Raising a wife? The mistress of the Hou family divorced and remarried her younger uncle

Chapter 244 Frankness
A familiar voice, chilling Su Qingwan to the bone, suddenly drifted from outside the private room. In an instant, Su Qingwan felt her body stiffen, and for a moment, she even wondered if she was hallucinating.

But when she subconsciously tilted her head slightly, that incredibly familiar face suddenly came into view.

Lu Jing was dressed in a sky-blue wide-sleeved robe with a jade belt around his waist, exuding the elegant demeanor of a refined scholar.

However, the murderous aura that had been cultivated in the Embroidered Uniform Guard over the years was like a hidden blade, which would reveal its sharpness unexpectedly. The name "Jade-faced Yama" was indeed well-deserved.

His gaze, sharp as a hawk's, fell directly on Su Qingwan. The invisible pressure in his eyes instantly reminded Su Qingwan of the harrowing knife wound she suffered at the Nanfeng Tower when they reunited in Kyoto, and a faint pain seemed to rise in her chest again.

Oh no! Su Qingwan thought to herself, realizing she was in trouble. She had no time to hide her face, nor could she deny the fact that she had once been his elder sister-in-law. Green Bamboo was standing at the door of the private room, looking completely lost, her face filled with the panic of someone whose world had collapsed.

"Why would Your Highness come to Huainan?" Xi Lin Yongxuan was equally surprised and hurriedly stood up and bowed respectfully.

Since the young emperor ascended the throne, the peace talks have been jointly promoted by Lu Jing and the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies. At the negotiating table, Xi Lin Yongxuan and Lu Jing often engaged in heated debates, each refusing to yield, for the sake of their respective countries' interests. After several exchanges, they had become quite familiar with each other.

"I have important business to attend to in Huainan!" Lu Jing replied to Xi Lin Yongxuan, but his piercing gaze seemed glued to Su Qingwan's face, never leaving her for a moment.

Su Qingwan forced herself to remain calm, casually picked up her teacup, and took a small sip of tea, but inside she felt like a war drum was beating.

She truly hadn't expected Lu Jing to appear in Huainan. When Chen Feng mentioned Lu Jing's departure from the capital, she hadn't entirely ruled out the possibility that he might come to Huainan.

However, Huainan is a long way away, and even at full speed, a round trip would take more than twenty days. Moreover, although Lu Jing, as the regent, has risen rapidly thanks to the late emperor's favor, his power base is not yet secure. How could he dare to leave the capital so easily?
Seeing the extremely strange atmosphere between Lu Jing and Su Qingwan, Xi Lin Yongxuan knew that Lu Jing had probably overheard their conversation.

He pondered to himself how to politely take his leave and avoid this tense situation.

Lu Jing suddenly spoke up: "Second Prince, have you eaten?"

These words were clearly a blunt order to leave.

Xi Lin Yongxuan glanced at Su Qingwan subconsciously. To be honest, he was actually a little curious and wanted to stay and see how the two of them would clash.

Judging from Lu Jing's posture, he seemed eager to fight the princess immediately; this would be quite a spectacle. Unfortunately, after wielding great power, the regent naturally exuded an air of absolute authority, and Xilin Yongxuan didn't want to easily provoke him and invite trouble.

"Princess, thank you for your hospitality. Let's talk another day!" Xilin Yongxuan was quite sensible, and with a polite smile on his face, he calmly took his leave.

Green Bamboo, Qingyun, and the others were pacing anxiously outside the private room, like ants on a hot plate. Just then, Li An suddenly blurted out, "Sister Green Bamboo, you're so unethical! You ate so many of my snacks and then lied to me!"

"Shut up!" Green Bamboo snapped angrily.

The next second, Lu Jing raised his hand and slammed the door of the private room shut, blocking the curious gazes of the people outside. Seeing this, Green Bamboo was anxious and wanted to rush in immediately, but Li An grabbed her arm. Qingyun, on the other hand, seemed much calmer. She thought to herself, this is Huainan territory. So what if Lu Jing is the Regent? He can't possibly cause any trouble here!

Lu Jing stared intently at Su Qingwan, who remained calm and composed, the anger in his chest almost uncontrollable. He had previously only guessed that Su Qingwan might be his elder sister-in-law, but seeing her with his own eyes and hearing it with his own ears was still a shock he found hard to accept.

No wonder! No wonder he always felt that his elder sister-in-law and the princess had many similarities.

No matter how hard Su Qingwan tried to act, a person's habits, preferences, and temperament are ultimately difficult to completely conceal. Several times, he vaguely sensed some clues, but each time Su Qingwan cleverly managed to deceive him.

After all, the two were from completely different backgrounds. His sister-in-law had married his brother several years ago. At that time, he met the princess in the southwest. Lu Jing could never have imagined that they would be the same person.

During Su Qingwan's time in the Lu family, she stirred up trouble and caused chaos throughout the entire family.

She killed Li Xueying, crippled her brother, and plunged the Lu family into a quagmire of rumors and gossip. If it weren't for his efforts to turn the tide, and the fact that Su Qingwan also needed his help, the Lu family would likely have already suffered extermination. In Su Qingwan's eyes, her hatred for Li Xueying was one of irreconcilable enmity.

But that wasn't all. She even disguised herself as a princess and entered into a marriage agreement with him! Each and every one of these things was like a sharp blade, piercing Lu Jing's heart with pain.

"What should I call you? Princess, or sister-in-law?" Lu Jing asked coldly, looking down at Su Qingwan. It was June in Huainan City, the weather was hot and there wasn't a breath of wind, but this small private room felt like late autumn, filled with a bone-chilling cold.

Su Qingwan was well aware of Lu Jing's anger at this moment. Anyone would be furious if they were deceived like this, especially since she had left without saying goodbye and was determined never to see him again in this life.

"Your brother and I are divorced, so let's not try to claim kinship anymore." Su Qingwan suppressed the turmoil in her heart, her tone as cold as ice. No matter how turbulent her heart was, she tried her best to pretend to be calm, after all, she had long been used to pretending over the years.

"The dignified Princess of Huainan is indeed beyond the reach of our Lu family!" Lu Jing snorted coldly, lifted his robe, and slowly sat down opposite her. Memories of the past surged through his mind like a tidal wave, ultimately transforming into a heart full of resentment.

Her initial agreement to marry him was merely a temporary measure, as she was only focused on escaping the capital. In her heart, what did an imperial decree-arranged marriage mean? To her, Lu Jing was probably less than an ant, and she could abandon him without hesitation.

“Your Highness, things have come to this, so I will not hide it from you!” Su Qingwan took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the trembling in her heart. “I was once your elder sister-in-law, which is known to everyone in the capital. I bear a deep-seated hatred and wholeheartedly want to clear Huainan’s name. All the things I have concealed were out of helplessness, not intentional deception. It was simply due to the circumstances that I had no choice but to do so. I hope you will not hold a grudge.”

"You're quite frank!" Lu Jing's lips curled into a cold smile. "But I just don't understand, why did you have to come into the manor and impersonate your sister-in-law?"

"How is it that I entered the manor pretending to be your sister-in-law? Maybe four years ago, it was I who married your brother, and I've been your sister-in-law from the very beginning?" Su Qingwan's voice grew colder, deliberately provoking him like this. Her sister's tragic death in the Lu family was a wound in her heart that could never heal, a knot in her heart that she could never get over.

“Fine, then consider that you really were my sister-in-law before, and now you’re divorced!” Lu Jing was quite straightforward, seemingly not caring about this. “Then let’s have a proper talk about what happened between you and me.”

"Lu Jing, stop dreaming! You already know what's going on!" Su Qingwan's face instantly turned cold, no longer bothering to feign concern. "The Prince of Huainan's mansion had a pair of twin beauties who narrowly escaped the extermination of their clan. My elder sister married into the Lu family. She lived there for three years, dignified and virtuous, yet ultimately died there. I witnessed her death firsthand, cruelly murdered by Li Xueying, and her body was even desecrated after death. If it weren't for Lin Shi's greed for wealth, if it weren't for Lu Feng's desire to climb the social ladder by leveraging the Li family's power, if it weren't for their tacit approval, how could Li Xueying have dared to be so audacious as to commit such a heinous act against my sister? I only demanded Li Xueying pay with her life, sparing Lu Feng's life—that's already more than enough. From this day forward, there will be absolutely no connection between me and your Lu family!"