Discuss with you

Chapter 246 The knife strikes very steadily

“From the time we received the news to the time we set off for Lizhou, it was only the time it took to travel. However, they had already made preparations to ‘welcome’ you, and even added Laijiao, who is related to Shuoguo, to the list. This shows that someone knew about this news at almost the same time as you, so they immediately sent the message out. Otherwise, there would have been no time at all.”

Zhu Yu frowned, feeling somewhat annoyed that he had only just come up with this idea: "Back then, we said that Lai Jiao was originally dispensable, and it was probably added in order to drag Shuo Guo into the mess."

I thought the other party was simply targeting you because of your status as the son-in-law of the Prince of Shuo. But today I realized that perhaps they had more to consider than that. They also knew that you would be appearing at the Lizhou camp at that time, so they specially arranged all of this to make it impossible for you to clear your name.

After all, if this conspiracy succeeds and gets reported to higher authorities, it will raise suspicions that the Shuo and Jie kingdoms are plotting a rebellion. With both sides working together, the whole scheme will be accomplished.

After she finished speaking, she looked at Lu Qing, who remained calm, and asked, "You've had this suspicion for a while now?"

“If it weren’t for the fact that there were two masters in the Chifu Guard, Lu Chao wouldn’t have had the chance to ‘switcheroo’ and give me my own shadow.” Lu Qing didn’t seem to care much. “Perhaps this is what they mean by misfortune being a blessing in disguise, and a blessing in disguise a misfortune.”

"Then who do you think is behind all of this?" Zhu Yu asked.

"Whoever jumps around the most is the one," Lu Qing laughed. "Anyway, no matter what I speculate or believe in my heart, I can't make this clear."

After all, if I pretend to be confused and prevent the other party from figuring out my background, there is still room for negotiation.

Conversely, if things are brought to light, then the other party's spear will be pointed at my chest, and at that point, it will be almost impossible to reverse the situation.

Since everyone wants someone else to be the cicada, let's wait and see who's the mantis and who's the oriole in the end.

Zhu Yu squinted at Lu Qing, pondering his meaning, then shook his head: "No, starting tomorrow, I have to get on good terms with that Yan Shu."

"What are you going to do?" Lu Qing asked, somewhat puzzled.

"It's nothing, just trying to persuade her." Zhu Yu waved his hand, telling Lu Qing not to worry. "If we hadn't met her, or if she had just ridden away smoothly on her horse today, we could have just turned a blind eye and let it go."

Unfortunately, she injured her leg and we brought her back. We can't let her stay in Shuo Kingdom for long. I also need to ask her why she ran away from Prince Yi's mansion.

Unless there's a particularly serious reason, you should still try to persuade her to go back.

At this time, the Jie Kingdom and the Shuo Kingdom could be pushed into the eye of the storm at any moment. At this time, the princess who was betrothed secretly ran away, left the Jin Kingdom, and came to the Shuo Kingdom!
If this gets out, I'll be in deep trouble, no matter how hard I try.

After saying that, she added with some concern, "Could this also be a deliberate design by someone?"

Lu Qing smiled and shook his head: "Don't overthink it. Judging from Princess Yan Shu's temperament today, she doesn't seem like the kind of person who would obediently follow someone else's planned route so easily."

Do you remember those Jie people in the capital when Lu Zhang got married? They disappeared after the wedding. They wouldn't just appear out of nowhere; we talked about that before.”

Zhu Yu was both amused and exasperated: "It seems that Yan Shu's elopement might have been premeditated all along!"

Indeed, this matter was originally quite difficult, but as luck would have it, not long after the wedding, this strange incident involving weapons and bandits suddenly occurred. To avoid suspicion, Lu Zhang volunteered to leave the capital for an inspection tour, and he probably hasn't returned yet. Didn't this create an opportunity for Yan Shu?

“You’re right. Let’s find an opportunity to talk to her tomorrow and try to figure out what we want to know first. We’ll deal with the rest as we go.” Lu Qing didn’t seem particularly worried. “If someone is really plotting something, the matter has become unclear since Princess Yan Shu entered the territory of Shuo Kingdom. So there’s no point in rushing now.”

“The passes of Shuo Kingdom are indeed a big problem.” After Lu Qing said this, Zhu Yu recalled how easily they had crossed the pass before. The fact that Yan Shu was able to appear in Shuo Kingdom’s territory this time was further proof of the lax defense.

After a good night's sleep, Zhu Yu got up early the next morning, met with Yan Daoxin, and then returned to her room. She closed the door, took out the leather bag that Lu Qing had made for her, and picked through it until she found a long-handled black iron knife.

“Your knife…” Lu Qing could guess what Zhu Yu was planning to do, but seeing her take the tools out of the leather bag, he couldn’t help but speak up.

Zhu Yu understood what Lu Qing wanted to say, smiled, lit a candle, and heated the knife over the candle flame: "Don't worry, this one has never been used before, it's brand new."

No matter how eccentric I am, I wouldn't use a knife that's been used to dissect corpses to harm myself.

After the blade was scorched by the fire, Zhu Yu moved the knife away, blew out the candle, but did not rush to cut it.

Seeing that she hadn't made the cut yet, Lu Qing hesitated for a moment before finally speaking up: "Otherwise, just wrap your wrist with a cloth and smear some chicken blood on it; it'll look the same."

“That won’t do. If we’re going to do a show, we should go all the way. Otherwise, if we accidentally drop the cloth, all our efforts will be wasted, or we might even make things worse and ruin the whole thing.” Zhu Yu rejected his suggestion without hesitation.

“Then…” Lu Qing glanced at the knife she was holding in her hand, which she hadn’t yet brandished on her wrist. “I’ve practiced martial arts for many years, and I have some experience in controlling my strength. If you can’t bring yourself to do it…”

"Don't worry, I'm definitely more experienced than you when it comes to controlling the force." Zhu Yu carefully touched the back of the knife to check its temperature. "The knife was too hot just now. If I had cut like that, I would have just created an extra wound that wouldn't have bled much, and I wouldn't have achieved the effect I wanted. That would have been a waste of my suffering."

"Hmm, the temperature is about right this time."

As she spoke, she carefully controlled her strength and made a clean cut on her wrist.

Bright red blood seeped out from the cut, but not much, and it didn't even seem to be dripping down my wrist.

"I told you my hand was steady, right?" Zhu Yu smiled with satisfaction, took a cloth from the side and covered the wound, then stretched her wrist out in front of Lu Qing. "Help me tie this cloth up, not too tight. If the wound is accidentally exposed even a tiny bit, that would be even better."