The ear-piercing screams finally stopped, but it was the man on the right who hadn’t yet been tortured who broke first, terrified by his companion’s state.

“Go invite His Highness back,” Wei Zhuo ordered, then pulled a folded plain handkerchief from his robes and handed it to Lu Chang, “Clean yourself up.”

Lu Chang thanked him and accepted it, methodically wiping the blood from his hands.

“Surprising to see such ruthless methods from one so young,” Wei Zhuo remarked, looking at the blood-covered man on the left who had passed out.

He had thought Lu Chang, being a scholar and the Top Graduate, would be like a gentle breeze and bright moon type of young master, probably like his father—a proud and aloof scholar who would disdain torture and forced confessions. Who would have thought he would act without hesitation, showing such decisive killing intent, quite unlike Lu Wenhan?

“You’re too kind, Uncle Wei.” Lu Chang was very calm, the ferocity he had shown during the interrogation completely gone as he said lightly, “He touched someone who shouldn’t have been touched.”

“Quite different from your father,” Wei Zhuo added. Though Lu Wenhan had been arrogant and unrestrained in his youth, appearing like a wastrel, he was deep and cautious. After over a decade as an official, he had become even more shrewd and slick—the type Wei Zhuo disliked dealing with. In this regard, Lu Chang and Lu Wenhan were complete opposites.

If something had happened to Zeng Yuqing and Ming Shu, Lu Wenhan might still have considered the status of his target before seeking revenge, but Lu Chang would have risked everything… In his eyes, there was occasionally the look of someone with nothing left to lose.

Prince Zhao Jingran was quickly invited back. Wei Zhuo sat beside him and left the questioning entirely to Lu Chang, as no one understood the cause of events better than him. Though Song Qingzhao had mentioned some details last night, Wei Zhuo only knew the general outline.

Such a serious assassination attempt that nearly harmed all three members of the Lu family, with Wei Zhuo coincidentally present—Song Qingzhao couldn’t hide it even if he wanted to, so he revealed everything about the Jian family case.

“Speak. Who are you? Who sent you? What was your purpose?”

Lu Chang was still wiping his hands, his slightly slanted gaze carrying a hint of malevolence that made the man tremble in fear.

“I… we are from Jiangning… men of Deputy Magistrate Gao Shicai. Master Gao ordered me to infiltrate Kaifeng and find an opportunity to assassinate the new Top Graduate Lu Chang’s sister, Lu Mingshu.”

“Why does Gao Shicai want to kill my sister?” Lu Chang’s movements paused, the malevolence in his eyes deepening.

“We don’t know that. I was originally a refugee who fled to Jiangning, secretly recruited into his household. Our lives are in his hands—we’re just slaves doing his bidding. He wouldn’t tell us the reasons for his actions.”

“Was killing my sister the only task?”

The man nodded repeatedly: “Just that one order.”

Lu Chang crumpled the handkerchief in his left hand and suddenly reached out, violently gripping the man’s throat, only releasing him when his face had turned red and he was nearly unconscious.

“If you don’t want to suffer, tell me everything you know without waiting for questions. From now on, for every question I have to ask, you’ll endure one round of torture. Let me count your remaining teeth and see how many questions I can ask.”

The man looked at him in terror, then said: “Sir, I really only received one order.” Under Lu Chang’s intense gaze, he thought for a moment and added, “However, as far as I know, Master Gao sent out two teams—one to hunt down Lu Mingshu, one to pursue Zhou Xiuqing.”

Zhou Xiuqing was the full name of the Jian family concubine.

Lu Chang’s brow furrowed again, and just as he was about to ask, the man quickly added: “I don’t know the reason, I just followed Superior Feng’s instructions. The commander in Kaifeng was called Wu Si—we all followed his orders. We only acted when he gave the command.” Before Lu Chang could speak, he went on to fully reveal how to contact this Wu Si, their hiding places, and their secret signals.

“Sir, I’ve told you everything I know… please don’t ask more, I don’t know anything else…”

Lu Chang temporarily let the man be, only gagging him again before throwing water on the other man to wake him for questioning. That man’s mouth was full of blood and he could barely speak clearly, giving Lu Chang some trouble, but his account matched the first man’s closely.

After the interrogation, they left the dungeon and returned to Wei Zhuo’s council hall. Wei Zhuo immediately called his deputy and, based on what Lu Chang had learned, arranged for men to capture the remaining criminals.

“Your Highness, Lu Chang, you need not worry. After yesterday’s events, I’ve ordered the entire city to be sealed. If they haven’t left the city, that’s fine—if they try to escape, they’ll only be walking into our net,” Wei Zhuo said to Zhao Jingran and Lu Chang after giving his orders.

The Imperial Guard was responsible for defending the capital. With Wei Zhuo’s order, security at all four city gates was strengthened, making it difficult for the criminals to escape.

“Thank you, Commander,” Zhao Jingran said.

“Your Highness is too kind. Wei Zhuo bears the responsibility for the capital’s safety; it’s my duty,” Wei Zhuo quickly replied with clasped hands.

“Ziyou, what are you thinking about?” Zhao Jingran asked, seeing Lu Chang silent.

“Your Highness, I’m thinking about Zhou Xiuqing’s whereabouts. From the interrogation, we can see that Gao Shicai must be connected to the Jian family case, which is why he issued the kill order—he’s very likely the mastermind behind it all,” Lu Chang pondered.

“With such a case as the Jian family’s occurring under Jiangning’s jurisdiction, the Jiangning officials must face dismissal, including the prefect. Gao Shicai, originally the deputy magistrate, is now acting as prefect due to the prefect’s downfall and is most likely to fill the vacancy permanently. If he truly is the mastermind, then perhaps he’s not just after money, but position,” Zhao Jingran added.

“So when he learned that Zhou Xiuqing, a key witness, was being secretly escorted back to Kaifeng, it’s not surprising that he would desperately try to silence her, but… Zhou Xiuqing was abducted rather than killed. I asked the brothers who were escorting her—the men in black who ambushed them showed no intention of harming Zhou Xiuqing. That group wanted her alive, which differs from Gao Shicai’s purpose. Moreover, if Gao Shicai sent two teams, one for Ming Shu and one for Zhou Xiuqing, then who were the men who attacked me?”

Lu Chang slowly unraveled the threads.

“Furthermore, the men sent to Jiangning operated in secret. Even if they alerted Gao Shicai that someone was investigating the Jian family case, Ming Shu wasn’t involved. How did he learn so quickly that Ming Shu was hiding in the capital and is now my sister?”

Lu Chang couldn’t understand how Ming Shu’s identity had been exposed so thoroughly.

Unless someone who already knew Ming Shu’s identity had told Gao Shicai.

And that person should be whoever abducted Zhou Xiuqing.

Behind them lurked a mysterious party whose allegiance and motives remained unclear.

“This arrow and this dagger are also problematic,” Wei Zhuo said after hearing everything, placing the arrowhead removed from Lu Chang yesterday along with its shaft, and the short dagger, on the desk.

Lu Chang and Zhao Jingran each took one to examine closely. The weapons were sharp and military-grade, not ordinary items.

“Weapons are strictly controlled in the markets. Bows, arrows, swords, and such are explicitly forbidden by imperial decree for private possession or carrying. These are military weapons that even ordinary militia aren’t allowed to have. How could a deputy magistrate’s household have so many weapons?” Wei Zhuo pointed at the arrow shaft while speaking, “Moreover, regular military weapons always bear the arsenal’s mark on them, but these weapons have none—they must be privately forged.”

Private weapon forging was a matter of serious national security.

Wei Zhuo’s eyes had grown stern as he spoke.

After interrogating the criminals and having a long discussion with Wei Zhuo and Zhao Jingran, Lu Chang not only missed lunch but also his medicine time.

Ming Shu looked at the medicine keeping warm on the stove, feeling anxious.

If they hadn’t been closeted in discussion with orders not to disturb, Ming Shu would have brought him his medicine long ago.

Did he think he was made of iron? Coming back so badly injured yesterday, and today not even resting properly?!

Thinking this, Ming Shu felt some transferred anger toward Wei Zhuo and the prince, blaming them for disregarding Lu Chang’s injuries… Just as she was feeling frustrated, Lu Chang’s voice came from outside.

“Please prepare bath water, I want to bathe.”

Bath?!

Ming Shu jumped up at once, taking two steps to the door.

Before the servants responding to Lu Chang could withdraw, the door creaked open from inside, and Ming Shu stood there fuming.

“What bath? With your shoulder wound, the doctor just said yesterday you can’t get it wet!”

She couldn’t understand why he was suddenly being so particular about cleanliness when he usually wasn’t, especially now that he was injured.

“…Don’t come closer.” Lu Chang paused, stepping back slightly, waving for the servants to go prepare water.

Ming Shu was full of questions.

“I’m dirty,” Lu Chang said somewhat helplessly, “Just finished interrogating the criminals.”

He held out his hands, and Ming Shu finally saw the blood stains on his clothes.

They were from the prisoners’ wounds spattering or spewing from their mouths during questioning, which Lu Chang couldn’t avoid.

“That’s still no reason for a bath. Just have someone wipe you down and change into clean clothes,” Ming Shu stepped aside to let him enter.

“You don’t understand,” Lu Chang couldn’t explain clearly.

Ming Shu was pouring his medicine when she heard this and looked up: “Well, tell me what I don’t understand? You never seemed germophobic before.”

Lu Chang didn’t answer.

He wasn’t the germophobe—Ming Shu was.

He could change clothes, but the blood and spittle that had sprayed into his hair during the interrogation… he felt the smell wouldn’t go away without washing, and Ming Shu would surely find it disgusting.

“Drink your medicine!” Ming Shu pushed it into his hands.

Lu Chang drank it in two gulps, and Ming Shu gave him clean water to rinse his mouth. After rinsing, he asked about Madam Zeng, while Ming Shu arranged for food while answering: “Mother was quite pleased to hear we drove away the Minister of Personnel… Don’t worry, she’s fine. Her foot injury had fresh medicine applied this morning, and the swelling seems to have gone down.”

“That’s good,” Lu Chang said, “I’ve already discussed with His Highness and Uncle Wei about temporarily staying at the Commander’s mansion for safety, until the danger passes, before returning to the Top Scholar’s mansion.”

“Until the danger passes? How long? Another month?” Ming Shu crossed her arms and asked with an ambiguous smile.

Lu Chang raised an eyebrow—Ming Shu hadn’t asked a single question about the reason for her attack.

Someone as clever as her, how could she not connect these sudden misfortunes to something? But because of that one-month promise, she had forcibly suppressed her curiosity about getting to the bottom of things…

Lu Chang clenched his fist, about to say something when a servant knocked on the door.

The hot water and clean towels for bathing had arrived. Ming Shu opened the door and personally directed the servants to bring everything into the adjacent washroom—towels placed within easy reach beside the tub, clean clothes spread out on the rack for Lu Chang to easily dress, the water in the tub tested to ensure the temperature was just right…

Lu Chang sat in the room quietly watching her busy herself. Never had there been a moment that made him feel his arrow wound was so worthwhile.

Only after everything was prepared did Ming Shu let Lu Chang enter.

Lu Chang disliked having people attend him closely, and would certainly bathe himself.

Ming Shu still worried, called through the door: “Be careful of the slippery floor, walk slowly.”

“Don’t fall asleep while bathing, and don’t get the wound wet…”

“If you need anything, remember to call me…”

Before she could finish, Lu Chang suddenly opened the washroom door.

Ming Shu was startled.

Lu Chang had just removed his hairpin and topknot, his long hair now falling loose as he leaned against the door looking at her: “If you’re so worried, why not come in and help me?”

Ming Shu held back for a long while, only to throw one word at him: “Shameless.”

Lu Chang simply laughed softly.