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Chapter 403 The water is deep

Lu Qing did not answer Zhu Yu's question directly, but sighed slowly and said, "Luo Yushu came from a poor family. His father died early and his mother remarried. He was able to grow up thanks to the help of the villagers. Later, because he ran to the village school to eavesdrop every day, the teacher saw that he was intelligent and simply asked him to work as a janitor in the village school. He did odd jobs every day, was provided with food, and listened to the teacher's lectures with the other children in the village school."

Later, he was able to pass the imperial examinations and achieve official rank thanks to the travel expenses that his fellow villagers had scraped together to help him.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yu raised her eyebrows slightly. She hadn't really expected Luo Yushu to have such a background and family circumstances.

She had assumed that those who could associate with the Duke of Yan must be from high-ranking families, noble families, or even imperial relatives. As the Minister of Personnel, Luo Yushu held a high position and was naturally of noble birth. Perhaps there was some famous Luo family that she had never heard of in Shuo Kingdom.

Unexpectedly, there were such upright individuals from different backgrounds among the Duke of Yan's entourage.

"Given his humble origins, how could he rise all the way to the position of Minister of Personnel? He must possess exceptional talent and ability. Otherwise, let alone whether he could catch the Emperor's eye, he probably wouldn't even be noticed by Zhao Bi," she asked Lu Qing.

"After Luo Yushu passed the imperial examination, he was not given any important position. He was only appointed as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy, where he spent his days copying historical books in the history office for more than three years."

Later, whether it was due to guidance from someone or a sudden flash of inspiration, when transcribing the past before the emperor's ascension to the throne, he cleverly incorporated the great achievements of Duke Yan, Zhao Bi, into the text. It appeared to be largely unchanged from the original, yet Zhao Bi's accomplishments were highlighted without leaving a trace.

It's not uncommon for people copying history to add a few strokes when transcribing it. As long as it's harmless, few people would notice the subtle changes word by word.

But by sheer coincidence, this booklet, which had been specially marked with ink, ended up in the hands of the Duke of Yan. The Duke of Yan was naturally delighted after reading it and wanted to meet this Hanlin compiler who had such beautiful handwriting.

Luo Yushu seized the opportunity to become Zhao Bi's student. From then on, whenever he saw Zhao Bi, he would address him as his mentor, showing the utmost sincerity, humility and respect.

Not long after, Luo Yushu was transferred elsewhere. Although it wasn't exactly a meteoric rise, it was far better than spending his entire life copying books in the history museum.

Zhu Yu looked at Lu Qing meaningfully: "It seems that Luo Yushu was able to take up the position of Minister of Personnel not because of Zhao Bi's continuous promotion?"

Lu Qing smiled: "Madam is indeed very intelligent, she understands things immediately."

Zhao Bi was a man who, throughout his life, adhered to the principle of recommending relatives rather than the virtuous in his dealings with others. He always believed that outsiders with no blood relation could not be trusted. If you wanted his support and promotion, you either had to be related to him by blood or form a marriage alliance with him.

Otherwise, even someone like Cao Tianbao, if he encountered any trouble, wouldn't Zhao Bi have chosen to distance himself without hesitation? You saw it with your own eyes.

Luo Yushu had tried to marry Zhao Bi, but Zhao Bi looked down on his impoverished family background and refused.

And since then, Zhao Bi seemed to think that Luo Yushu was too ambitious, and he was no longer as close to him as before. However, besides being good at scheming, Luo Yushu was indeed very smart and had some talent and methods. Otherwise, with Zhao Bi's support alone, he would not have risen from a lowly Hanlin compiler with no background to the position of emperor.

Everyone in this world has eyes; his talent and skill are not only recognized by Zhao Bi.

Lu Qing paused, then added meaningfully, "A person's ambition will never fade just because someone refuses to support them."

Zhu Yu suddenly realized: "Indeed, there are quite a few discerning people. Luo Yushu becoming the Minister of Personnel is quite a triumph."

Therefore, it seems that the Vice Minister of the Treasury might indeed be one of Luo Yushu's own people, but not necessarily one of Zhao Bi and Cao Tianbao's.

The waters run deep in their circle; everyone has their own ways of doing things.

"As the saying goes, 'A petty person is always worried,' and that's probably what they're talking about," Lu Qing said with a smile.

"In that case, wouldn't General Cao... oh no, I should say Duke Yan and his faction be greatly affected?" Zhu Yu pursed his lips, his brows furrowing involuntarily. "Originally, my father and the King of Jie were framed for privately manufacturing weapons with the intention of rebellion. I thought that Duke Yan was trying to sow discord between Lu Zhang and his in-laws, and also to drag our Shuo Kingdom into the mess."

It now seems that there is another mastermind behind this, and this person is clearly not only targeting the Jie and Shuo kingdoms, but could even be said to be framing and slandering them, perhaps all just to pave the way for framing Cao Tianbao.

After saying that, she felt that her consideration was not thorough enough: "That's not right either... The fake fortress lord deliberately mentioned Gu Lingyun of the Tse-Leg Workshop. Putting aside Lu Zhang's panic and disarray, just look at what his men did in secret later... The things here are clearly inseparable from them."

In this case, we cannot completely rule out another possibility: that Duke Yan may have realized that Cao Tianbao may have gradually turned from his right-hand man into a stumbling block on his path to realizing his ambitions.

Since the Duke of Yan was able to immediately distance himself from Cao Tianbao when Cao Tianbao was almost framed last time, and even tried to keep Lu Zhang out of it, perhaps this time he also wants to use this even more ambiguous suspicion to completely sever ties with Cao Tianbao.

The fake fortress lord's disfigured face, along with the strange poisons and sedatives we encountered here, are all very similar to the bizarre events that happened in Situ Jing's camp before. If this person is connected to the Duke of Yan, then it's hard to say that the previous ones were unrelated to him either.

Perhaps the Duke of Yan realized that his original plan to use Cao Tianbao's military power to secure Lu Zhang's ascension was now facing resistance, and the original guarantee was now getting in the way and could even cause problems. So, he simply decided to destroy what he no longer needed. If the main road was blocked, he simply blocked it and took a shortcut instead.

"Judging from the reactions of Lu Zhang's men, if the fake fortress lord did not have some connection with Zhao Bi, his confidants would not have been so eager to help destroy the evidence."

They clearly don't want us to catch the fake castle lord and the real mastermind behind him.

"But I'm also very curious about what this connection is all about." Lu Qing's lips curled up slightly, revealing a meaningful smile.