Chapter 138: The Gift

Lu Ying smiled brilliantly, the brilliance even tinged with a carefree and unrestrained panache.

Everything that happened to her, big or small, Zhi Liu knew very well. The clearer he was about it, the more he felt that this nun—who wore men's robes with increasing crispness and whose demeanor grew colder and more elegant day by day—was someone one could not help but look at with utmost seriousness.

Staring at Lu Ying, the noble person slowly narrowed his eyes, nodded at her, and signaled her to draw closer.

Lu Ying stepped down from the ox cart and walked toward him with graceful bearing. Leaning against the noble person's carriage, she couldn't be bothered to offer a formal greeting; instead, she simply leaned against it sideways, raised her eyes, and said to the noble person with elegant and cheerful ease, "Long time no see, how is my lord keeping?"

Meeting the noble person's lingering, scrutinizing gaze, Lu Ying chuckled. With a beaming smile, she said, "If I may inform my lord, Lu Wen is doing very well right now. Where I live, everyone knows I am merely a small-scale merchant, yet they cannot figure out my background, and they are exceedingly polite to me."

At this, she craned her neck to peer behind the noble person. "Is there any wine? I am thirsty, pour me a cup."

The noble person glanced at her and gave a calm command: "Get in."

Lu Ying tilted her head and looked at him leisurely.

He looked back at her expressionlessly and coolly.

After a long moment, Lu Ying sighed, muttered something under her breath, and climbed into the carriage. "Fine. When people see me getting into your carriage, my lord, do not blame me again for borrowing your influence."

Seating herself comfortably directly opposite the noble person, Lu Ying leaned back lazily and sighed, "Truly comfortable. I have been busy to the point of utter exhaustion for the past half year, and I had quite forgotten how to enjoy myself."

With that, she turned around, retrieved a flagon of wine from between the carriage walls, poured herself a cup, and took a small sip.

The wine was too potent; Lu Ying was unaccustomed to it, and consequently, she knitted her brows. Noticing the noble person staring at her, she waved the winecup toward him. "Would you care for a cup as well?"

He gave no reply, and Lu Ying could not be bothered to ask again. She casually tossed away the wine in her hand and replaced it with a milder sort.

This time, the wine was evidently much to her liking, and Lu Ying sipped it in tiny, delicate mouthfuls.

After finishing a cup, Lu Ying leaned lazily against the carriage wall, her cheeks slightly flushed, and quietly squinted at the noble person with a direct smile. With her eyes heavy with sleepiness, she looked as though she might drift off at any moment.

The noble person broke the silence: "How long has it been since you had a good night's sleep?"

Owing to a touch of weariness, Lu Ying's voice was soft and low, imbued with a languid charm. "A month... I wanted to let them stand on their own two feet as soon as possible so that I could free up some leisure time for myself. For the past entire month, I've been busy until midnight."

At this, she raised her head and darted a glance at the noble person. "And you? Are you busy?"

The noble person smiled and actually answered her: "I have already finished being busy."

At these words, Lu Ying stared at him intently for quite a while. As she watched him, the corner of her eye flicked outward, and turning to him, she said, "The person I am waiting for has arrived, my lord. A-Wen will take her leave first." With that, she lifted the carriage curtain and leapt down.

Watching Lu Ying, who had regained her spirit in the blink of an eye, and taking note of the faint dark shadows beneath her eyes, the noble person remained silent.

It was not until Lu Ying had walked far away that he called out, "Zhi Liu."

"My lord." Acknowledging the summons, Zhi Liu saw that the noble person was silent and instinctively began to observe his expression closely.

After a moment, Zhi Liu spoke in a low voice, "My lord, the Lu clan has always been different from ordinary people. Perhaps she should be regarded as a peer." Meeting again after half a year, Lu Ying had been entirely relaxed and at ease in the lord's presence, without a shred of resentment or cautiousness. Zhi Liu did not know what the lord was thinking, but for his part, he genuinely felt that she should be esteemed all the more.

The noble person glanced at him, then turned his gaze back to Lu Ying, who, with her elegant and leisurely air, resembled a sleek cat pacing through a jungle. He watched her board her own ox cart, and after she uttered a low word to the driver, the driver whipped the oxen and headed toward another direction of the wharf.

Slowly, he tightened his grip on the winecup in his hand.

***

Lu Ying's ox cart rolled off in another direction.

Tonight, when she came here, her purpose had been to make a name for herself.

Yet she had not expected to run into that man. After some thought, she decided it would be prudent to simply stay quietly at home tonight. Subconsciously, she knew that doing so was the sensible course, rather than seeking further prominence right in front of that man.

Having made her decision, Lu Ying instructed the driver to steer toward home.

Just as she entered the alley, Lu Ying heard a commotion echoing from ahead. It seemed that a crowd had gathered right outside her door.

What had happened?

Lu Ying furrowed her brows.

At that moment, the group of people evidently noticed her as well. All of them turned their heads at once. Lu Ying saw her younger brother, Lu Yun, and two youths who had come from Hanyang, surrounded in the center. The person pointing at Lu Yun's nose and shouting abuses was a lavishly dressed matron.

Presently, that matron also caught sight of Lu Ying.

Without delay, she strode toward Lu Ying.

Surrounded and escorted by her maids, the noble matron marched up to Lu Ying's ox cart, stared arrogantly at it, and demanded, "Are you Lu Wen?"

From inside the ox cart, Lu Ying replied, "Indeed I am."

The noble matron snorted and declared, "Lu Wen, the house you are renting belongs to my son." She accepted a wooden box from one of her maids, tossed it into Lu Ying's ox cart, and added with utter disdain, "You paid for a year's rent and have now lived here for half a year. Here are thirty-five taels of gold—get out of my property by tomorrow!"

The noble matron's tone was extraordinarily arrogant, her attitude thoroughly condescending. These aggressive words tumbled from her lips as if they were the most natural thing in the world.

"Oh?" Lu Ying slowly lifted the carriage curtain.

As her face was revealed, both the noble matron and her maids were momentarily stunned. But a heartbeat later, their expressions returned to normal.

Staring at the noble matron, Lu Ying asked calmly, "Why?"

"Why?" The noble matron let out a cold snort from her nose and said contemptuously, "Someone has told me that people like you originally came from a background of beggars, and even now you engage in the petty trades of peddlers and porters. With such a lowly status, how can you possibly be worthy of living in our house? Take your thirty-odd taels of gold and get lost at once!"

These words were exceptionally harsh, and the contempt and disdain written across the woman's face were enough to provoke anyone's anger.

"Is it merely for this matter?" Lu Ying was provoked into anger. With a faint smile, she said slowly, "Lu Yun, go fetch the contract."

"Understood." Lu Yun turned and ran toward the house. The moment he stepped through the door, his expression was one of bitter humiliation. A scholar's status was precious; all along, Lu Yun had considered himself a proud and dignified scholar. Yet upon arriving in Jiangzhou, he had found no way to enter an academy and was reduced to studying bitterly at home day after day. He had never imagined he would be subjected to such humiliation.

The memory of the noble matron cursing him as a peddler, a porter, and a member of the dirtiest lower classes, coupled with her look of disgust and contempt, filled him with agonizing anger and bitterness. But what could a mere scholar do besides endure it? Could he possibly bicker and brawl with a woman?

While Lu Yun went to fetch the contract, the crowd in the alley grew denser. Most of these people were the domestic servants of neighboring households, though there were also various young gentlemen and scholars mixed among them, watching the spectacle.

Amidst the chatter of the crowd, the noble matron lifted her chin even higher, a look of profound scorn on her face.

All around, as her words spread, the servants looked at Lu Ying with the exact same expression of utter contempt. Ordinarily, Lu Ying's refined and noble demeanor was enough to bluff people, but now that everyone believed they had seen through her true colors, even the young scholars who had previously been awed by her appearance were casting her side-long glances of disdain.

Lu Ying's fingers slowly tapped against the carriage shaft.

She thought to herself: Jiangzhou City is only this large, and I had been planning to make a name for myself. If today's affair is handled poorly, my reputation among the upper crust of Jiangzhou will undoubtedly be ruined. In the future, not only will every step be difficult, but wanting to command respect and awe as I did in Chengdu will be utterly impossible.

***

She was pondering a countermeasure.

Yet such a countermeasure was not easily conceived. Matters had escalated to this point; unless she possessed incontrovertible evidence or witnesses to prove her extraordinary background, her reputation was bound to be smeared beyond redemption.

While Lu Ying was deep in thought, the noble matron eyed her sideways, curled her lip in scorn after a long moment, and mocked in a low voice, "A crow dressed up in human finery still thinks it's a phoenix? How laughable!"

At that very moment, the sound of footsteps rang out.

They heard Lu Yun stride back, holding a wooden box in his hands. Calling out toward Lu Ying, he said, "Eldest Brother, I've found the contract."

Just as Lu Yun's voice fell, a low, deep voice sounded from behind Lu Ying: "Lu Wen?"

That voice!

Lu Ying turned her head.

Not only her, but at this instant, everyone else turned to look as well.

At the end of the alley, a carriage had appeared. A man in cyan robes stepped down from it. The man was in his early twenties and was striding directly toward Lu Ying.

This man was none other than Zhi Liu.

Zhi Liu walked with a long stride to the side of Lu Ying's ox cart, glanced at the noble matron, frowned slightly, and asked impatiently, "What is going on here?" He turned his gaze to Lu Ying. "Is someone bullying you?"

This was not a question; it was a statement of certainty.

Lu Ying looked at him, before she even had a chance to reply, the noble matron let out a shrill, cold laugh. "Well, well! Another lower-class peddler or porter has arrived!"

The moment the noble matron's voice trailed off, a sharp, clear ring pierced the air. A chilling sword, having somehow slipped from its scabbard, was now resting coldly against the noble matron's neck!

As the cold light gleamed along the blade, the noble matron's face instantly turned ashen, and the surrounding crowd held their breath in sheer terror.

Zhi Liu was no ordinary person; the murderous aura he projected was enough to cow even the most arrogant imperial relatives!

He cast a look of utter disdain at the trembling noble matron, whose legs were already leaking a foul-smelling liquid. With a sharp clang, he shoved the long sword back into its scabbard.

Paying no further heed to the woman, Zhi Liu withdrew a wooden box from his bosom, opened it with reverent care, and revealed a golden hairpin resting inside.

The design of the golden hairpin was exceedingly archaic, adorned with a lustrous pearl the size of a dragon's eye. In the dead silence, someone couldn't help crying out, "That's a night-shining pearl!" The cry was laden with astonishment and infatuation.

Night-shining pearls were true treasures of legend; while people often heard of them, few ever laid eyes on one in reality. Any single such pearl was worth a king's ransom.

Holding the wooden box in both hands, Zhi Liu bowed his head toward Lu Ying and said respectfully, "My lord says that on the day of A-Ying's capping ceremony, he had wished to officiate for her in person, but was unable to break away. This hairpin is the lord's gift for A-Ying's capping ceremony; I beg the young master to accept it on her behalf."

With that, he politely thrust the wooden box into Lu Ying's hands and strode away in grand fashion, leaving behind an alley full of dumbstruck onlookers... (To be continued)