Back in Steward He’s room, He Yu’s face was ashen as he looked at the huge, blood-red character “Shang” on the wall.

Steward He no longer lived in the main house, but he had lived in the steward’s room ten years ago. The fact that someone could take advantage of the short time he and the crowd were outside to directly kidnap the person indicates that they have an extremely deep understanding of the He family’s layout and the residences of the people.

Honestly, the He family was somewhat skeptical of the investigation results regarding Sheng Yuan Yao before, after all, He Shang was already buried at that time. How could he possibly crawl out from underground? But now, upon reconsideration, there’s truly no other possibility except He Shang. It’s likely he wasn’t completely dead and was dug out and taken away by someone.

Actually, Lu Xing Zhou didn’t know the He family’s layout and each person’s residences very well either. Even when his relationship with He Shang was good that year, they wouldn’t have talked about these things.

He resided on Dan Xia Mountain, overlooking from a height, and slowly researched it thoroughly… This was the primary reason he stayed on Dan Xia Mountain after returning to Xia State.

Not only were there words here, but there was also a drawing, depicting a laughing expression with squinted eyes, full of extreme mockery. It was simply a slap in He Yu’s face.

He made such a public declaration about returning to handle He Shang’s matter, yet achieved nothing. Instead, He Shang first entered the house, kidnapped someone, and left behind a drawing for satire. If this gets out, He Yu will become a complete laughingstock.

“Who can tell me, why did this cheap seed kidnap the old steward?” He Yu’s voice was practically squeezed out from between his teeth, “Does he want to kill the steward? Before killing him, he specifically broke a hand tendon and waited for me to come before kidnapping him. Could it be just to slap my face?”

The crowd was silent, no one could answer this question.

Only Liu Qing Cang’s expression shifted slightly: “Young master, did you apply the medicine for the broken tendon on the old steward?”

He Yu narrowed his eyes: “You mean, he deliberately chose to break the steward’s hand tendon just to wait for this moment?”

Liu Qing Cang said in a low voice: “If He Shang is indeed Lu Xing Zhou, then Lu Xing Zhou is a cripple…”

“But who can tell me, how can a cripple disappear without a trace!”

Liu Qing Cang opened his mouth but couldn’t answer either.

“Why hasn’t Uncle Fu come back yet?” He Yu suddenly realized, “Go, go and see!”

A group of people rushed at lightning speed towards the small courtyard of the guest inn where Lu Xing Zhou was temporarily staying. It was already empty, with no one in sight. Uncle Fu’s corpse lay on the ground, his eyes wide with terror, dying without closing them.

He Yu’s entire body felt as if it had fallen into an ice cellar.

He had thought he brought a strong force into Xia State, but on the second day of his arrival, a loyal servant who had followed him since childhood had just died…

Uncle Fu wasn’t one of the two Fifth Grade guards, but he was still a senior Sixth Grade martial cultivator, upper level Sixth Grade! He just died so quietly… Even from the look of the furniture in this room, it didn’t feel like any intense fight had taken place. This meant a Sixth Grade martial cultivator couldn’t even put up much resistance and died on the spot!

How did that cripple and child do it?

Liu Qing Cang felt even more numb throughout his body.

He had always thought Lu Xing Zhou was cunning but not very strong himself. But seeing a strong person at his own level die miserably on the spot before him, Liu Qing Cang finally realized what kind of person he had been opposing for so long… His previous methods were truly mild enough. After the He family arrived, he truly showed his cruel, fierce, and ruthless side!

“No matter what, Lu Xing Zhou is He Shang. This matter is concluded.” He Yu interrupted, “Issue a command, search the entire city, find Lu Xing Zhou’s whereabouts! Reward a hundred taels of gold to anyone who provides information, and a thousand taels of gold to anyone who obtains Lu Xing Zhou’s head!”

He Yu felt that under a heavy reward, there must be brave men, and the entire city would sell this face to the He family… However, after the command was issued, the effect was not quite what He Yu had imagined.

If it’s truly confirmed that Lu Xing Zhou is He Shang, then this is an internal matter of the He family… The meaning of an internal matter is that He Shang is also a member of the He family!

Who knows what the He family master is thinking? After all, that’s his own son. It’s one thing for the He family’s own people to kill him, but for outsiders to kill him? What if the He family master thinks outsiders have no right to kill his son? Then not only will there be no merit, but also the enmity of killing his son. Who would be so foolish as to do such a thing?

Even City Master Xu Bing Kun quietly instructed his confidant: “This matter… handle it on the surface, we won’t touch this filth.”

“City Master, Sheng Yuan Yao’s movements have been a bit strange these past few days, she seems to be investigating something…”

“It’s normal that we don’t know what the Town Demon Division is investigating, there’s no need to be overly cautious. Even if she discovers something, with He Yu here, she can’t do anything.”

The command was issued for a whole day, Xia State was in an uproar, and it seemed like secret police were everywhere, making a lively appearance. But until midnight, there wasn’t a single piece of news, as if Lu Xing Zhou had never existed.

…

“This time, I let you eat the whole melon, don’t say I’m eating alone.”

While the entire city couldn’t find Lu Xing Zhou, he was openly sitting in the small home of the Town Demon Division commander, leisurely removing the bandage from Steward He’s hand, scraping off a layer of black medicine paste.

Sheng Yuan Yao sat coldly on the side, watching his actions, and didn’t say anything, just said coldly: “Not pretending? Do you really think I don’t dare to arrest you?”

“You used to investigate cases for the peace and security of Xia State. Later, when you knew it was He Shang’s matter, that’s not a vicious criminal doing evil, but an internal matter of the He family. You’ve already decided not to interfere.” Lu Xing Zhou smiled, “The Town Demon Division doesn’t deal with this kind of matter anyway. What’s more, He Yu seems to make you very antipathetic, why would you help him?”

“So you are really He Shang?”

Lu Xing Zhou didn’t answer.

“Then you must tell me, how did you commit the crime initially, that I felt completely unrelated to you no matter how I investigated?”

“That day, I went down the mountain alone to be questioned by you, creating a blind spot in your thinking. You would naturally feel that I went to the He family the day before by myself… In fact, A Nuo pushed the wheelchair every day. I went back to the mountain in advance to create an alibi, while A Nuo stayed there and didn’t follow me back. You only checked if I was on the mountain at Wei hour, you didn’t ask A Nuo.”

Sheng Yuan Yao’s face was stiff.

As the main investigator of this case, to be misled to such an extent by the criminal is simply a career shame. Sheng Yuan Yao really wanted to grit her teeth and arrest this guy, he was too annoying.

She glanced at the small Dao Tong squatting in the cage with hands tied, compensating with a smile. Sheng Yuan Yao gnashed her teeth even more.

He was still holding a fortune-telling banner and performing there. Originally, you little thing were the murderer, yet you still cheated two taels of silver from me!

But the experience of eating the whole melon was extremely good, barely making her mood feel a bit better. Sheng Yuan Yao said stiffly: “Your style of action this time is very different from the past, very aggressive, and you seem to deliberately put yourself in the spotlight. Is it to attract He Yu’s attention and keep him focused on you, so he won’t have time to deal with the Shen family’s business?”

“Um…” Lu Xing Zhou said faintly, “The Shen family’s business has nothing to do with this matter. They shouldn’t have to bear these things just because they rent my place, this is my own affair.”

Sheng Yuan Yao said somewhat sarcastically: “Rather make yourself more dangerous?”

Lu Xing Zhou smiled: “When I was He Shang… I didn’t imagine it would be so dangerous. At least you won’t interfere, and most others won’t either. The remaining minority are those who want to lick He Yu’s butt, how many of them are worth mentioning?”

“You don’t want to drag down Shen Tang, so you come over here to drag me down? Are you addicted to screwing me over?”

“After my identity was exposed, I felt you would be very angry that I played you… I came here actually to apologize, explain the matter clearly to you, and then leave. You can just pretend you didn’t see me.”

Sheng Yuan Yao was silent for a moment, then asked: “Is the medicine paste you’re scraping off useful?”

Lu Xing Zhou just sniffed the medicine paste at his nose, analyzed the ingredients, and then shook his head: “It’s really thin. Steward He worked hard for the He family his whole life, and when his hand tendon broke, they only gave him this level of medicine paste… This thing does have some benefit for connecting broken tendons, but relying solely on this is not enough. There should also be internal medicine, which should be with He Yu.”

Sheng Yuan Yao said strangely: “You put so much effort into this, aren’t you disappointed with this result?”

“No, I didn’t have too much expectation for this in the first place. It’s already very good that it can have some effect, at least it’s useful to Shen Tang.” Lu Xing Zhou collected the medicine paste, his smile somewhat cold: “My situation is very serious, even if they bring the internal medicine, it might not be of much use to me. My target is something else.”

Sheng Yuan Yao’s heart felt a bit cold. Since she determined that Lu Xing Zhou was He Shang, everyone guessed he would rush to He Yu to get the medicine to treat Steward He’s hand, but he actually didn’t!

Her desire to eat melon was provoked again. She wanted to ask but felt it was inappropriate. If she asked about this, then whatever Lu Xing Zhou does next, she might become someone who knows about it, and her nature would change…

But she really wanted to ask!

Lu Xing Zhou looked at her, a little amused: “Don’t worry, after this matter, as long as I’m alive, I’ll crawl back and tell you the beginning and end.”

Sheng Yuan Yao’s mood improved, very satisfied: “Consider yourself a little bit conscientious.”

Lu Xing Zhou suddenly thought of something: “Speaking of which, the whole city’s attention is on me now, and the City Master is the same. This is a good opportunity for you to investigate the demon case, you don’t need to pay attention to He Yu.”

“I know.” Sheng Yuan Yao nodded, and then said: “There’s still a problem.”

“Um, you say.”

“Why do you dare to judge that the He family will not directly send a Upper Three Grade strong person to completely eliminate the hidden danger? As long as a strong enough person comes, whatever you plan to lure people over to kill is just seeking death.”

“Um… Do you know why I stayed in Xia State for half a year before making a move?”

“Why?”

“Waiting for the right time, for example, the Town Demon Division sending you as commander is one of them. You won’t be like the local old slick who just tortures a suspect to death. You will investigate according to what I want and report up about He Shang.”

Sheng Yuan Yao’s face turned black again: “And the second?”

“And the second… there was a change in the capital last month, the princess went missing. The capital should be in a tense state now, with undercurrents surging. The He family’s people would have to be brain-damaged to transfer a Upper Three Grade strong person at this important moment… Are Upper Three Grades like cabbages? Transferring one means they lose an arm. Is sending one out at this moment just to deal with an eighteen-year-old He Shang?”

Sheng Yuan Yao: “…”

“Added to the fact that the one who came is He Yu, it can be judged that the He family is treating this matter as a way to cultivate the temper of young people. Even the He family master might feel that sending too many experts would lose the effect of tempering.” Lu Xing Zhou smiled: “He will regret this judgment for the rest of his life.”