The next day, Lu Xingzhou arrived at the Zhenyao Division early in the morning.
Sheng Yuanyao came out to welcome him. Seeing Lu Xingzhou struggling to push his wheelchair forward, she conveniently stepped forward to help push him inside.
Lu Xingzhou was a little surprised. "Thanks."
"It's no trouble." Sheng Yuanyao said strangely, "Where's Anuo? Why are you alone? You're so inconvenient..."
"The house is being repaired. There are a lot of people working, so someone needs to keep an eye on things."
"Are you really comfortable leaving a six-year-old child alone? What kind of people can she suppress?"
"If even a cultivator who has reached the Inner Grade in Xia State City doesn't dare to act alone, then I think you should first ask how the Xia State Zhenyao Division deters places."
Sheng Yuanyao: "..."
Unbeknownst to her, that child turned out to be an Inner Grade cultivator?
Then her divination...
"Where is the patient you want me to treat?" Lu Xingzhou asked.
Sheng Yuanyao snapped back to reality, silently pushing the wheelchair around the corridor and into a tightly locked dark room.
As soon as the door opened, the sound of clanking iron chains and a person's low roar came from inside. "Don't come near me... it wasn't me who killed..."
"Isn't this Old Butler Huo?" Lu Xingzhou glanced sideways at Sheng Yuanyao. "You said he was found dead in the room, so you interrogated me for a long time."
Sheng Yuanyao cleared her throat dryly. "That was to scare you. He was just missing at the time, he was found later. Can you cure his madness?"
"There are many experts in the Zhenyao Division. Why call me to cure him?"
"Because you treated him before, you should finish what you started."
"The end is still being investigated," Lu Xingzhou smiled and said no more, rolling his wheelchair into the room.
It was strange. Old Butler Huo, who had been roaring constantly, stopped roaring as soon as he saw Lu Xingzhou enter the room. He stared at him blankly as he approached, seeming quite trusting.
Lu Xingzhou stretched out two fingers and pointed them at Old Butler Huo's forehead. After a moment, Old Butler Huo's eyelids gradually sank, and he fell asleep.
Sheng Yuanyao watched Lu Xingzhou's actions with interest and asked, "How is it?"
"Just calm his spirit first," Lu Xingzhou took out the Nourishing Soul Pill he had refined last night. "Give him this pill for three consecutive days, one pill each day. His spirit will return to normal after three days."
Sheng Yuanyao said, "Can you determine the cause of his illness?"
"He was just scared out of his wits, it's a small matter. Just ask him what he saw after he recovers. Other than that, his hand tendons were severed, I can't cure that."
Sheng Yuanyao knew that this was difficult to cure. If severed tendons could be easily cured, then Lu Xingzhou himself wouldn't have been in a wheelchair for so many years.
In fact, in the cultivation world, treating this injury isn't too difficult as long as suitable medicinal materials are available. The pity is that these kinds of medicinal materials are often treasures. At the very least, you can't easily find them among the widely planted and sold medicinal materials in a place like Xia State.
To cure this, perhaps they would need to see what the Huo family brings from the capital.
Just as she was pondering, Lu Xingzhou stretched out his hand. "Give me the money."
Sheng Yuanyao: "?"
"My three superior Nourishing Soul Pills, plus the diagnosis fee, does the Zhenyao Division want a free ride?" Obviously, it was of superior quality and was at the level of being swallowed by a gold-swallowing beast.
Sheng Yuanyao was very speechless. This kind of thing goes through the Zhenyao Division's public account, so of course she didn't plan for a free ride. It was just that Lu Xingzhou's image really didn't match this image of constantly asking for money, it looked very awkward. "Besides money, don't you have anything else to talk about?"
"We are just in the relationship of investigator and suspect. If we don't talk about money, should we talk about feelings?" Lu Xingzhou smiled. "Although I cured him to wake him up, it was also to clear my own suspicion, so the diagnosis fee can be waived, just give me the money for the pills at cost price."
Sheng Yuanyao asked Lu Xingzhou to come and treat the illness indeed just to investigate. Now, looking at Old Butler Huo's reaction when he saw Lu Xingzhou and Lu Xingzhou's attitude, the last bit of suspicion in her heart finally dissipated.
She handed over a banknote. "Were you using my power that day?"
"What are you talking about?" Lu Xingzhou put away the banknote and smiled. "I didn't even know I would be taken to the Zhenyao Division as a suspect for questioning when I went down the mountain. After that, following me back to the mountain was not something I could decide. It was also impossible to know when Liu Qingcang would abandon me after crossing the river. How could I use you?"
"That's exactly what puzzles me." Sheng Yuanyao rolled her eyes and suddenly took out an ingot of gold. "If you can solve my doubts, this is yours."
Lu Xingzhou blinked, staring at the gold ingot. "Are you treating me like Anuo?"
"Uh..."
"You're really good at judging people." Lu Xingzhou quickly put the gold ingot into his pocket, his eyebrows raised and his eyes smiling.
Sheng Yuanyao: "..."
"Actually, it's very simple. Liu Yan'er is a fool and can't hide anything at all. I knew they were going to welcome a certain powerful alchemist just before I went down the mountain that day."
"Then?"
"Although I didn't know I would be treated as a suspect when I went down the mountain, since I was being watched, I naturally knew you would definitely go to the mountain for a detailed investigation. It would be over if I just invited you directly... Does this count as using you? You were originally going to investigate the case, I couldn't decide that for you. So it was originally just a coincidence, but I had a plan in mind, it just seemed like I had calculated everything well, it's not that complicated."
In fact, the entire murder case was all Lu Xingzhou's plan. He clearly knew that he would be questioned when he went down the mountain, and he was waiting to bring Sheng Yuanyao up the mountain.
Indeed, he had calculated everything from beginning to end.
Sheng Yuanyao didn't know this layer and felt a bit disappointed by what Lu Xingzhou said. "Is that all..."
Lu Xingzhou turned his head and looked at her expression, feeling quite amused. As the two of them talked, they had already pushed all the way to the alley outside the Zhenyao Division. There were vendors selling watermelons at the entrance of the alley.
Lu Xingzhou stopped, bought one, and handed it to Sheng Yuanyao. "For you."
Sheng Yuanyao was stunned. "How do you know I love eating melons!"
Lu Xingzhou seemed to be implying something. "You'll eat so much later that you won't be able to hold it."
Sheng Yuanyao hugged the melon, tilted her head, and looked at him for a while, then suddenly asked, "How much do you know about the matter of the Seventh Young Master Huo back then in Danxia Temple?"
Lu Xingzhou pretended to be startled. "When I was adopted by my master, the Seventh Young Master Huo was already dead, so I don't know much. Although we were neighbors, I did hear my master mention some things. What does Commander Sheng want to know?"
"Everything you know."
"Master heard from the Huo family servants who came to the temple to burn incense that the Seventh Young Master Huo had good aptitude for practicing martial arts since he was young, but unfortunately he was not favored and didn't have many resources, so it is estimated that he didn't learn much." Lu Xingzhou touched his chin and recalled. "The so-called equal treatment is just for show. The Seventh Young Master Huo was not well-fed or warmly dressed, almost treated like a menial. I don't know more details."
"Then do you know why he died?"
"How could I possibly know this... anyway, it's not very likely that he died young from illness."
"Why?"
"Look, even at my level, as long as there is medicine, curing some difficult illnesses is not too difficult. The Huo family has many people at a higher level than me, and they have all the resources. How could a young master suddenly die young?"
Sheng Yuanyao nodded, she also thought so.
Lu Xingzhou said again, "I'm just guessing casually, you can just listen casually. It is said that the Seventh Young Master Huo had many strange ideas since he was a child, and was often reprimanded for being imaginative, while the Eldest Young Master was always praised for being steady. Which one is more likely to propose the idea of sweet potatoes suddenly appearing like flying immortals from the sky? After this proposal, the Seventh Young Master Huo suddenly died, but the Eldest Young Master was given a title."
Sheng Yuanyao interrupted, "You're speculating too much. Don't mention this casually to others in the future."
Lu Xingzhou smiled slightly.
Sheng Yuanyao said so, but in reality, combined with her own investigation, she obviously already had a conclusion in her heart.
In fact, this conclusion is not wrong. The sweet potato proposal was indeed proposed by Huo Shang because he was Lu Xingzhou's friend. Lu Xingzhou also didn't think that telling his friend this plan back then, hoping it would help him improve his status in the family, would instead bring disaster upon his friend.
As for his own disaster, it was unrelated to this. It was because he accidentally obtained a treasure, which is the crime of cherishing jade.
Sheng Yuanyao sighed softly. "Being an enemy of the Huo family is like an ant trying to shake a tree. If this one is really alive... wouldn't it be better to be alive?"
Lu Xingzhou looked at her, not knowing if she still had a little suspicion and was pointing at himself.
But he still replied, "Everyone who is alive has a meaning to their life, otherwise it would be better to die."
How could he not know that with his current strength, wanting to shake the Huo family was no different from a foolish dream?
But if he didn't do anything, what was the point of being alive?
Sheng Yuanyao hesitated to speak, then suddenly asked, "Then what is the meaning of your life?"
Lu Xingzhou looked at the ground, his gaze rippling faintly. He didn't respond for a long time.
He had never properly asked himself this question before. When he was suddenly asked, his thoughts fluctuated a little.
Born into a martial arts family in the mountains, he grew up happily and harmoniously, originally thinking he could live a carefree life, but who knew he would face endless injustice and bullying, and even face despairing death. His body was young, his cultivation was insufficient, like an ant shaking a tree, powerless to defy heaven.
He had just escaped the tiger's mouth, but entered the wolf's den, spending two years as a medicinal person, enduring all hardships.
He originally thought he had found redemption, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, pouring out his heart and soul for eight years, helping to establish a huge organization, but he couldn't even exchange for a moment's stop in her gaze. The day of confession was the time he was driven away.
This life was truly like a boat on land, no matter how hard he paddled, it was all futile effort.
By his side, there was only Anuo, the only person who would not abandon him, as if their lives were connected.
What is the meaning of life?
Seek justice? Or just seek a hearty revenge?
Lu Xingzhou sighed heavily, raised his head to look at the distant horizon, and suddenly asked, "Look at that morning glow, doesn't it look like the fire of a cauldron?"
"Ah?"
"If this world is like a cauldron, and you and I are both placed in it to be roasted..." Lu Xingzhou finally answered slowly, "Then the meaning of my life is to finally turn the fire under this cauldron into my own flames."
Sheng Yuanyao's expression changed slightly. She opened her mouth but was speechless for a while.
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