Chapter 141:
Xie Wanning was stunned by these words, her pupils gradually dilating, full of disbelief.
What exactly did he take women for?
Lu Ziyan couldn’t stand her looking at him with such a gaze, he frowned and said: “If I had known you would be soft-hearted toward this woman, I shouldn’t have let you see her.”
With a wave of his large hand, Ming Jian, who had witnessed the argument between the two, felt as if granted a pardon, quickly hoisting the person and walking out.
The door was about to be closed again when a clear and urgent female voice sounded from outside.
That voice made Xie Wanning come back to her senses; lifting her eyes, she saw a woman dodging Ming Jian’s obstruction and running in.
In one glance, Xie Wanning guessed the other’s identity.
This was probably the beauty in the honey trap that Pei Yuqing mentioned Lu Ziyan had set for him, that cousin who looked very much like her.
Indeed, she looked very much like her.
Suddenly seeing someone who resembled her by sixty percent, Xie Wanning’s vision was somewhat impacted.
Chen Xi’er was the same; her knees, which had been about to give way softly, straightened, and she stared blankly at Xie Wanning.
After reacting, she showed a puzzled expression and tentatively called out: “Cousin?”
Xie Wanning was stunned.
“You must be the Xie Family cousin,” after confirming the identity, Chen Xi’er face lit up with joy, urgently saying: “Please save me!”
She asked for help right away, and the location was the military camp.
Xie Wanning’s mind felt as if struck by a heavy object, leaving her somewhat dazed.
Had Lu Ziyan changed professions to become a brothel madam?
Specially throwing women into the military camp?
She slowly turned her head to look at the person beside her.
Without needing to speak, just one gaze made Lu Ziyan understand her thoughts.
His face immediately darkened. “It’s not what you think.”
Even though Chen Xi’er had learned to read faces since childhood, she couldn’t guess what Xie Wanning was thinking at this moment and thought she had misunderstood her relationship with Lu Ziyan, hurriedly wanting to explain.
Lu Ziyan shot her a cold glance, and the incessant Chen Xi’er paled in fear, abruptly shutting her mouth.
Seeing this, Xie Wanning’s heart skipped a beat.
She remembered what Pei Yuqing had said, that when Lu Ziyan was drugged, two young ladies had entered his room.
Seeing how he treated women so dismissively, he was indeed capable of spending the night with two women.
How could Lu Ziyan know what she was imagining him as right now? Tilting his head, he earnestly explained: “She’s here because I plan to send her back to Qingzhou; I didn’t have her entertain the troops.”
He had taken her in that day to use for that old man, but now that the plan had fallen through, of course he would send her back where she came from.
Learning from a setback, Lu Ziyan had already resolved that in this life, he absolutely would not keep any woman by his side to let her misunderstand even a little, affecting his pursuit of his wife.
Given the matter with Liu Manrou, Xie Wanning truly doubted his words; she looked toward her distant cousin.
Seeing her gaze turn over, Chen Xi’er knees buckled softly, kneeling down gracefully; before speaking, tears fell first, her lips moved as if to say something, but she timidly glanced at Lu Ziyan, full of fear.
This display made Lu Ziyan’s face suddenly sink.
Xie Wanning watched with a slight frown. “He says he’s sending you home; is that true?”
“Lord Lu speaks the truth; it’s just that Xi’er doesn’t want to go back,” Chen Xi’er cried softly. “Xi’er’s birth mother is no longer in this world, and the Chen Family is no longer my home; once I go back…”
She didn’t know what had happened at the imperial court today; the Chen Family would soon be ruined and people dead. She simply thought of the situation she would face upon returning home, her face full of terror.
“A young lady like me, returned by a noble person, won’t have a good end.”
Chen Xi’er trembled all over, tears streaming down her face; no longer minding her delicate posture, she cried without any composure.
“The best outcome is that Father still acknowledges me as a Chen Family daughter and sends me out again as a maid or concubine with the identity of a Chen Family daughter.”
But this time, it might not be any particular dragon’s pool and tiger’s den.
“Even more likely, Father finds me useless, unable to retain the noble person, and throws me into the Chen Family back courtyard, like those slim horses kept in the manor, to be summoned to serve guests on the bed.”
As she spoke, she sobbed. “My third sister was returned and then became a household prostitute used to entertain guests in the manor.”
After these words, the room fell silent.
Except for Chen Xi’er’s sobs, no one spoke for a moment.
Ming Jian, carrying Liu Manrou outside the door, and Lu Ziyan, who had stayed in Qingzhou for several months, had long known what sort of person Chen Wen was, but Xie Wanning seemed to be hearing something from heaven.
Her aunt was a concubine’s daughter from the Qu Cheng Marquis’s Estate; even though her birth mother was of lowly origin, leading to doubts about her bloodline and not being on Madam Zheng’s clan records, she must have married out as a noble concubine at the time.
Even as a concubine’s daughter, Chen Xi’er was a proper Chen Family young lady; how could she fear becoming a household prostitute entertaining guests in the manor?
Would there really be a father who, not content with sending his own daughter as a concubine, would arrange for her to become a prostitute serving on the bed for guests?
The Xie Clan lineage originated in Xiangzhou, a prominent family with over a millennium of heritage, upright family traditions, and the entire family like jade trees; Xie Wanning’s father and brothers were all gentlemen with clear breeze from sleeves and bright moon in embrace.
And the prominent families in the capital city, no matter how filthy inside, had to maintain a clean appearance on the surface; such despicable deeds always made people despise them.
So this was the first time Xie Wanning had heard of a high official birth father making his own daughter a prostitute to entertain guests at banquets.
Even if the world was in chaos and the constraints of propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame were no longer as effective, with women’s status declining, this was still too outrageous.
“Such scum is ultimately rare; don’t take it to heart.”
Lu Ziyan walked closer, originally wanting to pat her shoulder, but his hand paused after lifting; he only said: “Chen Wen is corrupt and commits heinous crimes; the entire Chen Family will not escape. At the latest next spring, there will be no Chen Clan in Qingzhou.”
Hearing this, the kneeling Chen Xi’er abruptly looked up, her gaze astonishingly bright, hopefully asking: “Does Lord Lu mean that?”
Hearing that the Chen Family was in trouble, she felt not the slightest worry, only excitement.
Lu Ziyan ignored her words, only lowering his gaze to Xie Wanning. “Wanwan, do you want to save her?”
He thought, with this young lady’s soft heart, she would probably feel pity for this nominal cousin again.
Xie Wanning didn’t speak; she thought of the concubine’s younger sister whom Madam Zheng had once mentioned, who had married far to Qingzhou.
During her boudoir days, Madam Zheng, as the eldest legitimate daughter, naturally received different treatment from the concubine’s sisters below; they hardly saw each other usually.
But she had an impression of that concubine’s sister.
Because compared to her legitimate younger sister, this concubine’s sister resembled her more.
Precisely because of this, the Old Madam of the Qu Cheng Marquis’s Estate particularly disliked this concubine’s daughter with a lowly birth mother, fearing she would affect her daughter’s reputation in the capital city, and hastily married her off after she came of age.
As a result, she was sent into a tiger’s den, tormented to death, and the daughter she bore had to endure a new round of hardship.
And her daughter looked extremely similar to her…
She remained silent for a long time; Lu Ziyan spoke again: “The Chen Family case involves many; you cannot keep a criminal minister’s daughter by your side, nor can the Xie Family.”
“Xi’er dares not hope for shelter; just let me leave.”
Unable to hold back, Chen Xi’er interjected, hurriedly kowtowing: “I will stay away from the capital city, away from Qingzhou, conceal my identity; yesterday’s events will be treated as a dream, and from now on, start anew.”
Xie Wanning walked over, helped her up, looked at her delicate face, and said, “The world is in chaos; where can a weak woman like you go?”
“I can do it!” Chen Xi’er gave her a panicked smile. “Compared to returning to the Chen Family, I’d rather be a nameless wanderer.”
Returning to the Chen Family meant only death or a fate worse than death awaited her; rather than that, she might as well live for herself once.
She no longer wanted to live days of being sent around as a gift.
Her eyes shone with hope, bright and sparkling; looked at with such a gaze, Xie Wanning felt somewhat dazed and turned to look at Lu Ziyan.
Lu Ziyan said: “As long as she doesn’t stay by your side, I’m not set on sending her back to Qingzhou.”
This meant he was willing to let her go.
Chen Xi’er was overjoyed and tried to kneel again, but Xie Wanning held her up, preventing it.
She reached for her sachet, which contained a handful of gold ingots; thinking about it, she simply placed the sachet into Chen Xi’er’s hands.
“This is all the silver I have on me; it can’t help you much.”
Although it was their first meeting, they were indeed cousins with some blood ties, and they looked so similar; Xie Wanning only hoped this ill-fated cousin would have a smooth future.
Chen Xi’er lowered her head to look at the sachet in her hands, remaining silent for a long time.
When she looked up again, her eyes were red; she no longer made a show of kneeling but looked deeply at Xie Wanning, slowly revealing a smile.
Chen Xi’er was taken out by Ming Jian.
The door closed again; Xie Wanning belatedly realized the room held only them again. She shivered in shock, and thinking of Liu Manrou, who had been tortured out of human form, she retreated several steps, her eyes full of panic.
She truly was somewhat afraid to be alone with this man now.
Lu Ziyan nearly had a heart attack watching this; his steps, which had been about to approach, stopped two steps from her, helplessly saying: “My original intention was to let you vent your anger, not to make you fear me.”
He truly hated Liu Manrou to the extreme, especially after seeing in his dream how this woman repeatedly hinted in front of her about the exhaustion from the night’s bed matters, his hatred multiplied several times.
No one had ever dared to wrong him like this!
In the past life, Liu Manrou was thrown into the military camp and, until his death, clung to life entertaining the troops, neither able to live nor die, serving the generals and soldiers to vent their desires.
In this life, under Lu Ziyan’s arrangements, her end should naturally be the same.
But Xie Wanning’s reaction gave him a headache.
He could disregard the views of the entire world, but not hers.
He worried she would pin another crime on him, and even more that she would fear him; she already avoided him like a snake or scorpion, and if she became afraid of him henceforth, what should he do?
Thinking it over, Lu Ziyan chose to make a difficult concession.
“If you don’t like me doing this, then I won’t let her entertain the troops,” he said. “I’ll listen to you and let her die quickly.”
“…” Xie Wanning’s lip corner twitched slightly.
“Don’t be soft-hearted again; she must die.” Lu Ziyan patiently explained: “She harbors deep malice toward us; if truly spared, she can’t retaliate against me but will likely target you.”
Once bitten, twice shy; in this life, he would never allow anyone with malice toward her to live in the world, no matter what.
He would uproot those scourges one by one.
Xie Wanning was no bleeding heart and had no intention of pleading for her past life enemy.
Just now, she simply couldn’t bear to see him use such methods on a woman.
She didn’t pick up his words but said: “Let me go back.”
He had brought her to the military camp to show her Liu Manrou’s end, letting her temporarily vent the resentment from her past life.
Now that the matter was settled, he should let her go, but Lu Ziyan smiled instead.
“…Go back?” He repeated with a half-smile, asking her: “You don’t think I can still tolerate you going back to let that sickly person touch you, do you?”
That smile didn’t reach his eyes at all, making one’s heart chill.
Xie Wanning pursed her lips. “What exactly do you want?”
“What do you want,” Lu Ziyan sat by the table, lifted the teapot to pour a cup of tea, warmed it with internal energy, and pushed it across. “Drink.”
Xie Wanning was still standing; hearing this, she didn’t move, her gaze flashing with vigilance as it glanced over the cup of tea.
“Afraid I’ll drug you?” Lu Ziyan was truly amused to anger by her.
“If I really wanted to do something to you, I wouldn’t need such methods; besides, when have I ever done anything disregarding your body?”
Xie Wanning didn’t speak.
“Come over and drink the water.” Lu Ziyan tapped the tabletop with his finger, patiently explaining: “You got wind on the road; without drinking something hot, your delicate constitution will catch a cold again.”
Hearing this, Xie Wanning’s gaze turned back to the cup of steaming water. Though annoyed at having to drink water under his control, under his roof, she had to yield to circumstances.
Moreover, after arguing with him for so long, she truly was thirsty.
Watching the young lady across from him holding the teacup and drinking, Lu Ziyan’s lip corner tugged lightly as he asked her: “You really still want to go back to Duke Pei’s Mansion?”
Xie Wanning swallowed the water and softly hummed in affirmation.
Lu Ziyan’s face was stern: “That old man deceived you and used you to strike at me; you’re not annoyed at all?”
“…” Xie Wanning was silent for a few breaths before saying: “This is a matter between him and me.”
The implication being, even if I’m angry, it has nothing to do with you.
Lu Ziyan’s gaze flared with anger; looking at her for a moment, he said sinisterly: “Have you noticed you’re especially harsh on me?”
Xie Wanning set down the teacup, somewhat baffled.
“You’re soft-hearted toward everyone; for something like Liu Manrou, you couldn’t bear her suffering torment, and that old man is full of schemes—every time he schemes against me, he drags you in, yet you’re very tolerant of him.”
“And Qi Mingyu!”
Qi Mingyu was the name of the current First Prince; mentioning this name, Lu Ziyan’s voice turned icy.
“In the past life, Qi Mingyu instructed Lu Xiyao to poison you; he was the chief culprit in harming your life, and that sickly person is set on helping him to power, yet you accepted it.”
And the Xie Family; the Xie Family naturally stood with their nephew’s faction.
That was revenge for one’s death!
Actually, the choices of the Pei and Xie Families couldn’t affect Lu Ziyan much, but he just couldn’t stomach it.
In the past life, he had done many wrong things, making her suffer grievances, but weren’t those several even more enemies?
Qi Mingyu had directly caused her death.
Lu Ziyan’s gaze was inscrutable, his voice cold and stern: “To oppose me, can you even set aside revenge for one’s death?”
