Chapter 19 There's only one bed in the room, you wouldn't be...
As dawn approached, the car entered the town, and the Lu family mansion could be vaguely seen.
Lu Lin woke her up ahead of time.
arrive?
Shen Rong rubbed her eyes, squinted at the front, and slowly opened her mouth wide. Noticing that someone was watching her, she immediately covered her mouth with her hand and pretended to yawn.
My goodness, isn't the Lu family's place huge? It's practically a small manor, and it's the kind of old-fashioned architecture that she likes!
It's even bigger than the gardens she saw in Suzhou during her previous trip!
The Lu family is really rich!
This was Shen Rong's first impression.
But she hadn't considered that such a large house would inevitably have many people, and with more people come more rules.
She and Lu Lin were separated as soon as they got off the car, and she was escorted back to what should have been her and Lu Lin's residence.
A moment later, several maids escorted a middle-aged woman in. Lu Lin wasn't there, and she didn't recognize him either!
Shen Rong awkwardly stood up and could only resort to his ultimate move: a silly grin at the person.
The woman grabbed her hand and asked her with concern, "Are you tired from the journey? Is there anything wrong with you?"
Her eyes kept glancing at Shen Rong's abdomen. "You guys are really something. You kept such a big thing from your family. When your cousin-in-law told me you were pregnant and I was going to be a grandmother, I was stunned. I didn't react for a long time. I thought she was joking. I didn't even care that it was New Year's Eve. I had your dad call. You young people just don't know what's important."
The case is solved; this is the mother-in-law.
Shen Rong lowered her head and pretended to be scared: "Mom, I'm sorry for making you worry. I originally wanted to tell you later."
Lu's mother smiled lovingly and patted her hand: "I know, your cousin-in-law told me everything. She also let it slip that you told her to keep it a secret for now."
This big mouth couldn't keep a secret either!
Indeed, some secrets are better left untold! Secrets that require others to keep them are not really big secrets.
A maid brought over a bowl of porridge, which Madam Lu took, saying, "You must be hungry after a whole day and night of commotion. Here, have some porridge first." It seemed she intended to feed her herself.
This startled Shen Rong, who quickly took it from him, saying, "Mom, I can do it myself."
She endured the disapproving look in her mother's eyes and took a few sips.
No, I can't handle this enthusiasm.
"We prepared plenty of food to eat on the way, so we weren't hungry."
Under her mother's concern, she drank a few more sips, then casually asked, "Mom, where's Lu Lin? Why haven't I seen him come back?"
Lu's mother seemed to have just remembered her son. Since he hadn't been released, "his father must have taken him to the ancestral hall for family discipline."
Shen Rong stood up in fright: "Family...family rules?"
They didn't even tell them they had a child, and they still beat them? I wonder if they'll beat them with a board and drown them in a pig cage?
"It's alright, he's tough and resilient, a few hits won't hurt him."
Lu's mother was truly angry. This unfilial son had kept such a big thing from her. What was he trying to do?
If Yulan hadn't said that the couple seemed to get along very well, I would have thought they were planning something to do to my grandson!
If that's the case, she'll take a knife and head to Pingcheng to fight them to the death.
She's been waiting for a grandson for so many years! This brat deserves a beating!
"Mom, let's go see him. It's not all Lu Lin's fault. It's me... I was afraid everyone would laugh at me, so I didn't let him talk about it?"
Lu's mother said, "Don't speak up for him. I know him well enough. It must have been his idea." However, seeing how concerned her daughter-in-law was about her son, she was still happy.
Unable to resist Shen Rong's pleas, Lu's mother took Shen Rong to the ancestral hall.
A large crowd had gathered outside the ancestral hall. Madam Lu, who had always been smiling in front of Shen Rong, now appeared quite dignified.
The crowd respectfully made way for the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to enter.
After they left, the people began to whisper among themselves.
"This Shen family member actually has the nerve to come back."
Someone hissed and said in a strange tone, "She's carrying the eldest grandson of the eldest son."
I don't know if it's envy or jealousy.
As soon as Shen Rong approached, she saw Lu Lin lying face down on the bench, his clothes off except for a shirt, which was now covered in bloody welts.
Lu's mother was shocked by her husband's ruthlessness; her heart clenched with fear.
Lu Lin gritted his teeth, veins bulging, and large beads of sweat streamed down his face.
The elders of the clan pleaded for mercy, but Lu's father, with a livid face, refused to listen and ordered his men to continue smoking.
The whip was thick, dark and shiny, made of the finest cow tendons. If it struck a person with even greater force, the bone would be visible.
Lu's mother tightened her grip, but with so many people around, and him being the head of the household, her pleading would damage her husband's authority.
Shen Rong couldn't care less about all that. Lu Lin was her protector and her strong support. If he fell, her own life would be in danger.
Seeing that another fight was about to break out, she rushed forward with her eyes closed, spreading her arms to block Lu Lin. Everyone present was so frightened that they stopped in their tracks.
She is now the most precious person in the family, and cannot be hurt. When someone tried to pull her away, Lu's mother was so frightened that she closed her eyes and almost screamed!
In a flash, Lu Lin pinned her down with his hand. Fortunately, the male servant reacted quickly and shifted his hand to the side, reducing the force by seven or eight tenths. Even so, a deep mark was left on the table next to him.
Lu Lin moved, and his wound hurt even more. He hissed angrily, "Do you know what you're doing?!"
Deep in his eyes were emotions he couldn't even understand. He didn't know why he got angry or why he was afraid afterward.
In short, he just wanted to yell at her! He wanted to make her cry, that would be best, but he was being so reckless.
"You wretched child, how dare you insult her!" Father Lu roared, slamming his cane heavily on the ground.
Uncle Lu seized the opportunity to step forward and advised, "Brother, look how well the young couple loves each other. Why do you have to be the bad guy? Why not listen to what they have to say?"
He winked at the two men, signaling them to beg for mercy.
Lu Lin was a tough nut to crack, but Shen Rong wasn't exactly a person of principle. She immediately knelt down, crying her heart out: "Dad, it was my fault. I was too proud. I argued with him before, which alarmed you and made you very angry, causing you to lose face in front of relatives and friends. This time, I thought that if others found out, they would definitely laugh at us, so I didn't let him tell the family. My parents don't know either." So don't blame Lu Lin, it's not like he's keeping it from you alone.
Father Lu remained silent. Of course, he knew that Brother Shen didn't know either, which made him even angrier.
What kind of behavior is this from a son?
"Dad, please don't hit Lu Lin. We won't do it again. Actually, we didn't want to hide it for long. We were planning to turn ourselves in after the New Year."
The way he cautiously peeked at Lu's father amused Lu's third uncle.
"See, I told you it was a misunderstanding. If he really had other ideas, why would he have told Cunwen?" Fu Cunwen was his own nephew, and he was the one who had to clean up this mess.
Seeing that his elder brother's expression was no longer so frightening, he quickly told the executioner to leave.
Mr. Lu, though he had a temper, couldn't vent it on his daughter-in-law, so he could only snort at his son, "You'd better give up your plans now, I'll let you off this time."
The daughter-in-law pleading is one thing, but they still have to go to the Shen family tomorrow, so they can't really beat them half to death and leave them unable to get out of bed.
Lu Lin was taken back to his room, and a doctor was called to apply medicine. Fortunately, no bones or tendons were injured, but it would take ten days to half a month for the wound to fully heal.
Shen Rong sat beside him, applying medicine to his wound. She said with a hint of amusement, "Look, I just saved your life. This wound is really deep."
She gently blew a breath, and Lu Lin felt a chill run down his spine.
"Don't blow your own horn." His voice was somewhat low.
"It won't hurt as much if you blow on it, don't be ungrateful." Now that he's a sick cat, Shen Rong can't help but want to show his fangs.
"I'm not a three-year-old. Hurry up and apply the medicine. Don't do all that nonsense."
Since he said that, Shen Rong scooped out a large piece of ointment and scraped it hard onto his wound.
Lu Lin groaned in pain, the veins on his hands bulging as he gripped the bedpost tightly.
Hmph, you little brat, I can't teach you a lesson. You're so stubborn.
Shen Rong's lips curled up, but she lightened her grip.
Lu's mother stood at the door for a while, somewhat dazed, but the next moment she was happy for her son.
This is how a married couple should be: laughing and joking, playfully bickering, instead of being distant and polite like before, where both treated each other like guests.
"Mutual respect" is not a good phrase.
If a divorce would improve the young couple's relationship, she would accept it. What's the value of face? She could only laugh behind people's backs and not say anything to their faces. As long as her son and daughter-in-law were happy, that was enough.
There are plenty of messy and troublesome things in a large family, so what's a divorce? Can't young couples flirt and tease each other?
Madam Lu smiled, left the medicine and instructed someone to take it in later, then quietly left.
He got a beating as soon as he got back. Even if Lu Lin was made of iron, he would have broken down by now. After taking the medicine, he fell asleep in a daze. In his dream, he seemed to hear someone saying something, but his sleepiness quickly took over his remaining clarity.
When he woke up again, it was already afternoon. Sunlight streamed through a corner of the curtains onto the headboard, and it was a bit too bright, so he reached out to shield his eyes.
He was so startled when he turned around that he almost jumped up. He didn't know when Shen Rong had climbed up as well.
His movements startled Shen Rong, who rubbed her eyes and complained that he was being too dramatic.
"Why...are you sleeping here?"
Shen Rong rolled her eyes, yawned, then got out of bed to put on her shoes, her tone a little sharp: "There's only one bed in the room, you don't expect me to sleep on the floor, do you?"
If that's the case, she'll really make a scene.
Shen Rong stared at him with an incredulous expression.
Lu Lin paused for a moment. This was their hometown, and if they were a married couple and slept in separate rooms, it would cause a lot of trouble. He wisely chose to keep quiet, turned over, and accidentally aggravated his wound.
"What are you doing? Your wound is going to reopen." Shen Rong admired him for being a real man. If she were injured this badly, she would definitely stay in bed for at least ten days.
"It's nothing." Lu Lin frowned, got up and changed into a dark-colored long robe.
Shen Rong stared intently, noting that Lu Lin looked even more dashing in this outfit.
Lu Lin explained why he changed his clothes: "Many elders from the clan will be coming today."
He glanced at Chen Rong's fashionable attire, then gestured towards the wardrobe and said to her, "Would you like to change into something too?"
Fearing she might find the clothes outdated, he changed his words: "It's fine if you don't change them."
Those people were old and unwilling to accept new things, but at most they would grumble behind her back. Her father didn't say anything, and no one dared to criticize her.
Unexpectedly, Shen Rong became interested and ran over to look through the wardrobe. There were several beautiful and exquisite jackets and skirts hanging in the wardrobe.
"They're all new!" she exclaimed in delight.
Lu Lin paused for a second while buttoning her clothes, thinking that it must have been made by her mother in previous years, but she had never worn it before.
In the past two years, when she went home for the Chinese New Year, she only stayed for two nights at most. She probably never even saw these dresses, let alone wore them, and of course, she wouldn't have liked them.
Shen Rong was a woman raised with modern education, a socialite in the city, and pursued Western fashion. Why would she willingly put herself into these old-fashioned antiques?
But now Shen Rong is full of curiosity about these things, and even has a kind of eagerness to try them out.
This is genuine traditional clothing, completely different from those in photo studios; the quality is worlds apart.
She urged Lu Lin, "Are you done yet? I need to change my clothes."
They just treated him like a wounded soldier, and now they want to kick him out. They've turned their backs on him without any mercy.
"I'll wait for you in the flower hall."
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