Chapter 549: Lu Shaoyuan, Mo Lingwei
Chapter 549: Chapter 549: Lu Shaoyuan, Mo Lingwei
Mo Lingwei galloped over on his horse, his spirits high.
Wu Fang followed behind him, cracking his whip and shouting from a distance, "Crown Prince, can’t you slow down a little? My horse’s belly is about to be squeezed raw!"
Mo Lingwei glanced back and sneered, "I’ll go ahead and set things up. You clear out the bamboo garden and wait for Shen Ningning to arrive!"
He had arrived an hour earlier than the appointed time.
Mo Lingwei ordered his men to hang red silk all over the bamboo garden, just like it had looked in the Matchmaker Temple that day.
This way, he could also make up for the regret of not having accompanied Shen Ningning to pay respects to the Matchmaker.
However, just as he strode into the bamboo garden...
A voice called out from behind him.
"Crown Prince! Crown Prince."
He turned and saw it was the Xie family’s driver.
Mo Lingwei’s cool eyes swept past the man, looking behind him.
’Where is Shen Ningning? Did she not take the carriage?’
The driver ran over, panting, and said, "Your Highness, our Princess said something has come up. She won’t be coming for now."
Mo Lingwei froze. "What happened to her? Does she need my help?"
The driver shook his head. "The Princess is fine. It’s just that she went to the Lu Residence earlier and was delayed by some business. I’m afraid she won’t be able to make it."
"The Lu Residence?" Mo Lingwei’s sharp brows furrowed. "She had an arrangement with me. Why did she go to the Lu Residence again?"
The driver said, "The Princess said she had previously promised to accompany Second Young Master Lu to visit Mrs. Meng, but she’d forgotten about it when she accepted the Crown Prince’s invitation. She only just remembered, so she can only apologize to Your Highness. She was worried you’d be waiting, so she arranged for me to come and inform you."
Mo Lingwei’s jaw tightened, and dark clouds gathered in his cool eyes.
’Are she and Lu Shaoyuan really that close?’ To stand him up for such a trivial matter...
’Am I ranked below Lu Shaoyuan?’
After delivering the message, the driver hurried away.
His handsome, pale face was exceptionally grim as he strode out of the bamboo garden.
Wu Fang, who had overheard everything, quickly stepped forward to ask, "Crown Prince, are we returning to the palace now?"
"Return to the palace? We’re going to the Lu Residence!" Simply leaving was not in Mo Lingwei’s nature.
「Meanwhile.」
Lu Shaoyuan was in his residence drinking tea when he heard that Shen Ningning was looking for him.
He quickly lifted the hem of his robes and hurried to the back gate.
Before he even saw her, Lu Shaoyuan was already laughing heartily. "Why didn’t you use the front gate? Coming through the back like this... if anyone saw, they’d think I was keeping you hidden away."
In truth, he wished he could show everyone, loud and proud, that Shen Ningning had come to visit him!
But unexpectedly, the moment he saw Shen Ningning, Lu Shaoyuan’s voice died in his throat.
She was all alone. Strands of her upswept hair clung wetly to the sides of her face, and her lovely expression was bleak and sorrowful.
Her eyes were completely red, likely from having just cried.
The expression on Lu Shaoyuan’s handsome face changed drastically. He rushed forward and grabbed her by the wrist.
"What’s wrong? Who bullied you?"
Shen Ningning’s voice was hoarse, colored with the unique tone of a young girl. "Can I come in to talk?"
Lu Shaoyuan quickly led her into the residence, pulling her straight to his own room.
Normally, she would have been mindful of the strict separation between men and women that her father and brother always spoke of. Shen Ningning hesitated for a moment at the doorway, but still, she stepped across the threshold.
It was as if she were forcing herself to cross a barrier in her own heart.
Lu Shaoyuan had her sit by the window. With a large crabapple tree as her backdrop, the young woman’s delicate face was flushed, making the tear stains even more obvious.
Lu Shaoyuan quickly wrung out a damp handkerchief to wipe her face.
But realizing the gesture was too intimate, he could only hand the handkerchief to her.
"Here, you wipe your face." He then crouched down, looking at her earnestly. "Tell me, what on earth happened?"
「In that instant.」
Lu Shaoyuan considered countless worst-case scenarios.
’Was Xiangyun Village burned down? Did Grandma Qin pass away? Did something happen to the wolf pack?’
In his memory, Shen Ningning rarely cried.
No matter how great the hardship, she could always face it with strength.
’How could she be so distraught? It’s like she’s about to shatter.’
Shen Ningning wiped the tears from her face, smudging her rouge in the process. The white handkerchief was now stained with patches of red and black.
Seeing this, Lu Shaoyuan realized that she had been meticulously dressed up today.
The young woman’s face had a rosy glow, and the light illuminated the soft down on her skin. Without any powder or paint, Shen Ningning was even more beautiful, like a freshly bloomed flower.
A pity it was marred by tear stains.
She took a long moment to compose herself before finally mustering the courage to look up at Lu Shaoyuan.
"I want to discuss something with you."
"Never mind one thing—a hundred, even a thousand would be fine! Just please stop crying," Lu Shaoyuan agreed in a flash.
But this only made Shen Ningning feel even more guilty.
Lu Shaoyuan treated her with such sincerity and earnestness, yet she was about to drag him into this mess.
"Lu Shaoyuan, are you willing to marry me?"
As she asked this question in a soft, quiet voice, Lu Shaoyuan froze completely.
His handsome, starry eyes were filled with utter, incredulous shock.
"Wha-what?" He started to tremble, too.
Shen Ningning lowered her head, her expression dejected. "It would be a pretense. I hope you won’t ask why. I can only tell you that I want to borrow two or three years of your time to pretend to be married, to be husband and wife."
"However, my intentions aren’t pure, so you are completely free to refuse me. I... I don’t know what I can give you in return, so maybe..."
Lu Shaoyuan: "I’m willing!"
Shen Ningning looked up in astonishment, only to see that he had recovered from his initial shock and was now wearing an expression of pure ecstasy.
"I haven’t finished. The devotion you want... I can’t give you that. I don’t like you that way right now, Lu Shaoyuan."
Unexpectedly, Lu Shaoyuan only became more resolute. "That’s okay! Feelings can be cultivated over time. That’s how it was for my parents. See? Aren’t they doing just fine now?"
It was Shen Ningning’s turn to be stunned.
"But I was talking about a fake marriage."
"Didn’t you just say you couldn’t give me anything? Then give me time. Three years. If you haven’t fallen for me in three years, I’ll let you go, even if we are truly married. But if you do fall for me, then we can spend the rest of our lives together. How about it?"
Lu Shaoyuan was completely serious. He was half-kneeling on the footstool, looking up at Shen Ningning with an intensity he had never shown before.
Shen Ningning fell silent.
「Just then.」
A noisy commotion erupted from the courtyard entrance.
"Crown Prince! Your Highness, you can’t go in!"
Shen Ningning’s heart lurched. ’Mo Lingwei is here.’
Suddenly, her left hand shot out and grabbed Lu Shaoyuan’s left wrist, pulling his large hand to rest against her own cheek.
Lu Shaoyuan’s starry eyes widened in a daze.
Mo Lingwei was about to enter the room. Through the wide-open window, he had already seen Shen Ningning’s back.
"Shen Ningning!" he snarled. "Do you even remember you promised to meet me at the bamboo garden?"
Lu Shaoyuan turned his head, about to look at Mo Lingwei, but Shen Ningning moved even faster, her right hand cupping his other cheek.
This time, Lu Shaoyuan froze completely solid.
When Mo Lingwei burst into the room, this was the scene that greeted him.
Their actions were intimate, their interaction like that of lovers.
The moment Shen Ningning saw him, she quickly averted her gaze, turned her back, and pulled her hands away.
"Brother, why are you here!" Her resentful tone seemed to accuse him of coming at the wrong time.
Mo Lingwei was already frozen in place.
Lu Shaoyuan quickly stood up and dusted off his robes. He didn’t know what had happened between Shen Ningning and Mo Lingwei, but he reacted fast.
He shifted his body slightly, shielding half of Shen Ningning from view.
"Crown Prince." Lu Shaoyuan cupped his hands in a salute.
A cold, fierce crimson glinted in Mo Lingwei’s cool eyes. He practically forced the words through gritted teeth: "What were you two... doing?"
Shen Ningning glanced back, a hint of complaint in her voice. "Brother, didn’t I have the driver tell you? I had something to do today... I..."
"Busy with what? Busy being alone with Lu Shaoyuan?" Mo Lingwei cut her off sharply.