“He was the one who told me we could revive my little sister. Back then, I didn’t think much and just believed him,” Wang Bu Zui said. Even now, he still deeply believed it. “After all, he truly possessed mystical abilities. He could come back from the dead.”
Pitiful, laughable, lamentable. Zhu Yan felt stagnant energy lodged in her dantian, unable to exhale. This Lai Luo Fu truly left no stone unturned. Even his selection of Wang Bu Zui was carefully considered.
Just as Lai Luo Zhi had been chosen years ago.
“What did you do while following him?” Shen Du pressed.
What did they do? This question stumped him. It seemed they only did one thing – killing people. But he wasn’t very clear on why Chen Huo E killed those people.
“Killing,” Wang Bu Zui finally uttered these two words.
“Were there any particularly important targets?”
Wang Bu Zui reflected, suddenly recalling an important person who had a special connection to Shen Du standing before him.
“There was one, but we were only indirectly involved. The court directly killed him and even implicated his entire clan.”
These words caused Shen Du’s pupils to dilate slightly, but he quickly regained composure. As if talking to himself, yet also interrogating Wang Bu Zui, he asked: “The Shen family’s old case?”
Wang Bu Zui nodded, then looked at Shen Du. The hint of doubt in his eyes landed on Shen Du’s face, quickly bouncing away. His expression changed, and he said no more.
Zhu Yan immediately sensed Shen Du’s change and reached out to grasp his hand, wanting to calm him down. Even if it concerned the Shen family affair, now was not the time to act out.
Feeling Zhu Yan’s warmth, he squeezed her hand back, wanting to tell her he was calm.
Yes, very calm.
After all, he had suspected the Fire Moth Party’s involvement in these matters before.
But previously, it was mere speculation. Now, that speculation had been confirmed.
“What exactly did you do?” Shen Du spoke again, his once-furious black eyes now calm as a deep pool, without a ripple.
“We provided relevant evidence to ensure the Shen family’s conviction,” he wisely stated the facts. “But from what I understand, this evidence wasn’t entirely obtained by us.”
“Then how was it obtained?”
“The helmsman found a way to get it. I’m not very clear on the details.”
Lai Luo Fu.
He knew it must have been Lai Luo Zhi who orchestrated this affair.
He never imagined that back then, Lai Luo Zhi had made such big moves behind the scenes, bringing down the Shen family in an instant.
“Bang!”
Zhu Yan’s heart skipped a beat. She turned to see the iron bars of a nearby cell bent inward, forcefully broken. Shen Du’s eyes narrowed, the calm pool within now churning, ready to overflow and engulf everything at any moment.
“Ah, your hand!” Zhu Yan cradled Shen Du’s hand. The back of it was torn open where it had bent, blood beading and dripping to the ground.
“Minister!” Jing Lin, upon seeing this, couldn’t hold back. He drew his sword and pointed it at Wang Bu Zui. “I’ll kill this wretch right now to avenge the Minister!”
“Kill him!” the guards shouted in unison.
Zhu Yan panicked. A court official killing a prisoner – forget that the law wouldn’t allow it, even Lai Luo Zhi would find reasons to deny Shen Du and the Inner Cabinet a way out.
“Shen Du, husband, calm down,” Zhu Yan pressed the bleeding palm to her bosom, bringing it to her lips to kiss. “Husband, it’s not the right time, husband.”
She ached for Shen Du, burdened with such deep blood debts. But she had to stop him, or else it would be irreversible.
Shen Du came to his senses. Looking down at Zhu Yan’s worried face, he finally raised his other hand to gently caress her cheek, reining in his bloodthirsty rage. He turned back to Wang Bu Zui.
“According to what you’ve said, all that evidence was fabricated?” he asked one more time, unwilling to let it go.
Wang Bu Zui wasn’t sure: “Much of the information came from the helmsman. As for its authenticity, it was probably half-true and half-false.”
For a moment, Shen Du fell into thought. The information Lai Luo Fu knew about the Shen family likely all came from Lai Luo Zhi.
Lai Luo Zhi again. His hatred seemed to reach its peak at this moment.
Somehow, it was as if Lai Luo Zhi’s family had a generations-old feud with the Shen family, to the extent that he meticulously planned to eradicate them.
Father Shen was upright and incorruptible, and he was but a fifteen or sixteen-year-old youth back then, posing no threat. Why? Why on earth?
He wanted to rush before Lai Luo Zhi right now and demand an answer to this “Why?”. But more than that, he now wanted to immediately chop off Lai Luo Zhi’s head to quench his hatred.
But he couldn’t. Not only because he was far from the capital now, but also because the matter was complex and intricate. Without evidence, he couldn’t indulge in a moment of impulse. He needed to be calm, to plan carefully.
Currently, the Empress still highly valued Lai Luo Zhi. His spies reported that the Empress continued to rely heavily on Lai Luo Zhi. He couldn’t rule out the possibility that Lai Luo Zhi might make big moves while he was away. A terrifying thought crept into his mind – had the Empress long guessed all this? Worse yet, had she participated in it all?
Seeing him remain silent, Zhu Yan waved her hand before his eyes, finally drawing Shen Du’s gaze to her.
“What’s wrong?” She found her hand grasped by Shen Du in return.
Zhu Yan grew anxious: “Your hand.” She tried to pull away.
“It’s nothing,” Shen Du shook his head slightly, with no intention of letting go. He looked towards Wang Bu Zui, seeing his eyes once again grow distant, seemingly re-immersed in the illusion.
Following his gaze, Zhu Yan also looked over.
But this time, Wang Bu Zui suddenly became panicked, looking around frantically.
He reached out, grasping at the air but catching nothing: “Xiu Xiu, where did Xiu Xiu go?”
“Time’s up,” Zhu Yan spoke, frowning as she stared at the man before her.
Time’s up? Wang Bu Zui looked at the two vigilantly again, finally realizing he had fallen for an illusion, been tricked.
Suddenly, his whole body began to shake. He pointed at the people before him, muttering under his breath, which then turned into wild laughter.
He still couldn’t accept that what he had just seen was an illusion.
Seeing him go mad, Zhu Yan couldn’t help but sigh.
Partly out of pity, partly out of ridicule.
Such devotion to his little sister was pitiable, but he had killed so many people – wasn’t this his just deserts?
Wang Bu Zui lowered his hand, glaring at the two people before him who he’d like to tear apart and devour: “Shen Du, may you die a horrible death.”
“Silence! How dare you say such things!” Zhu Yan stepped forward to rebuke him but was pulled back by Shen Du, who even used his body to shield her.
Wang Bu Zui was now a madman – who knew what he might do?
Hearing Zhu Yan’s rebuke, he laughed even more arrogantly: “Dare? Why wouldn’t I dare? Shen Du, all of the Shen family, may you all die horribly! I hope all of you have your organs ripped out while alive, your corpses abandoned, all carried off by wolves!”
“Tsk.” Shen Du’s hand clenched into a fist, his nails nearly digging into his flesh, but his face remained calm.
Hearing his mad ravings, Zhu Yan could no longer hold back, but Shen Du kept his arm around her waist, not letting her step forward.
She looked at Shen Du in confusion, only to see him shake his head slightly without speaking. He feared Wang Bu Zui might do something extreme and hurt Zhu Yan.
Jing Lin couldn’t be bothered with such considerations. He directly slapped Wang Bu Zui across the face, not holding back his strength. The blow sent Wang Bu Zui’s head snapping to one side, rendering him speechless.
Even after being struck, Wang Bu Zui didn’t relent. He raised his swollen face: “The one above won’t let you off!”
“Oh? How exactly will he not let us off?” Hearing his wild claims, Shen Du found it laughable.