Sowing a seed of doubt 2

Everyone loosened up once Madam Wang and Wang Shiyi had left. Madam Lu was very fond of both of her nieces, she quickly introduced them to her youngest child Lu Yiling.

Madam Xu was Madam Lu's First cousin from her maternal side. They had both grew up together and were close friends. Xu Qiumei and her mum visited the residence often so Lu Yiling and Xu Qiumei were very close.

The introduction was more for Zhu Fenfang's benefit, this was her first time meeting Xu Qiumei and Lu Yiling. Madam Lu was Zhu Fenfang maternal aunt, She and her late mother He Xiaoqi were both sisters from different mothers.

He Xiaoqi was the concubine daughter of the previous Imperial Secretary. After her marriage to the Zhu family, He Xiaoqi and Madam Lu both lost touch with each other. The futures of both daughters of the He family was very different, one was a duchess of a powerful family while the other was a lovely concubine of a first rank minister.

Madam Lu and He Xiaoqi were close growing up, however, after He Xiaoqi's marriage, their relationship was strained. Madam Lu was so caught up with the Lu family's dealings that she failed to pay attention to her youngest sister. She was very sad when she heard about He Xiaoqi's death.

However because she was still in confinement after giving birth, she couldn't attend the funeral but had sent over a representative. She had only discovered Zhu Fenfang's existence a few ago after she saved her life.

She felt a little responsible for He Xiaoqi since she was the one that introduced her to Zhu Yawen. Back then she had thought highly of Zhu Yawen before everything went sour. Zhu Yawen was an honest man who thought for the people, She introduced them both because she thought he was a good man and would take good care of her sister.

Now many years later, she regretted her decisions back then, Zhu Yawen was not the man she thought him to be. He was a power-hungry and manipulative man who had no bottom line. She didn't want to fail Zhu Fenfang the same way she failed her mother. This was the reason behind her decision to push for Zhu Fenfang to marry Yaozhu in place of Xu Qiumei.

Lu Yiling had been skeptical about this new cousin of hers, even after hearing her mother sing her many good qualities. While she trusted her mother's judgement, she knew never to trust the facade put on by any young lady of the noble class.

They were all actresses, who would put on any act to archive their goals. A good example was this new sister-in-law of hers Zhu Fengyin, who in the capital wasn't aware of her undying love for the sixth prince. Zhu Fengyin loyalty to the sixth prince was her only good quality in Lu Yiling's eyes.

She heard quite a few colourful things about this Zhu Fengyin and the Zhu family as a whole so she didn't have much of an expectation from Zhu Fenfang. That was until she met Zhu Fenfang, she never expected Zhu Fenfang to be the same kind young lady in white that she had witnessed risk her life to save the little girl a few weeks ago.

She had been coming back home from their home town and had stopped by Wu-Tang bakery to buy a few of her mother's favourite pastries when she witnessed the driver lose control of the houses. The carriage was headed straight to the young girl when she saw a beautiful young lady in the white rush out of her carriage.

The lady in white picked up the little girl and ran to the side, she was about to hit the ground when the crown Prince held them up. It was like a scene out of a book, she could only stand and watch. She remembered thinking how beautiful and selfless the lady in white was.

She even wished she could befriend such a heroic female, who was both beautiful and kind. She never would've thought that her hero would end up being her future sister-in-law. She was happy to find out and quickly decided to befriend Zhu Fenfang.

As soon as her mother asked her to see Zhu Fenfang off, she quickly jumped at the opportunity to get closer to her.

*******

Meanwhile at Su Liya's end.

Su Liya ran out of the main courtyard, embarrassed. She didn't know how to face the very proper Lu Yingjie and was even scared of getting punished by him. This wasn't the minister's residence, Duke Lu residence was a lot stricter.

Zhu Fengyin didn't have a strong foothold and wouldn't be able to save her if she got into trouble. Duke Lu was very strict and never tolerated any misbehaviour from servants, her little act could get her flogged to death.

Even though She lived a tough life in the past, it was nothing compared to the tough life faced by servants in the past. Su Liya increased her speed at the thought of receiving a thorough flogging by the department of labour.

Su Liya ran into another scarier Lu man, Lu Yaozhu. Her feet got caught on a tree trunk, she was running at full speed and swiftly fell forward.

"Ahh!!" she exclaimed falling forward. She shut her eyes tightly as she fell forward, she hit a warm solid chest knocking them both to the ground.

Su Liya grabbed onto his clothes as they fell, she heard a "Tire" sound as they fell to the ground. She lay on his hard chest for a few seconds, the solid chest rumbled as Lu Yaozhu cleared his throat.

"Oh no!" said Su Liya as she quickly pulled away from the warm chests. She locked eyes with Lu Yaozhu, "Ahhh!". She pulled away quickly, rolled away and sat on the ground next to him. Her eyes opened wide like a scared rapid.

Lu Yaozhu laughed softly when he saw her expression. He stood and stretched out his hands to help her up.