Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it was the second year after Xiao Mu ascended the throne.
After proclaiming himself Emperor and purging the court, the capital of Great Liang now enjoyed clear governance with many corrupt officials removed. However, this led to significant vacancies in the court. In response, Xiao Mu decreed the establishment of a special examination to select talents.
Young scholars from all over responded eagerly, rushing to the capital to take the exams. The capital, which was once quiet and desolate due to the turmoil of succession, suddenly became lively again.
In a tavern in the capital where scholars gathered to rest, groups of young students engaged in lively discussions. Among them, a handsome young man in black sat quietly, lost in thought.
Someone approached him and tapped his shoulder, saying with a playful smile, “Brother Lin? Brother Lin? What are you so deeply lost in thought about? We’ve called you several times with no response.”
The young man suddenly came to his senses, smiled apologetically and shyly, and started to apologize repeatedly.
At this moment, another person chimed in, “Brother Lin seems to have been troubled since entering the city. Is there something bothering you?”
Before the young man could reply, another person interjected, “Oh, it’s not trouble at all! He was clearly startled! Remember the day he almost got kicked by a horse when he entered the city!”
Laughter broke out around them.
Another voice countered, “No, that’s not it! It’s because Brother Lin encountered a beauty that day and couldn’t forget her. Love at first sight, perhaps!”
The laughter grew louder as curiosity spread, and everyone started asking about this beauty, about how she looked like.
Scholars usually avoided such romantic topics, but now the conversation turned bold and explicit.
Blushing amidst the teasing, the young man waved his hands, trying to deflect the attention, yet unable to shake the image of the girl he saw on horseback that day—a stunning beauty, clearly from a wealthy family. He felt unworthy.
As these thoughts swirled in his mind, he was interrupted by a loud voice, “How dare you say that! Do you know who that girl is?”
“It’s the wife of Prime Minister Lu! I saw it with my own eyes, Prime Minister Lu was escorting her! If you keep joking like this, do you still want a future in the court!?”
“What?! Prime Minister Lu!?”
The group erupted in astonishment.
Meanwhile, the center of the discussion, Shen Qingyao, was leaning against a window, yawning lazily with a look of boredom on her face.
Shen Qingyao realized in despair that after recovering from her illness, life seemed even more boring than when she was seriously ill. When she was sick, her thoughts were mostly about her health and were easily satisfied. But now that she was well, she found herself at a loss for what to do with her days.
Her gaze fell on someone behind a desk engrossed in reading and, though usually pleasing to look at, Shen Qingyao couldn’t help but snort in annoyance, feeling an inexplicable urge to go over and bite him. Yet, in recent days, she felt unusually weak, so she dismissed the idea with another yawn and turned to watch the falling petals in the courtyard.
Meanwhile, behind the desk, Lu Zhao heard the noise and looked up. Seeing the little girl looking listless, he smiled faintly and after a moment, got up and walked over, asking softly, “Feeling tired?”
Shen Qingyao withdrew her gaze from outside the window, cast a fleeting glance at him, but said nothing. Yet the glaring complaint in her eyes was undeniable, as if saying, “Don’t you know how tired I am? Don’t you understand why I’m tired?”
If it weren’t for someone taking advantage of today’s break and made her stay up so late last night, how could she be like this?
By the time they had both truly fallen asleep last night, the early morning bell had already rung. Shen Qingyao thought about it and rolled her eyes again.
Lu Zhao chuckled softly with his head lowered, knowing he was in the wrong, and apologized sincerely. He stretched out his long arms from behind to pull her close, leaning over to coax her, “How about I hold you and let you sleep a little longer?”
Shen Qingyao glared at him again, cautiously shrinking back.
Lu Zhao couldn’t help but laugh. This time he was genuinely innocent; he really hadn’t meant anything by it.
“I won’t sleep anymore. If I do, I’ll become stupid!” Shen Qingyao complained with her eyes, but as Lu Zhao’s hand actually reached out, her body had already leaned towards him honestly.
Then, the person who was about to fall asleep became comfortable and closed her eyes.
Lu Zhao laughed again. It was a muffled sound, his breath tickling her ear. It was ticklish, making her smile, and now she had no intention of sleeping at all.
After a while, Shen Qingyao opened her eyes, rolled them around, and gently turned back to hug Lu Zhao’s arm, softly asking, “Elder Brother Lu Zhao, are you done with your work?”
Though he hadn’t finished, Lu Zhao still nodded.
His work was never-ending.
Lu Zhao was now a Prime Minister, and he was the only one Xiao Mu could trust with the matter of establishing the imperial examination system, so naturally it fell on his shoulders. The exams were about to begin, and Lu Zhao was busy.
But it was a rare rest-day, so whether or not his work was finished, spending time with his little girl was more important.
Lu Zhao raised an eyebrow, waiting to hear what she wanted to say.
Sure enough, when Shen Qingyao heard this, her eyes lit up. She hugged his arm even tighter and tentatively asked, “Then… Elder Brother Lu Zhao, do you think the weather is nice today?”
“It’s not bad.”
The smile in the girl’s eyes grew even brighter, and she became even happier.
“Then, how about we go out of the city for a little outing?”
Lu Zhao glanced at her. The little girl immediately became energetic. Gone was the sickly look from before; now, she might as well have had ‘want to go horseback riding’ written on her face.
Shen Qingyao had been unable to do many things due to illness before, so once she recovered, she wanted to try everything. Most of the time, Lu Zhao indulged her, following her whims. Whenever trouble arose, the esteemed Prime Minister always had her back.
Of course, except for things that Lu Zhao considered too dangerous.
One of those things was horseback riding.
During the winter, for some reason, Shen Qingyao suddenly remembered the time shortly after their wedding when Lu Zhao took her horseback riding outside the city. She became interested and begged Lu Zhao to teach her.
Naturally, Lu Zhao agreed. He only said they would wait until the weather warmed up in spring.
But when the weather finally warmed up enough, on Shen Qingyao’s first day learning to ride, she almost fell off the horse from excitement. Lu Zhao’s face darkened several shades in shock at the time, and since then, he had forbidden her to go riding again.
But the person was naturally rebellious. The more Lu Zhao forbade her, the stronger Shen Qingyao’s interest in riding became. Despite his refusals over these days, Lu Zhao never relented once.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Lu Zhao guessed what she wanted to say next. He turned his head to hide the smile in his eyes and said seriously, “Leaving the city is fine, but riding a horse is not.”
“Ah—” someone exclaimed in disappointment.
Lu Zhao continued, “You want to ride a horse and then bring back a basket of sour pomegranates?”
Sour pomegranates…
With his mention, Shen Qingyao recalled.
It was just over a month ago when she almost fell off her horse. It was also the incident the scholars in the tavern were discussing.
In fact, everything went smoothly that day. Lu Zhao taught her very well, and Shen Qingyao was not dull, so she learned quickly.
In just one afternoon, she could already ride a horse alone at full speed, thrilling and exciting. By the time she had to return to the city, Shen Qingyao still felt unsatisfied and reluctant to leave.
Unable to bear seeing the little girl so disappointed, Lu Zhao ordered the carriage to be driven away and took her back to the city on horseback alone, allowing her to enjoy herself.
At the city gate, various scholars were entering the capital for the imperial examination, and there were also merchants eager to make a profit during the crowded exam period, making the scene lively.
A crowd had gathered not far away, forming layers of encirclement and buzzing with discussion as if witnessing something intense.
Shen Qingyao glanced from afar and saw several figures in colorful clothes swaying in the crowd, but couldn’t make out exactly what they were doing, which made her even more curious.
Drawn by curiosity, Shen Qingyao couldn’t help but crane her neck to see what was happening.
It was precisely at this moment that a sudden change occurred.
Shen Qingyao’s gaze was focused in the distance and didn’t notice the stooped figure beside her, laboriously carrying a bamboo basket filled to the brim with pomegranates.
The basket looked extremely heavy, bending the old man’s back. He couldn’t straighten up, nor could he lift his head, moving forward with his head down.
Just then, the crowd suddenly erupted in cheers like a landslide and tsunami. The sound of a gong startled her horse.
With a neigh, the spirited horse reared up high on its front hooves, darkening the sunlight over the old man’s head, and when he looked up, he saw a pair of iron hooves charging straight towards him, about to cause a tragedy.
In the nick of time, Lu Zhao flew over and caught Shen Qingyao, who was unharmed but greatly frightened.
Turning back to look, she saw that the old man had been rescued by a young man in black among the crowd, the same person surnamed Lin at the tavern.
Shen Qingyao breathed a sigh of relief at that time, grateful that a disaster had been averted.
After thanking the young man, as a gesture of apology, Shen Qingyao bought all the pomegranates in the old man’s entire basket and even gave him some extra silver as compensation.
She thought the matter would end there.
But Lu Zhao brought up the pomegranates again.
Shen Qingyao never expected those pomegranates to be so sour! Because Lu Zhao was scared by her that day, he had been cold-faced since returning home. Shen Qingyao dared not complain and could only eat the pomegranates she bought herself. Later, when they became unbearably sour, she came up with a mischievous idea and stuffed one into Lu Zhao’s mouth.
As for how they managed to finish eating that pomegranate in the end, let’s not mention it.
Shen Qingyao blushed quietly. Lu Zhao originally wanted to remind her of that dangerous accident, but he didn’t expect her to misunderstand.
Her mind was filled with the image of the crushed pomegranate, its bright red juice staining their lips and clothes in a messy manner.
The small tavern fell silent, and no one dared to joke again.
This year’s chief examiner for the imperial examination was the youngest Prime Minister in the history of Great Liang, who had once achieved the three ‘tops’ in the imperial examination, Lu Zhao.
Apart from his political achievements and intelligence, Lu Zhao was most famous for his love for his wife.
In the past two years, Lu Zhao had pampered Shen Qingyao so much that it had become widely known.
Some people were jealous, but there was nothing they could do.
Mainly because of one incident.
It was heard that last year, a young man without proper judgement publicly harassed Madam Lu. The next day, several serious crimes of his family were uncovered, resulting in the execution and exile of all members, their methods so ruthless as to chill one’s bones.
Upon further thought, they had actually joked about Madam Lu just now?
For a moment, all the students who had spoken earlier turned pale.
The young man surnamed Lin also lost color in his face.
Madam Lu…
She had already married…
At this moment, someone in the corner muttered irresponsibly, “Since Lord Lu treats his wife so well, why have they been married for nearly three years but without any news1? I heard Madam Lu is not in good health, could it be…”
Perhaps out of pure curiosity, before he could finish his words, someone covered his mouth.
“Even if it wasn’t before, how dare you assume it still isn’t now? Besides, whether there is or isn’t, is that something you should be curious about!”
The young man surnamed Lin’s face turned even paler, feeling lost and dejected.
On this side, completely unaware that she had already stirred the budding feelings of a young boy, Shen Qingyao, due to Lu Zhao’s interruption, had completely lost the desire to go horseback riding. In fact, she might not want to go for some time. She also no longer wanted to eat pomegranates.
Embarrassed.
Once the initial embarrassment faded, Shen Qingyao lazily leaned back, her eyelids beginning to droop.
Lu Zhao let her rest her head on his lap and casually picked up a book to read.
When Cui Qiao entered, he gestured with his index finger to his lips and then pointed at the little girl who had fallen asleep on his knee.
Cui Qiao paused briefly, then moved even more quietly. Approaching, she whispered softly, “My Lord, Doctor Kong has arrived. Shall I let him in?”
Lu Zhao’s finger paused. Since curing Shen Qingyao two years ago, Doctor Kong had stayed in the capital, residing in a villa outside the city. The old man cared deeply for Shen Qingyao, visiting monthly to check her pulse and indeed, today was that day.
Lu Zhao gently patted Shen Qingyao and softly called her name, but unexpectedly, she mumbled and turned her face to bury it in Lord Lu’s robes.
Lord Lu smiled helplessly. Just as he was about to suggest that Doctor Kong stay overnight and examine her tomorrow, he noticed the faint bruise under the girl’s eyes.
In recent days, Yaoyao seemed unusually sleepy. Lu Zhao frowned slightly; the shadow left by Shen Qingyao’s previous bouts of unconsciousness lingered. After a moment’s thought, he nodded, instructing Cui Qiao to fetch the doctor…
- referring to news about pregnancy ↩︎