HLnovel Chapter 938 Are you happy now?
Chapter 938 Are you happy now?
Lu Jibai was born into the prestigious Lu family. Even though the power of the family had weakened after the change of dynasties, it was still a force to be reckoned with. He had lived a life of luxury since childhood, a life truly built on gold and jade.
But at the same time, he also bore the responsibility for the rise and fall of the entire Lu family.
That was a responsibility he had to shoulder.
Crown Prince Chongwen was his cousin, and the two grew up together and had a close relationship. The Lu family was naturally aligned with Crown Prince Chongwen's faction, hoping to climb up this towering tree and revive the Lu family's centuries-old glory.
At that time, Lu Liulang was full of vigor and ambition.
However, all of this came to an abrupt end after Crown Prince Chongwen went north to serve as a hostage.
The peace talks between the two countries and the decision to send Crown Prince Chongwen as a hostage came as a complete surprise. However, for the sake of the people, Crown Prince Chongwen had no choice but to head north.
He should have been in the group heading north.
However, the matter was suspicious, and there was too little time to make any arrangements, so he was temporarily ordered to stay and investigate.
At that time, none of them could have imagined that in less than a year, the late emperor would suffer a blow and die of illness, and Zong Lin would ascend the throne.
If it were a benevolent monarch, he wouldn't have gone so far as to exterminate these former officials of the Eastern Palace. But Zong Lin was different. Zong Lin was ruthless. He had just secured his position on the throne when he turned his attention to the Lu family.
The entire Lu family was exiled, and countless gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, house deeds and land deeds were confiscated from them, at least half of which ended up in Zong Lin's private treasury.
But that wasn't the end of it. The journey to exile was far from peaceful. He survived countless assassination attempts before finally managing to reach Qingzhou under the protection of his loyal servant.
At that time, there was war and natural disasters, and there were refugees everywhere. He mingled among the refugees and was taken in by Qinghe Village.
Qinghe Village is nestled against the mountains, making it an ideal place to live in seclusion. If he wants to register his household and stay legitimately, marrying a woman from the village is the simplest and safest way. Once he is married, even if someone finds out about his village, he can easily cover it up.
He married Zhang, an only daughter from a fairly well-off family with few relatives and no brothers, which saved him a lot of trouble.
Zhang was only pretty, and he was completely illiterate. He would never have married such a woman unless he was forced to.
In the past, in the Lu family of the capital, a woman like Zhang was not even qualified to be his concubine.
However, when he fell into misfortune, she became the lifeline he had to grasp.
He found it difficult to develop any feelings for Zhang, and their married life was lukewarm. However, he gradually gained a foothold and, through his studies, secretly learned about the situation at the time.
If there's anything that brings him joy in this marriage that he's not entirely satisfied with, it's his son, Lu Wei.
That child looks like him.
Her eyebrows and eyes, as well as her innate intelligence, are very much like his.
He was overjoyed and cherished it like a precious jewel.
Large families have always valued holding grandchildren rather than sons, but Lu Wei has been held on his lap since birth. He held him while reading and learning to read, telling him stories that Lu Wei could not yet understand.
He had thought more than once about what kind of life he would have led if he were still the sixth son of the Lu family in the capital.
So he was unwilling, unwilling to see the Lu family perish, unwilling to see their years of planning destroyed in an instant.
So when he realized that his identity might be exposed, he left without hesitation. He thought that as long as he left and drew away the people investigating him, he could protect his wife and children who had been abandoned. In the future, when the Lu family was restored, he could come back to take them back.
However, fate played a cruel trick on us.
The Battle of Chenzhou exhausted all the luck of Crown Prince Chongwen's faction. With Yanjing within reach, they suffered a crushing defeat in Chenzhou, and everything turned into nothing.
The evidence he painstakingly gathered, evidence that Zong Lin and Empress Dowager Dugu were old acquaintances, was not yet handed over to the Empress in the palace when Zong Lin exposed the Lu family's hidden agents in the palace.
He had nowhere else to go but to continue his life of hiding and wandering.
Later, after the Empress died, Zong Lin probably vaguely discovered the evidence he had collected, which led Xiao Chong to find him at all costs, kill him, and destroy the evidence.
He had lost count of how many assassination attempts he had survived. When he was truly desperate, he had no choice but to take poison himself. After completely changing his appearance, he found an opportunity to hide in the Dali Temple.
The most dangerous place is the safest place.
He knew the character of Ying Xun, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. In cases handled by him, unless there was solid evidence, he would not be sentenced to death in the short term.
He hid in the Dali Temple and, in the end, when his life was already full of torment, he waited for his chance.
He met with Crown Prince Chongwen and personally handed over the evidence he had collected.
Neither of them could have imagined that their reunion after this separation would be twenty-five years later.
He was already poisoned to the core, and was nearing the end of his life.
The Lu family may eventually be exonerated, but he has lost his son forever.
Lu Jibai covered his face, wanting to cry, but not a single tear fell.
Fate is so cruel.
Who is right and who is wrong?
……
Lu Yangyang accompanied Li Duan to the Ming family ancestral graves to pay respects to the eldest princess.
It was called an ancestral tomb, but it only contained the remains of Prince Ming, his wife, and the eldest princess.
Granny Zhou was quite old. Not long after Li Duan's marriage to the emperor, she fell ill and could no longer get out of bed. Two years earlier, her distant nephew had taken her to the countryside for recuperation.
No one has come to pay their respects at the Princess's grave for a long time.
The withered weeds have grown very tall.
Lu Yangyang and Li Duan cleared away the weeds around them, poured out the wine, and also brought two side dishes and snacks that the princess liked.
Pear sat upright on the ground, tilting her head to look at the tombstone, her eyebrows curving upwards to reveal a pair of shallow dimples.
“Mother, Yangyang and I have come to see you.”
"I'm back from Yanjing. Are you happy?"