He who strikes first gains the upper hand; he who strikes second is in for trouble!
This was the lesson Lu Yinxi had learned in her past life.
As the sound of her fall faded away, the young girl clenched her fist, and a fierce aura cut through the wind. She showed no mercy at all.
Surprised by her sudden attack, Shang Luoshu merely raised his eyebrows slightly, then struck back like lightning.
Her fair knuckles were only an inch away from the man's straight eyebrows. If they had landed on his face, even if it wasn't fatal, it would have caused quite a bit of pain.
However, His Highness the King of Jing didn't let her have her way. The young girl's fist finally landed on his rough palm and she couldn't break free.
Lu Yinxi knew in her heart that she was no match for this man, but she never expected the gap between them to be so wide.
Sure enough, it was still because the original owner's body was too weak!
"Let go!"
She frowned and growled, trying to pull back. But Shang Luoshu not only ignored her, but also tightened his grip.
"Miss Fourth attacks out of the blue. Do you think this king will let go just because you say so?"
The young girl's eyes darkened a bit. She didn't bother to waste words with him. Her left foot swept towards the man like lightning. As if he had anticipated this, the man easily defused her move with a slight trick, and then diverted all the strength from her kick behind him.
"Clang!"
In the silent night, the sound of the stool falling to the ground was especially harsh. Before Lu Yinxi could react, there were dots of light outside the house. A figure resembling a maid appeared on the window.
"Has Miss Fourth woken up? This slave is Mo, sent by the eldest young master to serve you."
The moon was high in the sky. It was already past midnight.
Lu Yinjian had wanted to wait for his sister to wake up before leaving, but his body couldn't hold out, so he had sent his personal maid to watch over her.
In this situation, no one could be allowed to come in.
The young girl gave the man in front of her a fierce glare, wishing she could pierce a hole in him. After a while, she called out loudly, "Thank my elder brother for me. Mo, you've been on duty for so long. You must be tired. Go back and sleep quickly!"
"But Miss Fourth, this slave just heard a noise..."
Mo stepped forward. Her concern was obvious. Inside was the youngest sister that the eldest young master had always cared about. She couldn't afford to be negligent.
"It's okay. I just didn't light the lamp and accidentally bumped into the stool."
As soon as she heard this, Mo didn't hesitate for a moment and directly pushed the door open.
The dim light illuminated the dark room. Miss Fourth was leaning against the octagonal table. Her hair was a bit messy, and there was a fallen round stool at her feet. The situation was really as she had said, just accidentally bumping into the stool in the dark.
Mo didn't think much. She took a few steps and came to Lu Yinxi's side. She carefully helped her sit on the stool and knelt down in front of her.
"Has Miss Fourth been injured? Does this slave need to invite the mansion doctor?"
"No, no. I'm not that delicate."
The young girl waved her hand guiltily. Her eyes instinctively glanced at the flower window on the inside. Just before Mo came in, His Highness the King of Jing had escaped through there.
Although she said she was okay, the maid was still worried.
She personally applied some ointment on Lu Yinxi's almost healed wound, then led the servants out. The young girl lay back on the bed again.
Counting the daytime encounter, this was the third time she had met the man, and she had drawn three conclusions.
First, the power of words was ineffective against him. For now, it seemed to be ineffective only against him.
Thinking of this, Lu Yinxi tightened her fist and pounded the air hard. She should have attacked faster just now.
Second, that ledger was very important to the man, or he wouldn't have come in the middle of the night to ask for it. The last point was that she could use this ledger to do something.
Lu Yinxi didn't consider herself a good person. In the end - times, good people couldn't survive.
Moreover, with the fact that she was threatened and the power of words was ineffective against him, she had enough reason to classify Shang Luoshu as an enemy.
Now that she had caught the enemy's weakness, it would be unreasonable not to take advantage of it.
Thinking like this, she slowly fell into a dream.
That night, in the King of Jing's Mansion
Seeing the figure of his master, Chen Guang rushed up a few steps. The joy in his eyes was obvious. "Has Your Highness retrieved the ledger?"
Shang Luoshu gave him a sidelong glance and shook his head. "No." Then, as if he had remembered something interesting, a faint smile appeared on his face.
"I found that Miss Fourth of the Lu family is really interesting."
"Your Highness, no matter how interesting Miss Fourth is, can she be more important than the ledger?"
The man thought for a moment. He couldn't say that.
Although he had only exchanged a few moves with her and he had won, he could still feel the killing intent hidden in her moves.
Why would a young girl who had been raised in a manor since childhood know such moves?
Also, during the daytime, Prime Minister Lu's sudden change in attitude. His intuition told him that this must be related to Miss Fourth.
Compared to the ledger that might not be used for a long time, it didn't seem so important.
However, all this was just the man's speculation without any evidence, and there was no need to tell Chen Guang.
Shang Luoshu didn't want to continue talking about Miss Fourth of the Lu family. He turned to ask about other things.
"How is Zhu Chengjie?"
General Mingwei Zhu Chengjie was a fourth - rank military official. The ledger was from his mansion.
Mentioning this, Chen Guang became energetic. "Reporting to Your Highness, that Zhu Chengjie is still sending people to search extensively in the suburbs of the capital under the pretext of a theft in his mansion, but they've found nothing."
"Moreover, this subordinate specifically ordered people to spread false information everywhere. It should keep them busy for a while."
"Good. You did well."
The man nodded slightly as a sign of approval.
There were few nobles living in the suburbs of the capital, but there were many of their manors. Let Zhu Chengjie offend those people.
Although it couldn't cause him much loss, it was better than nothing. After all, it was quite satisfying to make the opponent run around blindly.
At the same time, in the suburbs of the capital
"Useless!"
The whip lashed across the face, leaving a bloodstain on the side of the face.
But the owner of the whip was still not satisfied. As if he had thought of something, he raised the whip again and lashed it fiercely and chaotically at the man kneeling still on the ground.
With each lash, there was a curse.
The man seemed not to feel the pain. He endured it all without making a sound.
After whipping more than a dozen times, the owner of the whip was finally satisfied. He gave the man in front of him a disgusted look and kicked him hard in the chest without hesitation.
"What are you standing there for? Go and search quickly! If you can't find the ledger, you can wait to lose your head!"
"Yes!"
The injured man replied in a low voice, then got up and left. His determined figure gradually faded into the night, just like a pine tree in winter, never bending.
Behind him, the owner of the whip couldn't help spitting. "Coward!" Then he collected all his emotions.
"Tell someone to prepare the visiting card. After the court session tomorrow, this general will go to the mansion."
"Yes."
The next day, the sun was rising. It seemed that all darkness had nowhere to hide in front of it.
Lu Yinxi was woken up by a soft voice. Come to think of it, she had woken up like this in the morning for the past two days since she returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion.
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she stretched and was about to get up when her peripheral vision suddenly caught a strange figure.
Her drowsy mind was like being splashed with a bucket of ice - cold water on a cold winter day. She couldn't be more awake.
"You're awake?"