Chapter 21: Eldest Daughter of the Lu Family

At this moment, Xie Zhan just smiled at his father’s praise and slowly started to pack up the chess pieces.

Xie Mingtang stood up and patted his son’s shoulder, “Son, Dad knows what to do, leave the rest to Dad.”

Then he excitedly paced around the quiet room, sharing his initial plan with his son: they could secretly cultivate a ‘sword’ for the emperor, that is, find someone who could replace Lu Desheng for the emperor. Then they could use a strategy to lure Lu Desheng away, such as causing him to have some personal issues. During this time, they would present the well-cultivated ‘sword’ to the emperor. When he returned, and the emperor no longer relied on Lu Desheng, they could find a way to deal with him.

Xie Zhan frowned slightly. It would be more effective to directly promote Lu Desheng rather than using such tactics. It’s better to gradually escalate the situation rather than using strategies that would alert the other party.

Xie Mingtang hesitated a bit. His son’s method was to promote Lu Desheng, while he preferred to use a strategy to lure him away. Both methods aimed to remove Lu Desheng, but when discussing with others, they might choose to use the strategy he suggested. After all, those who wanted to take action against Lu Desheng were extremely resentful towards him and would not tolerate his promotion.

After leaving the quiet room, Xie Zhan reminded his son, “Son, dealing with Lu Desheng is not difficult, but we should not take action ourselves.” Who knows how many cards he still holds?

“Furthermore, if we have not found a good replacement for Lu Desheng, we must not act rashly.” Otherwise, it may backfire.

“Okay, Dad, I remember.”

Xie Zhan left with a furrowed brow. The plan was set, the instructions were given, but he was not optimistic. He felt a heavy weight in his heart. His future father-in-law seemed to have luck on his side. Coming from a commoner background, he was able to reach this point, feeling like the heavens were favoring him. It’s just a pity that only he could see through the entire Lu Family.

Xie Zhan was still young and did not realize that no matter how good the plan was, if it was not executed properly, it would not achieve the desired effect.

Lu Songli did not have these worries. The most important and core parts of the plan she devised were to be executed by her father. Her father’s combat power was also outstanding.

Xie Mingtang silently watched his eldest son leave before turning around and going to his study. In the study, three or four people were already waiting. One of them was an elder of the Xie family, while the other was none other than Zhao Wenkuan, the head of the Zhao family!

Xie Mingtang nodded to him as he entered.

“How did it go?” the elder of the Xie family asked first.

“He finally spoke up.”

“Great.”

“The incident that Lu Desheng caused today, it made me tremble with fear. That man is too insane. Our Xie family must be on guard.”

“We already have a way to deal with him. Let him enjoy his victory for a couple of days.”

Zhao Wenkuan was itching to know what kind of method could eliminate Lu Desheng. But he knew what to ask and what not to ask. At the same time, he was extremely satisfied with Xie Zhan, his future son-in-law.

With the good news, Zhao Wenkuan was in a good mood and started to joke around. He immediately brought up the matter of Lu Desheng being pelted with rotten eggs.

“By the way, you guys haven’t heard this yet, right? Lu Desheng was pelted with rotten eggs at his doorstep when he went home after court.”

The study fell silent for a moment, then erupted in excitement.

“Wow, who did it?”

“Serves him right, who told him to offend people all the time?”

“Probably a colleague who couldn’t stand him,” someone said.

As they spoke, they all intentionally or unintentionally looked towards Zhao Wenkuan.

Zhao Wenkuan: No, what do you mean by that? Suspect him? But it really wasn’t him who did it, although he also wanted to do it that way.

“Oh, then isn’t Lu Desheng in a very awkward situation?”

“No. Not a single rotten egg hit him.” Bringing up this result, Zhao Wenkuan was also very frustrated.

“Then what are you talking about?” Are you indirectly praising him for turning bad luck into good luck, do you know that?

“Indeed, I don’t know who found the person, obviously lacking in ability to handle things.”

On the Lu family’s side, after lunch, Lu Songli, accompanied by her people and the gifts prepared by her mother for her eldest sister, took a carriage and swayed out.

This was Lu Songli’s first time going out since she arrived, not counting the night she fell into the water. When she returned from the Prince Gong’s Mansion to the Lu family that night, it was already late at night, the road was pitch black, she didn’t see anything, and she was feeling unwell at the time, so she had been obediently nestling in the carriage, really not knowing what it was like outside.

Most of the streets in Chang’an City were paved with blue stone slabs, the streets were not spacious, and they couldn’t be compared to the six-lane or eight-lane highways of later generations, but they had an ancient charm and were very tasteful. Lu Songli liked it very much.

With the wind at her back and the horse’s hooves fast, she saw all the flowers in Chang’an in a day.

At this moment, the warm sun was just right, the breeze was not dry, and Lu Songli’s mood was also very good, enjoying the street scenes with relish.

Seeing her interested in the street scenes, Mo Bing hesitated for a moment and asked, “Second Miss, there is a shortcut from here to Baoding Lane. We used to take the shortcut, which is faster than taking the street now.”

Lu Songli was lifting the curtain of the carriage to look outside, and without turning back, she rejected, “No need to take the shortcut, let’s go slowly.” She was not in a hurry either.

“Okay.” Mo Bing signaled the coachman to continue straight, taking a couple of extra quarters of an hour was not a big deal.

Lu Songli saw someone selling candied haws on the street, and she specially asked Mo Bing to buy some, wrapped them in oil paper. These were for her little nephew.

After passing the busiest street, on this stretch out of the city, Lu Songli obediently sat back in the carriage because there was nothing interesting to see, with low houses, bumpy dirt roads, and bare fields.

She, with nothing to do, thought of her eldest sister whom she was about to meet soon, and sighed softly.

Her eldest sister, Lu Songyun, married six years ago and is currently in her confinement period after giving birth to her third child. Two children in three years, three in five years, Lu Songli was impressed, but she also knew that this was the norm in ancient times. Once a woman got married, she would conceive and give birth, without any thoughts of contraception, her belly wouldn’t rest. Many women, from being able to give birth to finally unable to give birth, would then be done.

Her eldest sister was only twenty-two years old, and she already had three children. Lu Songli calculated that her eldest sister married at sixteen and gave birth to her first child, which was also a tragedy. At that age, many girls’ bodies hadn’t fully matured, so there’s always been a saying that giving birth is like passing through the gates of hell, isn’t it like that?

Lu Songli had read some materials and knew that giving birth to a child was extremely draining for a woman. She personally admired those women who dared to give birth.

She herself was a very selfish person. Regarding the issue of children, she had thought about it in her past life. If one day she got married and wanted children, she would have one, and only one. Her initial intention to have children was not for the continuation of the family line, not for old-age care, but simply to experience life with children, a different kind of fireworks, to make life more complete.

After being transported here, her thoughts remained unchanged. There was a condition though, that she would have to wait until her body recovered before considering it. She wouldn’t risk her life for children.

She also had a very open attitude towards marriage. The essence of marriage is a partnership, both parties invest, and work together to run it. Love, or affection, is the foundation of this partnership, and it’s a two-way choice. During the marriage, both parties work together. If in the end, the partnership can’t be sustained, then they should properly divide the assets, allocate their respective interests, and part ways amicably. Some foolish women use love as their capital, but love fades.

Perhaps some might say she’s speaking without experiencing the pain, but maybe it’s because she’s always been more rational. Relationship breakdowns are also very common. Even parents can’t accompany you to the end, some people just drift apart along the way, isn’t that normal? Besides, happiness comes in all shapes and sizes. She has money, ability, and she’s not bad-looking. She can live well on her own, and she can still live well after a divorce, why cling to the past?

As her thoughts swirled, she arrived at the Xu family’s residence.