Seeking Truth with a Sword
Chapter 31 Capture

Chapter 31: Chapter 31 Capture

Cheng Juxiu asked gently, "Has the Lu Family ever bullied men and women, or oppressed good people?"

"No, no," Lu Wenlin said, cold sweat dripping from his forehead. "No one in the family would dare do such a thing."

Cheng Juxiu continued, "Then, have you ever unscrupulously seized wealth or plotted to take others’ riches?"

"No, no," Lu Wenlin said, wiping sweat from his brow. "I’ve instructed all the businesses under my purview to trade respectably. We wouldn’t dare violate Yu Law."

Cheng Juxiu nodded. "Then, have your male and female servants ever been treated like dogs and pigs, arbitrarily beaten and scolded?"

"This..." Lu Wenlin’s expression stiffened. He stammered, "I never interfere with matters of the inner household."

Ms. Tian’s face turned deathly pale in an instant, but Cheng Juxiu didn’t even glance at her as he continued, "Then, in the inner household, there surely hasn’t been any abuse of concubines, or secret drownings of infants born to them, right?"

THUD.

Ms. Tian, terrified, staggered backward several steps. Her back hit the edge of a wooden table, tipping over an expensive ceramic bowl and sending snow swallow and winter melon bird’s nest soup spilling across the tabletop.

"Ju- Juxiu," Ms. Tian stammered, trembling all over. "I am your aunt. We’re family..."

"Shut up."

With a flick of his hand, Cheng Juxiu’s Flying Sword suddenly unsheathed and shot towards Ms. Tian’s brow, slicing a narrow gash across her forehead.

"I really should kill you."

Cheng Juxiu’s voice was ice-cold. Paying no mind to Ms. Tian, who had collapsed, utterly terrified and having lost control of herself, he retracted the Flying Sword. He turned to the trembling Lu Wenlin and said indifferently, "Uncle, divorce her."

"Ah?"

Lu Wenlin lifted his head incredulously, but Cheng Juxiu’s expression remained unchanged as he simply repeated, "Uncle, divorce her."

"Okay, okay, I’ll divorce her right now." Lu Wenlin swiftly came to his senses. His hands shook as he took the paper and brush a servant handed him and penned a sloppy divorce letter.

The entire Lu Family had prospered only by relying on Cheng Juxiu; there was no room for dissent.

Cheng Juxiu indifferently took the divorce letter. "Alright then. Tonight, she can pack her things, take the servants she brought with her, and get out—back to her hometown," he said. "All the Lu Family businesses that Ms. Tian managed should also be sold off. From now on, the Lu Family is to cease all business activities. Deposit all the money into various banks and live off the monthly interest. That will prevent money from causing further trouble. Also, clear out some rooms in the Lu Mansion. Xi Hui will be moving in."

"Okay, okay." Lu Wenlin nodded continuously. Meanwhile, Ms. Tian’s two sons turned ashen. Their mother was being divorced, and their primary inheritance rights would be stripped away, likely passed to half-siblings from their father’s other consorts. They themselves would become the very type of low-status, illegitimate children they had always despised.

"Cousin, please spare our mother! She did it all for us..." The two cried, kneeling and clutching at Cheng Juxiu’s legs. However, Cheng Juxiu simply summoned a gentle breeze that blew them away.

"Risheng."

Cheng Juxiu left Lu Yi in the main hall and walked out of the Lu Mansion with Li Ang.

"My apologies for letting you witness such a scene, Risheng." Cheng Juxiu sighed and shook his head. "My family members are short-sighted and rather ignorant."

"Ah..." Li Ang waved his hand awkwardly. Cheng Juxiu had handled his family affairs with swift decisiveness, which was already quite impressive.

"By the way, I tracked the scent of my horse—it often eats special feed—to Xi Hui’s house, and then came here," Cheng Juxiu said casually. "Are you curious about who that person in black was, the one who confronted me in the courtyard earlier?"

Li Ang nodded. "A little."

According to what Pu Liuxuan had said that day, there shouldn’t be many in the younger generation with Cheng Juxiu’s level of skill.

"That was a Holy Daughter of what was once a Demon Sect, the White Bone Compassionate Journey."

Cheng Juxiu glanced at the astonishment on Li Ang’s face and laughed. "Don’t worry. The radical faction of the White Bone Compassionate Journey was thoroughly annihilated along with other Demon Sects three hundred years ago. The branch that remains is now more like an ally, affiliated with the Academic Palace. Besides, there are several Holy Daughters in the White Bone Compassionate Journey; they’re not as ’rare’ as depicted in novels and storybooks."

"Then Senior Brother, you and her..."

"When I first ventured into the Jianghu, I was young and inexperienced, investigating a series of serial killings. We didn’t know each other’s identities, and we both thought the other was an enemy from the Demon Sect specializing in human trafficking," Cheng Juxiu said indifferently. "So, my methods were a little... severe."

Li Ang raised an eyebrow. "A little severe?"

"Poisoning her, knocking her out from behind, stuffing her in a sack, loading her onto a boat, chaining her up, taking her to the middle of the river, and threatening to sink her to feed the fish during interrogation," Cheng Juxiu recounted these shocking past events with a completely calm face. "Later, once we both revealed our identities and talked things through, it was all cleared up."

Li Ang smacked his lips. "She... forgave you?"

"No. After I released her, and we worked together to solve that case and eradicate the real Demon Sect, she hunted me for six years." Senior Brother Cheng remained unfazed. "From the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains to the Endless Sea, from the Yu Country to the Zhou Kingdom, from deserts to snowy mountains. Poisoning, ambushes, assassination attempts, even disguising herself as an acquaintance to get close to me. We both had our victories and defeats; I often captured her as well."

"That’s really..." Li Ang’s mouth twitched. A divine love-hate relationship? Catch and release, release and catch... are they trying to accumulate karma by repeatedly liberating a life?

"But don’t worry," Cheng Juxiu smiled. "She and I have a certain understanding. It won’t affect those around us. Just... if you happen to encounter a blind old lady asking for directions, an old man claiming a tiger snatched his son, or a woman asserting bandits killed her parents, be cautious. Don’t casually accept any water or rations they offer you."

...What on earth do you two get up to?

Li Ang hesitated. "Senior Brother, could it be that she... likes you?"

Who would have thought? The usually serious Senior Brother Cheng is quite... the charmer.

"She has said something to that effect," Cheng Juxiu nodded. "But my mother often told me that the prettier a woman is, the less you should believe what she says."

Huh? Could his mother be named Yin Susu?

Just as Li Ang was silently making this mental wisecrack, he heard Cheng Juxiu suddenly add, "However, my mother is very beautiful. So, according to her own words, you can’t completely believe what she says. Therefore, what beautiful women say *can* be believed. It constantly shifts between credible and not credible."

...Senior Brother, are you practicing the Qiankun Great Shifting with that logic? The Yin Susu philosophical paradox?

Cheng Juxiu, showing this rare playful side, seemed quite pleased and laughed heartily. "Anyway, I’m heading back now. You should go home and rest too. Prepare your things for the journey to Chang’an; we’ll be leaving in a few days."

"Okay."

Li Ang said farewell to Cheng Juxiu at the entrance of the Lu Mansion. He then went to Xi Hui’s house to relay the news, retrieved the obstetrical forceps, and returned with Chai Cuiqiao to the Security Hall.