Chapter 5 Lingling’s Origin
Lu Ze left the morning court and was about to change his clothes and go to Prince Qi's Mansion to apologize. But as soon as he stepped into Qiyuan, he heard a burst of baby crying.
Lu Ze entered the courtyard and saw Qi Yuning standing at the door of his room, looking noble and elegant.
Lu Ze was slightly surprised when he saw Qi Yuning, "Princess, come to my room this morning. Do you have anything important to do?"
"Daddy!"
Little Lingling, who was holding Qi Yuning's thigh, lit up her eyes when she saw Lu Ze, who was wearing a red official uniform, and wiped away her tears with her little hands, "Daddy! Mommy, daddy is back!"
Lu Ze saw the three-year-old child holding Qi Yuning's thigh. Although he was always calm, there was a moment of daze on his face. Why was this child named Qi Yuning's mother so similar to him?
Lu Zewen said: "Princess Qi, do you have a daughter? Is this child Lu Yun's?"
Princess Pingrou snorted and said: "Lu Ze, your brother is not yet seventeen, how could he give birth to such a big daughter? Lingling looks exactly like you, she must be your daughter!"
They looked similar and might be siblings. Lu Ze looked at the green willow hairpin on Princess Pingrou's bun and thought about it carefully. His father had always been henpecked and would never be so courageous.
Seeing that Lu Ze was suspicious of others and unwilling to admit that Lingling was his child, Qi Yu chuckled.
"Lingling called him daddy as soon as he saw Prince Lu. Does Prince Lu dare not recognize him? I didn't expect that the men of the Lu family would be less responsible than the other!"
Lu Ze said: "Princess Qi, this child is indeed not my daughter."
Qi Yuning said angrily: "Lu Yiling's appearance is exactly the same as that of Prince Lu. Since Prince Lu has incurred a debt of love, he should recognize him."
Princess Pingrou nodded and said: "That's right, Ze'er, this Lingling is exactly the same as you were when you were a child, how could she not be your daughter?"
Little Lingling blinked her eyes and started to cry, "Daddy, don't you want Lingling anymore?"
Lu Ze looked down at the crying little girl. He was not hard-hearted, and he couldn't bear the crying of such a soft and waxy little baby, but he was indeed not Lingling's father.
Seeing her little granddaughter crying hard, Princess Pingrou picked up Lingling and said, "Good boy, don't cry. Your father doesn't recognize you, but your grandmother does."
Lingling twitched in Princess Pingrou's arms.
Qi Yuning saw Lingling crying with sadness and grievance, and said to Lu Ze angrily: "The debts incurred by Prince Lu due to his foreign affairs are always innocent. The dignified young minister of Dali Temple cannot deny his own flesh and blood? "
Lu Ze frowned and looked at the little girl in Princess Pingrou's arms, and said in a cold voice: "I can't have a child."
Qi Yuning glanced at Lu Ze's belly provocatively and chuckled, "It's impossible to have a child? Prince Lu is well-dressed, could he be a heavenly eunuch..."
Lu Ze's face turned livid, "Princess, please respect yourself."
Qi Yuning said: "If you are not a heavenly eunuch, then why can't you have a child?"
Lu Ze's face turned darker: "Because there has never been a woman around me, and I have never touched any girl at all, it is impossible to have such a big child."
Qi Yuning heard Lu Ze's words and did not doubt, "That's strange. Where did this child come from?"
Lu Zedao: "This child was brought by Princess Qi. Does Princess Qi really not know the origin of this child?"
Qi Yuning said: "I don't know."
Princess Pingrou looked at the two people in front of her suspiciously. She didn't believe her son, nor did she believe Qi Yuning: "Children can't lie. Since she calls you mom and dad, you are her parents."
Lingling nodded in Princess Pingrou's arms and said fiercely: "Well, you are Lingling's parents, you can't live without Lingling!"
Lu Ze rubbed his temples. It seemed that his mother had not yet given up on letting him marry Qi Yuning. "Mom, please give me the child first, and I will ask about her origins."
Princess Pingrou handed Lingling to Lu Ze and threatened with her eyes: "Don't make my little granddaughter cry again."
Lu Ze carried the child to the study room. Qi Yuning did not dare to completely trust Lu Ze. Lu Ze did not use Dali Temple's method of questioning on the child, so Qi Yuning followed Lu Ze into the study Ze carried Lingling and sat on the wooden chair. Lingling raised her head and looked at Lu Ze and said, "Dad, can I play with the rings?"
Lu Ze frowned and said, "What Huanhuan?"
Lingling opened the wooden drawer and took out the nine-ring ruby ring inside, "This ring!"
Lu Ze narrowed his peach blossom eyes, stared at Lingling and inquired: "How do you know there is a Nine Links here?"
Lingling said: "Dad told Lingling."
Qi Yuning said to Lu Ze, "Is Prince Lu still unwilling to admit that Lingling is your child?"
Lingling even knew what was hidden in the private area of Lu Ze's study.
Lu Ze said to Qi Yuning: "Princess Princess, can you let the servants behind you go out?"
Qi Yuning said to Guyu Lichun and others: "You all should go out."
After Lu Ze and others went out, he spoke slowly, "Princess, I have never touched any woman, and there is no way I can have children. It was my Lu family's fault that Lu Yun became a monk yesterday. You are angry and want to take revenge on the Lu family. The Lu family has nothing to say, but you can’t teach a three-year-old child to lie just to ruin the reputation of the Lu family.”
Qi Yuning said: "My Qi family is full of heroes. We have always been upright and disdainful of villains slandering other people's behavior! If I want to take revenge on your Lu family, I will deal with you upright. I don't disdain using such despicable means to ruin the reputation of others.
Besides, if this child calls me mother when she sees me, I will not slander your Lu family and risk my own reputation. "
Lu Ze pursed his lips and said, "I misunderstood the princess."
Qi Yuning snorted lightly.
Lu Ze looked down at the little Lingling who was concentrating on playing with the Nine Links, and asked with a gentleness he had never heard before: "Lingling, who do you belong to? How old are you?"
Little Lingling raised her head, stretched out five fingers and said: "Lingling is a little rabbit, she's just five years old! The little emperor said that Lingling is only three years old, but Lingling has grown again just after the year. One year old, Lingling is five years old."
Qi Yuning noticed something was wrong and said, "This is the year of Yichou, how could you be a rabbit?"
This year is the Year of the Ox. If the child is born in the Year of the Rabbit, the youngest child would be ten years old even in terms of one year. Lingling herself said she was five years old, which should be an imaginary age. Looking at Lingling, she looked about three years old.
Little Lingling said: "Mother, this year is not the Year of the Ugly Ox, but the Year of the Sheep, Xin Wei. During the Lantern Festival, Lingling won a lot of sheep and sheep lanterns, and Xin Wei is written on the lanterns."
Qi Yuning and Lu Ze looked at each other. Xin Weinian was six years later...
Lu Ze asked little Lingling softly: "Does Lingling know what year she was born?"
Lingling took off the small jade lock hanging around her neck and handed it to Lu Ze: "Here is written when Lingling was born. It cannot be shown to others. It can only be shown to mother and father."
Lu Ze took a closer look and saw that a vivid little rabbit was carved on the front of the jade lock, and two lines of small words were carved on the back.
"Lu Yiling, the daughter of Lu Zeqi Yuning, was born on the ninth day of September in the year Dingmao. She has a long life of a hundred years and a long life of happiness."
Lu Ze handed the jade lock to Qi Yuning.
Qi Yuning couldn't believe that the year of Dingmao was obviously two years later. Was this child born two years later? Lu Ze said: "This jade pendant is a rare Lanling warm jade, which is extremely valuable. There should be no random carvings of year names on this rare treasure."
Qi Yuning touched the jade pendant in his hand. It was warm and moist. It was indeed a priceless piece of fine jade.
Qi Yuning already had a bold guess in his mind, but he thought it was too unbelievable.
Lu Ze looked into Qi Yuning's eyes and said, "Princess, Lingling should indeed be your daughter. However, she came from the first month of the Xinwei year six years later to the eighth month of the Yichou year now."
Qi Yuning frowned slightly and looked at Lu Ze in front of her. How could she have a daughter with Lu Ze when the Lu family humiliated her so much?
(End of this chapter)