My lord, spare his life!

Zhang Yang: "Who is this person?"

A hint of unease flashed across Lu Yuan's face.

It wasn't that the caged bird's identity was complicated or difficult to talk about; it was simply that she hadn't acted ethically in this matter. If there had only been Xiu Ying as an audience, she could have simply spoken, and the two might have even exchanged a knowing smile. But there was also her young adoptive mother present. Lu Yuan, a man of many experience, could tell from just one look at Zhang Yang's eyes that she wasn't a complicated person, and it wouldn't be good to speak out.

Zhang Yang: "What's your relationship with this person?"

"There is indeed some connection; I once had a daughter with him."

Upon hearing this, even Xiao Sui looked at him with shock. Who could have guessed that her new acquaintance actually had a child? Xiao Sui had been staying at Lu Yuan's house for quite some time, but hadn't discovered a single clue about raising a child. Even if we assume Xiao Sui wasn't careful enough, wouldn't the former Prefect of Che Si have been equally meticulous? Would he have allowed Lu Yuan to have a child?

Zhang Yang sensed the NPCs' gossip and, with her experience, quickly urged, "Tell me, what happened?"

He casually pulled out some sunflower seeds from his game backpack.

She also generously shared it with Xiao Sui.

Ritsumoto: "..."

Xiao Sui: "..."

Zhang Yang urged a second time: "Speak!"

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, forcing himself to look away from the melon seeds in Zhang Yang's hand, and sorted out his thoughts, saying, "I'm worried that I won't be able to settle the Lu family's score with my own hands, so I've tried to leave behind a heir. However, this is extremely risky. If it's discovered, it might arouse the old thief's suspicion, or I might be ambushed by him. So I need someone to help me keep this a secret."

"This person must be someone the old thief trusts implicitly, but he can't be involved in the massacre of his family back then." It's true that Lu Yuan wants to continue the revenge, but she also doesn't want her child to have the blood of her enemy. Lu Yuan is a very decisive person; she does what she wants to do. She quickly narrowed down the candidates, and with the addition of conditions such as the man's appearance and temperament, she had only a few targets left after careful selection.

Finally, Lu Yuan set his sights on the caged bird.

At that time, the caged bird was not yet a caged bird. At a young age, he was already regarded as the mastermind by the old thief. He was intelligent and ruthless, his only flaw being his frail health. It was said that his two children were sickly and looked prematurely aged. Lu Yuan initially considered backing out, thinking his nephew would be more suitable, but ultimately chose this man. The reason was simple: this man was despicable and easy to seduce.

His cousin was quite a handful, and he looked much older than his age.

Because of Lu Yuan's reputation, to Caged Bird, whether it was her invitation under the guise of drunkenness or her frivolous words, it was all irrefutable proof of her promiscuous nature. Caged Bird was not a virtuous person who could remain unmoved by temptation, and before long, they had a relationship.

The caged bird initially thought it was just a romantic affair.

But unexpectedly, Lu Yuan became pregnant.

So far, the plot has been normal, and Zhang Yang feels there are no major problems. It can be summarized as "I Slept with My Nemesis Several Times," and many people are drawn to the "love-hate relationship" label.

Zhang Yang: "And then?"

"His two children died, and I sent him one."

Zhang Yang couldn't detect the problem, but his crony Xiao Sui frowned immediately: "So—how did his child die?"

Lu Yuan gave up entirely.

"One died of illness, and I killed one."

Zhang Yang: "???"

"The old thief considers him a confidant and trusts me as well." Taking advantage of this, Lu Yuan got through the months when she was pregnant without any major incidents. The caged bird helped her make arrangements so that she wouldn't meet the old thief for two or three months.

Xiao Sui: "He agreed to help you just because you're pregnant?"

Lu Yuan said calmly, "He doesn't have healthy children."

The child in her womb clearly resembled her.

At that time, Lu Yuan deliberately feigned weakness, stating that the child could not stay with him after birth and would be taken away and raised by a caged bird. He claimed that as long as he kept it a secret, no one would know about the child's relationship with him. Unfortunately, at this time, one of his children passed away.

Xiao Sui cast a suspicious glance at her.

Lu Yuan said, "I really didn't kill him."

She's already admitted to one, so why would she need to hide the other?

Both children had serious genetic diseases; it was a blessing from their ancestors that they lived to that age. The early death of one child made the caged bird determined to take a risk and help Ritsu-en. As a result, he was "driven to death" by Ritsu-en before she gave birth.

Lu Yuan imprisoned him and hid him away.

【Lü Bafeng, you've gone back on your word?】

Lu Yuandao said, "It's not that I'm going back on my word, it's that I don't trust you, and you're not worthy of my trust. I'm afraid you'll abandon your mother and leave your child behind. To completely eliminate this worry, I have no choice but to strike first. For the sake of the Lu family, I cannot take any risks, and I can only ask you to do this."

Fearing betrayal, she betrayed the other party first.

Lu Yuan told the other party a story.

Do you know lions? When a male lion dies or is driven from a pride, the new male will kill the cubs so that the lionesses can reproduce with him. I am not a lioness, but I have the same needs as the male lions. I need your wholehearted and unwavering protection of the cubs carrying my blood.

As a result, the caged bird lost its remaining offspring.

They also lost the opportunity to have children again.

This is all thanks to that nephew of the caged bird. If it weren't for his persistent efforts in sterilizing the male concubine sent by the old scoundrel, Lu Yuan would never have known that such a secret palace medicine existed. This secret palace medicine was originally created to reduce the burden on female rulers and to prevent male concubines in the inner court from secretly having children with other women, thus undermining the royal succession. Later, it spread to the common people during the war.

It won't affect usage or cause any burden.

"No matter how much you hate me, you still have to fulfill my request." Lu Yuan looked at the other person's face, which was filled with hatred, with satisfaction, but in his heart, he thought that his own expression of hatred for the old thief should be similar to his.

Zhang Yang, munching on sunflower seeds and listening to gossip: "..."

She read through the system log conversation twice.

"...So you mean you killed someone's child, and then had someone protect your child with their life, and even made the other person completely sterilized?" The game designer's imagination is really running wild; they actually came up with this kind of plot. Something feels off, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Lu Yuan forced himself to say, "It's a last resort."

Zhang Yang: "Is he trying to get revenge on you now?"

If the person who took that army was a caged bird, then the other party was definitely after revenge. However, Zhang Yang still had a question: "That doesn't sound right either. He escaped your control so easily, why is he only making his move now? Something's strange."

A caged bird is one that can't fly out of its cage. Can a bird that can open the cage and fly out at any time be called a caged bird? To that bird, the cage is at most just a free property.

Lu Yuan also had this question.

But she was suspicious of him.

Whether or not you are a caged bird, you must be prepared.

Lu Yuan took this matter seriously.

Xiao Sui: "You're keeping a backup plan?"

Lu Yuan said, "That night of the mutiny, I sent men to arrest his nephew and imprison him. If he really goes against me, I wouldn't mind killing his nephew."

Normally, it wouldn't be easy to arrest his nephew.

This vixen was extremely wary of Lü Yuan, but the mutiny happened late at night, when everyone was asleep. Lü Yuan's men were the first to raid her house, trapping her in bed and immediately beating her violently before binding her tightly.

No matter how many tricks the other party has, they can't get away with it.

The coup went so smoothly largely due to timing; the cunning and capable men around the old thief were all away. Had it happened at any other time, there would have been a lot of back-and-forth maneuvering.

Zhang Yang: "Your daughter is still in their hands."

With the hostage in the other party's hands, Lu Yuan was hesitant to act rashly.

Lu Yuan opened his mouth, but then stopped himself from speaking.

I felt it wouldn't be right not to say it to Zhang Yang's face.

She didn't spell it out, but her close friend Xiao Sui understood what she meant. The caged bird truly only had this one child who would live to grow up, but Lu Yuan wasn't. If Lu Yuan wanted, after avenging her blood feud, she could have many more children connected to her by blood in the future. It wasn't that Lu Yuan didn't love this child, but rather that the stakes between the two were simply incomparable.

Fearing that the caged bird might leave its mother but retain its offspring, Lü Yuan preemptively struck. Knowing Lü Yuan's coup had succeeded, wasn't the caged bird worried that the child he was raising would lose her bargaining chip as his only daughter? Lü Yuan could have other children, so this child's value to her was no longer as high as it was before the coup. If the caged bird was indeed behind it, his motive was most likely related to this change.

Lu Yuan said, "I will do my best to rescue the child."

Zhang Yang nodded, understanding Lu Yuan's feelings: "Yes, don't worry. Since you call me godmother, this child is practically my grandchild, and I won't let the child be in any danger."

Lu Yuan's lips twitched.

No matter how many times, she still felt it was strange for Zhang Yang to call himself "godmother" with such a face, unlike the old thief who seemed so natural.

Helpless, Lu Yuan chose to close his eyes.

The people who were supposed to pick up their daughter had set off two days ago. If they failed to do so, the one who would take action would definitely be the caged bird. Lu Yuan then ordered someone to bring up the caged bird's nephew, who had been sitting in the dark and damp prison for three or four days, unable to eat or sleep properly. The usually image-conscious man was unable to groom himself and could only manage to comb his hair neatly with his fingers. He looked utterly dejected at the moment.

He became emotional upon seeing Lu Yuan.

"Lü Bafeng, you two-faced scoundrel!"

Lu Yuan shouted, "Shut up if you don't want me to knock all your teeth out! Do you really think this is still the time when the old thief is still around?"

Why would the other party be intimidated by such a small threat?

Zhang Yang looked at the new character's stats with some surprise, but since the new character wasn't as special as Shu Yan, she didn't necessarily want to add him to her collection: "Should we tie him up and hang him on the city wall?"

Give the caged bird a shock.

The man, displeased that Zhang Yang had interrupted, asked, "Who is this brat?"

"I am not called a brat, I am the foster mother of the Eight Winds."

The person: "..."

Lu Yuan quietly pressed his forehead, silently avoiding his nemesis's shocked gaze. The latter gasped after a long pause, saying in a dazed tone, "Lu Bafeng, you actually went to this extent for revenge? Aren't you afraid the world will laugh at you?"

Lu Yuan said indifferently, "Can the world's ridicule make me lose a few pounds? Don't threaten me with my reputation all the time. If I valued my reputation, I shouldn't have survived back then; I should have died with my family. Have I ever cared about it all these years?"

The other party was speechless.

For someone who can shamelessly admit to anything no matter how much they're insulted, any verbal attack is futile. The only thing that could break Lu Yuan's defenses is attacking her deceased family members, but unfortunately, Lu's family died a heroic and unjust death, so he couldn't very well use the deceased as weapons to attack Lu Yuan. Lu Yuan might be shameless, but he still had his pride.

"You've achieved your goal. Are you here today to avenge your humiliation? No matter how you try to humiliate me, I'm not afraid."

It's all the same life.

Lu Yuan is not afraid of being scolded, so it's useless for others to scold her.

He wasn't afraid of death, so the threat of death had no effect on him.

Zhang Yang suggested, "Let's just hoist the city wall up."

Lu Yuan: "That's not appropriate. This man has some reputation among the old thief's subordinates. If we humiliate him like this, it will bring unnecessary trouble. Putting everything else aside, this man is quite talented. If we can subdue him and employ him, he can be a great help to my adoptive mother."

The caged bird's nephew: "..."

The more he listened, the more something seemed off.

Lü Bafeng's demeanor didn't seem like a complete turnaround; rather, it seemed like he had switched allegiances, secretly allied himself with another power, and used that power to overthrow his former master. With this thought in mind, he quieted down and calmly observed Zhang Yang from the shadows.

young.

This was his first impression.

harmless.

This was his second impression.

The other person didn't exude the aura of a powerful leader at all; instead, she seemed like a harmless, innocent, naive girl next door who had never been involved in the world of fame and fortune. If he had been told before Lu Yuan's coup that Lu Bafeng called this person his godmother, he would have thought the other person was crazy. But the magical thing was that one dared to call her godmother, and the other dared to respond.

Zhang Yang glanced at the data panel again: "Recruit him?"

"If the stepmother doesn't like it, it's fine to kill her when she's no longer of any use."

"Lü Bafeng, you've gone this far in deceiving me!"

Zhang Yang: "...That works too?"

As she spoke, she looked at the enraged NPC.

Although she thought the logic was sound, for the first time ever, Zhang Yang had a bizarre thought when she looked at the prisoner—that her conversation with Bafeng should be kept secret.

Then, he turned to look at Lu Yuan and the other two.

"Next time you talk about these things, do it behind the person's back." At least don't let the person know that you can choose whether to kill them or not. If they don't know, their resistance will be less.

Lu Yuan said, "My adoptive mother's teachings are correct."

The caged bird's nephew: "..."

He was on the verge of vomiting blood, experiencing such profound humiliation for the first time in his life, and his desire to tear Lu Yuan to pieces was exceptionally strong. However, a subsequent event made him realize that he was far from dying of anger; there was always someone stronger.

As expected, the people Lu Yuan sent out failed to find the person.

That house is now deserted.

He wasn't kept in the dark about this news.

He noticed the murderous intent brewing in Lu Yuan's eyes, and a strange wariness rose in his heart. Before he could speak, Lu Yuan sneered, "Haven't you always suspected me of forcing your uncle to commit suicide?"

"Lü Bafeng, you've finally admitted it."

"Of course I won't admit it, because he's not dead at all." Lu Yuan grabbed his chin. "Guess where he's been all these years? Instead of worrying about your uncle's safety, you should worry about yourself—whether he'll cause your own demise due to his momentary whim!"

??|??w?`)