Chapter 147: Chapter 147: Serving Two Masters

"What do you think you’re doing!"

The tip of the blade was about to pierce her skin when a sharp pain shot through Cao Luyun’s wrist. The world spun, and she was thrown hard to the ground.

The Grandmaster’s face was cold, his voice deep. The Guard Commander snatched the blade away before lowering his head and retreating to the side.

Outside the door, everyone knelt on the ground in terror, silent as the grave.

The Grandmaster turned to the indifferent man beside him and roared, "If I hadn’t stopped you, would you have just watched her die?"

Lu Xiu didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.

His actions were his attitude.

The crowd grew even more frightened. The Grandmaster had never lost his temper with the Grand Commandant before.

Inside and out, aside from Cao Luyun sobbing on the floor, not another sound could be heard.

After a long moment, the Grandmaster sighed wearily.

"She won’t be able to return to the Prime Minister’s Mansion for the next few days."

The sobbing woman on the floor didn’t even bother to wipe her tears, struggling to steady her breath. "Did something happen to my father and brother?"

"There’s been a mutiny in the army, and the implications are far-reaching," the Grandmaster said, glancing at Lu Xiu. "Have her move to the East Pavilion for now."

Lu Xiu remained expressionless, silent.

Cao Luyun scrambled to her feet, trembling uncontrollably. "Grandmaster, my father and brother—"

"This is not something you can interfere in," the Grandmaster added. "Lady Cao, what is whole is destined to be flawed, and what reaches an extreme is destined to reverse."

He then turned to the crowd kneeling at the door.

"Take good care of her. If anything else goes wrong... if you fail to serve those above, then you can go serve those below."

’Serve... those below?’

Everyone kept their heads bowed, their hearts trembling in their chests.

’He’s using all of our lives to threaten her.’

Tears streamed down Cao Luyun’s face as she stood frozen to the spot.

Lu Xiu walked out with the Grandmaster.

In the courtyard, lanterns flickered and a biting wind blew.

"Do you have any idea what would happen if I—" The Grandmaster sighed, shooting an irritated glance at the man beside him. "Sometimes I can’t tell which of them you take after."

Lu Xiu remained silent.

’If he had a choice, he wouldn’t want to be like any of them!’

"Forget it," the Grandmaster said, shaking his head and walking on alone. "You’ve all grown up. You all have your own ideas now."

Lu Xiu was silent.

After a moment, a soft voice drifted over.

"Awen... did you ever try to persuade him?"

The figure faltered for a second but ultimately continued forward, leaving only the sound of the wind in his wake.

Inside, the lamplight flickered.

Liang Wan sat at the low table, her chin propped in one hand, unconsciously fiddling with the lamp wick with a hairpin used for trimming it.

When she heard a noise and looked up, Lu Xiu was there, seemingly covered in a layer of frost—actual frost.

"How long were you standing outside?"

Liang Wan grabbed a nearby fur cloak. Even before she got close, she could feel the biting chill rolling off him.

She wrapped the cloak around him, then glanced at his ears, which were red from the cold.

"Did something else happen?"

Lu Xiu didn’t speak, merely staring at her with quiet eyes.

Liang Wan hesitated for a moment before reaching out to warm his ears. They were ice-cold.

"Wear something warmer next time you go stand out there."

Her tone was a little harsh.

’She’d been fine after being drenched in the snow that day, but he had actually come down with another fever.’

’When he got sick, she had to take care of him. It was so annoying!’

Lu Xiu smiled faintly and nodded. "Alright."

Every time she saw that smile, she felt a surge of anger and wanted to snatch her hands back, but before she could, a pair of cold hands pinned them in place, followed by even colder lips.

Liang Wan closed her eyes. It was like kissing a block of ice.

He hadn’t eaten much for dinner, and it was getting late, so Liang Wan served him a bowl of the bean porridge she had been keeping warm, along with a few snacks and side dishes.

Liang Wan looked at him. "It’s good that she’s moving to the East Pavilion."

’Cao Luyun might only be focused on becoming the Great General’s Wife, but she still has people from the Prime Minister’s Mansion with her. With so many people, there are loose tongues. It would be inevitable that someone would see something and then, intentionally or not, spread it around. The disaster that could cause would be no small matter.’

’Having her in the same courtyard was unsettling, to say the least.’

’That was precisely why she had severely punished those gossiping servants.’

Lu Xiu glanced at her, looking like he wanted to say something but held back.

He only said, "She can’t return to the Prime Minister’s Mansion because of the army mutiny. Cao Jun is involved, and I’m afraid the Prime Minister’s Mansion, this time—"

"A mutiny?"

Liang Wan was very surprised. ’This didn’t happen in my past life. Then again, around this time, the Cao Family was also... because of the slander against Wang Su...’

Liang Wan asked, puzzled, "What caused it?"

Lu Xiu raised an eyebrow at her and said flatly, "A lack of military pay."

Liang Wan’s brow furrowed. ’Gao Qian is cruel, but the national treasury shouldn’t be so empty as to cause this. A lack of pay... it’s possible someone embezzled the funds. Cao Jun is an upright man, so it definitely wasn’t him. I can’t say for the others, but it’s also possible someone did this deliberately—’

’Could it be that Lu Xiu was so against an alliance with the Cao Family because he knew this would happen to them?’

Liang Wan thought for a moment, then dipped her finger in tea and wrote a character on the table.

Before she could even look at him, she heard the man beside her let out a snort of laughter.

"It wasn’t me."

’So direct and frank.’

At this, Liang Wan’s interest was piqued. She looked up at him. "Do you know who it was, then?"

Lu Xiu was silent for a moment. "Besides me, there should be others. I’m just not clear on their identities."

’The North is really sparing no effort.’

Liang Wan tilted her head to look at the man beside her again, sighing internally. ’Who would have thought that the Grand Commandant of the Qi Country would actually be a man of Beizhou? No, that’s not right. He’s currently serving two masters, so he can only be considered neutral...’

Lu Xiu said, "This matter wasn’t necessarily their doing."

Liang Wan nodded. "The infighting here is severe."

Ever since the late Emperor’s generation, the government of the Qi Country has been in a state of chaos and division, manipulated by various political factions.

After Gao Qian ascended the throne, the Empress Dowager ruled from behind the curtain for several years. The Lu, Wang, Lou, and Cao families, among others, seized the opportunity to meddle in politics, causing power to become even more fragmented.

Such internal conflict and attrition was not a good thing for Daqi.

Under long-term, high-pressure control, Gao Qian desperately wanted to break free from the Empress Dowager.

Furthermore, Gao Yi was his most powerful rival among the princes, and he had the support of the Lou Family and the Imperial Family.

It was only natural that Gao Qian was paranoid and tyrannical.

He wanted to rid himself of the Lu Family, but didn’t dare to trust anyone else, so he could only lock his sights on Lu Xiu, who had yet to grasp real power.

’How could he have ever imagined that the hand-picked Lu Xiu would turn him into a complete puppet?’

Lu Xiu put down his bowl and looked at her. "It’s the same everywhere."

’When it comes to imperial power, there’s always a fight.’

It wasn’t that Liang Wan didn’t understand.

"You’ll have to choose a side eventually. Otherwise, neither will tolerate you."

After speaking, she snuck a glance at him.

’In truth, what she wanted to say was, if he was willing to choose Beizhou, then she could also...’

’But there was one thing she couldn’t understand. A man cannot live under the same sky as his father’s murderer.’

’Yet Lu Xiu didn’t seem to hold any hatred for the Lu Family.’

’Could it be that because the Lu Family raised him, he could let go of his hatred?’

’And what must Yuan Shaoyu have been thinking, entrusting his own child to—’

’No, that’s wrong. Yuan Shaoyu only died after his failed coup when Lu Xiu was seven.’

’To hand his child over to the Grandmaster seven years before that... did he plan to die from the very beginning?’

’And wasn’t the Grandmaster afraid of raising a tiger that would come back to bite him?’

Liang Wan sighed.

’It was a pity. Yuan Shaoyu had gone to such great lengths to hide Lu Xiu’s existence, yet Beizhou had still found out. And now, Lu Xiu was following in his father’s footsteps...’

’Thinking about it, in her past life, Lu Xiu had monopolized power in Qi, so in a way, he had managed to break free from Beizhou’s control.’

Liang Wan’s eyelids lifted slightly. "You really are a dangerous man!"

Lu Xiu smiled faintly and pulled her into his arms. "Aren’t you the same?"

Liang Wan leaned into his embrace. ’Yes, how could they not be dangerous? One of them wants to commit regicide, and the other is a spy.’

She tilted her head up slightly to look at him. ’Perhaps the name Yuan Shaoyu is fake, too?’

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