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Chapter 258 Going to the Pass

At the other end of the Prince Shuo's residence, in the Chestnut Garden, Zhu Yu and the others were also busy.

"Are you sure this method will work? What if all that comes out of the gourd is blood tofu? That would be embarrassing!" Zhu Yu asked, somewhat worried, as he watched Yan Daoxin directing the runes and talismans in the room to help pour chicken blood into one of his medicine gourds.

As soon as Zhu Cheng returned in the afternoon, he took them to the chestnut garden and told them about his plans for the future.

He had previously told Yang Chengxuan, the Right Chief Secretary, that he was focusing on forging weapons, but that was of course a lie.

If even at this point, he's still preoccupied with forging swords, then all those years as the Prince of Shuo have been for nothing.

He planned to secretly patrol the various passes with his personal guards and asked Lu Qingzhu and Yu if they wanted to go together.

Zhu Yu and the others readily agreed, and even Yan Daoxin half-jokingly said he would go along, since Zhu Cheng's medicine couldn't be stopped.

These words made Zhu Cheng glance at Zhu Yu's wrist again, but because he had many things to give orders in secret, he didn't linger and left without saying anything.

Zhu Cheng could leave without saying anything, but Zhu Yu and the others had to make preparations.

Yan Daoxin has already brought up the matter of Zhu Cheng taking medicine every day. If we're going to go all out and Zhu Yu's wound has already been cut open, wouldn't it be a waste of all our efforts if there's no follow-up?

When you're out and about, it's not so easy to sneak around and kill a chicken on the spot; you have to prepare in advance.

If it were in his time, Zhu Yu would have plenty of ways to prevent the chicken blood from congealing within a few days.

But things are different now, and she has no other options.

Yan Daoxin found the task of pouring chicken blood into the gourd too dirty and refused to do it, so she just stood aside and watched. Hearing Zhu Yu's concern, she turned to look at her helplessly and said, "Don't worry, I have the skill to do this. I guarantee it will be as fresh as if it were just poured out!"
If you really want to extract blood tofu from this gourd, I'll take care of it all myself, even if it means hunting a wolf in the mountains and bleeding it again.

I am Yan Daoxin, the world-renowned divine physician!

Don't let that kid corrupt you and make you treat me like I'm nothing!

Since he had said so, Zhu Yu naturally chose to trust his subordinates. He watched as the two brothers, Fuwen and Fulu, filled the gourd with chicken blood and wiped it clean. Only then did Yan Daoxin reach out and take the gourd, take out a packet of prepared powder from his pocket, mix it in, seal the gourd, and shake it carefully to mix it well.

"Without your help in preparing this medicine, how long could my father have held on?" Zhu Yu finally had time to ask Yan Daoxin carefully.

Yan Daoxin scratched his head: "To be honest... he can last quite a while. The poison your father was given won't kill him quickly, but it will slowly weaken him without him even realizing it. Eventually, his mind will probably become muddled, and then he'll die silently."

Well... this poison isn't exactly vicious, but it's certainly insidious!

Zhu Yu and Lu Qing exchanged a glance and roughly guessed the Pang family's intentions.

The plan was simply to first support and bind Zhu Jie, turning him into their puppet without him even realizing it. Then, they would ensure Zhu Cheng's silent death, especially during his final days when he would be confused and unable to do anything beyond the Pang family's control. By then, after so many years of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, with Zhu Cheng dead and Zhu Jie a powerless figurehead, it would only be a matter of time before the Pang family stepped out from behind the scenes and into the limelight.

“Your father is quite clever in one respect,” Lu Qing sighed. “He still has a personal guard that only listens to him. For the time being, it’s a solid unit that the Pang family hasn’t been able to infiltrate. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t have been able to handle the matter of the Shuo Kingdom’s pass in secret this time.”

"By the way, what about Yan Shu?" Zhu Yu was calculating in her mind how many days they would need to go out. After confirming that there were no other plans, she remembered to ask about Yan Shu. "Who will stay behind?"

"A talisman." Lu Qing made his choice without hesitation.

The talisman beside him immediately looked miserable, gazing pitifully at Lu Qing: "Master..."

“You don’t need to plead for me, I’ll definitely keep you here.” Fu Wen couldn’t help but laugh out loud, waving his hand at his younger brother, “Just look at your own physique and you’ll know.”

This time, the Prince of Shuo only planned to take his personal guards with him, and the operation had to be carried out in secrecy.

Let alone personal guards, how many people in the entire Shuo Kingdom are as tall and strong as you?

"If you leave me here and take you with you, then my men won't be able to move out quietly!"

Fu Lu knew that her brother was right, so all she could do was sigh silently with a long face and mutter, "If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have rather starved to death than eat a single extra bite when I was little!"
Why bother growing so big, only to end up cooped up in the yard all the time...?

Zhu Yu was amused by his reaction and walked over to pat him on the shoulder: "When things are less hectic, I'll take you out for a stroll! With you by my side, I can walk around like a headless chicken!"

Upon hearing this, Fu Lu grinned, but then realized it was inappropriate and quickly waved his hand, saying, "Madam, you're wrong. With Master here, you can walk sideways whether I'm with you or not!"

Yan Shu felt a little lonely when she learned that Zhu Yu and the others were going out for a few days, while she had to stay home to recover from her injuries. However, she didn't show much emotion. After Zhu Yu's conversation with her last time, she had put her mind at ease and stopped worrying about how things would end if the King of Jie couldn't help her divorce Lu Zhang after returning to Jie Kingdom.

She just wanted to recover from her injuries as quickly as possible, and thankfully, with Zhu Yu and the others' arrangements, she could slip back quickly to avoid causing her father and the people of Jie Kingdom to be implicated because of her recklessness.

Yan Daoxin didn't forget Yan Shu's injury either. He specially left the prescription with Fu Lu and kept an eye on how he brewed the internal medicine. He also left Yan Shu the external ointment so that she could apply it to her wound every day to speed up the healing process.

And so, everyone made their preparations and went to bed early.

The next day, Lu Qing got up very early. After putting on fake skins for himself and Zhu Yu, he also disguised Yan Daoxin, who was going to travel with them.

From childhood, Yan Daoxin was only interested in studying medicine, except for basic self-defense techniques. He had little interest in anything else and did not know how to disguise himself with a fake skin.

However, his appearance was too handsome. No matter where he went, even without mentioning his identity as a divine doctor, he would still be very eye-catching. This time, when he went out on inspection with Zhu Cheng, he could not be allowed to walk around with such a face.

The four of them were dressed in the coarse cloth clothes that Zhu Cheng had given them the day before, looking like peddlers returning goods. They went to the back gate of the Prince's mansion, where Zhu Cheng had already ordered horses to be prepared and waiting.