Duke Jing's younger sister

Wenchanghou Mansion.

The night rain was drizzling and the lanterns were wet with fog.

At a time when the whole mansion should have been silent, the ancestral hall of the Luo Mansion was brightly lit.

The handsome young man in red looked disheveled, with a few strands of wet hair hanging in front of his forehead and his clothes sticking to his body.

He knelt on the ground with his back straight and expressionless.

Along with the sound of raindrops falling from the eaves, a long whip hit his back hard, and his red clothes were instantly stained with blood, and the color became darker.

The veins on the side of his neck bulged, but he clenched his teeth and endured it silently.

"You bastard, you actually want to elope with that girl from the Shen family?"

Luo Quanliang's face turned pale, and he raised his hand and whipped him again, "That's an imperial decree. How dare you be so bold? Where do you put the lives of the entire Luo family?"

With tears in her eyes, Feng stood outside the ancestral hall, covering her lips with her sleeves to force herself not to make any sound.

She originally thought that since Luo Cheng was not the eldest son in the family, she could satisfy his wishes regarding marriage, and therefore did not restrict him from having private contact with the Third Miss Shen.

As a mother, she could see that her silly son had already fallen deeply in love with Miss Shen San.

Friends are easy to find, but a good partner is hard to find.

Miss Shen San was gentle in nature and pretty, and Feng liked her very much.

I thought they would be able to have a happy marriage, but who would have thought that Cheng Yaojin would appear halfway and somehow he was favored by Emperor Hongyang, who decided to marry the fourth princess to him.

Since there is a princess as the main wife, there is no need to mention the matter of a co-wife. The Shen family will not agree to let the third girl come to the Luo family to be a concubine.

No matter how you plan it, it's a dead end.

This child has a stubborn temper and insists on his own opinion, and he is deeply in love with Miss Shen San.

If he is asked to marry the princess now, wouldn't that be like asking him to sacrifice half his life?

Feng glanced away, unable to bear to look any longer, recalling that day when they were having dinner in the flower hall, he had said with certainty that if there was no love between husband and wife, he would not marry her even if she was a princess.

At the time, I just thought he was talking nonsense, so I just reprimanded him and let it go.

But I never thought that what I said would come true!

If the time really comes, can he not get married just because he doesn't want to?

Luo Yan remained silent throughout the whole process, which made the furious Luo Quanliang even more intolerable, and he whipped him severely several times.

The whip hit the flesh, making a series of dull sounds.

When a son is beaten, the mother feels the pain.

Feng couldn't bear it any longer, so she rushed in, pinching her skirt and stopping Luo Quanliang from stopping.

"Master, if you keep fighting like this, Erlang will die!"

She knelt on the ground, hugged the shaky, pale Luo Cheng, and cried hoarsely, "Erlang, stop being stubborn. Apologize to your father and give in!"

The boy's eyelashes trembled slightly, and he finally responded. His Adam's apple rolled as he said in a deep voice, "I am not wrong."

"You---rebellious son!"

Luo Quanliang was so angry that he was shaking all over. He raised the whip in his hand again, but was stopped by the person behind him, "Father, that's enough!"

Luo Jue changed into clean clothes, and after entering the house, he glanced at Ni and knelt on the ground. Luo Jue, who was sweating profusely, had no choice but to persuade, "Father, let me talk to him."

Luo Quanliang was too lazy to fight anymore. Although they were both his sons, Luo Jue was much less of a worry to him than Luo Rong!

He threw the whip on the ground and left angrily.

Feng wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve, and Luo Jue gave her a reassuring look.

She then nodded slightly, and left the ancestral hall, looking back every few steps.

The rain gradually stopped.

The night wind blew into the ancestral hall, bringing with it a damp chill. On the incense table, the candle flames swayed gently in the wind.

Only the two brothers of the Luo family were left in the room, along with rows of ancestral tablets with white characters on a black background.

After a long silence.

Luo Jue walked to the armchair in the hall, lifted his robe and sat down slowly, "Do you still think that you have done nothing wrong in the way things have turned out?"

Hearing this, Luo Cheng raised his eyelids and looked at him, "What have I done wrong?"

"What's wrong?"

Luo Jue laughed, and couldn't help but feel that his brother's naivety was ridiculous. "Why do you think the Crown Prince proposed to His Majesty so suddenly that he wanted to marry the Fourth Princess to you?"

Luo Cheng curled his fingers slightly, his heart tightened and he asked, "Why?"

"That's because the prince has long been interested in Shen Li and wants to take her as a concubine, using her as a bond to bring him and Shen Beiqi closer!"

Luo Jue stared at him with a look of dismay.

"Since you love her and want to marry her, you should have kept this a secret until everything was settled. But what about you?"

The pupils of the boy kneeling on the ground suddenly contracted.

He suddenly realized what a stupid mistake he had made, and his eyes darkened.

Seeing his listless appearance, Luo Jue sneered, "How did you do it?"

"Not only did he pretend to be intimate with her in front of the prince on the polo field, but he also took her to play wildly in Xing'anfang. Everyone knows Sima Zhao's intentions, so how could the prince not try to stop it?"

The boy's straight back finally bent, and he felt that every word coming to his ears was like a sharp blade, piercing his heart with incredible precision.

if……

He could do as his brother said and keep the matter a secret so that the prince would not notice him.

After tomorrow, the marriage between the Luo and Shen families will be finalized.

Even if the prince wanted to stop it, Emperor Hongyang would not ruin someone's marriage and marry the fourth princess Xiao Wushuang to a man who was already engaged.

What's more, Emperor Hongyang will still give Shen Beiqi some face.

She would not let her daughter blatantly take away Shen Li's fiancé.

Then, he and Shen Li...

This wouldn't have been the result...

Regret and self-blame contained endless pain, like a strong wind blowing up the waves, which rolled in and drowned him in an instant.

The whip marks on my back hurt slightly, but what hurts even more is the feeling of powerlessness that comes with being late to realize it.

It is the regret of blaming myself for acting so flamboyantly and not knowing how to be low-key!

It is the despair and unwillingness of wishing one could turn back time and start over again.

Tears glistened in his narrow eyes, and he felt as if his spine had been pulled out in an instant, and he sat down powerlessly on the cold ground.

"pat-"

The tears dripped onto the ground with a soft sound.

Luo Jue let out a long sigh.

She stood up slowly, squatted in front of him, and advised him earnestly,

"You always say that the wealth of Jiangdu City is a cage for you, so why not eat meat? If there is no wealth in Jiangdu City, you will face the real cage!"

"Do you think you can survive in the martial arts world just by relying on your chivalrous spirit and courage?"

Luo Jue only felt that his younger brother was very naive. In this world where the strong prey on the weak, if one does not have power and status to rely on, he is worse than pigs and dogs.

Jianghu?

Is the world of martial arts pure?

Among the four major sects of Southern Wu, which one does not have the support of the court?

In other words, without the secret support from the court, how could they have secured their position as one of the four major sects?

"That year, you saved a woman from drowning in a pond in Chuzhou, and beat the county magistrate's son half to death. If you didn't have the Wenchang Marquisate as your backer, how could you have escaped safely even though you were just an ordinary citizen?"

"Luo Cheng, if you really want to blame someone, blame yourself for not being strong enough. Since you are not strong enough and have no ability to resist, you can only accept your fate!"