now
With the eaves soaring high, Zhong Linlan walked to the eaves and looked at the two people chasing each other in the bamboo forest, listening carefully to the sounds coming from them.
When he first met the Third Madam, he knew that there were no two people in the world who looked alike, and that it didn't mean anything.
The differences in people's appearances are not limited to facial features. A frown, a smile, a gesture, can make two similar faces appear completely different.
The Third Madam was dignified and elegant, inspiring respect in all who beheld her.
The female thief was reckless and ignorant, which annoyed people.
She is easily trusting, which may have led to her being put on the wanted list or being tricked into going somewhere.
Whenever he appears in his dreams, he is always in a terrible and pitiful situation.
But who else could it be but her, the woman running through the bamboo grove with a book in her hand, drawing calls from the servants behind her?
She was dressed in fine clothes, her cheeks were full, and she was living such a good life, which was something he could never have imagined.
It seems that all the worries of the past were just because of my affection, and all the time and energy I wasted were in vain. The longing in my midnight dreams has become laughable.
He stepped onto the pebbly path, as if afraid of startling the fish, his steps were light.
When we met on the road, seeing her stop in a panic and gasp in fright, my lost heart felt a little comforted.
"Greetings, Lord Zhong."
Lu Fei ran forward, shielded Mu Qing behind him, and gave a proper bow.
Zhong Linlan smiled and helped him up. "Xiao Fei, why are you being so formal? Just call me Big Brother, like before."
Lu Fei's expression was resolute, as if he had made up his mind. "I used to call you 'elder brother' because I was a superior. Now that you've become an imperial censor, if I still call you 'elder brother,' wouldn't it seem like I'm trying to curry favor? It's more appropriate to call you 'sir.'"
It's as if I didn't call him "big brother" before or after yesterday afternoon.
Zhong Linlan glanced at him, "Fine." Then she looked behind him, "This person..."
Lu Fei turned around quickly and shouted, "Why are you still here? Don't you know how to avoid me?"
Mu Qing: "...!"
How can anyone tolerate being scolded by a child?
She was annoyed, but her earlier fright had subsided considerably. She took two steps to the side and bowed respectfully, saying, "Greetings, Lord Zhong."
A few steps away, Zhong Linlan appeared even taller, with her black hair adorned with jade hairpins and her azure-green clothes matching the color of the bamboo. No wonder I hadn't noticed her earlier.
He returned the greeting with a polite but distant smile: "Are you Miss Lu? It's quite surprising how much you resemble my teacher's wife."
Mu Qing nodded slightly and answered, "Yes."
She is now Lu Qingxue and would never admit her original identity. Maintaining this distance is for the best.
Lu Fei said coldly from the side, "Lord Zhong, are you just making conversation for the sake of it? Anyone who has entered Weizhou City should have heard that the third wife of the Lu family and her daughter are almost identical."
Zhong Linlan nodded and said, "Similar things are often said, but most of the time they are exaggerated and therefore not very credible, so I didn't take them seriously."
Several calls of "Miss" came from near and far. Ning Gu and the others caught up, hurriedly bowed, and surrounded Mu Qing.
Ning Gu gave a subtle hint, and Mu Qing, sensing something was amiss, curtsied and stepped aside, letting them tidy her appearance.
Lu Fei also got a lot of snow dust on his hands from the forest, but he didn't care and just kept exchanging witty remarks with Zhong Linlan.
"Isn't Lord Zhong a busybody?"
They blatantly chased people away.
Zhong Linlan smiled and nodded, patting his shoulder. "It's not much, it's not much either. I'll continue to bother you at your residence for a few more days, please bear with me." With that, she walked forward and strode away.
Lu Fei glared at his retreating figure, vigorously rubbing the spot on his shoulder where he had been slapped, and said angrily, "He wants to stay for a few more days, what an outrageous thing to do!"
Mu Qing nodded secretly, feeling the same way as Lu Fei for the first time, only to hear him turn around and vent his anger on her.
"Hey, why are you talking to him? Don't you remember you're getting married?"
Lu Fei strode over, his brows furrowed and eyes blazing, exuding the air of a little tyrant from the Lu family.
Shiyu was so frightened that she retreated, and the other maids were also trembling with fear.
Mu Qinghan said coldly, her face grim, "Lu Fei, you must remember that you cannot yell at your sister. Moreover, given the situation just now, it would have been impolite not to greet her."
Seeing her serious expression, as if her mother had possessed him, Lu Fei shrank back, turned his head away, and snorted.
"Don't blame me for not warning you, that guy is a lecher. He stared at Mother the first time he saw her. When Father asked him if he was married, he asked Mother if she had a sister. You have to be careful, he might set his sights on you."
It didn't sound very respectable, but Mu Qing quickly realized why Zhong Linlan was acting this way. She tried to defend him, "But he didn't look at me much in front of me; he was completely gentlemanly."
Lu Fei scoffed, "Of course he is different now than he was a few years ago. Back then, he had just arrived in the capital and had not yet taken the imperial examination. He was not his father's student. After these two years in officialdom, he is even better at disguising himself."
"..." Mu Qing couldn't argue with him. "I'll be careful. You don't need to say anything more."
Having gotten rid of her troublesome younger brother, Mu Qing returned to her small courtyard, Ningxiang Residence, only to hear that her cousin, Lu Tongxue, had come looking for her.
Inside the warm pavilion, sunlight streamed through the window, making it bright and cozy. Lu Tongxue was resting her chin on her hand, leaning against the table, half asleep. Hearing the noise outside, she quickly sat up straight and sat properly. When she saw her host enter the room, she stood up and called out "Sister Qing," displaying a completely obedient and sweet demeanor.
When Mu Qing saw her, it was like seeing a suddenly docile wildcat. He didn't dare to approach easily and called out from a distance, "Have you been waiting long, Tong-meimei?"
"It's alright." Lu Tongxue forced a smile. She had been waiting for almost half an hour. If her mother hadn't told her to, she wouldn't have waited here.
She said, not what she really meant, "Sister Qing, these are little trinkets I brought back for you from Dingzhou. I hope you like them."
On the rosewood round table sat two exquisite gift boxes. As Lu Tongxue spoke, she opened the boxes. The square box contained a filigree-inlaid saucer, made of strands of gold wire and inlaid with five-colored gemstones, dazzlingly bright. The flat box contained a set of kingfisher feather and pearl headdress with floral and bird patterns, exquisitely crafted and beautifully detailed.
"This is no trinket," Mu Qing exclaimed in surprise. "It's extremely valuable."
Since entering the Lu family, she had received many gifts, but she had never received a gift from this cousin before. Unexpectedly, the cousin was very generous.
Lu Tongxue was reluctant, but she still followed her mother's request and said, "In a few days, Sister Qing will marry into the Prince's Mansion. At that time, she may still complain that these things are not good enough."
Mu Qing frowned. "I'm not that kind of person."
"If you don't mind, Sister Qing, you must accept it."
Her tone was almost too sweet.
Mu Qing couldn't refuse, and since he had accepted a gift from his cousin, he put in extra effort. Knowing that Lu Tongxue would be staying in Weizhou for a long time, he asked her if she was settling in well. Knowing that she was going to find a husband, he asked her what kind of man she liked.
The two usually barely exchanged a few words, but today they really opened up and chatted for over an hour.
"I heard that there are many temple fairs in Weizhou. It was at one of the temple fairs that the young prince met his sister. What were the circumstances?"
Lu Tongxue looked at her cousin in front of her and silently sized her up, thinking that she was just as fair-skinned and beautiful as her cousin, not inferior at all.
Mu Qing took a sip of tea and began to chatter on and on.
“My family originally didn’t want me to go to the temple fair. I had to beg them for a long time before they let me go out. When I went out, I not only had to wear a veiled hat and be accompanied by a large group of people, but I could only go to places with few people. But I was still happy to finally go out.”
"While I was strolling down the street, I heard someone shout 'Stop thief!' Not long after, a dark figure came running from the front of the road. The constable chasing behind him was about to lose him, so I took out a slingshot I had just bought and fired two shots at the dark figure."
She pointed to a water-polished slingshot on the shelf and said with pride, "The first shot hit his waist, and the second shot scattered his hair bun. The thief, whether from pain or fright, screamed and fell to the ground, and was arrested on the spot."
Lu Tongxue glanced at the slingshot, showing no interest whatsoever, and said, "What about the young prince? I'd like to hear how you and the young prince met."
Mu Qing smiled at her, "That's what I was talking about. After the constables took the petty thief away, someone found the two bullets I fired and blocked the road, saying he insisted on returning them to me in person. He was being rather unreasonable, but no one dared to stop him because he was a prince."
This matter has been told countless times, and all the young ladies and wives of the family listen to it as gossip. But following the advice of the Third Madam, she always glossed over it briefly each time she got to the end, and no matter how much people pressed her for details, she would not say more.
Lu Tongxue had no intention of asking further questions; she couldn't learn this way of getting to know people. So she simply said, "There's also a temple fair on the first day of the second lunar month. Sister Qing, let's go together."
Mu Qing agreed.
With her wedding approaching, she rarely goes out anymore. However, she has received many benefits from the Lu family in the past two years, and spending time with her cousin from the Lu family is a way of repaying them.
After seeing Lu Tongxue off, Mu Qing began reading "A Thousand Poems" until she fell asleep.
In the dead of night, I suddenly dreamt of my youth.
On a snowy night with howling winds, a panicked female thief, her face covered, ran into a dark alley. She tried to pry open more than a dozen doors, but to no avail, until at the end of the alley, she discovered a house with light shining through its window paper.
She walked to the door and knocked for a long time. Finally, the door opened, and the young man who opened it was a head taller than her.
The female thief immediately blocked the door, held a dagger to his neck, and said fiercely, "Robbery! Don't you dare scream!"
Her voice was clear and melodious, like a nightingale's song, revealing that she was a young girl.
The young man paused for a moment, then nodded.
"Who else...who else is in your family?"
"I live alone."
"real?"
"real."
The female thief breathed a sigh of relief, "Then, let's go in!"
The boy stepped back and muttered, "These days, even stutterers are starting to rob people."
The female thief angrily retorted, "I...I'm not a stutterer! It's just that it's too cold, and my tongue is frozen and not very flexible."
The boy glanced at her. "Your hands too?"
In the dim light, the dagger gleamed, swaying incessantly with its owner's trembling hand.
Enraged, the female thief yelled, "Enough nonsense, close the door!"
With the cold wind gone, it wasn't so cold anymore. As soon as the female thief entered the house, she relaxed and forced the boy to get her some food while she looked around the room alone.
Inside the room was a worn-out square table with a dim lamp burning on it, and a book lying open beside it. The female thief, somewhat curious, took off the cloth covering her face when the young man brought her a steamed bun, and asked as she ate, "What's written in the book?"
The boy asked, "Qingqing, do you also want to read books?"
Upon hearing her name, the female thief was startled and turned around. She saw that the young man had grown much taller in the blink of an eye, and his white clothes had turned into a turquoise brocade robe. His originally cold and stern eyes had become as gentle as spring water. He smiled slightly and spoke casually.
"I knew it was you."
...
Inside the embroidered curtains and gauze tent, Mu Qing suddenly opened her eyes.
It was still late at night, all was quiet, the bedding was soft and warm, she was slightly sweating, and her heart was racing.
She should have realized that if she could recognize Zhong Linlan at a glance, Zhong Linlan would definitely recognize her too, but he didn't reveal a single trace. Why? What was he thinking?
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