My Husband Became the Most Powerful Minister - Chapter 50

Helan Ci: “…? Why are you suddenly insulting me?”

Lu Wuyou explained, “This doesn’t count as an insult, it’s more like… a kind of complaint.”

…She had mostly only heard that word used to describe her older brother, though he never seemed to mind much.

Helan Ci’s expression turned a little odd. “If you have any opinions or dissatisfaction with me today, let’s just lay it all out clearly. Don’t keep things bottled up… so we don’t create any misunderstandings later.” She paused slightly, “If it’s not because of that, then why are you angry?”

Lu Wuyou simply pushed the little tea stove aside and leaned back. “…I already told you, I’m just tormenting myself with useless thoughts.”

Helan Ci wasn’t usually the type to dig to the bottom of things, but tonight, Lu Wuyou seemed especially off.

As if there was something he wanted to grasp, but couldn’t, no matter how hard he tried.

Helan Ci said, “Then tell me more. If I can help share the burden a bit, I will.”

The gaze she cast toward him was clear, pure, and free of any impurities.

If it were any other time, Lu Wuyou would probably have wanted to pat her on the head, and maybe take the opportunity to…

He steadied himself, still didn’t know where to begin, and could only say, “Helan Ci, do you think… this life you’re living now is really the life you wanted?”

Helan Ci was taken aback and asked, “Then, what are you dissatisfied with about the present?”

Aside from the rocky beginning, Lu Wuyou and this marriage hadn’t given her any reason to be dissatisfied—if anything, many times it had far exceeded her expectations. When she first married Lu Wuyou, she had mentally prepared herself for a life of mutual dislike, constant bickering, and just barely getting by together. But in reality, their relationship had turned out far more harmonious than she had imagined.

During the process, she also realized that she had many misunderstandings about Lu Wuyou. Aside from occasionally babbling nonsense in front of her, Lu Wuyou is actually a pretty good person.

She can feel the thoughtfulness and care from the other person without them having to say anything.

Aside from dealing with the various sudden situations brought by bad romantic luck, she honestly felt she had never lived so contentedly in her entire life.

Lu Wuyou said, “I meant a life that’s a bit freer—not being stuck here, not having to be constantly on edge just to ride a horse or talk to… I never wanted to restrain you. Even if you wanted to talk to that little prince, that’s your freedom too…”

Helan Ci couldn’t help but speak up: “I didn’t want to talk to him!”

“I know you’re not interested in him, I was just giving an example…” Lu Wuyou muttered, almost to himself, “I don’t know why I never realized before how unfit the capital is for women… You also seem to have never seen a freer life.”

Helan Ci Fan: “But I… feel like I’m already very free now.”

She could even ride horses!

Lu Wuyou shook his head. “That’s only because you haven’t seen anything else. In my hometown, it’s completely normal for women to practice martial arts. They can carry swords and travel alone through the rivers and lakes, or ride horses and wield whips and swords to the ends of the earth. They can go wherever they want, say whatever they want, and be with whoever they want, without caring about others’ opinions… If they see injustice, they draw their sword. If there’s a disagreement, they fight it out. Even women dare to challenge men head-on.”

Helan Ci was taken aback and asked, “Won’t the authorities catch them? What about their reputation…?”

“I told you, outside the jurisdiction of the government, reputation…” Lu Wuyou smiled faintly, “It’s earned through skill and strength. Even if a man and woman were alone in a room, no one would gossip.”

Helan Ci blinked, a little dazed. “There’s no such place, is there…”

“There is,” Lu Wuyou said with certainty. “So do you really want to stay here? That little prince wasn’t entirely wrong… When you’re on horseback, you really do look like a bird just released from its cage. It’s just that your cage is only this big—you don’t know how vast the skies and seas are beyond it. I told you, my birth mother came from beyond the borders—farther than Dayong, farther than Beidi… places filled with sights the people before us never even dreamed of. Most people spend their whole lives and still never get to see it.”

Helan Ci hesitated. “If it’s really that good… then why did you still come here…”

Lu Wuyou calmly replied, “Because I have things I want to do, I’m willing to confine myself to this place. Even if I’m bound by rules and etiquette, I have no complaints… But what about you? Are you truly willing to stay here? Or is it just because you have no other choice?”

Helan Ci’s mind was a bit muddled. “You ask me so suddenly, I…”

Lu Wuyou’s tone grew even calmer. “There’s no rush. Take your time to think it over. It’s not too late to tell me once you’ve figured it out… I may not be able to solve your current predicament, but I can help you escape from the capital. By then, you can have a new identity. If you need to change your appearance, that’s not difficult either. I’ll find someone to assist you. After that, you can practice martial arts, learn archeryand horseback riding… Whatever you want to learn, whatever you want to do, it’ll be your choice. You won’t have to worry about being constantly pressured by these nobles.”

He spoke calmly, but his words struck like thunder from a clear sky.

Helan Ci struggled to digest what he was saying. “That’s… not appropriate…”

Lu Wuyou, as if he had long since thought it through, replied without hesitation, “There’s nothing inappropriate about it. If you truly choose to go, I’ll inform Lord Helan that you’ve fallen seriously ill. That I sent you to another place to seek medical treatment and recuperate… If you miss him in the future, you can always come back to visit.”

“Why are you suddenly telling me all this…” Helan Ci thought hard and then remembered something: “…Then what were you angry about tonight?”

Lu Wuyou paused.

After a while, he finally laughed out loud, with a hint of mockery in his tone: “Just getting annoyed with the uncontrollable parts of myself, like an…” he whispered, “idiot.”

Helan Ci: “……?”

Why was he insulting himself now?

In a daze, Helan Ci finally caught up with the meaning of his words. “If you want me to leave… then you…”

Lu Wuyou said, “I hold an official position here, so I naturally can’t leave.”

Helan Ci’s mind was in utter chaos. Lu Wuyou offered her a choice she had never considered before, but it sounded incredibly tempting—then told her that this path was hers to walk alone.

In truth, ever since she married Lu Wuyou, she had hardly considered the possibility that they would part for any reason other than outside forces.

So, she repeated the question once more: “Why… are you suddenly saying all this to me?”

Lu Wuyou was silent for a moment, then said softly, “After tonight, I suddenly felt… it’s all so dull. It’s like as long as you stay in the capital, there will always be endless troubles, and you’ll keep thinking it’s all your fault—at least since we got married, I’ve never thought that way. I don’t want you to stay in the back courtyard all the time, not even daring to go to a banquet.”

After a long moment, Helan Ci also said softly, “So you want me to leave.”

Her voice was light and slow.

Who would’ve thought that in the next moment, Lu Wuyou would say, “I don’t want you to.”

Helan Ci: “……?”

Lu Wuyou said, “But you also have no reason to stay. The fame and wealth of the capital mean little to you. You seemed happier back in Qingzhou than you are here.”

“How could I have no reason—I…” Helan Ci spoke on reflex, “I don’t want to leave.”

Lu Wuyou’s voice was gentle. “It’s all right. Take your time to think it over.”

He dragged the small tea stove back again. By now, the tea had finished brewing. Lu Wuyou slowly poured two cups, then lowered his head to sip, lost in thought.

The carriage soon arrived back at the residence.

Lu Wuyou still had some land surveys and paperwork to finish, so he went to the study and didn’t come back for a long time.

Helan Ci lay on the bed, eyes closed, replaying everything that had happened the day, piece by piece, in her mind. She went over Lu Wuyou’s words again and again, unable to sleep for most of the night.

The next day, when Lu Wuyou returned, he casually bought two boxes of pastries. One box was sent to Hua Weiling, and the other… he directly placed it in Helan Ci’s study.

But before he could leave, he ran right into the person herself.

Helan Ci turned her head and immediately saw the pastry box from Baofang Zhai, crafted with unparalleled precision and resembling a jewelry box, placed extremely conspicuously on the table.

Lu Wuyou awkwardly said, “Just picked it up on the way.”

Helan Ci asked, “You slept in the study again last night?”

Lu Wuyou let out a quiet “mm,” and was about to leave when Helan Ci grabbed his sleeve and said, “I used to think it was because you were busy with official duties. But now it looks like… are you still upset?”

Lu Wuyou smiled and said, “No, it’s just that I’ve been a bit busy.”

Helan Ci had come to understand this person a little bit.

Still holding onto his sleeve, she thought aloud, “Do you think it’s for my sake, believing that I’m having a hard time living in the capital, that’s why you want to send me away… but since you don’t actually want me to go, why bring it up in the first place?… If I stay, I can still help you a bit, uh, with the household affairs.”

It’s another completely unnecessary gesture of kindness.

She was trying hard to make sense of how Lu Wuyou’s mind worked.

Lu Wuyou paused, then spoke honestly: “I just wanted you to be a bit happier. So I gave you another option.”

Helan Ci said, “I thought about it last night. Although that kind of life sounds very tempting, it is also full of uncertainties. I may not actually adapt to it. I may not even like it. I’ve already lived like this for more than ten years. Riding horses is fun, but it doesn’t mean I want to keep riding, to live on horseback. I just find it refreshing, interesting—that’s all. Honestly, these past few days… have probably been the happiest time of my life.”

She looked at Lu Wuyou steadily and said, “I think staying by your side might make me even happier.”

…This really was fatal.

Lu Wuyou’s fingers twitched restlessly, but he forced them down. He tried to keep his tone calm as he said, “But there’s still one more question.”

Helan Ci said, “What?”

Lu Wuyou took a deep breath and said, “I want totake care of your business¹, alright…Yesterday I was pretending to be magnanimous. Even though I know, rationally, that who you choose to talk to is your freedom, that I shouldn’t interfere, don’t need to interfere—but I was still very upset. I really don’t like that little prince of the Northern Di, so I was really irritated. I don’t like being in this kind of state. It wasn’t that I was mad at you.”

Helan Ci thought for a moment and said, “You can be angry, this is indeed not very appropriate.”

Though she knew Lu Wuyou’s way of thinking was rather bandit-like, she still felt that after getting married, keeping a certain distance from other men, avoiding misunderstandings, was only proper—besides, she didn’t have any feelings for that Luo Chen either.

Lu Wuyou pressed his forehead and said, “You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s my problem.”

Helan Ci earnestly said, “I think it’s still my problem.”

Lu Wuyou couldn’t help but say, “Can we stop this childish conversation? I have another question.”

Helan Ci showed an expression of wanting to hear more.

Lu Wuyou moved his lips, paused for a moment, finally asked in a seemingly casual tone, “What about you? Do you want to take care of me?”

T/n: translating this chapter got me blushing and giggling (>/////<) ♡