Chapter 97: Chapter 97: A Match Made Under the Peach Tree

His gaze made her heart pound. She had never imagined that such aloof, cold eyes could hold such a scorching, searing heat.

Liang Wan felt as if she had been burned. She quickly averted her eyes and lowered her head, silent for a long moment, unsure how to respond.

It wasn’t until she heard footsteps that Liang Wan looked up. Lu Xiu was gone.

The afternoon sun was lazy. Liang Wan looked toward the window. A patch of light fell on the floor, so bright it made her squint.

At the Caiqing Banquet, she had slipped away from the crowd, secretly climbed a peach tree to snap off a flowering branch, and then missed a step. She had fallen hard, and peach blossoms had rained down all over her head.

She had been so dazed from the fall that she couldn’t get up for the longest time. Suddenly, a boy of school age, as exquisitely carved as jade, was looking down at her.

"You’re Wanwan?"

She brushed the fallen blossoms off her clothes, both embarrassed and annoyed. "Where did this lecher come from? How dare you use my given name!"

His eyes held a trace of disdain, but he still extended a hand to her. "I’m not a lecher. I’m your future husband."

...

That night, Lu Xiu did not stay over. She let down her guard, only to dream the entire night. By the end, she couldn’t tell if it was just a dream or a faded childhood memory.

「She saw Lu Xiu again three days later.」

Liang Wan looked up from a large pile of flowers and herbs to see him standing silently in the doorway. She couldn’t tell if he had just arrived or had been there for a long time.

His usual expression had returned, as if the person and events of that afternoon were nothing more than a fleeting dream during a short nap.

Liang Wan’s lips moved, but the word ’husband’ she used to say so easily just wouldn’t come out.

He walked in, placed a secret report on the low table, and looked at her. "What you wanted to investigate."

Liang Wan lowered her head, steadying her nerves under the pretext of washing her hands.

By the time she picked up the paper, Lu Xiu had already sat down to the side.

"Yuan Shaoyu?"

’Cang Zhi is actually Yuan Shaoyu?’

Liang Wan stared, looking at the name on the paper in disbelief.

Lu Xiu tilted his head, his eyes dark. "Ring a bell?"

Liang Wan said in astonishment, "This Yuan Shaoyu... I’m afraid there isn’t a single person in Qi who doesn’t know of him!"

He lowered his gaze and scoffed. "True. A treacherous official who assassinated his sovereign, plotted rebellion, and colluded with a foreign state. Who wouldn’t know of him?"

Speaking of Yuan Shaoyu, his story was truly a strange one.

He was originally one of the Zhou people who had fled to Qi as a refugee. From a commoner, he eventually rose to the position of Minister. Later, he developed treacherous ambitions, poisoned the Emperor, and betrayed the country by colluding with the enemy. Only afterward did people learn he was a spy sent by the Zhou Country.

Fortunately, the Lu Family executed him in time, averting disaster. Otherwise...

’So he was Awen’s student?’ Liang Wan thought in surprise.

"No wonder Awen hid his letters," Liang Wan said, finally understanding. ’If anyone had discovered he was keeping a traitor’s letters, wouldn’t he have been suspected of collusion as well?’

Her pupils suddenly constricted. "Could it be because of him that Awen and Father were implicated and killed?"

’Could the thing Wang Su once demanded from me have been that hidden letter? But I read that letter over and over again. It was just an ordinary greeting. I didn’t find anything unusual about it.’

He curled his lip and glanced at the secret report in her hand. "Are you sure you’ve read the whole thing?"

Liang Wan lowered her eyes, her gaze falling on the second half of the report. It was Awen who had exposed Yuan Shaoyu’s identity as one of the Zhou people to the public.

She frowned. "Looks like it really is the second possibility. Awen, mindful of their teacher-student bond, secretly hid the letter as a memento."

Liang Wan placed the letter back on the low table. "If I had been born a few years earlier, I definitely would have helped him."

’Then Gao Qian wouldn’t have been involved at all.’

Lu Xiu glanced at her sideways. "You really aren’t afraid of death."

Realizing she had misspoken, Liang Wan found the letter Yuan Shaoyu had previously written to Awen and handed it to Lu Xiu. "Since we know who he is, this letter can’t be kept any longer."

Lu Xiu took the letter, his tone no longer as cold as before. "The Lu Family were the greatest heroes in quelling the rebellion. No one would ever suspect the Lu Family of colluding with the enemy."

But Liang Wan’s mind was elsewhere. "I think I’ve met him before. I was just too young at the time to pay much attention."

Lu Xiu watched her brow furrow in concentration, as if trying hard to remember, and couldn’t help but chuckle. ’What could she possibly remember?’

Liang Wan sighed to herself. ’It was a long, long time ago. After all, it’s been two lifetimes.’

Suddenly, she let out a soft gasp. Lu Xiu flinched in surprise, his brow furrowing slightly. "What is it?"

Her eyes were wide. "On the day of the Qingming Festival, people usually go to sweep tombs, but Awen would always go to a certain place. It was barren, with only a single willow tree planted there.

"Do you think Yuan Shaoyu could be buried there? But why would Awen show such kindness to a spy from an enemy nation?"

Liang Wan looked at the letter, truly unable to understand. He was the one who had exposed the man, yet he would go mourn him alone every year.

Lu Xiu asked, "How do you remember it so clearly?"

Liang Wan replied, "The place was strange. Besides that single willow tree, there was nothing else. And since we went there so many times, I just remembered it.

"I’ve always been curious, what was the thing Wang Su was so desperate to find? It’s a shame he died. Now that question will never have an answer."

He raised an eyebrow. "You didn’t ask Wang Tingyue?"

At the mention of Wang Tingyue, a shadow passed over Liang Wan’s eyes. ’I wonder how he is now.’

Lu Xiu shot her an imperceptible glance, tossed the secret report and the letters aside, and pulled her toward the inner room.

Liang Wan was pulled back with such force that she stumbled, snapping back to reality. He was already gripping her wrist tightly.

Her heart leaped into her throat in alarm.

"I—"

"You always wake up during the night and get up early in the morning. Come rest with me for a bit."

Before she could protest, her body felt light as he lifted her onto the couch.

Only then did Liang Wan notice that he hadn’t even changed out of his court attire. He must have come straight here after the morning assembly.

He just kicked off his shoes.

Liang Wan glanced at him, then reached out and helped him remove his martial crown, leaving only a jade hairpin to hold his hair in place.

He had said they would rest, and he truly did lie down without another word, his chin resting on the top of her head as usual.

Liang Wan was held in his embrace, unable to move, her thoughts a tangled mess.

She never would have imagined that the slow-witted little boy with the red lips and white teeth was actually Lu Xiu.

And she certainly never would have imagined that the person who was the first to offer her a hand would one day become the powerful minister who would ignore her outstretched hand and give only a cold smile.

She wanted to ask him about it, but she didn’t know how to begin, or even where to start.

"Why tell me now?" She had almost completely forgotten ever meeting such a person in her youth.

"Because you seem to be very afraid of me."

When she had suddenly seen him that night, she had indeed been terrified. That fear extended to all their later interactions and every night she had stayed here. No matter how warm his body was, all she ever felt was cold.

"Do you hate me because I threw off your hand and kicked you back then?"

A deep chuckle rumbled from above her.

After a pause, he said, "No."

"Then it’s really not my fault. Anyone would have thought—" Liang Wan thought for a moment, then asked, "How come I never knew I was engaged to you?"

She hadn’t forgotten that Zhou Yun had told her that when Lu Xiu learned his elders had arranged a marriage for him, he had gone to the Caiqing Banquet specifically to see the girl.

But she had known nothing about it. All she knew was that someone had suddenly run up to her, claiming to be her future husband. She had assumed he was the foolish son of some wealthy scholarly family and had been so scared that she ignored the pain in her backside and bolted...

Lu Xiu closed his eyes gently. "It doesn’t matter anymore."

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