Plotting with You: The Forensic Scientist in Ancient Times!-Chapter 311 - 310: Journey to Lan Country Together

Perhaps using a whip is too unfamiliar for Zhu Yu; her speed in grasping it wasn’t fast, as repeated attempts left her clueless.

The long leather whip in her hand was like a cunning, sly snake entirely refusing to follow commands.

"Your strength is off; watch as I teach you again!" Yan Shu waved her hand and took the whip from Zhu Yu, "You need to use your waist to exert force. Your wrist, shoulder—those areas mustn’t be too tense; relax them a bit. That way, the whip can be dictated freely in your hand.

Look, like this!"

As she spoke, her wrist flicked, the whip swiftly swung out, and the whip tip quickly struck the trunk nearby, then swiftly retracted: "This is called Black Snake Flicks Its Tongue, it uses a feigned whip strike to distract the opponent."

Then she swung the whip once more, this time the whip tip directly struck the distant tree trunk, swiftly circled multiple times, wrapping around the tree trunk as thick as a human neck.

"Like this," Yan Shu turned around, rested the whip on her shoulder, and made a pulling gesture, "If that were a villain’s neck, one pull and they wouldn’t catch another breath!"

Zhu Yu marveled, just as she was about to praise Yan Shu, suddenly hearing someone applaud beside her, startling both Yan Shu and Zhu Yu as they turned to see Lu Zhang walking out of the house. He must have seen Yan Shu smartly wielding the whip as soon as he stepped out, and before he realized it, he couldn’t help but clap.

Yan Shu was stunned, unsure of Lu Zhang’s identity, but knew he was from Jin Country and seemed to be a military general of Jin Country. Afraid he might recognize her wretched betrothed and cause trouble for Zhu Yu, she quickly signaled Zhu Yu, hastily loosened the whip, collected it back into her hand, and swiftly returned to the room, slamming the door shut.

Lu Zhang was confused by Yan Shu’s hasty retreat, finally clear in mind, thinking his earlier action might have been too abrupt and inappropriate, quickly approached Zhu Yu, saying, "Sister-in-law, my apologies, I meant no harm earlier, just couldn’t help but clap seeing that young lady’s impressive whip handling...

If there’s any offense, please apologize to her on my behalf."

"It’s fine," Zhu Yu didn’t know when Lu Qing planned to discuss this with Lu Zhang, so she ambiguously replied, "General Yi must be tired these days; perhaps we disturbed your rest outside?"

"No, sister-in-law," Lu Zhang awkwardly waved his hand and looked up at the sky outside, "I seldom sleep this long, it’s embarrassing."

The two stood speechless, Lu Zhang was naturally curious about Zhu Yu but dared not ask abruptly, and likewise, Zhu Yu didn’t intend to say much to him, so she simply greeted him and returned to her room.

With Zhu Yu and Yan Shu avoiding him, Lu Zhang lingered in the courtyard for a while, realizing his presence was possibly causing their avoidance, perhaps exacerbated by the dull pain in his wounds, soon retreated silently to his room. After lunch, finding himself bored, he summoned a rune, requesting him to get pen and ink from the Prince Mansion staff, and never emerged again.

Zhu Yu heard all this clearly from her room.

She noticed that Lu Zhang, unaccompanied by Duke Yan, displayed characteristics entirely different from those beside her grandfather.

While with Duke Yan, he instinctively tried hard to satisfy Duke Yan, forcing a demeanor that Zhao Bi might approve of.

Without Zhao Bi around, be it during their prior encounter in Li State or this incident—without outside influence, Lu Zhang appeared like a young man lacking depths of experience, without much confidence in his actions, unlike the poise required to manage affairs independently.

Lu Qing returned at dusk, and Zhu Yu recounted the events of the day; Lu Qing smiled, seemingly indifferent.

However, the next day, he took Lu Zhang along, suggesting having him act as a witness, to see how Zhu Cheng was diligently supervising the production of weapons for Jin Country.

This arrangement allowed Yan Shu and Zhu Yu more ease during the day.

Lu Zhang seemed uninterested in supervising weapon production; he only went out twice with Lu Qing, later claiming discomfort from his minor wounds, declining further outings.

Not accompanying Lu Qing, he remained inconspicuous, for several days, requesting rune to obtain copious paper from Zhu Family servants.

Initially, Zhu Yu speculated he planned to write to Duke Yan or notify someone, but only paper was taken inside with none sent out. Upon closer inspection, she realized all paper requests were large sheets of drawing rice paper, heightening her curiosity.

Living like this over ten days, Lu Zhang’s wounds healed daily, approaching full recovery. Then Lu Qing and Zhu Yu began pondering the timing to depart Shuo Country.

That evening, a Jin Country soldier arrived at Prince Shuo Mansion, delivering urgent news to Lu Zhang—they received information of a gang of Jie soldiers, wielding Black Iron weapons, marauding the border regions between Shuo Land, Jin Country, and Lan Country, committing heinous acts along the way.

Lu Zhang was astonished, rushing to depart, yet upon instructing the soldier to relay orders for all soldiers to prepare, he hesitated.

"Brother, would you be willing to accompany me?" he asked Lu Qing uneasily, "This matter involves Jie Country, also bordering Shuo Land... I’m afraid if I go alone, regardless of the outcome, people will accuse me of favoritism."

"Didn’t ’General Yi’ previously say, if rebellion arose, you’d immediately prioritize family justice?" Lu Qing neither agreed nor refused, instead posed a question to Lu Zhang.

Lu Zhang’s expression was slightly awkward: "That was the initial intention, as rumors were rampant, and I thought they wouldn’t arise without reason.

But now that Prince Shuo’s loyalty is proven, all of it was the Pang Family’s doing, even attempting to harm Prince Shuo—perhaps there are hidden truths on Jie Country’s side too.

Brother accompanying me serves convenience in Shuo Land, also acting as a witness."

Lu Qing contemplated a moment, nodding: "Alright, conveniently the Lan Country affiliates colluding with Pang Family unknown fled Shuo Land before Pang action, I intended to investigate that direction."