“A’Qian, you go back to the residence first,” Lu Ping instructed, his expression unchanged. “I’ll see to A’Hong myself.”
Lu Ping had indeed made up his mind to go through with it.
Lu Qian sneered inwardly, agreeing with an unruffled expression.
With Lu Ping handling it himself, everything would surely be arranged smoothly — and afterward, Lu Hong would have no way to blame him for it.
After Lu Qian left, Lu Ping summoned his personal steward and gave him a few quiet instructions. This steward was a trusted confidant of Lu Ping’s, who had no doubt handled countless private matters for him over the years.
After hearing Lu Ping’s instructions, a flicker of something crossed the steward’s eyes, but he asked nothing at all, simply nodding in agreement.
Half an hour later.
Having spent an entire day at Prince Yan’s residence, even Princess Changping, for all her boundless energy, had grown somewhat tired. And yet, she also felt a strange undercurrent of excitement.
Just a short while ago, a steward from the Lu household had quietly come to request an audience, bringing a brief message from Lu Ping. It was these few short words alone that had filled Princess Changping with elation.
By now, Prince Yan had already been escorted into the bridal chamber, and most of the guests who had come to offer their congratulations had already taken their leave one by one. Princess Changping restrained her impatience and waited a little longer before finally leaving with her retinue of maids and attendants.
In the darkness, no one noticed an unmarked carriage following close behind Princess Changping’s own as it departed.
…
Once back at her residence, Princess Changping summoned her most trusted personal maid and gave her quiet instructions.
However startled the maid was inwardly, she concealed it well, and calmly agreed to everything.
While Princess Changping bathed and changed in high spirits, the still-unconscious Lu Hong was carried down from the carriage and brought to a guest room, where attendants saw to it that he was thoroughly washed and changed.
At one point, not fully unconscious, Lu Hong struggled to open his eyes. Finding himself in an unfamiliar place, a flicker of unease cut through his clouded mind, and he asked haltingly, “Where is this? Why am I here?”
No one answered him.
Instead, someone brought over a steaming bowl of something meant to clear the head from drink. “Young Master Lu, you’re intoxicated — drink this first.”
Lu Hong had no strength left to resist, and was half-forced to drink it down.
What followed, it soon became clear, was deeply wrong. The bowl had not merely been a remedy for drink — whatever it truly contained sent something hot and overwhelming sweeping through him, clouding his mind further and stripping away what little resistance he had left. He was no longer in command of himself. Someone came to him in the dark, and in his drugged, disoriented state, he had no way to refuse or even fully understand what was happening. The rest of the night passed in a haze he could not later piece back together.
When the first rays of sunlight broke through the clouds, Lu Hong finally woke.
He found himself without a stitch of clothing, and beside him lay a woman who seemed both unfamiliar and half-familiar. His mind went utterly blank. Then his handsome face turned ashen.
How had he ended up in Princess Changping’s private chambers?
What exactly had happened the night before?
He had only gotten drunk — how could he have ended up doing something so reckless?
How could he ever face Ling Jingshu again after this?
Some time later, Princess Changping woke as well.
The moment her eyes opened, she saw Lu Hong’s face, drained of all color, frozen stiff. Even Princess Changping’s good mood at having succeeded in her conquest could not help but be affected somewhat.
Still, he was, after all, the man she had been longing for, and her ardor had not cooled. She could not bring herself to show him a cold face — instead, she lowered her usual pride and spoke gently. “A’Hong. Last night, we both wanted it. I won’t hold the slightest thing against you for it. There’s no need for you to trouble yourself over it.”
Lu Hong’s thoughts were in chaos. He wanted to demand an explanation, but on second thought, the damage was already done — anything he said now would be too late. If he angered Princess Changping and she turned against him, the entire Lu family might well be implicated.
Enough!
It was only one reckless night!
If he said nothing, no one else need ever know.
After all, he reasoned, he was the man, the one who had gained something from it. To turn his back and deny it now would be far too heartless. Once today was over, he would put this matter behind him entirely and never have anything further to do with her.
Lu Hong forced out a strained expression. “I was out all night — Second Uncle and my brother must be worried sick. I should go back first.”
His evident eagerness to flee left Princess Changping deeply irritated.
Hmph!
Now that he was already hers, the idea that he could simply escape was nothing but wishful thinking!
There would be plenty of time ahead. She would let him go for today, but there would be no shortage of opportunities later for him to learn, slowly, just what it meant to be pursued without end.
Princess Changping curved her lips into a slow smile. “Very well, go on back, then.”
…
The clothes he had taken off the night before reeked of wine and had been crumpled beyond wearing. Lu Hong put on a new set of men’s clothing that Princess Changping had ordered prepared for him, feeling deeply uncomfortable in every way.
Unwilling to leave by the side gate and draw attention, he slipped quietly out through the back door of the princess’s residence and made his way back to the Lu household.
His thoughts in turmoil the whole way back, there is no need to dwell on it further.
The moment he returned to the Lu residence and saw Lu Ping’s beaming face, all the grievance and fury in Lu Hong’s heart surged up at once. He forced out a few stiff words. “Second Uncle. I have something to ask you.”
One look at him, and Lu Ping understood everything at once, his mood more pleased than ever. He paid no mind to Lu Hong’s tone. “You want to ask why you were sent to the princess’s residence last night?”
Lu Hong was so startled by Lu Ping’s calm, matter-of-fact tone that for a moment he forgot to be angry.
“Yes, it was I who had word sent to Princess Changping, and then had you taken to her residence,” Lu Ping said slowly. “All of this — I arranged it.”
Lu Hong’s handsome face flushed red, then drained pale, again and again. After a long moment he ground out through clenched teeth, “Second Uncle, why would you do this?”
Instead of answering, Lu Ping asked, “What have you lost by it?”
Lu Hong: “…”
“To have a connection with Princess Changping is to have a connection with Prince Yan and Empress Xu.”
Lu Ping said evenly, “Our Lu family has pledged itself to Prince Yan — we can only continue along this path now. You are the eldest grandson of the Lu family. Your father and I are both proud of you. It’s only right that you do your part for this family.”
Lu Hong held it in for a long while before finally forcing out, “I’m willing to do anything for the Lu family — except this.”
“Princess Changping is young, beautiful, alluring and seductive — leaving her status aside, she’s a rare beauty in her own right. To have come this close to her, when countless men secretly burn with envy, is hardly some bitter chore, is it?”
Lu Ping glanced at Lu Hong’s clearly unwilling face and said dismissively, “All right, let’s leave it at that for now. If you don’t want to, you needn’t go to her residence again — who could force you to, after all?”
Such words were, of course, nothing more than a stalling tactic.
But Lu Hong took them at face value, and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.