Chapter 100 The determination is not to ask you to pay back
Cheng Xianzhi was looking for a craftsman. He had not seen Lu Tingwan's drawings, but he could find out the power of the object she wanted to forge from the craftsmen she had visited. The Ministry of Works had talented people, and he had to rely on talent to find such a person.
Three days later, Lu Tingwan returned home after a day off, planning to visit the old craftsman first. If she could forge a sunset bow and give it to Xie Zhao, then she would have repaid Xie Zhao's kindness.
However, if she went to the old carpenter's residence, even though Cheng Xianzhi recommended her, it would be fine for her to go alone, but Cheng Xianzhi had never thought of asking her to go alone.
After returning to Yansheng Hall, Feng Xin took out a piece of letter.
"Second Madam, this is the letter that Young Master Luo sent two days ago."
Lu Tingwan was choosing a hairpin in front of her makeup box. Her makeup today was light and fresh, so she wanted to choose a simple and elegant one. After choosing for a long time, she finally chose a plum blossom hairpin.
"Luo Yunchu?" Lu Tingwan recalled that she had met him once on Changqing Street half a month ago.
"Let me see it." Feng Xin took out the letter from the cabinet in front of the dressing box.
The handwriting above says "Jiang Yanli's personal letter" instead of Lu Tingwan's personal letter.
She pondered for a moment and tore open the seal.
Luo Yunchu mentioned in the letter that among the craftsmen in Kyoto who could forge bows and arrows, perhaps she could look for one among the old craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry. Luo Yunchu happened to have found one, and as long as she got the permission documents from the Ministry of Industry, her business would be done.
It was not easy for Luo Yunchu to use his connections to get a document from the Ministry of Works, so he first wrote to Lu Tingwan, saying that if she accepted, he would do it for her even if it cost him everything he had.
But he didn't know that the person he was looking for was the one Cheng Xianzhi mentioned, and he could get the permission document with just a word.
Lu Tingwan raised the corners of his eyes and handed the letter back to Feng Xin, but said nothing.
Feng Xin didn't know what the letter was about, so he asked, "Second Madam, what's happening with Young Master Luo?"
"Take this letter and burn it," Lu Tingwan stood up and walked to Mu Shi, picking up a light blue coat. "From now on, we will not accept anything sent to Yanshengtang by the Luo Mansion or the Chamber of Commerce."
"Yes, Second Madam."
If it was official business sent to the mansion by the Chamber of Commerce, it would naturally go to the study and not Yansheng Hall.
Since she had decided not to have any more entanglement with Luo Yunchu, she would not leave any room for the other party to have hope.
At three quarters in the morning, Lu Tingwan came out of Yansheng Hall. According to the address provided by Cheng Xianzhi, the man lived in an alley in the north of the city, and it would take more than an hour to get there by carriage from the mansion.
As he was about to step out of the mansion, Cheng Xianzhi's carriage happened to stop there. Lu Ting went forward and bowed to greet him.
Cheng Xianzhi did not dismount. He lifted the curtain to reveal half of his face and said in a clear voice, "Come up."
"Where are you going?" Lu Tingwan raised his head slightly and stared inside intently.
"In the north of the city, at the old craftsman's place." The curtain was lowered, and Lu Tingwan got on the carriage without much hesitation.
He knew that Lu Tingwan was on a day off today and she had only one business to do outside the palace, so he rushed back to the mansion after court was dismissed and luckily he caught up with her.
But there was no sign of anxiety on his face, and he remained calm and composed.
When they arrived at the old craftsman's place, Lu Tingwan took out the blueprint, and a majestic bow and arrow came into view. While Cheng Xianzhi was daydreaming, he could hear the conversation between Lu Tingwan and the craftsman in his peripheral vision.
"Girl, do you want to make a bow like this? Do you want to?"
"Old sir, this bow is extremely important. I have been searching for it in the capital for a long time, but no one can make it. I had no choice but to come to you. Could you please look at the blueprint? How long would it take to make a bow like this?"
"This bow is extremely lethal," the old craftsman said, examining the blueprint carefully. "What will you use it for?"
"Send it to someone."
"This must have taken a lot of thought. Is it a gift for your lover?" The old craftsman glanced at Cheng Xianzhi beside him.
Lu Tingwan smiled without saying anything, and took out the materials he had found on the black market. "These are the materials I found. See if there is anything I can help with."
She spent a lot of time and effort to forge such a top-notch bow and arrow for Xie Zhao. How important was this person in her heart that she was willing to spend so much effort to forge it?
Finally, the old craftsman finished discussing the details with Lu Tingwan. Lu Tingwan did not stay long and returned to Cheng Mansion with Cheng Xianzhi.
The matter was finally settled, and she felt relieved. She was in a good mood and lifted the curtains to enjoy the street scenes along the way with great interest.
"Forging this Sunset Bow is truly not easy." Cheng Xianzhi was the first to break the silence.
Lu Tingwan looked back and met that gentle look. She wondered if she had seen it wrong.
"Thank you very much. If it weren't for you, I don't know when I would have found such an old craftsman who helped me get the permit." Lu Tingwan smiled. Cheng Xianzhi realized that the distance between them seemed to be slowly closing, and Lu Tingwan's guard against him also dissipated.
That is enough.
"No problem, it's just a piece of cake." Cheng Xianzhi slowly looked away.
"But there's one more thing I need to trouble you with." Lu Tingwan said after some thought, "Palace Master Hong has been increasingly frail lately, and is no longer able to handle the affairs of Jinhua Palace. Most of the responsibilities have fallen on me, and I'm afraid I won't have time to leave the palace. Could you please help me supervise the forging of bows and arrows?"
Lu Tingwan waited quietly for a response.
Cheng Xianzhi said "hmm".
Lu Tingwan's smile deepened: "After this is accomplished, I will definitely thank Master Cheng for this kindness."
"Oh?" Cheng Xianzhi was a little interested this time. "How would you like to thank me?"
Lu Tingwan hasn’t made up her mind yet, but she will remember this favor.
"I told you, I'm not asking you to pay it back. This isn't a deal," Cheng Xianzhi said.
Lu Tingwan thought to herself that although this man was profit-oriented and scheming, he had never thought of harming her life. Now, her impression of him was a little better.
Gongsun Xue went to Weiyang Tower more and more often. Since her last encounter with Jiang Qingsheng, she saw him several times. However, Jiang Qingsheng did not talk to her much at first, but after a few visits, he began to approach her and even sent some tea and drinks to Gongsun Xue's private room. Gongsun Xue accepted the greetings several times, and it would be rude not to return the greetings.
She simply went to Jiang Qingsheng's private room to express her gratitude. Jiang Qingsheng put away his usual dissolute look and acted like a modest gentleman. Gongsun Xue's vigilance gradually melted away. During the conversation, she felt that this man was very compatible with her.
He was charming and suave, and he could always make her happy, a feeling she didn't have with Cheng Xianzhi.
All of this is under Jiang Qingsheng's control. For someone who has been hanging out in places of entertainment for many years, knowing how to understand the psychology of these women is a piece of cake.
He is a hunter who patiently waits for his prey to take the bait, but he doesn't know that he has already been calculated and spied on.
Han Zhou sat down on the wooden chair in the study, drinking hot tea: "Jiang Qingsheng has been in Weiyang Tower these days, and Gongsun Xue also often goes there."
"Well," Cheng Xianzhi said nonchalantly, "Any other contact?"
"Gongsun Xue went to Jiang Qingsheng's private room today and stayed there for half an hour before coming out. It's obvious that the two of them got along well. Otherwise, given Gongsun Xue's personality and the hostile relationship between the Gongsun, Jiang, and Cheng families, she wouldn't have stayed long."
"Well, don't make it public, just keep watching. If necessary, you can make it happen." He said calmly, not caring at all about who Gongsun Xue was interacting with, but instead wanted to make this matter happen.
They were all brewing an unknown trap. He had been struggling in the court for the past few years, and those who wanted to plot against him ended up being imprisoned. He had never lost.
In the next few days, Cheng Xianzhi went to Yingyue Pavilion for meals every few days as usual. After meals, he returned to his study to continue working. During their conversation, he mentioned Lu Tingwan intentionally or unintentionally, and did not forget to care about Gongsun Xue and asked her to take care of her health.
While feeling his kindness in giving, she also envied him for caring about others. The piercing emotions were madly devouring her sanity.
This made her even more angry.
It was unknown what kind of strange disease Hong Zhanggong had contracted. Empress Dowager Jiang asked Lu Tingwan to invite imperial doctors to diagnose him several times, but they were unable to cure the disease or determine its cause. It was originally a case of discomfort, which improved for a while but then recurred again. Finally, the disease became more severe and he was on his deathbed. Empress Dowager Jiang could only send someone to send him to a Jiang family farm in the suburbs of Beijing, saying that he was recuperating, but in fact he was just waiting to die.
Hong Zhanggong served Queen Mother Jiang for decades, so this ending can be considered decent.
Less than half a month after being sent out of the manor, she died, and the affairs of Jinhua Palace were completely taken over by Lu Tingwan. Since she entered Jinhua Palace, Queen Mother Jiang had secretly sent people to monitor her. Except for her days off and return home, her whereabouts were not suspicious.
It wouldn't be difficult for Empress Dowager Jiang to promote someone capable of handling the situation in the palace after the death of Hong Zhanggong. Almost half of the senior officials in the Shanggong Bureau came from Jinhua Palace, but she was more interested in using Lu Tingwan at the moment.
After Lu Tingwan became the head of Jinhua Palace, she not only assisted Empress Dowager Jiang in managing the harem, but also served as a female official who accompanied Empress Dowager Jiang in governing the country from behind the curtain.
Gongsun Xue and Jiang Qingsheng met more and more frequently, and they got along very well. However, Gongsun Xue felt guilty. Knowing that the Jiang family was not in harmony with the two families, she had thought about cutting off this abnormal relationship, but Cheng Xianzhi's indifference and coldness forced her to take this lonely path.
Cheng Xianzhi had been visiting Lu Tingwan at the palace quite a bit lately, often asking for meetings regarding bow and arrow forging. Lu Tingwan was incredibly busy, even busier than even him, the Minister of State. Cheng Xianzhi saw it all, and while he could have easily discussed the progress with her during her day off, he couldn't help but want to see her.
After meeting her, she never showed much emotion and was as calm as an ordinary person. Lu Tingwan wanted to say several times that if it was nothing serious, they could talk about it after she returned home after a rest. However, thinking that she had asked Cheng Xianzhi to help supervise this matter, and that he was rigorous and well-intentioned, she let it go. At most, she could finish those palace affairs by staying up late at night when she returned home.
As time went by, rumors spread inside and outside the palace, in the former court and the harem, that Minister Cheng stood at the palace wall every day waiting to see Director Lu.
Gongsun Xue heard these rumors and ordered Luzhu to find out Cheng Xianzhi's whereabouts. She then learned that he often went to the north of the city just to forge a crossbow for Lu Tingwan.
Gongsun Xue made a special trip back to the Zhongshu Ling Mansion for this purpose, and learned from Gongsun Yin that if he wanted to forge powerful bows and crossbows outside, he must obtain permission from the Ministry of Works. However, this document from the Ministry of Works was not easy to obtain, even for Cheng Xianzhi, the Minister of the Six Ministries.
It had to be filed and submitted to the Secretariat first, then reviewed by the Ministry of Personnel, and only when it finally reached Cheng Xianzhi's hands would it be valid. Gongsun Xue didn't know why he went to so much trouble to get this document.
However, he did things according to the rules, so the people from the Secretariat and the Ministry of Personnel would naturally not make excuses.
Gongsun Yin heard the whole story from Gongsun Xue and realized that Cheng Xianzhi had made the crossbow for Lu Tingwan.
Adding to the rumors from the previous dynasty, Gongsun Yin took it seriously and said, "Cheng Xianzhi and Lu Tingwan's relationship is definitely not ordinary. Originally, because of Lu Mingqian, he was wary and exploited them, and then many incidents arose. It's no longer that simple. You two had a relationship in the past, so you should talk to Cheng Xianzhi more and make plans for yourself."
Gongsun Yin also found out a little about Luzhu's search for medicine for Gongsun Xue. Perhaps because of this, Cheng Xianzhi and her had a rift, and even the two families had different views on court affairs. Gongsun Yin was unsure and did not dare to tell Cheng Xianzhi rashly, so he could only look for clues from Gongsun Xue.
"Father, Xue'er understands."
"Do you understand?" Gongsun Yin glanced at her. "What you did with Luzhu earlier wasn't entirely honest. Cheng Xianzhi is so shrewd. If you weren't absolutely sure, you shouldn't have done it. Don't draw fire and end up helping others in vain. How will the Lu family treat Cheng Xianzhi then?"
Gongsun Yin's words were like a revelation to Gongsun Xue. Gongsun Xue didn't know Lu Tingwan. In her memory, Lu Tingwan had never taken the initiative to get entangled with Cheng Xianzhi. Instead, Cheng Xianzhi had lost his bottom line for her many times.
Lu Tingwan didn't love him, but he was willing to throw himself into the quagmire for her. His eyes were already filled with naked hatred. She hated Cheng Xianzhi's recklessness and hated Lu Tingwan for being able to easily get the true love that she couldn't get even with all her efforts.
"Xue'er knows she's wrong." Gongsun Xue gritted her teeth, her hands trembling. Every time she thought about it more deeply, she exposed herself to more embarrassment. Perhaps from her wedding night, she should have realized that Cheng Xianzhi didn't love her, and everything was for profit and calculation!
"Father, Xue'er knows what to do." Her pupils were full of determination.
Gongsun Yin sighed, shook his head and told his servants to send it out.
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