Your Highness, your wife has had her virginity mark applied and married someone else.

Even when extremely angry, a person can laugh.

Shen Mingshu had long guessed that Lu Youyou was unreliable and would cause trouble sooner or later, but she never expected that in the very first incident, she would go against her conscience and use her as a scapegoat!

Her only status was that of a page! To make her bear the blame for slacking off and harming her master, she wouldn't be punished with a whip, but with a stick!

Ten blows and even Wei Yuan would be bedridden for half a month! And she might even be expelled from the academy! She wouldn't even be able to recover from her injuries!

The mistake she made was that she couldn't even bear the thought of kneeling and copying books!

This ignorance is truly arrogant and vicious!

A cold glint flashed in Shen Mingshu's eyes. Zhang San saw her to the door and gave her a sympathetic look.

In his eyes, Shen Mingshu was truly facing a double whammy.

The punishment was personally handled by Wei Ziye, and he even managed to slack off when that little devil from the Lu family caught him in the act.

This academy is truly her nemesis.

Shen Mingshu was unsure of herself and kept recalling whether there was any evidence to prove that Lu Youyou had forcibly taken the package.

In the end, she sadly discovered that her perceived compliance had caused her to miss the opportunity to be wary.

"Why not go in?"

A warm and clear voice came from inside the door, as gentle as an evening breeze.

Shen Mingshu's heart skipped a beat. Why did that voice sound so familiar?

She slowly pushed open the door, and upon seeing the person inside, she froze on the spot.

The headmaster of Qingyun Academy is actually Lu Yanzhi.

Shen Mingshu's gaze fell on Lu Youyou, whose eyes were wet with tears—no wonder she was so scared.

"You, you tell me now!" Lu Youyou knelt on the ground, surrounded by piles of waste paper, sobbing as she looked at her, forcefully ordering her.

"You were being lazy, that's why you asked me to bring your package in! Wasn't that right?!"

Shen Mingshu's eyelids twitched. Seeing this situation, she really didn't know how to start the conversation.

"Shut up!" Lu Yanzhi's gentle eyes flashed with anger, but he restrained himself greatly because Shen Mingshu was present. "You trespassed into the academy and barged into the warm pavilion. Do you have any manners at all?!"

"I told you he tricked me into going in! I didn't do it on purpose! How was I supposed to know there were other people inside!"

Lu Youyou cried loudly, wiping away her tears, looking extremely aggrieved.

"I've never even been inside! Who knew you were so stingy! You don't even have a private room for changing clothes, waaaaah—"

"You still have the nerve to cry!" Lu Yanzhi felt a vein throb on his forehead when he saw her like this.

He rubbed his forehead, looked at Shen Mingshu, and asked with a hint of helplessness, "Mingzhu, tell me, did you lie to her?"

"I--"

As soon as Shen Mingshu opened her mouth, Lu Youyou's tearful eyes immediately glared at her!

It's as if to say, "If you don't take the blame, you're dead!"

This is indeed the case.

After the Lu family rose to prominence, who in the capital didn't know that Lu Youyou was fearless except for her own brother, Lu Yanzhi?

If it were anyone else, Shen Mingshu might have firmly defended herself.

But the person in front of her was Lu Yanzhi, the most refined gentleman in the capital. Even if she confessed, he would only treat her as if she had been wronged and let the matter rest.

Shen Mingshu pursed her lips and silently looked at Wei Yuan, who had remained silent all along.

He was more honest than Lu Youyou; kneeling beside her, he had already copied most of it.

He only stopped writing the moment Shen Mingshu entered the room, and silently watched her.

"Mingzhu, tell the truth."

He just said that, but Lu Youyou became even more nervous.

She really just followed her girlfriends' advice to check on Wei Yuan's health beforehand; she wasn't being indecent for no reason, and she certainly didn't have a voyeuristic fetish!

But if Shen Mingshu were to expose her, how could she possibly stay by Wei Yuan's side any longer!

Shen Mingshu must never tell the truth!

Lu Youyou got up from the ground and angrily grabbed Shen Mingshu by the collar.

Although he was not as tall as her, his voice was loud and shrill.

"Say it! Say you lied to me! Say you're a cunning and deceitful liar!"

Shen Mingshu lowered her eyes, frowning as she stared at her: "Calm down!"

In that brief eye contact, she could clearly sense Wei Yuan's unhappiness.

Before Shen Mingshu could even think about why he was unhappy, Lu Youyou slapped her in a panic and roared!

"You're the one who lied to me! You bitch! I'll make you admit it!"

"Yo yo!"

"Singing Bamboo!"

Lu Yanzhi and Wei Yuan quickly stepped forward, one pulling and the other protecting.

Shen Mingshu turned her face to the side, her cheeks burning. When she turned her head again, she saw that the person protecting her was Lu Yanzhi's back.

The frost on her face froze for a moment, and Shen Mingshu looked at Wei Yuan, who was holding Lu Youyou, in disbelief: "You—"

Wei Yuan didn't have time to check Shen Mingshu's expression. He cupped his hands to Lu Yanzhi and spoke calmly.

"Headmaster, Youyou is too emotional, and Mingzhu is unwilling to speak. Perhaps we should ask tomorrow if there are any other witnesses?"

Lu Yanzhi glared at Lu Youyou, his anger finally reaching its peak: "You did something wrong but didn't dare admit it, and then you hurt someone for no reason! Lu Youyou! You get home and be punished!"

"I don't—uh!"

Wei Yuan covered Lu Youyou's mouth and nodded for her: "I'll go see her off."

Lu Yanzhi suppressed his anger and waved his hand.

Wei Yuan then had a chance to look at Shen Mingshu.

His gaze fell on the scratches on her cheek, and after a pause, his voice softened slightly: "Mingzhu, would you like to go back to the courtyard and wait for me?"

"I still have something to ask her," Lu Yanzhi said at the right moment. "You should take her home first."

Wei Yuan then realized that Lu Yanzhi seemed to be protecting Shen Mingshu.

He frowned involuntarily, but said nothing more. He took Lu Youyou's hand and walked past Shen Mingshu. He looked at her with her head down and silent, and seemed hesitant to speak.

But Lu Youyou's warning came even before his concern.

"If you dare to speak nonsense in front of my brother, I will definitely not let you off!"

"Tsk!"

Lu Yanzhi turned around, and Lu Youyou immediately pulled Wei Yuan away.

As Shen Mingshu watched the two figures disappear into the distance, her trembling fingertips belatedly touched the wound on her face.

It really hurts—

……

"I'm sorry, I spoiled her."

When Lu Yanzhi is with Shen Mingshu, he seems like a completely different person.

She was furious before, but now she's all tender and gentle.

He took a bottle of medicine from the cabinet: "Does it hurt? This can relieve the pain and won't leave a scar."

Shen Mingshu looked at the medicine in his hand without saying anything.

Lu Yanzhi then asked, "Can I... apply the medicine for you?"

Shen Mingshu then raised her eyes, her gaze clear and bright: "Young Master Lu, this is inappropriate. Please speak plainly about what's on your mind."

Lu Yanzhi's face stiffened, and Qingya looked dejected: "I'm sorry, I thought we were old acquaintances."

"Wei Ziye hates me." Shen Mingshu's voice was faint and somewhat soft.

Lu Yanzhi and Wei Ziye were once good friends.

Wei Ziye also had a morbid possessiveness towards her. The two were together for four years, and Shen Mingshu only had nodding acquaintances with his friends.

Lu Yanzhi was one of the more taciturn ones. He would only use concise and refined words to praise Shen Mingshu when she produced poems or essays that interested him.

The last time the two met was when Zhang Yu arranged for him to become Shen Mingshu's "lover," allowing Wei Ziye to witness him rescuing Shen Mingshu from drowning.

At that time, Shen Mingshu mistook him for Wei Ziye, hugged him, and kissed him for a while.

Unfortunately, after being caught, he fled in such a panic that he left her alone to face Wei Ziye's wrath, not even daring to look back at her.

Lu Yanzhi said with a guilty look, "It was my fault back then. I thought Ziye wouldn't believe such a clumsy scheme, so I left without explaining to him. I never expected... that this would lead to this situation between the two of you."

"After learning that you jumped into the river, I went to explain to him, but I didn't expect that he had already found out that it was Lady Hou who deliberately instigated it. I'm sorry..."

This incident was merely a trigger; even without it, her relationship with Wei Ziye was destined to end badly.

Shen Mingshu lowered her eyes and shook her head: "That's all in the past. I'm already very grateful that Young Master Lu isn't kicking me out of the academy. Medicine is precious, but my minor injury will be healed by tomorrow. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."

"Ah Shu!"

Lu Yanzhi grabbed Shen Mingshu's wrist, looking at her aloof profile, a sense of anxiety rising within him: "Are you still blaming me? What can I do to make amends?"