Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Do Not Trust Him Completely

Lu Jing Yun steadied Ji Ru Zhen with a hand.

He did not believe that Chun Zhi had bullied Ji Ru Zhen. As the Chancellor’s daughter and the Top Scholar’s wife, how could she be bullied by a tofu seller? In his eyes, Ji Ru Zhen was only putting on a pitiful act in front of him.

He did not call her out. Keeping one hand on Ji Ru Zhen so she could stand firm, he said to Chun Zhi: “If you have business, you can come straight to me. Why look for my madam?”

Chun Zhi said: “I’m here for the deed and title of the tofu workshop. Your good madam told me she burned them. All of them.”

At that, Lu Jing Yun frowned and asked Ji Ru Zhen: “Why would you burn her deed and title for no reason?”

“I told husband already,” said Ji Ru Zhen, “everything in this house that shouldn’t remain must be burned. Burned clean.”

Lu Jing Yun had no answer.

Chun Zhi said: “Today the gambler son of the workshop’s former owner came to sue me to snatch the tofu workshop. Now that the land title and the house deed were burned by your madam, tell me: what should be done?”

“What’s burned is burned, what else is there to do?” said Ji Ru Zhen. “How much can your little tofu workshop even be worth? I’ll compensate you in silver.”

Chun Zhi said: “I don’t want silver. I want my tofu workshop.”

A high official’s daughter grows up getting whatever she wants; she does not know how bitter it is to have no roof and nowhere to go. After leaving the Lu Clan, Chun Zhi had treated the tofu workshop as her home. With it, she would not be homeless. Now even this place was about to be taken away. Chun Zhi could not accept it.

“I think you’re just making trouble for me on purpose,” Ji Ru Zhen said to Chun Zhi with a hard face, then turned to Lu Jing Yun with a wounded look.

Lu Jing Yun lightly patted Ji Ru Zhen’s back to soothe her and said: “Madam, don’t worry. I’ll speak to her.”

He helped Ji Ru Zhen sit and rest, then said to Chun Zhi: “Come with me.”

Chun Zhi did not move.

Ji Ru Zhen grabbed Lu Jing Yun’s hand and asked: “Husband, what do you need to say to her alone?”

In a low voice he said: “I’ll see her out.”

Ji Ru Zhen did not want Chun Zhi and Lu Jing Yun to be alone for even a moment, but since he put it that way, she could not stop him. Unhappy, she watched her husband walk toward Chun Zhi.

Lu Jing Yun said to Chun Zhi: “Chun Zhi, come outside with me.”

Chun Zhi had no wish to deal with him, but then he said: “Even without the deed and title, you still have me as a witness. When is the hearing? I will appear and testify for you.”

Chun Zhi asked: “Truly?”

Lu Jing Yun nodded, signaling her to follow.

Only then did Chun Zhi walk out of the front hall with him.

At the door, Lu Jing Yun said: “Even if you and I cannot be husband and wife, we did endure hardship together for years. If you wish, you may treat me as an elder brother.”

“I don’t wish to,” said Chun Zhi, cutting him off. “If not for the deed and title of the tofu workshop, I would never have stepped into the Lu Residence again.”

Hearing this, Lu Jing Yun paused. He glanced sideways at Chun Zhi and saw that the tenderness she once held for him was gone; only distance and dislike remained.

He tried to explain: “I did not know she burned the deed and title.”

Chun Zhi kept walking and said: “The Top Scholar is busy with noble affairs. Why would he trouble himself with such trifles?”

Lu Jing Yun fell silent.

Chun Zhi said: “The hearing for Wu Xin’s case to seize the tofu workshop is in three days. Please don’t forget. You must make time to come.”

In a low voice, Lu Jing Yun said: “All right.”

Chun Zhi walked quickly. In just a few lines of talk they reached the gate. She finished speaking and left without giving Lu Jing Yun another look.

“Chun Zhi,” Lu Jing Yun called after her.

She stopped, but did not turn around.

He said: “That husband of yours has an unclear background. You must not trust him completely. Keep your guard up.”

Chun Zhi gave no reply and strode off.

[What does Lu Jing Yun’s warning have to do with anything?] she thought. Huo Qi’s background was none of his concern. She and Huo Qi were only pretending to be husband and wife for now; she was not staking her whole life on it.

Back at the tofu workshop, Chun Zhi went to Huo Qi’s window.

Huo Qi was arranging beans again.

She could not imagine what was so interesting about beans.

Leaning on the lattice, Chun Zhi called softly: “Huo Qi.”

Without lifting his head, Huo Zheng asked: “You didn’t get them?”

“How did you know?” Chun Zhi said in surprise: “Can you tell fortunes?”

Huo Zheng said: “If you had gotten them, would your voice be this light?”

Chun Zhi fell silent: “…”

[How many days has he known me?] she thought. [And already he reads my temper so well!]

Resting her arms on the sill, she watched him line up beans and said in a low voice: “Ji Ru Zhen said she had my things burned, even the deed and title to the tofu workshop. Isn’t she out of her mind? Burning deeds and titles is burning silver…”

Still setting his bean formation, Huo Zheng said casually: “They were things you gave Lu Jing Yun. If they offend her eyes, it’s no surprise she burned them.”

Chun Zhi: “…”

[There’s something more behind his words,] she felt, and mulled it over for a long moment without speaking.

Huo Zheng looked up at her, his gaze seeming to ask: Why did you stop talking?

Turning to rest her back against the sill, Chun Zhi murmured: “Without the deed and title, how do I prove I bought this tofu workshop?”

Huo Zheng asked: “What did Lu Jing Yun and Ji Ru Zhen say?”

“Ji Ru Zhen said she would convert the workshop into cash for me,” said Chun Zhi.

Huo Zheng arched a brow at her and said: “You’ve got some skill, to make Ji Ru Zhen pay you silver.”

“She was arrogant at first,” said Chun Zhi. “I only forced her hand by pressing on her and Lu Jing Yun’s reputations. That’s when she offered silver.”

Huo Zheng said: “Turning it into silver sounds fine. You didn’t take it?”

“I don’t want cash. I want the tofu workshop,” said Chun Zhi. “I’m relying on it for the rest of my life. If it’s turned into silver, where would I live?”

[Come with me. How could you ever lack a place to live?] Huo Zheng thought, but he did not say it. It was too soon to let her know he meant to bring her back to the Prince’s Manor.

Not knowing what he was thinking, Chun Zhi went on: “Lu Jing Yun said he would testify for me on the day of the hearing, so I came back first.”

Huo Zheng said: “And if, on the day of the hearing, Lu Jing Yun doesn’t show up, what will you do?”

Chun Zhi wanted to say that Lu Jing Yun would not be so faithless. But he had promised many times to marry her and still failed her.

“Besides,” Huo Zheng said slowly, “don’t you find it too convenient that Wu Xin came to fight you for the tofu workshop right when Ji Ru Zhen burned the deed and title?”

Chun Zhi turned to him and asked: “You mean Wu Xin’s attempt to seize the workshop was at Ji Ru Zhen’s instigation?”