Chapter 21:
Xie Wanning let out an “oh,” then asked again: “Then if I marry over and don’t live well, with stagnation of the heart, angered by him and his concubines until I spit blood and die young?”
As soon as the words fell, Xie Yanyu abruptly stopped in his tracks. He pulled his younger sister by the shoulder, lowered his gaze to look at her, and asked: “What do you mean by that?”
“Didn’t I keep having dreams a few days ago?” Xie Wanning sighed lightly and said casually: “That dream was quite frightening, scaring me so much that I no longer dare to be obsessed with Lu Ziyan.”
Xie Yanyu, of course, knew about his younger sister suffering from nightmares a while ago.
Hearing this, he was only slightly taken aback before soothing her: “Dreams are fake. Don’t immerse yourself in them too much or confuse them with reality.”
Xie Wanning smiled and agreed: “Alright.”
As long as she stayed away from Lu Ziyan, she naturally wouldn’t suffer from nightmares anymore and wouldn’t confuse dream with reality.
…………
After making everything clear to Lu Ziyan, that night, Xie Wanning slept very well.
She wholeheartedly thought that this time their marriage engagement should finally be broken off, right?
After all, Lu Ziyan was full of pride. Being rejected by her like this, he surely wouldn’t stubbornly refuse to return the marriage certificate no matter what.
But the next morning, just as Xie Wanning finished dressing and was about to go to Jinxiu Hall to pay respects to Madam Zheng as usual, the courtyard gate of Jianxia Courtyard was knocked on first.
Xie Wanning said in surprise: “Why has Mama come?”
Mama Zhang was Madam Zheng’s dowry mama who had watched the Xie siblings grow up and held some prestige in the Xie Family. For Mama Zhang to come personally…
“First Madam Lu came uninvited and has now been welcomed into Jinxiu Hall,” After the courtesies, Mama Zhang reported: “Worried that you would run into her directly, Madam sent me to quickly tell you.”
Lu Ziyan had not yet come of age and had not been enfeoffed as Marquis. Although the Lu Family had only him as a male heir, he was still just the Young Lord, and First Madam Lu was the current Marquis’s Wife of Wuyuan.
After all, it was a loyal and valiant prominent family that even His Majesty treated with courtesy. Moreover, as a First Rank honored lady, her seniority was not low. Madam Zheng dared not refuse her at the door like she would Lu Ziyan and ultimately opened the gate to welcome her in.
At this time when the daughter came to pay respects, she hurriedly sent her confidant mama to notify her.
A young lady’s face was thin-skinned. She feared her daughter would not be able to refuse words from an elder who had always been loving toward her and would be coaxed away with a few words.
Xie Wanning instantly understood her mother’s intentions clearly. Her brows furrowed tightly, not understanding why, just after making things clear yesterday, the Lu Family would come to the door today.
And the visitor was First Madam Lu.
She immediately deftly removed her hairpin, wiped off the lipstick from her lips, changed into plain-colored nightgown, lay back on the bed, and then said: “Go back to Mother and say that I caught a cold yesterday. To avoid passing the illness to her, I won’t go pay respects today.”
Mama Zhang curtsied and acknowledged.
Xie Wanning added: “I’m not feeling well and Jianxia Courtyard is closed to visitors today. Please ask Mother not to worry and not to come visit.”
Everyone in the room knew who this meant would come to visit.
Mama Zhang showed a slight smile and said: “This old servant knows. Young Lady, rest assured, no one will come disturb your rest today.”
Xie Wanning forced a smile in return. Once the room was empty, she could no longer maintain it and her face darkened.
She looked around but found nothing handy, so she could only grab the soft pillow and smash it hard, trembling with anger.
What exactly did Lu Ziyan want to do!
Why wouldn’t he just let her go!
Hadn’t she made it clear enough!
He didn’t like her anyway and wanted a wife who could accept him widely taking concubines. Why was he stubbornly clinging to her and refusing to let go?
Could it be that her rejection yesterday was too straightforward, damaging his proud self-esteem, so he was unwilling?
Otherwise, Xie Wanning really couldn’t think of any reason for his such persistence toward her.
It could only be his ridiculous self-esteem at work, not allowing her to abandon him first.
The clearer she thought, the more hatred Xie Wanning felt, so angry that her head ached terribly.
Pretending to be ill properly, and now she was actually going to be angered into illness by him.
Why was it only allowed for him to betray her!
Why!
When Er Qing came in with breakfast and saw her master looking sickly, she secretly thought that Young Lady’s feigned illness looked quite convincing.
Until she walked closer and saw the Young Lady on the couch glaring with eyes reddened by anger, as if tears were about to spill.
As her confidant, she guessed that her master was angry at the Lu Family’s refusal to gracefully break off the engagement, and quickly comforted: “Young Lady, don’t worry. Madam understands your feelings. Even if First Madam Lu comes personally to apologize, Madam definitely won’t yield.”
“Of course I believe Mother will send her away,” Xie Wanning grasped Er Qing’s hand, gritted her teeth, and shed tears: “I just hate Lu Ziyan’s endless entanglement!”
Er Qing was startled and took out a handkerchief to wipe her tears: “Don’t be anxious, Young Lady. The Marquis and Madam both dote on you so much. As long as you don’t want to marry, this marriage engagement definitely won’t happen.”
Xie Wanning knew this reasoning, but she was still full of hatred and urgency.
She hated Lu Ziyan’s unreasonable behavior.
Why could only he toy with her, betray her, treat her hot and cold, now distant now close, treat her like a doll to play with, always occasionally feeding her a candy amid extreme coldness.
Coaxing her to sink into it, deeper and deeper.
And once she woke up, wanted to break free, wanted to save herself, he refused to let go.
If before, Xie Wanning thought it wouldn’t be hard to break off their marriage engagement and didn’t think Lu Ziyan would be that persistent about this marriage, after First Madam Lu came personally, she had to change that idea.
Even his own birth mother Lu Ziyan had been mobilized. How much importance the Lu Family placed on this marriage was self-evident.
If Lu Ziyan insisted on not breaking off the engagement, Xie Wanning had to admit that wanting to quickly end the marriage engagement and regain her freedom wouldn’t be that simple.
Lu Ziyan was deeply trusted by the current His Majesty, his treatment not inferior at all to several princes.
Young in age, he already held military power over the city guard army and held the rank of Third Rank.
His Majesty placed such high hopes on him, yet the princes weren’t jealous at all and instead all wanted to befriend him.
After all, Old Marquis Lu had guarded the Northern Frontier his whole life. Though his body was dead, his prestige remained. Even just for the Lu Family’s nine lives sacrificed, no matter how much favor Lu Ziyan received, people would only praise His Majesty’s boundless imperial grace.
As long as Lu Ziyan didn’t raise troops in rebellion, even if someone else took the Golden Hall, he would still enjoy endless honor and favor.
So, if he insisted on not canceling the marriage between the two families and it went to the Golden Hall for His Majesty to decide, the outcome was uncertain.
Although the Xie Family was also a hereditary marquisate, compared to the Lu Family that had sacrificed three generations of grandfather, father, and son—nine lives—for protecting the nation, it was ultimately one layer weaker.
At that time, with the imperial decree hard to defy, even if the Xie Family was unwilling to marry off their daughter, they would probably have no choice but to do so.
This was what Xie Wanning was worried about.
She took a deep breath, feeling a bit bitter inside.
How ridiculous. She, who had day after day longed to marry into the Lu Family, would one day worry about Lu Ziyan’s entanglement to this extent.
PK is on, dear ones! Please keep up the read-throughs during this period. The book’s growth phase has officially begun—how well it develops is up to you all~~
Charge charge charge!!
Have you all experienced the joy of the growth-type story?
