APSIL -Chapter 99 The Secret Letter and the Cipher

Some time ago, Zhu Er had been a frequent visitor to the Lu residence, so he hardly needed anyone to guide him. Before they had even gone halfway, he had already shrugged off the steward leading the way, rolled up his sleeves, and charged toward his destination.

Yet before he even reached the courtyard gate, he heard Lu Sanlang shouting furiously from within.

“If you’ve got the guts, then stop locking me up and just beat me to death! You’ve never treated me like your son anyway!”

The moment he heard those words, Zhu Er—who had originally planned to beat Lu Sanlang senseless the moment they met—slowed his steps.

Instead, he suddenly felt a strange sense of kinship.

Isn’t that just like me? Father doesn’t care for me, Grandmother doesn’t favor me, and my own mother died long ago…

With that thought, Zhu Er sped up again.

He stormed past two stunned Lu family guards and burst into Lu Sanlang’s courtyard, only to find the chubby youth pacing around like a trapped beast while shouting dramatically.

“I might as well smash my head against the wall and die…”

Taking a deep breath, Zhu Er charged over like a whirlwind, grabbed Lu Sanlang by the collar, and slapped him hard across the face.

Then, somehow finding a burst of strength, he hauled the considerably heavier fat youth straight into the room.

A step behind them, Zhu Gongquan observed the scene for a moment before turning toward the steward beside him.

“My young master has quite the temper. I sincerely apologize for the disturbance. Might I request an audience with Minister Lu? I’d like to apologize to him personally on the young master’s behalf.”

It was only a tentative attempt. Zhu Gongquan merely wanted an excuse to sound Lu Wan out and gauge his attitude, with little expectation of success.

To his surprise, the steward froze for a brief moment before smiling warmly.

“Everyone knows that Master Zhu Gongquan is Duke Zhao’s trusted right-hand man left behind to oversee affairs in the capital. Even if my master refused everyone else, he would certainly receive you. This way, please.”

After taking a few steps, Zhu Gongquan noticed that A-Liu had not followed them.

His heart stirred.

Dragged forcibly into the room, Lu Sanlang finally snapped out of his daze.

He was just about to lose his temper when Zhu Er glared fiercely at him, then unexpectedly took charge by chasing the two maidservants out of the room himself.

Seeing such unusual behavior, Lu Sanlang’s eyes lit up.

Not only was he no longer angry, he even forgot the burning pain on his cheek.

“Zhu Er… was it Little Teacher who sent you?”

“And you still dare mention Little Teacher?”

Still fuming, Zhu Er snapped back before grumbling indignantly, “I trusted you enough to think about entrusting Yingying to you, but what did you do? Not only are you just like your father, playing me for a fool—you even… even accepted your love rival as your teacher! Have you no backbone?”

“Don’t compare me to my father!”

Embarrassed into anger, Lu Sanlang retorted.

“And besides, who could possibly handle your sister? I was only forced into putting on an act because of my father. She doesn’t even like me! As for Little Teacher… at first I only wanted to test him, but who knew he was genuinely capable—and even Grand Tutor Ge’s final disciple!”

Then he impatiently asked, “So was it Little Teacher who sent you or not? If not, I’m busy and don’t have time to waste with you.”

“You… Fine! Talking to me is a waste of time?”

Zhu Er exploded.

“If Zhang Shou doesn’t rely on me, then let’s see how he rescues you!”

Realizing that Zhu Er had indeed come on Zhang Shou’s orders to save him, Lu Sanlang instantly broke into a wide grin.

Just as he was about to soothe Zhu Er, the door suddenly creaked open.

Turning around, he saw A-Liu entering the room.

Zhu Er’s scalp immediately went numb.

Remembering how A-Liu had once dragged him before Grandmother to meet Zhang Shou—and how no one had dared pursue the matter afterward—he immediately realized this young man was not someone to fool around with.

Just as he was about to explain himself, A-Liu walked expressionlessly up to him, silently staring at him as though saying: “I don’t want to talk. I’m just watching.”

Zhu Er instantly remembered his assignment.

Hurriedly glancing around, he suddenly rushed over, kicked over a stool, knocked a brush stand onto the floor, and shouted loudly, “Lu Sanlang! You dared trick me! I’ll make you pay for this!”

Seeing Zhu Er begin his one-man performance, A-Liu finally turned to the dumbfounded Lu Sanlang.

“Message or letter?”

“Ah! Right, this!”

Lu Sanlang quickly pulled a neatly folded square of paper from his robes and unfolded it.

At first glance, it looked like an utterly ordinary family letter.

Every sentence had been separated by punctuation marks.

Yet between certain groups of characters—or skipping one or two characters—there appeared mysterious horizontal lines, making the whole thing look rather peculiar.

After turning the paper over several times, A-Liu thoughtfully remarked, “They used a cipher?”

Lu Sanlang hadn’t expected A-Liu to know what a cipher was. He immediately brightened.

“You know too? Little Teacher mentioned them while we were cleaning Jiuzhang Hall last night. He said there are many ways to make ciphers and even taught me several methods.”

He coughed awkwardly.

“I didn’t write this. Father had me brought home because he wanted to see if I could decipher it. I secretly copied a copy before he took it.”

Hearing that, Zhu Er—who had been loudly smashing furniture—immediately froze.

Could Lu Sanlang really have some extraordinary talent for mathematics after all?

Lu Sanlang had only meant to boast that his father had finally begun taking him seriously.

Seeing A-Liu simply staring at him without speaking, he sheepishly admitted, “…I couldn’t solve it.”

Zhu Er nearly exploded.

He grabbed a brush holder and hurled it across the room.

“You couldn’t solve it, yet you’re bragging about it?!”

Before the two former young wastrels could start arguing again, A-Liu suddenly interrupted.

“Someone’s coming.”

Even while Zhu Er had been making all that noise, A-Liu had heard approaching footsteps?

Lu Sanlang couldn’t help being amazed at the young man’s keen hearing.

What surprised him even more was that A-Liu ignored him completely and headed straight for the door.

After hesitating briefly, Lu Sanlang hurried after him, leaving Zhu Er standing there feeling like a complete fool as his one-man show abruptly came to an end.

“Sanlang! Sanlang!”

A middle-aged woman hurried into the courtyard.

The instant Lu Sanlang saw who it was, the anger on his face instantly transformed into grievance.

He rushed past A-Liu, threw himself at the woman’s legs, knelt down, hugged them tightly—and burst into tears on the spot.

“Mother! Your son finally earned praise from His Majesty and was determined to study hard at the Imperial College! But Father unreasonably had me dragged back home! Look—even my hands have been injured!”

Naturally, this was not the moment to mention that Father had brought him home to decipher some secret letter…

As he spoke, he held up the cut on his finger for his mother to inspect before crying even louder.

“This whole mess was Father’s doing! He insisted on marrying me to Zhu Ying. Now Zhu Er has come to demand an explanation from me! I’m more wronged than Dou E! Mother, I’m now a disciple of Master Ge’s school! Little Teacher even said he’d make me Dormitory Prefect later—that’s a prefect at the Imperial College…”

Remaining perfectly calm, A-Liu quietly tucked the paper into his robes.

Seeing Lu Sanlang continuing his tearful complaints while Zhu Er stood there with his mouth hanging open like an idiot, A-Liu silently retreated into Lu Sanlang’s room.

He slipped out through the back door.

After scaling a wall to survey the layout and confirming no one was watching, he paid no attention to the chaos unfolding outside.

Using the darkness that had just settled over the city, he quietly slipped out through a side gate near the Lu residence’s front courtyard.

When he arrived beside Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying’s carriage and knocked on the window, even the coachman and attendants outside had yet to notice him.

Zhang Shou lifted the curtain in surprise.

Seeing only A-Liu—and neither Zhu Er nor Zhu Gongquan—caught him even more off guard.

Before he could ask any questions, A-Liu silently handed him the folded paper.

Zhang Shou quickly accepted it.

Carefully examining the seemingly ordinary family letter, he fixed his gaze on those strange, seemingly random horizontal lines and fell into thought.

This… looks… probably… like some kind of cipher?

Was Lu Sanlang sending him a message…or giving him a test?