Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 185

Chapter 185 Happy New Year

Above the embroidery building of a certain house in Suzhou City, thousands of miles away from Beijing City, a beautiful young woman was sitting in front of the bronze mirror, staring blankly at her own shadow in the mirror, but she didn’t know what she was thinking.

Until the door rang and the maidservant brought in the food, she still did not react at all. When the maidservant saw this, she unconsciously sighed, “Miss, master and madam are also thinking about you. You haven’t eaten anything for a few days. It’s better to eat quickly. Otherwise, your body will be starved …”

“If you ask Cuimei to bring me the food, I’ll eat it.” Finally, the woman opened her mouth, but it was ice-cold, without the slightest bit of emotion. The maidservant still had to persuade her, but the pair of black eyes that the woman turned around did not dare to say anything else. She could only reply and retreat.

The woman trapped in the building was Chu Yunrong. However, because her mother was seriously ill, she did not seem to be worried about her mother’s health. Instead, she seemed to be angry.

After a while, the door was pushed open again, and Cuimei, who had a look of fear on his face, finally walked in. When she saw her own young miss, she was stunned for a moment before she said, “Miss, you should eat first. Your body is important.”

“Cuimei, did they do anything to you?” Seeing her enter, Chu Yunrong immediately stood up and hurried two steps to her. She sized her up from top to bottom.

Cuimei forced a smile, “Miss, don’t worry. Master and Madam just want to ask me something. They’ve always treated me well and won’t hurt me.”

Chu Yunrong snorted, but she still didn’t move her chopsticks. “What are my parents thinking? Why would they use my mother’s body to lie to me? And they even said that Lu Zhen and I would be separated? This is really … too ridiculous.”

“Young miss, I know that you think this is inappropriate, but the master and madam also have their difficulties. If you keep arguing, I’m afraid you won’t be able to. You can only drag it out first.” Cuimei whispered. This was the solution she had thought of in the past few days.

Chu Yunrong’s eyes lit up as she nodded, “That’s right, it’s really not good for me to face them head-on. Then let’s drag it out first. Also, we need to quickly think of a way to tell him about this matter. He has so many ways to help me, so he will definitely be able to help me.”

“En, so Miss, the most important thing for you now is to take care of your own body. Otherwise, even if my uncle rushes over, if you are sickly, you will only make him worry.” The little girl hurriedly advised.

The effect of these words was immediate. Chu Yunrong, who originally didn’t even look at the food, immediately took the bowl and chopsticks and quickly ate.

Outside the door, a middle-aged couple was stunned when they saw this scene. Then, the man sighed deeply, “How could my daughter be so obsessed with that useless kid? I clearly remember that she was quite reluctant when she got married, but now … Ah!”

“Isn’t it all because of you, back then, you insisted on abiding by some oath to marry your daughter to Lu Zhen, this useless scholar. At that time, it was fine to follow him to the border area to endure hardship. Now, he has offended many high officials in the court. If it weren’t for someone from my mother’s family bringing back news in Beijing, we would probably have waited until something happened to them. At that time, our entire Chu Clan will be implicated. ”

‘”Ah, who would have thought that Lu Zhen would actually turn out like this? I heard that he seems to be quite famous in the capital recently. If he hadn’t offended Eunuch Wang, I wouldn’t have made such a move.”

This couple was Chu Yunrong’s parents. It turned out that Mother Chu had never suffered from any urgent illness, so they did all of this in order to transfer their daughter back from Lu Zhen’s side, and then persuade them to leave so that Lu Zhen, who had offended too many powers in the court, would not be implicated in their own family in the end.

In the legends of later generations, it seemed that only when a woman got married, she became a husband. Only when she was expelled from the family by someone with a divorce certificate did she seem to have such a low social status. However, this was not the case. At the very least, for a family with some prestige and influence like the Chu Clan, their daughter had a certain degree of autonomy when she married someone. They could completely make Chu Yunrong and Lu Zhen leave through the formal procedures.

Of course, all of this was based on Chu Yunrong’s principle of voluntariness. Otherwise, the yamen would not accept it. However, the matter that he had originally thought could be explained in just a few words, this time, he ran into a wall, so in the end, there was a friction between his parents and his daughter, to this extent.

@ @ @ @

Lu Zhen, who was in the capital, did not know that something like this would happen to Chu Yunrong. After being busy for the last part of the year, he was finally empty.

Although the Great Ancestor Emperor had used the standard of a workaholic to ask the officials below to work in the yamen even on the thirtieth day of the new year, there were only three days of vacation from the first day of the first year to the third day of the first year. But after Long Yu Bin Tian, these unreasonable rules had been secretly changed by his subordinates. In the current orthodox court, by December 2829, many yamens had already left, and only a few chief officials still showed their faces symbolically.

The situation in Daxing County, where Lu Zhen was located, was also ordinary. Lu Zhen had already let everyone go home two days ago, so by Thirty Er’s night, he was the only county magistrate left in this county government, as well as Lin Lie and the others who had nowhere else to go.

Fortunately, the capital was different from a small place like Guangling County. Even on New Year’s Eve, as long as they were willing to pay, they would still be able to buy plenty of food. Lu Zhen had already reserved a table in the Qingfeng Building near Yaqianjie, and when afternoon came, he was sent to the county government.

Lu Zhen and Lin Lie were eating wine and waiting for the new year to arrive in a detention room in the second hall.

After drinking a few glasses of wine, Lu Zhen’s eyes became somewhat blurry, “The taste of the world has always been thin like gauze. Who ordered riders to Beijing. Xiaolou listened to the spring rain overnight and sold apricot flowers in the alleyways of the Ming Dynasty. In the past, he only paid attention to the last two sentences when reading this poem, but now he is alone in Beijing, so he has some deep experience of the first two sentences.”

Lin Lie was only a martial artist and didn’t know anything about poetry. After listening to Lu Zhen’s words, he could only laugh and drink a large mouthful of wine.

Seeing this, Lu Zhen unconsciously laughed, “Why should I tell you this? Today is the New Year, I should say something happy. By the way, Brother Lin, you look to be in your thirties, right?”

Lin Lie was gnawing on this chicken claw. Hearing this, he spat out fine bones and said, “My lord, I am only 27 years old this year.”

“Well, then you’re really young and mature. No matter how you look at it, you’re like a middle-aged man in his forties. Your face is full of vicissitudes.” Lu Zhen smiled and shook his head, “But 27 is no longer a small boss …”

“Daren, aren’t you the same? You’re in your twenties, but others see that you’re as old as a thirty-year-old.” Lin Lie muttered softly.

However, Lu Zhen did not care about the other party’s complaint and continued his topic, “Have you ever thought about starting a family? A man always has to find a wife and set up a family business.”

Lin Lie shook his head hesitantly. “In the past, I was in a precarious situation in the army, so I didn’t have the mood to think about this. Later on, my legs became limp again, so …” Lin Lie shook his head hesitantly.

“There’s a wound on your leg, but it’s not like you’ve hurt anywhere else. Why can’t you even find a woman?” Lu Zhen put away his chopsticks and said, “Speaking of which, I don’t care enough about you, and I haven’t been able to fight for a better background for you. Otherwise, with Brother Lin’s good looks, it would be easy to find a woman to be your wife.”

Just as Lin Lie was about to refuse, Lu Zhen waved his hand and said, “Don’t worry, I may not be able to guarantee your future, but as long as you give me some time, I will definitely let you fight for your reputation as a wife and shadow when I break out of the officialdom!”

His words were so resolute that Lin Lie didn’t even know how to say anything. He could only nod his head gratefully. However, it was not the time to talk to Lu Zhen about his own worries.

Actually, he had already noticed Yi Lu Zhen in his heart, but since the other party refused to say anything, he could only use some euphemistic words to probe. In the end, Lin Lie still hadn’t been able to tell Lin Lie what was on his mind, so he could only let it go. After all, everyone had their own pain that they didn’t want to be mentioned. Even though they were close to Lin Lie, there were still some things that they couldn’t talk about.

Just like that, the two of them continued to chat while eating. Time slowly passed and it was finally midnight.

At this time, a crackling sound of firecrackers came from afar, which made Lu Zhen’s spirits suddenly jump, “Another year has passed.”

“Yes, another year has passed.” Lin Lie gulped down the wine in one gulp and filled another. He said to Lu Zhen, “My lord, I’ll borrow this glass of wine to wish you a prosperous new year and go upstairs again.”

Lu Zhen smiled as he picked up his glass and drank all of it. “Thank you for your lucky words. However, I don’t think much of official luck. I just hope that you and I can work together to do more for the people of Daming and the Imperial Court, so that we can be worthy of this dress on our bodies.”

Hearing what he said, Lin Lie’s expression also became serious. He nodded solemnly, “This subordinate will definitely do everything in his power to help Master achieve your wish, and Blade Mountain Flame Sea will not dare to say anything!”

“Alright!” Lu Zhen stood up and laughed heartily. His expression looked much more relaxed than before.

However, when the two of them finished eating and drinking and each brought some drunkenness back to rest, Lu Zhen stayed outside Chu Yunrong’s previous bedroom and said to the empty room with some nostalgia, “Happy New Year, Yun Rong!” Although the words were light and the sentences were short, the affection was so strong that even the howling north wind could not disperse.

At the same time, in Suzhou City, thousands of miles away, standing at the window of the embroidery building, Chu Yunrong seemed to have sensed something as she stared at the northern sky. A trace of an intoxicating and distressing smile appeared on her face, and she softly said with a voice that only she could hear, “Happy New Year, Lu Zhen, my … husband …”