CHAPTER 163: CHAPTER 162: HEART LIKE A BLADE

Zhu Yu returned to find Lu Qing. When she entered the room, Lu Qing was already seated at the table, his golden mask removed. In front of him lay a stack of papers, and he was holding a brush, writing fiercely on the paper, looking in seemingly good spirits and more energetic than before.

Seeing Zhu Yu return, he waved her over to sit at the table: "Madam, you took quite a long time seeing off the guest. It seems your conversation with General Situ was quite delightful?"

With the rune guards stationed outside, Lu Qing felt bold enough to speak freely, so Zhu Yu relaxed, removed her mask, and sat down, saying: "You jest, Prince! General Situ is quite stubborn, and even you couldn’t persuade him immediately. How could I have such influence?

I merely reminded him to think carefully about why the Holy Emperor suddenly sent him to Li State. Their Situ family is so stubborn and passive, being manipulated by others. When will it end?"

"Oh?" Lu Qing seemed instantly interested by her words, resting his pen on the inkstone, "Why do you think the Holy Emperor suddenly dispatched him to Li State?"

Zhu Yu shook her head: "Honestly, I don’t know.

This wasn’t something I thought too much about, but with more idle time at the post station, I had a chance to ponder some things.

The last time, the Holy Emperor sent you to Qingshui County under the pretext of investigating the Ghost Temple incident. Coincidentally, the victim in the Ghost Temple murder had many ties to the Qingshui County Government, revealing Li Wencai, that warehouse-moving rat encamped there.

Congzhou up and down has secretly formed a network, and I fear Li Wencai’s superiors are no cleaner, so only you could uncover the truth last time.

But this time is different. Before dispatching us, the Holy Emperor transferred Situ Jing from Runzhou to the Li State barracks two months in advance.

From the father’s generation, the Situ family are all loyal and honest.

In the son’s generation, Situ Jing previously managed the imperial guard in Runzhou beautifully.

So in terms of loyalty and skill, this transfer of Situ Jing seems quite significant.

I really think, after the Holy Emperor moved Situ Jing here from afar, and then sent you here within two months, the intentions aren’t simple."

"Without our presence now, Situ Jing might still not know what’s behind the poisoning cases in the army camps.

And without Situ Jing, our plan to go with the flow might not have executed so smoothly."

Lu Qing listened to Zhu Yu’s words, though his face showed no emotion, his eyes shone brighter than before, "I also don’t believe Situ Jing being sent to Li State is coincidental. The Holy Emperor’s intentions are unpredictable, and we can’t fully fathom his initial considerations."

"Then what is your current consideration?" Zhu Yu glanced at the paper in front of Lu Qing. From across the round table, she could faintly catch some characters in the tiny calligraphy, judging it to be a secret memo prepared for submission to Emperor Jin.

"Report black marks on Situ Jing to have him transferred from Li State, demoted elsewhere." Lu Qing answered quite straightforwardly.

"What black marks does he have?" Zhu Yu was a little baffled. A moment ago, this guy said thanks to their collaboration, the issues in the imperial guard camp were resolved quickly. Why the sudden pivot to reporting black marks?

"Madam, if you talk like this, I will be heartbroken." Lu Qing wore a wounded expression, lightly covering his chest with his hands, "Have you already forgotten who injured me?"

"So, whether the sword was intentional or accidental is entirely up to your narrative, Prince." Zhu Yu understood, nodded, "Is that all? Just this one point might not be convincing enough for the Holy Emperor to act against him."

"I am a person of integrity, never engaging in shady or dirty dealings." Lu Qing smiled faintly, picked up his brush, and continued writing, while speaking to Zhu Yu, "One by one, each matter I plan to report to the Holy Emperor, I have told Situ Jing today."

Zhu Yu recalled what Lu Qing and Situ Jing discussed earlier.

Apart from Situ Jing’s somewhat guilty explanation of why it took him so many days to visit them only when they were about to leave, they didn’t talk much. Furthermore, there was some feigned confusion, many things were said ambiguously, not directly.

But recalling slightly, it wasn’t hard to remember Lu Qing indeed mentioned to the Situ family about his balancing act between the imperial guard and personal soldiers and the problem of the schemers being all deadmen, leaving no living witnesses.

Thinking about it, Lu Qing wasn’t lying, he really did warn Situ Jing in advance about these "black marks" he plans to report.

"No, earlier when you were gravely injured, I overlooked some things." When Zhu Yu recalled Lu Qing warning Situ Jing, she noticed a point she previously missed, frowned and scrutinized Lu Qing with suspicion, "You are always thorough in your actions, not one to ignore one side for another.

Earlier you arranged for Yan Daoxin and the rune guards outside, with those ’poisoned’ soldiers waiting for the opportune moment, how could you not foresee the gang of thieves would resort to underhanded tricks when desperate?"

Lu Qing paused his writing, looked up at Zhu Yu, with a face innocent and clueless: "Even the wise can err, perhaps this was my ’error.’"

"I don’t think so." Zhu Yu bluntly pointed out, "As one of your scheme’s victims, I don’t think you’d make such a big oversight.

In my opinion, you carrying antidotes for the confusing smoke that day was just a backup plan, you simply didn’t inform Situ Jing.

You needed him to leave some errors when dealing with the intentional poisoning case in the barracks, because you knew the Situ family wouldn’t be easily persuaded.

If he doesn’t want to move, but you want to push him, you need something substantial for the report."

"Madam, hearing your words, it’s as if knives cut through my heart." Lu Qing’s face looked sorrowful, though his words carried little sincerity, and before Zhu Yu could respond he asked, "And inclined by the Zhu family nature, after hearing about the secretly manufactured weapons, do you still believe your father has no intent to rebel?"