Every time the prince opens his eyes, he sees

"Thank you, General Gu, for your kindness, but I think I can handle it myself."

Lu Yaoyao looked calm, without any fear in her eyes.

"That's good, I'll leave first."

Seeing that Gu Huai was about to leave, the system anxiously reminded, "Host, Gu Huai is your new target. Don't waste this opportunity to be alone."

Let me take it easy, I'm not in the mood yet.

However, Lu Yaoyao still gently called out to Gu Huai, who had already turned around, "General Gu, can you lend me your attendant? I will definitely return it to you before dark."

Gu Huai looked at her for a moment, as if he had guessed what she was going to do, and smiled brightly, "Okay, Gu Cong will be at your disposal today."

……

As soon as Lu Yaoyao entered the main hall of the Lu Mansion, she keenly noticed that the atmosphere was not right.

"What do you want to do?" She stared at the maids around her who were waiting for an opportunity and asked vigilantly.

Lu Qianqian said in a sarcastic tone, "Sister, don't be too alarmed. Father is just afraid that you won't cooperate, so he wants to have you tied up first and have you stay in your room for two days."

"Everyone knows about your affair with Mr. Li. Even if Mr. Li fails in the end, your reputation will be ruined and no one will marry you again. So, considering the rest of your life, father has agreed to Mr. Li sending a matchmaker to ask for you as his concubine." Xue Fangfei, the legitimate mother of the Lu family, added another knife.

"Concubine?" Lu Yaoyao sneered, and her cold eyes swept across the smug faces of Xue Fangfei and her daughter, sweeping away her previous submissiveness and cowardice.

"I'm telling you, starting today, I, Lu Yaoyao, will no longer let you guys push me around. If you know what's good for you, we'll just not interfere with each other and live our own lives. Otherwise, don't blame me for being rude."

Hearing this, Xue Fangfei's face changed slightly. She wanted to jump up and hit Lu Yaoyao, but she always showed a gentle and kind image to others, so when Lu Yaoyao contradicted her, she endured it and asked Lu Jinglin for help in a gentle voice, "Master, look at her, what kind of rebellious words are she saying? Although I didn't give birth to her, I have always treated her as my own daughter over the years. How could she...how could she..."

Xue Fangfei seemed so angry that she couldn't speak.

Lu Jinglin was the most foolish person when Xue Fangfei pretended to be a naive person. Whenever she felt wronged, he would rush to her defense and say, "Hurry up and apologize to your stepmother and sister, or I'll make you pay."

"Apologize? Sure, but before I apologize, I want my father to see someone."

Under the puzzled gazes of the crowd, a silver-armored figure carrying a tall woman jumped down from the eaves.

Lu Jinglin took a look and became even more confused, "Lu Yaoyao, what do you mean?"

Gu Cong first introduced himself, "I am General Gu Huai's attendant. I was ordered by General Gu to escort Miss Lu back. By the way, I was sent by her for a day."

"What about her?"

When Lu Jinglin pointed at the tall woman, Xue Fangfei's face was already as pale as snow.

Lu Yaoyao took in her frightened expression.

She walked up to the tall woman, stepping on Xue Fangfei's heart with each step. She tiptoed and pulled off the woman's camouflage hood and the silk scarf covering her Adam's apple. She turned around and asked Lu Jinglin, "Father, you really don't know him?"

Lu Jinglin squinted his eyes and looked carefully again. He felt that the person looked familiar, but for a moment he couldn't remember who it was.

But he was a man, but disguised as a woman doing rough work in his wife's yard. This made him think of many bad things, and his anger began to soar.

"Who is he?" He asked Lu Yaoyao in a tone of voice, but his eyes were filled with hatred as if a thousand arrows pierced his heart, but he was looking at Xue Fangfei.

Xue Fangfei knelt down in fear, "Master, I didn't know. He was a servant hired by the housekeeper. I didn't even know he was a man!"

"You really don't know?" Lu Yaoyao laughed sarcastically, then looked at Gu Cong, "Did you find what I asked you to get?"

"I have fulfilled my mission." After saying this, Gu Cong took out a painting from his arms and slowly unfolded it.

The painting shows a young boy and girl, who are snuggling under a corridor with clusters of peach blossoms beside it.

After a careful comparison, Lu Jinglin finally remembered who the man disguised as a woman was.

The other party was Xue Fangfei's cousin.

Eighteen years ago, when he first followed the matchmaker to the Xue family to propose marriage, he passed him by.

Later, when he accompanied Xue Fangfei back to her parents' home to visit her sick mother, he saw him again in the Xue family's back garden.

"Okay, Xue Fangfei, I've respected and loved you over the years, and I've been very kind to you. For you, I've even rarely taken a concubine, but you actually had an affair with your cousin behind my back."

"Judging from this early painting, I'm afraid you two were already in love before you got married."

Lu Jinglin was so angry that his whole body was shaking. His resentful eyes turned into a knife as sharp as a bone, stabbing straight at Xue Fangfei.

He never thought that his wife, whom he had always trusted, would do such a betrayal.

Xue Fangfei's face was as pale as paper. She tried to explain with a trembling voice, "Master, please listen to my explanation. Things are not what you think..."

"Shut up!" Lu Jinglin roared, interrupting her. "The evidence is irrefutable. What else do you need to explain? Come on, lock this bitch in the woodshed. I'll deal with her when the elders of the clan and the Xue family arrive!"

Several servants who were originally going to arrest Lu Yaoyao immediately stepped forward, picked up Xue Fangfei without saying a word, and dragged her towards the woodshed.

Xue Fangfei struggled and cried miserably, but it could not shake Lu Jinglin's heart at all.

Seeing this, Lu Qianqian was terrified. She fell to her knees, tugging at Lu Jinglin's sleeve and begging, "Father, please forgive mother this time. She was just confused for a moment..."

Lu Jinglin remained unmoved. He coldly shook off Lu Qianqian's hand, his eyes piercing her face fiercely. "Your mother had an affair before she even married. It's still unknown whether you are of the Lu family bloodline. Come, lock this unfilial girl of unknown identity in the woodshed."

Lu Qianqian's face instantly turned paler than Xue Fangfei's. She fell to the ground powerlessly and could only let the maid drag her away.

Lu Yaoyao stood aside, watching coldly, thinking that if the original owner had not accidentally picked up the portrait and was very meticulous, identifying that the woman disguised as doing menial work in Xue Fangfei's yard was the man in the portrait, Xue Fangfei would not have been so eager to plot against her and marry her off casually.

"Father, I believe you will take care of the rest of the matters, so I will take my leave first. As for the matter of breaking off the engagement with the Li family, I will handle it myself, so you don't have to worry about it." Lu Yaoyao bowed slightly, her tone without any emotion.

Lu Jinglin, who was so angry that he fainted, only remembered Lu Yaoyao's existence at this moment. His complicated gaze stayed on her for a moment, and finally he just nodded without saying anything more.

At the gate of the Lu Mansion, Gu Cong saluted Lu Yaoyao and said, "Miss Lu, I will send you here. I still need to go back and report to the general."

Lu Yaoyao nodded and said, "Go back and thank your general for me. I will come to express my gratitude in person someday."

"Girl, you're welcome."

After Gu Cong returned, he told Gu Huai, who was practicing sword in the yard, everything he had seen and heard today.

After hearing this, Gu Huai's sword tip just happened to pierce a leaf that fell in front of him. He exclaimed in admiration: "This Miss Lu looks so delicate and weak, but I didn't expect she is quite powerful."

……

After the court session, Xie Qingchen was invited by Gu Huai to Yipinju to drink tea and listen to opera.

Ever since He Yaoyao was reduced to ashes in the raging fire along with the Chaolu Pavilion where she lived, Xie Qingchen's temperament has become increasingly gloomy, violent and unpredictable. Apart from being busy with state affairs and official duties, he stays in the East Palace and rarely goes out to play.

Of course, after being rejected several times, no one dared to invite him again.

Xie Qingchen was willing to go along with the appointment because Gu Huai had just returned from the battle and it was rare for them to meet.