Chapter 348 - Si Jin is a Grand Master?

Lu Yan could see Dong Jing’s surprise. With a wave of his hand and the shades of his eyes like a sea of stars, he said, “My body hasn’t fully recovered yet, and I don’t have that much energy to leave the house. Besides, I’m also a little afraid of attention being shifted to me. She already left. If I leave as well, I will have to take some of the guards at home with me. But once the elite powerhouses are taken away, I’m afraid there’s no one to take care of the three children. However, it’s not safe to take them out with me either. That’s why, to be safe, please ask him to come to the mansion directly and have a chat.”

Dong Jing’s mind was muddled like glue. He did not know what to say or ask, so he stammered, “Then, do we deliver an invitation letter?”

Lu Yan’s face was very calm.

“No need. You go and relay the message in person, he’ll come and see me.”

Dong Jing hesitated for a moment, then turned around and went out to pass the message in person without asking any questions…

After thinking for a moment, Lu Yan turned around and went back to the study. He said very seriously to the three children.

“Someone will come to the house later and Uncle is going to meet him and have a chat for a while. You three just stay in this room and play. Don’t come out, okay?”

The children blinked their big eyes and nodded obediently. “Okay.”

Lu Yan nodded in satisfaction.

He got up and turned around to walk out.

Erniu clenched her small pink fists. “We’ll be good.”

Lu Yan smiled and left.

After Lu Yan left.

Xiaobao’s chin was resting on his small fist. He tilted his head and said, “Why do I feel that Uncle Lu has become so serious?”

“A little,” Dabao agreed.

Xiaobao muttered, “Auntie and her entire family were murdered, and Mommy hasn’t come back. Now, Uncle has invited someone to come over and talk. His expression was even a little nervous and serious.”

Dabao, “??”

Xiaobao thought for a while before saying, “This means that the person who’s coming must be a very important person.”

Erniu murmured in a childish voice, “Isn’t Uncle Lu the richest person in Northern Liang? The friends he has are all very important…”

Xiaobao, “…!!”

Right. That was the problem.

Uncle Lu was so rich and powerful, but the person who was coming actually made him a little nervous…this meant that this person must be someone of extremely high status in Northern Liang.

There were only a few possibilities.

If the scope was shrunk to the smallest, they were only left with the State Preceptor that Mommy babbled about this morning… Mommy seemed to have said before that the State Preceptor had come to Qingzhou City!

Xiaobao cocked his head. A great confusion filled the little head.

…

…

Lu Yan was in the side hall and had asked for someone to brew a pot of the finest Biluochun tea. Not long after the tea and confectioneries were readied, Dong Jing came back. He brought back another person with him—the dignified State Preceptor.

As soon as the refined man in black came in, he sat down opposite of Lu Yan on his own accord, not looking very courteous.

Lu Yan lowered his eyes and closed the door for the two of them. Zhu Shen glanced at Dong Jing.

The two of them walked away in tacit understanding.

No one dared to eavesdrop on the conversation between the masters.

Although Lu Yan despised Li Ruoxuan, he was not afraid of him. As he was from the Lu Family, Li Ruoxuan would not lay a finger on him. He personally served him tea, and said with a sneer, “State Preceptor, you came here quite quickly.”

Li Ruoxuan knew that Lu Yan was injured and walked over to collect the tea by himself. He picked up the cup of tea and walked back. He only spoke once he sat down. “The young master of Northern Liang’s top Chamber of Commerce invited me to come for a visit. Naturally I would have to show respect, so I put down all my work at hand and came over immediately.”

The smile on Lu Yan’s face disappeared and he said, “Let’s stop this idle chat.”

Li Ruoxuan also had the same intention. “Let’s get straight to the point.”

Since the other person allowed him to get straight to the point, Lu Yan did not beat around the bush at all. His deep eyes were enveloped in mist, but his pupils were extremely bright. He said, “You killed Qi Qingzhu and her entire family, didn’t you?”

Li Ruoxuan’s eyelids did not even move. He said, “What makes you think so?”

“According to my understanding of the State Preceptor, it’s based on…intuition.” There was a streak of a dark shadow floating in Lu Yan’s light-colored pupils, bright as jewels in a dark lake. He said, “You don’t have to answer me…but! I think you’ve miscalculated this time.”

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Li Ruoxuan’s lips. It was still the same five words, “What makes you think so?”

Lu Yan said unhurriedly, “I think you killed Qi Qingzhu and her entire family just to prove that Qi Qingyao and Qi Qingzhu were still very close. You wanted to test Qi Qingyao’s reaction. Since she was able to secure a place in Qingzhou City, you wanted to test whether she had dealt with her relationship with her previous family properly. For that, you used the most intense method.”

Li Ruoxuan’s voice was slow and leisurely. “Go on, I’ll listen to Master Lu’s valued opinion.”

Since he let him speak, Lu Yan continued.

“You met her yesterday, but she got away in one piece. I suppose you admire her very much. At least, one of her aspects is worth your admiration, so you let her go back without having a fight with Si Jin.”

“After you went back, you must have thought, ‘What was this little country girl!’ You’ve already acquired information related to Qi Qingyao from all aspects, but even a superior State Preceptor like you could not make sense of many things.”

“For instance, how could Qi Qingyao cure Heir Pei’s disease? How could Qi Qingyao get involved with Master Architect Li Qinglian? You’ve seen Qi Qingyao’s small building with your own eyes, but you still don’t understand, how could she have designed that building? Did Master Architect Li Qinglian give her the blueprint?

“You think that the Head Grand Secretariat also seems to care a lot about this little girl…maybe because he had even visited the Qi Residence several times.”

“…”

“All kinds of complex information are interwoven in your mind, making the State Preceptor, who has always been calm and collected and who is known for his shrewdness and finesse, a little irritable. Your knowledge does not contain any related information about the father of Qi Qingyao’s three children. I’m sure you also bought the information at a high price from the Zhaixing Administration, but there simply isn’t any! So you’re even more frustrated.”

“…”

“Then, you found an opening in that mess. That is, Qi Qingyao took Qi Qingzhu away from the Jiang Residence, and brought her to Qi Residence to stay for a while. The two are related. Then you made an entry-point from here and sent an assassin to kill Qi Qingzhu and her entire family.”

…

When Lu Yan said these words, his voice was very relaxed and slow.

His expression was restrained, not showing any emotions.

He was staring fixedly at Li Ruoxuan, as though wanting to see something from his face.

No crack could be found on Li Ruoxuan’s calm and serene expression from beginning to end. “Then why would I kill Qi Qingzhu? It doesn’t make sense.”

“It does.” Lu Yan’s eyes narrowed slightly, unwavering deepness and mercilessness at the bottom of his gaze. “Based on her act of redemption, you determined that Qi Qingyao should have a good sibling relationship with Qi Qingzhu. Hence, you want to draw her out and see whether Qi Qingyao will overreact. Then, once she went back to Xingli Village to handle funeral matters, you can tell how her current relationship with her former Qi Family is.”

Li Ruoxuan conceded that Lu Yan seemed to know what he was talking about. He asked with a smile, “What’s the point of you knowing all this?”

“You’re looking for her weakness,” Lu Yan said without warning.

Li Ruoxuan’s lips were upturned. “And what’s the point of me looking for her weakness?”

Lu Yan felt that he had guessed correctly. “You want to use her weakness to make her speak. You would do it as long as she doesn’t reveal who the children’s father is, as long as she doesn’t say why she has become smarter. Was she pretending all this while, or was it something else? If she was only pretending, where did she learn this skill? After all, it’s impossible for someone to suddenly have medical skills, isn’t it?”

“Then, do you think it is possible to pry her mouth open with her weakness?” As expected from the young master of Northern Liang’s top Chamber of Commerce, he sure liked talking to smart people.

“…” This statement!

Did he admit it?

Did he admit that he guessed it right…

Lu Yan had gone quiet.

Li Ruoxuan was not mad that his thoughts were exposed. He simply said, “Lu Yan, a straightforward person doesn’t resort to insinuations. I don’t like it when other people are shrewd with me. Playing mind games with me will make me feel very annoyed.”

Lu Yan said impassively, “So, you plan on killing off her weaknesses one by one if she doesn’t come clean?”

Li Ruoxuan shrugged and answered indifferently, “To tell you the truth, yes.”

Lu Yan’s breathing paused for a second before he took a deep breath and said with an unsightly smile, “Then I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.”

Li Ruoxuan looked like he begged to differ.

Lu Yan snorted coldly. “Even if you kill everyone around her, including me, you probably won’t get the outcome you want.”

Li Ruoxuan casually drank the slightly cooled tea. “How would I know if I haven’t tried?”

Lu Yan said with relaxed sarcasm, “State Preceptor, you were probably commending my intelligence privately just now.”

“…” Li Ruoxuan said nothing and looked at him quietly.

Lu Yan asked, “Then do you think that someone as smart as me, as smart as the Head Grand Secretariat, no to mention the Jiang Family, as well as Xiao Wuji from Eastern Ling’s Xiao Family, the Gu Family… She has crossed paths with all these people. Do you think everyone is foolish?”

Li Ruoxuan curled his lips mockingly. “You guys are not foolish, but just too naive.”

Lu Yan continued to smile satirically. “Everyone has bought the information from the Zhaixing Administration. What’s more, as far as I know, someone paid a high price to the Zhaixing Administration to buy information on Qi Qingyao four years ago….no, the Lunar New Year is over, so it should be five years ago. They want to know who the biological father of the three children is. However, the Zhaixing Administration of the Ghost Organization did not find out. What you want to know has already been investigated by the people from Zhaixing Administration and the Yulong Gang of Qingzhou City, but to no avail.”

Li Ruoxuan sneered leisurely before saying, “But did they try to look for the outcome by attempting to kill all her weak spots?”

Lu Yan frowned and thought to himself that this was why he hated Li Ruoxuan. He and Jiang Yeqian were both very powerful in the Capital City, but compared to Jiang Yeqian, the State Preceptor never had a line he would not cross when it came to doing things.

He stopped at nothing.

Just to achieve his goals.

His methods were sometimes excessive and disgusting.

Lu Yan said with a nasty look. “I lived with her during this recent period. Apart from wanting her to help treat some personal illness, I’ve also been watching her up close.”

“Is there a result?” Li Ruoxuan asked.

Lu Yan said, “No.”

“This shows that you’re still not smart enough.” Li Ruoxuan said placidly. “Since you live so close, just capture the three children. I think she’ll say anything.”

Lu Yan’s eyes were slightly misty like a moon shrouded by clouds; they were also silently looking at Li Ruoxuan like a clear and tranquil lake. He said calmly, “This idea is not bad indeed, especially now that she’s not here, which creates a diversion. It’ll simply be too easy for me to capture those three children.”

Li Ruoxuan asked, “Then why didn’t you?”

How should Lu Yan answer this? He could not say, “I’m not like you, cold, ruthless, and knows no limit.” Hence, he tossed the question back to Li Ruoxuan and smiled eccentrically.

“You guess.”

Li Ruoxuan looked at Lu Yan, who was pretending to look unpredictable, and felt that something had gone wrong.

A thought flashed through his mind, but he did not catch it.

It made him more annoyed.

“Wait a minute…”

That thought flashed again.

He murmured quickly, “The night before last, something happened at Zuixian Restaurant. Someone killed a man in the restaurant. Rumor has it that it was an ordinary-looking person, and that person is the mysterious Grand Master in Qingzhou City.”

“…” Lu Yan did not understand. He asked him to guess, why did he say something irrelevant?

Li Ruoxuan paused, everything in his mind suddenly clicked. His eyes lit up in a trance, just like a bolt of piercing blue lightning that streaked through the entire sky, before the pouring of heavy rain.

His expression started to become extremely ugly.

He said in a deep voice.

“You might not know, but I happened to run into her at the bank of Qingyang Lake that night.”

“…!” Lu Yan pretended to know, but his mind was actually filled with question marks. Did she sneak out the night before yesterday?

“It was just a chance encounter at that time. She didn’t know my identity, and I didn’t know she was Qi Qingyao either. She was in a disguise. The next day I invited her to have a meal together. Because her tone and her voice were too familiar, and she recognized me when she entered. That instance of surprise was enough to expose her as the same person last night.” Li Ruoxuan narrated these things very calmly.

Lu Yan’s mouth was slightly agape. “…”

As Li Ruoxuan said these things, he took a deep breath. He held his forehead and said, “Now that I think about it, the Ghost Organization sent Na Lanjie to assassinate her in order to test the young boy, and the rumor that happened at Zuixian Restaurant the night before last made everyone slacken their doubts about the youth. Because the information on that night pointed toward a middle-aged or elderly person who looked plain and common. But now that I think about it, she and Si Jin were in a disguise that night, and they looked extremely ordinary… She’s rich, but she didn’t eat at a restaurant. She was sitting by the lake eating deep-fried sugar cake and oil flatbread. I reckon that she finally went out in a disguise and went to eat at a restaurant, but encountered an incident, so she just sat by the lake and ate at a roadside stall.”

“…” Lu Yan felt that his head started buzzing.

What situation was this?

According to what Li Ruoxuan said…

She went out the night before yesterday, and the timeline was consistent with the information on the grand master that night. Coincidentally, Na Lanjie wanted to test Si Jin before this…and now, the clues pointed back to Si Jin?

Si Jin was the Grand Master?

Was this what it meant?

“The Ghost Organization had tested Si Jin on that night when Si Jin was outside as well.” Li Ruoxuan’s face was getting unsightly. He stared fixedly at Lu Yan, and despite always having been calm, he started to get angry. “Lu Yan, could it be that you already knew that the young boy was of grandmaster level, so you dare not lay a hand on those three little children?”

“…” He—he did not know anything. Lu Yan felt aggrieved and shocked at this instance.

Li Ruoxuan remained silent. His eyes were so wet the tears could drip, and he looked at Lu Yan fiercely.

“What do you think?” After Lu Yan regained his composure, he sneered. “Why do you, dignified State Preceptor, think that everyone dares not lay a hand on Qi Qingyao?”

Li Ruoxuan, “…”

Lu Yan could no longer organize his thoughts at the moment, he could only go along with the flow and said, “In the entire Qingzhou City, she cussed me out and called me impotent, yet I still hang out with her, why do you think that is?”

“That young boy…” Li Ruoxuan finally found his voice and said after clearing his throat. “He looks like he’s seventeen or eighteen years old, how can he be a grandmaster! Don’t joke with me.”

Lu Yan said, “State Preceptor, those are your words, not mine. I didn’t say anything.”

Li Ruoxuan, “…”