After consulting with Fu Lu, Lu Qing wrote a reply to Lu Chao, handed the reassembled chanical Box to Fu Lu, and instructed him to be sure to avoid Lu Zhang’s spies. Fu Lu acknowledged and then left.
After closing the door again, Lu Qing turned to see Zhu Yu resting her chin on her hand, staring intently at him.
He paused for a mont, spread his arms slightly, and slowly turned around in place.
Zhu Yu was caught off guard by his reaction, paused for a mont, then burst into laughter, "What are you doing?"
"What?" Lu Qing looked innocent. "I noticed how entranced the lady was by , so I thought as a husband, I should be attentive to my wife’s thoughts. That’s why I tried to make myself more visible and clearer to her."
"You pretend to be clueless so skillfully, you probably stand unrivaled in the martial arts world," Zhu Yu laughed and took a deep breath, motioning for Lu Qing to return to the table. After all, what she was about to say next wasn’t convenient to shout. "I was just pondering sothing, and no matter how much I think, I can’t figure it out.
Even my father knows that your grandfather and father were unwaveringly loyal to the Holy Emperor and had illustrious rits.
Although a great disaster happened overnight, with reasons still shrouded in mystery, your ancestors’ contributions to the Holy Emperor are unquestionable.
To say the Holy Emperor does not rember these deeds, he was the first to adopt you, and when you were poisoned, he went out of his way to send you to Shanqing Temple to have the Qi Yun Mountain People save you.
Yet, to say he does rember your ancestors’ past favors... he has always used you. Rather than treating you as an adopted son, it’s more like seeing you as a useful tool...
This is truly sothing I can’t comprehend."
"I’ve told you that the Holy Emperor has a very deep mind and is quite suspicious," Lu Qing wasn’t troubled by this matter. Especially after discovering that there were no traces of the Chifu Guard nearby, he was in a particularly good mood. "In the past, he was never sure which rumors I would believe, whether I would beco his right-hand man or betray him, so he was always cautious, testing at every turn.
Now, though our paths differ, our goals are quite similar, still, it’s not enough for him to let down his guard.
These things are not important. As long as our desired outco doesn’t conflict at present, that’s enough for ."
He paused a mont, slightly lowering his eyelids: "The truth about my ancestors, I will find out too.
But so things take precedence, and I must consider the bigger picture first."
Zhu Yu nodded. Although Emperor Jin’s actions left a bit of a chill, the current situation was much more optimistic than expected for them.
The following two days were the most relaxed days for everyone.
The corpulent Protectors and the old steward were all confined together, the Protectors seed to have woken up once in between, were given more dicine, and then fell asleep again.
The old steward was so hungry by the end of the two days that his eyelids barely had the strength to open, languidly slumped on the ground. If not for the faint rise and fall of his chest, he would look no different from dead.
Lu Yan’s subordinates spent part of their ti each day disguised as Protectors in the fortress, and the remaining part pretending to be ordinary villagers, going out early and returning late to "tend to the flowers and plants."
anwhile, the actual villagers were in a deep sleep, waiting for Yan Daoxin to concoct a safe antidote that wouldn’t harm their lives.
Perhaps Yan Daoxin was the busiest in the entire fortress, but he seed extraordinarily excited because among the ingredients of "hot soup" and incense, were rare herbs he originally intended to seek out in Lan Country, which invigorated him significantly.
The others had not much to do over the past two days; though they had to remain vigilant at all tis, the inside and outside of the fortress were now full of their people, so the level of reassurance was incomparable.
Even though they still had to sleep in their clothes, Zhu Yu felt much more at ease when sleeping, waking up each morning feeling refreshed.
During this ti, Lu Yan went to check the dungeon several tis, wanting to transport the bodies of his unfortunate tax collectors, but Lu Qing dissuaded him.
Lu Qing advised him not to rush; at present, there was no way to grandly transport the bodies out. The cellar was cool and dry, and given that the tax collectors died from excessive blood loss, temporarily storing the bodies there would prevent decay.
In contrast, forcibly moving the bodies out now, without the conditions for a quick burial, would make it nearly impossible to send complete bodies back to their families for proper closure later on.
Looking at his tragically killed subordinates, Lu Yan’s eyes were blood-red, cheeks clenched, feeling like his molars were about to shatter, but he ultimately heeded Lu Qing’s advice. He instructed others to take so cloth down and wrap the bodies properly, storing them safely in the cellar for the ti being.
On the third day, news of progress in Yan Daoxin’s antidote finally erged.
After so selection, he chose an old man with hair and beard completely white and emaciated to test the antidote’s effects.
The reasoning was simple—if such a frail, aged elder could handle the antidote’s potency, recover his spirits, and not experience any alarming reactions, others would naturally be safer.
Zhu Yu effortlessly opened the old man’s jaw, making him open his mouth. Yan Daoxin tossed the pill inside, and with a tap on the old man’s chest and back, the elder shuddered, swallowing the pill.
Zhu Yu helped close the old man’s mouth again, watching him intently, holding her breath.
Though Yan Daoxin sat aside looking composed, his shallower breaths betrayed his inner anxiety.
After a short while, the emaciated old man suddenly gasped deeply; it was so deep he choked and began coughing violently, gradually opening his eyes with the coughs.
Yan Daoxin quickly propped him up, took a bowl of honey water from soone nearby, and carefully fed the old man so.
The old man drank a few sips, his breathing slowly steadied, and he looked at the person feeding him, then at his surroundings, a confused look in his cloudy eyes.
"I... I..." As he spoke, perhaps from having not used his voice for so long, his throat sounded rusted, unpleasantly hoarse, "Where am I? Who are you?"
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