Chapter 4: Setting the Trap
At the gates of the Wu Residence, as the carriage of the Demon Suppression Prince’s Mansion gradually departed, Shen Tian, who had fainted on the ground, finally opened his eyes and slowly stood up.
“Shen Tian, are you alright?”
Wu Ruyue dismounted, handed him a bottle of wound medicine, and looked at his swollen face with concern in her eyes.
She was familiar with Shen Tian, knew his temperament, and did not believe he would faint from humiliation.
He must have taken the chance to escape, unwilling to let Shen Yanzhou continue to hold onto him.
Shen Tian shook his head, wiped the blood at the corner of his mouth, clenched his fists, and said gloomily: “Today’s humiliation, I will remember it.”
“This arrogant wastrel, behaving in such a manner, he must have already earned countless grudges. One day, all the retribution will come.”
He was also someone who could bend and stretch.
Back when the Demon Suppression King was in the southern frontier, he had also taught him that great achievements required not being bound by trifles.
In Shen Tian’s eyes, this pampered wastrel who relied solely on his background, Shen Yanzhou, was already a dead man.
Let him jump around for a few more days.
“Father, Shen Yanzhou said you want to marry me to him?”
Only now did Wu Ruyue recall what Shen Yanzhou had said before leaving.
She turned to look at Wu Hong, her brows tightly furrowed.
Wu Hong’s face was heavy with worry: “Ruyue, it is your father who has wronged you. Let’s return home and talk.”
He had been caught by Shen Yanzhou for stealing Dragon-pattern Secret Gold from the Martial Treasury, as well as secretly having his men copy the imperial martial techniques.
How could he not be afraid?
If this matter were to reach His Majesty, even if his daughter was highly valued by the throne, the Wu family might not be sentenced to total extermination, but the male members would certainly be sent to the southern border as soldiers without question…
“What trouble has Wu Zhongxing caused again?”
“That you must sell your daughter’s honor to drag him out of it?”
Wu Ruyue glanced at her father’s embarrassed face, already guessing the situation.
If not for needing something desperately, how could he adopt such an attitude?
In the past, when she was still in the capital, her younger brother Wu Zhongxing had already been unruly, never committing great crimes, but small ones endlessly.
Wu Hong’s current position existed entirely because of his daughter’s merits.
After returning to the residence, he dared not conceal what had happened these past few days.
He pulled Wu Ruyue into a side hall and explained everything in detail.
“My daughter, it is your father who has failed you. All of this was only for you and your brother, that I strayed down the wrong path for a moment…”
“What…”
At first, Wu Ruyue thought it was something minor that she could resolve herself.
But after hearing it all, she was struck dumb as if thunder had crashed upon her head.
Stealing Dragon-pattern Secret Gold from the Eastern Palace Martial Treasury, and secretly copying imperial martial techniques?
Either one alone could be considered treasonous collaboration with enemy nations—punishable by extermination of the entire clan.
“Father…”
“How could you be so foolish?”
Wu Ruyue trembled with rage, her chest heaving, nearly fainting on the spot.
Though Great Qian was built on martial strength, the teachings of Confucianism spread through all the provinces.
She had been raised to respect filial piety and thus could not openly scold Wu Hong.
But her heart was full of grief and helpless anger.
In order for her father Wu Hong to obtain such a relaxed post, how many prices had she paid?
The Wu family was but a declining martial clan.
In her father’s generation, not one could even break through to the eighth rank of martial cultivation.
The glory they had today was entirely because of her.
She had risked her life in battle at the frontier, fighting and building her achievements.
Yet her father had created such a disaster for her?
“I was only thinking of you, my daughter. Your service in the southern frontier is dangerous. I wanted to secretly take some Dragon-pattern Secret Gold to forge soft armor for your protection. You are gifted in martial cultivation, diligent and hardworking. But your younger brother… he has been unruly since childhood, his talent mediocre. I only thought, perhaps if he could train with the high-grade techniques in the Martial Treasury, one of them might suit him…” Wu Hong said awkwardly.
“He cannot even learn the simplest lower-grade techniques, and you still want him to practice the Martial Treasury’s arts?”
“I have barely returned to the capital, and this is the grand welcome you give me.”
“And Wu Zhongxing? Still loitering in some brothel? Drag him back here at once.”
Wu Ruyue’s face turned pale with anger, and she had to brace herself against a pillar to keep from collapsing.
“Ruyue, what has happened?”
Outside the side hall, Shen Tian, who had not been eavesdropping but happened to see Wu Ruyue’s expression as she emerged, could not help asking.
Wu Ruyue hesitated.
The matter of stealing mithril and copying imperial martial techniques could never be spoken aloud.
Even though she trusted Shen Tian’s character, she could not tell him.
“It’s nothing. Brother Shen, please rest first. Once this matter is settled, I will accompany you to meet that lord.” Wu Ruyue shook her head.
Shen Tian rubbed his nose and said: “Ruyue, if you encounter any trouble, just tell me. I will help however I can.”
If it had been something small, would Wu Ruyue have been so distraught?
Her heart warmed slightly, and she gave a faint laugh: “Thank you, Brother Shen. But this is something I can resolve myself.”
…
Before afternoon, a young man in fine robes, reeking of alcohol and perfume, returned to the Wu Residence surrounded by several servants.
“Kneel.”
The moment he stepped into the front courtyard, a cold voice rang out.
He was so startled that without thinking, he fell to his knees with a thud.
Wu Ruyue stood nearby, face frosty, holding a wooden staff.
Wu Hong and his wife only dared to watch from the side, not stepping forward.
“Speak honestly. How did you learn of the Bone Transformation Technique?” Wu Ruyue asked coldly.
Such a profound technique could even reshape the body, altering one’s innate talent.
With her brother Wu Zhongxing’s blockheaded useless brain, it was impossible for him to know of it.
Someone must have whispered it in his ear, pushing him to coax their father into secretly copying it.
“Sister, don’t hit me…”
“I just heard it from some friends…”
Since childhood, Wu Zhongxing had been deeply afraid of his elder sister, always living in her shadow.
He dared not hide anything now, spilling everything honestly.
“How could it be such a coincidence.”
Wu Ruyue’s brows knitted tightly.
She knew her brother’s character all too well—always spending time with the young wastrels of small noble families in the capital.
Shen Yanzhou, the capital’s foremost wastrel, was even the figure he admired most.
Her father had just stolen Dragon-pattern Secret Gold from the Martial Treasury, and Shen Yanzhou immediately produced evidence?
“Was this Shen Yanzhou’s trap?”
An absurd and inconceivable thought flickered through Wu Ruyue’s mind.
Could this really be that same wastrel who once wet himself from fright after an assassination attempt?
A shadow passed through her heart as she recalled Shen Yanzhou’s calm, composed demeanor that very morning.
Was this truly the same man she had once known?
…
Within the Demon Suppression Prince’s Mansion.
In front of a pavilion built over the waters, mist swirled gently.
Shen Yanzhou, dressed in plain white robes, stood by the pond, scattering feed as the fish scrambled to eat.
A faint smile lingered on his lips.
“Wu Ruyue, born of a fallen martial clan. At six years old, she still could not speak, mocked by her peers. Yet she wrote upon the sand: I am the moon among clouds, how could I be the same as worldly dust? One day I shall ride the wind away, my clear light shining upon all the nine provinces.”