Chapter 36: She Had Always Hated Him

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Li Lianzhu walked into the porridge shelter. Lu Xuanheng asked, “What brings the Commandery Princess here?”

“I heard that starving refugees have gathered here without enough food to eat, so I came especially to distribute porridge.”

Seeing the several carts of grain she had brought with her, Lu Xuanheng understood at once. Prince Xian must have sent her. This was the perfect opportunity to win the people’s hearts.

“The Commandery Princess is truly considerate of the common people.”

Li Lianzhu smiled at him, then rolled up her sleeves and began serving porridge alongside him.

A long line had formed behind the shelter. The people were astonished to see a princess of such noble birth personally ladling porridge for them, and they began praising her in admiration.

“The Princess of Nanhua truly cares about the people. She came here herself to serve us porridge. What a kind and benevolent lady!”

“I hear the Commandery Princess and General Lu are already betrothed. One is beautiful and kind-hearted, the other handsome and dashing. They truly are a perfect match.”

Li Lianzhu heard every word, a smile curling at the corners of her lips.

The two of them worked together throughout the afternoon. Before they knew it, dusk had fallen. Li Lianzhu rubbed her aching arms, and Lu Xuanheng brought her a cup of tea.

She thanked him and accepted it, studying him closely. “I hear you’ve been busy here for several days in a row. You seem to have lost weight. No matter how busy you are, you must take care of yourself.”

Lu Xuanheng replied evenly, “Thank you for your concern, Your Highness.”

“You’re still so formal.” After taking a sip of tea, Li Lianzhu continued, “Oh, that reminds me. The Fourth Young Master of the Yong’an Marquis’s Residence recently became engaged to your cousin. What a fine match. Their wedding is even sooner than ours.”

Lu Xuanheng suddenly froze. “My cousin?”

“Yes, You’an.”

His expression stiffened, and for an instant, his mind went blank.

The girl engaged to the Yong’an Marquis’s heir was Jiang You’an?

Su Mingxiu and Jiang You’an were engaged?

Li Lianzhu watched his expression carefully. “You didn’t know?”

Lu Xuanheng clenched both fists. His voice seemed to be forced up from the depths of his throat. “I haven’t been home lately. I truly had no idea about this happy occasion.”

Li Lianzhu took in every sign of his agitation and said calmly, “Give her my congratulations. I’ll be leaving now.”

Lu Xuanheng agreed. After seeing Li Lianzhu off, he immediately had his finest horse brought around and galloped back to the Lu residence.

A journey that usually took more than an hour was completed in less than one today. When the horse stopped before the Lu residence, he dismounted brimming with chill and strode through the gates.

He went first to Madam Zhao’s quarters. The moment he entered, he asked, “Mother, is it true that Jiang You’an and Su Mingxiu are engaged?”

Seeing his frantic state, Madam Zhao grew irritated. With a sigh, she replied, “It’s true. Lady Su came to present the betrothal gifts the day before yesterday.”

“You agreed?”

“Why wouldn’t we? She was capable enough to win the Su family’s approval.”

Madam Zhao took out the marriage contract and showed it to him. “It has already been signed. The wedding is set for three months from now.”

Lu Xuanheng read the contract three times over. The veins on the back of his hand stood out starkly.

“Lady Su had a Daoist calculate the stars. He said that marrying Jiang You’an would bring Mingxiu good fortune and drive away his misfortune, so she came to propose. Jiang You’an was quite willing as well. It wasn’t as though I forced her into it. If you ask me, this is for the best. You and she can sever your ties as soon as possible…”

Before Madam Zhao could finish, Lu Xuanheng had already turned and left.

Watching his retreating figure, moving with startling speed, Madam Zhao shook her head again and again.

Night had fallen. Jiang You’an had just finished dinner and was sitting beneath the lamplight, embroidering.

Suddenly, a tremendous crash rang out, and she nearly pricked her finger with the needle.

When she looked up, she saw Lu Xuanheng’s face, grim and sinister as a demon from hell.

Qiu Lan’s little face paled with fright, and she hurriedly stepped in front of Jiang You’an.

Jiang You’an said calmly, “Qiu Lan, you may leave.”

Sooner or later, Lu Xuanheng would find out. Sooner or later, she would have to face him.

After Qiu Lan withdrew, Jiang You’an calmly poured herself a cup of tea and took a sip.

Lu Xuanheng approached with a dark expression and threw the marriage contract onto the table before her.

“Explain.”

Jiang You’an took another sip of tea. “As you can see, Su Mingxiu and I are engaged. What is there to explain? Aren’t you engaged to someone else as well?”

“When did it begin between you and him?”

“That has nothing to do with you.”

“At the ice-skating festival? At the marquis’s banquet? Or even earlier?”

Lu Xuanheng braced one arm against the table and bent down, staring fixedly at Jiang You’an. “How long have you been carrying on with him behind my back?”

Jiang You’an gave a soft laugh. “That isn’t important. What matters is that we love each other. He is willing to marry me, and I am willing to marry him.”

A hairline fracture appeared in the depths of Lu Xuanheng’s eyes. He seized Jiang You’an by the chin. “You told me you wanted to stay by my side. So it was all a lie? You had already been planning to marry someone else behind my back?”

Jiang You’an met his gaze without flinching. “That’s right. If I didn’t marry him, was I supposed to stay here as your concubine?”

“So, right under my nose, you were secretly seeing Su Mingxiu.” A smile of utter coldness touched Lu Xuanheng’s lips. “So that was his scent on you all those times. The two times I smelled medicinal fragrance, you had just come from meeting him. In the apricot grove, it was you embracing Su Mingxiu. The day you returned from the street, you had gone to meet him in secret…”

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Everything fit together now. Lu Xuanheng thought himself an utter fool.

Jiang You’an said nothing. Her gaze was cold and indifferent.

“You coaxed me into staying at the military camp west of the city so that you could hide your engagement to Su Mingxiu from me. On my birthday, you said you would come to the camp to see me because you were afraid I would return home and ruin your plans. Do you know how late I waited for you that day?”

Lu Xuanheng pointed at the marriage contract, his eyes bloodshot. “Is this the birthday gift you gave me? Jiang You’an, you’re very good indeed.”

Jiang You’an shoved him away and said coldly, “Stop acting as though you’re the one who has suffered some great heartbreak. I deceived you, but why shouldn’t I have? I only wanted to marry well and secure a good home for the rest of my life. What have I done wrong? What do I owe you?”

“Su Mingxiu is your idea of a good home?”

“He admires my paintings, cares about my interests, respects my wishes, and promised to make me his principal wife, granting me all the dignity I deserve. Unlike you—you only know how to force and humiliate me. Even the little kindness you show me always comes with the air of someone bestowing charity from on high!”

Lu Xuanheng froze. It was a long while before he slowly asked, “Am I truly so contemptible in your eyes?”

Jiang You’an turned her face away.

“From the moment we met until now, have you never liked me even a little?”

Her voice held not the slightest trace of emotion. “When we first met as children, I already hated you. You knew that, didn’t you?”

Lu Xuanheng remembered. It had been five years ago, when he had accompanied his mother to the Jiang residence and met a little girl as delicate and lovely as a carved doll. She had taken his hand, called him Big Brother, and led him to eat pastries. He had liked her very much.

But the next time they met, the little girl had changed completely and hurled cruel insults at him.

Whenever they played together, she would either push him into the water or knock over the incense burner and deliberately scald him. Whenever the adults came to demand an explanation, he feared she would be scolded, so he always claimed that he had been careless.

He had even carved a wooden figure for her with his own hands, but she had refused it, smashing it against the floor until it broke into pieces.

He had told her that if she disliked that one, he could carve her a little rabbit next time. She had only told him to leave because she did not want to see him.

Even after leaving the Jiang residence, he had never understood why she hated him so much.

“Later, I lost my family. You brought me to the Lu residence, where you did all those things to me. That only made me hate you more.”

Jiang You’an stood with her back to him. Lu Xuanheng could not see the expression on her face; he only felt that every word she spoke was a knife driven into his heart.

He drew a deep breath, his voice trembling faintly. “If I hadn’t protected you, you might be in the Music Office by now.”

Jiang You’an turned her head toward him, a cold smile on her face. “Yes, you saved me. I should be grateful. Thank you for allowing me to remain at your side, where you could force and humiliate me, summon me whenever you pleased and cast me aside whenever you wished. I was no different from the official courtesans in the Music Office!”

Lu Xuanheng’s throat felt clogged, and the pain left him unable to speak. Only after a long silence did he manage to ask in a barely audible voice, “Is staying with me truly so unbearable to you?”

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