Once again, Huo Xingyuan was publicly humiliated, and with a livid expression, he flicked his sleeves and left.

Huo Qi and Huo Zhang followed behind. As they passed Lu Xingzhou, Huo Zhang subtly gave a thumbs-up.

Lu Xingzhou smiled faintly.

After everyone had dispersed, Lu Xingzhou quietly said to Pei Chuyun, “Just now, you…”

Pei Chuyun furtively glanced around. Though others had left, Sheng Qingfeng and Su Yuan were still present, along with several Zhenmosi members nearby. She immediately straightened her face and said earnestly, “I was just kidding.”

“Where did that courage go, to bravely sacrifice your reputation?”

“No courage, just infatuated by good looks, a momentary impulse.”

Lu Xingzhou chuckled, reaching out to brush a strand of stray hair from her forehead.

Catching sight of Sheng Qingfeng’s grim face, he moved his hand, but ultimately didn’t reach out.

Pei Chuyun gave him a scornful look. “Coward.”

This was unbearable. Lu Xingzhou pulled her into a hug and lowered his head to kiss her.

Pei Chuyun’s eyes widened, Sheng Qingfeng’s eyes were like brass bells, Su Yuan’s mind went blank, and the surrounding Zhenmosi stalwarts looked as if they had lost their parents.

The emotions of everyone present were truly difficult to describe.

Lu Xingzhou didn’t want to think too much. He knew how difficult Pei Chuyun’s declaration had been, and he couldn’t suppress his feelings.

Of course, the kiss wasn’t overly scandalous; he merely tasted her lightly before letting go. Pei Chuyun snapped back to reality, furiously wiping her mouth, and reaching out to hit him. “Scoundrel!”

Lu Xingzhou let her hit him, laughing heartily. “Worth it.”

Sheng Qingfeng’s voice, squeezed through gritted teeth, came just in time. “How long are you two going to flirt in my Zhenmosi hall?”

Pei Chuyun pointed at Lu Xingzhou. “Zhenmosi, right? I want to accuse this scoundrel of indecency!”

Sheng Qingfeng ground his teeth, expressionless. “Alright, please, the victim should return first. We’ll discuss it after we’ve finished our interrogation.”

“Eh?” Pei Chuyun was dumbfounded. “How can Huo Xingyuan bring his son to observe?”

“Because he is not the party indecently assaulted.”

Pei Chuyun: “…”

Lu Xingzhou finally chuckled. “Alright, what’s the situation with Huo Lu’s autopsy?”

Sheng Qingfeng squinted at him. You, a suspect, asking the Zhenmosi Chief for an autopsy report…

If you weren’t kissing another woman right in front of me, I might tolerate it. Now, get as far away as possible.

Sheng Qingfeng finally said coldly, “Inappropriate, no discussion, get out.”

Su Yuan chimed in, “I’d like to hear it too.”

“…” Sheng Qingfeng turned his face away from Lu Xingzhou, saying expressionlessly, “Ordinary knife wound, throat slit directly. Huo Lu was in the Huo family’s别苑 (biéyuàn), a place specifically for recuperation, with quite a few guards, including a third-rank expert stationed there. When the incident occurred, the third-rank expert didn’t react… Although not guarding him closely, there was some distance, so the difficulty wasn’t too great. But it at least proves that the intruder was skilled in stealth and assassination, which points even more towards a certain person from the Yanluodian.”

Su Yuan glanced at Lu Xingzhou, asking for him, “Then why didn’t the Chief ask that in court?”

“I was trying to clear this scoundrel’s name, not solidify his guilt!”

“Actually, it’s nothing,” Lu Xingzhou said. “Anyone with a bit of knowledge knows that I never learned any stealth or assassination techniques in the Yanluodian, because back then, I was a cripple.”

“If it’s announced, what will the public think? Are you going to explain it to each and every one of them? Or will Zhenmosi issue a statement for you? Nonsense!” Sheng Qingfeng said, exasperated. “Regarding official matters, pay attention, learn well, don’t always assume you’re smart and know everything. There are always things you haven’t considered!”

Lu Xingzhou bowed. “Yes, thank you, Chief.”

For some reason, at this moment, Sheng Qingfeng really wanted to hear him utter the word “Yue,” but he didn’t.

So, he found him thoroughly detestable, and the smiling “First Talent” beside him even more ugly. He simply ignored the Guoshi and snorted, flicking his sleeves as he left. “You know what you need to know. I also know you didn’t kill the person, but you must help me solve this case. Otherwise, I don’t care about your connections, I’ll arrest you directly!”

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

Pei Chuyun watched Old Sheng leave with a smile, then tiptoed and whispered in Lu Xingzhou’s ear, “You’re provoking Old Sheng like this, aren’t you really afraid he’ll never agree to marry his daughter to you?”

Lu Xingzhou clasped his hands and said, “He never agreed anyway… no difference. Ultimately, it depends on Guamei herself. It’s not his Old Sheng I want.”

“Oh, really!” Pei Chuyun’s face suddenly changed, and she reached out, pinching a clump of flesh on his arm and twisting it fiercely. “And you said you and Sheng Yuanyao were just siblings!”

“I…” Lu Xingzhou’s expression twitched, and he sought help from Su Yuan. “Guoshi, save me.”

Su Yuan pretended not to see him.

If I reported this to the Shengzhu, I’m afraid it wouldn’t be just this bit of flesh being pinched. And you dare ask me to save you.

Speaking of which, this fellow is truly brave…

Ultimately, it was A’nuo who bravely stepped forward and pulled Pei Chuyun’s fingers away, rescuing his Shifu.

Pei Chuyun immediately clamped A’nuo under her arm, saying fiercely, “Last night, he clearly went out to drink with Huo Zhang. If he hadn’t met a bad guest, who knows when he would have returned? How dare you tell me to wait!”

Suddenly, she felt herself lifted into the air. A’nuo had picked her up and ran out the door in a flash. “Shifu, I’ll hold this madwoman for you. You two talk quickly.”

Su Yuan, with sleeves clasped, looked at Lu Xingzhou with a hard-to-understand gaze. He felt that with Pei Chuyun’s combat strength, even the Shengzhu would get a beating.

Lu Xingzhou said, “That… Elder Su, you’ve seen a joke.”

Su Yuan coughed twice. “What do you think of this case?”

“It’s either Huo Qi or Huo Zhang; in short, no outsider.”

Su Yuan gasped. “The Huo family descendants are truly…”

“They were never good people; I’ve known that since childhood,” Lu Xingzhou said with a smile. “With Elder Su’s help, my suspicion is cleared, so the initiative is in my hands.”

“Are you really going to the Huo family meeting?”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you afraid Huo Xingyuan will directly harm you?”

“They never dared to openly harm me before… At most, they’d say I died in a dark alley, no one knew who did it. But in the past, if they were desperate and disregarded the consequences, they really could have killed me. Now, they can’t afford the consequences…”

That’s right, in the past, if you died, you died. At most, the Guoshi or the Pei family, these political rivals, would besiege the Huo family. They would be in a bad state, but it might not truly be a major incident. If they were determined, they really could have killed you.

But now, if you died, even if it was just an assassination and no one knew who did it, the Shengzhu would probably go straight to Jingshi and wipe out the entire Huo family.

Now, let alone the Huo family, even the Emperor doesn’t dare to touch you. The person who most wishes you were the true culprit this time is the Emperor, so he could deal with you legally…

At this thought, Su Yuan’s heart suddenly stirred. Lu Xingzhou also seemed to have just thought of this problem and looked at him.

Could this matter of Huo Lu be related to the Emperor?

It shouldn’t be. Although Gu Zhanting has done a lot behind the scenes, he hasn’t stooped to this level. This kind of plot is more like something those fools in the Huo family would come up with, though it’s not impossible that they speculated on the Emperor’s intentions and thought he would be pleased.

As a result, Sheng Qingfeng’s questioning on the surface was relentless, but his stance was actually biased, and Su Yuan also supported him in time, causing Lu Xingzhou’s matter to pass without even a ripple.

“Now, the Huo family probably really wants me to come back. Among the seemingly talented six brothers, two have died, one is in prison, and the remaining three are actually in infighting, ha.” Lu Xingzhou leisurely walked away. “Then let me add more fuel to their fire.”

Su Yuan called from behind, “Don’t forget your main objective is still the monster race deploying troops in the northern border.”

Lu Xingzhou waved his hand. “I remember. The Huo family is strongly related to this matter anyway, so it suits both public and private interests.”

The Huo Family.

White streamers hung everywhere in the house. Huo Lu’s body had been autopsied and returned, now lying in state in the hall.

Huo Liancheng, the old grand tutor who had long since ceased to involve himself in affairs, had come out for several meetings in the past six months, all due to his grandson’s troubles.

Let alone breaking through to transcendent rank in seclusion, his very life might be shortened.

Originally, six grandsons filled the hall; now only three remained. One of them still had a swollen face, probably only half his teeth left, sitting there dejectedly like a frosted eggplant.

The other two disliked each other, sitting without even exchanging glances.

Huo Xingyuan stood quietly before the coffin, silently staring at it for a long time.

Time passed continuously, but Lu Xingzhou, who had promised to come for dinner, still hadn’t arrived.

Huo Heng couldn’t bear the oppressive atmosphere anymore, and with his swollen face, he indignantly spoke, “Lu Xingzhou is deliberately ignoring us; this is an insult!”

Huo Xingyuan slowly said, looking at the coffin, “So what?”

Huo Heng was stunned. “Ah?”

“Now he is publicly humiliating you, what can you do?” Huo Xingyuan suddenly turned, his gaze cold as he stared at his son. “You’ve worked in the Ministry of Works for years, how can you still be so naive! Lu Xingzhou is twenty, and he sees things more clearly than you!”

Huo Heng was a little unconvinced. “Isn’t he just good at using brute force?”

Huo Xingyuan practically laughed in anger. “This is the first time I’ve heard someone describe a Yanluodian judge as using brute force! Tell me, since he came to Jingshi, besides beating you, an idiot, before he left, what other brute force has he used?”

Huo Heng: “…”

Huo Xingyuan grew angrier as he spoke. “Even when he beat you, an idiot, it was under the guise of fighting over a woman, making it difficult to punish him. If it blew up, you, a minister in the Ministry of Works, fought over a woman and got beaten—who do you think people would ridicule, him, a Danxueyuan student, or you, an official! Even Prince Jin could only swallow his anger then, he had his reputation to protect! Do you understand? Are you resenting why Prince Jin didn’t stick up for you, why I, your father, didn’t say anything? Are you still blaming us, huh?”

Huo Heng: “…What about this time?”

“Who told you to block his path? There was already bad blood, and you blocked his path. Wouldn’t hitting you be for nothing? Look, your eldest brother was also there, why didn’t your eldest brother block him? Why didn’t his brute force target your eldest brother? Idiot!”

“Enough,” Huo Liancheng’s aged voice rang out. “Did Xiao Qi really agree to come back for dinner?”

Huo Xingyuan took a breath and nodded. “Yes. But I don’t believe he intends to reconcile; it’s more like he’s coming to gloat.”

“No matter,” Huo Liancheng said. “The problem between us and him is that there’s been too little communication. If we can truly sit down and talk properly, we can always find a direction. As long as he’s willing to come, it’s a good start.”

“Yes.”

“Now he is the Guoshi’s prized disciple.” Huo Liancheng paused here, as if quite perplexed by this matter. After all, it was a fact that Lu Xingzhou fought for Tianyao Shengdi, but Ye Tinglan had never announced that he had taken another disciple.

According to rumors from Tianyao Shengdi, Lu Xingzhou was under a senior named Feng, merely an “unregistered disciple.”

But for a mere unregistered disciple, wasn’t the acting Guoshi’s attitude towards him a bit too good?

Huo Liancheng paused, then continued, “Regardless of whether he is, treat him as the Guoshi’s prized disciple for now. He is no longer an ordinary Danxueyuan student but has strong backing. Even when he was a Danxueyuan student, he already had a golden aura, and with his ambiguous relationship with the Pei and Sheng families, we were already hesitant to act rashly. Now, his golden aura shines even brighter…”

Huo Qi couldn’t help but ask, “Grandfather’s meaning, you wouldn’t really want him to acknowledge his ancestry, would you?”

To this day, Lu Xingzhou has continued to be ambiguous about his identity as Huo Shang, precisely to make the Huo family come to this conclusion: regardless of whether Huo Shang intends to acknowledge his ancestors, at least he cannot commit patricide or parricide, so the situation has not become so urgent and irreconcilable.

Otherwise, for Huo Qing, they would have long since risked everything to send people to kill him, and everything would have ended.

But since it’s Huo Shang, the Huo family is still debating whether he truly wants to acknowledge his ancestors. And they are more inclined to believe that as long as everyone makes concessions, for example, to the extent of making him the next family head, then there’s nothing that cannot be resolved.

For “Huo Shang,” the goal of his actions is more akin to “a matter of pride.”

This is especially true for Huo Qi, who was the most eager to kill Lu Xingzhou in the past, precisely because he felt that Lu Xingzhou’s existence would threaten his position as heir.

It was all wrong.

“When he comes this time, we should appease him and make promises,” Huo Liancheng sighed wearily. “If necessary, you all apologize to him.”

Huo Qi couldn’t help but ask, “What kind of promises?”

“It doesn’t matter what promises,” Huo Liancheng said indifferently. “Whether the promises are fulfilled… times change, and no one knows what the future holds.”

Saying this in front of his grandsons gave them a sense of reassurance that, at least in the old man’s heart, Lu Xingzhou was ultimately an outsider.

Huo Qi breathed a sigh of relief, while Huo Zhang showed a hint of a sneer.

“Furthermore, for the first meeting, I won’t show myself. Just say I’m in seclusion.” Huo Liancheng slowly continued, “No matter what agreement Xingyuan reaches with him, or what conflicts arise… since I haven’t spoken yet, there’s still room for maneuver.”

Huo Xingyuan’s heart stirred, feeling that many of his entangled worries had dissipated.

Indeed, this offered room for maneuver, making it less difficult to handle.

Just as he was breathing a sigh of relief, he heard a servant report from outside, “Master, Lu Xingzhou has arrived.”

Huo Xingyuan said, “Invite him in.”

“He said… he said, he wants the main gate to be opened.”

Huo Qi whispered, “Who does he think he is?”

Huo Xingyuan glared at him. “Temper your attitude later.”

Then he instructed the servant, “Open it.”