Сун Синчжи жил во времена правления императора Хуэйцзуна

Глава 44

Minglu clearly understood the meaning behind their laughter, but remained silent.

He suddenly had an idea and said, "It would be quite interesting to see two people who look alike meet at the same time. Minglu, why don't you bring your sister-in-law tomorrow, and Nalan and I will go to find Yu-di so that the two of them can get to know each other? What do you think?"

Minglu visibly paused, his phoenix eyes narrowing slightly. Over the years, Fu Jin had come to know Minglu very well. Seeing Minglu's narrowed eyes, Fu Jin knew that Minglu was also very interested in this suggestion.

Furthermore, Nalan encouraged them from the sidelines.

Minglu did not refuse.

Fu Jin felt a faint sense of anticipation.

The next day, he and Nalan had arranged to go to Yu Di's residence together, only to find the door locked.

They came up empty-handed.

After waiting for a while and still no one came, I had to leave. I couldn't help but regret that I should have sent someone to inform my brother Yu earlier.

The two were walking down the street. Fu Jin was listening to Nalan talk with his head turned to the side, but he didn't notice a carriage passing by. Just then, there was a puddle of water next to Fu Jin. The carriage was going a little fast, and splashed dirty water all over Fu Jin. Fu Jin suddenly turned around and shouted, "Stop!"

When the coachman turned around and saw that it was Fu Jin, one of the famous young men in the capital, he immediately reined in his horse. Knowing that he had caused trouble, he hurriedly jumped off the carriage and kept apologizing to Fu Jin.

But Fu Jin was no ordinary man; he slapped the driver across the face. The driver didn't dare utter a sound, only bowing repeatedly, clearly recognizing this troublemaker.

Nalan shook his head, but made no attempt to stop him.

The coachman kept bowing and apologizing, but Fu Jin grew angrier as he looked at the coachman who kept apologizing. Suddenly, he kicked the coachman to the ground.

Fu Jin's gaze turned cold and sharp as he moved towards the carriage. Seeing that the carriage was stationary and not particularly luxurious, he demanded, "Who's in the carriage? How dare you not get out and..."

The words suddenly stopped abruptly, as if someone who was speaking loudly and eloquently had their speech abruptly silenced.

At this moment, a pair of delicate hands lifted half of the curtain on one side of the carriage, revealing a beautiful face...

Nalan's eyes suddenly lit up...

All that could be heard was the person inside the carriage speaking in an extremely sweet voice: "Young master, I've seen plenty of people like you. I know you're blocking my way under some pretext just to see me. Alas—these days, so many lecherous men want to catch a glimpse of my beauty, going to great lengths to see me. Alas...it's really hard to be a beautiful woman."

Fu Jin was dumbfounded.

Nalan was both amused and exasperated.

The person in the carriage covered their mouth and giggled, then winked at Fu Jin before saying to the stunned driver, "Let's go," before gracefully lowering the carriage curtain.

Upon hearing his master's command, the coachman hesitated for a moment, glancing at Fu Jin and Nalan, who were still somewhat stunned. Seeing that they didn't react, he immediately climbed back into the carriage and hurriedly drove it away.

The carriage drove further and further away until it disappeared from sight.

Nalan asked softly, "Is she Tian Xiri? Minglu's..." He couldn't continue. Minglu was so pitiful. Thinking of this, his voice became choked with emotion.

Fu Jin stared wide-eyed at the departing carriage, oblivious to what Nalan had said and forgetting the filth covering him. He had only one thought in his mind: Tian Xiri and Li Yu were so alike, almost identical. This shocked him, because there really was a female version of Li Yu in this world.

Nalan sighed and patted Fu Jin on the shoulder. Fu Jin then came to his senses and heard Nalan behind him say with emotion, "Alas, every time we see Tian Xiri, we are utterly shocked."

Fu Jin nodded slightly in agreement and said softly, "It's simply breathtaking." He then looked away and suddenly felt his limbs go weak.

Nalan said, "Hurry up. Now that Tian Xiri is back, Minglu should have arrived at Xuezhu Pavilion by now."

Fu Jin replied, "My clothes..."

Nalan glanced at the water stains on Fu Jin's clothes and said, "Don't worry about it, it's nothing serious."

Fu Jin had no choice but to give up.

**************************

Minglu had been sitting in Xuezhu Pavilion for a while, but Fu Jin and Nalan still hadn't arrived.

Recalling the scene outside Xihua Gate just now, I couldn't help but feel a little irritated.

He had always been able to control his emotions well, but today, for some reason, he couldn't control himself. Seeing Tian Xiri and Suo Ge entangled, a surge of anger welled up inside him, and he couldn't control it no matter what. No matter what, Tian Xiri was his betrothed. His wife was supposed to be loyal to him for life, her eyes only on him. But that Tian Xiri! She openly disregarded him, flirting and pulling at Suo Ge right in front of him! She was simply a shameless woman!

She and Suoge… back then, if it weren't for him, those two might have been a perfectly matched couple by now! Ha!

In the end, he realized that he had brought this upon himself, and he had never suffered such a loss in his entire life.

Just think, he actually said he would be "faithful to her until death" back then! What a joke, how could Minglu be faithful to a woman like that! He had to find a way to resolve this matter.

He would never marry such a woman; it would be a disgrace to him for the rest of his life.

He would stop at nothing to get what he liked, but if he didn't like it anymore, he would either put it away or destroy or discard it.

At this moment, the stairs creaked, and Minglu saw that Fu Jin and Nalan had just arrived. Seeing that Fu Jin was in a disheveled state, he asked her what had happened and learned about this incident.

Seeing Nalan staring at him with a strange expression, Minglu felt even more disgusted with Tian Xiri. This woman was a disgrace to him wherever she went! He became even more convinced of his earlier thoughts.

Fu Jin took a big gulp of tea before saying, "Minglu, this Tian Xiri really looks a lot like Yu Di. It's like the same person is wearing men's clothes one minute and women's clothes the next."

Nalan said, "It really is too similar, a bit too much." Seeing Minglu's displeasure, she added, "Minglu, judging from your expression, it seems like things didn't go well for you today?"

Minglu snorted coldly. He briefly recounted what had happened that day to the two of them. Although he didn't mention the details of their encounter with Suoge at Xihua Gate, Fu Jin and Nalan naturally guessed most of the disgust in his words.

Nalan said, "Minglu, none of us could understand why you married Tian Xiri. We thought you were only attracted to her beauty, but while Tian Xiri is beautiful, she is really..."

Fu Jin said, "Let's just say it is Minglu. I think we should forget about it and find a way to ruin this marriage. Otherwise, if you really marry such a princess, you will become a laughing stock in the capital. Just think, with such a princess running things in the Ming Prince's mansion, we will never dare to go there again."

Minglu said helplessly, "Now I'm in a bind. As you all know, this marriage isn't so easy to break off."

Fu Jin and Nalan remained silent, for indeed, this marriage could not be easily destroyed.