My Wife is a Frustrating Genius!!! - Chapter 67

Early the next morning, Lu Jiahe woke up, washed up, and waited at home. When Guo’er came to the room to call the young master out for breakfast, she even had her help with grooming, intending to present her best self to bring her wife home.

“Young master, how does it look?” After tying up the young master’s hair, Guo’er quickly brought over a bronze mirror for her to check.

Lu Jiahe stretched her neck and examined herself carefully. “Alright, this will do.”

As she tidied the scattered items on the table, Guo’er said to her young master, “Young master, this morning, the shopkeeper in the capital sent word that the matriarch and the master have already set off for the capital.”

Holding the imperial edict and checking her appearance, Lu Jiahe turned her head in confusion at Guo’er’s words. “To the capital? What are they coming to the capital for?”

“I inquired a bit outside. They say that after the Emperor took the young mistress away last night, the palace sent someone overnight to inform the master at the Lu Family Bank.”

“What do you mean?” Lu Jiahe couldn’t quite grasp her words. “The capital and Bianjing are hundreds of miles apart. How could they have set off today if they were only notified last night? Besides, if I’ve earned a place on the imperial examination roster, I should be the one returning to Bianjing. Why would the palace send someone to notify them?”

Guo’er stopped what she was doing, furrowed her brows, and voiced her thoughts. “I suspect that perhaps the Emperor already knew Miss Cheng’s identity, so after you placed as the Tanhua, he sent someone posthaste to Bianjing to inform the master and the matriarch.”

Lu Jiahe nodded, feeling that Guo’er’s explanation made sense, and the timing aligned with today’s news.

“If that’s the case, then why didn’t she tell me about this? And you were there last night, did she seem like she had met the Emperor before?”

Guo’er shook her head. “I find it strange too. Last night, the young mistress’s expression of delight upon seeing the old Emperor didn’t seem feigned. Moreover, in the time I’ve spent with her every day, I’ve never sensed any arrogance in her character.”

“And young master, when you offended the Emperor in court last time, you only received five strokes of the cane. If it were anyone else, they would’ve been executed long ago.”

Hearing Guo’er’s words, Lu Jiahe’s frown deepened. She pursed her lips and thought for a long while before voicing her suspicion about Cheng Yi’s identity. “I remember reading a book while traveling abroad. It recorded a foreign illness called amnesia, characterized by forgetting all people and events from the past. Do you think?”

With a troubled expression, Lu Jiahe looked at Guo’er. “Do you think she might be suffering from this illness?”

Guo’er also recalled hearing about such a condition during their travels. “If that’s really the case, what should we do, young master? What if the young mistress, if she relapses?” Guo’er anxiously looked at her young master, unable to continue.

Lu Jiahe pressed her lips together, having no good solution in mind. “Even if that’s the case, I’ll stay by my wife’s side. I don’t care about this official position anymore, and I’ll search far and wide for a renowned physician if I have to.”

At this moment, her words were not just to reassure those around her but also to comfort herself.

Lu Jiahe set aside her worries and wholeheartedly waited for the palace to summon her. But three or four hours had passed, and aside from the pedestrians coming and going and the vendors hawking their wares outside the residence, not a single soldier had passed by the Lu family’s gate.

“Sigh!” Lu Jiahe sat at the main entrance, clutching the bright yellow imperial edict in her arms as she watched the passersby.

Guo’er and Lu An, who were keeping her company, noticed it was almost noon, time for lunch, so they stepped forward to inform their young master they were going out to buy groceries and prepare the meal.

Just as the two came out of the residence with their shopping baskets, intending to head to the market at the end of the alley, a large troop of armored soldiers came jogging steadily toward the Lu residence from a distance.

Standing on the steps below the entrance, Guo’er and Lu An watched the scene. If they hadn’t known their young mistress was the Eldest Princess, they would have thought the Lu family had committed some grave crime and the soldiers had come to arrest them for execution!

Hearing the hurried footsteps, Lu Jiahe, who was sitting on a chair by the door, quickly stood up and looked in the direction of the sound.

Seeing the fierce-looking soldiers running toward her, she swallowed nervously and raised a hand to touch her neck, still intact.

“Is Tanhualang Lu Jiahe here?”

At the entrance of the Lu residence, the lead soldier stood facing the three of them and asked.

The soldier’s voice was powerful and resonant, frightening the three, who had never experienced anything like this, out of their wits.

“Here.” Lu Jiahe straightened her posture, gripping tightly the imperial edict the old emperor had forced upon her that day.

“Tanhualang, please come with us to the palace,” the soldier leader said, looking at the young man before him, then respectfully stepped forward and cupped his hands in salute.

Lu Jiahe’s palms were sweaty with nerves. She glanced at Guo’er and Lu An, who were standing to the side, frozen in fear, then stepped forward to join the troop of soldiers.

“Are Guo’er and Lu An here?” the soldier asked again.

“Y-yes.”

Guo’er and Lu An trembled all over at the sound.

“Her Highness the Eldest Princess requests your presence in the palace to join her for lunch.”

“Ah, ah?”

The two exchanged glances, their faces full of disbelief. How could servants like them possibly dine with Her Highness the Eldest Princess in the palace?

The soldier leader, sensing their thoughts, added, “This was specifically ordered by Her Highness the Eldest Princess.”

“Oh, oh, alright.” Guo’er, not daring to refuse, quickly agreed.

The large group followed Lu Jiahe and the soldier leader as they made their way toward the palace gates.

Onlookers lining both sides of the street craned their necks, whispering among themselves.

Lu Jiahe was someone who intensely disliked being the center of attention. She lifted her sleeve to wipe the sweat from her forehead. For the sake of her wife, she was willing to endure any hardship!

The Lu residence was located in a bustling area, not far from the palace gates. The group soon entered the palace.

As soon as they stepped through the palace gates, the eunuchs waiting nearby stopped the three.

“Tanhualang, His Majesty requests your presence in the hall,” a eunuch in dark red robes said, waving his horsetail whisk and scrutinizing the young man who had won over their Eldest Princess.

Hearing this, Lu Jiahe turned to look at Guo’er and Lu An and said, “I’ll go see the Emperor first. Wait here for me.”

“Understood, Young Master.”

Guo’er and Lu An stood timidly to the side. The affairs of the palace were unfathomable, and they dared not act as boldly and fearlessly as they usually did. If they made even the slightest misstep, they could lose their heads!

On the other end, a young eunuch from the Eldest Princess’s residence glanced at the two of them and then spoke respectfully, “You two are esteemed guests invited by Her Highness, the Eldest Princess. Please follow me to her residence.”

“Huh?”

Guo’er and Lu An turned to look at their Young Master.

Oh my god! What’s going on? Being caught in the middle like this is no easy position to be in!

After hearing the young eunuch’s words, Lu Jiahe realized that the old emperor was putting her in a difficult position.

She raised her head and nodded at Guo’er and the others, then followed the eunuch to meet the old emperor.

In the vast hall, Lu Jiahe knelt with her head bowed before the imperial desk, waiting for the old emperor to speak.

The old emperor had summoned Lu Jiahe to the palace to vent his anger and, at the same time, teach her a lesson for offending him during the previous court session.

He held a book, pretending to read, but in reality, he was observing Lu Jiahe’s every move.

Lu Jiahe lowered her head, watching the beads of sweat drip from her temples onto the floor. She thought to herself how fortunate it was that she had spent days kneeling in the ancestral hall before; otherwise, she would never have been able to endure this.

“Has the Tanhua brought the imperial edict today?” The old emperor had long noticed the edict beside Lu Jiahe. He asked this question merely to steer the conversation in the direction he wanted.

“Your Majesty, I have brought it.”

“Oh, since you’ve brought it, return it to me.” Upon hearing this, the old emperor set down his book and looked at Lu Jiahe, showing no intention of letting her stand.

“I cannot.”

A few days ago, Lu Jiahe would have been more than willing to return the edict immediately. But now that she knew her wife was the Eldest Princess, she absolutely could not return the marriage edict to the old emperor.

“Hmph!” The old emperor snorted coldly. “What? Wasn’t the Tanhua adamant about not marrying my Eldest Princess?”

The inevitable question had finally been asked. Lu Jiahe had long guessed that the old emperor summoning her would lead to nothing good.

“Your Majesty, until last night, I was unaware that my wife was the Eldest Princess. That is why I refused Your Majesty’s gracious offer to marry her.”

Lu Jiahe raised her head and looked firmly at the old emperor. “I and the Eldest Princess are deeply in love, a-and we have already consummated our relationship. If Your Majesty were to take back the edict, what would become of the Eldest Princess’s purity?”

The old emperor gasped in anger, his breath heaving. He stared at the person kneeling before his desk, never expecting that she would dare bring up this matter. Did she not know that this was the very thing that angered him the most?

Lu Jiahe watched the old emperor’s furious, wide-eyed expression and knew she shouldn’t have said such things. However, everything she said was the truth. Leaving aside her feelings for Cheng Yi, if outsiders were to learn that the princess was no longer a virgin, not only would Cheng Yi face ridicule, but the imperial family would also become the subject of gossip.

“Are you threatening me?” The old emperor narrowed his eyes and scrutinized Lu Jiahe. He truly could not understand what his daughter saw in this blockhead.

“I dare not, Your Majesty.” Sensing the old emperor’s displeasure, Lu Jiahe promptly kowtowed. “My love for the Princess is genuine, and we have already exchanged identification documents at the Bianjing Office. If Your Majesty insists on tearing us apart, I would rather risk my life to publicly protest against Your Majesty’s decision.”

Outrageous! Utterly outrageous!

The Old Emperor knew full well that these were the words his daughter had taught Lu Jiahe to say. He was pleased that Lu Jiahe was so obedient to Cheng Yi, yet hearing those words spoken aloud grated on him unbearably.

“How dare you!” The old emperor snatched a book from nearby and hurled it at Lu Jiahe.