Xu Prefecture, Xiapi City!
Xiahou Yuan has arrived…
Along with him, he brought two bombshell pieces of news.
The first is that Lu Yu has been enfeoffed by the Son of Heaven as the Imperial Censor, and Cao Cao has handed over the Office of the Imperial Secret Service to Lu Yu’s management.
This matter is enormous!
One must understand that the title of Imperial Censor is merely a designation, but the Office of the Imperial Secret Service is a real entity that oversees the officials and holds the power of life and death over them!
And according to Xiahou Yuan’s account, Cao Cao specifically assigned two deputies to Lu Yu within the Office of the Imperial Secret Service. The first is Guo Jia, Guo Fengxiao, and the second is Ju Shou, who was publicly declared to have been bestowed death!
This makes the situation even more significant.
Lu Yu can somewhat understand Cao Cao’s intentions. Ever since he once proposed abolishing the “head tax” and implementing the new policy of “apportioning Ding into Mu,” although it was not carried out, Cao Cao has kept it in mind.
In this regard, Cao Cao is as clear as a mirror. The turmoil in the world, tracing its origins, lies in the unrest of the people’s hearts.
And the unrest of the people’s hearts is because a large amount of land is held by a few powerful clans.
However, the heavy head tax is but a drop in the bucket for these powerful clans who possess thousands of mu of fertile land, but it is a heavy burden for the common people!
Cao Cao specifically handed over the Office of the Imperial Secret Service to Lu Yu…
From this perspective, there is a hidden intention!
Perhaps, it includes the vision of this new policy.
Of course, this news needs to be understood more deeply.
Whether Lu Yu became the Imperial Censor or not is actually unimportant. What is important is that Cao Cao successfully became the Prime Minister, managing all officials. This undoubtedly completely hollowed out the Han Dynasty and the Son of Heaven!
In Lu Yu’s opinion, this marks a new chapter in the hegemonic career of Wei Wu, which is gratifying to see.
As for the second piece of news.
“General Xiahou…” Lu Yu faced Xiahou Yuan, a head full of question marks. “What’s going on? Out of the blue, there’s an imperial marriage, and a marquis’s mansion with two wives? I’m not ready yet…”
“Also, has my sister been asked about this? Does she agree?”
A series of questions were thrown out.
Thrown to Xiahou Yuan, who was a “good brother” just moments ago, and became his father-in-law the next moment.
“Actually, I was also very surprised by the imperial marriage!”
Xiahou Yuan explained, “However, since it has already been decreed, Miss Cai Yan must have been informed. Of course, Ziyu, I know you can’t accept it immediately. After all, your sister is my elder brother’s sister, and your sworn brother is also my elder brother. How about this…”
Xiahou Yuan paused and proposed a compromise. “I’ve thought of it. For now, let’s just address each other accordingly. You can call me Father-in-law, and I’ll call you Brother Lu Yu! That way, the辈分 won’t be messed up!”
Evidently, Xiahou Yuan also realized a serious problem. The辈分 within the Cao and Xiahou clans had become a complete mess due to Lu Yu alone!
Of course…
If his daughter can marry such a good son-in-law, he, Xiahou Yuan, can accept making some verbal concessions.
Uh…
Lu Yu was still a bit dazed, feeling dizzy!
He was already “imperial-ly married”?
And a marquis’s mansion with two wives? Good heavens, fortunately, Lu Bu had voluntarily withdrawn Lu Lingqi from the candidate pool for the marquis’s wife just now, otherwise… Lu Yu felt his marquis’s mansion would also be in chaos!
Of course, Lu Yu had heard of Xiahou Juan. She was intelligent and virtuous, outwardly beautiful and inwardly wise. Furthermore, she had made great contributions in the defense of Xuchang. She would likely be a good candidate for a wife!
But…
Princess Wannian Liu Xue?
Who is she?
In Lu Yu’s memory, there is indeed a record in the Book of Later Han. She was the only daughter of Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong. In the third year of Guanghe, Liu Hong enfeoffed her as Princess Wannian. As for her mother? It has not been historically verified.
However… according to the imperial marriage decree, Princess Wannian was born to Empress Song, making her the eldest legitimate daughter of the Han Dynasty, with a very noble status.
“General Xiahou…” Lu Yu spoke again.
Unexpectedly, Xiahou Yuan objected. “Still calling me General?”
Uh…
Lu Yu immediately felt that he had lowered himself significantly in terms of辈分!
“Cough, cough…” He cleared his throat. Lu Yu didn’t know how to address him. If they addressed each other accordingly, should I call you brother, and you call me son-in-law?
“Xiahou…”
He originally wanted to call him Brother Xiahou, but Lu Yu decided to be more direct.
“Father-in-law.” Lu Yu said, “Does Prime Minister Cao’s intention in sending you here mean I should return to Xuchang City immediately to get married?”
“Indeed!” Xiahou Yuan seemed quite eager. “The wedding date should be chosen on an auspicious day. The beginning of next month is an auspicious day. Elder Brother is afraid that we will miss this good time, which is why he lent me the Jueying horse so I could tell you the wedding date immediately!”
One must know…
Xiahou Yuan now knew Lu Yu’s identity.
Lu Yu was the eldest son of Elder Brother Cao Cao, and the designated future heir and successor to the great cause.
Although it was still some time away, if Juan married him, she would potentially be a ruler of the world in the future!
With the support of the Cao and Xiahou clans, this was very likely.
Therefore, when choosing an auspicious date, Cao Cao was no more eager than Xiahou Yuan.
Heh heh…
Of course, Lu Yu could only chuckle!
So, for his wedding, he didn’t even know the time or the person, it was like opening a blind box!
Alas, this is the helplessness of arranged marriages in feudal society!
With a sigh in his heart…
Lu Yu said with his mouth.
“Alright then. It’s evening today. Tomorrow… at noon tomorrow, we will return to the capital!” Lu Yu immediately commanded.
He had been away from home for too long, it was time to go back!
It was time to go back and marry a wife!
He wondered if Sister Zhaoji would be satisfied with these two wives!
…
…
Xiapi City, Myriad Flowers Pavilion, third-floor boudoir!
The night was warm and hazy. Through the window, one could see the dark sky dotted with sparse stars. A gentle breeze blew, stirring up waves of past events.
Under the dark moonlit night, the sparse moonlight illuminated the faces of a father and daughter in this pavilion.
However, the father’s face was a little pale, and the daughter’s face was haggard.
Lu Bu and Lu Lingqi had been talking for a long time.
Lu Lingqi had been kneeling all along…
And Lu Bu, seemingly feeling a sense of regret from the bottom of his heart, placed his hands on the window, looked at the bright moon, and closed his eyes without speaking!
“Father, it is my daughter’s fault… But… but I really don’t know about that Lu Yu…”
Before Lu Lingqi could finish speaking…
Lu Bu turned his head and glared at her.
Lu Lingqi immediately became submissive and said again, “But… but I really don’t know that it was Young Master Lu who saved Father at Baimen Tower. Otherwise… otherwise, how would I have gone to Changshan to seek apprenticeship, how would I have killed Hou Cheng, Wei Xu, and others… how would I have plotted to kill Young Master Lu?”
*Hoo*…
As soon as Lu Lingqi said this, Lu Bu let out a long sigh.
Hou Cheng, Wei Xu, Cheng Lian, Song Xian, who sold their lord for glory, deserved to die…
It was not wrong for his daughter to kill them!
But Lu Lingqi’s assassination of Lu Yu was simply too sinful.
In fact, this was no longer simply biting the hand that feeds you; it was outright murder of a future husband, an act of extreme rebellion.
In the past, the agreement Lu Bu had painstakingly made with Lu Yu, the excellent “position” he had arranged for Lu Lingqi, was ruined by her own actions.
A pity… how regrettable!
Lu Bu only felt the impermanence of life, regret, and sadness!
“It’s all my fault for spoiling you since childhood, making you develop this fearless personality!” Lu Bu sighed…
As soon as he said this…
Lu Lingqi removed her hairpin, held it in one hand, and pointed the sharp end of the hairpin towards her own neck.
She flicked her long hair. “Father, my daughter knows she was ungrateful and rebellious. If Father cannot face Young Master Lu, then… then my daughter can atone with her death, can she not?”
As she spoke, Lu Lingqi genuinely intended to exert force on her wrist.
Unexpectedly, Lu Bu turned and immediately snatched the hairpin from Lu Lingqi’s hand.
However, his tone remained as cold as ice.
“Die? What good would your death do?”
“Don’t you… don’t you think death can atone for my sins?” Lu Lingqi was still arguing, but in her mind, she recalled Lu Yu’s “humiliation” of her earlier today…
Making her take off her clothes one by one!
Even if there was a reason, it was still too humiliating, no, too shameful!
Lu Bu’s eyes grew colder. “If you die, have you considered your own mother, your younger mother, your sister? Originally, their situation would have been better, safer! But… because of you…”
“Mother?”
The term “Mother?” sounded so foreign to Lu Lingqi, as if her father hadn’t mentioned it in so many years.
… When Lu Bu first entered Xu Prefecture, in order to ally with the Danyang faction of Xu Prefecture, he specifically married the daughter of Cao Bao, the leader of the Danyang faction. For this reason, he had to let his original wife, Lady Yan, change her name and go into hiding!
This matter was known only to him, Lu Bu, and Chen Gong. Even Lu Lingqi and Diao Chan did not know!
“Mother? She’s still alive?”
Lu Lingqi’s pupils widened.
Lu Bu grabbed his daughter and, with a hint of softening in his icy tone.
“Come with me!”
…
In the early morning, on the outskirts of Xiapi City, a gentle dawn breeze brushed past the quiet village.
The wind was like a pot of old wine, intoxicating the trees and bamboo behind a humble farmhouse, and the crops in the fields.
The sound of “rustling” was incessant.
In the fields, the croaking of frogs and the chirping of insects rose and fell, wave after wave…
“Quack, quack, quack!”
Amidst a frog’s croak, Lu Bu led Lu Lingqi, just the two of them, to this place.
Lu Lingqi was puzzled, but Lu Bu gestured, and their footsteps stopped. They stood in the distance, silently gazing at this ordinary house.
“Father…”
Lu Lingqi opened her mouth, wanting to ask for clarification.
“Hush!” Lu Bu gestured for her to remain silent. This father and daughter quietly waited here.
It seemed as if something was about to happen!
Finally, the door of this ordinary farmhouse opened…
A farmer walked out, carrying a hoe, clearly about to start his day’s work.
And behind the farmer, another woman emerged. She wore a hat and held an infant swaddled in her arms, seemingly to see her husband off.
It was still too early, so the infant had not woken up yet.
But the two parted reluctantly, and the woman draped a piece of clothing over the man.
This was clearly an ordinary daily scene of a farming couple.
Lu Lingqi didn’t think much of it at first…
However, after the farmer left, Lu Lingqi noticed that after arranging the infant, the woman in the farmhouse took off her hat and sat in the courtyard. She began to process various meats into dried meat.
This was an essential task for farmers in the tenth lunar month. By the end of this month, farming work would be nearing its end. Some farmers would use the yeast made in July to brew wine, and before the twelfth lunar month, they would dry meat into jerky in preparation for winter!
Of course…
These were not the重点. The重点 was that when the woman in the farmhouse took off her hat, Lu Lingqi recognized her at a glance!
She… she… she was her own mother.
That’s right, this woman was precisely Lady Yan, Lu Bu’s former principal wife!
“Mother… Mother…”
Lu Lingqi subconsciously opened her mouth, but because the distance was too great, and because Lu Bu waved at her, signaling her not to make a sound.
This cry of “Mother” did not carry far.
Even so, countless tears welled up in Lu Lingqi’s eyes, about to spill over.
In just two days, she felt as if she had lived through ten, even twenty years…
First, her father, who was thought to have died at Baimen Tower, returned safely.
Then, her mother, who had been “dead” for nearly eight years, was still alive!
Lu Lingqi felt her life transform from great sorrow to great joy. Her tears were tears of joy.
Wait…
Something was not right!
Lu Lingqi suddenly turned her head towards her father, Lu Bu. If Mother was still alive, then why? Why did Father say eight years ago that she had already passed away?
If Mother was still alive, how could she have married an ordinary farmer…
Her husband was… was the peerless God of War of this era, Lu Bu!
Her brows furrowed, and Lu Lingqi’s face was full of question marks.
And Lu Bu’s words followed in due course…
His tone was exceptionally calm!
“Lingqi, you must be very surprised, why is your mother still alive? Why has your mother remarried? These are all because…”
Lu Bu paused. “Because your mother never died… Her previous departure was for the greater good. I had always kept her in this farmhouse until… until the so-called ‘death at Baimen Tower’!”
*Hoo*…
Lu Lingqi let out a long sigh. For a moment, she even felt as if she were dreaming.
But…
When she pinched her arm, the very real pain made her realize that all of this was true.
“Father…”
Before Lu Lingqi could speak, Lu Bu’s words came again. “At ‘Baimen Tower,’ Father was saved from the execution ground by Lu Yu. From that moment on, Father changed his name to ‘Lu Ying’ and forgot the past. I didn’t want anyone to know that Father was still alive and cause unnecessary disputes! As for your mother…”
“When she first heard the news of my death at Baimen Tower, she was heartbroken and wept day and night. Lu Yu told me all of this and asked me to make a decision… whether to see your mother and tell her the truth!”
“And my decision is to completely bid farewell to the former Lu Bu. Perhaps… from the past, I was forced to make her change her name and go into hiding. From the day she selflessly dedicated herself to me, my fate with her has reached its end! Now, I only want to silently protect you, protect your mother, protect Diao Chan, protect Ling Ju…”
At this point…
Lu Bu’s eyes actually shed a rare tear.
Lu Lingqi nodded, seeming to understand, yet not fully.
Lu Bu seemed to have opened the floodgates. He squatted down and signaled Lu Lingqi to squat down as well, so that… they would be less likely to be discovered by Lady Yan!
He didn’t want to disrupt the peace and tranquility of Lady Yan’s current life!
“Lingqi, do you know what your mother does throughout the year in the countryside?”
This…
Lu Lingqi did not interrupt Lu Bu’s words. She squatted down, looking at her mother in the distance, and listened carefully.
She had a feeling that her father now was completely different from the arrogant and unruly father he used to be!
“—On the first Ding day and the first Hai day of the early tenth month, your mother will, together with her husband, offer sacrifices to the ancestors and the agricultural gods, praying for their blessings for a bountiful harvest. Then, throughout the month, your mother will transplant various trees, such as bamboo, pine, and cypress!”
“—In the second month, as the farmers plow, your mother will take out the padding from her winter clothes and make them into summer clothes. The farmers call this ‘Che Fu Wei Qia’! In February, the elm tree will produce elm pods, which can be used as food. Your mother will also collect elm pods, steam them first, and then dry them!”
“—In the third month, on the third day, your mother will unyieldingly help her husband plant melons. From the third day of the third lunar month to the Shangsi Festival, it is also the time to collect mugwort leaves, bracken, and willow catkins. These are all medicinal herbs that can be sold to doctors for money.”
“—In April, the low-lying land can be tilled. These lands can be planted with grain crops like Japonica rice, or oil crops like sesame…”
…
Mentioning Lady Yan’s daily life.
Lu Bu recounted it all, month by month, for the entire year.
He had always been a good husband. Although he had arranged for Lady Yan to live elsewhere, he had paid close attention to her life, whether he was in Xu Prefecture or not.
Even… he, who had never inquired about agricultural policies, had become extremely knowledgeable because of Lady Yan.
It’s just…
“Father…” Lu Lingqi spoke, “Does Father not get angry that Mother married someone else?”
“Angry?” Lu Bu smiled. He shook his head, and then tilted his head towards the sky. “In the past, I thought that only by constantly killing and expanding my territory could the people around me live good lives.”
“But… because of the alliance with the Danyang faction of Xu Prefecture, I had no choice but to arrange for your mother to live as a farmer. Was this a good life for her?”
Lu Bu paused. “But… since my death, from the letters Lu Yu sent me, I discovered that your mother has become happier!”
“She got married in February. Before her marriage… Lu Yu sent several letters asking for my opinion… But I felt that since Lu Bu was already dead, your mother should also be able to pursue her happiness!”
“That man…”
At this point, Lu Bu choked slightly. “That man is known as Er Niu, a renowned honest man in this village. With him, your mother lives a better, more peaceful, and more comfortable life. You and I should not disrupt the happiness and tranquility she has finally found in this chaotic world!”
In fact…
After the reconstruction of Bing Province, from Marquis Wen Lu Bu to Fengxian Lu of Jiuyuan, Lu Bu seemed to have transformed into a different person.
It was a metamorphosis from the bottom of his heart.
He now cared more about “emotions” than the illusory material possessions and fleeting fame!
From the moment of his “death at Baimen Tower,” he had seen through the world’s deceit and trickery. Now, he only wanted to protect those he wanted to protect.
And this emotion… through a series of words, he wanted to convey it to Lu Lingqi, making her understand… his fatherly intentions.
“Father… what have you experienced over the years?”
Lu Lingqi spoke…
Lu Bu remained silent. He reached out and gently stroked Lu Lingqi’s long hair.
“I have experienced all that should have been experienced!”
“When Father was alive, I could protect you, protect your mother, protect your younger mother, and protect your sister… but if one day, Father were to meet with an accident, then who would protect you all?”
Lu Bu shook his head helplessly.
“Lu Yu had already promised Father that he would marry you. That way, regardless of whether Father was still alive or not, at least those whom Father wanted to protect, he would also protect. In this chaotic world, you could be safe and sound! But… but… your actions have disrupted all of Father’s plans. Father just feels unwilling!”
Understood…
Lu Lingqi finally understood completely. She understood her father’s painstaking efforts.
Her father went into hiding, her father made an agreement with Lu Yu, and all of her father’s actions… were they not all for the sake of this family?
And she… what had she, Lu Lingqi, done besides ruining her father’s painstaking efforts?
“Father… I…” Lu Lingqi opened her mouth, but her words stopped at her lips. “Daughter will rectify the mess daughter has made herself?”
“How can you rectify it? Could it be that you can marry Lu Yu again?” Lu Bu retorted immediately.
“Why not?” Lu Lingqi gritted her teeth, seemingly… she had made a difficult decision in her heart, a final choice between her father and another important man.
“What if… what if I killed my master, Tong Yuan?”
“Even if I have to bear the infamy of matricide, is that enough to make amends?”
As soon as Lu Lingqi said this.
—It was earth-shattering!
…
…