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Chapter 743 The Night Is Not Yet Over [Third Update]

Before she could even tighten the knot around her waist, Lu Qing, who had come up to her, grabbed her fingers and pulled it away from her waist.

"Don't pinch me, or I'll have to take the blame for it if I get bruised." He looked at Zhu Yu with a smile, then pulled her into the room, carefully closed the door, and then pulled her to the table.

A layer of red silk embroidered with gold thread had been placed on the table at some point, and the candlelight of the red candlesticks on it flickered slightly within the equally red gauze cover. On the table, there were several kinds of pastries with auspicious names on red porcelain plates, and another plate mixed with candied dates, candied lotus seeds, peanuts, longan and the like.

There was also a pot next to it, with a handle wrapped in red silk thread, and two wine glasses connected together with red silk thread next to the pot.

Zhu Yu was a little stunned. She deliberately turned her head to look at the bed and found that the bed where she had taken a nap that afternoon had now been covered with a bright red brocade quilt.

Isn't this a perfect wedding room?

"This..." If Zhu Yu still didn't understand by now, then her brain was a bit too dull. "You went out this afternoon, sneaking around and hiding it from me, just to set up this?"

“Last time it was an imperial marriage, and everything was arranged by someone. This time, I didn’t want to disturb anyone, so I had to buy things here and there myself.” Lu Qing smiled bitterly and nodded. “Recently, things have been quite unsettled in the capital. People are in a state of panic, and there are hardly any weddings. It was not easy to gather all these ordinary things.”

"You yourself said it, the last time the Emperor bestowed a marriage upon us." Zhu Yu looked at everything before her, her heart trembling slightly, and her voice sounded somewhat different from usual, "Why go through all this trouble again..."

“It’s different.” Lu Qing smiled as she looked at Zhu Yu, picked up a jujube from the plate next to her and fed it to Zhu Yu. “When the marriage was arranged, neither of us had a choice; it wasn’t a choice we made willingly.”

But this time it's different.

I am still just an ordinary citizen; we were not forced together by an imperial decree.

Tonight truly marks the beginning of our hearts being united, and our marriage.

Looking into Lu Qing's eyes, Zhu Yu couldn't tell whether the sweetness in her mouth or in her heart was greater.

The clear, bright wine poured out of the wine pot like silver threads, falling into the two white jade wine cups. The white jade was crystal clear, making the red silk threads tied to it appear even more vibrant.

Lu Qing picked up the two wine glasses and handed one to Zhu Yu. His fingertips were warm, and the warmth seemed to quickly transfer to Zhu Yu's body through the touch of their fingers.

Zhu Yu brought the wine glass to her lips, about to drink, when Lu Qing gently grasped her wrist: "If you drink this wine, I will be your husband. It has nothing to do with an arranged marriage; it's the kind of marriage you've chosen to spend your whole life with."

Zhu Yu looked directly into his eyes and drank the wine in his cup in one gulp.

Lu Qing's smile deepened. He downed the nuptial wine in his glass in one gulp, his gaze intense: "Once I've made my choice, I won't let go."

Before Zhu Yu could speak, Lu Qing picked her up and carried her step by step toward the bed.

The tassels on the bed were untied and slid to the ground with a soft rustling. The crimson gauze bed curtains tilted down like flowing water, separating the room from the candlelight and obscuring a scene of romance.

As the third watch of the night passed, the candle flame on the table flickered and slowly went out, leaving only a wisp of smoke drifting away into the darkness. The night was deep.

The night is still young.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Yan Daoxin reappeared, it was three days later. He yawned and sleepily ran to the main courtyard to find Lu Qing and Zhu Yu, who were playing chess in the study.

He moved closer and saw two people engrossed in playing a game on a hexagonal chessboard, each with several strange cone-shaped chess pieces in front of them.

Yan Daoxin watched curiously from the side for a while: "What kind of trick is this? It sounds like a game of passing around, but it's not quite the same."

“Zhu Yu said this thing is called checkers. You can indeed jump and flip pieces when you move them. The name is quite fitting.” Lu Qing said while fiddling with the pieces in his hand. “I overheard her mention it once when I was out. I had nothing to do these past two days, so I made a set based on what she said.”

"The name is straightforward and easy to understand." Yan Daoxin watched from the side and asked Zhu Yu with great interest, "So this checkers is a little game that you Shuo people play to pass the time on a daily basis?"

"I guess so." Zhu Yu touched his nose with a slightly guilty look.

She was fine when she touched her nose, but as soon as she did, the cinnabar that her fingertips had just picked up from the red chess piece accidentally rubbed onto it, and the tip of her nose immediately turned red.

Lu Qing chuckled, took out a handkerchief, and gently wiped the cinnabar off Zhu Yu's nose. "This thing is really too simple. How about I find a stonemason later and have him choose different colored stones to make another set of chess pieces?"

The action itself was nothing special, but when her gaze met Lu Qing's dark eyes, some still fresh memories were inexplicably stirred up, and the color of vermilion spread from the tip of her nose to her cheeks.

"Mm." Zhu Yu nodded in response.

"Then you should also ask the stonemason to make another set. I'll learn how to play with it from you guys later, and when I go back, I'll take it back to Shanqing Temple to give to my master to amuse him!"

Master always plays chess or Go, it's nice to change things up once in a while. Yan Daoxin found this thing increasingly novel. After speaking with Lu Qing, he looked up and saw Zhu Yu's rosy cheeks. She looked towards the door in confusion, "The wind can't blow in, so how come your face is all red?"
Could it be that he caught a cold these past few days?!

Zhu Yu was somewhat amused and exasperated, while Lu Qing could only look helplessly at Yan Daoxin and sigh.

However, he did later instruct a stonemason to polish two identical sets of chess pieces and chessboards, pack them in a brocade box, and then take them to his master, Qiyun Shanren.

The three of them ate together that night. Yan Daoxin had slept for more than two days and was starving. He wolfed down his food as if he wanted to make up for all the food he had missed in the past few days.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Lu Qing and Zhu Yu finally found an opportunity to talk to him.

"When I first saw His Majesty in the main hall that day, I was startled." Zhu Yu took the freshly poured warm tea from Lu Qing and couldn't help but sigh, "I thought his health had deteriorated to that extent."

Fortunately, after Ishaan was captured, His Majesty changed completely, appearing full of energy. Only then did I realize that his previous demeanor was all an act.

Yan Daoxin looked up at her and put down her chopsticks: "Do you really think... he's faking it?"