Transmigrated into the Scumbag Ex-Wife of the Prime Minister - Chapter 63

Returning home to the county seat, Lu Sheng carried the birdcage to the storeroom in the west wing, then went out to find a hammer and nails.

She hammered two nails into the corner of the wall, tied a hemp rope to them, hung up the birdcage, and slowly lifted the cotton cloth covering the cage.

Chirp!

Another sharp cry, and sharp claws scraped against the birdcage. This time Lu Sheng was prepared and managed to dodge it, also getting a clear look at the appearance of the fledgling.

This was a white fledgling, small in size, with downy baby feathers interspersed among its wings. Except for black spots on its back feathers, its entire body was snow white, even its beak and talons.

Seeing its appearance, Lu Sheng immediately broke into a smile.

This truly was a Gyrfalcon.

Without the obstruction of the cotton cloth, the fledgling’s imposing manner instantly weakened. It lowered its head and retreated to the inner side of the birdcage, its pair of sharp eagle eyes vigilantly fixed on Lu Sheng.

‘Oh! I think I heard a little baby’s cry.’

Yu Ling flapped its wings and flew in from outside the door. Seeing Lu Sheng, it happily landed on her shoulder and rubbed affectionately against her neck.

‘Sister, you’re back!’

“Oh, you’ve come back to life?” Lu Sheng teased.

After the start of spring, the weather gradually warmed up, and Yu Ling became increasingly lively after its state of ‘semi-hibernation.’ Today was the first time it had flown out of the room in nearly two months.

‘Eh? Is this a new bird Sister bought?’

Yu Ling fluttered its wings and flew towards the birdcage. Lu Sheng quickly stopped it, “Don’t go near it, that’s not an ordinary bird.”

“It’s an eagle, it eats birds!” Lu Sheng threatened.

‘Sister is talking nonsense, how could such a cute little baby eat birds?’

Although saying this, Yu Ling circled the birdcage but still didn’t dare to get too close, stopping on the rope above the cage.

‘Little baby.’ Yu Ling chirped twice towards the Gyrfalcon in the cage, ‘The baby is so pretty.’

‘White, just as pretty as me!’

Chirp!

The Gyrfalcon moved its talons and cried out towards Yu Ling. The sound was noticeably weaker and not aggressive, but Lu Sheng couldn’t discern any meaning from it, just a simple cry.

Lu Sheng guessed the bird was too young and only knew how to cry.

‘Is the baby hungry?’ Yu Ling stood on one leg on the rope, extended its other foot, dug through its downy feathers, pulled out a melon seed kernel, and dropped it into the birdcage, ‘Here, eat this.’

The Gyrfalcon extended its head forward, then pulled it back, not eating the melon seed kernel.

‘Melon seeds are so delicious, little baby, why don’t you eat them?’

Yu Ling chirped a few more times. The Gyrfalcon tilted its head to look at it but didn’t make another sound.

Lu Sheng rolled her eyes after watching this and said helplessly, “I told you it’s an eagle. Eagles eat meat, they don’t eat melon seeds.”

But how did it manage to hide the melon seed in its feathers? It’s not a kangaroo?

‘Then Sister should buy meat for it to eat.’ Yu Ling flew to Lu Sheng’s shoulder, pleadingly.

‘We’ll talk about it later.’

Lu Sheng planned to starve it for a few days first. This little thing looked very wary, and she estimated it wouldn’t eat even if fed now.

She left the room, deliberately latching the west wing door from the outside, and warned Yu Ling, “Don’t sneak in on your own. If it eats you, I won’t be responsible.”

‘Okay.’

The bright moon hung high, and the night deepened.

Qi Zhenshu sat upright, her eyes focused on the paper in front of her, fully concentrated, her wrist moving swiftly.

Knock knock.

She lightly raised her phoenix eyes, and a hint of tenderness appeared in them when she saw the person who entered, “Why are you still awake?”

“I was just about to go to sleep.” Lu Sheng walked in holding a bowl of soup, setting it down beside the table, and smiled gently, “I cooked you some tremella soup.”

With barely a month left until the enrollment examination for Baihe Academy, Qi Zhenshu had been reading late into the night every day since the New Year. By the time she went to bed, Lu Sheng would have already met the Duke of Zhou (i.e., fallen asleep) a round.

Staying up late is bad for the health, but Lu Sheng also understood the importance of this examination and could not dissuade her with words, so she could only cook tremella and wolfberry soup to nourish the liver and brighten the eyes for her.

“Thank you,” Qi Zhenshu felt warmth in her heart. She took the bowl and tasted a spoonful.

The tremella was soft, smooth, and melted in the mouth. No sugar was added to the soup base, which was exactly to her taste.

Qi Zhenshu drank two spoonfuls, seeing Lu Sheng continuously watching her with a sweet smile, and suddenly remembered what Zhuo Yu had said.

Swallowing the soup in her mouth, Qi Zhenshu paused, looked at her, and softly said, “The soup is very good.”

She lowered her eyes slightly, not looking into Lu Sheng’s moist eyes. Her mouth opened, but she ultimately didn’t call out those two words, only saying, “You’ve worked hard.”

“Cooking a soup is hardly hard work.” Lu Sheng smiled and waved her hand.

Noticing Qi Zhenshu’s slight shyness, Lu Sheng thought, why is this person so thin-skinned? Her face can turn red just because I cooked her a bowl of soup.

No wonder the two of us have been aware of each other’s feelings for so long, yet there has been no intimate progress like kissing, hugging, or piggyback rides.

It’s all because Qi Zhenshu is too thin-skinned.

Maybe I should be a little more proactive?

Lu Sheng pondered in her heart, but her body moved before her brain did. By the time she realized it, she had already walked to Qi Zhenshu’s side.

Qi Zhenshu looked up at her sideways, confused, “What’s wrong?”

Eh?!

This, this, this, how did I walk over here?

What should I do next?

Her brain completely short-circuited. Lu Sheng stared blankly and directly at the soup in Qi Zhenshu’s hand, completely unable to think of anything to say.

Seeing her gaze, Qi Zhenshu was momentarily stunned. She spooned up a mouthful of tremella soup, recalling Zhuo Yu’s words once again.

‘Seeing your expression, it seems the method that Zhen-er taught Xiao Sheng worked?’

‘Feeding each other is the easiest way to enhance feelings, do you understand?’

Could it be that Lu Sheng also heard the same advice from Eldest Sister?

A flush of heat rose to her ears. Qi Zhenshu lowered her eyes to the bowl in her hand, squeezed the white porcelain spoon, then raised her head again, and slowly asked, “Would you like to try some?”

Eh?

Lu Sheng immediately withdrew her gaze from the bowl, looked at Qi Zhenshu, and blinked.

Did I hear her right just now? Is Qi Zhenshu inviting me to drink the soup with her?

Seeing her looking dazed, Qi Zhenshu thought she hadn’t heard what she said. Suppressing the shyness in her heart, she repeated, “Would you like to try some?”

A fireworks display exploded in Lu Sheng’s mind, but this time, Lu Sheng was not mesmerized by the dazzling colors. She quickly reacted and nodded to Qi Zhenshu.

“Okay.” Her voice was sweet enough to drip honey.

Qi Zhenshu pretended to be calm, scooped up a spoonful of soup, raised her hand, and offered it to her lips.

Lu Sheng tightly gripped the edge of the desk with the fingers of the hand behind her back, desperately suppressing the rapidly beating heart in her throat, and opened her mouth to accept the spoon.

One standing, one sitting, one looking up, one looking down. Their eyes met, their breaths intertwined, the air was momentarily stagnant, then suddenly warmed, becoming increasingly ambiguous and sticky.

“A-Niang, Niang-qin, what are you two eating!”

The clear, sweet sound of a child’s voice instantly ripped a hole in the increasingly inflated heat. The two quickly snapped back to reality and looked towards the door simultaneously.

The little one, clutching a cloth tiger, thump-thump-thumped to Lu Sheng’s feet, hugged her leg, and looked up, softly and sweetly complaining, “A-Niang said she would be back quickly, but she is hiding here eating delicious food with Niang-qin.”

“I’m sorry, I made my little darling wait.” Lu Sheng bent down to apologize.

She had originally intended to leave immediately after delivering the soup, but she ‘accidentally’ stayed a little longer.

“A-Niang, what are you two eating?” The little one climbed up on the table, looking at the bowl in Qi Zhenshu’s hand.

“You little glutton.” Lu Sheng poked her nose and laughed, “I think you weren’t anxious because you were waiting for me, but because you were hungry and couldn’t help but run over, right?”

“Hehe.” The little one patted her little belly and said pitifully, “I waited for A-Niang for too long, so my belly got hungry.”

“Oh, you.” Lu Sheng rubbed her little head helplessly, “Wait here. A-Niang will get you another bowl.”

As she spoke, she was about to turn around, but Qi Zhenshu stopped her, saying gently, “I’ll feed her two spoonfuls, that’s enough. She’s about to sleep, and eating too much might cause indigestion.”

That was true.

Lu Sheng nodded and said to the little one, “You still have to brush your teeth after you finish eating, okay?”

“I know.”

Qi Zhenshu held the little one on her lap and drank the tremella soup with her daughter.

Shen Shi San Ke (about 3:45 PM), west of the city, by the river.

“Hurry up and dig, all of you!” The overseer fiercely cracked the long whip in his hand and shouted, “If you don’t finish digging today, you’ll all sleep in this ditch tonight!”

It was just the beginning of spring. Forget about sleeping in the cold, damp river channel; even spending a night on dry straw would be enough to freeze someone to death.

The prisoners flinched when they heard this, disregarding their already aching bodies, and hastened their movements.

Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop.

A sound of organized horse hooves came from the side of the river. The person in the lead wore a deep-blue round-collared everyday robe, a black belt around their waist, and long boots on their feet.

The overseer saw the approaching mounted team and smiled as he went forward to greet them, “Patrol Officer Zhuo, why are you personally inspecting today?”

In addition to apprehending bandits, the Patrol Office was also responsible for the county’s patrol and supervision.

“Little Long’s wife is about to give birth. He took a leave of absence to go home and attend the birth.” Zhuo Yu smiled and nodded, “Overseer Qin, is everything normal with the river channel?”

“Oh, that’s great news. We haven’t had any incidents here…”

As the two were talking, a person ran out of the river channel and shouted loudly at Zhuo Yu, “Sir, Officer Zhuo, I have something important to report.”

“Get back, get back, are you courting death!” The foreman by the river bank held his long spear horizontally and shouted the person back.

“Sir, Sir, it’s me, Ding Quan!” Ding Laizi (Ding the Scabby) was covered in mud, and his feet were still in shackles. Seeing the spear tip, he immediately knelt on the ground, “Sir, I have a particularly important matter to report, it’s related to a bandit robbery and murder case!”

“Bandit robbery and murder case?”

Zhu Yu raised an eyebrow at the foreman upon hearing this. The foreman retracted his spear, and Ding Laizi quickly scrambled to his feet, grabbed his shackles, and walked to Zhu Yu’s horse.

“Sir, may I speak to you in private?” Ding Laizi looked around, lowering his voice and speaking mysteriously in a whisper.

“You may speak,” Zhu Yu held the reins and did not move.

Ding Laizi was a person who mixed in the marketplace and was most skilled at observing expressions. If he noticed that she was interested in the matter, the subsequent conversation would lose its advantage.

“Sir, the matter I have to speak about concerns Steward Lu.” Ding Laizi took another step forward, his voice even softer.

Zhu Yu was startled internally, but her expression remained calm. She pretended to be puzzled, “My uncle?”

“Sir, this is probably inconvenient. How about we talk on the side?” Ding Laizi had his own calculations in mind and couldn’t say it directly in front of Overseer Qin.

“Mmm.” Zhu Yu pulled the reins, walked a few steps up the path, and dismounted.

“Sir, I believe there is something suspicious about the death of Steward Lu.”

Seeing that she was finally willing to listen to him, Ding Laizi threw out a hook.

Just as Zhu Yu expected, Ding Laizi had been carefully observing her expression since she started speaking. Seeing that she seemed skeptical, he quickly added, “Yes, yes, his death is not simple!”

“Not simple?” Zhu Yu raised an eyebrow, seemingly interested, “In what way is it not simple?”

“Sir, you know that I have a younger sister who married into Qingzhou. It’s my youngest sister, the one who used to be… with you, Sir…” Ding Laizi gave a knowing, secret smile.

“Stop the nonsense!” Zhu Yu glared at him and snapped.

“Aye, aye.” Ding Laizi slapped his own mouth twice, “I talked too much, I talked too much!”

He cursed her in his heart for being ungrateful, but his face was wreathed in smiles, “In the eighth month, my sister gave birth to a big, healthy boy, so she invited me to the full-month celebration.”

“On the 24th of the ninth month, I was also in Qingzhou. When I passed by the Tongfu Tavern, I happened to run into Steward Lu.”

The 24th of the ninth month was the day before Lu Huacheng encountered his misfortune.

“You’ve said all this, but I haven’t heard anything about it not being simple?” Zhu Yu glanced sideways at the river channel and said impatiently with a sneer, “Ding Laizi, don’t you have too much free time, making up lies to deceive me?”

“No, no, I wouldn’t dare, Sir!” Ding Laizi quickly waved his hands and cried injustice, stopping his rambling and getting straight to the point, “I really did see Steward Lu, I’m not deceiving you. When I saw him, he was having an argument with someone and they even came to blows later.”

“Right outside the tavern?” Zhu Yu asked skeptically, “And he came to blows with someone?”

Lu Huacheng had a gentle nature and would rarely lose his temper, let alone fight with someone.

“Indeed, they came to blows.” Ding Laizi raised his hand and swore, “It’s absolutely true. If I’m saying anything false, may I be struck by lightning.”

Zhu Yu raised an eyelid and scoffed, “Why should I believe your oath, Ding Laizi?”

“Oh, Heaven and Earth bear witness, Sir, every word I say is true!” Ding Laizi clapped his hands in anxious haste.

After the conversation, Zhu Yu was indeed convinced that he wasn’t lying. She couldn’t be bothered to argue with him anymore, and glanced at him sideways, “From what you’re saying, you know the person who argued with my uncle?”

“You are brilliant, Sir.” Ding Laizi’s eyes darted around, and he gave a flattering thumbs-up.

“Stop with the useless flattery.” Zhu Yu waved her hand and narrowed her eyes, “Tell me, what do you want in return?”

“Hehe.” Ding Laizi looked at the foreman by the river, “Sir, about this…”

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