The General Seized Her by Force - Chapter 17

Ever since Li Chu moved closer, Wen Shu had instantly transformed into a gecko, her back pressed tightly against the wall of the carriage, terrified of touching her.

However, the more she retreated, the more Li Chu pressed forward.

She clung to the window with one hand, her back straight, holding her breath with her eyes lowered, while Li Chu leaned in and tilted her head up, looking at her with an eager and challenging gaze.

In terms of position, Wen Shu was clearly the one “on top,” yet in reality, the one holding the initiative in the space between them was Li Chu, who occupied the lower position.

Wen Shu’s heart was beating rapidly, thumping against her eardrums and chest like a war drum.

The air in the already cramped carriage grew increasingly stagnant, causing Wen Shu’s cheeks to turn hot and red uncontrollably.

The redder her face became, the more curious Li Chu grew as she leaned in, as if Wen Shu were some kind of rare treasure.

Seeing that she was about to inquisitively press closer, Wen Shu turned her face away in a panic and said, “Th-then sit further away.”

Li Chu looked left and right, perplexed. “The carriage is only this big; where else could I possibly sit?”

Wen Shu wished she would sit on the roof of the carriage so that she wouldn’t have to see her.

When Li Chu slowly drifted back like a receding tide, Wen Shu took the opportunity to lift the curtain under the guise of looking at the road, clutching the fabric to shield her cheeks as she faced the window and took a deep breath.

Her grandmother had spoken to her early this morning about going to the Yang family to offer an apology.

Although they had already offended the Yang family by being unwilling to enter into a marriage alliance, there was a saying that one does not strike a smiling person. If they lowered their posture, a family of the Yangs’ status should be above bickering with them.

Otherwise, the Yang family held a fifth-rank position, while her father was only seventh-rank and she was ninth-rank. Coupled with the Yang family’s extensive connections in the capital for many years, if they wanted to cause trouble for them, making things difficult for them in their official duties would be easier than drinking water.

Wen Shu had originally planned to pick up her official uniform, return home to change, and then go to the Yang residence with her mother.

She didn’t know how Li Chu had spoken to her mother, but the person accompanying her to the Yang residence had been changed from her mother to Li Chu.

After the heat on her face dissipated, Wen Shu deliberately ignored the two options Li Chu had mentioned earlier and said with a frown, “I haven’t even gone home, nor did I bring a gift. If I show up like this, I’ll be beaten out of the Yang residence with sticks.”

She was going to apologize, not to add fuel to the fire and provoke them.

Li Chu picked up a green official uniform that Wen Shu had just brushed off onto the floor, patted off the non-existent dust, and curiously held it up to measure it against herself, replying:

“That won’t happen. You entering the Yang residence is no different than a hot steamed bun entering a dog kennel. Being able to come out in one piece would mean the Yang family didn’t have an appetite today; they wouldn’t kick you out.”

Wen Shu: “…”

Wen Shu looked at Li Chu speechlessly. Seeing her trying on her official uniform, her face grew hot again. Gathering her courage, she reached out, snatched the clothes back, bundled them up in her arms, and huddled back into the corner. “The Yang family is a fifth-rank household, after all. How could they do something so lacking in class?”

She didn’t want to marry into their family—would the Yangs actually bind her by force and use such despicable means to coerce her into marrying their daughter?

Li Chu calmly lifted the hem of her skirt, crossed her right leg over her left, rested one hand casually on her waist, and propped her chin on the other hand with her elbow resting on her knee. She blinked and looked at Wen Shu. “Oh, fifth-rank? Is that a big deal?”

Was it not?

Meeting Li Chu’s gaze, Wen Shu suddenly remembered that this person before her had been granted the title of General three years ago due to her military achievements. She held a first-rank official position, barely sitting below the Three Excellencies.

Li Chu had only been sixteen years old that year.

It was precisely because she had become famous at such a young age and had forced the Xiongnu to sue for peace, resolving the resentment of the nation, that Wen Shu had harbored such deep respect for the “Young General Li,” whom she had only heard of but never met. She had imagined that such a person, having achieved such feats at a young age, must be well-versed in both culture and strategy—a Confucian general capable of fighting on horseback and governing with civility on foot.

Who would have thought that upon meeting yesterday, Li Chu was the exact opposite of what she had imagined!

Overbearing, aggressive, persistent, and impossible to shake off.

Wen Shu stole a glance at Li Chu and hummed in her heart:

‘The Yang family is only fifth-rank, but Li Chu is first-rank.’

‘Li Chu, a first-rank official, is already so lacking in “class” herself; I dare not imagine what “lack of class” the Yang family might display.’

Holding her emerald-green seventh-rank official uniform, Wen Shu huddled in the corner, her face creased with sorrow as her eyes flickered toward Li Chu again and again.

She had to admit, it seemed that the only person she could turn to for help was Li Chu.

Li Chu seemed to know what she was thinking, and a smile slowly appeared in her eyes.

Wen Shu’s eyelid twitched. “…”

Li Chu was born both bright and heroic. When her phoenix eyes were not smiling, they displayed the majesty of a general, but when she did smile, the corners of her eyes curled like little hooks, so beautiful that it was embarrassing to look directly at her.

Li Chu rested her chin on her palm and tapped her cheek with her fingers, saying slowly, “Yesterday, your family rejected the marriage proposal from the Yang family. The Yang family must be feeling like they lost a lot of face.”

Wen Shu knew this.

Li Chu continued, “But you definitely don’t know that the wife of Minister Yang is the younger sister of the Earl of Sinan. That is the sky hanging over the Yang family.”

Wen Shu’s eyes slowly widened as she looked at Li Chu.

Li Chu said, “I beat Feng Zhang up yesterday, and since everyone knows he deliberately made things difficult for you at the Qionglin Banquet, the Earl of Sinan will send people to both our homes today to bring gifts and make a show of face, if only for the sake of Feng Zhang’s future. Do you think he is sending this gift willingly?”

Wen Shu’s face turned pale, and she shook her head blankly.

For a person like the Earl of Sinan to have to apologize to her family must be even more painful than having his own son beaten up.

Wen Shu felt as if her sky was collapsing.

In a single day, her family had offended both the Yang family and the son of the Earl of Sinan; neither of these families was something the Wen family could contend with.

But there was one piece of good news.

That was that these two families were actually one and the same.

Wen Shu looked down at the green official uniform in her arms. The trouble seemed to have started after she placed third in the imperial examination—first attracting Feng Zhang’s jealousy, and then the marriage proposal from the Yangs.

If she hadn’t passed the examination, would there be none of this trouble?

That wasn’t right either.

Her grandmother and mother had been intercepted and attacked on their way back to the capital from Pingjiang.

Wen Shu frowned in contemplation, reaching a bitter, miserable conclusion: “The Wen family is having a run of bad luck.”

There was no one in her family celebrating their zodiac birth year, so why were there so many disasters?

Should they wear something red?

The person who was now speechless was Li Chu. “…”

Li Chu reached out, and before Wen Shu could react, she gently pinched Wen Shu’s delicate cheek with one hand. “Is that all you can think of?”

Wen Shu tried to tilt her head back, attempting to pull her flesh free from Li Chu’s grip.

However, Li Chu had no intention of letting her go.

The moment she moved, Li Chu pinched a little harder.

Wen Shu felt a sudden sting and obediently sat back, lowering her head slightly as she said with resignation and grievance, “It doesn’t matter what I think; the arm cannot wrestle the thigh.”

Whether it was the Yang family or the Feng family, neither was someone her family could afford to provoke.

Li Chu hummed softly, swaying Wen Shu’s face from side to side, and offered a well-intentioned suggestion: “But you could marry me. My arms are thicker than their thighs.”

Wen Shu: “…”

At such a serious moment, she was talking about this again.

Wen Shu looked at Li Chu with an expression of unyielding defiance, her tough-as-nails look completely different from the timid, muddled state she had been in just moments ago when hearing about the Feng and Yang families.

Li Chu was almost so angry she laughed. She used both hands to pinch Wen Shu’s cheeks, pulling her toward her face, clearly wanting to take a bite out of her. “You bullying-the-soft-and-fearing-the-hard little lamb!”