Chapter 32: Love Is War

Mr. Lu, is my method still okay?

On the rooftop, Lu Renjia lay back in a chair. A cool summer breeze drifted past. He liked this feeling. Spending a noisy summer in the laziest way possible was its own kind of relaxation.

“It’s okay, I guess.”

Lu Renjia could not remember what happened that night. Every time he tried, some force blurred his thoughts and blocked him. He did not take it seriously.

Who had not forgotten in one second what they were reading the second before? Besides, he figured he might have run into something unclean that night.

Rather than force himself to remember and uncover something bad, it was better to leave well enough alone.

Next time I’ll just walk around that place. No way I run into that again.

Lu Renjia was carefree. Life threw plenty at a person. Instead of caring what the rock that tripped you looked like, better to stand up and keep moving.

That was Lu Renjia’s philosophy.

“Come here, Ergouzi.”

Wang Teng approached Lu Renjia nervously, afraid this moody weirdo might slap him. Murong Yunhai and Jiang Yiran knew that fear well.

Actually, Lu Renjia was wronged there. He was not moody. His moods just followed his goals.

Fine, Lu Renjia admitted he found Murong Yunhai and the others irritating. They had every advantage and refused to chase their own goals.

Instead they had to drag a miserable girl into their mess. When it was over, they shed a few fake tears and spouted crap about wishing each other well for the rest of their lives, how life was an open wilderness.

The girl’s first half of life had already been miserable enough. She had counted on studying to change her fate and make life better.

They wasted her time and energy on school, then left her with emotional scars for the rest of her life.

Heh. Of course Lu Renjia could not stand these trash people.

“Hold out your hand.” Lu Renjia grabbed Wang Teng’s arm and sent a thread of spiritual energy into Wang Teng’s dantian.

“Mr. Lu… Mr. Lu!” Wang Teng felt something like a mouse race up his arm and into his dantian. Hidden ailments in his body were clearly healing.

This alone was at least as good as a thousand-year ginseng.

When Murong Yunhai and Jiang Yiran saw Wang Teng looking like he had won the lottery, their eyes went wide.

Wang Ergouzi, you really got something? They had thought Lu Renjia was just making empty promises.

“Thank you, Mr. Lu. You’ve given me a new life!”

Wang Teng stared at Lu Renjia with burning eyes, as if the man lying there were not a person but a human-shaped miracle drug.

Only Wang Teng knew his own condition. Years of indulging his desires had left this young master’s body riddled with hidden problems.

A doctor had once said his kidneys were like a fifty-year-old man’s, and he would likely spend the rest of his life relying on medicine.

What Lu Renjia had just done could be called washing his tendons and reforging his marrow. The vitality returning to his body was something no drug had ever given him.

“I have something I need you two to do.”

“We would serve Mr. Lu with our lives!”

Murong Yunhai and Jiang Yiran shoved the excited Wang Teng aside. Come on, were they going to let him hog all the benefits?

Lu Renjia smiled faintly. This was exactly the effect he wanted. Otherwise, getting these rich young masters to willingly do anything would have been impossible.

“I want you to spread rumors about Bai Luomeng.”

“Huh?” Murong Yunhai and Jiang Yiran were lost. Had he fought with Miss Bai? Did he want them to stir up conflict so he could win her favor?

Brilliant. Too brilliant.

“What’s with those looks?” Lu Renjia saw their I-get-it faces and knew they had it wrong. “I want you to make up a believable background for Bai Luomeng.”

“Why?”

“Do you know who Bai Luomeng is?”

Murong Yunhai and Jiang Yiran exchanged a glance, then answered as if it were obvious. “Isn’t she from the Bai family in the imperial capital?”

Lu Renjia was not surprised. These days Bai Luomeng had more presence coming to and from class than some young ladies. Anyone paying attention could connect her to Bai Zhenyu, who had appeared out of nowhere.

“That’s why I want you to make things up.”

Lu Renjia knew this was challenging everyone’s intelligence. The conclusion was obvious at a glance, so why bother?

But he understood the power of three people turning rumor into truth. In the face of massive public opinion, even the truth would be questioned.

Like the man long ago who pointed at a deer and called it a horse. Confusing enough people was all that mattered.

Verifying the truth took time, and Lu Renjia’s plan needed that time.

“Just make Bai Luomeng’s background controversial enough.”

“Yes, we will help Mr. Lu!”

Mr. Lu was a man of strange brilliance. His thinking was beyond ordinary people. Just do as he said.

After discussing the details, Lu Renjia returned to the classroom and saw Bai Luomeng surrounded like the moon among stars.

Bai Luomeng spoke kindly with the others. Her tone no longer held the weakness and meekness of the past, as if it had never existed.

Ding ding ding! Ding ding ding!

At sunset, the school bell rang. Bai Luomeng and Lu Renjia walked together. Lu Renjia now shamelessly lived with Bai Luomeng. He claimed publicly that they were brother and sister, so living together was only natural.

But anyone with eyes could see the strange, ambiguous relationship between them.

“Got it, everyone. They’re making us part of their little game!”

Even Lu Renjia did not believe they were pure. But he did not know what to do either.

With Bai Luomeng’s quiet guidance, Lu Renjia let things happen and stayed at Bai Zhenyu’s home.

What else? Bai Luomeng’s family was willing to feed and house him. Why should he care about other people’s strange looks? He gave himself a comfortable reason and moved in.

As for how to respond to Bai Luomeng’s feelings, Lu Renjia did not know either. So he let it drag on in a muddle.

Lu Renjia thought he was a bit of a scumbag. But that was better than leaving later and making Bai Luomeng sad alone.

Let this be some good memories for you. It’s fine if you remember me; it would be better if you forget me. At least now we don’t have to be sad about parting. With complicated feelings, Lu Renjia followed Bai Luomeng home.

“I plan to take Bai Luomeng to the imperial capital first.”

Lu Renjia brought it up while eating. After he spoke, he looked around at everyone’s reactions. Bai Luomeng being calm was one thing, but why was the old man so calm?

“Oh.” Bai Zhenyu took a gentlemanly sip of water and answered mildly.

“Aren’t you curious why I’m doing this?”

“Heh.” Bai Zhenyu could not help teasing. “You’re a cultivator now. Mortals can’t keep up with your thinking. We mortals just clap and cheer from the side.”

Lu Renjia opened his mouth, decided that made sense, and went back to eating. Bai Luomeng’s mother looked a little worried.

“Little Lu, wouldn’t it be too reckless to take Mengmeng to the imperial capital just like that?”

“It won’t be.” Bai Luomeng spoke first. She naturally placed a dish into Lu Renjia’s bowl and said carelessly, “For all these years, the Bai family hasn’t seen what I look like.

Even if they want to investigate my background, they probably won’t react in such a short time.”

Bai Luomeng’s mother thought that made sense. It had not even been a week since Bai Zhenyu appeared out of nowhere. Time was like that. If nothing changed much in a short period, no one felt it. Lu Renjia had simply finished his task at double speed.

Bai Luomeng’s mother felt dazed. Only three days had passed. Her life had returned to what it should have been. Those eighteen years of suffering felt like a dream.

Only her exhausted body still reminded her that everything was real.

“It will be vacation soon. It’s a good time for classmate Lu to take me to the imperial capital.”

“Right.” Lu Renjia swallowed the food Bai Luomeng fed him and said, “While our opponents can’t react, why not just play out the ending?”

Bai Zhenyu nodded. Lu Renjia’s strategy was simple: go straight into the Bai family, control Old Master Bai, then free Bai Luomeng’s father. Everyone laughs and reaches a perfect ending. But only Lu Renjia could play it that way.

Take ending a war, for example. Some argued for dragging it out and negotiating peace. Others argued for beating the enemy until they submitted.

But now there was a very simple, brutal method: just kill the enemy leader.

That was Lu Renjia’s idea. Simple, brutal, and impossible to avoid.

Like how no one would expect that on an ordinary day, a boy with a clean, kind face would walk up to you, calmly pull out a strange gun, and fire three shots before you could react. A prime minister dies. The world is stunned.

He started with zero wind-up. It was terrifying.

“Then go.” Bai Zhenyu wiped his mouth. “I’ll give you what you need later, and you can leave tomorrow. I’ll try to hold the Bai family’s attention for a while.”

“Okay.”

Hearing this, Bai Luomeng’s mind raced. She had to seize this chance to be alone with Lu Renjia.

Love is war. Whoever holds the initiative wins!

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