Chu Lushan did not enter Xiangfan City directly, but instead boarded a boat bound for the Spring Spirit Lake. In the dead of night, Chu Lushan, who had been snoring loudly while sleeping in his cabin, slowly awoke. Outside, one of his trusted men, who had accompanied him out of Beiliang, softly said, “My Lord, we have arrived. They request to board the ship.”
Surprisingly, the normally arrogant Chu Lushan did not put on airs, but gravely replied, “Go tell them I shall go to their boat.”
As Chu Lushan rose, the sturdy large bed creaked. Approaching the window, he saw a carefully approaching Qingzhou warship without any banners. Had he not received news of the Prince’s assassination attempt and hurriedly ridden ahead, he would have met this boat in daylight.
The men aboard this ship were a top local power in Qingzhou. The Qing Party had risen to prominence in the court and among the people by relying on two main tactics: being opportunistic like a fence-sitter and forming strategic marriages with aristocratic families. The person Chu Lushan was about to meet was a political survivor and one of the few elder statesmen within the Qing Party. Chu Lushan, known for his intricate poetry and meticulous nature, was often overshadowed by his ruthless actions during the Spring and Autumn Wars.
After straightening his clothes, Chu Lushan exited his cabin. Due to his unusual size, the plank connecting the two ships had been reinforced and widened, with three extra planks added to prevent it from collapsing under his weight. As Chu Lushan strode forward, even the double-layered planks bent under his massive weight, causing the palms of a refined middle-aged Confucian scholar on the other side to sweat. Upon Chu Lushan’s arrival, the scholar immediately bowed deeply and respectfully said, “Lu Dongjiang greets General Chu.”
“Master Lu, you and I hold the same rank. This is too formal,” Chu Lushan said with a smile, politely declining to help Lu Dongjiang rise.
Had Qingzhou officials witnessed this scene, they would have been greatly surprised. Lu Dongjiang was the governor of Taixi County in Qingzhou, his father the former governor of Qingzhou, and his grandfather, Lu Feichi, one of the fourteen Pillars of the Realm and a revered elder statesman of the Qing Party, alongside two other elders. Lu Dongjiang was well-versed in family traditions, especially known for his exceptional calligraphy, characterized by its slender, vigorous strokes with a touch of charm, earning him the nickname “Lu Bokuo.” In the imperial examination, even the late emperor had praised Lu Dongjiang’s handwriting.
Lu Dongjiang’s grandfather, Lu Feichi, had served as a high-ranking minister in two reigns, rotating through the military, household, and civil service departments, and had once co-governed with the former chief minister. His experience and reputation were among the finest in the Yan Yang Dynasty. Even after retiring due to health reasons, he retained the title of Upper Pillar of the Realm. Last year, when Lu Feichi caught a slight cold, the current emperor had even dispatched an imperial envoy to Qingzhou to inquire after his health. In Qingzhou, whether it was Lu Dongjiang’s personal talents or his prestigious lineage, only Prince Jing’an Zhao Heng could warrant such careful treatment.
There was not a single idle person on the boat, only Lu Dongjiang and some elite warriors who had served the Lu family for generations.
Chu Lushan nodded slightly at this arrangement, and Lu Dongjiang led the way up to the third floor, opening the door but not entering with Chu Lushan. Due to his bulky frame, Chu Lushan’s wide sleeve caught on the doorframe as he stepped through. Lu Dongjiang quickly helped him free himself. A soft giggle came from inside the room, and Lu Dongjiang, hearing it, felt as though struck by lightning. Carefully glancing up at Chu Lushan, he saw no reaction and restrained the urge to scold his mischievous daughter. He was furious with her for such a blunder! Normally, he could tolerate her playful behavior due to her grandfather’s indulgence, but at such a critical moment concerning the family’s fate, how could she still be so careless? He was already thinking about how to discipline her once they returned home.
Chu Lushan entered the room, where incense burners were placed at each corner. He took a deep breath, feeling refreshed. This fat man smiled slightly, recognizing the top-tier Qingzhou aristocratic family. The burners in the east and west were a Meizi Qing incense burner from the Eastern Yue and a Pink-glazed Five-legged Censer with Exposed Unglazed Base from the Western Chu, while the ones in the north and south were a Xishu brown-glazed lotus-stem incense burner and a Longquan doucai porcelain incense burner. Just these four small burners, originally meant for the imperial palace, were worth a small fortune.
Glancing at the incense burners as if no one else was present, Chu Lushan finally turned his attention to the old man sitting on a couch at the front. The old man’s beard and eyebrows were snow-white, with long eyebrows drooping down, his face exuding a gentle smile and a serene, otherworldly aura, a testament to the ultimate in The Way of Nourishing Life. Beside him was a young, graceful woman gently massaging his back, the one who had giggled at Chu Lushan’s awkwardness when entering. Seeing Chu Lushan, who neither bowed nor showed deference, the old man was unperturbed. He smiled and patted the young woman’s hand, saying, “Yan’er, go fetch a chair for General Chu.”
There was a specially made wide Huangli wood chair in the room for Chu Lushan. The fact that such a luxurious chair had to be hastily crafted by a craftsman indicated the Lu family’s regard for Chu Lushan. In fact, to prevent any clues from being discovered by those with ill intentions, the carpenter was still under house arrest by the Lu family, which was already fortunate as he had not been killed.
As his great-granddaughter fetched the chair, the old man, still one of the four Upper Pillars of the Realm, smiled and said, “General Chu, please don’t mind Yan’er. She’s been spoiled at home and doesn’t know proper etiquette.”
“Grandfather!” the girl protested playfully but, having fetched the chair, finally gave Chu Lushan a small curtsy, not showing the usual disgust or fear that most women would upon seeing a fat man or hearing of the infamous Lu Qiu’er.
The old man, one of the few remaining senior elders of the Qing Party, smiled slightly.
This young woman was the oval-faced beauty who had brewed tea for the Prince on the Huanglong warship a few days ago. After Xu Fengnian had humiliated the Qingzhou navy, she had been the least affected by the gossip of her female companions, even being touched several times on her delicate hands by the Beiliang Prince. In the days that followed, Qingzhou seemed calm on the surface, but beneath the surface, Qingzhou aristocrats had received numerous secret letters from the capital. The other elders of the Qing Party, whose reputations were comparable to Lu Feichi, were still in the imperial court. Their letters home were all the same, summarizing their advice in one word: wait.
Chu Lushan smiled, his cheeks of fat jiggling slightly, saying, “It’s nothing, nothing at all. Miss Lu has brewed tea for the Prince, so even if she were to slap me a few times, it would be fine.”
The young woman sitting next to her grandfather asked innocently, “Really?”
Lu Feichi’s tone became heavier as he said, “Yan’er, don’t be impudent.”
The young woman immediately lowered her eyes and carefully massaged her grandfather’s shoulders. Lu Feichi seemed still unsatisfied and said in a calm tone, “Didn’t you say you were hungry just an hour ago? Go ask your father for a late-night snack.”
Lu Chengyan said “Okay” and secretly stuck out her tongue, reluctantly leaving the room with a pout. After closing the door, she saw her father with a stern face. Approaching him, she clung to his arm and coquettishly said, “Dear father, who are you angry with? Let me scold him for you.”
Lu Dongjiang Helpless said, “You, you,” but ultimately could not bring himself to scold his beloved daughter too harshly. Firstly, among his children, she was the most clever and clever, and secondly, her grandfather was an expert in physiognomy and doted on this granddaughter. Among the three generations of the Lu family, there were nearly a hundred descendants, and even Lu Dongjiang himself had not been granted the privilege of being personally taught by his grandfather. Yan’er, however, had been by her grandfather’s side since childhood, learning to read and write.
Lu Dongjiang walked to the bow of the ship, standing against the wind. He was truly a graceful and dashing figure, and in his youth, countless women in Qingzhou had admired him. In the end, Lu Dongjiang had only married a woman from an ordinary wealthy family in Qingzhou as arranged by his grandfather. Thus, Lu Chengyan’s birth mother was only known for her virtue and ability to manage the household, not for her great insight. In recent years, she had often been mocked by her peers, and Lu Dongjiang was also quite fond of taking courtesans to enjoy the sights, sharing a certain camaraderie with Li Bai Shi, the most famous courtesan in Xiangfan City, often exchanging poems and verses typical of the literati.
Lu Dongjiang’s second daughter had been personally chosen by his grandfather to marry into Beiliang, but this noble son-in-law had no deep connection with the non-clan king, and his family in Beiliang was only second-rate at best, far from matching the Lu family. It was no wonder that his second daughter always complained whenever she returned home. When Wei Wei Unauthorized mobilization of the Yellow Dragon warship to provoke conflict., Lu Dongjiang learned of it immediately and wanted to stop his daughter from getting involved, but his grandfather, who had not interfered in family matters for years, surprisingly went against his wishes. Today’s secret meeting with Chu Lushan on the Spring Spirit Lake was clearly not a spur-of-the-moment decision, and all of this had left Lu Dongjiang in the dark, even less informed than his own daughter. This made Lu Dongjiang, whose career had been smooth sailing, feel somewhat disheartened. Was he truly considered unworthy by his grandfather?
Lu Chengyan skipped happily to tease a young man at the bow of the ship, who had been taken in by her grandfather as a child. This young man, named Lu Dou, had killed several Lu family warriors by the age of ten and followed the Lu family name. His most remarkable feature was his rare heterochromia, with two pupils in one eye, a phenomenon so rare in history that it was almost unheard of. Lu Dongjiang had no fondness for this young man, even feeling uneasy when meeting his gaze. If it were not for Lu Dou being a household servant highly valued by his grandfather and having saved Yan’er from a bear’s claws in her childhood, Lu Dongjiang would have kept his distance. For some reason, Yan’er had always been close to this young man with such an unusual birthmark, and he only showed a smile to her.
Lu Chengyan patted the Lu family’s trusted warrior, who was clad in heavy armor, and playfully asked, “Lu Dou, can you defeat that fat man, Lu Qiu’er?”
The young man Without hesitation nodded.
Lu Dongjiang hastily whispered, “Yan’er, don’t talk nonsense.”
A flicker of disdain, inappropriate for his status, briefly appeared in the young man’s eyes, but it was quickly hidden. When he turned to face Lu Chengyan, his expression remained sincere and kind.
Half an hour later, Lu Qiu’er emerged from the room, and Lu Dongjiang and Lu Chengyan naturally accompanied him to the ship’s edge. As Lu Qiu’er departed, he glanced at Lu Dou standing at the bow, a strange smile playing on his lips. Once the large ship was far away, Lu Dongjiang and Lu Chengyan returned to the cabin where their grandfather was staying. Seeing their grandfather, the Upper Pillar of the Realm, showing signs of fatigue, Lu Chengyan hurriedly stepped forward to massage his shoulders. The white-haired Lu Feichi glanced sideways at his grandson, the most accomplished in the family, and gestured for the anxious Lu Dongjiang to choose a chair and sit down. As Lu Dongjiang sat upright with meticulous care, Lu Feichi murmured inaudibly, “The young men of Qingzhou have never lacked intelligence, but they cannot shake off this artisan-like rigidity. Gu Jantang’s abilities were never small, but compared to Xu Xiao, he had this fatal rigidity.”
Looking at his granddaughter Lu Chengyan, Lu Feichi smiled with satisfaction, his fatigue easing slightly. Facing his grandson Lu Dongjiang once more, he earnestly said, “Old men like Wen Taibei and Hong Lingshu are surely watching this time. Their secret letters to their descendants are nothing but ‘wait, wait, wait.’ They wait for Xu Xiao to face more setbacks from the court, for Prince Jing’an to discipline that arrogant Beiliang Prince. They don’t realize that there are no such safe and easy opportunities in this world. They are simply unwilling to let go of their grudges from the past when they suffered at Xu Xiao’s hands. They have forgotten that at our age, the only thing left to do is to secure blessings for our descendants.”
Seeing Lu Dongjiang merely nodding in agreement, Lu Feichi sighed and waved his hand, saying, “Go down first. Let Yan’er stay and talk with me.”
Lu Dongjiang left the room with impeccable manners.
After withdrawing his gaze, the Upper Pillar slowly closed his eyes and shook his head, asking, “Tell me the truth, do you really like that boy with the heterochromia?”
Lu Chengyan smiled and said, “I really like him. If I didn’t like him, how could Xiao Dou be willing to risk his life for me?”
The old man smiled with his eyes half-closed and said, “That’s right, but your father doesn’t understand the weight of this affection.”
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