Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 85 Come Home with Me!
Lu Jia was forced to lift her head after being wiped, and when she saw Qin Zhou's face, her nose stung and she burst into tears.

Shen Qingzhou's heart felt like it had been suddenly tightened by a rope: "Don't cry."

She didn't cry when Yan Qu beat her until she was covered in wounds, and she didn't cry when she was pierced through the heart by a flurry of swords. Why is she shedding tears now?

"Qin Zhou! They're all bullying me!" Lu Jia said angrily. "They're all bullying me because I have no power. They treat me like a soft persimmon to be squeezed and like an ant to be trampled underfoot."

Shen Qingzhou gently wiped away her tears with his thumb: "You are not a pushover, nor a weak ant."

She possesses an unyielding spirit and is a rare and formidable woman in the world.

How could Shen Qingzhou not know about her grievances?

A daughter of a distinguished family, whose father was a high-ranking official and whose mother also came from a scholarly family, was beaten to the point of near death in her husband's home and was eventually murdered in the street.

He was the one who knew this.

What he doesn't know?

To avoid being questioned about his origins, even though he was extremely curious, he never asked her why she had come from the capital to this place. She clearly had her biological father's jade pendant, and she knew she was from the Lu family, yet she never mentioned a word about the Lu family. Most likely, she knew the reason why she ended up here and became the Xie family's adopted daughter.

That day, He Qu said they were being followed, and Shen Qingzhou assumed it was directed at her.

After all, he had secretly left the capital with Guo Yi to come here. Although he had taken all precautions, it was difficult to guarantee that everything would go smoothly. In addition, when he was in the county government office before, the officials came and went, and they might have noticed something.

Over the years, he has been targeted and followed, including being sabotaged and sabotaged in countless ways.

But he never expected that this time the enemy's spearhead would be aimed at Lu Jia.

Because she wanted to be independent, she did offend some people in the process of bringing down the Zhang family and opening her own business. But no matter how much she offended them, it wouldn't have cost her her life.

Even if you take her life, you still won't get your hands on her family fortune.

Therefore, the enemy did not come from the dock.

With such formidable skills, and wearing brocade robes beneath his night clothes, he must be from the capital. He must be from the Lu family.

Shen Qingzhou felt that it was time to ask some questions.

He looked over and asked, "Do you know the person who made the move tonight?"

Lu Jia wiped away her tears, took a breath, and said, "Qin Zhou, the jade I gave you last time, you never questioned its origins. Aren't you curious?"

This made Shen Qingzhou, who was preparing to take the initiative, pause.

Before he could answer, Lu Jia smiled bitterly: "You might think I'm talking nonsense, but in fact, I am a young lady of the Lu family. Lu Jie, the Minister of Rites, is my biological father. That jade pendant was given to me by him to wear since I was a child after my mother passed away."

Her eyes, wet with tears, held a deep sorrow. The childlike, aggrieved expression from before was gone, replaced by loneliness, coldness, and a chilling indifference and alienation like a thick fog across an entire river.

"Because that jade has been with me since I was a child, few people know about it except for my maids and servants."

“My mother died shortly after giving birth to me, and my father raised me personally. When I was three years old, he married Jiang, the adopted daughter of Yan Song, as his second wife. Ten years ago, when I was five years old, she abandoned me in the wilderness while my father was away on a business trip.”

Her voice was soft, no longer that of the playful young girl who always had a little scheme in mind, waiting to plot against Shen Qingzhou. She was enveloped in a heavy sense of vicissitude. Shen Qingzhou had considered why Lu Jia had left the capital and come here. He thought she might have gotten lost, been abducted, or even been given up for adoption, but he never expected the truth to be so serious.

The Chiang family, still the Chiang family!
The image of Lu Jia suddenly abandoning her chance to escape on that snowy night, and instead risking her life to perish together with Jiang, flashed before his eyes again.

So this is where hatred began.

It turns out that ever since she was five years old, Mrs. Jiang had no intention of accepting this stepdaughter.

"So, the person who made the move just now was also from the Jiang family. She found you?"

The fact that she survived here safely for ten years can only mean that the Jiang family did not know her whereabouts during those ten years. However, the fact that the Jiang family still sent people to Tanzhou to search for her after ten years is enough to show that the Jiang family never forgot Lu Jia during those ten years.

“That’s right. That’s Jiang’s distant nephew, and also her lackey. I recognized him at a glance!” Lu Jia sat at the other end of the lamplight, her eyes gleaming with fire. “But the moment I saw Guo Lu, I became certain of one thing: I think Jiang may never have intended to spare my life. What I perceived as abandonment was simply that she hadn’t had the chance to do it herself yet!”

Abandoning a five-year-old girl, spoiled and pampered, with no ability to protect herself, in the wild, simply to let her fend for herself. For the past ten years—including in her previous life, Lu Jia had never doubted this.

She once thought that no matter how bad Chiang Kai-shek was, he hadn't directly killed anyone.

She couldn't understand what obstacle she could pose to the Jiang family, or why they would have to kill her.
It wasn't until Qiu Niang told her that Guo Lu was looking for her in Tanzhou.

In her past life, she never knew that the Jiang family was still looking for her after ten years!
She thought that Jiang Shi was just instinctively disgusted with her, the daughter of the first wife, and that she would take the opportunity to use her as a scapegoat in order to help Lu Ying get rid of Yan Qu.

It turns out that wasn't true after all.

From the very beginning, Chiang Kai-shek wanted her dead.

Qiu Niang said that Guo Lu appeared in Tanzhou Prefecture in February, and now, only half a year later, Guo Lu has reappeared with the intention of taking her life.

Ten years later, Jiang was still not at ease and was secretly looking for him until she killed him with her own hands.

Is it because only if she, the person involved, dies, will Jiang's crime of murdering her stepdaughter be buried forever?

But she is alive, and Jiang can never be at ease.

The Lu family is indeed a large family. Even if Lu Jie is power-hungry, losing this daughter won't make a difference. However, the rest of the Lu family may not be happy to have their family reputation ruined.

If a respectable young lady is murdered by her stepmother, it would be unacceptable no matter where you look at it if the murderer is not punished.

The emperor ruled the country with filial piety in mind, and no one dared to openly do anything that disregarded ethics.

The Lu family also has a sense of shame.

The laws and regulations were also a shackle on Chiang Kai-shek's regime.

But the reason why Lu Jia ended up like that in her previous life was because the Jiang family had absolute power in the Lu family, and even Lu Jie had to obey and accommodate them in every way, to the point that even the relief and care for Lu Jia's adoptive mother had to be done in private.

If the Lu family can have absolute authority, why is the Jiang family so wary of Lu Jia?
Why does Mrs. Jiang still remember her stepdaughter even after ten years?
"Qin Zhou," Lu Jia could no longer contain her turmoil and grabbed his arm. "I'm going back to the Lu family. You'll come with me and help me deal with the Jiang family. I'll give you tons of money so you can live a life of luxury for the rest of your days. Is that alright?"

(End of this chapter)