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After discussing for the whole morning, the two madams even had lunch at the Lu family’s residence. There was no choice as the Empress Dowager requested them to get married within two months, which was a tight timeline. There were many things to prepare for the wedding, and some of the previous preparations were no longer usable. In addition, Madam Qin was not in good health, so they had to finalize the major details and leave the rest to others.
Before leaving, Madam Qin and her son, Qin Sheng, had a chance to talk with Lu Songli.
“Do you have time tomorrow?” Lu Songli asked.
Qin Sheng gave her a questioning look.
“Can you come over again tomorrow?” Lu Songli continued.
“Is there something?” Qin Sheng thought to himself that she was quite straightforward in summoning him like this.
Lu Songli said with a hint of meaning, “I’ll take you to meet your future brother-in-law…”
Qin Sheng: I see. Wait, isn’t his future brother-in-law at his father-in-law’s house? “Are we going to Ping’an Town?”
Lu Songli gave him an approving look.
Qin Sheng: …
He had never seen someone go to their in-laws’ house to meet their future brother-in-law.
Early in the morning, the two edicts issued by the Empress Dowager of Chang Le Palace put an end to the commotion caused by the fall into the water.
With the Qin family visiting, the atmosphere at the Lu family’s side was harmonious. The other two families, Zhao and Xie, were also in good spirits.
Among the two edicts, the Zhao family was the most delighted. The sudden turn of events, from deep despair the night before to a pleasant surprise early the next morning, made the Zhao family ecstatic.
The Xie family, on the other hand, remained relatively calm.
Zhao Wenzhong immediately planned to go to the Xie family to discuss the marriage between the two families. He had the steward deliver the invitation to the Xie residence, but they declined and said they had visitors in the afternoon, asking them to come tomorrow.
Zhao Wenzhong pondered, could the visitors at the Xie family in the afternoon be from the Lu family? He thought his guess was probably correct, considering Xie Zhan owed Lu Songli a life-saving favor. With the cancellation of the engagement between the two families, this matter needed to be resolved, and an explanation had to be given to the Lu family.
On the other hand, the Xie family declined the invitation from the Zhao family and intentionally cleared their schedule in the afternoon, eagerly awaiting the Lu family’s visit. However, they ended up waiting in vain and were about to send someone to inquire at the Lu family when they received a message postponing the meeting to the next morning.
What could the Xie family do but reluctantly agree? They then sent someone to the Lu family to inquire, only to find out that the Lu and Qin families were currently discussing marriage matters together, which left a sour taste in their mouths.
The next day, before Lu Desheng and Madam Jiang set off for the Xie residence, Lu Songli had a private conversation with them about how the Lu family should respond if the Xie family offered compensation.
“For this matter, leave it to me and your father. Didn’t you mention wanting to visit the Tian family before? Don’t wait for another day, go today and relax,” Madam Jiang said, instructing the preparations to be made promptly, including bringing the gifts prepared for the Tian family.
The child was rejected for the marriage, and whether or not she still had feelings for Xie Zhan, she was definitely unhappy.
Lu Songli: “…”
Actually, she wanted to tell her mother that she had the same intention.
Madam Jiang had the look of ‘You’re just sad, you want to go out and clear your head, no matter what anyone says’ on her face, Lu Songli couldn’t help but laugh and cry. There was a kind of sadness called ‘Mother thinks you’re sad’. Okay, her mother was rarely so strong-willed,
“Alright, alright, I’ll set off to the Tian family right now. But, let me go back and get something.”
Zhao Mansion
Zhao Bin originally planned to accompany his parents to the Xie family to discuss the marriage. But early in the morning, the Xie family sent someone to deliver a message to them, saying that the Lu Family had changed the time yesterday, and they were also forced to change the time of their discussion to this morning. Therefore, the time for the Xie and Zhao families to discuss the marriage also had to be changed.
Zhao Wenkuan remained silent.
Madam Luo was annoyed. Couldn’t the Xie family have changed the time earlier? Why did they inform them yesterday? She felt that the Xie family was being disrespectful, but she couldn’t blame them, so she could only blame the Lu Family for breaking their promise and going back on their word.
At this time, Madam Luo couldn’t help but think of how good the Qin family was. But she quickly stopped this thought.
Zhao Bin was also dissatisfied with the Xie family’s disrespect towards the marriage, but he also knew that his elder sister was extremely happy about this marriage. It was finally coming true, so he didn’t say anything.
Just then, a servant from his courtyard came to find him, and he gave him a secret signal.
Zhao Bin’s eyes flashed, “Father, mother, I’ll go out for a while, I won’t accompany you to the Xie family.” After saying this, he quickly walked towards the front gate.
Madam Luo couldn’t help but ask him loudly as she watched him leave in a hurry, “Hey, where are you going?”
“Something came up.”
“Don’t worry about men’s business outside.” Zhao Wenkuan said.
Madam Luo responded helplessly. At this moment, she would never have imagined that her good son would leave upright and return sideways.
After leaving his parents’ sight, Zhao Bin whispered to the servant, “Did she go to Ping’an Town?”
“Yes.”
Zhao Bin thought, it really was a stroke of luck!
Lu Songli went out today, her gaze intentionally or unintentionally fell on the northeast corner.
After she got into the carriage, Luo Tie Niu followed closely behind and sat in the driver’s seat, whispering, “Second Miss, there is indeed something unusual in the northeast corner.”
Two days ago, Luo Tie Niu came to report to her that there seemed to be someone outside the mansion watching their Lu Family.
Luo Tie Niu, Chen Rong, and the others were the six house servants she had chosen at the beginning. They had accomplished something and received a reward on the day they were chosen. Later, her mother felt that these servants were good to be under her command, so she assigned them to her. Later, she bought a few more people to fill their vacancies.
Lu Songli took charge of the situation and, without delay, used the silver she received to instruct Butler Chen to hire the most experienced old bodyguard from the most famous security agency in Chang’an. The task was to teach them some martial arts techniques, as well as skills in tracking and counter-tracking.
The old bodyguard initially wanted to refuse, but the payment from the Lu Family was too generous. Moreover, they didn’t even ask him to teach them his life-saving skills—just some practical techniques. The Lu Family was so easygoing that he felt a bit guilty earning this money. Furthermore, during his time teaching at the Lu residence, they treated him with the best food and wine. As a result, the old bodyguard put genuine effort into teaching Luo Tie Niu and the others.
Luo Tie Niu and the others hadn’t been training for long, but within these past few days, they noticed something unusual outside the mansion and reported it to Lu Songli.
Lu Songli was very pleased with the results of the old bodyguard’s teaching and felt that the money was well spent. She then decided to lure the snake out of its hole to see who was behind it and what their intentions were. In truth, she already had some guesses in mind.
*******
When Qin Sheng arrived at the Lu residence early in the morning, he was told that Lu Songli had already left for Ping’an Town.
Upon hearing this, Qin Sheng was stunned: “Liar! She said she would take me to meet her brother-in-law, but she didn’t even wait for me in the end!”
At that moment, someone left by Lu Songli handed him a note.
Qin Sheng opened it, furrowed his brow, then mounted his horse, urging it out of the city, and headed towards Ping’an Town. Along the way, he also called on two of his close friends to join him.