The door was kicked open with a “bang”. Lady Lu still sat there in a daze, but her eyes subconsciously looked in the direction of the sound. In the flickering candlelight outside the house, Lu Wenhan was being supported by someone. All he could see was the swaying white silk.
“Master...”
“Wanru, do you really hate me this much?”
Ignoring his weak body, Prime Minister Lu strode into the room and grabbed Lady Lu's wrist. The bloodshot in his eyes spread like a cobweb.
“It was my fault back then. I ignored your dissuasion and insisted on sending Xi'er to the manor. You've already tried to kill yourself once. Why are you doing this again?”
The warmth from Lu Wenhan's palm on her wrist was constantly spreading. Lady Lu raised her head blankly and just stared at the man in front of her, the man she had loved.
He had aged.
On his familiar eyebrows and eyes were all the traces left by time, but one could still faintly glimpse his youthful appearance, the appearance that had made her fall in love with him when she was young.
He was the man she had trusted and loved!
Two lines of clear tears fell without warning.
In the candlelight, Lu Wenhan only saw a crystal drop fall on her face. Then he felt his waist tighten as Lady Lu hugged him, whispering words only he could hear.
“Brother Wenhan...”
In the room, a single lamp flickered like a bean. The young girl's painful groans came one after another. The handkerchief on her forehead was constantly soaked with sweat, replaced, soaked again, and replaced once more.
Apart from that, Hongrui could do nothing else, because she remembered what the Fourth Miss had once said: the after - effects of the Speech Spirit could only be endured by oneself.
“Hongrui, isn't there really any other way?”
The girl's lower lip was already bitten through, and her palms were bloody and mangled. Looking at the young girl on the bed suffering in pain, Hongmei wished she could take her place.
Hongmei already knew that the Fourth Miss wasn't having an illness but the after - effects of the Speech Spirit. But in the past when she “fell ill”, she never suffered this much pain!
“Hongrui, think of a way...”
“I have no way!”
The handkerchief was thrown into the basin, splashing water everywhere. Hongrui's eyes were red, her emotions complex. She hated her own incompetence.
When her mistress was seriously injured and had a high fever, she could only rage helplessly and blame the Fourth Miss for not using the Speech Spirit.
Now that she had used it and was lying in front of her, she still could only watch her being tortured by pain and do nothing!
“Hongrui...”
Hongrui's nails were almost digging into her flesh. She tried her best to control her emotions and wrung out the handkerchief before handing it to Hongmei.
“The handkerchief on the Fourth Miss's forehead needs to be changed.”
Outside the house
Even though the Wolf Guards acted carefully, except for the waiter who opened the door for them and Shang Luoshu's group, no one else was woken up. However, the fact that more than a dozen people died inexplicably in the inn couldn't be hidden the next day.
So after coming to his senses from the shock of “Miss Lu the Fourth has the Speech Spirit”, Lin Zihan immediately led his men to the county yamen to report the case and asked the local magistrate to come and handle it.
The magistrate of Zhao County was sleeping soundly. Naturally, he was unhappy to be woken up from his dream. But when he saw Lin Zihan show his official seal as the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, his attitude immediately changed. He quickly ordered someone to call the constable in the yamen and go to the inn with him.
By this time, Lu Hu had already woken up. To prevent any more trouble in the inn, he and Fang Qinhu guarded the doors of their two masters. However, the atmosphere between the two of them was not good.
Lu Yinxi's painful groans came out one after another. Apart from being anxious, Lu Hu turned his anger towards Fang Qinhu.
“You've known it all along!”
Facing Lu Hu's question, Fang Qinhu didn't hide it. He nodded and said, “I calculated on the Fourth Miss using the Speech Spirit to save my life.”
There was a hidden meaning in his words, but Lu Hu didn't notice it for a moment. His focus was elsewhere.
“So you've also known that the young lady would suffer like this?”
Fang Qinhu paused for a moment, as if thinking of something, and then shook his head. “I didn't know at first.”
By the time he knew, it was already too late. He had already calculated on her. So even though he felt extremely guilty in his heart, he could only continue stubbornly.
The next day, when Lu Wenhan woke up, it was already broad daylight. Lady Lu had cried in his arms for half the night last night, and his body wasn't fully recovered yet, so he woke up at this time.
Lady Lu was still sleeping beside him, holding a corner of his underwear with both hands. She still looked a bit like a young girl.
When they first got engaged back then, she liked to tug at his corner of the clothes like this. It was neither over - stepping the mark nor very intimate.
But as things in reality piled up one after another, the friendship of their youth could only be buried deep in their hearts. Lu Wenhan wasn't even sure how much of it was left.
The only thing he was sure of now was that he had to recover quickly and then compete with Shang Mozheng.
Last night, Lady Lu had told him everything that had happened back then.
It was clearly Shang Mozheng who was morally corrupt, but in the end, he shifted all the blame onto a woman.
Humph!
In that case, he would also make him pay the price!
Compared with Lady Lu, Lu Wenhan actually knew more about Shang Mozheng's background, so he knew better what kind of person he was at his core.
When Shang Mozheng was young, just as he had described himself, because his mother had a lowly background, he was disliked by his father. But when the previous emperor ascended the throne, that is, his elder brother became the emperor, Shang Mozheng's life wasn't hard. In fact, it was quite comfortable.
The previous emperor was a benevolent ruler. He loved his younger brothers very much. As long as they didn't go too far, he wouldn't blame them, especially his youngest brother, Shang Mozheng.
When he was a prince, due to his father's attitude, he didn't dare to show too much favoritism to Shang Mozheng. He could only secretly ask someone to take care of him. After he became the emperor, he didn't have to worry about these things. Besides his own son, the first person he thought of when there were good things was this youngest emperor brother.
Even before his death, he gave him the position of the Regent King, which showed how much he trusted Shang Mozheng.
It was a pity that his youngest emperor brother had already turned evil. The position of the Regent King couldn't satisfy him. What he wanted was the peak of power.
The magistrate of Zhao County acted quickly. When Hongmei went out the next day, the inn's lobby had returned to its original appearance. Only the faint bloodstains on the ground indicated that a waiter was missing here.
“How is the young lady?”
Seeing her come out, Lu Hu immediately stepped forward. Due to staying up all night, his face was haggard.
“She has recovered a bit.”
Although she said so, Hongmei's expression didn't relax much.
This was only the first night.
According to the past, the young lady would have to endure the pain for a few more days. Moreover, she had also noticed that during this period, each time the young lady “fell ill”, the pain lasted longer than the previous time.
However, Hongmei didn't say these things. After all, they were the young lady's weaknesses. The fewer people who knew, the safer it would be.
“Brother Lu, you've worked hard. I'm going to change the young lady's medicine.”
Since both masters had fallen ill again, Hongmei and Hongrui, the two maids, couldn't rest well either. They could only run back and forth.
Hearing this, Lu Hu stepped aside to make way for her. His eyes casually glanced downstairs, and unexpectedly, he saw a familiar face.
Eldest Young Master?!