The Imperial Guard's Revenge

Chapter 15 Waiting

After the topic was opened, the remaining explanation was expected and the maid quickly confessed it all: “He is a local ruffian, who idles all day long, eating, drinking, sleeping around and gambling, relying on his fair complexion, he often hooks up with women from good families. Daughters from good families in the Baoding prefecture all flock around Feng Liu. Miss was probably coaxed by Feng Liu’s sweet words, so she followed him and even went to the inner house for a private meeting…”

The other maids discretely sent a warning, and the maid who was talking realized that she had overstepped, and embarrassed, she lowered her eyes. A woman from the chambers shouldn’t even hear these words, let alone say them. The maids were blushing and whispering, but Wang Yanqing was as calm as ever, and with a fair face that was more superior than jade, she was not embarrassed at all: “Did Feng Liu have any dealings with the Liang family before?”

The maids laughed when they heard this, and said: “Look at the kind of person he is, it’s too late to avoid the master now. How dare he come to the door of the Liang house?”

This kind of ruffian bullies the soft and fears the hard, how dare he provoke an Imperial Guards Thousand Household. Wang Yanqing nodded and asked about the time and place of the event, all of which matched Liang Fu’s statement. Wang Yanqing knew from Liang Fu’s expression that she was not lying, but the testimony had to be verified before she could believe it. After Wang Yanqing checked Liang Fu’s timeline, she suddenly asked: “What was Madam Liang doing on the seventeenth day?”

Many people knew this, and the maids rushed to say: “The Madam returned to her mother’s house.”

“When did she go out and when did she come back?”

The maids thought for a while and said: “She left early in the morning, and quickly returned in the evening.”

Why so early? Wang Yanqing didn’t show it, and asked without leaking any of her thoughts: “Where is Madam Liang’s family home?”

“Not far from the Baoding Mansion, it’s in Qingyuan County.”

When Wang Yanqing finished her inquiry, she walked out of the embroidery building. As soon as she came out, she saw a figure standing at a distance with their hands behind their back, looking at a tree in front of the embroidery building. Wang Yanqing was surprised for a moment: “Second Brother?”

Lu Heng turned his head and walked towards her naturally: “You came out. How did it go, did you meet any difficult people?”

Wang Yanqing shook her head. She looked at Lu Heng and unexpectedly asked: “I took really long, did you stand out here waiting the entire time?”

Lu Heng raised his eyebrows and asked back: “What else would I do?”

Wang Yanqing was stopped by the question and murmured subconsciously: “I thought you would go around and look for clues…”

Wang Yanqing spent a lot of time in the embroidered building just now. She thought that Lu Heng was also searching outside, so she was not in a hurry. She didn’t think that Lu Heng had been waiting there the entire time. Not to mention the cold. If you just considered him standing outside for half that time, what man had the patience to wait that long?

Moreover, Lu Heng was still the commander. The only person who dared to make him wait was probably the emperor. Wang Yanqing was humbled. When Lu Heng saw Wang Yanqing’s expression, his eyebrows moved, and he scolded Fu Tingzhou in his heart again.

He didn’t need to think about it. While waiting for Wang Yanqing, the only person who would go about attending to his own matter was certainly Fu Tingzhou. Lu Heng thought that Fu Tingzhou was really lucky, and he didn’t deserve Wang Yanqing who poured out her heart and lungs for him. Not to mention one’s own woman, even if it was an unfamiliar relative’s woman, if you sent the other party into a place, you had to wait for them to come out before you could leave, right?

As for Fu Tingzhou, it was only natural that he was so condescending.

While Lu Heng insulted his rival mercilessly in his heart, the expression on his face remained gentle and warm. He smiled at Wang Yanqing and said: “Qing Qing, blame me for not being good.” After you were injured this time, Second Brother realized that he had been too negligent to you before. Don’t worry, no matter where you go in the future, if I say that I will wait for you, I will definitely wait for you to come back.”

As Lu Heng said this, he took Wang Yanqing’s hand and walked forward and found that Wang Yanqing didn’t move. He looked back at her: “What’s the matter?”

Wang Yanqing was stunned for a moment, then slowly shook her head: “It’s nothing.”

She said it was nothing, however, she lowered her eyes until her long eyelashes converged like butterfly wings. Lu Heng silently examined her drawn eyebrows, watched for a while, and asked with a smile: “Why, you don’t believe Second Brother?”

“No.” Wang Yanqing lowered her eyes, not knowing how to describe her mood at the moment, “I always feel that Second Brother is too kind to me, and it makes me apprehensive.”

Lu Heng smiled deeper, stood beside her, hugged her around the shoulders, and said: “These are things I should do. What are you scared about? It seems that I will need to be more kind to you in the future, otherwise, just a little bit of kindness with capture you. What should I do if you are deceived by a man in the future?”

Lu Heng’s arms were warm and powerful. Leaning against them was like being supported by the whole world, which was reassuring with no compare. After Lu Heng finished speaking, he took Wang Yanqing forward. His words clearly held a sense of security, but after hearing this, Wang Yanqing fell silent.

Lu Heng asked: “Why, is there something on your mind?”

Wang Yanqing was silent for a moment, and then suddenly asked: “Second Brother, although the three elders of the Liang family overstepped their boundaries today, what they asked was not wrong. Why haven’t you gotten married?”

Lu Heng hummed softly in his mind, thinking that this was it. He asked why Wang Yanqing had withdrawn into her shell again, but it turns out that the issue was here. Wang Yanqing had no memory, but she subconsciously knew that her Second Brother was going to marry a proper wife. The better Second Brother treated her, the more panicked she felt. This sense of crisis followed her the entire time, even if she didn’t know where it came from.

Lu Heng said that he would always wait for her in the same place, which unintentionally triggered her anxiety.

Lu Heng was numb. How many black marks had he already burdened in place of Fu Tingzhou? This bastard, Lu Heng should return to Beijing and beat him up.

Lu Heng’s heart was filled with hatred until his teeth itched, but on the surface, he pretend to be a gentle and meticulous good brother and said: “Qing Qing, you forgot, my father passed away this year, and I will be grieving for three years.”

“But the period of grieving will always come to an end.”  Wang Yanqing lowered her eyes which were almost ruthless: “After three years, it will be impossible for Second Brother not to marry a wife.”

“Why is it impossible?” Lu Heng said, “In my position, only if I don’t marry a wife and don’t get involved in any faction will the emperor believe me.” Brothers and sisters must share the joys and sorrows. If I can’t marry a wife in the future, Qing Qing can stay with me in the Lu residence, how about?”

He spoke with a leisurely tone and a smile in his voice, and she couldn’t tell whether he was joking or telling the truth. The inexplicable pressure in Wang Yanqing’s heart dissipated, and she couldn’t help laughing: “Second Brother, you are joking again. How can this be used to share joys and sorrows?”

Lu Heng did not pursue her answer, and asked with a smile: “Then how should it be used?”

After this interruption, the atmosphere between the two eased a lot. Wang Yanqing took advantage of the situation to talk about the information she gained in the embroidery building: “Liang Fu went to talk to Liang Rong on the sixteenth night of the eleventh month, and accidentally saw that there were lights in the study, and there were muffled voices in the room. The people inside asked her to come again the next day. Liang Fu couldn’t sleep that night so she went again early the next morning and learned that Liang Rong happened to go out and bumped into Liang Bin who was coming back, in the front yard. That day, Liang Bin was wearing dark clothes.”

Lu Heng slowly responded: “Liang Bin.”

Wang Yanqing nodded and suddenly realized that she hadn’t seen Liang Bin much today: “I remember seeing Liang Bin when I entered the door today. Where did he go after?”

“When Chen Yuxuan entered the main hall to greet him, he sat in the corner. After that, when everyone went out to see Liang Rong’s room, he took the opportunity to slip away and never came back.”

Wang Yanqing let out an ”oh” and said sincerely, “Second brother, your memory is so good.”

Not only did he have a good memory, but he also had strong observation skills. Wang Yanqing was continuously observing everyone’s expressions in the living room. She didn’t notice when Liang Bin left, but Lu Heng did.

Lu Heng nodded and gladly accepted Wang Yanqing’s compliment: “Thank you Qing Qing. Liang Fu ran into Liang Bin. What happened after?”

“After Liang Fu met Liang Bin, she asked him where Liang Rong had gone. Liang Bin said he didn’t know. Liang Fu walked back and found a pearl when she passed by Liang Rong’s door. She also asked Liang Bin if it belonged to him. After Liang Bin denied it, Liang Fu took the pearl back.”

Before Lu Heng could speak, Wang Yanqing took out the pearls from her bag: “The beads are here. I have seen it. It could be a decoration from something.”

Lu Heng took the pearl, looked at it for a while, and said: “It goes on a shoe.”

Wang Yanqing widened her eyes in surprise, and quickly asked: “Second Brother, how did you see that?”

Lu Heng motioned to her the scratches on the pearl: “It is worn on one side. The traces are still very new, and they have been made recently.”

Wang Yanqing admired him. After looking at it for such a long time, she hadn’t noticed anything, but after Lu Heng took it, he recognized it only after a few glances. Those days, even when there were so many people with him in the Xing Monarch Mansion, it made sense that he could quickly be promoted to Commander.

“Besides this bead, was there anything else?”

Wang Yanqing continued and relayed what she just heard: “After Liang Fu came back, she had nothing to do and casually passed the time. On the nineteenth day, she went to bed as usual but was suddenly awakened by a sound outside, and vaguely saw the back of a man standing in front of her window. The man was wearing a red scarf and fled through the tree in front of everyone. Liang Wen Shi rode the wave and went to search for the adulterer. She found the exact same clothes in the house of a man named Feng Liu.”

When Lu Heng heard this, Lu Heng raised his eyebrows and tutted meaningfully. Wang Yanqing raised her head and looked at Lu Heng curiously: “Second Brother, what is it?”

Lu Heng seemed to want to say something, but when he saw Wang Yanqing’s eyes, he held back. Wang Yanqing became more curious and asked: “What did you find?”

Lu Heng shook his head and pressed Wang Yanqing’s shoulder: “You should not know about this kind of thing. This Feng Liu is a bit interesting, I will see him later. But now, I need Qing Qing to do me a favor.”

Although Wang Yanqing wondered what Lu Heng was hiding from her, she immediately became serious when she heard Lu Heng’s words. Lu Heng met Wang Yanqing’s clear and clean eyes, couldn’t help touching her hair, and said: “Don’t be nervous. Qing Qing, can you climb the tree in front of Liang Fu’s window?”

Wang Yanqing lost her memory and did not remember learning martial arts at all, but her body instinctively told her what was okay and what was not. Wang Yanqing didn’t hesitate, nodded, and said: “No problem.”

“Good.” Lu Heng said, “Please go up to the tree and take a look for me.”

The two of them had been wandering around the garden, and at the moment, they were not far from Liang Fu’s embroidery building. Wang Yanqing glanced back and said: “Let me jump from Liang Fu’s window, just to try that person’s escape route again.”

Lu Heng raised his eyebrows unexpectedly and immediately asked: “I saw that the distance was not small, can you jump it? If it is difficult, just forget it. It is just a piece of evidence, it is not worth your risk.”

“It’s okay.” Wang Yanqing was very insistent on this, “I should be able to.” How will we know what we missed without trying it at least once. I will go find Liang Fu and the others.”

Disregarding Lu Heng’s objection, Wang Yanqing returned to the embroidery building without a word and stepped on the window. Lu Heng watched from downstairs, clasping his hands in a cold sweat. He hadn’t ever been so nervous during his own training. Lu Heng opened his mouth and tried to persuade her again: “Qing Qing, why don’t you forget this…”

Before he finished speaking, Wang Yanqing suddenly jumped out of the window, fluttering across like a lively swan, and stopped firmly on the branch. Lu Heng’s heart rose and fell, and only a moment of effort left his palms in a cold sweat.

Wang Yanqing’s body was light in color, standing on a withered branch. She resembled a spring butterfly in the harsh winter, beautiful and strange. Wang Yanqing hurried over the branches and quickly walked to the wall. Wang Yanqing looked down and said to Lu Heng: “Second Brother, you can climb down the wall from here.”

“Good.” Lu Heng was afraid that she would jump again outside the wall, so he hurriedly said, “I see, now come down quickly.”

Wang Yanqing was wearing a white coat today, and with fluff around her neck, she looked as beautiful as a fairy. A beauty like her should be mounted on portraits and screens for viewing from a distance. But at this moment, she stepped on a branch and jumped from the high place, as if she flew straight from a mural, going towards Lu Heng step by step. When Wang Yanqing jumped off the branch, her wide skirt spread out like wings. Lu Heng also stretched out his hands, hugged her waist, and brought her down from the tree.

Wang Yanqing had planned to jump off by herself, but Lu Heng suddenly reached out. She was taken aback and instinctively hugged Lu Heng’s neck. Lu Heng circled Wang Yanqing’s waist, his arms were as solid and powerful as iron but he held Wang Yanqing without force. Her long skirt curved in the air, like a blooming flower, and she finally dropped gently to the ground. Wang Yanqing was not used to landing on her toes, so she subconsciously hugged Lu Heng’s shoulders. Lu Heng stood steadily, with his palms guarding her waist, quietly waiting for her to gain her footing.

Wang Yanqing was dizzy for a moment before she realized that she was pressed up against Lu Heng. She hurriedly drew back, and almost stepped on her skirt, but Lu Heng caught her and said exasperatedly: “Be careful.”

Wang Yanqing’s face turned red, she quickly smoothed the stray hairs behind her ear, and said: “Second Brother, why did you suddenly catch me? You can easily hurt your arm like this.”

Lu Heng was born into a family that was in the Imperial Guards for many generations, and he knew how to protect himself from a very young age. He glanced at Wang Yanqing calmly and was about to explain, but suddenly, he changed his tone and said: “For Qing Qing, even with an injury, it would be worth it.

|| Author’s Note:

Lu Heng: Although I didn’t grow up with Qing Qing, I will burden the previous black stains on my back.