Chapter 89: Whispers in the Quiet Night
Chapter 89: Chapter 89: Whispers in the Quiet Night
Lu Xiu did not answer, but his lips curved into a slight smile.
The answer was self-evident.
Liang Wan stared blankly at the lamp. ’Of course I know that trying to kill Gao Qian on my own is like a moth to a flame.’
’But if I don’t kill those who deserve to be killed, if I don’t get the revenge I’m owed, then what’s the point of living?’
’What is there left for me in this world to hold on to?’
Liang Wan lowered her head and closed her eyes.
After a long silence, she turned to look at Lu Xiu. ’Someone like him, who has had such a smooth life, would never understand.’
"My lord," Liang Wan asked, "do you still believe my talk of revenge is just a pretext?"
’I haven’t forgotten how he ridiculed me in that cave.’
’Since I can’t fool him with these tricks, I might as well be frank. It could lower his guard against me. After all, when you live under someone else’s roof, you have to bow your head or risk getting hurt. As long as I don’t cross his lines and he knows I can’t stir up any real trouble, maybe he’ll find me amusing. He might even offer some guidance, or give me a hand...’
After weighing her options, Liang Wan stood up and bowed respectfully to Lu Xiu. "From now on, I hope my lord will—"
"Aren’t you tired?"
Lu Xiu rose and shot her a lazy glance. It seemed that no matter the time, the place, or what she had been through that day, her energy for scheming was always unusually high.
Liang Wan froze mid-bow as he turned and walked into the room.
’In the dead of night, just the two of us, a man and a woman alone, and he’s asking if I’m tired?’
Liang Wan bit her lip. ’He can’t really expect me to act as his actual concubine, can he?’
’I did say he could have my body and soul, but that was just a necessary lie...’
"What are you still doing standing out there like a fool?"
Liang Wan gritted her teeth. Steeling herself, she tiptoed into the room and stood by the door. "Do you have any instructions for me, my lord?" she asked tentatively.
"Go put your shoes on."
Lu Xiu stood before the plaque she’d had moved in, his gaze fixed on it, not her.
Liang Wan’s heart eased. ’I was really overthinking things. Even in my past life, at palace banquets with beauties all around him, I never saw Lu Xiu act wantonly. Why would he have any designs on me?’
’I was just trying to be comfortable and cool, so I went barefoot. Now it just makes me look improper.’
Liang Wan turned her back to him, slipped on her wooden clogs, and straightened her clothes. ’Now that I’ve moved in here, I can’t act as I did when I was alone. Some habits will definitely have to change...’
"You went back and only brought this?"
Liang Wan turned to find him staring at her oddly.
"And a few articles of clothing," Liang Wan said.
Lu Xiu looked back at the plaque.
"It’s just... the inkstones and books were all destroyed," Liang Wan added.
Lu Xiu nodded. He knew she was talking about the items he’d allowed her to take back to the Liang Mansion from the villa.
He raised an eyebrow and scoffed. "No wonder you left the pearls behind and just packed some pebbles. You knew you’d never get them out again if you took them back."
Liang Wan didn’t try to hide it. "They’re safer here with you, my lord. What you might not value is something others could only dream of obtaining."
Lu Xiu finally turned around, his dark eyes fixed on her, studying her intently. "So, the pearls really were what you wanted all along."
Liang Wan understood. He was talking about when she’d demanded a reward for saving the Grandmaster. Everyone had worried she’d use the opportunity to climb the social ladder. In a roundabout way, it seemed she had become exactly what they had feared.
Lu Xiu gave a slight nod. ’So when she said her destination wasn’t the Master’s Mansion, she was telling the absolute truth.’
’A great Grand Commandant like myself... in her eyes, I’m truly worth less than mere gold and silver.’
"But the very thing others can’t obtain is also something *you* don’t care for!"
Maybe it was the flickering lamp in the room, or maybe it was the distance between them, but she couldn’t quite see his expression. His tone, however, sent a chill down her spine.
She suddenly recalled that rainy night on the mountain. Before she lost consciousness, she had seen a pair of eyes filled with hatred. ’Lu Xiu... hates me?’
Liang Wan shook her head. ’What an absurd thought!’
When she looked up again, he was already kneeling before a low table, brush in hand, sketching something out.
The room fell silent, save for the whisper of wind through the bamboo leaves and the chirping of insects outside.
Lu Xiu glanced up and saw her still standing there, frozen in place. Perhaps it was a trick of the lamplight, but she looked more docile than usual.
"Don’t you know what a proper concubine is supposed to do?"
Liang Wan froze. She looked at him, then at the table. ’Does he want me to grind his ink for him?’
Hesitantly, she approached, knelt beside him, and lowered her head, frowning to herself. ’He’s not actually going to take Gao Qian’s advice about "disciplining" me, is he?’
Lu Xiu shot her a sidelong glance, his face unreadable.
At first, Liang Wan’s face was a blank mask, and her ink-grinding was half-hearted. But when she saw the characters he was writing, she was genuinely stunned.
That day at the villa, the art box had only contained his paintings, but there had been plenty of calligraphy by Zhou Yun.
Thanks to Awen and Father, her family had never lacked for fine art and calligraphy. She had seen plenty of masterful work, but Lu Xiu’s script was in no way inferior to Awen’s. In fact, some of his strokes were identical.
Liang Wan was astonished. ’Awen and Lu Xiu shouldn’t have had any contact.’ She glanced doubtfully at the plaque. ’He couldn’t have learned the style just by seeing a few characters, could he?’
Catching a glimpse of her sparkling, lucid eyes, Lu Xiu simply lowered his gaze. "From now on, whenever I write or paint, you will be beside me to grind the ink and hand me the brushes."
Liang Wan’s gaze froze on the characters. She turned to look at him, but his expression was completely normal. After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded. "Yes."
’When you live under someone else’s roof...’
"Why did you slap Cao Danqing?"
Lu Xiu looked up at her. Their eyes met, and for a moment, it was impossible to say whose heart had skipped a beat.
’How could I lie under such an intense, close-range stare?’
Liang Wan bit her lip. "Haven’t I already explained the reason to you, my lord?"
A hint of mockery surfaced in his dark, steady gaze, as if to ask, ’Do you take me for a fool?’
Liang Wan lowered her head, took a breath, and confessed. "My lord, by writing *Luoshen Fu*, you’ve already guessed the reason. Why pretend to ask me?"
Lu Xiu’s lips curled into a slight smile. "Then how did *you* find out?"
’This was a difficult question to answer. If not for connecting certain events from my past life—the fact that Zhou Yun’s daily concerns always involved the Empress, plus the calligraphy in that art box—I would never have discovered his feelings for her.’
Liang Wan remained silent, pointing to two characters on the paper: *Ruo* and *Mi*.
It was the Empress’s maiden name.
’I had thought this secret was safe, but somehow Cao Danqing knew. She almost blurted it out that day. If someone with ill intent had heard her, it would have been a catastrophe for both the Cao Family and Mrs. Zhou.’
He looked at her and let out a cold laugh, his eyes tinged with ice.
Liang Wan asked gingerly, "Will you silence me, my lord?"
Lu Xiu’s gaze remained steady. "If you knew you risked being silenced, why confess?"
"Didn’t you say I don’t trust you, my lord?" Liang Wan said earnestly. "By answering you frankly now, I am proving that I trust you. And I am pledging my loyalty."
’He already knows why I slapped Cao Danqing, so he can’t be worried that I’ll actually leak the secret. His question is just another test.’
Lu Xiu tilted his head, studying the woman before him, and gave a slow nod.
He rose and walked to the edge of the daybed, his eyes on her.
"Come here."