Sowing a seed of doubt 3

Lu Yaozhu laughed softly when he saw her expression. He stood and stretched out his hands to help her up. Su Liya silently looked from his slender long fingers to his handsome scared face. She didn't know what to make his sudden action.

She was clearly at fault, why was he treating her so well. After going through so much pain in the Emperor's hands, Lu Yaozhu had gotten quite suspicious. He never even let any woman close to him, he always treated any woman that tried to harshly.

She didn't understand why he was treating her differently. However, while she was suspicious of his actions, she still needed to get up. After weighing her options, she decided to concede and placed her hands in his.

Her slim hands looked small and delicate on his hands. Lu Yaozhu rubbed his thumb on her knuckle gently, his eyes creased as he smiled. A few seconds later he held her hands firmly and pulled her up.

There was just a small distance between them both. Su Liya was so petite, she was at eye level with his chest. She blushed when she saw the small tear on his coat. She looked down at her feet and shyly muttered "Thanks for helping me up General".

"no need" Lu Yaozhu stepped back to get a broader view of her "Are you hurt anywhere?" he asked.

Su Liya made a quick survey of her body and everything looked intact. There wasn't an injury in sight, apart from getting a little sand on her gown. She looked okay, Su Liya shook her head and replied "No I am good".

"That is good", replied Lu Yaozhu. There were some sticks and leaves stuck on Su Liya's hair, he picked out a few from them and dropped them on the floor.

This was the scene Lu Yiling and Zhu Fenfang saw as they walked to the front doors. Lu Yiling had been asking Zhu Fenfang about a few of the noble families in the capital. She had been so caught up with their conversation that she wasn't looking forward.

She had taken a few steps forward when she noticed that Zhu Fenfang and her maid were lagging behind. Lu Yiling paused confused by the awkward silence from her companions. She turned around slowly and discovered that everyone's gaze was focused on the right.

Lu Yiling took a step back and followed their gaze "Oh no!" she whispered as she watched her sister-in-law's maid, skillfully fall into her brother's embrace. Lu Yiling immediately felt embarrassed, of all the times this social climber would carry out her plans, it just has to be now. while her future sister-in-law was visiting.

She quickly rushed forward and held Zhu Fenfang's arm. "Sister Fenfang why are you dallying! There are still a few things I want to show you let's go", Lu Yiling said dragging her forward.

Zhu Fenfang noticed her actions but pretended otherwise. This young Mistress was still wet around the ears. Here she was trying to force her away from the scene, how amusing. Zhu Fenfang didn't have any thoughts for Lu Yaozhu so she didn't care about anything he did.

The Lu family were merely a means to achieve her goal so she was forced to give them some face. This was the most interesting thing, she had ever seen throughout her visit to the Lu family residence.

While she couldn't care less about what Lu Yaozhu was up to, she had no qualms about using him to punish Su Liya. Su Liya was so high and mighty that day in the garden, Zhu Fenfang wanted to teach her a lesson.

Luckily Su Liya was already notorious among the maids for her shameless flirting with the young masters. Zhu Fenfang didn't have to do much to deal with her. Lu Yiling was too naive and lacked the apt shrewdness most young ladies processed, She was just ripe for use.

Before getting into her waiting carriage, Lu Yiling held on to Zhu Fenfang's arm once more and said "please don't take what you saw at the garden to heart Sister Fenfang. My brother didn't mean anything of that level"

Zhu Fenfang placed her hands on Lu Yiling's and gave her gentle pant, She smiled softly and said "you don't need to explain further sister Yiling, I understand. General Lu is a well-known official with a clean reputation, he isn't the sort to do that. It's just that_ no there is no need to say more".

"Say more about what? Sister Fenfang, we are family. Please feel free to speak your mind"Lu Yiling replied quickly. She suspected that Zhu Fenfang wanted to say more but was worried about how she would take it.

Lu Yiling wasn't familiar with Zhu Fengyin and Su Liya but Zhu Fenfang was. After what she had just seen, she was more convinced that her mother was right about that sister-in-law of hers. If her maid dare do something like that then Zhu Fengyin was an opponent she had to be careful around

Zhu Fenfang acted reluctant before finally speaking "It is not my place to say this but I fear that I must. It is about Su Liya, elder sister's maid. This is something that I don't think even my elder sister is aware of, I only found out by chance but since you insisted I will say it.

"You have to be careful about Su Liya, I have heard on so many accounts that she likes to get close with the young Masters. I even heard that she was nearly married into the Sun military house as a concubine"

"What!"

"Yes, Ninth young Master of the Sun family was enchanted by her during a banquet and requested for her hand, but big Madam Sun refused. If she didn't, Su Liya would've been married into that family. Please don't fault elder sister for her actions, it's just that She is too trusting and isn't aware of her maid's true colours"

Lu Yiling's heart grew cold as soon as she heard that. She found it hard to believe that Zhu Fengyin wasn't aware of her maid's reputation but she acted otherwise. Lu Yiling and Zhu Fenfang said a few more words before the carriage left.

As soon as she got back into the house, the smile on Lu Yiling's face slipped and she said to her maid "Zhiliu have someone investigate that Su Liya's origin and the rest. I want to know everything about her".