Chapter 229: I Can Do It

"Why didn't you invite him in?"

"Brother Gu said he'd leave after asking two questions."

Everyone looked at each other. Zhang Junxue put down the brush and tentatively said, "Then I'll go out first?"

"Go! Think about it carefully first."

Zhang Junxue walked out with long strides. Only upon entering the courtyard did she realize how warm it had been in the room just now. In just a few steps, the cold had already begun to soak through her body, but Zhang Junxue's heart was still warm, especially upon seeing this familiar, kind face among the one-armed man's features.

Although Pei Ye, Li Piaoqing, and the others weren't there, the young woman was very pleasantly surprised to see Brother Gu at this moment.

"What's the matter, Brother Gu?" Zhang Junxue asked. The spring breeze on her face hadn't dissipated yet, and her eyes were sparkling. She was already prepared to invite him in for the next sentence, to let him see the brand-new short blade and the beautiful red silk with her name written on it.

"Is Zhang Wenqian here?" the man asked directly.

Zhang Wenqian was the head of the Zhang family.

Zhang Junxue was stunned, because a clear boundary had appeared between the man's emotions and hers at this moment; the question was cold and impolite.

"... No, Uncle didn't come to the prefecture city this autumn... Why?" Zhang Junxue looked at the man, suddenly remembering that this wasn't the first time she had heard this question.

Two days ago, Li Piaoqing had also asked her, saying that if she saw the family head in the city, she should remember to tell her.

In places she didn't know about, something seemed to be happening.

"Come with me," Gu Guang whispered.

The two left the large courtyard far behind. Gu Guang looked at her and said, "Zhang Wenqian is going to help Qijiao Shang Huaitong testify about the winter trial last year."

"..." A heavy blow, caught off guard. Zhang Junxue froze, unable to find where her heart was for a moment.

Gu Guang looked at her and also remained silent for a moment, because when he met Zhang Junyan just now, a much more polite but essentially identical conversation had taken place here.

Zhang Junyan also didn't know his father had come to the prefecture city.

—The Zhang family head was indeed daring and decisive, which was why he dared to hide it from everyone and make this secret deal with the Seven Serpents.

"Zhang Wenqian came to the prefecture city secretly two days ago. This is intelligence from the Cuiyu Sect."

"..."

"The Cuiyu Sect suspects he has a collaboration with the Seven Serpents Cave," Gu Guang explained. "Sui Zaihua returned to the prefecture city tonight. If Zhang Wenqian really isn't at the Zhang residence... then he can only be at the prefecture office."

Zhang Junxue stared at him blankly. "... How is that possible?"

"This is what Li Piaoqing told me, and I believe it," Gu Guang said. "Your family head has always been quite ambitious, always doing his best to plan for the Zhang family's growth... and he is very daring. The Seven Serpents' building is about to collapse, and I think he wants to take a bite of meat with the Zhang family."

"..."

Gu Guang looked at the stiff-faced young woman, sighed lightly, and revealed a gentle smile. "But you don't need to worry about it. This is something happening tonight. I just wanted you to have a bottom line in your heart—go back and do what you should do."

Zhang Junxue, however, said nothing, not even moving.

"... What's wrong?" Gu Guang looked at the young woman. He didn't remember her having any heavy feelings for Zhang Wenqian, and in the past year, the young woman had been treated with cold eyes in the Zhang family; she shouldn't have this expression.

"..."

"I just saw it seemed quite lively in the room earlier. What were they doing?"

"... Performing the Rite of Offering the Blade for me," Zhang Junxue whispered. The cold moon shone her face deathly pale.

"..." Gu Guang's throat choked up.

She suddenly remembered when the trial ended in the afternoon, the boy said with a smile, "She went with the Zhang family people, saying they were going to have a meal to celebrate."

"I'm really sorry, I—" The man was a bit flustered. He naturally knew the weight of this ritual—if he had listened to Zhang Junyan and entered the room just now, seeing the short blade and red silk, he definitely wouldn't have said what he just did.

He took a deep breath, looked at the young woman silently staring at the ground, and said earnestly, "Junxue, go back and finish the rite. First, this is just my guess; I'm just giving you a heads-up. Second, even if Zhang Wenqian has some deal with the Seven Serpents, it's just taking advantage of the fire, it definitely doesn't mean the Zhang family has stood on the side of the Seven Serpents... These things are for the meat-eaters to plan; you don't need to think too much, Junxue."

"... Mm."

"... Then go back and finish the rite. This matter is very important; don't interrupt it for too long." Gu Guang smiled and patted her shoulder, trying hard to cast aside the previous topic. "Congratulations—the short blade is like snow, and the grievances are clear. Junxue, you will soon be a true Zhang family blade-guest."

—

Zhang Junxue walked back to the courtyard. The moonlight still shone coldly on the treetops.

Just as she hadn't felt the cold when she walked out of the warm room just now, she didn't feel the warmth when she walked back into the room at this moment.

Stepping over the threshold, she looked up. The bright red silk was still hanging on the wall, and the short blade below was as bright as a mirror. Hearing her enter, eight or nine faces turned simultaneously, each with a warm, expectant smile on their faces.

The atmosphere was exactly the same as when she had left.

Third brother called out, "Junxue, after going out, did you think of what to write? Did you ask Brother Gu for ideas?"

"..."

Without giving her time to answer, Zhang Junyan had already walked over from the other side holding a tray. The persimmons on it had been finished, and now only a pear was placed there.

He held it out in front of her again.

"Don't take it yet, Junxue," Zhang Junyan said with a smug smile. "Guess what the name of this one is."

"..."

"This one is called 'No Persimmons Left, Only Pears'!" Seeing the young woman silent, Zhang Junyan announced loudly.

"..."

Beside her, Zhang Junlan laughed with a "pfft" and slumped onto her.

Zhang Junxue gently pushed the young lady away, looked at Zhang Wendian, and asked in a low voice, "Third Uncle... is Uncle at home?"

The elder's pleasant smile stalled for a moment. "What?"

"Uncle," Zhang Junxue repeated with her head down. "Brother Gu asked where Uncle is."

Zhang Junyan laughed behind her, "I already answered him; my dad didn't come—Junxue, you're being silly too."

But Zhang Wendian's smile faded. He ignored Zhang Junyan, turned around, and said, "... Come with me, Junxue."

"Did Uncle go to the prefecture office?"

"..."

The hall went quiet for a moment. The warmth on everyone's faces stiffened; everyone realized that something seemed wrong.

Zhang Wendian turned back, the smile on his face completely gone.

"Do you want to talk about this here?" The elder looked at her coldly, his voice without fluctuation. "Zhang Junxue."

The tall young woman raised her head and looked at the elder. "Is Uncle really going to testify for the Seven Serpents Cave, saying that Sister... murdered Qijiao Shang Huaitong?"

Everyone, with blank and uneasy expressions, suddenly widened their eyes. A terrifying silence appeared in the room.

"... Is there... some misunderstanding?" Zhang Junlan took a step forward, a bit at a loss. "Junxue... Father..."

Zhang Wendian looked at Zhang Junxue, his disgusted eyes as if looking at a snake she had brought into the house herself. "So what if it is?"

"He was the one who harmed Sister," Zhang Junxue said stiffly. "Sister is dead."

"Do you think I need you to tell me she's dead?!" Zhang Wendian stepped forward fiercely. "Junyu was raised by my own hands!"

He looked at Zhang Junxue. "What, can you bring her back to life?"

"I will avenge her."

"Who doesn't want to avenge her?!" Zhang Wendian roared. "How? By fighting that motherfucker Luo Defeng?!"

Zhang Junxue looked at him silently.

Zhang Wendian took two deep breaths. The hall was silent.

"Since Zhang Junxue brought it up here, I'll tell you what's going on." He scanned the people, his cold gaze finally resting on Zhang Junxue's face. "This is a resolution in the ancestral hall. According to family rules, it shouldn't leave the four walls... I didn't expect there to be an outsider's tongue in the family."

He stepped back, turned to lean on the table, his tone already calmed down. "The family head entered the prefecture city three days ago and is temporarily staying with the Seven Serpents. It is indeed to help Qijiao Shang Huaitong clear his suspicion in the old case. Because the Seven Serpents are now single-mindedly sending him into the Sword Academy, this matter is an obstacle. We agreed to this matter, not to be the Seven Serpents' lackeys, but after discussing it in the ancestral hall, we believe that in this matter, the Seven Serpents are in a hurry while we are slow. Moreover, this matter is icing on the cake for the Seven Serpents, not charcoal in the snow, but for the Zhang family, it is a rare opportunity."

The elder raised his hand. "First, the key to Qijiao Shang Huaitong entering the Sword Academy does not lie in our testimony. What Lord Sui truly values is a style of sword he has mastered." Zhang Wendian said, "The family head has seen this style of sword, and I have seen it too. If Qijiao Shang Huaitong can learn it at his current age and cultivation, to put it bluntly, if we have our testimony, the Sword Academy will happily welcome him in; and even without our testimony, the Sword Academy will pinch its nose and take him in."

"Second, the chips offered by the Seven Serpents Cave for this move are eight hundred taels of silver, three sets of blade techniques, and the Zhang family can choose ten industries, which they will secretly cooperate to hand over." Zhang Wendian said, "As of yesterday, the Zhang family has already received five of them, as well as half a percent of the shares of the Bowang Garden."

"..." The eyes of the people, who were originally blank and frowning, suddenly widened.

At first, hearing that the family head was actually helping the Seven Serpents do things really made them feel lost and unbelievable, but when such huge profits were placed in front of them, that knot loosened quite a bit.

No need for fame, no need for reality, just the family head secretly saying two words, and they could get such a huge harvest. In all fairness, this was indeed a move for the Zhang family to gain without cost.

The hall was still quiet, but the atmosphere was clearly much calmer.

This was indeed a matter that was inconvenient to make public, but it was indeed a rare opportunity for the Zhang family—if there was no cooperation from the Seven Serpents Cave itself, how much could the Zhang family grab in the subsequent division?

And they could still take revenge after doing this.

Amidst the silence, Zhang Junlan gently pulled Zhang Junxue's hand again and whispered softly, "Junxue, Father is just speaking in anger. Let's sit down and talk slowly, okay?"

Other older siblings also looked over. After the sudden shock passed, they also felt that this matter could indeed be discussed slowly, and for a moment, they all looked at this little sister who had just integrated into the group.

The hall quieted down. The anger Zhang Wendian felt from Zhang Junxue exposing the secret in public also subsided a bit. He looked at the young woman and said calmly, "Zhang Junxue, how much injustice and scolding has your sister brought to the Zhang family? For more than half a year, which person in the Zhang family hasn't been enduring it? The Seven Serpents originally wanted us to publicly declare it was Junyu's fault, and even named you to testify, but the family head refused in the first sentence. Now it's just him telling two lies in the prefecture office. If there is any humiliation, it is the family head who is suffering. Is it not acceptable to use your sister's affairs to say two words and seek compensation for every Zhang family member?"

"..."

Zhang Wendian took a deep breath and stepped back. The young woman's long silence made his anger subside by more than half. "Come over and finish the rite."

Zhang Junxue didn't move. Zhang Junyan immediately walked up and gently pushed her, whispering, "Junxue, hurry up."

After all, she was the most outstanding young person of the Zhang family's current generation. With a few words of collision, the elders wouldn't act on impulse, and the older siblings were also willing to tolerate her.

However, the young woman didn't move.

She wasn't waiting for a step down in terms of face; she really just stood there, completely without the intention of following orders.

Zhang Junyan coaxed and pushed twice, but the little sister's cuteness and embarrassment just now had completely disappeared, and she returned to that silence that was suffocating, like a clumsy stone that hadn't changed in ten thousand years.

"... Sister is sorry to everyone, so she committed suicide," Zhang Junxue said with her head down. "If you feel it's not enough... I will repay the Zhang family for her later."

"But it was Qijiao Shang Huaitong who harmed my sister. When she died, she didn't even look like a human being." The young woman repeated again, "No one can... slander her."

Zhang Wendian turned his head suddenly. "So what if she was slandered?"

"Second Uncle, Fourth Uncle, Uncle, you... none of you are worthy of carrying the Mingyuan Blade!" Zhang Junxue also raised her head and looked straight at him. Once this dull voice became short, it became determined and powerful. "The Zhang family blade never bows to the enemy."

"Saying two soft words and lies can gain a lot of things—you think it's not bad, that's fine. I don't have the Mingyuan Blade, so I can't make decisions. Naturally, it's up to you to decide what the Zhang family does." Zhang Junxue stepped forward, lowered her head to pick up the brush, and looked at Third Uncle, Fifth Uncle, and the brothers and sisters in the hall. "But..."

She turned and wrote the three ink characters "Qijiao Shang Huaitong" on the red silk, then picked up the dagger with wet blood and stabbed it heavily onto the wall.

She looked at the red silk that was as bright as blood. "Do whatever you want... I will kill Qijiao Shang Huaitong."

No one had thought that such determined and blazing hatred could erupt from this clumsy young woman who was like a dull gourd. She gritted her teeth, the tendons on her neck bulging and connecting to her chin.

A person who harbors such hatred will definitely pierce through everything sharply. How can they have relatives and friends?

Amidst silence and staring, Zhang Junxue turned and walked out the door, entering the dark, cold night from the warm orange light. The autumn dew caused her skin to tremble.

In the distance, the tall one-armed man was vaguely there.

—

On the long street, outside the prefecture office, Li Piaoqing looked coldly at the person in front of her, playing with the feathers on the Shicui sword with one hand.

Zhang Wenqian remained silent.

"The Zhang family head is truly a dragon swimming in the water, coming and going without hindrance."

"... The Zhang family has to find a way to survive, Young Sect Master." Zhang Wenqian whispered. "The Cuiyu Sect also has the ambition of revival and should be able to understand. The situation is difficult, and the Zhang family must find a path for itself. We have also considered it carefully; this move will not be of much help to the Seven Serpents—"

"I don't care how difficult your Zhang family is, Zhang family head." Li Piaoqing interrupted, lowering her eyes to look at him. "How do you prove to me that the Zhang family is not standing on the side of the Seven Serpents?"

"... After the martial trial ends, we will ask the Young Sect Master to see our sincerity." Zhang Wenqian's bow had not yet risen.

"I will watch carefully," Li Piaoqing said coldly, sheathed her sword, and left.

Reconciled with myself!

Actually, I finished writing 4,000 words the night before last. I planned to finish writing this plot starting at 7:30 in the morning and update 6,000 or 7,000 words at 12:00.

But as I wrote, I felt conflicted and dissatisfied. Even at 12:00, I was still revising these 4,000 words, so I updated 2,000 first and asked for leave.

Then, for an entire afternoon, I wrote three ways to handle this plot, all with pros and cons. I kept wanting to find a flash of inspiration for a particularly satisfying method, but without foreshadowing and thinking, it's really hard to force it. Seeing it was evening again and I still had no clue, I had to compromise and choose one of the three to write.

After all, the author is not a firefly of the code path.

Another point is that today is equivalent to updating 8,000 words. Tomorrow is a full day of classes, so there might not be any at noon.

(Originally I planned to update 6,000 or 7,000 today and 4,000 as usual tomorrow, but that's how writer's block is. I used up all my energy and time, but only got 2,000 or 3,000 words of waste.)

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 230 =====