Lu Qing paused, then slowly sighed: "In my opinion, many tis Lu Zhang is sowhat involuntary.
Although he acts without a firm core, easily led by others, he is fundantally different from Zhao Bi, not so decisive in killing, nor so cold-blooded and ruthless.
Being controlled for so long, his nature is sowhat kind-hearted.
As for Zhu Jie... I was sowhat impressed by his conduct and speech early on."
There was a deep-seated anger in Lu Qing’s tone, which Zhu Yu knew referred to Zhu Jie’s blatant and disrespectful behavior towards her.
"A person who eagerly caters to his in-laws in everything, striving to prove himself as a good candidate for support, going so far as to suppress his own brothers and having an overbearing attitude, is naturally different from Lu Zhang.
In my view, although Zhu Jie has a big ambition, he lacks depth; regardless of whether he cares about the people of Shuo Land, as a Vassal King, he doesn’t possess the necessary breadth of mind, just an arrogant and cold fool with nothing beneath the surface.
Such a person is like a handy knife, best suited to be used for killing with a borrowed knife.
In contrast, Zhu Feng, although not ostentatious, wins with his steady temperant, ticulous thinking, and he acts fundantally for the people.
More importantly, he is not as stubborn as your father in his thinking. When he saw you examining bones today, he remained calm, which is the best proof."
Zhu Yu thought this over and found Lu Qing’s words to be quite accurate.
Generally speaking, when people saw her examining corpses and bones, they’d be quite shocked, even terrified, but Zhu Feng, though surprised, managed to process this shock and did not show any sign verbally or expression-wise that her actions were against won’s virtue.
This was truly comndable.
Had it been her father or Zhu Jie present today, who knows what trouble they might have caused.
Thinking of this, a sudden understanding dawned on Zhu Yu: "So the reason you showed no face to my father previously is that he was never your target?"
"For the lady to say such a thing makes seem so deeply scheming, it’s truly heartbreaking," Lu Qing feigned a heart-broken gesture, then continued, "As one ages, their views tend to beco rigid, making them resistant to change.
Thus, rather than trying in vain to change him, it’s better to help him make a wiser choice, which is a win-win for both him and ."
Amidst the conversation, Rune entered from outside, bowing to Lu Qing, "Master, Second Young Master Zhu has arrived."
"Invite him in," Lu Qing nodded to Rune, "You go and bring dinner over. Tonight let’s have Second Young Master Zhu join us for dinner in this tent."
Rune readily agreed, turned around to invite Zhu Feng inside, and then stepped out to fetch dinner.
Zhu Feng also ca over after specially changing into a fresh set of clothes, now neat and clean, and upon entering, he politely greeted Zhu Yu and Lu Qing, who had also changed their attire.
Though Zhu Yu was his sister, having married Prince Xiaoyao, she had to be treated with the respect accorded to her husband’s status.
"Second brother, you’ve worked hard today, please have a seat," Zhu Yu greeted Zhu Feng warmly. In reality, she didn’t have much interaction with Zhu Feng in the past, so there wasn’t much sibling affection to speak of, but his actions in recent days had indeed been comndable, and now she understood Lu Qing’s intentions, so naturally, she wanted to cooperate well, "Just now I was discussing today’s matters with Lu Qing, but he said to wait until you arrived to discuss, and as soon as he finished speaking, you arrived!"
Zhu Feng froze for a mont.
At Prince Shuo Mansion, it was almost like Zhu Jie’s "one-man show," with decisions either discussed between Zhu Jie and Zhu Cheng or Zhu Jie and the Pang Family uncle, making Zhu Feng’s presence seemingly irrelevant.
Now, hearing that this Prince Xiaoyao brother-in-law specifically wanted to wait for him before discussing business, Zhu Feng felt unexpectedly flattered. After sitting down, he even thought of standing up again to pay respect to Lu Qing, but was stopped by Lu Qing raising his hand.
"Alright, now that my second brother is here, you can finally tell what exactly you were busy with today?" Zhu Yu turned to Lu Qing.
With a doting expression, Lu Qing raised his hand to gently pat her head, as if to soothe her little mood, "Actually, I just initially planned to take a walk around the surroundings.
Initially, I was puzzled why since entering Shuo Land from the passes around Black Stone Mountain, a place relatively closer to the capital, many strong n had inexplicably disappeared, yet in places like Risun Ridge, far from the capital and remote, except for a few missing blacksmiths, nothing had happened.
So I wanted to see if there was sothing special about this area that allowed its strong n to escape calamity.
Unexpectedly, as I walked a round in the mountain, I stumbled upon a large pack of wild dogs in a mountain hollow not far from here."
At this point, he paused, looking over at the confused Zhu Feng.
"Wild dogs?" Zhu Feng was quite surprised, "This area, when I used to patrol on behalf of my father, I ca a few tis. It’s dry and barren without lush vegetation, thus no many small animals roam here, and I’ve never seen large groups of wild dogs."
"That pack of wild dogs numbered at least over twenty, but most looked emaciated, lingering alongside a village path in the hollow. As you ntioned, due to no other small beasts for them to prey on, they’ll also starve, unable to find anything to eat," Lu Qing nodded.
Zhu Feng beca even more puzzled: "This really is peculiar! Clearly, this isn’t a typical place for wild dog gatherings, and yet they amassed into a large pack, remaining there despite starvation, unwilling to leave. Why is that?
What is enticing them to co and linger here, unwilling to leave?"
This matter left him puzzled, yet Zhu Yu at this mont had already found her own answer.
"The white bones we dug up today... they might be related to the lingering wild dogs." She joined the dots and felt even heavier at heart, inhaling deeply, clearing her throat, she formally spoke of her dayti discovery that the bones were cooked to the two before her.
Though Zhu Yu’s grave deanor prior to her official statent already made Lu Qing and Zhu Feng subconsciously brace themselves, their expressions still changed upon hearing the grim conclusion.
Zhu Yu further added: "Also, whether the at is raw or cooked, buried under such hard and compacted earth, it wouldn’t decompose so quickly.
Thus, the clean and bare bones, it’s very likely the flesh was stripped before burial."
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