Confiscating property? A stunningly beautiful substitute bride empties the national treasury and is

“Brother Lu has been running for almost an hour. He’ll be exhausted. Aren’t you all worried?”

Xuan Yuanxue was a little anxious. Although the carriage had deliberately slowed down, Lu Yunqi was still quite far behind. She asked Lu Xieyue beside her in a low voice.

Lu Xieyue glanced back at her second brother, pursed her lips and smiled, "Sister Xue, you don't need to worry. Second brother just got excited on a whim. He won't be able to stick to it. Maybe he'll be so tired that he'll be lying in the carriage by noon."

"Why?"

Xuan Yuanxue was somewhat puzzled.

"When my second brother was in the manor, he hated being pressured by others. He never lasted more than three days. Several teachers even ran away in anger."

As Lu Xieyue spoke, she leaned closer to her and whispered, "Later, it became so infamous that even the best doctors couldn't come, so my mother gave up."

"Now that he's finally showing interest, it would be a shame if he didn't get some exercise."

Xuan Yuanxue suddenly realized: "Oh, I see!"

The two then continued to whisper to each other for a long time, watching Lu Yunqi fall behind outside the curtain…

Who is that woman?

Xuan Yuanxue saw a woman approach and hand Lu Yunqi a pot of water. The two were talking, but Lu Yunqi neither took the pot nor looked at her.

When Lu Xieyue saw that it was Yu Ke'er, she rolled her eyes speechlessly. She really was a persistent ghost.

“My uncle’s illegitimate daughter. The two families have fallen out, and we have nothing to do with them.”

Lu Xieyue whispered, "If you see Yu Ke'er, walk around her. She's definitely up to no good. She almost killed my second brother last time, and now she still has the nerve to pretend to be nice to him!"

Xuan Yuanxue nodded silently, but she noticed that Yu Ke'er's attachment to Lu Erge was quite unusual.

Outside the carriage, Lu Jingchuan stealthily peeked through the gap in the curtains and cautiously poked Song Qingqian.

Song Qingqian was taken aback. She quickly glanced at everyone and, seeing that no one had noticed, she turned her head to look at Lu Jingchuan's hand.

Curious, she reached out her hand and saw Lu Jingchuan place a small object in her palm.

Song Qingqian looked at the wooden carving in her hand and smiled sweetly. From the general shape and appearance of the carving, it was clear that Lu Jingchuan was carving her.

It's just that the time was a bit rushed, and the tools weren't quite right, so it's a little rough around the edges.

Song Qingqian touched the eyebrows and eyes of the wooden sculpture of the woman, smiled knowingly, and felt a warm feeling in her heart in an instant.

At midday, the exiled caravan happened to come across a lake that stretched as far as the eye could see. With its abundant water supply, the caravan decided to rest there.

As soon as the carriage stopped, Xuan Yuanxue turned around and saw Lu Yunqi plunge into the lake. She was so frightened that she rushed over.

Zhan'er and Lu Xieyue hurriedly followed, but they weren't worried; instead, they were incredibly excited.

"Second Uncle, there's a fish! Which one is the biggest!"

Zhan'er pointed to the lead fish in the group of fish and shouted.

Upon hearing that there were fish, the exiled people swarmed around, and many jumped in with a splash.

Lu Jingchuan secured the carriage, leaned close to Song Qingqian, carefully hooked her finger around his, and whispered:

"Qianqian, you still haven't said whether you like the gift I gave you?"

"like!"

Song Qingqian pursed her lips and nodded, her heart suddenly filled with sweetness and her heart fluttering.

Lu Jingchuan smiled gently, his eyes full of affection, unable to suppress the smile on his lips.

"Then I'll send you something even better next time."

Song Qingqian nodded again.

Lu Jingchuan nudged her shoulder carefully again and asked in a low voice:

"Since we have fish, let's have fish for lunch. Stewed fish or grilled fish?"

Song Qingqian smiled gently, looked at the dense crowd by the lake, and replied:

"Make some of them. Fish soup is more effective for your sister-in-law who is breastfeeding."

"Alright, let's do as Qianqian says, let's go spear some fish too!"

Song Qingqian nodded: "Okay, then I'll find a big basket, and we'll go together!"

Seeing Song Qingqian go to find something, Lu Jingchuan, along with Lu Lanyue and Bai Shi, gave a few instructions, took the large basket from Song Qingqian, and the two walked towards the lake.

Lu Jingchuan tried to hold Song Qingqian's hand, but she subtly avoided it. He chuckled and deliberately bumped into her with his shoulder.

“Qianqian…”

Lu Jingchuan's voice was so soft that Song Qingqian's heart trembled. How could a grown man act so coquettishly?

Song Qingqian leaned to the side and warned in a low voice, "Lu Jingchuan, if you try anything in front of others, I'll beat you up!"

"Qianqian, your husband will remember this!"

Lu Jingchuan moved closer and said, "My wife said it's not okay in front of others, but it's okay in private."

As the two approached, they saw that Zhan'er and Xiao Yu'er were each holding a fish, and the large tails were so big that even the two of them couldn't hold them all.

"Sister Qian, you've arrived!"

Xuan Yuanxue smiled and took the large basket from Lu Jingchuan, then let the two children put the fish inside.

Seeing that Lu Jingchuan showed no intention of going down to catch fish, Lu Xieyue pressed on, asking:

"Third Brother, aren't you going down? Second Brother can't catch many by himself, and there are so many people."

Lu Jingchuan completely ignored Lu Xieyue and asked in a low voice:

"Qianqian, will you let me down? If you agree, I'll go down; if you don't, I won't."

Lu Xieyue: ...

Is this still the same cold and ruthless third brother who always keeps women at arm's length? Why does this sound like he's been through a lot of trouble?

Song Qingqian was speechless. Who would be so blatantly showing off their love? Is he really starved for affection?

“Qianqian…”

"go with!"

Song Qingqian interrupted him directly, ordering:

"If you can't catch ten of the biggest ones, don't come up here!"

"Okay, don't worry, Qianqian!"

After saying that, Lu Jingchuan picked up the wooden stick and went around to the other side.

Seeing Lu Jingchuan approach, Lu Yunqi's confidence soared. He took charge of herding the fish, while Lu Jingchuan speared them. In no time, they had filled half a basket.

The two children excitedly screamed as they picked up the fish that Lu Jingchuan had dropped on the shore. When they couldn't pick them all up, Lu Xieyue and Xuanyuan Xue would help them.

The other branches of the Lu family stared wide-eyed. Their own men went down to the river to catch fish, and it took them ages to throw one fish back up. How could one fish be enough for the whole family? So they set their sights on the third branch.

So when Lu Jingchuan threw up several more fish at the same time, Qian's family, along with the second, fourth, and fifth sons, swarmed up and started grabbing the fish.

Xiao Yu'er was pushed aside by Qian Shi and fell to the side, her knee hitting a stone, which made her cry out in pain.

Qian picked up the three fish and ran away.

Chaos erupted on the shore. Song Qingqian picked up Xiao Yu'er and stabbed Qian Shi hard in the thigh with a dagger.

"If you steal one fish today, I'll stab you once; if you steal two, I'll stab you twice, and so on..."

Upon hearing Song Qingqian's words, Madam Xu from the fourth branch of the family was so frightened that her legs went weak. However, she was unwilling to give back the fish that she had already obtained. Thinking of the humiliation Song Qingqian had inflicted on her last time, she felt extremely unbalanced.

"It's just a fish, you little slut!"

Xu threw the fish into the river with a flick of her wrist, then kicked Xuan Yuanxue hard backward.