Love is gone, but instead one's official career has become smooth sailing

The tavern owner's head was throbbing with stress.

Why was his shop getting wrecked again!

What terrible luck had his store had this year, that it kept getting threatened with destruction at every turn?

Under the mounting pressure, he did not dare to be negligent. He immediately sent someone to fetch a doctor, and before long, the physician arrived. The doctor reached out to feel Shen Moyan's wrist, and instantly understood the situation.

"Miss Ning, this Young Master Shen's condition is quite serious. I will have to pull out several of my family's secret prescriptions to make sure the medicine cures the ailment, but..."

"These prescriptions of mine do not come cheap."

Ning Wanqin said at once, "Money is no object. As long as Moyan is unharmed, anything goes."

"Excellent!" The doctor nodded. He asked the tavern owner to bring paper, brush, ink, and inkstone, then swiped the brush across the page to write a prescription for calming the mind and soothing the nerves, and promptly handed it to Ning Wanqin.

"What are you standing around for?" Ning Wanqin chided the tavern owner. "Hurry up and send people to fill the prescription! If you delay and make Moyan's condition worse, I'll tear your shop down!"

The tavern owner: "..."

By the time the tavern owner rushed to get the herbs, brewed them right in the shop, and brought the medicine to the private room for Shen Moyan to drink, Shen Moyan was already up and about, full of energy again.

"The doctor is truly a miracle healer!"

"After just one dose of this medicine, I feel my illness lighten completely, it won't interfere at all with what I have to do tomorrow."

Ning Wanqin let out a long breath of relief, her face breaking into a bright smile. She paid the doctor's exorbitant consultation fee, then told the tavern owner to see the doctor out.

The tavern owner watched as the doctor had arrived on a donkey, but left by summoning a rather luxurious carriage. His heart was full of envy.

"Look at that guy. We're both serving Miss Ning Wanqin, but why is the treatment so different?"

"So enviable!"

Of course, envy got him nowhere. He still had to go back and wait on them carefully. But what surprised him was that even though Shen Moyan was already jumping around, Ning Wanqin stayed right by his side, not willing to leave even a single step.

The tavern owner's heart was pounding.

If Ning Wanqin did not make up with Lu Chaosheng, his little shop could be in jeopardy any day now.

He pondered for a long time, organized his words, then summoned his courage again and spoke carefully, "Miss Wanqin, that General Lu is furious. Now that everything is fine here, don't you think it's time to head back?"

Before Ning Wanqin could say a word, Shen Moyan called out immediately, "No, Wanqin, don't go! If you leave, my illness will definitely get worse again."

"Stay here with me, okay?"

"I'm leaving the Northern River Fortress Cluster in just two days. We barely have any time left to be alone. Don't go, please?"

"I'm begging you not to leave."

Shen Moyan put on a pitiful, woebegone expression that even the tavern owner found nauseating, but Ning Wanqin fell for it. She hesitated for a moment then nodded, "Don't worry, Moyan, I won't go."

"Great, Wanqin, I knew you wouldn't leave me."

As he spoke, Shen Moyan wrapped his arms around Ning Wanqin. Ning Wanqin hugged Shen Moyan back.

The tavern owner standing off to the side was completely stunned.

Worse than his stupefaction, though, was the realization that with Ning Wanqin and Shen Moyan acting like this... how could Lu Chaosheng possibly take it?

"He's going to come tear my little shop down again, isn't he?"

...

The tavern owner's prediction was spot on.

Even without seeing what happened next, Lu Chaosheng could not bear it. The wedding ring and the phoenix coronet and robes he had seen earlier were like two sharp needles, stabbing precisely into his chest.

They made it hard for him to breathe, his whole body trembling!

When he got back to his residence and into his bedroom, his distress only grew worse. Tears were already surging like a tide, spilling down uncontrollably.

A real man does not shed tears easily, not until his heart is broken.

Lu Chaosheng never imagined that one day he would be so utterly crushed, as if the sky was falling and the mountains and rivers were collapsing.

This marriage he had placed all his hopes on was about to vanish into thin air in the blink of an eye. All the thoughts and feelings he had held for more than twenty years had turned to nothing.

His heart felt hollowed out in an instant.

He felt as if there was nothing left to live for.

Just then, as if drawn by some unseen force, Lu Chaosheng picked up the letter that had been resting quietly nearby. He opened it and saw Zhang Shi's handwriting.

"Lord Duke's command is lacking a navy general!"

"Come pledge allegiance to Lord Duke, and I will give you a clear sky free from the troubles of romantic affection!"

If he had read these words before, Lu Chaosheng would have dismissed them out of hand. He had a lover, someone he had been with for more than two decades, with a deep, unbreakable bond.

Why would he need a sky free from romantic troubles?

Besides, the land he stood on had raised him, he could never betray it.

But at this moment, Lu Chaosheng felt his seemingly dead heart give a new throb.

*Clang!* The sound was rousing and powerful, echoing for miles.

That said, Lu Chaosheng was no reckless brute. He always thought things through carefully, so he did not rush off to join Ren Tianye's forces in a fit of passion. Instead, he deliberated slowly.

Of course, in his current state, he could not focus his mind at all. His thoughts drifted wildly, one moment he was weeping, the next he felt his world crumble, then he was drowning in heartbreak, then burning with murderous rage.

He tossed and turned for half the night, unknowingly falling asleep in his chair.

The sun rose bright and high the next morning, when a hurried voice broke the silence: "General Lu, General Lu, the Marquis summons you, the Marquis summons you..."

Lu Chaosheng jolted awake, opening his bleary, dazed eyes. "What is it?"

The servant was very excited. "General Pei Wugou, the Marquis Jingyi, requests your presence!"

"Marquis Jingyi?"

Lu Chaosheng was even more confused, but realizing this was important, he got up quickly. As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Deputy General Chen Song, the aide to Marquis Jingyi Pei Wugou, waiting for him at the door with a wide smile on his face.

"General Lu, congratulations!"

Deputy General Chen Song grinned until his eyes crinkled, "The Marquis says you've had enough time to rest these past few days. Right now, Ren Tianye's army is pressing at the border, and we need a great general like you to take charge of the defense of Zhenjiang City."

"So he has sent me to fetch you."

"Please come with me."

Lu Chaosheng's mind was still foggy with confusion.

He had been removed from his post by Marquis Jingyi Pei Wugou, his military power completely stripped away. Now... they wanted to put him back in command?

As if seeing his confusion, Deputy General Chen Song leaned in and whispered, "General Lu, to be honest, this was all the Marquis's plan. He said he would suppress you first, then reinstate you later, so that you would be completely loyal to him..."

"Alright, I don't think that trick is very clever, but the Marquis genuinely wants to put you in an important position now."

"So my advice is, no matter what happened before, you serve the Marquis wholeheartedly. In the future, wealth, honor, promotions, and riches will definitely come your way."

Lu Chaosheng finally understood.

So all that had been Marquis Jingyi Pei Wugou's scheme, and now, after enduring the Marquis's suppression, he had reached the bright end of it all.

He let out a bitter, tragic laugh.

"So, my official career is about to take off?"

"Not just from Marquis Jingyi Pei Wugou, even General Zhang Shi under Ren Tianye is offering me a bright future?"

"But all that bright future, I wanted it for Wanqin's sake. Now that Wanqin's heart has turned away from me, what is the point of all this success in officialdom?"

...