Love's Debt Comes Knocking - Chapter 10

After speaking with her dear granddaughter for quite some time, Madam Lu sat on the soft couch to rest once Lu Yang had left. After resting for half an hour, she suddenly sat up. “Where is that letter?”

Nanny Yu respectfully brought it over.

This letter, like the other confidential messages sent to the Lu family, detailed the dramatic incident of the eldest daughter of the Tao family losing her virginity due to a flood disaster while traveling to Wuti over half a month ago.

Noble families valued reputation and chastity. After the incident, the Tao family denied the rumors and erased all traces of the eldest daughter’s visit to Wuti.

But how easy was it to erase such traces?

Madam Lu quietly stared at the letter, and not a single detail escaped her notice.

Her dear granddaughter had also shared a fleeting moment of passion with someone in Wuti.

At some point, she reopened the portrait. The woman in the painting, despite being in a disadvantaged position, maintained her grace and composure. She was exceptionally beautiful, yet appeared unapproachable.

“The Tao family…”

Whether for the throne or for the Lu family’s descendants, a trip to the capital seemed unavoidable.

“Sister Jinhuan?”

Lu Jinhuan sat under the magnolia tree in the courtyard, lost in thought. White petals adorned her shoulders. Magnolia—white as jade, fragrant as orchids—had nothing in common with the naturally enchanting and alluring woman. Lu Yang walked toward her against the wind.

A pair of boots embroidered with gold thread entered Lu Jinhuan’s lowered gaze. She let out a soft laugh. “See, if you don’t want me, I’ll find someone even more impressive than you.”

It was both a jest and a sincere statement.

If Lu Yang had no one in her heart, Lu Jinhuan, as her “sister,” could still accompany her under the red quilt, fulfilling the role of a harmonious couple.

The problem was that after the encounter in the dilapidated temple, that unknown woman had left an indelible mark on the young master Lu’s heart. Not only had she drained her vitality, but her departure had also left Lu Yang longing and unable to forget her day and night.

With such a beginning, even if Lu Jinhuan married Lu Yang as she wished, Lu Yang could never truly be her “husband.”

Lu Jinhuan was a woman driven by ambition and saw no shame in pursuing fame and fortune.

Since Madam Lu had revealed her ambitions and was willing to pave the way for her, why wouldn’t she seize the opportunity?

She took out a silk handkerchief and wiped the small wooden stool beside her. Only after ensuring it was spotless did she invite Lu Yang to sit.

By all accounts, she was born half a year earlier than Lu Yang. The two had grown up together in the truest sense, occasionally stepping on each other’s feet even as infants in their swaddling clothes.

When Lu Yang called her “sister,” it came from the bottom of her heart, with no hint of romantic affection.

The more upright and proper Lu Yang was, the more Lu Jinhuan playfully leaned into her embrace, her body soft as water. “If you regret it and can’t bear to let me go, marry me today. I’ll give you a whole litter of chubby babies. How about that?”

For once, the young master Lu didn’t push her away but chose to indulge her. Her smile was faint. “How can one have babies with their own sister? Wouldn’t that be incestuous?”

“Isn’t that even more thrilling?” Lu Jinhuan straightened up in her embrace, reaching for Lu Yang’s hand, only to lose her teasing desire under Lu Yang’s gentle, helpless gaze.

Though they joked at the time, both understood the implications of their earlier conversation.

Regarding their futures, Madam Lu was serious, Lu Jinhuan was serious, and only Lu Yang, with her soft heart, couldn’t bear the thought of her sister venturing into the palace to carve out her own path.

“When I’m gone, with your temperament, what if you marry and get bullied?” she sighed softly, unable to shake her worry.

Lu Yang smiled without a word.

Lu Jinhuan sat up from her embrace, feigning petulance. “Hey, I’m asking you a question. I haven’t even left yet, why are you already mourning?”

“Which of your eyes saw me looking mournful?”

“Both of them saw it.”

Some people wear a faint smile on their faces while nursing sorrow in their hearts. Lu Jinhuan knew she was the best person possible and gradually quieted down.

The two of them strolled side by side, watching the sunset.

For a long while, neither spoke.

“The palace walls run deep. Once you become empress, we won’t be able to chat and joke with each other like this anymore. If you have any regrets, I can speak to Grandmother for you, and we can choose someone else.”

“Who else?” Lu Jinhuan smiled. “Is there anyone in the entire Lu family more loyal to you than I am? I was raised by the old madam and would never do anything to harm you or the Lu family. To be blunt, I’ve lived for you all this time, thinking your thoughts, worrying your worries. It’s not that I have no other choice. It’s just that fate has brought us here, and you are the best option.”

She shed all her coquettish demeanor and traced her fingertip across Lu Yang’s brow. “But now, I have another path to take, young master.”

To become the young mistress of the Lu family or to become the empress who commands power and rules the world—she chose the latter.

Lu Yang averted his gaze, staring silently at the sinking golden sun.

The horizon was dyed in vast swathes of gold.

He lowered his head, looking at the tips of his boots. “Sister Jinhuan, is this your ambition and aspiration?”

“It is the direction of my heart.”

“Good, then I will help you.”

Lu Yang raised his head, his handsome face suddenly radiant and brilliant. Lu Jinhuan stared in a daze, her resolute heart wavering for a moment.

Realizing this, she suppressed the unwarranted hesitation with an even fiercer determination. Lifting her chin, she offered the young master a serene smile.

“Sister Jinhuan, may you achieve your wishes and enjoy peace and smooth sailing!”

“You too.”

Achieve your wishes, enjoy peace and smooth sailing, bear heirs for the Lu family as soon as possible, and take up the burden on the old madam’s shoulders as early as you can.

The affection of youth is moving. Old Madam Lu watched from afar as the younger generation laughed together, shaking her head with a smile.

She was an old bone now. A’Yang and Huan’er were the brilliant future of the Lu family.

For the sake of her children and grandchildren’s peace, she could still manage another twenty years of worry.

With the plans properly arranged, the old madam chose an auspicious day to formally adopt Lu Jinhuan as her god-granddaughter. The name “Lu Jinhuan” was solemnly entered into the Lu family genealogy.

In Fengcheng, anyone with a bit of status considered it an honor to have attended the Lu family’s adoption banquet.

With such a bright and lovely god-granddaughter presented, those with keen insight speculated that the Lu family was about to make a major move.

In late August, the Lu family’s matriarch and her grandchildren boarded a luxurious ship, sailing north along the Ming River toward the capital.

Before their arrival, Old Madam Lu’s handwritten letter had long been placed on the imperial desk of Li Chen, the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The brushwork was rounded, and the characters on the letter were vigorous and powerful—hardly resembling the handwriting of a sixty-year-old woman.

Considering the Lu family women’s tradition of longevity and looking at this bold, well-structured calligraphy, Li Chen surmised that this Old Madam Lu could easily live another twenty or thirty years.

“The Lu family…”

He sighed softly. “They’ve come at just the right time.”

Even if the Lu family hadn’t sought him out, he would have sought them.

The Tao family was arrogant—indeed, the aristocratic families were arrogant. In the past, the imperial family had to beg and coax to marry women from prominent families. Now, they wouldn’t even give him a disgraced eldest daughter. It was simply too disrespectful.

“Prepare to welcome the Land God of Wealth into my capital!”

The emperor gave the order, and the chief eunuch bowed in acknowledgment.

The phrase “Land God of Wealth” was enough to show Li Chen’s reliance and admiration for the Lu family.

In the capital of Luoyang, half the people were debating whether the Tao family’s eldest daughter had truly lost her virtue, while the other half were excited about the God of Wealth’s arrival in the capital.

Though the Lu family was still nowhere in sight, teahouses and taverns were already bustling with noise and activity.

“How can there be anyone in this world who doesn’t know of the Lu family? I, Zhang Xiao’er, will never allow such ignorance to exist!”

The man rolled up his sleeves, planted one foot on a long bench, and with great fanfare, began to speak, his saliva flying as he gestured: “Speaking of the Lu family, they are truly awe-inspiring! The Lu family of Fengcheng has been passed down for eight hundred generations, engaging in business across the ages. While ordinary people earn their money through sweat and toil, the Lu family is different. They make money as easily as drinking water, their wealth flourishing so abundantly that nothing can hold it back!

“There’s something rather mysterious about them. Some fear having wealth but no life to enjoy it, yet the Lu family’s wealth has reached the point where they can literally buy life with it.

“Take, for example, five hundred years ago, when the Tyrant King of Qi ordered the execution of the Lu family’s head of that generation, setting up an inescapable net to trap him.

“I dare not utter the name of the old Lu patriarch directly, so let me simply refer to him as the Lu Ancestor!

“Seven attempts were made to kill him. The first six times, the Ancestor cleverly evaded them. But on the final attempt, the Tyrant King of Qi personally led his troops to surround him.

“The King laughed heartily: ‘Today, will I succeed in killing you, or will I fail?’

“Even at the end of his rope, the Lu Ancestor remained unshaken in his demeanor. He lightly brushed his robes and said: ‘Kill me, and the Lu family will crumble. The wealth of the world will be thrown into chaos, and poverty will plague the land for centuries!’

“The King rebuked him, calling his words nonsense and refusing to believe: ‘At this point, can you truly buy your life with wealth?’

“The Lu Ancestor declared with boundless courage: ‘Why not? If Your Majesty permits me to buy my life with wealth, why not see for yourself?’

“‘I permit it. If you wish to buy your life, pave your path with gold and silver. Pave it as far as you can, and travel as far as you go.’

“As soon as these words were spoken, the Lu Ancestor summoned wind, rain, thunder, and lightning to shatter mountains of gold and silver, laying them at his feet. He paved a path three hundred miles long, departing from Qingyang and entering Fengcheng, returning to his ancestral home. With immense wealth, he bought the head of the Tyrant King of Qi!

“In less than a day, the Tyrant King of Qi was hacked to death by his own subordinates. Throughout the turbulent changes of dynasties, whenever a ruler coveted the Lu family’s wealth, they met no good end.

“Thus, a celestial master once declared that the Lu family were the ‘Earthly Gods of Wealth,’ their fortune intertwined with the livelihood of the people and the fate of the nation. There were rulers who refused to believe this, and later their kingdoms fell. Another ruler refused to believe, and his kingdom fell as well…”

The common folk were deeply fascinated by the mystical legends surrounding the “Earthly Gods of Wealth” across generations. Not just the common folk—even the maids in the back courtyards of noble families would chatter about these tales with great enthusiasm in private.

Han Chan had gone out for a while and returned with her ears filled with the legendary history of the Lu family. Wide-eyed with curiosity, she asked, “Young Miss, could the Lu Ancestor really summon wind, rain, thunder, and lightning to shatter mountains of gold and silver for him?”

Upon hearing this, Tao Yuan couldn’t help but laugh. Holding a scroll of books, she gently tapped Han Chan on the forehead. “What are you thinking? If the Lu family ancestor truly had such abilities, why would he go to such lengths? Wouldn’t it be simpler to just strike the Tyrant King of Qi dead with a bolt of lightning?”

“Oh, that’s true.”

“However, it is indeed true that the Lu family ancestor bought his life with wealth and paved a path of gold and silver for three hundred miles. That’s how it’s recorded in the history books.”

She walked over to the tall bookshelf, climbed the wooden ladder, and pulled out a bamboo scroll from the upper shelf, handing it to Han Chan. “If you’re interested, you can read this.”

Having the opportunity to read and learn under the young miss was a blessing others could only dream of.

Han Chan carefully held the ancient bamboo scroll. Seeing that her mistress didn’t require her immediate attendance, she simply squatted in a corner to study it in detail.

This place was the three-story library built by the Tao family. One shouldn’t underestimate these three floors—the true depth of a noble family’s heritage lay precisely here. Since the age of five, Tao Yuan had loved to nestle in this library whenever she had the chance. Often, she would open a scroll of books, and by the time she closed it, the moon and stars would already be shining brightly outside.

Worried that his eldest daughter might starve to death in the library due to her obsession with reading, the head of the Tao family reluctantly made an exception and allowed Han Chan to enter and attend to her.

The library was the sacred ground of the Tao family, housing tens of thousands of volumes that encompassed official histories, unofficial histories, miscellaneous studies, and much, much more.

For Tao Yuan, whenever she was troubled in heart, coming here always provided answers; whenever she felt lost, sitting here for a while, simply feeling the weight of time, her soul could unexpectedly find peace.

Leaving the library, Han Chan was still immersed in the Lu family’s brilliant and extraordinary history of rising to prominence, sincerely impressed by the title “Land God of Wealth.”

Perhaps too excited and momentarily carried away, she suggested, “Miss, when the Lu family’s fleet arrives in the capital, should we go and see?”

“See what?”

“See what the God of Wealth looks like! Back when the Wuti flood struck, the young master of the Lu family donated three hundred thousand taels of silver to aid the victims. Such a righteous act—”

Tao Yuan turned around.

Meeting those clear, contemplative eyes, Han Chan realized her slip of the tongue and knelt to apologize.

She shouldn’t have mentioned Wuti.

Wuti City was a place of heartbreak for the young miss.

It was in Wuti that the young miss was betrayed by the second young miss and lost her innocence to someone.

“Your words remind me.”

Tao Yuan didn’t mind her slip of the tongue. There were few things she cared about, but she suddenly recalled the young man drenched by rain in the dilapidated temple on Peach Mountain.

The young man’s eyes held stars, and his lips were the color of flowers.

Fengcheng, the Lu family, Lu Yang.

If it was the same person, it would indeed be worth seeing.