CHAPTER 164: CHAPTER 163: FEAR OF RETURNING HOME

"I was certain he hadn’t. I had never seen any ambitious Vassal King neglect the training of his garrison soldiers so much. The number of blacksmiths in the fief was about to outnumber the soldiers."

"Even if there was a conspiracy with the Jie King, Shuo Country was barely able to protect itself in such a state, which was simply too absurd."

"However..." Zhu Yu initially shook his head firmly, then altered his tone with some worry, "If things continue like this, no matter what he thinks, he won’t be able to shake off the accusation of ’rebellion.’"

"After all, the privately manufactured weapons were forged from Black Iron, and the craftsmanship matched that of Shuo Country’s artisans."

"How could he explain, as a Vassal King, that he was unaware of someone sneaking under his nose, stealing the Black Iron, and even the artisans?"

"If I were the Holy Emperor, I doubt I would believe it."

"So the most crucial thing now is to figure out how Shuo Country’s artisans and Black Iron ended up being used to produce weapons for Jie Country." Lu Qing nodded, wrote a few more lines on the paper, put down the brush, and while waiting for the ink to dry, said to Zhu Yu, "A typical woman should return to her parents three days after marriage. Since we’re over here near Li State, it’s convenient to take you back to visit your parents."

"Li State and Huazhou both border Shuo Country. Which path do you plan to take?" Zhu Yu asked. "Since Situ Jing bluntly advised us not to approach Shuo, wouldn’t going through Li State be unwise?"

Lu Qing folded the dry secret message, placed it into a small wooden box, and nodded at Zhu Yu: "To avoid some trouble, we’ll take the longer route, first to Huazhou, then from Huazhou to Shuo Country."

After speaking, he called the rune standing outside the door inside, handed over the small wooden box containing the secret message, and asked, "Have you found any trace of the Chifu Guard around here recently?"

"Never." The rune answered without hesitation, apparently this matter weighed on his mind for a long time. "Since you and the Chief Historian entered the Li State Camp, preparing for the right time to coordinate inside and outside, I hadn’t noticed their presence."

"Take this secret message, travel far, and when you spot the Chifu Guard, hand it to them to be brought back to the palace. Say I was injured by a sword, I still couldn’t get up and move, and needed bed rest for some days to recover.

Make sure to remember the Chifu Guard’s area of activity and report back to me."

"Yes!" The rune promptly replied, carefully tucked the secret message into his chest, checked his copper mask to ensure it was securely worn, and quickly left.

Outside the door, the rune immediately took over his position and continued to guard there.

Lu Qing withdrew his gaze, seeing Zhu Yu resting her chin in her hands, her brows slightly furrowed, seemingly troubled by some puzzle she couldn’t solve.

"What’s wrong? Are you really nervous about returning to Shuo Country?" He teased with a sarcastic tone. "Worrying about not being able to trace back the origin of the Black Iron and weapons, unable to clear your father’s name?"

"Hmm?" Zhu Yu snapped back, understanding his words, shook her head. "That’s your worry. After all, if your Yue Family gets tainted with this kind of reputation, the trouble would be yours.

When the sky falls, the taller ones hold it up, the things you worry about, I won’t bother myself with."

Her words amused Lu Qing, prompting him to nod somewhat resignedly: "Then what are you frowning about?"

"Why did the Chifu Guard leave the area after we entered the Li State imperial guard camp?" With those topics laid out, Lu Qing then sent the rune out, without intentionally avoiding her, Zhu Yu spoke directly, "Earlier when you personally went to Runzhou borrowing imperial guard soldiers, couldn’t the Chifu Guard near Li State Camp either?"

Apparently, she touched on something important, making Lu Qing feel her question was crucial. He nodded with satisfaction at Zhu Yu’s doubt, then said, "Not really. Earlier, in Runzhou, you couldn’t sense, but I knew well that the Chifu Guard always followed closely, but without a summons, they couldn’t appear."

"Then when they were active around here, after you began to deal with Situ Jing, they didn’t approach anymore... Was it under the Holy Emperor’s instruction?" Zhu Yu was shocked.

Lu Qing didn’t answer this obvious question.

A Golden-faced Imperial Censor without a shred of military power, dealing in Li State with a heavily armed imperial guard Commander.

The Emperor Jin surprising instructed his Chifu Guard to keep far from the imperial guard camp, not even nearing the county town where the Commander’s Mansion was located.

Which indeed didn’t make sense.

Unless...

Zhu Yu’s eyelids twitched, startled by her bold speculation, quickly raising her eyes to look at Lu Qing.

Lu Qing, just like reading from her recent reaction, guessed her inner thoughts and nodded at her.

"Are you sure?" Lu Qing’s nod amazed Zhu Yu even more, her heart pounded a few beats faster.

But Lu Qing shook his head again: "Not sure, so I let the rune send the secret message back to test if our speculation was accurate."

Zhu Yu dumbfoundedly nodded.

"Other matters aren’t worth your energy," Lu Qing waved in front of Zhu Yu’s eyes. "Once you reach Shuo Country, many things you’d be more familiar with than I am, that would be the beginning of a worrying time."

Hearing him, Zhu Yu chuckled coolly: "You’ll see, once there, whatever I say won’t matter, nobody cares anyway."

Though Lu Qing hadn’t been to Shuo Country, he had heard a bit about the customs there.

If Jie Country’s valiance was indifferent of age and gender, Shuo Country was skewed towards male dominance.

Zhu Yu’s statement wasn’t surprising.

Even without verifying with her, Lu Qing was sure, Zhu Yu’s exceptional intelligence and courage, with her astonishing forensic skills, were completely unbeknownst to Zhu Cheng.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t necessarily bear, or dare, let such a concubine’s daughter receive the marriage decree.

Precisely because of this, Zhu Yu’s faintly agitated tone actually held an emotion he understood quite clearly.

He, facing circumstantial pressure, had to conceal his talents.

She, smart and courageous indeed, was unseen.

Though their circumstances differed, their inner helplessness and discontent were quite similar.

"Not important." Lu Qing raised an eyebrow, peered at Zhu Yu, slightly lifted his chin, and pointed to himself, "Important words need to be heard by the wise.

As for those whose minds hadn’t opened yet, when they see who spared them from unwarranted grievances, who helped them out of danger, all the respect owed to you before will be returned in full."