The night air was cool, perfect for eating hot pot.
Tender mutton was thinly sliced, handmade fish balls and shrimp balls, plus fresh seasonal vegetables.
It was all rolled in the warm, fragrant broth, dipped in a specially made sauce, and the aroma filled the mouth and warmed the stomach.
Chu Zhi loved to eat, and even started sweating.
She twisted her already simply tied-up long hair into a big bun on her head, so she could perform better.
Lan Huaiyu, who was sitting opposite her, had already stopped eating and was instead swishing meat and vegetables for her, placing the cooked ones on the plate in front of her.
He watched her cheeks bulging from time to time, eating with great immersion, and he watched with great satisfaction.
The meat plate was empty, Lan Huaiyu held up his jade chopsticks and looked at her, “Do you want another plate?”
Lifting her eyelashes, Chu Zhi looked at the empty plate and then at him, “I ate too much and scared you, didn’t I?”
His brown eyes were filled with laughter, “For a martial artist, it’s normal to eat a lot.”
He didn’t expect him to find a reason for her.
Chu Zhi smiled, “The Duke is right. I have a special physique and am a natural martial arts genius, so I am also different in terms of eating. If I eat openly, I can eat a whole sheep. But if I endure hunger, I can stay radiant for ten days without eating or drinking.”
This was a bit of bragging, and Lan Huaiyu was slightly skeptical, but he saw her eyes shining with a hint of pride.
He nodded, believing it!
Seeing him agree, Chu Zhi wanted to laugh even more. She finished the last bit of meat and vegetables on the plate and picked up the cup to drink water.
“Not eating anymore? There should be several sheep prepared in the kitchen, enough for you to eat.”
“Not eating anymore. If the Duke has time one day, I will perform eating a whole sheep for you. Thank you for today. I didn’t want to care about Chu Chengcai’s affairs, but he followed me shamelessly.
And you gave him the idea to pretend to be drunk and return home, he must have regarded you as a thigh to hug, which will be annoying in the future.”
Lan Huaiyu poured her another glass of water, “You are all disgusted with the Chu family, but you can tolerate him following you, presumably you have no grievances with him or his parents. Why not let him be your eyes and ears, so that it will be easier for you to act.”
“Their third family is timid. And I have better eyes and ears, Chu Zheng’s concubine.”
She didn’t hide her resentment at all, calling Chu Zheng by his first name.
To be honest, Lan Huaiyu didn’t really want to inquire about her secrets before.
But now he was a little curious, what was her resentment?
Accidentally abandoning her outside for sixteen years? Making her suffer a lot?
To what extent was she going to take revenge?
Seeing her sweating, he got up and motioned her to sit on the soft couch, to cool off before going out.
“Why do you think Chu Zheng’s concubine can become your eyes and ears?”
After they were seated, he said.
“Because I think she has hatred. I can’t say clearly whether it’s against Chu Zheng or Liu Shi, but in short, it’s not well-intentioned.”
She was very frank, and Lan Huaiyu rubbed his slender fingers on the teacup, “Then what is your real grudge with Chu Zheng and Liu Shi?”
Chu Zhi turned to look at him, thinking he wasn’t interested.
Meeting her eyes, “If you don’t want to say…”
“They are not my parents.”
“…”
Her frankness was once again caught off guard.
Lan Huaiyu digested it, and the look in his eyes became serious, “Then who are you? Where is their real daughter?”
“They don’t have a real daughter. Liu Shi is sick and can’t have children. Back then, she worked with Chu Zheng in Xiguan, and she lived in Yelin Town, twenty miles away from the pass.
She came from a merchant family and valued marrying Chu Zheng very much. Knowing that she couldn’t have children, she worried about being divorced or Chu Zheng taking a concubine, so she targeted a single pregnant woman in the town.
I don’t know the pregnant woman’s name, and she doesn’t seem to have a man. She bribed the midwife that the pregnant woman had contacted, and took the child away on the day of delivery, and poisoned them.
The child that was taken away was me.”
The complexity of this matter exceeded what Lan Huaiyu had imagined.
Before, the matter of Chu Zheng’s true and false daughters was quite a big deal, saying that when Chu Zheng was in the border pass, he only cared about official business and ignored his pregnant wife.
This led to his wife being targeted by a butcher’s family when she gave birth, and they switched the children in order for their daughter to enjoy wealth and glory.
The true daughter came back, and the Chu Zheng couple not only didn’t sue the butcher couple and drive away the false daughter, but actually gave the butcher couple money and signed a document severing the relationship with the false daughter.
This move was already incomprehensible.
It all made sense now.
Even Liu Shi would be very afraid of Chu Zhi, because this was what she stole, and it was also evidence that she had harmed people.
“Did Liu Shi attack you long ago? The dowry servants!”
“That’s right, they were carrying poison at the time.”
Lan Huaiyu’s eyes turned cold, so vicious.
“So it’s normal for me to take revenge, right? The hatred of separating me from my birth mother, the hatred of harming my birth mother’s life, the hatred of making me wander in the nunnery for sixteen years.
Every debt must be settled clearly.”
Lan Huaiyu nodded, it was natural for her to take revenge.
Even, in a short period of time, he had already thought of several plans to drag Chu Zheng and Liu Shi into the Criminal Justice Division’s prison for torture.
The girl with the bun on her head was frank and straightforward, and she answered whatever he asked.
“I know your secret. For the sake of fairness, do you want to know my secret?”
“…”
Wasn’t this secret-sharing game for children?
Besides, she knew his secret, so there was no need to ask, right…
Looking into his eyes, he seemed to expect her to ask.
After thinking about it, “The Duke arranged for Lu Household Chief to accompany me, which should be to encourage me to be my true self. Then I will follow your wishes, and you will cover for me if I cause trouble.”
“…”
She was asking him for a secret, who told her to say this.
But Lan Huaiyu still nodded, “I’ll cover for you.”
Seeing him nod, she also smiled, “Of course, I am also a loyal comrade-in-arms. If the Duke has something to ask me to help with, I will not hesitate.”
Speaking of helping, Lan Huaiyu really thought about it, “The assassins of the Black Robe Sect are like locusts, disguised in various ways and difficult to defend against.
Since you have connections in the Jianghu, I wonder if you can know their approximate number, permanent location, etc..”
“It’s hard to say the number, because there are many levels. The combat power of the lowest level is similar to that of a pig killer and is not to be feared. The high-level ones are directly assigned by the leader.
As far as I know, anyone who has bought the Black Robe Sect’s magic medicine will be targeted by high-level assassins for a while, because they are worried that the officials are fishing.
And you copied Tang Baixin’s house in the name of the Black Robe Sect killing children and making medicine that day. Based on my experience, you have been put on the cult’s assassination list.
If you are worried, I will protect you for a while?”
She spoke without hesitation, and even when she said to protect him, she exuded the aura of a big sister.
The corners of Lan Huaiyu’s lips curved, “The Suning Guard is conducting a large-scale search for members of the Black Robe Sect in the city, so there is no great danger in the city at present. If I leave the capital, you can protect me again.”
“Okay.”
She was just so straightforward.
The smile between his eyebrows was even stronger.