[天命为凰]

Untitled Part 106

106 So Close Yet So Far

The Heavenly Door competition had come to the end, and Lu Mingshu became famous. Her amazing result of eighteen wins in a row was known by everybody in Nine Jade Palace in no time, and her background became known as well.

Eight years ago, she was notorious due to the ugly rumors that Zhou Yinru had spread about her. Now, stories about her were much different from what she was associated with back then. Maybe it was because of the history-breaking record of eighteen wins, or perhaps some other reason.

"Zhou Yinru claimed that Senior Sister Lu's family was materialistic. Weird. If they really were, why would they come to fetch the Sect Leader back instead of trying to join the sect?"

"And she claimed that they came just to cling onto Fu Shangqing? Lu Mingshu's mother is already dead! What kind of moneygrubber would come just to kill themselves? What's wrong with leaving her daughter with her father?"

"Anyway, I heard that Senior Sister Lu did well during the spring hunt, but the Zhou family called her a traitor, tsk...."

Gao Xiang happily told Lu Mingshu about all the rumors he heard.

"Miss, time for medicine!" Hui Niang entered with a bowl of Chinese medicine.

Lu Mingshu cringed when she smelled the medicine, "Aunt Hui, can I not take the medicine?"

"Of course not!" Hui Niang replied sternly, "How could you not when you are seriously injured?"

"That's right!" Gao Xiang popped some peanuts in his mouth, "Hui Niang, you must make sure she takes the medicine! It's so rare and effective that it cost an arm and leg on top of my master's face!

"Yes, we shouldn't waste the Grand Elder's effort."

Seeing that her whining was to no avail, Lu Mingshu pinched her nose and poured the medicine into her mouth. She wanted to pour away the residue, but she was stopped by Hui Niang.

She then proceeded to rinse her mouth to get rid of the bitterness of the medicine.

"Have you heard about Zhou Yinru?" Gao Xiang asked as he popped a peanut in her mouth.

"Nope," she popped another peanut in her mouth.

"The Zhou family has betrothed her to someone!"

Lu Mingshu's jaw dropped, "Betrothed? To who?"

"The Jin family, which deals in gold," Gao Xiang took one more peanut. "You may not have heard of them, but the Jin family has been expanding their business these past few years, and they're aiming to expand their business into the aristocratic families."

"Oh..." Lu Mingshu took the peanuts Gao Xiang handed her, "Each side takes what they need, and things all fit together. That's good."

"Good for both families, but not Zhou Yinru," Gao Xiang tried to wink at her suggestively, but failed since he couldn't wink.

Lu Mingshu giggled, "Stop being so mysterious! Spill it!"

"Okay, okay," Gao Xiang leaned toward her, "The young master of Jin family... is retarded!"

"You mean Zhou Yinru's fiancée?" Lu Mingshu couldn't believe her ears.

Gao Xiang grinned from ear to ear happily, "Yeah! Rumors say that Zhou Yinru was unwilling to do so, but the Zhou family was so determined that she couldn't do anything about it. Now that she's a cripple, her only value is in sending her off to be married off for the sake of an alliance," he sneered.

The room went silent for a moment before Gao Xiang broke that silence with a question, "Why do you seem so moody?"

"There's nothing to rejoice over," Lu Mingshu answered. "No matter whether she's alive or dead, the Zhou family wouldn't be affected much because she's just a nobody."