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Chapter 263 The Stone Has No Arrowhead
Lu Qing naturally did not object to Zhu Yu's idea.

He and Emperor Jin both hoped that the Jie Kingdom would not have any reckless intentions.

But he had one more ulterior motive than Emperor Jin.

Needless to say, Lu Zhang has the backing of the Duke of Yan, a power that is unparalleled in the world.

Although Lu Ze did not have a powerful maternal family, his mother was the most favored concubine in the palace, and sometimes the influence of her mother's influence was not much weaker than that of a powerful maternal family.

Even meritorious officials and relatives of the emperor like the Duke of Yan, who had many followers, were more likely to arouse the emperor's suspicion, and their advantage might turn into a disadvantage.

Lu Chao's only advantage was that his birth mother was Empress Wang. However, after Empress Wang died, Emperor Jin was not close to Lu Chao. He saw Lu Chao less often than Lu Qing, who met with Emperor Jin as the Golden-Faced Censor.

It is said that it is because Emperor Jin and Empress Wang have a deep affection for each other, and Lu Chao looks very much like Empress Wang, so Emperor Jin inevitably recalls sad memories when he sees him.

Some say that after Lu Chao was born, a fortune teller advised Emperor Jin that Lu Chao and Empress Wang were incompatible and should stay away from each other, otherwise Empress Wang would eventually have her lifespan drained by this son.

However, Empress Wang had finally had this child, and she couldn't bear to send him away after he was born. She insisted on raising him by her side. Sure enough, he died a few years later. Emperor Jin felt as if a thorn had been stuck in his heart. Whenever he saw Lu Chao, he would think of his fate. Therefore, apart from attending court, he rarely summoned him in private. Naturally, the relationship between father and son became distant.

Lu Qing scoffed at both of these claims and did not believe them.

Emperor Jin's feelings for Empress Wang were genuine, but in this world, we only hear of "seeing an object and thinking of a person," but have we ever heard of a son avoiding his mother simply because she resembles him?

Moreover, how could an emperor like Emperor Jin, who had gone through bloodshed and risked his life to gain the throne, be someone who would be easily swayed by supernatural superstitions?

But the heart of an emperor is as deep as the sea, and that person is inherently very shrewd and unpredictable. He never refutes the various speculations from the outside world, which is why we have those private rumors today.

Since his birth mother died early and his father's thoughts were unpredictable, Lu Chao's reliance became vague and uncertain.

Originally, Lu Qing did not dare to make any bold plans. After all, given their past status, it was almost a pipe dream to try to form an alliance with a large power.

However, the situation is different now.

With the unexpected addition of Zhu Yu, everything changed.

The woman sent as a bride was not just an ordinary woman who knew only how to embroider and chase butterflies. The Shuo Kingdom was no longer a dispensable and unreliable family. In fact, the heavens were on their side, and the sudden flood actually led them to take advantage of the situation and facilitate the important task of diverting water into the Shuo Kingdom, benefiting the people of both places.

Lu Qing was confident that as long as everything went smoothly for them, Shuoguo would become an ally he had never hoped for.

As for the Jie Kingdom, they originally saw Emperor Jin's bestowal of marriage as nothing less than binding the interests of the Jie Kingdom and Lu Zhang together. Regardless of whether the King of Jie and the Duke of Yan had their own agendas, at least they should have been aligned on their goals, which was to support Lu Zhang.

Unexpectedly, Lu Zhang was so foolish. In order to share the same hatred with his maternal family, he humiliated and neglected the princess of Jie Kingdom at the beginning of their marriage. After rumors spread in Jie Kingdom that he still harbored treacherous intentions, he did not hesitate to draw a line between them and even prepared to "sacrifice his own family for the greater good" to show his loyalty.

This stance is clearly contrary to the King of Jie's original intention of reluctantly agreeing to the marriage.

Although Yan Shu was stopped by them and no longer intended to run back to Jie Kingdom, and the Jie King had no way of knowing how his daughter was being treated at this critical juncture, Lu Zhang's patrol of the Jie Shuo border was a real event.

This news couldn't possibly have escaped the ears of the King of Jie. The new son-in-law not only showed his father-in-law no kindness whatsoever, but also treated him like a thief…

This really did Lu Qing a huge favor.

They thought this arranged marriage would be a great boost, but it turned out the "tiger" was truly a tiger, and it ended up pulling off its own wings.

However, Lu Qing kept these thoughts to herself for the time being and did not tell Zhu Yu.

On the one hand, Zhu Yu and he had an extremely good understanding of each other. They understood each other very quickly and didn't even need to waste much breath to know what was going on.

On the other hand, the past few days of patrolling the passes had indeed exhausted her. She thought that after returning to the palace in the evening and sleeping for two or three hours, she would feel refreshed, but she soon started to feel sleepy after eating.

Lu Qing really couldn't bear to disturb her rest.

The next morning, Zhu Yu got up early on her own. After sleeping for so long, she was finally well-rested and relaxed, so she took the initiative to get up and go to the yard to practice the escape techniques that Lu Qing had taught her.

Although these techniques are not complicated and can be remembered quickly, remembering and being able to use them are two completely different things. In critical moments, when you are nervous and panicked, your mind goes blank, and you may miss the best opportunity to escape.

What she wanted was that instinctive reaction; that was the key to self-preservation.

Yan Shu also got up very early and was especially happy to see Zhu Yu. She and Fu Lu had been kept in the Chestnut Garden for the past few days and were extremely bored. She wanted to chat with Fu Lu to relieve her boredom, but Fu Lu ignored her.

She was overjoyed to finally have Zhu Yu back.

With an injury to her foot, Yan Shu was not fit to stand for long periods, so she sat on a stone stool to the side, watching Zhu Yu practice and mimicking his movements.

Lu Qing and Fu Wenfu were practicing their swordsmanship on the other side, so he didn't go over to disturb them.

"Before you got married, did your family teach you any martial arts?" Yan Shu asked Zhu Yu curiously while casually demonstrating.

Zhu Yu shook his head: "Never. Did your father ever teach you kung fu?"

"I don't have any kung fu skills, and my father himself doesn't have that many fancy moves either." Yan Shu was very straightforward and didn't care about being appropriate when she spoke. "He said that as long as you have enough strength, there's no move you can't break!"
I'm a girl and not very strong, so he taught me archery.

Let me tell you, I'm an excellent archer! No matter how fast a wild rabbit runs, even from twenty or thirty feet away, I can hit it every time!
However, this is nothing compared to my older brothers, who are strong enough to pull heavier bows.

My second brother once went hunting and shot an arrow that missed the wolf but hit a large rock next to him. The arrowhead was completely embedded in the rock and couldn't be pulled out.

At the time, my second and third brothers started teasing us, saying they wanted to take that big rock back so that Father could see what kind of prey his good son had shot. However, the rock was too heavy for them to lift, so they didn't take it back.

This made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt.

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