kvmb Chapter 412 Not So Hateful
Chapter 412 Not So Hateful
Lu Yangyang didn't have much interaction with him. In her memory, Prince Rong was always only good at eating, drinking and having fun, never cared about court affairs, and only wanted to be a carefree prince.
Perhaps for this reason, he lived a carefree and leisurely life.
Even the emperor rarely criticized him, and would often entrust him with supervising events such as dragon boat races.
I never expected the emperor would send him to the south of the Yangtze River this time.
But thinking about it, it makes sense. The emperor couldn't make a big fuss about sending someone to find His Highness. The person needed to be trustworthy and have a suitable title so as not to arouse suspicion. Prince Rong was indeed the best choice.
Prince Rong was of high status, and the emperor appointed him as an imperial envoy to reorganize the salt administration in Jiangnan. No local official dared to disobey, and even court officials had to think twice before expressing their opinions. It would be good if Prince Rong could do something after arriving in Jiangnan, and it would also serve as a warning to those who had been acting arrogantly recently. Even if he did nothing and just made a show of it, it would still serve as a reminder to those in the capital to know when to stop.
How could the emperor not know that the Ning County salt mines were involved in more than just the Yang family's affairs?
He not only gained benefits, but also rectified the salt administration in Jiangnan, suppressed the Yang family who were trying to cause trouble, and even used this to deter other restless princes. He achieved multiple goals at once, making him the biggest winner.
He could even use this pretext to find opportunities to secretly investigate His Highness and achieve his true purpose.
The emperor's mind is unpredictable; who can fully fathom it?
Lu Yangyang had only just figured out the key points, but for her, the most important thing was that this time, she had stumbled upon a positive outcome. Taking advantage of the storm of the salt administration, she had managed to clean up the brothels and entertainment venues in Jiangnan Prefecture, which was her biggest gain.
The Jiangnan region, with its wealthy and powerful residents, has historically been a hub for brothels and pleasure houses. Countless women, whether willing or not, have ended up there, with few meeting a good end. This crackdown should at least serve as a deterrent, reducing the number of child abuse crimes committed during Governor Jiang's years in office.
Lu Yangyang didn't stay long to avoid being discovered.
……
That night, Lu Yangyang was asleep when someone suddenly knocked on her window.
Lu Yangyang frowned, sat up, casually put on some clothes, and cautiously walked to the window. She reached out and pushed the window open, and saw Sheng Junyi dressed in black, with disheveled hair, looking as if he had just taken a bath and hadn't had time to tidy himself up.
He was carrying a jug of wine, and he shook it at her: "Want a drink?"
Lu Yangyang: "..."
Does she look like she can drink a lot?
Asking her to drink in the middle of the night?
However, how did he manage to return from the capital so quickly? The round trip took less than half a month. When he traveled south from the capital, it took him more than half a month just to travel by boat.
Look at him, is he heartbroken?
Lu Yangyang had some doubts in her mind, but then she couldn't help being a little curious. So she hesitated for a moment and then nodded, "Wait for me."
Lu Yangyang closed the window, turned around and went back to find a hairband, tied her hair up haphazardly, put on a pair of shoes and went out.
Sheng Junyi stood in the courtyard with his arms crossed. The moonlight was perfect today. There were no lights in the courtyard, but the ground was still covered with silver frost, and the light was hazy. He stood there with the moisture in his body, just like a fox spirit from the mountains, full of demonic energy.
Lu Yangyang raised an eyebrow, but before she could speak, Sheng Junyi pointed to the roof and asked, "Can you get up there?"
Lu Yangyang: "..."
Sheng Junyi hooked one finger around the back of her collar and gently lifted her up, and the two of them landed on the roof ridge.
Sheng Junyi casually slumped down, tossed a pot of wine to Lu Yangyang, picked up a pot of wine for himself, tilted his head back and gulped down several large mouthfuls, his expression utterly dejected.
Lu Yangyang tilted her head to look at him, feeling as if she were dreaming.
"You were abandoned?"
Sheng Junyi lowered her eyes.
A deathly silence fell over the air.
Sheng Junyi gave a barely audible "hmm".
Lu Yangyang belatedly realized that she had been a bit too sharp-tongued. She was terrible at comforting people, and now she had so accurately hit someone's sore spot.
Why does she have a mouth for no reason?
Lu Yangyang sat down in annoyance, and simply tapped the wine jug in his hand lightly, saying, "Then please accept my condolences."
There was dead silence again.
Lu Yangyang simply shut up, took a few swigs of wine from the flask, and felt a sudden relief from the tension she had been feeling for days.
The two remained silent, occasionally clinking their wine jugs together and gulping down a few more mouthfuls of wine.
After drinking most of the wine, Sheng Junyi finally spoke softly, "I'm sorry for what I did to you before."
Lu Yangyang had just taken a sip of wine when she suddenly heard those words, choking and bringing tears to her eyes. She coughed several times to calm herself down, then turned her head in disbelief: "You're speaking the truth while drunk, you can't have come here just to apologize to me, can you? Don't worry, I never had any expectations of you in the first place. In other words, back then, neither I nor you were any different from us—we were complete strangers."
She had that dream, in which even her biological parents showed her no pity. How could she possibly expect anything from a brother she hadn't seen for over a decade? She might as well continue dreaming. Blood ties are indeed mysterious, but not all blood ties are destined. Even people who live together day and night can drift apart, let alone those she's never met.
Seeing Sheng Junyi's dejected appearance now, and considering that she had once saved his life, she racked her brains to comfort him, saying, "Although you used to be quite unpleasant to look at, especially the first time we met, I thought you really wanted to kill me. Later, you always spoke up for Sheng Yunzhu, and I was annoyed just looking at you. But after you left the Duke of Sheng's mansion, you became much more pleasing to the eye. To be honest, you wouldn't have coveted the position of heir apparent before, would you?"
Speaking of this, Lu Yangyang was quite curious, because she remembered that in the dream she had, even after her elder brother died on the battlefield, Sheng Junyi did not seem to become the heir apparent. Instead, he seemed to disappear for a period of time. She never saw him again until she died. She wondered if he had gone to the border. After all, the Sheng family held military power in the Northwest, which was the Duke of Sheng's greatest reliance and would never give up.
Upon hearing her words, Sheng Junyi chuckled and then looked at her as if she were an idiot.
“I didn’t mean to kill you…” Sheng Junyi replied, then added self-deprecatingly, “That sounds like an excuse, how boring.”
Lu Yangyang blinked lightly, tilted her head and looked at him, "It is indeed boring. Everything that has happened can not be repeated, but life is not unchanging. I accept the current result. I used to hate you, but now, I don't hate you as much."