Chapter 35: The Mantis Stalks the Cicada (1)

The news of Zheng Yanmu’s return didn’t reach the East Courtyard until the next morning. A servant came early to summon Zheng Yanqing to breakfast.

As the nominal daughter-in-law, Li Ruoshui was naturally included.

“Here, Ruoshui, eat more.”

Li Ruoshui accepted the vegetables Lady Zheng placed in her bowl, nodded her thanks, and tried to appear less awkward and stiff. She could handle eating with Lu Zhiyao, but making strained small talk with this group of superficially pleasant people was a real challenge. She decided silence was her best strategy.

“I’m finished.”

Zheng Mei set down her bowl and chopsticks and stood up to leave.

“Where are you going? We’re having a welcome breakfast for your brother today,” Lady Zheng said, looking at her with disapproval.

“I’m going boating on the lake with Master Lu today,” Zheng Mei replied carelessly, smoothing her skirt. “We already had the welcome banquet last night.”

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Li Ruoshui watched her go and sighed inwardly. That was all the help she could offer.

The wind is cold, and the river is chill… she thought, recalling the old verse about a brave warrior setting off. She hoped this warrior would make it back.

Lu Zhiyao’s moods were unpredictable, his thoughts inscrutable. Anyone fooled by his pretty face could only be described as “in danger.”

She could already picture it: Zheng Mei, with her overly haughty attitude, stepping over line after line, and finally getting tossed into the water. The mental image was so strong Li Ruoshui started feeling short of breath.

But why had Lu Zhiyao agreed to go boating? This was something she needed to figure out. It might be a big help for her strategy.

The little interlude didn’t last long. The point of this morning’s meal was for Zheng Yanqing to welcome his brother home.

“It’s true, happiness brings a healthy glow,” Zheng Yanmu said, changing the subject. He smiled at Zheng Yanqing with a brotherly fondness. “You look much better.”

Zheng Yanqing nodded with a smile but didn’t elaborate.

Not long ago, Li Ruoshui had suggested his medicine might be problematic and he should stop taking it for a while. He hadn’t believed it at first, but after hearing her mention it so often, he’d grown doubtful and had stopped the medicine for a time. His health couldn’t be called good recently, but he did feel much lighter, at least not coughing and gasping as easily.

The medicine really was a problem. But who could he tell?

“This is all thanks to Ruoshui. It seems this marriage to ward off misfortune really worked!” Lady Zheng looked at Li Ruoshui affectionately, her eyes full of gratitude.

Zheng Yanmu looked at her, his meaning unclear. “We really must thank you, younger sister-in-law.”

“Not at all, not at all,” Li Ruoshui said, earnestly brushing off the praise. “Since I’m here anyway, I might as well do what I can. For free.”

No one caught the weirdness of her statement. The conversation moved on to the provincial examinations three months away, the current focus of the Zheng family.

“Judging by how things are, Yanqing might just be able to take the exams in three months,” Lady Zheng said, glancing at Li Ruoshui. “Ruoshui, let’s hold off on having children for now.”

“Mother! Why are you saying this?!” Zheng Yanqing’s face flushed bright red. He didn’t dare look at Li Ruoshui’s expression.

“Understood.”

Li Ruoshui nodded. Internally, she was cringing hard enough to build a dream castle, but on the outside she maintained a thoughtful smile.

In this atmosphere of awkward yet polite conversation, Li Ruoshui began planning how to end this whole marriage charade.

---

Cangzhou had a famous lake, a popular spot for outings. It was now the fourth month. Willow branches brushed the breeze on the banks, emerald waves rippled across the water, and four or five pleasure boats drifted lazily on the surface. It looked idyllic.

Zheng Mei looked around and nodded in satisfaction. She had personally chosen this painted boat. Light lilac gauze curtains fluttered around it. A tea table was set inside. Pushing open the latticed windows revealed the shimmering lake. It was very elegant.

Far behind the boat trailed a smaller skiff carrying the guards she’d brought this time. She’d originally planned to bring five or six just to intimidate Lu Zhiyao a little. But as she was leaving, she remembered Li Ruoshui’s words, thought it over, and brought ten instead. It never hurts to have more.

“Master Lu, what do you think of this boat?”

Zheng Mei walked over to Lu Zhiyao and took another careful look at his face. Her fondness for him grew even stronger.

“My apologies. I cannot see it. But I’m sure it’s lovely.”

Lu Zhiyao sat by the tea table, a carving knife in his hand, working on a piece of wood. He hadn’t been able to sleep after waking from his dream last night. Almost without thinking, he’d taken out some leftover material and started carving.

Zheng Mei looked at the gradually forming shape in his hands and felt a surge of pleasant surprise. “You can make puppets?”

She’d never seen a blind person who could carve puppets. This man wasn’t just a pretty vase.

Lu Zhiyao gave an absent-minded hum of acknowledgement.

Zheng Mei sat down beside him, her back ramrod straight, sneaking glances at the puppet. “Most people who make puppets are kind-hearted. When I left this morning, Li Ruoshui even warned me to be careful of you. She was clearly talking nonsense.”

Lu Zhiyao’s carving hand stilled. The weight of a foot seemed to press on his leg again. The sound of bells chimed in his ears. “What exactly did she say?”

“She told me to keep servants and guards close, and that you’d push me into the water. Isn’t that hilarious?”

The corners of Lu Zhiyao’s mouth slowly curved upwards. The slight frown between his brows relaxed. He let out a soft laugh. “Hilarious.”

He had always found Li Ruoshui interesting. More than anyone else he’d ever met.

“Do you know why I like you?”

Lu Zhiyao kept carving the puppet and didn’t respond.

“It was before the martial arts contest to choose a husband,” Zheng Mei said, looking out at the lake as if remembering. “That day I went to the street to look at the venue. Perhaps it was fate’s gift. I happened to see you smiling.”

Zheng Mei had never seen anyone like him. His features seemed otherworldly. His smile was gentle yet stunningly beautiful. With just one glance, she couldn’t look away.

“That day, you hit me with a red berry. It left a scar right here.”

She pulled up her sleeve, revealing a bean-sized scar, then suddenly remembered he couldn’t see it. She sighed and let her sleeve fall back down. If he weren’t blind, she would have liked him even more.

Lu Zhiyao pulled on a few strands of silver wire, polishing the finer details of the puppet. A few strands of hair fell across his lashes. He brushed them away. “It was you.”

He didn’t actually remember. But he remembered Li Ruoshui saying that replying this way could quickly end a conversation.

Sure enough, pleased that he remembered her, Zheng Mei didn’t continue down that path. “I thought then, someone as good-looking as you naturally should be matched with me.”

“Hmm, I suppose.”

Zheng Mei chatted with him while glancing outside the boat. Through the wind-blown gauze curtains, she saw another painted boat not far away. Several richly dressed young women stood on it.

Zheng Mei couldn’t help but smile. There was a reason she’d been so eager to go boating with Lu Zhiyao today. It wasn’t just because she liked him. She had already made plans with her friends to show him off.

“Master Lu, let’s go out and take a look.”

“I cannot see.”

Lu Zhiyao’s hands didn’t stop working. His words were as perfunctory as always.

The young ladies on the other boat waved at her. But Lu Zhiyao kept fiddling with the little puppet, not sparing her a single thought.

She had boasted that they were mutually attracted. But she didn’t dare actually bring Lu Zhiyao over. She had to make excuses, saying he was shy and they could just see him from a distance.

If they couldn’t even get that one look today, how could she ever show her face again!

“Master Lu, you promised to go boating with me today.”

Lu Zhiyao ran his fingers over the puppet’s rough facial features, satisfied. He curved his eyes. “Are we not boating?”

She watched as the other boat began to slowly drift away. The sisters standing at the bow were whispering to each other, probably laughing at her.

Zheng Mei bit her lip and looked at the puppet in his hands. “The person you’re carving is so ugly!”

She suddenly snatched the puppet, ignoring the silver wire cutting her fingertip, and threw it toward the lake.

The pale yellow puppet sailed through the air above the water. Its round joints gave a soft clack as they turned. Before it could hit the water, it was yanked back by the silver wire wound around it.

Lu Zhiyao rubbed the puppet’s joints, the corners of his eyes crinkling with a smile reminiscent of the spring breeze rustling the willows on the shore.

“It seems you enjoy entering the water. How about we play a game?”

Lu Zhiyao put the puppet away, casually tore off a strip of gauze curtain, and deftly wound it around her wrist.

Before Zheng Mei could react, she had been flipped out the window and plunged into the lake on the opposite side.

Icy water instantly soaked through her clothes and ruined her meticulously applied makeup.

Now, her only connection to the boat was this lilac gauze strip; she was practically being towed along by it.

The oarsman was horrified and moved to help, but froze at the sight of Lu Zhiyao’s smile. He could only slow the boat, waiting for the guards behind to catch up.

“How dare you do this to me!”

Lu Zhiyao leaned against the latticed window, focused on polishing the puppet in his hand, a faint smile on his lips, utterly ignoring her threats.

Zheng Mei shouted in the water, seeming full of bluster, but her eyes were fixed on this gauze strip.

The lilac gauze was darkened by the lake water, no longer its former delicate hue.

From her earlier struggling and bobbing, the gauze merely wrapped around her was slowly coming loose. She could sink at any moment.

Zheng Mei could swim, but after being towed so long and struggling so much, her strength was mostly gone. The gauze that had been a hindrance was now her lifeline.

She didn’t understand. Everything was fine a moment ago. How did it suddenly become this?

The gauze on her wrist was slowly loosening, but she didn’t know when it would come completely undone. This unknown fear tormented Zheng Mei, yet she was unwilling to beg.

“Pull me up! I’ll give you any amount of silver!”

Lu Zhiyao leaned by the window. His long lashes caught the scattered sunlight, casting sparse shadows. Quite leisurely, he shook the puppet at her.

“So, do you think it’s ugly?”

---

TLN: She’s gone and done it now…

EDN: It’s her fault, let her drown.