CHAPTER 52: CHAPTER 51: TOO CONSPICUOUS

For the next five consecutive days, Li Wencai finally lived in comfort.

No one was starving him anymore, and besides being unable to leave the small courtyard, he could even come out of the bedroom for a walk to get fresh air.

Every day, for three meals, the Li Family’s cook would prepare delicious dishes for him, each day even accompanying one meal with a pot of wine.

On the first day, Li Wencai was anxious, worried he might be full one meal and have nothing for the next, but once he had three satisfying meals that filled his belly, he finally felt at ease.

In the following days, he became more comfortable in the small courtyard, as it was said that not only did he eat well and sleep well every day, but during the day when the sun was abundant, he even moved a rocking chair into the courtyard to bask in the sun!

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yu could only shake her head in sigh.

This Li Wencai could only bring harm to a place, exploiting the commoners, but would never become a major villain.

The reason was simple, his wisdom was insufficient to support the courage to do evil.

Even the peasants in the village know that at the end of the year, you always have to feed the pigs counted for slaughter with good meals for a few days, to put some fat on for the event.

After committing so many major mistakes, just because Lu Qing offered him a chance, offering to spare him, and afterward providing him with good food and drinks, he just enjoyed it calmly without thinking further, as if he believed he could solve his immediate troubles by "offsetting the merits," and pass through safely.

However, this also sparked another question in Zhu Yu’s mind.

"Even if it’s dark under the lamp, can it be so blindly dark?" She couldn’t help but ask while playing chess with Lu Qing, "I thought Li Wencai was full of cunning, laziness, greed, slickness, and evil, but looking at this situation now, he’s at least missing the ’cunning’ aspect.

If I were his superior, I’d rather not accept gold and beauties than allow such a dull-brained person to work for me."

"Haven’t you considered a possibility?" Lu Qing casually picked up a piece, scanned the chessboard, and placed it on an empty spot, "Perhaps the opponent just needs to put a rotten piece here.

While knowing he’s lacking virtue, ability, and use, it’s precisely this type of person needed to cause chaos.

Those used to muddy the waters are naturally discarded after use, those with a bit of brains likely wouldn’t want to play such a role."

His words weren’t wrong, Zhu Yu thought and agreed this reasoning made sense.

"Previously, you told Li Wencai that if he followed your instructions, he could be spared, is that genuine?" Zhu Yu asked again.

Now, not only the governmental officials of Runzhou Prefecture were guarding outside the courtyard, but also the brothers Rune and Fu Lu were stationed outside the room, allowing the conversation to be more reassuring.

"We are speaking privately, no need to be formal with honorifics." Lu Qing didn’t mind, smiling slightly, "Given Li Wencai’s crimes, even being quartered by horses might not be excessive. I promised to spare him one horse, it doesn’t seem to affect the overall plan, so it can certainly be true."

Zhu Yu was stunned, not expecting his "spare one horse" remark meant one horse in the "quartered by horses"...

Even though she judged from her recent observation of Lu Qing’s words and actions that he wouldn’t really spare Li Wencai, hearing such an answer left her unsure how to react.

Lu Qing didn’t pay much attention to this, he placed another piece and seemed satisfied, looking at the chessboard: "I win this round."

Zhu Yu hurriedly refocused her attention on the board, discovering that despite Lu Qing’s white pieces scattered widely, didn’t seem to outnumber her black pieces.

Lu Qing pointed to a cluster of her black pieces: "These are surrounded by me and lost air, no matter how many, they are dead pieces."

With long fingers, he picked out the black pieces one by one, then pointed to another side: "These are the same."

Only then did Zhu Yu realize, previously as Lu Qing placed his pieces, each seemed casual and erratic, as if there was no particular method, unexpectedly in the unnoticed moment, white pieces quietly surrounded many of her black pieces.

Seeing Lu Qing pick off the dead pieces one by one, the black ones left on the board became fewer, while the white pieces increased.

"Focus when playing next time." Lu Qing raised his brow to Zhu Yu, with a somewhat provocative tone, "Only staring at the immediate, would leave you ignoring the whole situation."

Zhu Yu knew her skills were lacking, losing modestly, though she didn’t want to play another round, she hurriedly assisted in tidying up the pieces: "How many more days we need to linger here?"

"Don’t rush, we need to wait for the right moment." Lu Qing glanced around, "Why not play a round of throwing jar?"

Zhu Yu, for the first time found amusement rather tiring.

Finally, after another day, early in the morning as Zhu Yu just got up, Fu Lu delivered a bamboo tube for her to see.

Inside the tube lay a note, concise with only four words—"Everything is ready."

Seeing these words, Zhu Yu felt refreshed and quickly asked Fu Lu: "Where are we going now? What to do?"

Fu Lu could see Zhu Yu’s happiness, though his smile carried a hint of awkwardness.

"Chief Historian..." He awkwardly touched his neck, "The master said, you should stay here, and wait for the villain to be captured, sparing them to be judged by you.

The master also said to hold steady and avoid haste, as mobilizing forces might scare the snake and spoil the plan, so he only asked Chief Historian to be patient."

Zhu Yu sighed.

She didn’t want to endure such "patience," yet couldn’t refute Lu Qing’s arrangement, only resigning with a nod: "Fine, go ahead, I’ll wait here."

"The master said, I’m too conspicuous, so he let me stay to accompany you." Fu Lu’s expression showed a touch of bitterness.

Most likely others had already left, apart from Fu Lu, there were still two officials from Runzhou Prefecture guarding outside the courtyard.

Fu Lu, idle and uncomfortable, unable to find anything to do, simply started practicing martial arts in the courtyard.

His fists were hardly any smaller than Zhu Yu’s face, each move full of power, fierce and spirited, his punches even stirred a breeze.

After finishing a set of punches, his breath was only slightly more rapid than before, feeling unsatisfied, simply he picked up the stone pedestal in the courtyard, tossing and catching it until his fringe was wet with sweat, before contently placing the stone pedestal back, sitting down on the stone steps.

Zhu Yu was equally bored, brought a stool by the door to watch Fu Lu practice, seeing him swing the hundred-plus-pound stone pedestal in the air, couldn’t help but call out in admiration, making Fu Lu’s dark face blush.

"Surely made Chief Historian laugh!" He stopped afterward, grinning a bit embarrassed.

"No laughter, no laughter, the first time I’ve seen such strength, such impressive skill!" Zhu Yu was never stingy with praise, sincerely told him, promptly giving a thumbs up.

"Chief Historian speaks highly, I merely have brute strength, when you see the master’s martial skills later, you’ll overlook my mere tricks!" Fu Lu quickly waved off, seemed not self-deprecating, but genuinely thinking so from the heart.