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Chapter 602 Dragon Head
"Lu Zhang... isn't it a bit too late for him to think about cutting ties with his maternal family now?" Zhu Yu was playing chess with Lu Qing to pass the time when she heard about this, and couldn't help but ask with some doubt, "For so many years, how have those two, grandfather and grandson, colluded? Outsiders have seen it all!"

"It's not necessarily just to avoid suspicion and cut ties." Lu Qing picked up a chess piece, glanced at the chessboard, and gently placed it on an empty spot. "We all saw it when we were at Immortal Fortress. Although Lu Zhang looks very imposing and has a group of soldiers at his beck and call, in reality, those people don't really obey him. Instead, they seem to be acting on orders from Zhao Bi. Lu Zhang is just a puppet they put in front of him."

Lu Zhang himself was not unaware of these things, but he did not have the confidence or dare to expose them easily before. After all, the overall situation was not yet settled, and he did not dare to push away the powerful Duke Yan.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to comfort his grandmother even when the rumors had just started circulating.

As for why he never set foot in the Duke of Yan's mansion again after the guards were arrested and brought back, it is clear that there was something he was unaware of beforehand.

So when those soldiers were captured and brought back, along with various weapons, he probably suddenly understood some facts he had previously disbelieved or refused to believe, and thus was able to make the decision to sever ties.

Zhu Yu rested his chin on his hand and pondered: "Speaking of which, that day when so many Zhao family soldiers were escorted back to the capital, and it took so long to carry all the weapons, was something missing?"
As the saying goes, to catch the thief, first catch the king... The Zhao family's soldiers were all gathered outside the capital. Zhao Bi never left the capital. I don't believe there wasn't someone he could trust supervising him there...

Speaking of which, hasn't Zhao Boce been seen yet?

As she asked the question, she looked up at Lu Qing. As soon as she looked up, Lu Qing poked her forehead with his finger: "You have so many distracting thoughts when you're playing chess."

As he spoke, he pointed to the spot where he had just placed his piece: "Zhao Boce won't grow wings and fly away, but if you continue to be so distracted, you're bound to lose this game."

Zhu Yu looked in the direction he was pointing, frowned, quickly examined the entire game again, smiled slightly, picked up a piece and placed it in another empty space: "Don't worry, I've left a backup plan here."

See? This turned the tide and shifted the tide from a passive to an active position!

Lu Qing raised an eyebrow and smiled: "Not bad, not bad. Recently, Madam's chess skills have improved by leaps and bounds. Given more time, I'm afraid I'll have to be careful, or I might accidentally become Madam's defeated opponent."

"There's nothing I can do. I didn't have much ambition to improve my chess skills. I just have nothing else to do... Besides thinking about chess, there's nothing else to pass the time..."

Just then, Fu Lu ran in from outside: "Master, Madam! Manager Liu just told me to tell you that Zhao Boce has been brought back and just entered the city..."

"Let's go! Let's go take a look!" Upon hearing this, Zhu Yu immediately got up and went back to her room to get her veil.

It's clear that she's been incredibly bored lately, and ever since the incident with Gu Lingyun, she's become increasingly restless.

Lu Qing laughed silently, got up and followed. The two of them didn't even change their clothes, hastily put on their veils and went out.

The outside was bustling with activity, but Lu Qing didn't need to pick Zhu Yu up to see clearly because Zhao Boce was being escorted back in a prison cart.

Unlike the prison cart that Brahma's nephew had used to imprison them, this prison cart was much simpler and looked quite distressing.

The prison van was upright, surrounded by cage-like railings made of wood and iron bars. Its width and height were only enough for an adult male to stand inside, making it difficult to even turn around.

Zhao Boce was standing inside the prison van, being slowly pulled along the street. Because the prison van itself was quite tall, and the person was standing on it, even if there were many people gathered on the roadside, they could all see him clearly.

Zhu Yu still retained a vague impression of Zhao Boce, thanks to her ability to remember people's appearances.

Otherwise, most people would probably have forgotten about this ordinary-looking young man.

If I had to pick a memorable impression, it would be Zhao Boce's inexplicable disregard for everyone, standing next to Lu Zhang and seemingly even more imposing than Lu Zhang himself.

But that kind of style is no longer available.

Zhao Boce stood disheveled in the prison cart, wearing a set of leather armor. It was clearly very well made, with black lacquer that made it look glossy. On the breastplate, shoulder guards, and arm guards, there were also some peach pit-sized beast head-shaped decorations inlaid with black iron, which also looked chilling. If it weren't for Zhao Boce's current disheveled state, it would have been a very elegant set of armor.

"Look at the way he's swallowing," Lu Qing whispered in Zhu Yu's ear.

Zhu Yu quickly turned his gaze to Zhao Boce's shoulder.

Because it was a full set of black leather armor, and the metal parts were made of black iron, she didn't notice it at first glance. But after looking at it more closely, she finally realized what it was.

The shoulder guards on military armor are usually a beast head that resembles a tiger but is not a tiger. They are called "shoulder-swallowing beasts" or "court-kicking beasts". They are majestic, but it is difficult to determine exactly what kind of animal the beast head looks like.

But the shoulder guard on Zhao Boce's body looks a bit strange. It looks like... a dragon's head.

However, upon closer inspection, Zhu Yu overturned his previous judgment.

The beast heads on Zhao Boce's shoulders did not have dragon horns, nor did their eyes protrude outwards, and they did not have scale patterns.

That's not a dragon, it's a jiao (a type of dragon-like creature).

Although it is not a dragon, it is said to have transformed into a dragon after entering the sea. Making this thing into a shoulder ornament and wearing it on the outside of leather armor carries an ambitious spirit that is not even bothering to hide it.

A line of fully armed soldiers walked in front of and behind the prison van, each holding a large knife and looking extremely fierce. The onlookers on the roadside dared not push forward and made way for them.

Leading the procession was a man dressed as a constable of the Jingzhao Prefecture, carrying a gong in his hand. He walked and struck the gong, shouting, "The eldest grandson of the Duke of Yan has committed six heinous crimes!"

One evildoer secretly hoarded three hundred sets of Xuanjia armor; the second evildoer carved the "Heaven-Sent Mandate" jade seal...

The constable would strike a gong before each shout.

Whether it was the sound of the gong that was frightening or the crimes committed by Zhao Boce that were terrifying, every time the constable struck the gong and shouted out the charges, the people on the roadside would gasp in shock.