Hold His Hand

Lu Yanzhou knew that Lu Rong would come over today, but he didn’t expect Lu Rong to be like this.

Lu Rong’s clothes were of acceptable material, but they were dirty and couldn’t keep her warm at all. Her shoes were also covered in mud, her face was two degrees darker than yesterday, and her lip color was also white, making people feel very sorry for her after seeing her.

She didn’t even have a small baggage, she only had a wrap swaddling baby. She really looked like someone who was in distress.

“My family had an accident, so I couldn’t live on, that’s why I came to the capital to look for relatives, but unfortunately I didn’t find them…” Lu Rong told them what happened before with red eyes, which made the people around her sympathize.

When Lu Yanzhou came out, Lu Rong said even more fearfully: “Young master, I heard that there is porridge here, I came here to beg for some porridge.”

Lu Rong vividly portrayed a woman, who was in distress and was about to die, obviously because she didn’t want others to know about her relationship with Lu Yanzhou.

This is indeed beneficial to them.

Taking it for granted, Lu Yanzhou kept Lu Rong and asked her to choose a house from the newly built house.

Lu Rong chose one, then thanked him again and again, saying that she would help with the work.

Lu Rong also mentioned that her husband’s family has a small business, so she can not only wash and cook, but also settle accounts.

Lu Yanzhou was overjoyed, and immediately arranged some work for her.

Doing all this took about half an hour. When Lu Yanzhou turned around, he saw Xie Chengze had come out of the room and was chatting with the abbot of Jingning Temple.

Seeing that he was done, Xie Chengze looked over and smiled.

“Brother Cheng, I’m really sorry for neglecting you.” Lu Yanzhou walked up to Xie Chengze in a few steps.

Xie Chengze said: “I’m here to relax, why call it negligent?”

Having said that, Xie Chengze was very happy when Lu Yanzhou finally had time to talk to him. After exchanging a few sentences with Lu Yanzhou, he took the initiative to ask if there was anything that needed his help.

Lu Yanzhou then found a job for him to do — to name and register the orphans in the temple.

Although the orphans taken in by Jingning Temple had names, they were all casually called ‘Goudan’, ‘Da Ya’, ‘Er Mao’. Most of them didn’t have real names. Lu Yanzhou wanted to find someone to give them nice names.

It was a simple job. Xie Chengze sat on the chair that Lu Yanzhou used to see patients, and named those children.

After picking two, he looked at the people around him and asked someone to buy some food and deliver it.

Xie Chengze had donated money before when he came to Jingning Temple, but he didn’t donate much—he didn’t have much money.

Moreover, he knew that there were tens of thousands of poor people in this world. Instead of donating money to help others, he might as well handle political affairs so that the people can live and work in peace.

However, seeing Lu Yanzhou busy back and forth with these children and elderly people today, he also wanted to do his part.

He wanted to buy some food for the children here, and reward Lu Yanzhou as well.

The children’s names are quickly decided. After registering it, the booklet must be given to Lu Rong.

Others have come here long ago, but Lu Rong is different. She just came today, so Xie Chengze was deeply impressed by her.

Out of habit, Xie Chengze also asked about Lu Rong’s hometown.

Lu Rong grew up in the capital and knew that her accent could not be changed, so she said, “I grew up in the capital. When I was ten years old, my parents took me back to my hometown, where I got married and had children…”

Lu Rong used to live in willow alley and flower street, where most of the women couldn’t survive and had to do that job. The identity she gave herself now was actually the experience of one of the flower women.

The flower woman husband’s family was in the porcelain business, but their luck was bad and the earth dragon also turned over. The porcelain that had just been brought into the house fell to pieces, and all the belongings were lost.

The flower woman husband had no choice but to borrow money from someone to buy the goods. As a result, he encountered robbers on the road. Because the goods were bought with borrowed money, he was reluctant to let go, so the robbers chopped off his head.

The flower woman’s husband died, but the porter he hired to buy goods with him escaped home. The porter told the neighbors about this, and people that the flower woman’s family borrowed money all came to ask for it every day. The flower woman was helpless, so she wanted to come to the capital to see some relatives with her child, but the relatives weren’t found. The child became sick after, so she had to sell herself, but even so, she still couldn’t save her child.

Lu Rong changed the flower woman experience a bit and used it as her own, which seems seamless.

Xie Chengze also knew about the earth dragon turnover matter, but because it was not serious, the imperial court did not provide disaster relief. It’s just, he didn’t expect this to break a small family, so he couldn’t help but sigh.

Seeing him like this, Lu Rong smiled and said, “Young master Cheng, I’m pretty good. I survived anyway, and now I also have a place to stay.”

Lu Rong is really in a good mood at the moment. She was young back then and didn’t know much about the Lu family’s affairs. After the Lu family’s accident, people in the capital never dared to mention the Lu family, thinking that the Lu family was dead. Meeting Lu Yanzhou yesterday, she just realized that not only was her cousin still alive, but four of her cousins were also still alive.

In addition, her cousin was very organized and arranged the matter of revenge in an orderly manner, which made her feel a lot more relaxed.

This young master Cheng in front of her didn’t have the arrogance of a young master from a wealthy family, and he also seemed to be a good friend of her cousin, so she quite liked Xie Chengze.

“You will definitely get better and better.” Xie Chengze said seriously.

Lu Rong smiled and quickly helped with the work,

While Lu Rong was working, she also carried her child behind her back. Many country people did this, but Xie Chengze hadn’t seen it before, so he couldn’t help but take a few more glances. Seeing that the child fell asleep with his head tilted without wearing a hat, he felt a little worried: “It’s cold today, won’t the child get cold?”

He remembered that there was such a big child in his maternal grandfather’s family but he didn’t go out very much in winter. He not only wore a hat when he went out, but also had his mother beside him to help block the wind, or cover his head and face with a scarf.

“This cold is not bad, he’s like this every day,” Lu Rong said, “We are a small family, we are not that sophisticated.”

Just as she was talking, the food Xie Chengze had bought was delivered.

Xie Chengze started to deal with government affairs very early, and his mother even found a great scholar to teach him. He understands the world and human condition, so he didn’t buy flashy things.

He had someone weigh 20 catties of the cheapest pastry in the capital, and he had someone buy some stewed eggs and chicken from a stewed vegetable restaurant to send as extra vegetables, and nothing else.

So this afternoon, when the children were drinking porridge, there’s stewed egg and stewed chicken in the bowl.

Lu Yanzhou’s side is even richer. Braised chicken legs, stewed chicken wings, stewed chicken feet are all available, and there is also a marinated pig’s trotter. The greedy little monks in the temple, who were salivating, were pulled away by the older monk, yelling that they did not want to be a monk.

“Brother Cheng, you are going to ruin the little monk’s practices.” Lu Yanzhou laughed.

Xie Chengze was also a little happy when he thought of the little monk’s appearance, and said: “Also, Zhu’s lady who just arrived and is nursing the child, this pig’s trotter was bought for her, let someone send it over.”

Lu Rong told people that her husband’s family name was Zhu, so everyone called her “Zhu’s lady”.

Lu Yanzhou said: “How about letting her eat in the house. We can eat on the kang, she, Chang Feng, and your guards can eat at the table next to her…Her room is not warm yet.”

Xie Chengze agreed.

Half of Lu Yanzhou’s house was taken up by the kang, and the rest was taken by an eight immortal table. When Lu Rong was called in, she ate with Chang Feng and the others.

They ate the same food as Lu Yanzhou and Xie Chengze, except for the vegetarian food in the temple, which was lo mei that Xie Chengze had someone buy, Lu Rong also had a whole pig’s trotter.

Lu Rong had to rent a house to live these years, so her life was very tight. She seldom ate like this on weekdays, so she had a better impression of Xie Chengze for a while.

After Xie Chengze left and finally settled down, Lu Rong said to Lu Yanzhou, “Little nine, that young master Cheng is a nice guy, which family does he belong to?”

Having experienced too many things in these years, Lu Rong’s vision has long been cultivated. She can see that Xie Chengze is unusual at a glance.

That temperament, that hand, that face and teeth, not any rich family can just raise him.

Lu Yanzhou didn’t hide it either: “He is the crown prince.”

Lu Rong’s face suddenly changed, her eyes were full of hatred: “Crown prince? He is the crown prince?!”

Lu Rong looked as if she wanted to fight Xie Chengze, so Lu Yanzhou quickly said: “Seventh sister, I said before that I have become King Rui’s advisor, and I’m also on good terms with the crown prince.”

It took Lu Rong a while to calm down: “What are your plans?”

Lu Yanzhou answered: “Seventh sister, I found out that the crown prince has a serious heart condition after meeting him.”

“He has a heart condition? No wonder such a big man still uses lip rouge.” Lu Rong said immediately.

Lu Rong’s observation powers are really astonishing. Lu Yanzhou said: “It’s because of his heart condition that he lives in seclusion. He has already reached adulthood but has yet to marry a wife. Sister, with the crown prince’s situation, he won’t be a trouble to us. On the contrary, we have to protect him.”

“Protect?”

Lu Yanzhou said: “King Rui wants to bring the crown prince down with all his heart. If something happens to the crown prince and King Rui’s family dominates, we will definitely be useless to King Rui. We have to cripple both of them first, it’s best to kill King Rui first. ”

When Lu Yanzhou said that he was going to kill King Rui, he was very calm, as if it was not difficult, which undoubtedly surprised Lu Rong even more. She always felt that her younger brother now was very unusual: “Okay, I will listen to you.”

Lu Yanzhou started explaining to Lu Rong, of course, the main point was how to deal with King Rui.

Lu Yanzhou really wanted to get rid of King Rui. Firstly, King Rui was really not a good person. The original owner followed King Rui, so he often saw King Rui doing dirty things.

The original owner is also not clear-headed. He even thinks that the cruel and ruthless King Rui being has the demeanor of a monarch.

But in fact, King Rui and the current emperor are worthy of being father and son, both of them are selfish people.

What’s more, King Rui wanted to kill Xie Chengze.

It is true that Xie Chengze died under the original owner’s scheme, but besides the original owner, King Rui arranged for others to attack Xie Chengze too, it’s just that none of them succeeded.

Such a person who might harm Xie Chengze at any time…Lu Yanzhou didn’t want to let him go.

However, about what he said to Lu Rong that Xie Chengze and King Rui would both suffer…This is nonsense, he is just trying to stabilize Lu Rong.

Lu Rong is quite capable and has many people on hand. He is afraid that Lu Rong will suddenly attack Xie Chengze.

As for what to do in the future…Why did he bring Lu Rong here? One of the reasons is to let Lu Rong and Xie Chengze get along more.

Xie Chengze is a very nice person, after getting along with her a lot, Lu Rong’s heart, which is not made of iron, will always waver.

What’s more, the Lu family matter had nothing to do with Xie Chengze. Xie Chengze was only three years old then.

Lu Yanzhou discussed with Lu Rong, teased Lu Rong’s child, then reminded Lu Rong to take back the unfinished pig’s trotters.

When it comes to pig’s trotters, Lu Rong’s expression is a bit complicated.

Lu Yanzhou said: “They have ruined the whole Lu family, why can’t we eat a pig’s trotter from him?”

After that, Lu Rong took the trotters with her.

The next day, Lu Yanzhou hired someone to build more houses, and asked Lu Rong to keep the accounts and be a housekeeper.

Others are quite envious when they see it, but they weren’t jealous, because Lu Rong is really a neat person, and she calculates accounts very quickly.

Like this, it was very normal for Lu Rong to talk to Lu Yanzhou. When Lu Rong went to Lu Yanzhou’s house at night, everyone only thought that she was only going there to give him the account and didn’t think too much about it.

Lu Rong is tall with a square face and thick lips. This is the typical appearance of the Lu family, coupled with her deliberate honest appearance, it makes people not think of them doing other things, not to mention that she is always carrying a child.

Another thing happened on the second day, that is, Xie Chengze sent people to send a lot of books to Lu Yanzhou and some food.

The food this time was specially delivered to Lu Yanzhou. It was different from the previous day. There were not only pastries made by Chef Donggong, but also marinated beef.

At this time, ordinary people can’t eat beef…Lu Yanzhou divided half of it with Lu Rong.

Lu Rong: “…”

A few days later, the second batch of houses had been built, and Lu Yanzhou took in some more people. He also invited a doctor to treat the people he took in and learn traditional medicine from him.

He did this in order to accumulate enough merits as soon as possible to help Xie Chengze heal his heart condition.

It’s just that this is ancient times and he has no power, so it was still a bit inconvenient to do things, the speed of accumulating merit is also relatively slow.

Today, when the new clothes made by Lu Yanzhou were delivered, he asked all the children he took in to shave their hair and take a bath, and put on new clothes.

People at this time put a lot of emphasis on their hair, but children with shaved heads are not little too. The children had seen a lot of monks, so they didn’t care about it. Instead, they asked curiously if they were going to be monks? Are they not allowed to eat meat anymore?

Lu Yanzhou said: “You won’t be a monk. You just shave your head, so you can continue to eat meat.”

The little monks in the temple burst into tears immediately.

Lu Yanzhou looked awkwardly at the solemn abbot, then the abbot pushed the three young monks in the temple forward: “Alright, your six roots are not clean yet, so return to normal life okay!”

When he acted like this, the three young monks were startled, then they all said: “Abbot, I don’t want to go!”

The abbot said: “When you grow up, if you still want to learn Buddhism, you can become a monk again.”

Seeing this, Lu Yanzhou smiled.

These days, he gets along more with the abbot, and he knows why Xie Chengze likes to come here. He also likes to chat with the abbot.

The abbot of Jingning Temple didn’t become a monk until he was in his thirties, and he had been traveling around in his early years. That kind of experience made him very knowledgeable and open-minded.

The three young monks dared to cry out to him, it could be seen that he was very kind to the three children.

The three young monks returned to normal life, put on the new padded clothes Lu Yanzhou bought and ate the meat porridge that Lu Yanzhou ordered.

They were eating when Xie Chengze came again. He was a little confused when he saw a group of bald heads.

Lu Yanzhou laughed: “These children have lices in their hair, so I make them shave their heads.”

In fact, not only the children shaved their heads, but the old people also shaved their heads.

Homeless people don’t really care about their hair. Who wouldn’t want to become a monk if they can survive the famine year? People would also try to enter the palace to be an eunuch too.

These old people have no land, they can’t find work and can only wander around when they are old. If Lu Yanzhou hadn’t taken them in, they probably wouldn’t survive this winter. They just shave their heads, what’s the big deal?

“This is indeed a good idea.” Xie Chengze nodded in approval, but when he saw the books related to traditional medicine placed in Lu Yanzhou’s room, he couldn’t help frowning: “Are you studying medicine?”

“I’m very interested in medical skills, so I just study it.” Lu Yanzhou said.

Xie Chengze didn’t quite agree: “There’s only three months before Chunwei, you…”

Lu Yanzhou said: “Brother Cheng, I have read all the books you gave me, if you don’t believe me, you can test me.”

Wang Linyuan is Xie Chengze’s mentor, and Xie Chengze has already memorized the books that Wang Linyuan annotated by heart, so he started to ask questions.

Lu Yanzhou could answer all the questions, and even recite all the notes.

Xie Chengze looked at Lu Yanzhou in shock. He gave the book to Lu Yanzhou only seven or eight days ago, and Lu Yanzhou also work on many other things these days…

Lu Yanzhou smiled and said, “I’m not talented, but I have a very good memory.”

Xie Chengze: “…”

Lu Yanzhou said: “Brother Cheng, let’s not talk about this anymore, I bought some sweet potatoes today, shall we go roast the sweet potatoes?”

“Roasted sweet potato?” Xie Chengze was puzzled.

Lu Yanzhou knew that Xie Chengze had been dealing with political affairs for a few years now.

King Rui was also very jealous, so he knew that there was a lot of pressure on him, especially since Xie Chengze was only a crown prince, not yet the emperor.

In the past two years, the crown prince was fined to kneeled because of his inappropriate handling of affairs.

It was rare for Xie Chengze to come out, he definitely wanted to relax, so he simply took Xie Chengze to do something that did not require thinking, such as roasting sweet potatoes with a group of children.

Roasting sweet potatoes takes time, and Lu Yanzhou also found some rice and threw it into the fire to pop them into rice crackers, then the children rushed to eat them.

Xie Chengze looked at it strangely. Seeing this, Lu Yanzhou picked up a few clean ones for him: “Brother Cheng, do you want to try it?”

Xie Chengze did not refuse, and ate it.

The rice crackers had no taste, but he managed to taste some sweetness amidst the children’s yelling.

While waiting for the sweet potatoes to be ready, Lu Yanzhou told Xie Chengze some anecdotes about the countryside, which Xie Chengze had never heard of, so he naturally listened with gusto.

“The sweet potato should be almost ready.” Lu Yanzhou found a slender sweet potato from the fire, peeled half of it and brought it to Xie Chengze’s mouth: “Taste it.”

Xie Chengze was stunned for a moment, then opened his mouth and took a bite.

Lu Yanzhou couldn’t help smiling.

The Xie Chengze in this world was very calm when facing him, which made him a little uncertain about Xie Chengze’s feeling, but now that his royal highness has already ate the things he handed over, he definitely has feelings for him.

Facing Lu Yanzhou’s smile, Xie Chengze paused, quickly took the sweet potato and said, “I’ll eat it myself.”

Lu Yanzhou didn’t do anything else.

In the past few worlds, he never pursued Xie Chengze seriously, so it’s good to take his time in this world.

At this moment, Xie Chengze was a little embarrassed by Lu Yanzhou’s sudden action. He didn’t continue to look at Lu Yanzhou. He looked away and then saw Lu Rong standing not far away with the child on her back.

Xie Chengze immediately said: “Sister-in-law Zhu, do you want to eat roasted sweet potatoes? It’s cold, so eating a sweet potato can warm your body.”

Lu Rong didn’t show any strangeness in front of Xie Chengze, and said with a smile: “Young master Cheng, I used to eat this food a lot, so I don’t want it anymore. I want to save my stomach for dry food later.”

Xie Chengze heard the words and said: “I brought some bacon over today. Sister-in-law, let the kitchen steam it and serve everyone dinner.”

Xie Chengze is the crown prince after all, so he usually puts on airs.

However, since he loves Lu Yanzhou, he naturally wants to get close to Lu Yanzhou and the people around Lu Yanzhou.

Although Xie Chengze didn’t come over the few days before, he delivered food to them several times. Lu Rong was used to him giving away food, so she answered right away: “I’ll get someone to steam it right away.”

When the children around heard this, their eyes lit up, wishing they could eat right away.

Seeing this, Lu Yanzhou said: “Brother Cheng, don’t give away such food anymore. These children eat better than the children in the village. If this continues, someone might deliberately throw their children to me.”

“I didn’t think carefully.” Xie Chengze immediately apologized.

“It’s okay.” Lu Yanzhou looked at Xie Chengze with deep meaning, “I know you are thinking of me before sending it. I’m very happy.”

Xie Chengze’s heartbeat accelerated unconsciously, his chest was bulging.

Touching his chest, the smile on his face slowly disappeared.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Yanzhou asked worriedly.

“I’m fine,” Xie Chengze’s expression had returned to normal, “I still have some things at home…I have to go back.”

“I’ll see you off.” Lu Yanzhou said.

Xie Chengze came in a carriage, so Lu Yanzhou sent Xie Chengze to the carriage, and then pulled Xie Chengze to talk and refused to let Xie Chengze go.

When Chang Feng ran over with a small clay pot, Lu Yanzhou handed the pot to Xie Chengze: “Brother Cheng, this is a snack I made not long ago, you take it to eat…you are too thin, you have to eat more. ”

As far as he knew, the crown prince Xie Chengze was usually busy with government affairs and would forget to eat…It’s said that Xie Chengze’s appetite is not very good.

So, he made some sesame balls from the beneficial sesame seeds eaten by heart patients and gave them to Xie Chengze as snacks.

Xie Chengze took it, then Lu Yanzhou stepped aside and watched the carriage go away.

“Little nine,” Lu Rong called out, “Are you…are you too close to him?”

Lu Yanzhou said: “Seventh sister, haven’t you noticed? The crown prince likes men, and he is interested in me.”

Lu Rong turned pale with shock: “What?”

“I also like men, thus the first time I saw him, I found that he likes men…” Lu Yanzhou raised the corners of his mouth, smiling coldly, “I acted like what he liked according to the information about him that King Rui investigated…After being in contact with me a few times, he is attracted to me.”

“You like men?” Lu Rong frowned. She had been staying in flower street and willow alley before, so she naturally knew about men and men.

Lu Yanzhou acted like it wasn’t a big deal: “Yes, I like men…but that’s not the point, the point is that the crown prince likes me, it will be much easier for us to get revenge.”

Lu Rong was still a little dazed when she heard Lu Yanzhou said: “Speaking of which, his royal highness the crown prince is quite naive. He mustn’t have experienced it before, it didn’t take me much to get him hooked.”

When Lu Rong heard her cousin say that, she felt a little uncomfortable for some reason.

She hated the dog emperor to death and wanted to kill the dog emperor. Naturally, she didn’t want to let the dog emperor’s two sons go.

But thinking about all the things Xie Chengze sent these days, and looking at her cousin’s unscrupulous appearance…She was a little uncomfortable.

She has seen all kinds of people. Although she has not had much contact with Xie Chengze, she can also see that the crown is a very nice person. Not to mention, there are few wealthy people in the capital who are like the crown prince and do not dislike the children they took in, right?

It’s fine if he wants to kill someone with a knife, however, as for deceiving feelings…

Seeing Lu Rong’s appearance, Lu Yanzhou was in a good mood.

It wasn’t in vain that he took Lu Rong here and spared no effort to blacken himself.

After a while, Lu Rong should sympathize with Xie Chengze.

Lu Yanzhou continued: “Seventh sister, I will go to the capital tomorrow to meet King Rui.”

After hearing this, Lu Rong regained her composure, and then said, “Little nine, you must be careful when the time comes, don’t let King Rui notice anything wrong.”

Lu Yanzhou said: “Seventh sister, don’t worry. King Rui thinks that I have deep love for him, so he trusts me very much.”

Lu Rong: “…”

Blame that damn dog emperor! Her little nine was such a pure and kind child before. If the fish he raised died, he would even erect a monument for it. What has he become now!

However, she really can’t say that about little nine, she is also not a good person.

Lu Rong continued to work in a complicated mood.

However, Lu Yanzhou went back to his residence, took out the book Xie Chengze brought him today, and read it.

At the same time, Xie Chengze opened the clay pot that Lu Yanzhou had given him and took out a black ball.

“Your highness, shall I try first?” Xie Chengze’s guard asked. The previous sweet potatoes were roasted on fire. They had watched the previous sweet potatoes baked in the fire, but this kind of unknown origin food, his highness cannot eat freely.

Xie Chengze said, “No need.”

After finishing speaking, Xie Chengze took a bite of the ball in his hand.

The strong aroma of sesame spreads in the mouth…Xie Chengze slowly finished one, and then closed the lid of the clay pot.

He should eat well and take care of his body.

King Rui has always been eyeing the position of crown prince, and the officials on his side are often targeted by King Rui’s people.

The official who presided over the imperial examination this time was a student of his mentor and a loyal crown prince’s party. If Lu Yanzhou became a Jinshi and became a student of his senior brother, he would naturally be assigned to his side, then he would also be targeted by King Rui.

He always wants to live longer and protect people.

Thinking of Lu Yanzhou, Xie Chengze regretted not staying in Jingning Temple for a while longer.

He was afraid that he would fall too deep into it, so he left in a hurry, but how could he control this feeling? Obviously, he had just left Jingning Temple but he had already started thinking about when he would go back there again.

It’s a pity he doesn’t always have time to go.

Xie Chengze hugged the clay pot and began to think about what he had in his East Palace…He planned to choose two things, pack them up tonight, and send someone to give it to Lu Yanzhou tomorrow.

T/N:

Lu Rong: My xiao jiu is now a scumbag because of that dog emperor! But the two people my xiao jiu play with are the dog emperor’s sons….Dunno whether to be happy or sad (╯°Д°）╯︵/(.□ . \)