The Possession of My Beloved

Lord Li was not in the main hall but stood outside the Lu Mansion counting the goods. A thin, small, middle-aged man, dressed in baggy official clothes, was counting the gift list sent by Prince Sui Residence with his fingers to see if anything was missing.

Lu Wu has welcomed too many distinguished people today, and he is a little tired. Now he is talking to this new parent officer, and he feels that his heart cannot take it anymore.

When Li Guangcai sees Lu Wu coming out, he hurriedly carries the hem of his official robe and walks up to him, “Old Master Lu, I’m Li Guangcai, the new County Magistrate.”

Lu Wu arched his hand and said, “I wonder what the County Magistrate has when coming here?”

Li Guangcai took a copy of the marriage document of the Great Yan Dynasty Law with him. He took it out of his waist sleeve and turned the page, He then pointed to one of them and said, “The law of the Great Yan Dynasty is very clear. When it comes to betrothal gifts, both parties must sign a marriage certificate, which is called “Talent before etiquette”. But I asked the Second Master just now. Prince Sui didn’t sign a marriage certificate with your family, but he gave the betrothal gifts here. This is against the law! As a local Governor, I have no shirking responsibility and have to correct the law and discipline. So your family must return the five carriages of betrothal gifts first. You can’t accept them until the marriage certificate is signed.”

Lu Mu has been accompanying the County Magistrate. At first, Lu Mu thought that Lord Li was coming to see the crowd when he saw Lord Li stopping at the front of their Mansion with a servant on a small donkey.

Therefore, Lu Mu could not control his excitement and told Lord Li about offering the betrothal gifts of Prince Sui.

Who would have thought that Lord Li has nothing to do that just taking over the position, he unexpectedly burned his niece’s good marriage.

But Lu Wu thinks that the new County Magistrate is responsible… Enough! After hearing about the buzzing event in front of the Lu family, he also came to join in the fun. He is indeed worthy of being a parent officer. He studied the law of the Great Yan Dynasty deeply, and found the flaws in the matter!

Hearing this, Lu Wu felt relieved and said happily, “Your Excellency is right. It is indeed against etiquette and law… But I don’t know where Prince Sui lives…”

Li Guangcai waved his hand and said that it was not important, “Since you agreed to return the betrothal gifts, leave the rest of the matter to me. You can go back to have a rest first, Old Master Lu.”

After saying this, Li Guangcai commanded his servants to set up horses to drive the carriage of betrothal gifts and pulled them out of the alley.

“Lord Li, please stop!” Just as Li Guangcai was about to leave, someone behind him shouted.

He looked back and saw a beautiful girl standing in front of the Mansion. Li Guangcai has never seen such a beautiful girl in his life, so he intuitively guessed that this should be Liu Miantang, whom Prince Sui would like to take in as his concubine.

As expected, the beautiful girl with bright eyes came to salute her and indicate her name. Li Guangcai hurriedly lowered his head and said with a straight face, “What can I do for you, Lady Liu?”

Miantang said to Lord Li with a deep greeting, “Miantang here, thank you for your trouble!”

Li Guangcai waved his hand and said, “Lady, don’t have to be so polite. Cui… Cui Jiu and I were taking the Imperial Examination together in those years. Unfortunately, he was chosen by The Emperor and was not qualified for the Palace Examination. I was just number three in the national civil examinations. In sum, we were also in the same year of that examination. So I naturally need to handle the things he entrusted.”

Miantang knew from Servant Li that Li Guangcai was the one planted by Prince Huaiyang, but she never thought that this little County Official was the 3rd place in the national Imperial Examination. And it seems that Lord Li has a good relationship with Prince Huaiyang.

Cui Xingzhou… Isn’t it a waste to send such talents here?

Miantang couldn’t think much about it. She just bowed and said, “I’m relieved that Your Excellency is willing to come forward, but as the Prince of the Imperial family, Prince Sui is very powerful. If he refuses to give up……”

Li Guangcai waved his hand again and said, “I always follow the national law when I work. If the law is broken, the committed crime by The Prince will also be the same as the common people. How famous is Prince Sui for being filial to the former Emperor and attaching great importance to morality? How can he knowingly violate the law and make trouble for the villagers?”

Li Guangcai is upright and straightforward. At first glance, he is a stereotyped person who follows the rules.

However, Miantang saw that he had put an iron hat on Prince Sui, which was towering above the clouds. This shows that Lord Li’s eloquence is absolutely outstanding.

Li Guangcai also seemed to understand Miantang’s concern, so he said again, “Lady Liu, please rest assured. Even if the sky has collapsed, tall men are there to support it, it can’t hit the Lu family.”

After saying this, he turned to the messenger and ordered the rickshaw driver to drive away the bride price.

When Miantang was talking to Lord Li just now, Lu Mu hurried to find his father. He wanted to persuade his father to stop Lord Li from withdrawing the bride price. Naturally, Lu Wu was merciless and scolded him.

When he came back, Lord Li had already left with the bride price motorcade, he was so anxious that he was slapping his thigh.

Seeing Miantang, he also felt bad, “Didn’t you tell Lord Li just now that these betrothal gifts can’t be refunded? Otherwise, wouldn’t we offend Prince Sui?”

Miantang stopped, looked at her Second Uncle, and asked slowly, “What does Second Uncle mean? I should accept to be a concubine for Prince Sui?”

Lu Mu was asked for a moment and hurriedly turned back and said, “No… Uncle knows you don’t want to be a concubine, but you should know that this is the Royal Concubine! It’s not the concubine of the local merchant in the countryside. It’s something that no one else can ask for. Besides, if Prince Sui were to blame the matter on you, the whole family can’t be suffering with you, right?”

Miantang said lightly, “I’ve thought about it long ago. I’ll apply for a female household in the Yamen tomorrow and choose to buy a house to move out. My family name is Liu, not Lu. If you worry about my marriage, it’s considered a favor of our relationship. However, if you don’t, it’s regardless of your duty. I will be responsible for my matters.”

After saying that, she did not look at Lu Mu anymore, but returned to her house with the two servant girls.

In fact, she had already thought about moving out of the Lu family. She even bought a small house in the State of Lin, waiting for an opportunity to talk to her Grandfather.

Of course, her original intention was not to avoid Prince Sui but to avoid Cui Xingzhou, which would involve the Lu family.

But now, Prince Sui forcefully wants to take her as the concubine has given her a legitimate excuse to leave the Lu family.

Her elder brother was in exile, and her father died, which also met the requirements of a female household. When Lord Li heard that she was going to apply for a household for women, he did not hesitate to ask the junior official to give her a list with the registered residence.

Miantang did not tell her Grandfather until all the registered residence procedures were completed.

Lu Wu has been tempered by successive accidents these days. He only asks Miantang if she is afraid that her Grandfather can’t protect her?

Miantang kneaded her back for her grandfather and said, “If Grandfather were alone, I would not go anywhere. You would certainly take good care of me. But with so many children in the Lu family, Grandfather can’t just take care of me and ignore them. Prince Sui is arrogant, and not a reasonable person. If I move out and live alone, in addition to me insisting that I have no intention to be his concubine, he can’t help it. Why need the Lu family to go through this matter with me?”

As a parent, Lu Wu knows that Miantang is right. However, she is an orphan girl without parents. If she wants to set up her own family, she will have many hardships in the future.

In addition, he doesn’t know whether Prince Sui can stop it, which is not safe enough.

However, Miantang did not let her Grandfather think too much, she just said that the registered residence could not be changed in a short time, even if her Grandfather doesn’t agree.

Moreover, she bought the courtyard long before. She was looking for someone to brush the pulp these two days, so she could move the furniture when the walls were dry.

Lu Wu thought for a night. The next day, he led Lu Xian to the State of Lin to have a look at the house. It was located in a downtown area, and it was not too secluded. The house looks small, but it is beautifully repaired.

However, he can see that Miantang has been renovating the residence here for a long time, and unexpectedly, a pond has been built under the grape trellis, in which the tail-swinging koi and fist water lilies have been raised.

Lu Wu saw that there was nothing to add, so he gave Miantang the dowry box he had prepared for her earlier. In addition, he assigned several servants with good martial arts skills to watch over her.

When Miantang took over the dowry box, she unexpectedly found that there were more silver taels in it than when her Grandfather showed her last time.

She looked at her grandfather in amazement.

Lu Wu said softly, “The girl in the second room has a father who can make money. She doesn’t need me to worry about it, so I combine the two and give them to you.”

When Miantang heard that there was her cousin Lu Qingying’s share, she naturally refused to accept it.

However, Lu Wu said, “The amount of money the second family has privately taken possession of, is enough for him to marry more daughters. Since I have been biased in the early days, I will be biased to the end. You don’t need my approval for moving out, then you can’t care about how much dowry I give! Just keep it!”

Miantang has no choice but to accept it first. Her Grandfather was still angry with her and didn’t look at her seriously.

Although Lu Wu came back and checked several times, when Miantang moved, Lord Li personally went to the neighbors of her house to knock on the door and count the number of people to see if any people committed crimes or unknown people who suddenly came from a foreign country to rent a house.

Servant Li is very satisfied with Li Guangcai’s thoughtfulness. During Lord Li’s intermission of checking the registered residence, Fang Xie sent a food box to Lord Li, which contained small dishes and good wine, so that the Lord would not be busy with the citizen’s affairs, and could not attend lunch.

After putting everything in place, Miantang breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at the small yard she had set up with satisfaction and asked Bi Cao to move in the newly bought cane chair to sit under the grape trellis with green leaves and feed the fish.

However, the heartless words of Bi Cao greatly reduced Miantang’s good mood, “Lady, don’t you think this yard is so similar to the North Street of Lingquan Town!”

Miantang almost choked on the tea she had just drunk. When she was trying to refute what was similar, she suddenly became silent.

Not really… There used to be grape trellises in the courtyard of North Street. In summer, Miantang likes to set a table under the grape trellis to eat. She once told Cui Xingzhou that it would be great if there were a small fish pond here.

There is also a long shelf specially made by the carpenter. There is also a set in the North Street Mansion, which can be used to dry clothes and cups, as well as sausages and bacon made by Servant Li

Miantang finished looking at the yard, got up, and went into the room.

The furniture in this room has been laid out. The arrangement of the bed and table is almost the same as that in Lingquan Town.

Miantang seldom feels depressed, but at this moment, she feels like hitting the wall. If the servant girl didn’t mention it, she didn’t realize that human inertia was so terrible.

Now she is independent and living alone. However, influenced by her memories, she has made her courtyard look like North Street.

On that day, Liu Miantang did not sleep very well.

The next morning, she asked Bi Cao and her workers to help her to rearrange the beds and cabinets in the room.

Poor Bi Cao was so tired that she moved for a long time that her waist could not be still because of her words yesterday.

Miantang wanted to knock down the grape trellis, but she liked to eat and fish under the grape shelf so much that she could bear the similarity.

Servant Li shook her head and sighed when she saw Miantang struggling so much. She turned into the kitchen to stew pork chops. Out of sight, out of mind!

However, besides the furniture, there is something more annoying.

As for Prince Sui, he thought it was very simple for Miantang to accept. After all, she has lost her position as the leader in the Mountain of Yang and has no more influence to help her. She’s now just a Granddaughter of an old man who runs an escort agency.

The Lu family should be grateful for his proposal. After receiving the gift, Liu Miantang should be sent in a sedan chair.

Unexpectedly, she sent back the five carriages of betrothal gifts. Li Guangcai, the talent he especially stayed in the State of Xi to recruit, came with it.

Liu Pei felt that he had a good vision. Seeing Li Guangcai’s guts, he stood up to himself and returned the betrothal gifts on the ground and indicating that he had violated the law of the Great Yan Dynasty. He rode his donkey away after that.

For a moment, Prince Sui thought about the reason why Li Guangcai is being so bold. Could it be that… Lord Li also took a fancy to Liu Miantang, so he hurried to protect her reputation?

But Li Guangcai was wrong about something. That is, Liu Pei doesn’t care too much about his reputation. In those days, cultivating with hair was just a matter of hiding one’s strength. And even if he forcefully accepts an orphan girl, what can he do? Which admonishment will be fed up and care about such trifles as an unofficial lord?

However, after weighing Li Guangcai and Liu Miantang, Prince Sui felt that he wanted Liu Miantang more.

So Prince Sui smiled when he heard that Miantang had set up a female household on her own. It seems that Liu Miantang also knew that she had offended him and didn’t want to involve her family, so she hurriedly moved out herself.

However, it is not easy for a woman to support the house alone. In this case, it will be unreasonable for him not to help.

Thinking of this, Prince Sui decided to send someone to come to Liu Miantang’s house again to “persuade” Liu Miantang and let her know the consequence of rejecting him.

When Prince Sui’s men knocked at the door, Bi Cao was leaning on the crack of the door and saw those slaves. She felt very nervous.

She urgently went to tell Miantang. As a result, Miantang still calmly practiced calligraphy without changing her expression, and then said, “Don’t pay attention to them, just tell those people that our family is all women, and it is not easy to receive men. Please ask them to leave.”

Bi Cao honestly learned the Lady’s words and delivered the words to them.

But these people had expected that Miantang would not open the door.

How arrogant was Prince Sui in the Capital? But later, he went to the State of Hui and acted in a low profile according to his mother’s instructions. But the underlying hegemony has never changed.

Seeing Miantang didn’t open the door, several rich servants signaled their eyes on each other, and they rushed up and kicked the door open at once.

Today, when Prince Sui gave them the assignment, he meant to bring Miantang back!

When the time came, that Lord Li would come to visit again. By then, Liu Pei will answer that it was his subordinates who decided to “invite” Liu Miantang to his Residence.

But when a girl enters his other courtyard, her reputation has been tarnished. If he still releases her back, won’t it force her to commit suicide? Thus, he can be relieved to keep the lady in possession and what can a small county official do after that?

Since she doesn’t like to talk to him nicely, he will let her know how unreasonable men behave.

When those people broke into the yard, Fan Hu’s gang had been ready for a long time. They went forward to stop the intruders and started to fight.

Prince Sui had a different plan a long time ago, and the martial arts of his servant men of sacrifice were very excellent. At that time, Fan Hu and others had a hard time fighting against them.

In the room, Miantang bit her lip and knew why Prince Sui was so arrogant.

This is not a wild place. Even if Prince Sui’s subordinates break in on purpose, if they were killed or injured in her yard, even if she’s innocent, Prince Sui can turn the story to being guilty.

In this case, Prince Sui was naturally confident and determined to make a big deal. Perhaps he was eager to kill one or two subordinates, to cling to herself.

Prince Huaiyang… He is far away now, and even if he is here at this time, whether he is willing to tear his face for her and fight against Prince Sui is another matter.

Thinking of this, Miantang slowly put down the small bow raised.

Although she has set up a female household on her own, if things become serious, she will definitely involve her Grandfather’s family. She can’t act as recklessly as she did in the wilderness, feeding all Prince Sui’s men to the wolves.

She was so constrained and Miantang didn’t know why that she suddenly felt that being a good woman, is not as comfortable as the bandits on the mountain. At least, she doesn’t have to go against her heart to cater to these dignitaries…

When there was a fierce battle in the yard, there was a sound of pacing outside the alley out of a sudden, as if thousands of troops were coming.

For a while, the battle from the two sides also stopped, listening to the sound of footsteps getting closer and closer…

When those rich servants sensed that something is not right, they looked at each other and prepared to go out of the yard to have a look. But just as they walked out, they were surrounded by a group of armored warriors.

The soldiers did not speak, and they cut at them with their swords.

Dozens of bright long knives were approaching, which made people unable to hide. At that time, several people’s heads were cut open.

After killing several servants with swords, the armored soldiers rushed in and continued to cut the rest.

However, one of the soldiers said, “The Grand Admiral has ordered us to chop the people outside the door, so as not to dirty the yard.” After saying this, the rest of them had already been pushed to the ground, dragged their arms and legs out of the yard, and then several shrill cries stopped abruptly.

“Drag the people to the rural cemetery to feed the dogs! Get some buckets of well water to wash the ground!” With this cry, there were a lot of footsteps outside the yard, and there was a clatter of water.

After a while, there was the sound of orderly pacing and jogging again, and the soldiers in that alley retreated cleanly.

With courage, Bi Cao followed Fan Hu and looked out. She saw that every family in the alley also poked their heads out of the courtyard wall.

But in this alley, except for the water stains on the ground and the strong bloody smell in the air, nothing seems to have happened.

Miantang was stunned for a moment and suddenly thought that he had said that if she found another man, don’t blame him for bringing thousands of troops to settle the accounts. This madness…… He took it seriously…

More than twenty people sent by Prince Sui died thoroughly. Liu Pei is shocked and angry!

What’s more, the State of Xi and the surrounding villages and counties are now surrounded by thousands of troops. Even outside his residence, there are a group of soldiers in iron armor.

The black and thin faces and murderous air are the unique symbols of Cui’s army in the northwest.

Prince Sui can’t leave now even if he wants to.

In desperation, Prince Sui had no choice but to see Cui Xingzhou in the temporary tent set up in the suburbs of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

“Prince Huaiyang, why didn’t you report your work back in the Capital but come to this small village of the State of Xi to show your prestige… Isn’t it too much?”

Prince Huaiyang sat in a lacquered wood wheelchair with a calm look, He said lightly, “I was passing by and my same-year classmate had something to ask for. He only said that he was the County Magistrate in the State of Xi. However, the territory of the State of Xi is not peaceful. Some rascals bully common citizens and rob people in the daytime. Since he had asked, I sent some people to help him maintain the street. It’s not troublesome at all, it’s just a matter of a few knives. My armies are used to fighting on the battlefield, and my men don’t know a degree…”

This saying has no flaws. Prince Sui was so angry that his teeth gritted, but he could not refute Prince Huaiyang. However, it seems that Li Guangcai and Cui Xingzhou are still connected, they are not really on bad terms.

If Li Guangcai falls in love with Liu Miantang, it makes sense if he asks Cui Xingzhou, the Old Master, to help him when he was passing by…

At that moment, Prince Sui was angry that he smiled, “A woman who lost her virginity was so valued by Lord Li… He is a person who passed the Imperial examinations and became an official. Does he not want his reputation anymore? Is such a woman a wife or a concubine?”

Cui Xingzhou’s face sank when he heard this, “Prince Sui, are you being a little sour because you can’t eat grapes? I’m ashamed of you. If you can’t afford a concubine, would you like me to buy some from others and give it to you to vent your anger?”

In fact, Liu Pei realized that he has lose his composure after saying this. He didn’t expect that Cui Xingzhou would make him forget his composure in such a trivial matter.

Now the Northwest Army has surrounded the State of Xi completely. He has to let Cui Xingzhou, the crazy man, relent so that he could break out of the encirclement!

Thus, it was necessary to be humble and temporarily ridiculed by this guy.

Cui didn’t talk too much with Prince Sui. After all, both sides are doing a dirty job! If he is known by the Imperial Historian, he will inevitably be called in.

Now that they are pulling each other’s tails, they are also greeting hypocritically, just pretending nothing has happened.

Finally, Cui Xingzhou gave Prince Sui a waist token so that he could barely keep his dignity and left the State of Xi.

On the other hand, Miantang commanded the servants to tidy up the yard after the chaos.

As a result, when she turned around, she found a tall man in long clothes, leaning on crutches, walking along the gate that was kicked and entering her yard.