Volume 1: Hanyang Chapter 31: Exchanging Moves

  Lu Xuan suddenly felt a slight headache at Zhao Guan's changing expression. She secretly thought: This is the benefit of power, even if someone makes a joke, those below will keep guessing, and many people's fates will be changed.

  It seems so, but Lu Xuan still replied: "No, I don't know this noble."

  Zhao Guan Shi obviously didn't believe it, he furrowed his brow and said: "A Xuan, he called you Xuan Xuan..."

  Luo Ying abruptly interrupted him and said in a cold voice: "He's mistaken!"

  What an attitude! Zhao was furious and habitually wanted to scold, but thinking of the scene earlier, he tightly closed his mouth instead.

  However, the two young men in front of him didn't care about him, and he didn't need to flatter them either. At this point, Zhao Guan Shi closed his eyes, cultivating his spirit while thinking: This matter should be reported to Ping Gong as soon as possible, let him handle it.

  In the midst of silence, the ox cart entered the Ping Mansion. As soon as the ox cart stopped, Zhao the steward called over a young servant to lead the sister and brother to see the old lady, while he himself hastily made his way to the small flower garden where Master Ping was.

  This Pingfu, these years the sister and brother are all frequent visitors. As a tyrant of Hanyang, Pingfu occupies a vast area, with winding wooden houses inside, and the decoration is really thoughtful.

  From afar, they saw the courtyard where Ping Lao was. Lu Yun asked in a low voice, "Sister, do you think Grandmother called us here to do something? Is it related to that time when you saved someone?"

  Lu Ying shook her head, "I don't know."

  The siblings were chatting when a clear and crisp laughter came from the front. Amidst the laughter, a girl's voice was heard saying: "Hehe, sis, you're embarrassed!" This was followed by the sound of Ping Yin and the girl play-fighting.

  Lu Xuan smiled and said in a low voice: "So it was Uncle Zeng who came to our doorstep, no wonder Grandma asked us to come."

  Lu Yun was stunned and asked in surprise: "Sister, didn't you just say that you didn't know?"

  Lü Yu smiled and replied softly, "Didn't you hear Ping Yin laughing? She's so happy, it must be because Zeng Lang's marriage has been settled. Since their marriage is settled, then the matter of Zeng Lang and I canceling our engagement also needs to have an explanation, right?" However, Zeng's father hadn't directly met with her himself, but rather had Ping Fu come to handle this cancellation, it seemed she needed to mentally prepare herself.

  As they chatted, the brother and sister had already walked past several peach blossom trees and saw a group of girls laughing across from them. Among these girls was Pingyin, who looked slender but radiant.

  Looking at Ping Yin who was so happy that even her hair seemed to shine, Lu Xuan shook her head and thought pitifully: She doesn't understand anything.

  Yes, she didn't understand anything. She didn't know what would happen after marrying Zeng Lang with a bad reputation, nor did she know what kind of place the Zeng's house was.

  Time is a butcher's knife, for people with narrow hearts and minds, even the slightest resentment or half-sentence of others' gossip will be infinitely magnified until that resentment and dislike completely replace the original excitement and fondness.

  Several girls did not notice the arrival of the brother and sister, and after turning a few corridors, the brother and sister entered a courtyard and followed the young man into a hall.

  The main room was spacious and bright, with Old Lady Ping sitting upright in the central seat, while on the guest seat to her left sat a robust and dark-skinned military general.

  As soon as Lu Xuan and his sister entered, Wu Jiang quickly turned around to size them up.

  His father was indeed a man who had been in the martial arts for many years, with eyes like lightning, and that condescending, slightly disgusted and scrutinizing expression could make one's legs go weak.

  But Lu Xuan was not afraid when he clashed with that noble young master, and naturally would not be intimidated by this kind of ordinary general.

  The brother and sister walked forward, bowed to Old Lady Ping sitting in the center, and called out: "Grandma is well."

  After making his bow, Lu Yun stood up. As no one had introduced him to Zeng's father yet, he merely looked around with his eyes and slightly lowered his head in a respectful manner.

  Lu Yue turned around and bowed to Zeng Fu, then called out in a clear voice: "Lu Shi Ayue has seen Uncle Zeng."

  As soon as this greeting came out, Zeng's father was stunned. His rough voice rang out, "Do you know me?"

  "A Yu didn't know, but A Yu knew that Uncle Zeng would come."

  As soon as she said this, Zeng's father hummed and stopped paying attention to Lu Yue, instead looking up at Old Lady Ping.

  She caught his eye, and Old Lady Ping coughed and said faintly to Lu Xuan below: "Ah Yuan."

  "Grandmother."

  She saw her responding calmly and composedly, a hint of disgust flashed in Ping Lao's eyes. She sank her face, letting out a cold hum from her nose, and said sarcastically: "Ah Yue is now grown up, her wings are hard, she got someone else's benefits, and quickly changed the money to buy a house. Wanting to divorce, she took the marriage certificate and ran to her husband's house to tear it up, and even dared to slap her husband twice on the ears when leaving. Lu Shi Ah Yue, you're really not bad!"

  Mrs. Ping selectively quoted, omitting the cause and effect, and only mentioned Lu Xuan's impolite words. Standing in the main hall, Lu Xuan listened with an increasingly ugly expression.

  Mrs. Ping is her elder, and as her elder, when the younger generation gets into trouble, not only does she not cover up for them in the slightest, but instead uses words to hurt them. Doesn't she think about being an unmarried woman herself? Doesn't she consider that with her identity as a close relative of hers, speaking out like this will make the younger generation lose all their reputation and destroy their good name if it gets spread around?

  Lu Xuan always knew that Old Lady Ping disliked her parents and even more so, her siblings. But what she didn't know was that she would actually kick them when they were down! Not giving any consideration to their relationship at all!

  It must be that her father had given her some benefits, so she came out to ruin this insignificant junior.

  Lu Xuan's face turned pale, and Lu Yun, who was standing beside her, was also trembling with rage. Seeing her brother rush forward to say something, Lu Xuan was shocked in her heart: if her reputation was ruined, she would not be able to get married, but if her brother's reputation was ruined, his future would be completely destroyed.

  Thinking of this, she took a step forward and rushed in front of her brother, blocking him, pulling him heavily backwards, then Lu Yue raised his head.

  Lu Xuan raised her head and stared at Old Lady Ping, saying coldly: "Old lady, does my father have a feud with you? Or does my mother have a feud with you? I see, I understand now. It's because of my sister and brother that you look down on me! So you, as an elder, don't hesitate to join forces with outsiders to ruin my reputation!"

  Lu Yu's words were too straightforward and sharp, Old Lady Ping had never thought that she would retort, for a moment she was speechless, pointing at her for half a day without saying a word. And the two maids behind her stood out at the same time, shouting at Lu Yu: "Lu Shi Ayu, you have a big nerve!"

  I'm not very brave.

  After calming down from her initial anger, Lu Ying hooked the corner of her lips and said coldly: "My courage has always been very small. I'm a broken-down household, and I couldn't find a good family to marry into anyway. At worst, I'd just throw away this face and not care about my husband's family. However, Old Madam, I remember that I have two cousins who are taking the Imperial Examination this year, right? When one is of good moral character, they can be considered for the examination. If at this time, there was a broken-down household like me, who didn't care about their reputation or future, and went to fabricate some words... Ah, yes, no need to specially go to them, wasn't it just recently that seven or eight households with heads and faces received favors from that broken-down household? Just directly going to their homes to cry and pour out grievances would probably have a better effect."

  There's a saying that when you hit a snake, you must hit it at the seventh inch. As soon as Lu Xuan spoke these words, Ping Lao's wife's face changed greatly, and Zeng's father, who was sitting steadily on the fishing platform, also widened his eyes in surprise!

  There are those who are not afraid of being barefoot, but in the eyes of Ping Lao and others, Lu Xuan's siblings were truly a declining family with no future prospects or brightness.

  It was also Lu Xuan's words that suddenly made Mrs. Ping realize that her family, with its large business and many children, really couldn't fight against these barefooted men!

  No, it's not that she can't fight back, but rather she fundamentally can't afford to. How could she have forgotten? The young girl in front of her is no longer the person who was bullied by others a few months ago. She has saved so many children and in this city of Handan, she is also someone whose words are listened to, and wherever she goes, people turn their heads to look at her. Every year, there are sons and younger brothers of the Ping family who want to take the imperial examination and become officials through filial piety. If some things are not handled properly, the entire family will be shamed.

  It's better to have one thing less than one thing more on this festival.