fortune predicted by more than one monk or Taoist priest, who said that her fate was unusual and that she would be the mother of the country.
At that time, Du Lingjing was still young, and the eldest daughter of the Marquis's Mansion was just getting married.
Even his father had said that due to fate, all the princes of the late emperor wanted to marry Lu Huairu as their princess.
The late emperor did not arrange a marriage for her daughter, but Mrs. Lu quickly arranged one for her daughter.
He was not the crown prince, but just an unknown young general under the Lu family.
But no one expected that in the 14th year of Hongqi, the year when the Lu family suffered a tragic loss, Lu Huairu entered the palace of Prince Yin and became the concubine of Prince Yin, who had already married a princess.
Later, Prince Yin stood out from a group of princes and inherited the throne. Lu Huairu, who was only the prince's concubine at that time, was directly promoted to noble concubine after giving birth to Prince Hui.
The emperor and the crown prince died of a sudden illness, and the original wife, Queen Wang, was seriously ill. The fate of Concubine Lu, who was criticized for being the mother of the country, was immediately discussed. There were many people in the folk who believed that Concubine Lu had such a fate, and it was destined that Prince Hui would succeed to the throne in the future.
Du Lingjing didn't know what the imperial concubine thought of her, but she thought that she couldn't hide anything from the imperial concubine.
The marquis didn't get married until he was twenty-five. It's hard to say whether the imperial concubine would be happy with a wife like her.
But Du Lingjing saw that the imperial concubine first gave down a bunch of things as rewards, then she looked between the two of them for a long time and asked her softly.
"The wedding was hastily arranged. Is Jingniang used to living in the Marquis' Mansion? If Wei Shi makes any mistakes, just tell me and I will reprimand him."
Concubine Lu asked carefully, and Du Lingjing was dazed for a moment.
She caught a glimpse of the marquis from the corner of her eye and saw that he was sitting there with his eyes fixed on his nose and his nose focused on his mind, not knowing what he was thinking about.
Du Lingjing could only shake her head and said politely, "Thank you for your concern, Madam. I'm used to it."
Concubine Lu seemed unconvinced, "Is that so?"
She glanced at her brother again, "It's better this way."
Lu Shenru just sat there with his eyes lowered, drinking tea.
Not long after, a young eunuch was heard singing outside the door, and the emperor had arrived.
This was the first time Du Lingjing met the emperor.
He was only wearing casual clothes and had two strings of Buddhist beads on his hands which he kept at his side at all times.
He was thin, clearly an emperor on the dragon throne, with sunken cheeks and eye sockets, which made him look not as plump as the ones in the Central Plains. On closer inspection, he looked a bit tired and a little sick.
Du Lingjing vaguely understood why the civil and military officials were so eager to establish a crown prince.
The Emperor is not in good health and the Eastern Palace is left vacant, which is not a good thing.
But the emperor spoke slowly and kindly.
He also asked the two of them a few questions. When he mentioned Du Lingjing's father Du Zhili, the emperor sighed and said, "Water and fire are merciless."
He didn't say much, and Du Lingjing didn't say much either.
The new policies proposed by the late emperor were unstoppable in the late emperor's reign, but have become dull in the new dynasty.
The emperor before her did not quite approve of her father's new policies, perhaps there was another reason.
At that time, the late emperor wanted to appoint another prince as the crown prince, and her father was the one who was recommended by the late emperor to be the trusted minister of the new emperor.
Later, the new emperor became the current emperor. How could the situation of the so-called ministers who were entrusted with the care of the emperor be less awkward?
The emperor was quite satisfied with this marriage, "I am once again blessed with your happiness."
Joy... ...In the eyes of the emperor, marriage brings balance to the court and joy, and everything else is not worth mentioning.
Du Lingjing lowered her head and spoke carefully.
Only the brother and sister Lu Huairu and Lu Shenru chatted with him for a while.
When leaving the palace, the emperor also gave down a lot of things.
The palace gates opened one by one, just like the towering city gates that opened one by one when entering.
Inside the gate are palaces and tall halls, and the lonely king and his concubines; outside the gate are red doors and spacious houses, and nobles and powerful officials.
At this moment, Du Lingjing, who had been in Beijing for more than a month, finally realized that no matter how much she didn't want to enter this vortex, she had already stepped in and could not leave for the time being.
She looked at the towering city wall, took a deep breath, and then slowly sighed.
But she had not been to the capital for a long time, and had not listened carefully to what was happening in the capital for a long time.
It is not known whether she was trapped in Mianlou or she was trapped in Mianlou voluntarily. She does not know much about what is happening outside.
As Concubine Jiang said, this world is not only about loving fathers and filial daughters, childhood sweethearts, and mountains of books and oceans of learning, ancient and modern articles. She should have a broader life to make her life worthwhile.
Or as Brother Cang said, outside the Mian Building, the land is vast and the sky is high.
She didn't know how high and broad they were talking about, but if she still wanted to have some freedom and some control over herself, she could not continue to close her eyes.
Maybe if we keep moving forward and looking ahead, we will see what they call height and breadth.
The city was filled with people, and my extremely confused mind over the past two days gradually settled down as the scenery outside the window passed by.
In the afternoon, Du Lingjing returned to the mansion and asked Qiulin to take out all the things she had brought and put them in order. She also instructed Ruan Gong to send someone back to Qingzhou to bring back the pens, ink, books and personal belongings that she would need later. She also wrote a letter to the manager of Du's Printing House to come to the capital.
She couldn't go back for the time being, but Mianlou couldn't be abandoned.
Du Lingjing recalled that she had originally gone north only to collect two ancient books from the Song Dynasty, but she did not expect that more and more ancient books would continue to flow out, which led her all the way north to the gates of the capital.
If the events over the past month, from collecting books to marrying Shao Bo as a second wife to suddenly marrying into the Marquis's mansion, were strange enough, then the beginning of all these strange things was when she collected eight ancient books on her way north.
She called Ruan Gong, "I remember when my father was in Beijing, he had a good friend named Mr. Zhang."
This person owns a small bookstore in the outer city, which is a favorite place for poor scholars to linger.
Later, she returned to Qingzhou and her father passed away. She had little contact with this gentleman. Only when she sent people to Beijing to do business, she would remember to send gifts and visit his home.
Thinking of this at this moment, Du Lingjing called Ruan Gong.
"Go to the outer city and see how Mr. Zhang is doing. And ask him if he knows of any special people in the capital area or even in northern Zhili who have bought or sold a large number of Song Dynasty books."
The origins of those eight Song Dynasty books were quite accidental.
If one book is accidental, it would be fine, but if all books are accidental, they may not be accidental.
Could it be that someone had brought her to Beijing from the very beginning?
Her name is Ruan Gong. "Ask Mr. Zhang to find out for me."
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw the marquis walk in.
Lu Shenru heard her in the outer courtyard ordering people to take out all the things. Now when he saw her standing in front of the desk and giving instructions to Ruan Gong, his eyes lit up.
"What do you want Manager Ruan to do? Is he able to handle it? Do you want me to assign you some more people?"
Du Lingjing looked over and blinked.
"Thank you, sir. That's not necessary. I just asked him to visit his father's old friend."
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