Chapter 52
Matron Zhang stepped forward.
“I wonder if the Third Princess would be so kind as to have a few words with this old servant?”
Matron Zhang knew that the person in charge of this family was Lu He, so she addressed her directly.
Lu He froze.
Third Princess? What a long-lost title. It had been a long time since she had heard anyone call her that.
Yes, she was the third in line in the Shan Kingdom. Back then, she had also been a princess whom everyone had to bow to. But now, she was a nobody in a foreign land.
As sorrow filled her heart, she saw Matron Zhang still waiting at the side. Thinking of her daughter, she made up her mind and agreed to Matron Zhang’s request.
And so, Lu Dieqing watched as Matron Zhang led her mother out of the courtyard to talk in the distance.
She was a little nervous, afraid that her mother would be angry.
Along with Lu Dieqing and Matron Zhang came a few eunuchs carrying the box of the four treasures of the study and the Caiyun Academy clothes.
Bai Ming was a scholar and noticed the box. Seeing Lu Dieqing’s anxious look, he went up to her and asked what was on her mind.
Lu Dieqing thought for a moment and then told him about the Crown Princess wanting her to go to the Caiyun Academy.
Bai Ming pondered for a moment, then clapped his hands and smiled.
“To be able to go to the academy to study is a good thing. Your mother has your best interests at heart. She will definitely not stop you. Just set your mind at ease.”
Knowing what Lu Dieqing was worried about, Bai Ming comforted her.
He understood his wife’s character. As long as it was something that could make their daughter’s life better, and as long as it was safe, Lu He would fully support it, and so would he.
Even if their daughter returned to the Shan Kingdom in the future and they could never see her again in their lifetime, it didn’t matter. As long as their daughter could live a good life, they would be content.
Lu Dieqing received some comfort from her father, and her heart settled a little.
But she was still not sure what her mother’s mood would be.
Would her mother agree to them moving to Yunxi Hall?
After a while, Lu He returned.
Lu Dieqing stood anxiously at the door, waiting for her to speak.
Matron Zhang seemed to have finished what she had to say and had left.
Now, only Lu Dieqing, Bai Ming, and Lu He were in the courtyard.
Seeing her daughter looking at her eagerly, Lu He walked over, hugged her, and stroked the top of her head.
“The Crown Princess is a good person. She is willing to let you go to the Caiyun Academy to study. Since she has such an intention, it would not be right for us to refuse.”
After a pause, Lu He added, “It’s just that you’ve never been to an academy before, and your status is not comparable to those royal family members. If you go there, even with the Crown Princess protecting you on the surface, you will inevitably suffer some grievances in private. I’m afraid you’ll be at a disadvantage.”
Hearing this, Lu Dieqing said, “Mother, I’m not afraid of being at a disadvantage. A person has to suffer a little to grow up.”
Seeing her mother’s sorrow and reluctance, Lu Dieqing turned into a little ray of sunshine again. After a while, she finally managed to put Lu He at ease.
“Good, my Qingqing can make her own decisions now. I should be happy.”
“Then, Mother, are we… still moving to Yunxi Hall?”
Lu Dieqing tilted her little head to look at her mother.
Lu He froze, her heart easing a little. She spoke in a relaxed tone.
“We’ll move. But, you’re going to the academy tomorrow. It’s too remote to live here, and it’s inconvenient to go back and forth. You’ll move over first tomorrow. Your father and I have lived here for most of our lives and have grown attached to this place. We can’t move so many things in such a short time. Let’s take it slow. You go first, and your father and I will find some time to come later.”
Hearing her mother say this, Lu Dieqing thought for a while, felt it made sense, and obediently nodded.
“Then I’ll listen to you, Mother.”
Looking at her daughter’s innocent, flower-like smile, Lu He felt a mix of reluctance and sorrow.
She would not tell Qingqing that she and Bai Ming would not be moving to Yunxi Hall.
Although she was worried about Lu Dieqing being alone, sooner or later, this child had to return to the Shan Kingdom.
Rather than letting Qingqing get used to a sudden separation then, it was better to take this opportunity to let the child slowly get used to life without her parents.
As a person grows up, they always have to go to further places and meet more people.
Lu He hoped her daughter would live a good life. Even if this good life did not include her and Bai Ming, it didn’t matter.
That night, Lu He took out the rice, flour, meat, and vegetables from their home and cooked a sumptuous meal. The family of three sat together, their laughter endless.
Lu He looked at her daughter’s smiling face, wanting to cry and laugh at the same time.
It was good that her daughter had grown up, so she could let her pursue the life she wanted.
But, as her daughter grew up, the days of their family of three being together would also gradually drift away, and then become a distant memory.
She took out the wine she had secretly hidden. “Today, everyone will have a drink to celebrate our Qingqing going to the academy to study tomorrow.”
And also to hope that her daughter would have a bright future.
Bai Ming knew his wife’s thoughts. His heart was also filled with complex sorrow, but he didn’t show it, just happily eating with his wife and daughter.
Lu Dieqing didn’t know the complexity in her parents’ hearts. She was extremely happy today. Holding a cup of wine, she took a small sip and raised her lips.
“Cheers!”
She happily drank it all down, and then the girl was drunk.
She passed out with a single touch of wine.
Lu He was a little stunned. Her daughter has such a low tolerance for alcohol?
She glared at Bai Ming.
But she saw the scholar had also passed out on the table.
The father and daughter were the same, getting drunk with a single touch of wine, completely unlike Lu He, who could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk.
“Of all the things to inherit from your father, why did you have to inherit his alcohol tolerance?”
Lu He grumbled as she half-carried her daughter back to her room, then came back to push Bai Ming and help him to another room.
Under the moon, Lu He drank the remaining half-pot of wine by herself.
This little bit of wine couldn’t get her drunk, but Lu He’s heart was drunk.
She held her chopsticks and tapped them on the bowl, softly humming a folk song from the Shan Kingdom.
“I will not return, I will not return. I will fight through thorns on the battlefield and die wrapped in a horse’s hide, but I will not return. If I do return, I shall return in great victory.”
Recalling the past ten thousand times, Lu He always thought, if she hadn’t been afraid of hardship as a child and had learned martial arts, and could lead troops into battle, she might have been able to die a quick death on the battlefield, instead of being a pathetic hostage, implicating her daughter and husband.
The detours she had taken in the past, she would never let her daughter walk them again.
So… the Caiyun Academy, a place that could make her daughter stronger, she should go.
Under the moon, Lu He thought of her daughter being able to return to the Shan Kingdom in the future, and a smile slowly appeared on her face.
*
Zheng Xuening returned to the doll’s body after a long absence.
She had thought Lu Dieqing would have been waiting for her and was thinking of what kind of reason to give to explain her disappearance these past few days.
However, what met her eyes was the side profile of the girl, curled up on the bed, already deep in her dreams.
Zheng Xuening had to put in some effort to jump out of Lu Dieqing’s embrace. She stood on the girl’s chest, looking down at her face.
“Hey. Wake up.”
After becoming a wooden doll, Zheng Xuening was still not used to it.
She couldn’t make a sound and could only speak to Lu Dieqing in her mind.
After calling out a few times and getting no response from the girl, Zheng Xuening inexplicably felt the desolation of being left alone.
In the past, she had always been waited for and looked forward to by Lu Dieqing, and had long since grown accustomed to it.
Today, this waiting was suddenly gone, and for a moment, she actually felt a sense of crisis, as if she had fallen out of favor.
