Chapter 55

Chapter 55: What Does Prince Chang’an Look Like?

On the bustling street, a line of Prince’s Manor retainers cleared the way, keeping Chun Zhi and the other passersby outside the path.

“Do not push… do not push. Let me see what the Prince Chang’an who is inspecting Nanzhou looks like,” a burly fellow shouted, while he himself pushed the hardest. He stopped right in front of Chun Zhi and blocked her view completely.

“Big brother, you are pushing me,” Chun Zhi said, squeezed so tightly she could not even step back.

In front of the Drunken Immortal House, the luxurious carriage slowed to a stop. A beautiful maid lifted the curtain. Huo Yu, shaking a white fan, stepped down first, and then Huo Zheng came out at an easy pace.

Shopkeeper Su Yu Tang led the staff to welcome them inside, saying all the proper words with great flourish.

When Chun Zhi turned to look at Prince Chang’an, a fat uncle stepped on her foot. The pain almost brought tears to her eyes. By the time she looked again, she only saw a tall, straight back.

That back… it looked familiar, [where have I seen it before].

Once the nobles entered the Drunken Immortal House, the retainers followed them in. The street soon returned to normal, people coming and going.

With her foot aching, Chun Zhi limped along, feeling a little regretful, [I almost got to see what Prince Chang’an looks like].

She had thought about going to find Huo Zheng, but she did not know the name of Huo Qi’s close friend. If she went straight to the Yamen, the constables might throw her out. After thinking it over, she decided to go home and wait for Huo Qi, so she rented a carriage and returned to Linshui Town.

At the same time, at the Zhou Manor, Jiang He led the Shadow Guard to search and seize the estate.

Ji Ru Zhen and Lu Jing Yun had spent one night there. Seeing men arrive to confiscate the house just after the Zhou Prefect left for the Yamen, they knew something was very wrong.

“I am this year’s Top Scholar, Lu Jing Yun, and this is my wife, Madam Ji,” Lu Jing Yun said, explaining: “I was ordered to assist Prince Chang’an in inspecting Nanzhou. We only stayed here for one night. We have nothing to do with what the Zhou father and son did.”

Though he was assisting Prince Chang’an, that prince was very mysterious. Lu Jing Yun had not met him even once. He had only dealt with Jiang He and the others.

Hearing this, Madam Zhou almost fainted from panic and cried out: “Ru Zhen! I am your aunt. Our Zhou house is in such trouble. You must help us!”

Ji Ru Zhen had no idea that sending Zhou Rong to seize Chun Zhi would cause such a disaster. She stammered: “Aunt, it is not that I will not help. I really cannot help.”

She clutched Lu Jing Yun’s hand and whispered: “Husband, I am afraid.”

Lu Jing Yun patted her hand to calm her and said: “Do not worry, I am here.”

Jiang He knew the husband was a Top Scholar and the wife was a Chancellor’s Daughter, and he also knew Zhou He was Ji Ru Zhen’s aunt’s husband. Even so, with the prince’s order to confiscate the Zhou Manor, he could hardly touch the Top Scholar who was assisting the inspection. He said with a cold face: “If what the Zhou father and son did is unrelated to the Top Scholar and the Top Scholar’s Wife, then please leave at once and do not hinder our work.”

“Very well. I will take my wife away now,” Lu Jing Yun said.

He sensed that Jiang He seemed displeased with him, but he had no idea why. He could only assume that the men around Prince Chang’an were hard to get along with.

Lu Jing Yun did not linger in the Zhou Manor. He immediately led Ji Ru Zhen away.

Madam Zhou watched her estate being seized. Servants stripped her of her gold hairpins, jade rings, and fine robes. Shamed and furious, she fainted on the spot.

Ji Ru Zhen called “Aunt,” but Lu Jing Yun pulled her away from the chaotic Zhou Manor.

They went first to the Prefect’s Yamen to ask what had happened. Learning that Zhou Rong and Zhou He had been condemned for several earlier cases and that Prince Chang’an had sentenced them to death, they took a carriage back to the Lu Residence in Linshui Town.

When Ji Ru Zhen heard that Zhou Rong was slain on the spot for abducting a common woman and taking lives, she went weak with fear. Her face turned pale.

Lu Jing Yun tried to comfort her with a few words, but she could not listen. Once they reached the Lu Residence, she went straight to her room and stayed there.

“What is wrong with Ru Zhen?” Old Madam Lu asked.

High-born girls were hard to keep, she thought. They were nothing like Chun Zhi, who had cared for her with her own hands all these years. Since returning to Linshui Town, Ji Ru Zhen had not even bothered to perform morning and evening greetings as a show of respect. If not for the fact that Ji Ru Zhen was a Chancellor’s Daughter and helpful to Lu Jing Yun’s career, Old Madam Lu would have told him to bring Chun Zhi back. In terms of respect and filial duty, Ji Ru Zhen could not compare to Chun Zhi.

“Her aunt’s husband, the Zhou Prefect, is in trouble…” Lu Jing Yun said, briefly explaining the Zhou family’s situation.

“You mean that Zhou relative of hers?” Old Madam Lu asked at once, remembering: “I heard from a servant that the day before yesterday that Zhou cousin even came here looking for her.”

Lu Jing Yun’s gaze darkened and he asked: “Is that so?”

When a waiter had run over yesterday to say there was trouble at the Zhou Family Ancestral Residence, Ji Ru Zhen’s reaction had already seemed odd. Yet she had not told him that Zhou Rong had come to the Lu Residence.

“Mother, what else do you know?” Lu Jing Yun asked.

These days, Old Madam Lu had been clashing quietly with her daughter-in-law. She had bought over one of Ji Ru Zhen’s maids and learned that Ji Ru Zhen had sent Zhou Rong after Chun Zhi. At first Old Madam Lu had not wanted to tell her son, but under his steady stare she told him.

“I see,” Lu Jing Yun said, nearly grinding the words through his teeth.

Old Madam Lu warned him: “Do not go to Ru Zhen because of Chun Zhi. If you let Chun Zhi make trouble between husband and wife, that is not worth it.” Chun Zhi was very good, but she had married another. She no longer had anything to do with the Lu Clan. No matter how Ji Ru Zhen was, she was the Lu Clan’s daughter-in-law and Lu Jing Yun’s wife. Old Madam Lu told herself she was being clear-headed.

Lu Jing Yun was already too angry to speak. He turned and headed for the door.

“Jing Yun, where are you going?” Old Madam Lu called after him.

He did not answer. He strode away to Peach Blossom Lane.

When he reached the tofu workshop, a blue-cloth carriage came down the lane and stopped right in front of him.

“This is the rest of the rental,” Chun Zhi said, handing the coachman the remaining fare. She stepped down from the carriage and only then saw Lu Jing Yun standing at her gate.

She did not spare him a second look. She walked straight past him, reached for the latch, opened the courtyard door, and went inside.

“Chun Zhi,” Lu Jing Yun called after her: “Are you really not willing to say even one word to me?”