Chapter 13: The One Who Strikes First Gains the Advantage

Yang Can quickly glanced at Steward Yi, whose expression was grimmer than if he had just lost his own father.

A gust of mountain wind swept by, sending a chill down Yi She’s back.

Had he known the answer he’d extract from the bandit would be like this, he would have preferred to be scolded by the clan master for incompetence rather than conduct this preliminary inquiry.

He never imagined the name that would come up: Yu Huanhu!

Could it be that the young master’s death was the doing of the Second Master?

Steward Yi almost instantly believed the bandit’s words.

For no one had a stronger motive for murder than Second Master Yu.

The long-standing power struggle between the Yu family’s main house and the second branch had been simmering for years.

As a retainer to the Yu clan, Yi She had long been courted secretly by both sides.

Thus, he was fully aware of their overt and covert conflicts.

In fact, he even understood why the Yu clan was desperate to arrange a marriage alliance with the Suo clan.

It was simply to leverage Suo’s support to reclaim control over the main house.

In such circumstances, it was not implausible that the second branch would take the desperate gamble of assassinating the groom to sabotage the union.

But such an assassination meant that the internal power struggle had escalated to a deadly life-or-death confrontation.

The more perilous the situation became, the more Yi She wished to avoid involvement until clear allegiances emerged.

Now, he bitterly wished he had never heard the bandit utter those three words: “Yu Huanhu.”

The interrogation ended abruptly.

The bandit was stripped and thoroughly cleansed, then treated with a full gourd of premium wound salve and wrapped entirely in clean silk cloth, resembling a mummy.

Steward Yi truly feared he might die; the bandit had to be brought alive to Tianshui City for the clan master’s personal interrogation.

Yi She was reluctant to utter “Yu Huanhu” to the clan master himself.

...

Clusters of campfires burned at the mountain’s base.

As they were about to enter the Tianshui territory, the mood relaxed, and tonight’s dinner was especially sumptuous.

The wild sheep hunted along the way had been cleaned by the stream, chopped into large chunks of succulent meat, then boiled or roasted for a hearty feast.

Three felt tents were pitched at the foot of the mountain, belonging respectively to Suo Chanzhi, Steward Yi, and Aunt Tu.

Thanks to Steward Yi’s arrival and Yang Can’s earlier “accusation,” Aunt Tu had specially instructed that the Yu and Suo clans camp together tonight, no longer relegating the Yu family members to the outskirts as lowly servants.

Yang Can and several Yu family guards sat by a fire outside their tent, roasting meat.

The finest cut for grilling was the shoulder, followed by ribs, tenderloin, and hind legs.

Shoulder meat was lean, tender, and chewy, with the high heat locking in the rich aroma for an exquisite taste.

Yang Can was currently roasting a piece of shoulder meat.

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