Volume Two: Bandits in This World Chapter 128: Forcing a Scholar's Pride

"Does Your Lordship know why I came to this Anma City?" Zhao Ziling asked with a bow and a smile as he looked at Du Zhaolin's increasingly furrowed brow.

Du Zhaolin's face was ashen, and he ignored him for a long time.

Seeing this, Zhao Ziling did not dare to change his bowing posture. The two of them remained at a stalemate, the silence stretching on.

"My Lord!" Unable to endure the soreness in his waist and back any longer, Zhao Ziling finally straightened up and said with an expression of indignation, "You are being very impolite!"

Du Zhaolin stared straight at him, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "You care deeply about propriety?"

"Naturally! Which scholar in the Northern Territory dares not care about propriety?"

"Is that so?" Du Zhaolin pulled Zhao Ziling over and said very earnestly, "Doesn't that make it all the more necessary to have an unreasonable superior to set you off? That way, it highlights our Secretary Zhao's extraordinary demeanor and upright image."

Zhao Ziling lowered his head, muttering something under his breath, though his expression improved considerably. Presumably, he was conducting some form of spiritual communication regarding Du Zhaolin's female relatives...

"Don't go cursing mothers behind my back, you rascal! Could anyone without a decade-old cerebral thrombosis ask the kind of question you just asked? If I had known your intentions, why would I have called you over alone today?" Du Zhaolin glanced at him sideways, growing angrier the more he thought about it, and simply delivered a kick.

Zhao Ziling didn't dodge, smiling as he took the light kick... and then, amidst Du Zhaolin's stunned expression, rolled his eyes and threw himself onto the ground.

"Pay up! If you don't fork over ten or twenty thousand, see if I get up today!"

"You seem to have forgotten one thing. This is not the Central Plains; there are no... ahem, surveillance cameras." Du Zhaolin's eyes were very clear. He turned his back and said to himself, "So, if you don't get up right now, I will beat you to a cripple, or even kill you with a single sword stroke, and no one will ask a single question."

Zhao Ziling curled his lip. Could he really be scared by this threat? It was just that the ground was a bit cold, and standing was still more comfortable...

He nimbly flipped back to his feet, brushed the dust off his clothes, and resumed his unyielding and deferential expression, as if nothing had just happened.

To ease the awkwardness, Zhao Ziling decided to feign amnesia. He bowed and smiled, "Does Your Lordship know why I came to this Anma City?"

The result, naturally, was the same. Du Zhaolin pretended not to hear and continued to ignore him, leaving only a floor of awkwardness and solitude for someone to clean up.

"Well, it doesn't matter if Your Lordship ignores me, but my Lord... do you know how Yu Wenruo died?" Zhao Ziling said unhurriedly, his tone calm, as if he were discussing some insignificant triviality.

Du Zhaolin's face darkened. He had to admit that this topic forced him to submit to Zhao Ziling's pace.

"Everyone in Anma City knows about this. Why must you bring it up, Zhao Ziling?"

Zhao Ziling lowered his head, a strange light flashing in his eyes. He knew he had not guessed wrong about the thoughts of this "running dog of Anma City" before him.

So he spoke, nonchalantly, "Everyone says Yu Wenruo died by hanging himself from the crossbeam out of fear of punishment. Could it be that Your Lordship is also just one of those countless mouths repeating the popular consensus?"

There was no response in the hall. Du Zhaolin remained utterly silent, but Zhao Ziling was not in a hurry. He even wanted to hum a little tune, brew a pot of hot tea, and thoroughly watch how this prey walked into the trap.

"Whether it is true or not, what business is it of yours?" Du Zhaolin said calmly, his eyes closed.

"I have the answer here." Zhao Ziling paused, deliberately teasing the other man's patience. "Unfortunately, you aren't cooperating... This makes things very difficult for me, you know."

He deliberately kept him in suspense, actually humming a tune, completely acting like the master of the house.

However, this smug posture vanished in an instant. Zhao Ziling had not expected that this fellow wearing a civil official's robe would deliberately reveal his "cloven hoof." He looked closely and saw the unmistakable demeanor of an outright bandit!

Du Zhaolin grabbed Zhao Ziling by the collar, pressed him against the window, lifted his legs, and said coldly, "I can choose not to know, but if you insist on keeping it to yourself, then I'll make sure no one else ever finds out either."

A gust of wind blew past the window, breaking Zhao Ziling out in a cold sweat. He cried out in a panic, "Pull me back in! I surrender, alright?"

No one answered him. In fact, Du Zhaolin increased the strength in his grip slightly, nearly throwing him out.

"Yu Wenruo did not die at the hands of others; Yu Wenruo died at my hands!"

Zhao Ziling was pulled back. He sprawled on the ground, dazed for a long time.

"Tell me the details." Du Zhaolin looked at him without a single ripple in his eyes. The deep-seated ruthlessness made Zhao Ziling's heart palpitate.

It felt gloomy, like a madman calmly facing his own post-epileptic tranquility. Or perhaps... like a lecher entering a man's unique refractory period.

Zhao Ziling felt like crying without tears. How could the ship of friendship capsize so easily?

"Did you not hear what I said?" Du Zhaolin frowned, reaching out to press down on Zhao Ziling's shoulder.

His tone grew heavier, startling Zhao Ziling into a shudder. He hurriedly blurted out, "On that day, when the Yu rebel was causing chaos, this subordinate drew a precious sword and took the opportunity to sneak into his estate..."

"Whoa, don't tell me... you went in aiming to solo Yu Wenruo?" Du Zhaolin interrupted coldly, saying with great impatience, "Let me make it clear to you beforehand, Yu Wenruo was no benevolent soul. That official robe of his was earned by stepping over tens of thousands of corpses. Naturally, he couldn't beat a renowned general of the Northern Territory, but dealing with a petty thief like you is child's play. So you'd better make sure your fabricated story doesn't have too many... action scenes."

Zhao Ziling curled his lip. He didn't dare to talk back, so he accompanied the smile and said, "Such a cliché plot... rest assured, I would never make it up like that."

"Look, I tricked it out of you. You finally admitted you made up the plot, didn't you?" Du Zhaolin said righteously, with the air of someone who had been certain all along.

Zhao Ziling: ......

For a moment, the two of them fell into a prolonged silence.

"Go on. I won't interrupt anymore." Du Zhaolin scratched his head, a rare flush on his face, making him look rather embarrassed.

Zhao Ziling stopped paying attention to him and continued to "fabricate": "There weren't many people left in the Yu residence. I searched all the way to the backyard... and guess what?"

"I won't guess." Du Zhaolin spread his hands and said deadpan, "I'm your superior, why should I listen to you?"

"There is a performing art in the Central Plains called crosstalk. If you were to play the straight man there, you wouldn't even earn enough for four dishes in your entire life."

Du Zhaolin let out a cold snort, a hint of smugness on his face. "To disappoint you, I just had four dishes and a soup yesterday. Besides, shouldn't mouth-art refer to verbal acrobatics? How could it be called that..."

"If this subordinate may say something improper, do you know why the Yu rebel lived so long?"

"Why?"

Zhao Ziling glanced at him sideways and said bitterly, "Because Yu Wenruo never argued for the sake of arguing!"