Plotting with You: The Forensic Scientist in Ancient Times!-Chapter 464 - 463: Vanished Without a Trace

Even though Lu Qing hid his emotions well, Zhu Yu still immediately caught the momentary desolation on his face. So she moved a bit closer to him, reached out, and held Lu Qing’s hand in both of hers.

She had previously heard the private discussions outside, saying that Lu Qing was actually blessed in disguise by the disaster, picking up a great bargain.

Although his entire family perished with none remaining, at the time, he was just a baby who knew nothing and remembered nothing, so there was no pain and sadness to speak of.

Even if nothing happened to Lu Qing’s family, he was not the eldest grandson in the family but rather the third son born to the legitimate wife of the eldest son lineage, with two brothers above him. So even if his grandfather and father were ennobled and gained wealth, inheriting the title would not fall to him.

If that were the case, wanting to earn a title would require hard work in examinations, and if he could not excel and stand out, he would have to rely on the brother who inherited the title for the rest of his life to make a decent living.

A life like that would hardly compare to the glory of being the adopted son of the Emperor!

Although everyone knew that Prince Xiaoyao had no real power, just having the title, ignoring other rewards, meant that just the annual stipend was enough for an ordinary family to live comfortably for generations. Typical power ministers could only envy from afar.

So, although Lu Qing lost his entire family, he was blessed in disguise and lived a life of wealth and status he could never have imagined before.

But regarding such remarks, Zhu Yu just wanted to snort coldly, roll her eyes, and even spit.

The feeling of panic and helplessness was fresh in Zhu Yu’s memory when she first opened her eyes in this world.

She had both a father and a mother, seemingly hers but also like not hers. It appeared she lived a life better than others, lucky to have a life coming from nowhere, but the feeling of being alone and cautious was absolutely real.

She herself felt this way, so someone like Lu Qing, who experienced so many close brushes with danger from childhood to adulthood, even more so.

Who would be willing to exchange the lives of all their nearest and dearest, the potentially united and protected growth process, and several close calls and scars for an illusory wealth?!

Lu Qing was used to these things because over the past twenty years, compared to the pain of losing loved ones, what he needed to focus his efforts on more was how to preserve his life.

Now, from the force transmitted through Zhu Yu’s two tightly-held hands, he could clearly feel her emotions at this moment. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

There was concern, and also care.

Lu Qing was slightly stunned, feeling heavy in his heart, yet at the same time, a sense of relief.

"I don’t understand..." Zhu Yu’s gaze shifted back from the Qilin Patterned Brass Pendant to Lu Qing’s face. "Earlier, Yan Daoxin said..."

She hesitated for a moment, looking at Lu Qing.

Lu Qing seemed puzzled, not understanding why she stopped just as she started to speak.

Given the current level of mutual trust and openness between the two, it was clear that there existed no possibility that Zhu Yu would have any reservations about discussing anything in front of him.

"Why are you hesitating?" he asked Zhu Yu.

"You didn’t seem willing to talk about the fate of your clan before," Zhu Yu recalled how every time the topic of Lu Qing’s clan being massacred came up, he would always change the subject, even going so far as to feign ambiguity to scare her off back when they weren’t as close.

Lu Qing chuckled: "That’s because we were in the Capital, or still within the Da Jin borders, and I wasn’t sure if there were any spies of his around.

Those Chifu Guards, they could help deliver messages for me, so naturally, they could also relay other information about myself to him if he wanted to know.

Over these years, he never gave me any chance to learn more about what happened back then. Every time I tried to probe into it, he would immediately know and warn me off.

Afterwards, I understood one thing: the more I wanted to understand the matters of that year, the more I needed to restrain myself and not act recklessly."

"Why doesn’t he want you to know?" Zhu Yu frowned. She always felt that Emperor Jin did not treat Lu Qing well, apparent to outsiders by the misunderstanding and defamation, and privately making him do those difficult tasks, all without any attempt from Emperor Jin to shield him from harm.

Not only did he fail to protect, but sometimes, using Lu Qing’s own words, he would use him as a "step stool" to get himself out of a bind.

It became even more interesting now; while Emperor Jin didn’t want Lu Qing to investigate, Lu Qing hid his intentions to uncover the truth. On the other side, someone was impatiently and deliberately tossing what appeared to be a significant item related to his father to lure Lu Qing into investigating.

Both sides harbored their own motives, and the reason may only become clear when the truth is revealed.

But since Lu Qing put it this way, Zhu Yu understood that he hadn’t been unwilling to mention the events of that year but was rather being cautious.

Now things were different; the Chifu Guard was barred from crossing the borders of Jin Country, and on the Bhutan side, the hidden forces couldn’t wait for Lu Qing to investigate the murder of his family years ago.

Discussing these matters in such a place naturally posed no reason for caution or concern anymore.

Thus reassured, Zhu Yu boldly asked, "Yan Daoxin once said that when you were a child, you almost lost your life because you consumed a small amount of Jade Snowbird meat.

And the more potent toxin in the blood... was responsible for the murder of your family.

But just now, you mentioned everything at home was burned to ashes, leaving only the golden silk armor preserved because it was used to protect someone, while the rest was destroyed.

So I’m confused, if they were poisoned and killed, why start a fire?

Given that the fire consumed everything, how did they later determine that your family was killed by the blood of the Jade Snowbird?"

"You’re right; the fact that there was a massive fire after the poisoning is one of the significant reasons that has made me suspicious over the years." Lu Qing’s brow slightly relaxed, feeling gratified Zhu Yu immediately noticed the key contradiction here. "Because there’s no way to trace it, it’s unknown for now.

I only know that the fire was very strange. The person who got the message about my family’s misfortune sent someone to check, and the house had not caught fire at that time.

The person who was sent discovered I was the only survivor and immediately took me back to report. As soon as they left, a fierce fire broke out at my house.

By the time that person sent others back again, everything had been reduced to ashes.

However, a body wasn’t completely burned, and a coroner from Jingzhao Mansion took the partly destroyed, unrecognizably burned body back for examination and left records.

Later, those records also mysteriously disappeared, and the coroner was nowhere to be found."

Zhu Yu seemed to understand something: "So, the coroner didn’t really go missing, did he?"