Chapter 415: Chapter 231: You Wench, How Dare You Hold a Weapon Before the Emperor
Lu Yuan drove Emperor Gu Yuanzhang around for a few laps, then parked the car a short distance from Empress Ma and the others.
After getting out, Lu Yuan jogged over to the passenger side and personally opened the door for the Emperor.
The Emperor ducked his head to get out. Before his feet even touched the ground, he began to praise, "Excellent, excellent! A fine thing indeed! Lu Yuan, how in the world did you manage to build this?!"
Lu Yuan said with a smile, "His Majesty the Emperor, this car is much more complicated to build. Right now, I’m the only one who knows how to put these things together."
The Emperor led Lu Yuan toward Empress Ma, chatting as they walked. "Why not stay in the Imperial City and become a Capital Official?"
The Emperor had once again taken the initiative, offering to have Lu Yuan stay in the Imperial City as an official.
Lu Yuan waved his hand. "I can’t do that. My ancestral home is in Taiping City, and my whole family, young and old, is there. To be honest with His Majesty the Emperor, the few properties I own are all in Qilu Province. I’m a homebody."
"Oh, I won’t insist. If you ever feel like coming to the Imperial City, just let me know." The Emperor was clearly a little disappointed but didn’t press the matter further.
Seeing the two of them walking her way, Gu Ziye couldn’t wait and rushed forward. Crying out "Dad," she threw herself into the Emperor’s arms.
The Emperor’s face lit up with joy upon seeing Yue’Er. It was clear he doted on his daughter, and there was no sense of unfamiliarity between them.
This showed they didn’t consider Lu Yuan an outsider. If other court ministers had been present, Gu Ziye would have had to address him as "Father Emperor" and mind her etiquette.
Lu Yuan greeted each of them in turn.
The Emperor had more than twenty sons and a good number of daughters, leaving him with no time or energy to spend with his children.
Those sons had long since been granted fiefdoms by the Emperor. Among them, his third son, King Jin, was the most formidable, followed by his fourth son, Gu Di.
King Jin was the proudest of all the Princes; the others had to lower their heads whenever they saw him.
King Jin was ruthless and merciless. Not even a rogue Xingzi was permitted within his domain. Any Da Xingzi with even a hint of power fled to the fiefdoms of other Princes.
King Jin also had many Military Generals under his command, guarding the borders.
However, King Jin was not favored by the Emperor. Firstly, he was not born of the Empress. Secondly, he shared the Emperor’s ruthless nature, and thus could only ever be a Prince.
Gu Biao and Gu Ziye, however, were different from the other children. As the son and daughter of Empress Ma, they alone enjoyed this special favor.
When Empress Ma saw Lu Yuan, she didn’t put on any airs. She was very approachable and struck up a conversation with him.
After a little while, Gu Ziye suggested, "Let’s go back inside to talk. It’s getting chilly out here, and we don’t want to catch a cold."
"Our Yue’Er is always so considerate."
...
「Evening, at the Post House.」
"Mom, has Lu Yuan come out of the Imperial Capital yet? It’s been all day, I’m getting really worried!" Su Liyan asked her mother for news about Lu Yuan over the phone.
"Not yet. The sun is about to set. He drove to the Imperial Capital early this morning, and who knows what’s happened." Su Liyan’s mother stood by the window, gazing in the direction of the Imperial Capital.
"Mom, when he gets back, remember to give me a call!" Su Liyan said.
"Don’t you worry, daughter," Su Liyan’s mother soothed. "Our son-in-law is a lucky man. Nothing will happen to him."
Another hour passed.
In the moonlit silence of the woods, a keen eye could spot a figure speeding through.
In the blink of an eye, it shot out of the woods and vaulted through a second-floor window of the Post House.
The person who vaulted into the room was none other than Lu Yuan. He lit the Spirit Stone Lamp, illuminating the room. "Mom, why is it so dark in here? Why didn’t you turn on the light?"
Su Liyan’s mother had washed up long ago. Dressed in her nightgown and cotton slippers, she had been sitting in Lu Yuan’s room, waiting for a long time.
The room was filled with the lingering fragrance of the scented toiletries Su Liyan’s mother had used.
Su Liyan’s mother held up the phone and said, "Our daughter is still waiting for you to call her back."
Lu Yuan’s face was full of apology. "Mom, it’s my fault. I’m back late."
The car Lu Yuan had driven to the Imperial Capital that morning had been kept by the Emperor. The Emperor didn’t want some other four-seater; he wanted the exact one Lu Yuan had been driving.
So, Lu Yuan had no choice but to leave the car in the Imperial Capital and make his own way back on foot.
It wasn’t that the Emperor refused to give Lu Yuan a fine foreign horse; it was that Lu Yuan had eaten so much in the Imperial Capital that the walk back was a good chance to digest his meal.
Lu Yuan took the phone from his mother-in-law and dialed his wife.
"Honey, let me explain! I swear I didn’t do anything. The Imperial Capital is so heavily guarded, what could I possibly have done?" Lu Yuan pleaded into the phone, having already been explaining for some time.
"No, no, no! I just ate dinner and walked back. The scenery on the road was lovely, so I stopped to enjoy it for a bit. I swear I wasn’t out carousing!" Lu Yuan paced back and forth in the room, heedless of his mother-in-law still sitting there.
"Honey, don’t let that Gu Gaoxu kid fool you. He’s the one who’s always out carousing!" Lu Yuan said.
Su Liyan didn’t actually distrust Lu Yuan; she was just setting the stage. Using his late return as an opening, she said, "Honey, I want to go to the Imperial City."
Lu Yuan said, "Honey, I miss you too. But I didn’t leave a car for you, so how would you get here?"
If Su Liyan were to come to the Imperial City, she would have to travel by horse. That would take a considerable amount of time, and by the time she arrived, Lu Yuan might already be heading home.
At this thought, Su Liyan’s tone turned a little downcast. "Alright, honey. You be good over there, okay? Don’t cause any trouble. I worry about you."
"Oh, by the way, honey, I’ve been learning a lot from Aunt Song lately! I’m learning about fashion, how to cook..."
"Honey, when I get back, I’ll be sure to reward you properly!"
...
For the next few days, Lu Yuan remained dutifully in his room, cultivating in preparation for the second round of the martial matchmaking tournament.
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