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Chapter 583 Fear of Water
The two walked a long way before the surroundings finally quieted down a bit. Lu Qing pulled Zhu Yu to their carriage, which was waiting in a small alley. Fu Wen was sitting in the carriage, waiting for them.

After the two got into the carriage, the simple little horse-drawn carriage began to circle back to Yunyin Pavilion in the night.

"The maid who splashed water on Lady Yan today, is she also a hired assassin, just like the brother and sister who framed General Cao's nephew before?" Zhu Yu asked.

Lu Qing nodded: "This kind of thing, once it happens, it will happen again and again. After all, everyone has their own routine. It's just that some people only have a few tricks up their sleeves, and their tricks can be figured out quickly. Others have more tricks up their sleeves, and it takes more effort to figure them out."

“I just suddenly remembered that when we went to Zelifang to pick up the clothes that day, it was raining. Zelifang didn’t see that incredibly rare piece of Flowing Cloud Silk, not only outside the door, but even inside the house.”

At the time, I thought that such expensive fabric could not possibly be left outside to get rained on, so it was normal to put it away. But after seeing how it looked on Lady Yan, I have changed my mind.

They knew what would happen if the fabric got wet, so they only showed it to everyone on sunny days. They even set up a platform and draped the fabric over it, allowing people to watch from a distance to avoid any possibility of the fabric getting wet accidentally.

They were certain that such precious fabric, once made into clothes for the birthday banquet, would not be easily washed beforehand, making it difficult to detect any discrepancies before the banquet.

only……"

Zhu Yu's expression turned somewhat puzzled: "But that's not right! Whether the fabric was woven by Zelufang itself or obtained by the Duke of Yan from somewhere, Zelufang has no way of extricating itself from this matter."

Zhao Bi was neither mute nor stupid. With such a sudden incident today, as a shrewd and powerful minister who had experienced bloodshed in his early years, he should have the ability to react quickly and figure out how to clear his name, right?
So, in this matter, wouldn't Zelifang have suffered heavy losses on its own, while the number of enemies killed is still unknown?
From this perspective, it doesn't seem like a particularly good deal!

"Have you forgotten what Zhao Boze did outside? And those people he appointed under Zhao Bi's influence a while ago?" Lu Qing smiled. "This matter will definitely put Zelifang in the spotlight, so I don't think they have no countermeasures."

We can more easily guess what the Duke of Yan will do, but we don't know much about what the Zelifang will do.

Therefore, this matter remains to be seen.

After all, given that person's character, even if this matter were brought before him, in order to demonstrate a benevolent ruler's trust and leniency towards his veteran minister, he wouldn't punish the Duke of Yan.

"Because the matter isn't big enough, we need something more compelling to trigger it?" Zhu Yu understood immediately upon hearing this.

"It should be. Now all the factors are almost in place, it's just a matter of finding the most suitable moment." Lu Qing slightly lifted the curtain and looked out of the carriage. "It seems that some people feel the time is almost ripe, so they can no longer tolerate Zhao Bi standing in their way."

That person... has probably been waiting for this for a long time.

Zhu Yu glanced at Lu Qing but didn't say anything. She seemed lost in thought the whole way until they returned to the backyard of Yunyin Pavilion. Only then did she pull Lu Qing back to the room and close the door.

"It was Duke Zhao Bi of Yan, wasn't it?" She had thought about this question before, but she hadn't asked it directly because she didn't want to bring up Lu Qing's painful past. But this time, she couldn't help but want to confirm all her doubts. "You've always known that the person who colluded with the Fan people to massacre your entire family was Duke Zhao Bi. That's why he's always been resentful and fearful about leaving you, his only survivor, alive, and repeatedly tried to harm you through Consort Zhao when you were young."

When you were by Empress Wang's side, you were well taken care of and it was inconvenient for you to do anything, so you were safe and sound. But after Empress Wang's health deteriorated, you were transferred to another palace, and that's when the opportunity for the father and daughter came.

I couldn't understand it before. You're not that person's biological son. Logically speaking, when eliminating dissidents, more attention should be paid to Lu Chao. Why would they specifically see you as a thorn in their side and be unable to let go of you no matter what?

That explains everything—because they feel guilty!

“That’s right.” Lu Qing nodded. “I also guessed that you would be able to figure out the reason, so I didn’t specifically bring it up to explain it to you in detail.”

“But I don’t understand.” Zhu Yu’s brows furrowed tightly. “To be honest, I can understand all of Zhao Bi’s actions, and I understand his intentions and stance.”

But that one... I can't understand it.

For a long time now, I have often tried to figure out his intentions.

Why was he able to guess back then that the mastermind behind all of this was the Duke of Yan, yet he did nothing all these years?

This part is not hard for me to understand. After all, he has not yet secured his position, and the Duke of Yan has won over many supporters in the court. After losing the power of your grandfather and father, he has already lost an arm. Naturally, he would not lose another arm at such a critical moment.

But apart from that, I don't understand anything at all.

Although Lu Qing had already guessed that Zhu Yu would discuss these things with her, she was still amused by Zhu Yu's puzzled expression with her furrowed brows: "Tell me about it?"

Zhu Yu looked puzzled: "Every time I think he treats you badly, the truth makes me realize that if it weren't for his painstaking efforts back then, when he discovered that the other party was going to kill you, he would have sought help from your master, Qiyun Shanren, and there might not be a Lu Qing in this world now."

Even later, when he made you stay at Shanqing Temple to copy scriptures and pray for blessings, what the outside world saw was that he didn't like you, abandoned you in a poor and remote place, and didn't give you the opportunity to develop your own power in the capital until you were sixteen years old before taking you back.

In fact, if it weren't for those years at Shanqing Temple, you wouldn't have been able to learn such great skills.

If he knew that the people of Qiyun Mountain had extraordinary abilities to detoxify and cure diseases, it's impossible that he was unaware of their other skills. So the best explanation is that he intentionally wanted to use this method to keep you away from the dangers lurking in the capital, while also giving you the opportunity to learn real skills.

Even Lu Chao was later sent to Shanqing Temple to recuperate, most likely for the same purpose.