Chapter 129: Courtroom Testimony

"Master, is that Lu Xingzhou?"

Lady Sheng had also received news of her daughter's assassination attempt and rushed back from her best friend's house; the scene she saw at a glance was quite peculiar.

Lu Xingzhou sat opposite Sheng Qingfeng in the tea room, brewing tea, yet neither side spoke a word.

Since there were chairs to sit on, the wheelchair could be freed up. So Sheng Yuanyao snatched the wheelchair, sat on it herself, and directed A'nuo to push her around the house, calling it "a wounded patient unable to walk." In truth, she just wanted to experience Lu Xingzhou's wheelchair and the person pushing it; who knows what was on her mind.

Sheng Yuanyao was having fun, but the moment Lady Sheng saw her daughter sitting in the wheelchair being pushed back and forth by a child, she thought her daughter's legs were crippled and was so frightened she nearly burst into tears right there.

Seeing her husband still looking indifferent while brewing tea with a young man, she got angry, went straight in, grabbed Sheng Qingfeng by the ear, and dragged him out: "Your daughter's legs are crippled, and you're just lounging around! What kind of father are you!"

After much pleading, Sheng Qingfeng finally made his wife believe her daughter only had minor injuries, and then the topic shifted to Lu Xingzhou.

"Yes, that is Lu Xingzhou." Sheng Qingfeng's face darkened: "What do you want to say?"

"Is there really that kind of relationship between Yao'er and him? How could he even be brought into the house..."

"Lu Xingzhou is a skilled alchemist; he just came to treat the injury."

"We could shout outside and summon seventeen or eighteen high-grade alchemists capable of being Lu Xingzhou's master; is it necessary to call him here alone with a woman to treat an injury?" Lady Sheng rolled her eyes: "Don't try that trick on me; tell the truth."

"The truth is, I, your old man, don't know what Yao'er is thinking either." Sheng Qingfeng snapped: "Look, he even brought a child along! She's not even married yet, and she's already acting like a mother."

Lady Sheng's face lit up: "Come to think of it, that little girl is truly adorable!"

Sheng Qingfeng: "?"

Lady Sheng also realized her focus seemed a bit off and hurriedly said: "So, is what happened between him and the Princess true?"

"I don't know; that was just something Yuanyao made up with her mouth. Who knows if the nonsense a young girl's brain comes up with can be taken seriously? Why don't you go ask for details? I'll also probe Lu Xingzhou; let's each handle our own part."

The couple treated this like a major enemy mission, assigning tasks. Sheng Qingfeng returned to the tea room with a solemn heart, where Lu Xingzhou was brewing tea and pouring cups, his movements elegant and his demeanor calm.

Sheng Qingfeng's frantic movements were somehow made three parts more refined; he cleared his throat and sat back in the main seat: "My clumsy wife was anxious about our daughter and spoke without propriety; please forgive us."

Lu Xingzhou poured him tea and said in a low voice: "I am very envious of Young Lady Sheng."

Sheng Qingfeng paused, then remembered that if this fellow was Huo Shang, his mother had passed away when he was very young.

"So..." he asked carefully: "You staying here is actually because you want to talk to me about the Huo family matters?"

Damn it, I thought you wanted to discuss Yuanyao's marriage!

Lu Xingzhou said: "It is also about Ye Wufeng... I think the probability of the Huo family and Ye Wufeng conspiring together against me is high; they will each try to make the other take the blame, forming a collaboration where each has hidden agendas. If we respond well, we can not only successfully capture Ye Wufeng but also make the Huo family stumble again."

It was clearly a very meaningful topic, yet Sheng Qingfeng, for some reason, felt uncomfortable all over, feeling that things shouldn't be like this...

He lowered his head, sipped the hot tea, slowly calmed his emotions, and then said indifferently: "Whether the Huo family stumbles or not has nothing to do with me."

Lu Xingzhou said: "Uncle deals with Ye Wufeng, and I deal with the Huo family; both sides get what they need."

"As far as I know, the Huo family was still reconciling with you this morning."

"That was their one-sided wish."

Sheng Qingfeng remained expressionless: "Can I understand your words to mean that if I do not deal with the Huo family, you will not deal with Ye Wufeng either?"

"Even if Uncle still refuses to get involved in Huo family affairs, if Ye Wufeng dares to harm Young Lady Sheng, I will not let him have a good time."

"If the Demon Suppression Bureau does not intervene, I see no ability for you to deal with Ye Wufeng alone; making such empty boasts is meaningless."

Lu Xingzhou merely smiled and said no more.

"The matter of Ye Wufeng is now a major case for the Demon Suppression Bureau and does not require outsiders to interfere. Your matter with the Huo family is even less related to this." Sheng Qingfeng said indifferently: "So if you are just chatting about these things, then there is no need to chat."

Lu Xingzhou was very polite: "Very well. Then what does Uncle want to chat about?"

Sheng Qingfeng hesitated, about to speak but stopping.

Damn it, can't you know what I want to chat about?

After hesitating for a long while, he finally sighed: "Yao'er has no brothers or sisters; she is our only sprout. She was raised like a boy since childhood, so her temperament is inevitably a bit unruly. But we will not therefore have any thoughts of taking a son-in-law to live with us... I, Sheng, have always believed that Yuanyao is excellent and deserves a good husband; if we took a son-in-law just to continue the family line, that would be unfair to Yuanyao."

Lu Xingzhou nodded and said: "Uncle is open-minded and truly cares for Young Lady Sheng."

"So although we worry about her lifelong matters, we never want to force her to choose someone she dislikes. We have arranged so many blind dates; if she says she doesn't like them, then she doesn't like them." Sheng Qingfeng sighed: "The reason we are anxious is mainly because of her age. In this world, sixteen is the age for marriage; there are many women who have their engagements set at fourteen. Yuanyao is already twenty this year... She feels there is nothing wrong now, but once she gets older, no good families will look at her; she will have to settle for less and less, and where will good ones come from then?"

Lu Xingzhou said cautiously: "What does Uncle mean by telling me all this?"

"First, as a friend, you can help persuade Yuanyao." Sheng Qingfeng observed Lu Xingzhou's expression, thinking to himself: If you two have a secret relationship, won't you explode hearing this?

Sure enough, Lu Xingzhou immediately said: "Actually, Uncle has misunderstood."

Sheng Qingfeng hid the "heh" in his belly and said indifferently: "What does this mean?"

"What Uncle mentioned applies to ordinary women in the mortal world. But Young Lady Sheng is a cultivator with a long lifespan. Even the royal family did not rush to discuss marriage for Princess Zhao Huang; precisely because Princess Zhao Huang is gifted by heaven, once she breaks through to third grade, even at seventy or eighty she will still be like a young girl; when to discuss marriage is too irrelevant..."

Sheng Qingfeng snapped: "You also know that requires breaking through to third grade? When I, this old man, broke through to third grade, I was nearly forty; so do I look like a youth to you?"

Lu Xingzhou smiled apologetically: "Uncle is very young, very young..."

"Stop that." Sheng Qingfeng said: "Yuanyao cannot compare to Princess Zhao Huang's talent; even if she is capable of breaking third grade, she would be a middle-aged woman by then. Will she still get married in this life?"

Lu Xingzhou forced out: "That is not certain... perhaps it will happen soon..."

Sheng Qingfeng stared with wide eyes.

Lu Xingzhou quickly changed the subject: "Uncle said this was the first point; what is the second?"

"Second, we are also worried she will find someone blindly. We neither want her overly involved in political whirlpools nor worry she will be deceived by sweet words. With blind dates under our eyes, we can still help vet them; if we let her find someone blindly, and she ends up with some creature that ruins her life, we will regret it beyond remedy."

Lu Xingzhou lowered his head and drank tea.

Sheng Qingfeng said indifferently: "So your Huo family identity..."

"Wait..." Lu Xingzhou said helplessly: "First, the Huo family matter is currently being resolved."

Sheng Qingfeng: "Heh."

Quite anxious... we haven't even mentioned your identity as the Princess's lover yet.

But he heard Lu Xingzhou continue: "Second... Uncle is truly overthinking. I and Young Lady Sheng are truly just soulmate friends; there is absolutely no covetous intent; Uncle can rest assured."

"I and Lu Xingzhou really have no relationship; my relationship with A'nuo is closer than with him!" At the same time, Sheng Yuanyao was saying the same words to her mother.

Sheng Qingfeng and his wife said simultaneously: "Remember this testimony for the court; if you recant later, you two will have a hard time."

Actually, there was no need to wait for a future recantation.

Just at lunchtime, the Sheng couple felt something was off everywhere.

Sheng Yuanyao sat beside Lu Xingzhou, smiling brightly, and quietly poked his arm with her finger: "What did Old Sheng just say to you?"

Lu Xingzhou replied in a low voice: "Said how hard it was for him to raise his cabbage."

"Tch." Sheng Yuanyao said in a low voice: "Do you think these parents have something wrong with them? Back when they sent me to the Town Demon Agency's Military Academy for advanced studies, their eyes were fixed on me like green oil, afraid I'd be snatched away by some brat. But the moment I finished my studies and hadn't even started my job yet, they were already frantically looking for a husband for me. Wasn't all that previous guarding just taking off your pants to fart?"

Lu Xingzhou couldn't help but laugh.

"This time is the same, right? Telling me to go on blind dates while also guarding me to death, isn't that sick?" Sheng Yuanyao said, glancing disdainfully at Lu Xingzhou: "Tell me, what about you makes me like you? Did you like that the noise you and Shen Tang made in the carriage wasn't loud enough? Or that you got a personal maid just a few days after leaving home?"

Lu Xingzhou said in a low voice: "Hey, save some face; your father cultivates so highly, he can hear."

Sheng Yuanyao quickly looked up at her parents, then lowered her head to shovel rice.

The Sheng couple's faces had been black the whole time; they had no appetite to eat.

Forget the sight of that young couple whispering to each other face-to-face; just consider that in the past, when other young and handsome men came to eat at their home, Sheng Yuanyao's face was as stiff as if someone owed her eight million. When had she ever been so affectionate and whispering like this? Looking at her, for Lu Xingzhou to come to their home for a meal and chat happily with her parents, she must have been incredibly happy.

No use saying you dislike it verbally; are you sure you know what's in your heart?

But then again, it feels like these two are really well-matched; their daughter interacts with him intimately and naturally... If she really likes him, maybe we could consider it...

The couple exchanged an unintentional glance, their minds both a bit muddled.

Originally, Lu Xingzhou staying at the Sheng home was indeed to discuss the Huo family and Ye Wufeng issues; seeing that Sheng Qingfeng didn't want to cooperate, he let it drop, and after finishing the meal, he politely took his leave.

Sheng Yuanyao's originally energetic appearance turned into a sickly face after seeing off Lu Xingzhou and his master: "I'm injured, need to rest, don't disturb me..."

"Didn't see you wear a sour face when someone was here." Lady Sheng gritted her teeth, pointing her finger at her daughter's head: "I think what you're injured isn't your back, it's your little heart!"

"Tch~ Not at all." Sheng Yuanyao lay on the bed, covering her head with a pillow: "Get out, get out, I need to rest."

She truly felt that neither she nor Lu Xingzhou had any such intentions...

But for some reason, when the room quieted down and the noise around her stopped, the scene of Lu Xingzhou descending like a god, scooping her away at the critical moment, kept floating repeatedly in her mind.

Then it turned into them embracing and rolling, finally freezing into him pressing on top of her, his breath brushing her cheeks, numb and itchy, just like the wound on her back.

Wounds heal easily... but can this memory that makes her heart flutter with every little thing disappear quickly?

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PS: Begging for monthly tickets~

(End of this chapter)