Chapter 66: Who Are You?

  Today Lu Xuan didn't write two words, but she had already prepared almost all the dishes and was still going to pick up her younger brother.

  She wanted to tell her brother that for the time being, there was no need to worry about Ping Fu doing anything unfavorable to them.

  Lu Yu had just walked out of the alley when he saw a young man peeking into the alley with a ghostly expression. After several peeks, the young man suddenly caught sight of Lu Yu walking towards him and his eyes lit up.

  He stared blankly as Lu Yue got closer and closer. After she walked past him for dozens of steps, the young man followed her.

  Lu Xuan walked and walked, seeing that the surroundings were a bit quieter, she stopped in her tracks and turned around.

  Those dark eyes stared quietly at that young man, Lu Yue asked faintly: "Sir, is there something?"

  It was just a very ordinary question, but the young man's face turned bright red. The boy in front of him, who looked like he didn't know where to put his hands and feet, seemed to be sixteen or seventeen years old, with a slender build, a pale complexion that had a hint of melancholy, thick eyebrows, a short distance between them, sunken eyes, and when looking at people, he would slightly squint, obviously not having very good eyesight.

  This young man, Lu Yuan was familiar with. His family is not far from Pingfu, and it's said that they are distant relatives of the Wang Dashi people. To put it simply, his family to the Wang Dashi people is like Lu Yuan's siblings to the Ping family. The difference is that both his parents are alive, and his mother is said to be a bit shrewd and demanding.

  Feeling Lu Xuan's gaze on him, the young man's hands and feet didn't know where to put them. Seeing him stuttering, Lu Xuan turned around and left: In a place like this with people coming and going, she, a young lady, couldn't afford to dawdle with a young man.

  As she turned around, the young man was in a hurry. His face red, he stuttered and said: "Ah Yue, I...I'm surnamed Wang, named Wang Ke. I've met your brother, he...he agrees with me, my mother also agrees."

  He didn't know where he got the courage from, but he took a step forward and blocked Lu Yue's path, his face flushed as he stared at her and said: "Ah Yue, I'll let my mother call for a matchmaker tomorrow to propose to you, okay?"

  Propose marriage?

  Lu Xuan raised her head.

  She quietly looked at the young man. Looking under her gaze, he became more and more flustered, panicked to the point of not knowing what to do. Lu Xuan asked: "When did my brother agree?"

  "Huh? It's been two or three months already. At that time you had just divorced, and I stopped your younger brother and told him, he was very happy."

  It seems that Lu Yun has mentioned this before.

  Lu Xuan didn't think much of it, she nodded and asked lightly: "Why did you come to propose at this time?"

  "I, I don't agree with my mother... but Ah Yue. I've already convinced my mother, she said you can earn money to support the family, that's great."

  It's barely passable, isn't it?

  As he spoke, the young man became excited, his eyes fixed intently on Lu Yue. His Adam's apple rolled several times before he dropped a sentence, "I'll have the matchmaker come over in two days." Having said that, he didn't wait for Lu Yue to respond and ran off quickly.

  Lu Xuan looked at the boy's figure running far away and furrowed his brow in thought.

  Lu Yun saw her sister waiting outside the door as soon as she got out of school, and ran to her side shaking her head.

  "Sister." The young man's eyebrows were also smiling.

  Seeing her brother so happy, Lu Yue was taken aback for a moment, then she smiled and said: "You know?"

  "Ah, I've heard." Lu Yun smiled with his eyes narrowed into a line and said in a low voice: "This afternoon, my classmates were talking about me behind my back. When they saw me coming, they didn't dare to get close like before, and instead kept their distance. They're afraid I don't know, but on purpose said things like 'his sister is lucky' and 'she's ungrateful'. Sister, they've made it so obvious, how could I not know?"

  Looking at Lu Xuan with a tilted head, Lu Yun didn't have any worries about being welcomed and then rejected by her classmates. Instead, she was filled with joy and admiration for her own sister. "Sister, is your problem solved? Won't the Ping family bother us again? Sister, what method did you use? I heard those people say they all sweated for you, hehe, sister you're really clever."

  Lu Xuan couldn't help but laugh too, and she thought to herself: Just the other day, these wealthy families weren't so well-informed. How did they spread the news so quickly this time? Could it be that the nobleman had some other plan in mind.

  After dealing with that nobleman several times, even Lu Xuan felt extremely sensitive and couldn't figure out what kind of person he was. However, according to common sense, someone in such a high position would have strict standards for managing the people around him. The servants of that nobleman, even if there were some who were greedy for power and wealth on the periphery, those who could get close to the nobleman's side would not be short-sighted or foolish enough to lose sight of what was important due to small matters.

  So when Lu Xing heard that the news of her offending that noble had spread throughout the city so quickly, she subconsciously felt that it was probably leaked by the noble himself.

  Smiling, Lu Yue recounted what had happened after she met the noble person, then tilted her head and asked seriously: "A Yun, you said last time that the newly appointed Three Elders would be inspecting Hanyang, are they arriving soon?"

  Three Elders, are the characteristics of this era, they teach and transform, all those who are loyal, filial, righteous and moral, are held up as models, to encourage goodness and reject evil. The Patrol Officers are in charge of inspection and surveillance, prohibiting deceit and theft.

  "He said he would arrive in these few days."

  "How long has it been?"

  "I don't know either, sir said it's these few days."

  "When they come, you must tell me at the first time, remember?"

  "Got it, sister." Lu Yun became curious at this point, "Sister, what do you care about them for? I'm not even qualified to take the Imperial Examination yet." After a pause, Lu Yun muttered, "Besides, taking the Imperial Examination is too difficult. Sister, I will work hard and strive to become a Xiucai." In fact, becoming a Xiaolian was much easier than becoming a Xiucai, but those virtues of loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness were not so easily recognized. Like the Ping family's efforts over many years, they had not even received one recognition.

  He said this and saw that his own sister had no response, so he turned his head to look over.

  Lu Yun looked up, but it was Lu Xuan with a slightly furrowed brow, seemingly lost in thought.

  Lu Xuan returned home, still lost in thought. Lu Yun saw her sister's distracted expression and asked a few times without getting a clear answer, so she gave up.

  Before I knew it, the next day arrived.

  After seeing off her brother, Lu Yue returned from the early market and had not yet reached the entrance of her home when she heard a loud noise coming from inside.

  However, the noise had already dispersed by more than half when Lu Xing walked near. The remaining few villagers who were chatting idly turned their heads in unison to stare at him as soon as they saw him arrive.

  These people stared at her one by one, occasionally gathering together to whisper a few words. Lu Xuan saw the situation and raised her head to glance over. She couldn't possibly go door-to-door asking questions, so she suppressed her doubts and walked back towards home.

  Back home. Lu Yue had just finished washing and cooking rice when she heard a knock at the door.

  "Who is it?"

  "Is it Miss Lu?" The voice was somewhat unfamiliar.

  Lu Xuan opened the door.

  Outside the door, two women were standing. One woman was short and stout, about thirty years old, with thin lips, looking like she could talk eloquently, dressed quite elegantly. The other woman wore a white blouse that had been washed until it shone, slightly taller in stature. Her face was long and narrow, with a pair of sharp eyes that had been fixed on her since Lu Xun came out, never leaving her gaze.

  These two people, Lu Xuan didn't know them. But with just one glance, she knew that these two people were the matchmakers Wang Ke had mentioned. The only thing was, why were there two of them? Could it be that one of them was actually Wang Ke's famously cunning mother?

  With a faint smile, Lu Yuan said: "I am the daughter of the Lu family, please come in." After that, she turned around and led the two into the house.

  She didn't even ask about her own identity. Led by two strangers, she entered the courtyard. The tall woman frowned and said: "Are you Lu Shi Ayu? You are so careless, your parents are not around, how can you let people in without asking their background? This behavior is too frivolous!"

  As soon as he opened his mouth, he started blaming others.

  Lu Xuan let out a soft sigh, and she too didn't bother to respond. In the face of the thin woman's dissatisfied expression, she calmly entered the kitchen, poured two cups of water for them, and sat down elegantly across from them, saying lightly: "I've heard people mention you two?"

  That short and stout woman was smiling. She opened her mouth to speak, but then heard Lu Yue say something like that, and couldn't help but pause.

  The tall woman looked at Lu Xuan with a puzzled expression, her face full of confusion.

  Lu Xuan took a sip of warm water and said faintly: "The two of you just asked around the neighbors, didn't you?"

  "Oh." The tall woman suddenly understood, she looked up and down at Lu Xue for a while, with a mouthful of slightly exposed buck teeth, saying: "No wonder so many people say that Lu's daughter is smart, indeed a clever one." She frowned, immediately adding: "But being smart as a young girl is fine, showing off and being reckless won't do."

  This Lu girl in front of me is really good-looking, and her appearance can match up to her family's son. (In a mother's eyes, her son is an ugly duckling that no one can match up to. This woman thinks that Lu Yue can match up to her own son, which is already a very flattering thought.)

  Look at this courtyard, it's not bad either. From this angle, that room is filled with books... I've heard people say before that these bamboo slips are valuable now, so a whole house full of them would be enough for a family to live off for half their lives. Not bad, not bad, later I'll suggest using these books as dowry for the Lu family's daughter.

  In this era, the dowry of women is changing. In many places, the things that the woman brings with her will no longer belong to her once she enters the husband's family, but will become the property of the husband's family instead. So when the tall woman saw the books in the house, a glint appeared in her eyes as she secretly pondered how to dispose of them.

  She turned to Luoyin, whose expression was dull and whose movements revealed a taste that couldn't be put into words. Suppressing the discomfort in her heart, she thought: This temper needs to be ground down after all.

  Thinking of this, the tall woman scolded with a stern face: "You say you've only been here for a few months? Look at how many things have happened in these few months! And, with such a good maternal family like the Ping's, I heard you even shut them out of the door? This won't do!"

  The tall woman was happily counting her gains by herself.

  Where was Luoyin able to eat a loss? At first, she was still worried about the type of person who liked to gossip and think about how to resolve the matter in a gentle manner. But at this moment, she was impatient. Luoyin leaned back slightly, her slender white hands clasped together at her side, and slowly raised her head, her expression cold and detached, yet elegantly gazing at the woman, asking slowly: "Madam, who are you?" She hooked her lip and said coldly: "Madam came to my door and scolded Ayin until now, may I ask if I know Madam?"