Chapter 821
Meeting the Emperor
Cui Wenying was about to speak when she saw the Pei family father and son looking at her with great fear. Cui Wenying turned her head and saw her husband, Lu Zhenyuan, walking towards them, followed by their daughter, Lu Wan'er, Sun Weiwei, and Li Qingshi.
Upon seeing Lu Zhenyuan and Lu Wan'er, the Pei father and son were terrified. They covered their heads and retreated repeatedly, shouting, "Ghost...ghost!"
The three Lu brothers were overjoyed to see their father, Lu Zhenyuan, and sister, Lu Wan'er. They rushed to their father and sister and exclaimed with great surprise, "Father, sister, you're still alive?"
Lu Zhenyuan nodded to his three sons and said, "Yes, we are still alive and well!"
The three brothers quickly looked their father and sister up and down, and found that they were both unharmed.
The third brother, Lu Yunqi, thought he was dreaming. He pinched his cheek and felt the pain before realizing that he was not dreaming and that it was all real!
Overwhelmed with joy, he wept as he spoke to his father and sister, his voice choked with emotion: "You have no idea how much pain we three brothers felt when we heard the news of your deaths. Thank goodness... thank goodness you are all still alive! But why did you do this?"
After saying that, he hugged his father and sister and said, "Alright, I know. I'm sorry to have troubled you three! I'll deal with this first, and then I'll talk to you three brothers about it properly later!"
Lu Yunqi nodded obediently to his father, Lu Zhenyuan, and then stepped aside.
Then Lu Zhenyuan walked directly up to Pei Chengyuan and said, "Lord Pei, how have you been?"
Upon hearing Lu Zhenyuan call his name, Pei Chengyuan was terrified and clutched his head, mumbling incoherently, "It wasn't me...it wasn't me, don't come after me!"
Lu Zhenyuan said, "Lord Pei, I never expected I could frighten you like this. Why didn't you do this sooner? Tell me, why did you frame me?"
Pei Chengyuan said in great fear, "Someone ordered me to do this. I don't know anything... I don't know anything!"
Lu Zhenyuan said to Pei Chengyuan, "Pei Chengyuan, I heard everything from behind. You were the one who ordered this to happen. How could you not know anything? Speak up! Otherwise, I will personally take you to see the Emperor!"
Upon hearing Lu Zhenyuan's words, Pei Chengyuan slowly turned his head to look at Lu Zhenyuan. He discovered that Lu Zhenyuan was now a living, breathing person, not the ghost he had imagined. He looked at Lu Zhenyuan with an incredulous expression and said, "How is this possible? How could you still be alive?"
Lu Zhenyuan said, "Aren't you finding it hard to understand how such a huge fire didn't burn me to death? Hehehe, maybe God thought my life wasn't meant to end, so He spared my life!"
Pei Chengyuan said, "Why? Why are you still alive and well!"
Lu Zhenyuan said, "Does my being alive prevent you from being competent for the position of general? Well, it is true, as long as I live, you will never be competent for the position of general!"
But then again, is the position of General really that important to you? Can you really disregard the years of friendship we've shared?
Pei Chengyuan said, "Yes, I, Pei Chengyuan, admit that I have received kindness from you, Lu Zhenyuan. But kindness is kindness, I just can't stand your high and mighty attitude. Why should I, Pei Chengyuan, have to take your orders? I refuse to accept it, and I will be above you!"
Lu Zhenyuan said to Pei Chengyuan, "I never thought that after all these years of treating you as a good brother, you would have such thoughts. You have truly disappointed me! Since you want my life, I don't want to say anything more. Let's go to the palace now to see the Emperor!"
Pei Chengyuan was instantly frightened upon hearing Lu Zhenyuan's words. Although Pei Chengyuan had connections in the palace, it was also true that he wanted to harm Lu Zhenyuan. If Lu Zhenyuan died unexpectedly, that would be one thing, but Lu Zhenyuan was still alive and well. If they went to see the emperor together, even if someone in the palace spoke up for them, the emperor, as the ruler of the country, would not openly favor him for the sake of his imperial power. Moreover, everyone had witnessed Lu Zhenyuan's dedication to the court.
The emperor would be even less likely to act arbitrarily in such a serious matter as plotting to murder Lu Zhenyuan. Even for the sake of his reputation as the ruler of the country, he would definitely punish him with the death penalty.
Thinking of this, Pei Chengyuan said to Lu Zhenyuan, "Lord Lu, if we go to see the Emperor now, I will surely be doomed. I beg you, for the sake of our many years of friendship, not to go to see the Emperor! How about we settle this matter privately?"
Upon hearing Pei Chengyuan's words, Lu Yunmin, the second son of the Lu family, and Lu Yunqi, the third son, sneered and said to Pei Chengyuan, "Lord Pei, you were so arrogant in front of us just now, saying all sorts of nasty things. What? You've chickened out now, even calling my father your brother. It's simply shameless and despicable behavior. My father would never have a brother who stabs you in the back!"
After they finished speaking, the two brothers saw that their father had not yet expressed his opinion and that he still had a very sad expression on his face. They thought that their father was really soft-hearted and was going to let Pei Chengyuan go, so they hurriedly said to their father, "Father, seeing how sad you are, you are not really going to let this villain Pei Chengyuan go, are you? He wanted to kill you! Father, you must think twice! This kind of villain cannot be allowed to live!"
Lu Zhenyuan looked at his two sons and said, "My sadness is merely a longing for past emotions. Since Pei Chengyuan has been so heartless to me, how can I remain indecisive?"
After Lu Zhenyuan finished speaking, he drew his long sword from his waist, cleanly and neatly cut off a corner of his clothes, threw it on the ground, and said, "From this day forward, I sever all ties with Pei Chengyuan. From now on, our Lu family and the Pei family will have no further connection. If we meet again, we will treat each other as enemies!"
Previously, when Pei Chengyuan was just a soldier in Lu Zhenyuan's army, once when Lu Zhenyuan led his troops to fight the enemy, Pei Chengyuan was accidentally captured by bandits. Lu Zhenyuan did not hesitate to exchange himself for Pei Chengyuan and rescue him from the enemy. However, he himself was taken back to the military camp by the enemy and almost lost his life. Fortunately, at night, when the enemy's guard was relaxed, Lu Zhenyuan was able to escape by chance thanks to his superb martial arts skills.
Because Lu Zhenyuan, a general of such rank, risked his life to save a lowly soldier, Pei Chengyuan was deeply moved. From that moment on, Pei Chengyuan decided to follow Lu Zhenyuan to the death.
In the days that followed, the two got along very well, and Lu Zhenyuan discovered that Pei Chengyuan was quite outstanding in ability among all the soldiers, so he gradually promoted him from his side. In the end, the two even became sworn brothers.
In the days that followed, the Lu and Pei families grew even closer, becoming as close as family. Lu Zhenyuan never imagined that his most trusted brother would stab him in the back, and what was most hateful was that he even tried to kill him. How could Lu Zhenyuan forgive such a despicable act? After doing all this, Lu Zhenyuan said to his eldest son, Lu Yunqiao, "Qiao'er, take the Pei family father and son with you to meet the Emperor!"
Lu Zhenyuan was the commander-in-chief of Qingyun Dao, equivalent to a second-rank military officer. In principle, he would have had relatively few opportunities to meet the emperor. However, Lu Zhenyuan was highly skilled in martial arts and had made meritorious contributions to protecting Qingyun Dao over the years, which gave him more opportunities to meet the emperor. The emperor granted him special permission to meet the emperor whenever he had urgent business.
After hearing his father's instructions, Lu Yunqiao escorted Pei Chengyuan and his son Pei Yifeng, along with Lu Zhenyuan, to meet the Emperor.
The efforts of the past two days have finally paid off. The person who framed Lu Zhenyuan has now been found, and the Lu family no longer needs to set up a mourning hall. Cui Wenying then ordered the servants to remove all the decorations from the mourning hall and the house.
After all this was done, Sun Weiwei and Li Qingshi stayed at the Lu family home and exchanged a few pleasantries with Madam Cui Wenying before leaving the Lu residence to return to Sun Weiwei's place.
As night fell and the crowd dispersed, the Lu family returned to its usual tranquility.
Madam Lu, Cui Wenying, along with her two sons, Lu Yunmin and Lu Yunqi, and daughter, Lu Wan'er, sat in the main hall waiting for Lu Zhenyuan and Lu Yunqiao to return!
Lu Yunmin, the second son of the Lu family, and Lu Yunqi, the third son, held their younger sister Lu Wan'er's hands tightly, looking her up and down as if she were a precious treasure.
Lu Yunmin looked at his younger sister Lu Wan'er with great concern and said, "Sister, are you sure you're not hurt anywhere? You don't feel any pain at all?"
Lu Yunqi also asked his younger sister Lu Wan'er, "Sister, if you feel unwell anywhere, just tell your two older brothers, and we'll go and fetch a doctor to take a look at you right now!"
Looking at the loving eyes of her two older brothers, Lu Wan'er felt very happy. The corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up and she said to her two brothers, "Second brother, third brother, you two don't need to be nervous. I'm really fine. Look at me, I'm still the same beautiful and cute little sister with fair skin as before."
Lu Yunmin and Lu Yunqi said to their younger sister, "With such a huge fire, it's truly thanks to God's protection that Dad, you, Weiwei, and Li Qingshi are all alive and well! What's even more amazing is that you're all completely unharmed. You're so lucky!"
Lu Wan'er smiled and said to her two brothers, "You two really believe in such nonsense as 'not destined to die'?"
Lu Yunmin and Lu Yunqi looked at their younger sister with great confusion and said, "Aren't you both alive and well the best proof?"
Lu Wan'er said, "But what you said is also right. The fact that my father, Sister Weiwei, Brother Qingshi, and I are alive and well is indeed due to the protection of the gods. Can you guess which deity has protected us?"
Lu Yunmin and Lu Yunqi looked at their younger sister and said, "What gods are there in this world? It must be that even Heaven couldn't stand Pei Chengyuan's actions, which is why it saved you from disaster!"
Lu Wan'er looked at her brother mysteriously and said, "Since you can't guess, I'll just say it directly: when we encountered the fire, it was the Mountain God who saved us!"
Upon hearing their sister's words, Lu Yunmin and Lu Yunqi were taken aback for a moment, then exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Sister, have you lost your mind? Let your brother take a good look at you!"
As they talked, the two reached out to touch their younger sister's forehead. Lu Wan'er raised her hand to block their hands in disgust and said, "Hey, what are you doing? I'm telling the truth. We were trapped in the fire and almost died. It was Brother Qing Shi who summoned the Mountain God and saved us!"
After hearing their sister's words, Lu Yunmin and Lu Yunqi were very surprised and said, "Sister, are you sure what you're saying is true, or you're not talking nonsense?"
Lu Wan'er said, "It's absolutely true, of course it's true. Think about it, Pei Chengyuan was determined to kill us. In that fire, even a fly couldn't escape, let alone us. If it weren't for the Mountain God's intervention, we would probably have been burned to ashes long ago. How could we be standing here in front of you unharmed?"
Moreover, we all suffered burns of varying degrees, especially my father, whose legs were severely burned and he couldn't stand up at all. After the Mountain God rescued us from the fire, he not only healed all our injuries with his divine medicine, but also brought us back overnight, letting me experience the feeling of soaring through the air—it was so liberating!
After Lu Zhenyuan and his wife Cui Wenying recognized Sun Weiwei as their goddaughter, the Lu family had actually heard a little about the Mountain God Grandfather. However, at the time, no one took Sun Weiwei's words seriously, thinking that she was just joking and that the Mountain God Grandfather could not possibly exist.
Lu Yunmin and Lu Yunqi were astonished to hear about the Mountain God again from their younger sister, Lu Wan'er, who described her encounter with him in such a vivid way. They said to their sister, "How did you manage to get home so quietly? Did the Mountain God really bring you back?"
Lu Wan'er nodded firmly and said to her two brothers, "What I said is true. Father must have told Mother the whole story when he came home the night before last. If you don't believe me, ask Mother!"
Upon hearing Lu Wan'er's words, Lu Yunmin and Lu Yunqi immediately turned their attention to their mother. The two brothers looked at their mother with inquisitive eyes and asked, "Mother, is what my sister said true? Does the Mountain God really exist? Are you sure that my father and the others were saved by the Mountain God?"
Seeing the children laughing and playing together again, Cui Wenying felt very gratified. She looked at her two sons and said with a smile, "What your sister said is true. Your father and the others were indeed saved by the Mountain God!"
Upon hearing their mother's words, Lu Yunmin and Lu Yunqi were immediately astonished, exclaiming to their mother and sister, "Grandpa Mountain God really exists! This is too fantastical, too shocking!" (End of Chapter)