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Chapter 325 hits the sore spot
The "he" that Lu Yan mentioned was, of course, Lu Zhang, who was standing at the very front.

These words, which showed no respect whatsoever and made no attempt to conceal their contempt, caused everyone except Lu Qing to have subtle changes in their expressions.

Although Zhu Yu had heard that Lu Yan was a fiery person, she never expected him to be so straightforward, clearly disliking Lu Zhang and showing him no respect whatsoever, even in his presence.

Yan Shu pursed her lips, her smile almost bursting out of her chest. It seemed she was incredibly pleased that someone treated Lu Zhang this way.

Only Lu Zhang's face turned even darker than the bottom of a pot. However, this was probably not the first time he had seen Lu Yan's merciless mouth, so even though his anger was already rising to his throat, he still swallowed it back.

He straightened his back on horseback, trying to make himself look more imposing, and slightly raised his chin, looking down at Lu Yan with an arrogant posture.

As a result, Lu Yan didn't even glance at him, his eyes fixed on Lu Qing, waiting for Lu Qing to answer his question.

Seeing this, Lu Zhang took the initiative to speak, saying to Lu Yan in an arrogant tone: "I was ordered by my father to patrol the border area of ​​Jinjieshuo. We discovered that bandits were causing trouble in this area, so we tracked them all the way here."

And why are you here?!

Lu Yan ignored him and looked at Lu Qing, as if he wanted to hear what Lu Qing had to say.

Lu Qing didn't want to explain too much to him, so she simply followed Lu Zhang's previous response and asked Lu Yan, "Why is the Third Prince not in Quzhou, but in Lan?"

“Brother, you may not know this,” Lu Yan said, “but he was not particularly close to Lu Qing. However, judging from his attitude, he seemed to respect him quite a bit and was very polite. “A decree was issued by the imperial court earlier, saying that the agricultural tax for farmers would be reduced or exempted, and instead a tax would be levied on those who grow flowers and grass.”

According to the imperial edict, all people from Jinzhou, even if they abandoned their fertile fields to grow flowers and plants in the border areas of vassal states, still had to pay a flower and plant tax.

My Liangzhou is adjacent to this place. Many Jin people used to go to the border of Lan Kingdom to plant flowers and grass, so I sent people to collect the flower and grass tax from them.

Everything else went smoothly, and nothing went wrong.

But there's this place called Fairy Castle in this area, and for some reason, none of the people I sent here have returned safely. They all seem to have vanished into thin air, disappearing without a trace after arriving.

I didn't know what was going on, so I sent someone over again, but the result was the same.

I've sent several people over, but not a single one has returned. Is that acceptable?! I must come myself and handle this properly!

Lu Zhang snorted, still angry at Lu Yan's earlier offense, and asked sarcastically, "How do you plan to 'handle' this properly?"
He led his troops in, indiscriminately slaughtering people like vegetables, then carried back a string of heads to his father as an explanation?!

His words clearly struck a nerve with Lu Yan, whose expression changed, and the knuckles of his hand gripping the riding whip turned white. However, although he was somewhat reckless, he wasn't that reckless. He loosened his grip and gave a rather mocking snort: "Otherwise what? Are you going to go and consult your maternal grandfather like His Highness Prince Yi?!"

"you!"

Lu Zhang's expression suddenly turned even more unpleasant. It was indeed true that the Duke of Yan had interfered a lot in his affairs, and deep down he felt somewhat uncomfortable about it, but he had to pretend that it wasn't true.

No one mentioned this matter before, so he pretended it didn't exist and calmly and smugly got away with it.

As a result, today he encountered Lu Yan, a scoundrel who talks faster than he thinks, which is equivalent to directly slapping the truth that Lu Zhang cares about most and doesn't want to be revealed in front of him.

“Third brother, of course you don’t need to consult anyone. Not to mention the mere Duke of Yan, even the current emperor, the emperor’s will, you don’t need to ask either!” Lu Zhang was so angry that he spoke without thinking. “Last time you cut off the heads of such important captured bandits without saying a word, and in the end, the emperor couldn’t even keep one witness to find out what really happened.”

After that, rumors spread like wildfire, but since there wasn't a single survivor, there was no evidence to prove anything. Could it be that the third brother was afraid of revealing something, which is why the rumors had nowhere to spread?

He thought that his words would hit a nerve with Lu Yan and make him furious, but he didn't expect that Lu Yan's fiery and impulsive temper was something that not only others knew about, but he himself was also very clear about.

He had already taken responsibility for the consequences of killing the prisoners, and Lu Yan knew perfectly well whether Emperor Jin suspected him of having ulterior motives, so he didn't care at all. Instead, he forced a cold smile and asked Lu Zhang, "Your Highness Prince Yi is really joking. I think you should be secretly happy because of my momentary impulsiveness!"

Now that the dead are dead, there's no way to verify anything, and whatever the rumors are, they're all just baseless speculation.

Aren't you afraid that if I hadn't acted impulsively and spared their lives, some things might be proven true now?!

"Stop spouting nonsense and making baseless accusations!" Upon hearing this, Lu Zhang's face changed color. Fearing that Yan Shu, who was standing beside him, also had a short temper and might blurt out something inappropriate in the heat of the moment, revealing his identity and letting others know about the Princess Yi's elopement, he quickly stepped in to rebuke her, "This matter has nothing to do with the Jie Kingdom. From beginning to end, it was all a deliberate smear campaign to frame us!"

"When did I mention the Jie Kingdom?" Lu Yan snorted coldly. "Does it mean that the Jie Kingdom is the only one that might harbor malicious intentions?"

But speaking of which, King Jie was quite unlucky to have married his precious daughter to you.

If you ask me, that stone of the Jie princess, if you just tossed it into a crowd, whoever it hit would likely marry, and the chosen husband might even be better than this arranged marriage!

Yan Shu almost burst out laughing when she heard this, but thankfully she managed to keep her composure and prevent her expression from faltering. However, her facial muscles became increasingly stiff, and her expression looked extremely strange.

Although Lu Zhang and Lu Yan were about the same age, they had no contact in the past. After all, Lu Yan came from a relatively humble background. His mother was just an unknown and unfavored concubine in the palace, and she was not worthy of the Duke of Yan's attention. She was not qualified to be an ally or an opponent.

That's why Lu Zhang only knew that Lu Yan had a fiery temper and acted impulsively in the past, but he didn't know that Lu Yan could be so sharp-tongued, hitting the nail on the head with every word. He was speechless for a moment, and could only angrily spur his horse and whip its rump before riding away in a huff.