Chapter 181: Drawing Square Into Circle
Lu Ren had pestered Lu Jian for over a month and finally waited for him to relent. He was overjoyed at once, nodding like pounding garlic as he said: “I’ll scram, I’ll scram. I’ll scram right now.”
After Lu Jian let Lu Chou into the room, before they could even start talking business, Lu Ren poked his head in again.
“What other business do you have?” Lu Jian was on the verge of going mad.
“Steward Lord, don’t get angry. I… oh no, this subordinate just wants to ask one last question. Which room will you assign me to, old master?” Lu Ren said shamelessly with a fawning smile.
“Go wherever you want!” Lu Jian said in uncontrollable rage.
“That’s so great? You really are my own brother!” Lu Ren was practically over the moon. He no longer cared about Lu Jian’s expression and immediately climbed the pole: “I’ve thought it over already. I’ll go to Yuqing Room as manager!” After saying that, before Lu Jian could explode in fury, he ran off like a puff of smoke.
After running out of the Finance Department, Lu Ren excitedly shouted and yelled. Whenever he encountered any clan members, he had to boast about it. He wanted everyone in the clan to know that Lu Thirteen had finally turned his luck around!
.
Lu Jian had people guard the Finance Department’s main gate tightly, absolutely not allowing that Lu Ren to enter again. Only then did he take out the loan IOUs that had been released and hand them to Lu Chou for inspection.
Lu Chou took those deeds and examined them one by one very carefully. He looked extremely slowly, as if every stroke on them made him uneasy.
Lu Jian endured it for a while, then couldn’t help but start urging him. But no matter how he urged, Lu Chou showed no sign of speeding up.
“Old Nine, why don’t you take your time looking.” Lu Jian didn’t dare offend Lu Chou easily either. He thought, if you won’t leave, I’ll leave—that should be fine, right? He suppressed his anger and stood up: “I have something to do. I’ll step out first.”
“Don’t. If you’re not here, who do I ask if I have questions?” Lu Chou grabbed him to stop him from leaving.
“Can’t you ask when I get back?” Lu Jian was already barely containing his anger.
“Nothing is more urgent than this.” Lu Chou had indeed spotted something: “There’s a problem with this IOU. I remember this Wanhe Rice Shop closed down last year. How did it pop up again this year to borrow money from us?”
“Oh, really?” Lu Jian felt a pang of guilt: “I’m not clear on this. Wait for me to ask the people below and get back to you.”
“Call them here now. What can’t be asked face to face? I suspect the Finance Department people are using fake IOUs to steal from the public treasury!” Lu Chou suddenly raised his voice, glaring angrily at Lu Jian: “Fourth Brother, have you been possessed lately or lost your soul? Is this how you manage things for the clan?!”
“Old Nine, don’t slander me!” Lu Jian also darkened his face.
“It’s simple to know if I’m slandering you. Just investigate clearly!” Though Lu Jian was truly furious, Lu Chou remained unmoved and tit for tat: “If it proves the Finance Department is innocent, I’ll publicly apologize!”
“Old Nine, I think you’re acting very abnormal today!” In the midst of his rage, Lu Jian suddenly calmed down and coldly sized up Lu Chou, frowning tightly: “No, it’s not just you being abnormal today. The Clan Leader, Lu Xiu, Lu Wei, and that Lu Xin are all abnormal too!” Lu Jian gritted his teeth hard and repeated the last name: “Lu Xin…”
As he spoke, he suddenly realized and glared angrily at Lu Chou: “Old Nine, are you all ganging up on me?!”
“What are you talking about?” Lu Chou felt a surge of panic inside but forced a calm expression on his face: “Don’t be paranoid.”
“Am I overthinking it?” Lu Jian stared fixedly at Lu Chou, his eyes full of scrutiny.
“Of course.” Lu Chou nodded, then lowered his head to continue looking at those IOUs, deliberately avoiding Lu Jian’s gaze.
Lu Jian also sat there quietly without speaking. The room was so silent that a pin drop could be heard.
After a moment of silence, Lu Jian suddenly chuckled lightly: “I’m wondering, if I insist on leaving, will you use force to keep me?” After saying that, he stood up and headed outside.
“You’d better not.” Lu Chou sighed and flashed to block the doorway.
“So it really is true.” Lu Jian’s expression fell, looking at Lu Chou with a dimmed face: “Ninth Brother, Fourth Brother has played with you since we were young. Are you going to help others against me?”
“Fourth Brother, don’t make it too hard for me.” Lu Chou lowered his head, not daring to look at Lu Jian’s expression, afraid that if he softened, he’d let him go.
“That year we went to Mount Mang, you were bitten by a venomous snake. Who carried you dozens of li to save your life intact?” As Lu Jian spoke, he slowly raised his hand: “Back then, you were only this tall, right?”
“I was eight then, and Fourth Brother saved me…” Lu Chou dared not look at Lu Jian even more, lowering his head as he was caught in memories.
“Save me once too, how about it?” Lu Jian softly pleaded.
“Fourth Brother, I’m sorry. I can’t…” Lu Chou’s eyes reddened as he struggled to look up at Lu Jian.
Who knew that as soon as he looked up, Lu Jian’s hands were already at his chest. Lu Chou hurriedly dodged, but it was already too late!
Lu Jian’s eyes were full of resolve: “Sorry then, Ninth Brother!” As he spoke, he thrust both hands forward fiercely. The long-accumulated Righteous Qi erupted. Lu Chou couldn’t dodge in time and could only barely raise his arms to protect his vital points, while desperately shifting his body sideways and backward…
But it was already too late. He was struck solidly…
With a ‘boom’, the sandalwood door of Lu Jian’s office was smashed with a big hole by Lu Chou. Lu Chou flew out sideways and crashed heavily to the ground, cracking the hard floor tiles into pieces…
‘Pfft’, he spat out a mouthful of blood. Lu Chou struggled to get up but was horrified to find that all his key acupoints had been sealed by Lu Jian’s strike. His face was instantly full of disbelief.
At this time, the managers and runners from various rooms heard the noise and all opened their doors to peek out. Seeing that the one lying on the ground spitting blood was actually Steward of Storage Lu Chou, they were just about to cry out in shock when they saw their own steward slowly walking out step by step from the broken door hole.
The Yuqing Room crowd was instantly like ducks with their necks gripped, all falling silent.
“All go back inside. No one come out.” Lu Jian said coldly. The Yuqing Room crowd immediately shrank their heads back and tightly closed their doors.
Only two people remained in the courtyard. Lu Chou lay weakly on the ground, staring fixedly at Lu Jian and whispering: “Drawing Square into Circle. You’ve actually mastered Drawing Square into Circle…”
Once cultivation of Heaven and Earth Righteous Law reaches Grandmaster realm, one can use the ultimate technique ‘Transforming Circle into Square’. When Transforming Circle into Square is cultivated to perfect mastery, and one comprehends the mystery of ‘Drawing Square into Circle’, it equals touching the threshold of Heavenly Rank Grandmaster!
“Is that so rare?” Lu Jian said expressionlessly: “Lu Xian was already a Heavenly Rank Grandmaster at my age.”
“You’ve already become a Grandmaster?” Lu Chou was first full of shock, then shook his head in bewilderment. “No, you haven’t opened the Extraordinary Meridians or the Twelve Main Meridians yet…”
“Yes! Just a little bit more!” Lu Jian’s face suddenly twisted: “Originally I had cultivated to perfection, breakthrough imminent! But at that moment, someone killed my son. How could my heart be perfect? I’ll never cultivate Drawing Square into Circle in this lifetime!”
“What? Lu Feng is dead?” Lu Chou was shocked again.
“Otherwise, why do you think I did those things?!” As Lu Jian spoke, seeing the confusion on Lu Chou’s face, he suddenly realized: “So you know nothing at all.”
“Indeed…” Lu Chou nodded with a bitter smile. It was really unlucky to be beaten into heavy injury by his own older cousin out of the blue.
Lu Jian was just about to tell Lu Chou about his own ordeal when he suddenly heard his subordinate, whom he had ordered to guard the door outside the Finance Department, shout: “Second Steward, Fourth Steward, what business do you have?!”
Lu Jian’s expression changed upon hearing this. He slapped a palm on Lu Chou’s forehead, then fled swiftly toward the back door.
In no time, Lu Xia, Lu Wei, Lu Xin and others pushed aside the obstructing Finance Department guards and rushed into the courtyard. They immediately saw Lu Chou lying there covered in blood, motionless, not knowing if he was dead or alive.
