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Chapter 231 Playing with It
Zhu Feng naturally knew that discovering so many skeletons was no small matter. He originally wanted to hurry up and have someone send them back to the capital for his father to deal with, but after hearing what Zhu Yu said, he hesitated. He looked at Zhu Yu with some doubt, then at Lu Qing. Seeing that Lu Qing had no objection to Zhu Yu's arrangement, he nodded and turned to arrange for someone to bring over the wooden boxes.

It was getting dark, and there was no need for them to stay any longer. Zhu Yu was tired after working all day. Lu Qing left some talismans to help Zhu Feng and took Zhu Yu back to the main tent. He lit a fire outside the tent and boiled a pot of warm water for Zhu Yu to wash his face and hands.

Zhu Yu squatted at the entrance of the tent, watching Lu Qing skillfully start a fire and set up an iron pot to boil water, his heart filled with even more curiosity about Lu Qing's past experiences.

Lu Qing's master, the reclusive hermit of Qiyun Mountain, was indeed extraordinary. Not only did he heal his body, but he also honed his skills, making him far superior to Lu Zhang and Lu Ze in both intellect and vision.

So objectively speaking, if I were Emperor Jin... I'd probably have to be careful around this adopted son...

Just as she was thinking about it, Zhu Yu realized something was wrong.

Back then, when Empress Wang was seriously ill and Emperor Jin was too busy to attend to anything else, Consort Zhao took advantage of Lu Qing and was about to ruin his life, leaving him to go to the underworld in a miserable state. It was Emperor Jin who ordered someone to send him to Shanqing Temple in a hurry to seek help from the hermit of Qiyun Mountain.

Although it is Lu Qing's good fortune to have caught the eye of the hermit of Qiyun Mountain, who was willing to treat him and impart all his skills to him, the bridge between them was indeed built for Lu Qing by Emperor Jin.

Thinking about it this way, Zhu Yu became even more confused.

She originally thought that Emperor Jin only feared Lu Qing and was just using him to do some hard and dirty work. He would hand over the easy money to Lu Zhang without putting in any effort.

But the child that Qiyun Mountain Man went through so much trouble to save back then was used for this purpose.

What's the difference between this and using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, or using a gold ingot as a bullet to shoot a bird? It's clearly not worth it.

Furthermore, Zhu Yu didn't believe that Emperor Jin was completely unaware of Qiyun Shanren's reputation and abilities. So, since he knew that Qiyun Shanren was a reclusive master whose disciples were all outstanding, why would Emperor Jin send his adopted son, whom he was deeply wary of, to him and keep him by Qiyun Shanren's side for so many years, giving him ample time to learn and improve?
Zhu Yu became more and more confused as she thought about it. She felt that her mind must be in chaos, otherwise why would she feel more and more that Emperor Jin's kindness to Lu Qing was real, and at the same time, his fear and suppression of Lu Qing... also seemed to be real!
But how can one person have both of these situations at the same time?

Lu Qing boiled the water and returned to find Zhu Yu staring at her in a daze. She looked down in confusion and saw that there was nothing wrong with her.

"Has Madam seen too many skeletons today, and now you find it all the more pleasing to the eye to see a vigorous and healthy man like me? Otherwise, why are you staring at me so intently?" He deliberately circled around in front of Zhu Yu, as if afraid that Zhu Yu might not have seen him fully.

Zhu Yuchao glanced around a few times, then pulled Lu Qing in front of him and whispered, "You...you wouldn't happen to be that illegitimate son from before he gained power, would you...?"

Lu Qing reached out and touched Zhu Yu's neck. Zhu Yu was ticklish and quickly shrank back, saying, "Hey, what are you doing!"

"Let me see how many heads Madam has grown on her neck. How dare you say such audacious things." Lu Qing withdrew her hand and pulled Zhu Yu back up after she lost her balance and fell backward while dodging.

"I'm so confused too," Zhu Yu said innocently. "I can't figure it out. I can't understand whether that person loves you or hates you, trusts you or is wary of you."

“This is not something that can be explained in a few words. What you said may be a combination of factors. There are some reasons that I myself have not yet figured out,” Lu Qing said after a moment of silence, his voice unconsciously lowering considerably. “In the competition back then, that person was not initially favored by many. Even the Duke of Yan initially remained on the sidelines.”

If there was anyone who stood firmly behind that person from the very beginning, it was probably only my grandfather.

Zhu Yu was somewhat surprised. She knew that Lu Qing's clansmen had followed Emperor Jin, but she did not know that they were actually the most clear-cut and loyal ones.

"How did you find out about this?" Zhu Yu asked.

It is common knowledge that the Xiaoyao Wang family followed Emperor Jin, but was later unfortunately murdered by villains and was wiped out before Emperor Jin ascended the throne.

However, if we trace back to the early days when Emperor Jin first participated in the struggle for the throne, ordinary people would not have such a clear understanding.

When Lu Qing's entire family was brutally murdered, he was just a baby who couldn't remember anything at all. How could he possibly be familiar with such a past?

“There are official records left by the historians in the palace, which are in the Southern Study.”

When I was at Shanqing Temple, Lu Chao once secretly smuggled it into another book and brought it to me to read. "It was written very clearly that my grandfather and father supported that person from beginning to end and never wavered. That person even treated my father as brothers, regardless of whether they were ruler and subject, and their relationship was very deep.

Just before the great undertaking was about to be completed, a sudden change occurred. When the man who heard the news rushed there with his men, the corpses lying on the ground were already cold.

Just as he finished checking and found everyone present dead, and was about to leave, he suddenly heard a baby crying. He then discovered me, hidden by the wet nurse, and took me back with him. It wasn't until shortly after he officially ascended to a high position that he recognized me as his adopted son.

This was the first time Lu Qing had told Zhu Yu about her background in such detail.

Zhu Yu listened silently, and after thinking for a moment, she asked, "How old were you and Lu Chao back then?"

“He was about fourteen or fifteen years old, and less than a year later he was ordered to return to the capital,” Lu Qing replied. “At that time, Lu Chao was always engrossed in reading, which greatly impressed the emperor, who granted him special permission to freely enter and leave the Southern Study and borrow books from its collection.”

Zhu Yu raised her eyebrows, feeling that her guess was becoming more and more reasonable: "So... that person deliberately induced him to discover that official book that recorded that past event, right?"
No... the more I think about it, the more intriguing it becomes...

When you were first sent to Shanqing Temple, after your condition improved, that man's first wife passed away, and he then sent Lu Chao there as well...

In other words, he could easily foresee that two brothers of similar age would easily develop a deep friendship…

She didn't spell it out.