Chapter 6 My Wife 06 "Choose Me or Him"
Lu Huai didn't have to wait too long. He received a reply from the Duke's Mansion just two days later. However, the servant who delivered the letter was in a hurry and seemed flustered, which made him feel a little confused.
"Why are you so anxious, little brother? What happened in the Duke's Mansion?"
"Do you need my help?" This was the first question that came to Lu Huai's mind, but he was afraid that it would be too abrupt since they were not close friends, so he did not continue.
"No, no, it's my personal matter. I've heard that Lord Lu is kind-hearted, so please let me go." He looked very nervous, as if he was afraid that he had messed up something.
Seeing this, Lu Huai felt it was inconvenient to detain the man for questioning, so he nodded and let him go. However, after returning to the house, he was still thinking about the reason for the man's abnormal behavior, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong.
After asking the well-informed Chunying, I found out that something had happened to Chen Chensheng.
At first, the Duke's Mansion was bustling with young officials and noble sons visiting one after another. But after just one day, for some reason, they all ran back home and disappeared.
It is said that Miss Chen has a very strange temper. She is arrogant and difficult to please, which makes the young masters dissatisfied with her and do not indulge her. They turn around and leave.
The people in the Duke's Mansion panicked and quickly offered some gifts to keep the truth quiet. However, they never expected that the other party didn't need the small change. Not only did they not want it, but they also made a big fuss about it, pretending to want to save all the men in the world whose souls were sucked away by the female demon.
This made the other men who had come to the door and were just waiting to talk to Shen San feel embarrassed to stay any longer and they all said goodbye.
As for those who had not yet come to the mansion to hear the news, they considered themselves to be elegant and proud young men, and were unwilling to be tormented by girls, so most of them directly informed the Duke's Mansion and abandoned the formalities and would not go.
The next morning, someone bravely came to the door, but just as the previous words said, he returned empty-handed.
Chunying spread her hands and sighed, "That's good now. We don't have to wait any longer. Our young master is the only one in the entire royal city who is willing to come and meet Third Miss Shen."
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. "Sir, I really feel that Miss Shen is not worthy of you. You are handsome, talented, and have a bright future. I don't know how many young ladies have dreamed of you."
"That young lady already had an unclear relationship with Master Pei, and now her temper is well known to everyone. It's really..."
"Chun Ying, I know you've always been considerate of me. But I've also had contact with her, and I don't think Miss Shen is as unreasonable as the rumors say. There must be some misunderstanding!"
"Besides, you clever little idiot, don't think too highly of me. Look how you're praising me to the skies."
Lu Huai smiled and rubbed Chunying's head, showing only doting without any trace of affection between men and women.
"Of course I believe you, but I can't make a conclusion without knowing the whole story. I'll go to the Duke's Mansion tomorrow to discuss what happened. I'll share it with you and Xia Lu when I get back."
Only then did Chunying stop chattering and obediently go to do the unfinished work.
She is a person who has a clear distinction between love and hate, and is innocent and straightforward. Although she does things very neatly and efficiently, she is very unforgiving with her little mouth, and she holds grudges very well.
Lu Huai was amused and confused as he recalled the last time Fang Siming came to visit his house. It was just after days of rain that the sky cleared up.
He went to get the book and left for a while. Just then, Master Fang saw that the little girl was very smart and teased her with a few words. Then Chunying, smiling as brightly as a spring flower, led him into a mud pit and hit him hard.
After that, every time Fang Siming came, he would ask this fierce girl if she was not serving him, and he would only dare to come when she was not there.
Her mother said that this girl's bad temper needed to be changed, and she couldn't always let foreign guests laugh at her. But he felt that it was okay to spoil this little sister who was so devoted to him. After all, he, Lu Huai, had always been able to protect the "big family" of his country, so how could he not even protect his "small family".
0359 looked at the immersive role-playing host.
Still immersed in the tragic plot of the protagonist, the top, and the bottom, who then deserted the protagonist and made the poor second-in-command a tool, he said faintly in his sea of consciousness.
"The facts prove that defending the country and protecting the family are not necessarily compatible. Look, your wife was taken away by your boss..." The young man's voice was unintentionally mocking.
Lu Huai simply gave an inscrutable smile. Having finally grown accustomed to the modest and gentlemanly host of this world, and having developed immunity to his stunning beauty, 0359 couldn't resist the sudden cynical and revealing nature of his character.
"Xiaojiu, you are already a mature leader. As ambitious partners, we should not be swayed by bizarre plots. Besides, everything is going well now. If we can keep it up, and I can serve as a tool, then the world line will run normally. That would be great."
"But I can't bear to see the host being wronged. It's very uncomfortable to think that they treat the host so badly."
"Don't take it seriously, Xiaojiu. He's just a passerby. He can't hurt me."
0359 fell silent and stopped disturbing Lu Huai. Instead, he secretly dived into the depths of his sea of consciousness, thinking about the scenes in the romantic world where Lu Huai fought for the hero and heroine, in the martial arts world where he fell off a cliff and lay at the bottom of the valley waiting to bleed to death, and in the modern world where he died alone in a foreign country due to illness.
This role-playing system lacked any pain-reducing medication, leaving the host to bear the suffering on their own, a completely useless act. But even though Lu Huai was already frail and on the verge of collapse, he still gently comforted the fledgling creature.
Without a look, and unable to shed tears, it simply felt utterly uncomfortable. Like the click you get when a mechanical core hasn't been maintained for too long and the gears and bearings stop turning—the dry, aching feeling of hovering.
0359 thought silently, it's better not to bother the host, it always makes trouble...
Lu Huai did not receive any response from 0359, a relative from the same reincarnation company, and felt a little lost.
But the mission does not wait for anyone. This small world can only accommodate the elegant and easy-going second male lead Lu Huai, but not the weathered traveler Lu Huai.
Apart from the deception and exploitation in the plot, he actually still has some empathy for the protagonist. Lu Huai can only be the "Lu Huai" of the small world here, just like Shen Chensheng can only be the "Miss Shen San" in the Duke's Mansion.
But he was willing, but Shen Chensheng was not. That's why Shen Chensheng wanted to change at all costs, even if it meant ruining her reputation as a woman, even if it meant marrying a man who coveted "her", and later even offered her body as a betrothal gift, taking advantage of the emperor's favor to seize power in her own hands.
Lu Huai felt that he might have love for Chu Yuanting, but not necessarily more than for the original owner. It was just the help given by his status, and Chu's value was higher than Lu's.
Chu Yuanting, too, was deeply concerned about the Duke's Mansion. By leveraging the devoted Shen Chensheng, he could kill two birds with one stone. He secured his throne while also possessing a beautiful woman. How could this favoritism, which resembled an exchange of favors, be merely the fleeting lustful fascination briefly mentioned in the novel?
"Shen Sheng of the Shen family...I'm looking forward to meeting you again."
He murmured, now like a whisper rubbing against his ear, filled with the love of a young scholar for his beloved and the anticipation of their reunion. The lingering tenderness in his tone startled Xia Lu, who was about to serve him lunch.
Although Chunying had just quietly told her that the young master just wanted to find out the situation and would not really bring them a mistress, she had always been introverted and had never seen the young master like this.
It’s hard to say this time, she thought secretly.
At the General's Mansion, Pei Yuqiong had a somewhat embarrassing dream after returning from the flower banquet.
In his dream, he didn't loosen his grip on the man's waist, but tightened it, domineeringly holding him captive in his strong arms. A pitiful pinkish hue suddenly appeared on that familiar, elegant face. His slender fingers pressed against his chest, trying to push away, but it was impossible...
The next morning, Pei Yu encountered some awkward situations. With a sullen face, he ordered his bed changed and the bedding replaced. However, his burly father, Pei Zhi, found out and teased him, saying he was young and ignorant of the beauty of women. He had finally learned his lesson after attending the Qionghua Banquet.
With a gloomy face, he drove away several pretty maids sent by his family. After staying in the military camp for a long time, he had heard all kinds of dirty talk. Pei Yu was not a fool who knew nothing about human affairs.
But he was panicked and horrified that he actually had such dirty thoughts about his true friend, and such thoughts were probably a humiliation to a gentleman like Yan Jin.
Based on his understanding of Lu Huai, he was afraid that if he really couldn't help but show such affection, the two of them would not even be able to be ordinary friends.
So he gathered his thoughts, stayed away from Lu Huai for two days, and suppressed his shameful emotions. But God knew how much he missed him!
When he felt he had adjusted and everything was back to normal, Pei Yu thought of inviting Lu Huai out to Chunfeng Tower for a meal and music, but his friend declined due to being busy. Although he felt disappointed, he could do nothing about it. He even scolded the old Hanlin officials for the excessive amount of work they had assigned to Yan Jin.
But why did he let him hear the rumor that Lu Huai was going to visit Shen San at the Duke’s Mansion?
Did he reject me in order to go on a date with Shen San?
Thinking of the fact that Lu Huai also painted Shen Chensheng and wrote poems for her at the Qionghua Banquet, he was only concerned about his own upset at that time and did not notice whether Lu Huai had already paid much attention to Shen Chensheng.
Thinking about it now, Lu Huai's frequent glances in a certain direction with a tender look, the uncomfortable and stiff expression when he saw his works... so many overlooked details suddenly appeared in my mind.
Pei Yu smiled bitterly. It turned out that his attention had always been on his friend, but he was deliberately forcing himself to ignore it and deceiving himself.
He now connected all the clues together, and the process of coming up with the answer was surprisingly smooth: Yan Jin admired Yu Chen San.
Then what is he... then what is he? Is he a stumbling block that prevents the two of them from becoming a pair of loving couple?
Although Pei Yu and Lu Huai admired each other and were considered outstanding in their respective fields by outsiders, a perfect match and a pair of close friends with equal strength, only he knew that he was far inferior to Yan Jin, both in terms of his personality and his way of dealing with things.
He did not indulge in sentimentality and think that such an outstanding and admired Yan Jin would think highly of him, and he did not dare to imagine that such a gentleman as clear as spring water would fall in love with him.
But he still didn't believe that his friend's feelings for Shen Chensheng, whom he had only met once, were deeper than his own. Perhaps it was because he, as a man, had fallen in love with his friend, and he couldn't help but put himself and Shen San, his sister who grew up with him, on opposite sides of the scale.
Although he knew that it was unreasonable to compare these two different emotions, Pei Yu inexplicably wanted to know the answer.
Without hesitation, he lifted up the table and stood up with a crisp "bang". He walked out without taking anything with him.
After walking for quite a while, he realized that he hadn't prepared any gifts. Thinking that even such rules and etiquette could be completely forgotten, Pei Yu mocked himself for being so out of his mind. He returned home to pick up the two cans of fine daughter's red wine that he had prepared for the meeting at Chunfeng Tower before setting off again.
Because General Pei had a good relationship with Lu Huai, he was allowed to pass all the way to Lu's mansion as if he were entering an empty place.
Lu Huai was reading a book when he heard familiar footsteps. He knew who the visitor was and smiled as he called out, "Huaiyuan."
However, he never expected that his friend, contrary to his cheerful attitude of "hearing his voice before seeing him", looked at him silently for a moment, not knowing what he was thinking about, but his eyes were a little red.
The young general had always been resolute and persevering. He had never seen Pei Yu so fragile.
Lu Huai frowned and was about to ask his friend in a gentle voice what had happened. He would do his best to support him if he needed any help.
Then he heard Pei Yu's hoarse voice ask him a question that was like thunder out of the blue.
"Yan Jin, if you can only choose between me and Shen San, who would you choose?"
The author has something to say:
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Modified version: enriched some details and made the straight ball more reasonable.
The strange and complex emotional relationship has begun to emerge~
Pei Yu is a good dog but Su is so straight
Thank you ladies for your support of my newbie! I was so happy to receive the nutrient solution for the first time.
Your support is my motivation!
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