Chapter 2:
Spring rain had pattered against the window ledge all night, and outside, the sky gradually lightened to dawn. In a deep courtyard of the Marquis’s Estate, a short, sharp cry suddenly rang out.
Er Qing, who had been keeping watch in the outer room, threw on her outer garment and hurried inside, asking with concern, “Young Lady, did you have another nightmare? This won’t do. When dawn breaks, we should have the estate doctor come take your pulse.”
Their young lady had been waking from dreams with screams every few days this past month, and she had lost a full circle of weight.
When she reached her side, she saw that her master was covered in tears and was startled. “Young Lady, what’s wrong? Are you unwell anywhere?”
Gazing at the lively personal maidservant before her, Xie Wanning bit her lip hard in disbelief until she felt the sharp pain, then murmured, “I had a dream. It was too terrifying.”
“Was it that same dream from this period?” Er Qing took out a handkerchief to wipe her master’s tears and gently comforted her, “Young Lady, don’t be afraid. Dreams are all fake.”
Xie Wanning dazedly grasped her hand and suddenly smiled. “Yes, they’re all fake.”
She had been having these intermittent dreams for half a month. In the dreams, Lu Ziyan, who had gone to suppress bandits, returned safely to the capital but brought back a concubine.
It was said that this concubine was of maidservant origin but had a face of peerless beauty.
It was said that he cherished this concubine like a treasure, even defying his own mother for her.
It was said that for this concubine, he wanted to break off the engagement in person, but Old Madam Lu threatened to die before he was willing to fulfill the marriage contract.
After her elder brother personally went to the Lu Residence to demand that he dismiss that concubine and was refused, her parents advised her to seek another match, but she persisted in marrying him like lard had covered her heart.
They were childhood sweethearts who grew up together, engaged since childhood, and she had never imagined marrying anyone else.
The previous dreams had always been like a thin mist; she hadn’t taken them seriously until tonight.
Er Qing had died right before her eyes, ordered to be beaten to death by Lu Ziyan himself. The scene in the dream was too real, and the pain and regret of the dream self seemed to carry over to her body, making it impossible for her to ignore anymore.
…Was this really just a dream?
Xie Wanning pursed her lips, wiped away her tears, and asked, “Didn’t Old Madam Lu say yesterday that Lu Ziyan had sent a letter? When is he returning to the capital?”
“Any day now.” Her young lady usually called Young Master Lu “Brother Ziyan,” so calling him by full name and surname suddenly surprised Er Qing. She paused slightly and asked, “Young Lady, you don’t look well. Do you still plan to go to the Wuyuan Marquis’s Estate today?”
Lu Ziyan had been ordered by His Majesty to suppress bandits in Bianzhou. Before leaving, he had specifically instructed Xie Wanning that if she had nothing to do, she should go to the Wuyuan Marquis’s Estate to keep company with his elderly grandmother, his widowed mother who had been alone for many years, and his aunt.
The Lu Family was loyal and valiant through all generations. Lu Ziyan’s grandfather, uncles, and his father had all died in battle one after another, leaving several female relatives to guard the vast family estate. Lu Ziyan was the Lu Family’s only remaining male heir.
For this sole sapling, not only did the several madams of the Lu Family refuse to let him go to the border, but even His Majesty could not bear to see the century-old Marquis’s Estate lose its line of succession. Aside from some non-dangerous bandit suppression and case investigation tasks, he had never been sent to the front lines to kill the enemy.
A couple of years ago, the border was in urgent need of outstanding generals, and Lu Ziyan repeatedly requested orders several times. Having been personally taught by Old General Lu, he was exceptional in military strategy and martial arts, but His Majesty firmly refused, saying only to have a child for the Lu Family after marriage before discussing anything else.
Therefore, soon after Xie Wanning came of age, their wedding date had already been set.
Their marriage was not only a concern for the Lu and Xie families but also something His Majesty cared deeply about. In the dream, on the day of the wedding, several imperial consorts from the imperial palace had even added to her dowry.
It was clearly a blessed marriage envied by all.
Yet less than half a month after their marriage, she received news that Liu Manrou was pregnant.
Xie Wanning closed her eyes, unwilling to recall further. She swallowed the emotions surging up again and hoarsely said, “Go.”
The Xie and Lu families were old family friends. She and Lu Ziyan were childhood sweethearts, and the several madams of the Lu Family had watched her grow up, treating her no differently from their own daughter. But in the dream, after Liu Manrou became pregnant, they softened their attitude toward this noble concubine of concubine origin.
They even advised her in turn that as the matriarch of the Lu Family, she should consider the Lu Family offspring and know how to be virtuous and magnanimous.
They even agreed, after the birth of the eldest illegitimate son, to Lu Ziyan’s request to elevate Liu Manrou to second wife as an equal wife.
The Lu Family offspring were too thin, and they had longed for grandsons for too long. Xie Wanning could understand their actions, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t feel heartbroken.
The her in the dream was truly heartbroken.
The elders who had been kind and loving to her before the marriage all changed after the wedding and after the concubine became pregnant.
But today she still had to go to the Lu Residence. Xie Wanning remembered that in the first dream, when Lu Ziyan returned home, she had been at the Lu Residence accompanying the several Lu madams.
Perhaps it was today. Of course she had to go.
She had to go verify whether the scenes in the dream were truly heaven taking pity on her and giving her foreknowledge of the future.
…………
The sky lightened to dawn, and the rain that had fallen all night gradually stopped. Xie Wanning pushed open the window pane, and the spring morning light shone on her face. The long-lost warmth made the corners of her lips curve up slightly.
Er Xia entered from outside with a smiling face and happened to see her young lady half-leaning by the window, her face brimming with vibrant smiles that made even the spring crabapple blossoms in the courtyard, waiting to bloom, pale in comparison. She was somewhat entranced.
Xie Wanning turned back from the dawn light and paused slightly upon seeing it was her.
Er Xia came back to herself and softly said, “Breakfast is ready, including the Four Joy Meatballs that Young Lady specifically requested yesterday.”
“Take it away,” Xie Wanning said. “I’ll have breakfast with Mother.”
With that, she stepped toward the courtyard gate, noticed the movement behind her, turned back, and instructed the person closely following, “You don’t need to follow me today. Stay home and look after the courtyard.”
Er Xia’s expression stiffened. Somewhat puzzled why her master was suddenly cold toward her, she paused, then slowly curtsied and said, “…Yes.”
Xie Wanning no longer looked at her and left the courtyard gate with Er Qing.
Even though she was a maidservant who had grown up with her since childhood… In the uncertainty of whether the dream was real, she truly couldn’t treat this maidservant who would climb into Lu Ziyan’s bed in the future with the same good attitude as before.
The rain that had fallen all night had blown down countless petals and leaves, and several servants were sweeping up the debris on the ground.
Xie Wanning walked on the bluestone path and glanced sideways at Er Qing’s hesitant expression, then couldn’t help laughing. “Why that look? Can’t your young lady just want to take only you out today?”
Hearing this, Er Qing’s eyes curved in a smile. “If Young Lady is willing, anything goes.”
Their young lady was the pearl of the Xie Family, raised with boundless pampering. Who could bear to go against her wishes and make her unhappy?
The Xie Family of the capital city originated from Xiangzhou. Going back several dynasties, they were a noble family clan that produced countless famous scholars and elites. This branch had contributed to the founding emperor’s conquest of the world and followed him to settle in the capital city, with over a century of inheritance as a hereditary marquis’s estate.
