Nanny Qing was completely dumbfounded.
"Qingfeng, have them sent over. Tell them it's the Prince's will."
"Yes!"
Qing Ling and Qing Yin couldn't react either, but for the past ten years, they had been taught to be loyal to Prince Jin and obey his every command. Though bewildered, they still bowed and retreated, preparing to head to the Lu Manor.
Prince Jin dismounted the carriage, hands clasped behind his back, and looked up at the three words "Prince Jin's Mansion" on the plaque, his gaze unreadable.
The steward and Nanny Qing watched his leg with bated breath.
"Your Highness, how is your leg?"
"The same as always. A few slow steps won't hurt." Prince Jin stepped through the main gate.
So, no improvement?
The steward and Nanny Qing exchanged a glance, sighing in unison before hurrying inside.
Nanny Qing suppressed the urge to help Prince Jin, looking at him with a pained expression. She had raised Prince Jin, and he was dearest to her.
"Your Highness, Qing Ling and Qing Yin are sensible, obedient, diligent, and proper. This old servant was thinking that since Your Highness's chambers are empty, someone should attend to you. Why send them away? Is there something wrong with Second Miss Lu from the Lu Manor?"
Nanny Qing thought there was something amiss with Second Miss Lu, and that Prince Jin intended for Qing Ling and Qing Yin to keep an eye on her. She dared not think of other possibilities.
Even for such a task, he could have sent others. Qing Ling and Qing Yin were trained and taught by her specifically for the Prince; she had hoped the two maids could become his chamber women.
The image of Lu Zhaoling surfaced in Prince Jin's mind.
Something wrong? That girl was wrong in every way.
"Second Miss Lu... is this Prince's fiancée," he said.
"What did Your Highness say? Cough, cough, cough!" Nanny Qing coughed violently in shock.
"Fiancée?!" The steward croaked out, like an old duck with its throat choked.
When did the Prince get a fiancée? How did they not know?
"Mm, just settled, on the way here."
Prince Jin thought of the recent encounter, the corners of his lips inexplicably curving upwards. He looked down at his collar, remembering the scene where Lu Zhaoling had decisively ripped open his clothes, and his Adam's apple bobbed.
The steward and Nanny Qing were dumbfounded.
Nanny Qing even felt the need to clutch her heart; the shock was too great and too sudden, almost unbearable!
"Your Highness, didn't you say that all the common women in the capital were tiresome?" The steward stammered.
The Empress Dowager had never given up all these years, trying to bestow marriages upon the Prince several times, but he had disliked every one of them.
Now the Prince was twenty, and the prospect of a Princess Consort of Jin seemed distant and hopeless, yet suddenly there was a fiancée?
Good heavens, who could believe this!
"Mm, I met one who isn't so vulgar." Prince Jin sat down.
"Is it Second Miss Lu from the Lu Manor?" Nanny Qing's eyes lit up. "Did Your Highness take a fancy to her?"
Prince Jin tapped his finger lightly on the table and shook his head.
"She took a fancy to this Prince and actively sought to marry me," he said.
Even fainting, she fell directly into his arms.
Lu Zhaoling: My reputation is ruined.
Nanny Qing clutched her racing heart. "Is it Master Lu Ming's manor? This old servant has seen his three young misses, and my impression was quite ordinary."
Your Highness, you wouldn't have a peculiar taste, would you?
Moreover, besides the eldest miss, the other two were a second daughter and a concubine's daughter. A concubine's daughter from Master Lu's family wanting to be Prince Jin's consort? Their statuses were too far apart!
"Reportedly, she ranks second, the second miss."
"That girl's words and actions are cultivated like a concubine's daughter, looking very petty, Your Highness—" Nanny Qing was almost in tears. "Would you reconsider?"
Prince Jin chuckled.
"Nanny, she is the second miss who just returned to the capital from the countryside. You probably haven't met her."
"Raised in the countryside?" Nanny Qing first sighed in relief, then her heart tightened again. Master Lu had another child raised in the countryside?
"Leave this matter to you. I will rest for a while, then enter the palace and ask the Emperor to bestow a marriage." Prince Jin said, his finger caressing his chest.
There, a cool hand had once touched him.
That girl who said she could save his life—
She was rather interesting.
"Your Highness, Physician Fu is here."
Prince Jin looked at Physician Fu, who hurried in.
"This old servant greets Your Highness!"
Physician Fu, who had been rather irritable and arrogant in front of the Lu family, almost shed tears when he saw Prince Jin.
He had thought he would never live to see the day Prince Jin returned to the capital, but unexpectedly, he not only lived to see it, but he wouldn't die either!
"Physician Fu, long time no see, are you well?"
"Replying to Your Highness, originally I was not well, but now I am doing quite alright!" Physician Fu said excitedly.
Prince Jin was startled. "Oh?"
Physician Fu stepped closer. The steward and Nanny Qing were observant, and both retreated simultaneously.
With no one else in the room, Physician Fu's expression became serious.
"Your Highness, did you know of Miss Lu's special nature before sending me to treat her injuries?" He thought, Prince Jin was already so cold-hearted in his youth, how could he be so kind?
"Special?" Prince Jin looked at him.
Could it be that Physician Fu also needed her help?
"That's not just special, it's profound! I've been bewildered this entire journey."
Physician Fu recounted the events in detail, reaching up to press his forehead.
"If it were anyone else, I would never believe it, but this happened to me personally. I truly and distinctly felt my head and body lighten considerably; my head doesn't hurt at all anymore!"
Prince Jin's eyes darkened slightly as he watched him.
Physician Fu's white beard trembled with excitement.
"Normally, it would have been quite strenuous for me to even step over a threshold these past two days, but Your Highness, guess what? Just now, entering the Prince's Mansion gate, this old man almost skipped in!"
His old arms and legs felt so much lighter that he couldn't ignore it.
He repeatedly replayed Lu Zhaoling's actions in his mind, calling them profound.
"This matter is not to be spread for now," Prince Jin said in a low voice.
His curiosity about Lu Zhaoling had deepened even further.
"Understood. However, Your Highness, let it be said first, Miss Lu has saved this old man's life, so I must protect her from now on."
Prince Jin looked at old Physician Fu's clearly protective expression and gave a wry smile.
"That girl is quite remarkable, in less than a day back in the capital, she's found herself two powerful patrons."
Even old Physician Fu, who wasn't known for his good temper, now looked as if he would fight to the death anyone who dared to bully her.
Truly impressive.
Physician Fu specifically told him this, also hinting that he shouldn't bully the girl either, right?
Physician Fu then spoke of the Lu family.
"The Lu Ming family abandoned Miss Lu in the countryside for ten years, neglecting her. This time, when they brought her back to the capital, their attitude towards her was still very malicious, and they even assigned her a dilapidated room!"
"Dilapidated room?"
Physician Fu immediately described in vivid detail how badly the Lu family had treated her, laying a thorough accusation.
No one knew better than him how petty and vengeful this man before him was. The Lu Ming family had offended him, and they would definitely not have a good outcome later!
"However, Miss Lu is truly clever. Even though she was still weak, she knew to leverage this old man's influence to make them change her room. It's just that her injuries are too severe, and she truly can't manage without a meticulous attendant."
He hadn't even mentioned that the injuries were clearly fatal.
Nor
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