Plotting with You: The Forensic Scientist in Ancient Times!-Chapter 463 - 462: Brass Pendant

Lu Qing was a light sleeper, so he woke up the moment something broke through the window. He also heard the sound of something falling to the ground, so he quickly got up, grabbed the short sword by his pillow, and rushed to the window.

At the window, his gaze landed on the hole in the window paper, his footsteps halted, standing by the window without any further action.

When Zhu Yu fully awoke, she heard the sound of a hard object falling, got up and looked around. Seeing no smoke anywhere in the room and not smelling anything unusual, she breathed a sigh of relief.

The firearms and gunpowder here hadn’t developed to a degree that would make her wary, so she wasn’t worried about anything thrown in suddenly exploding. Therefore, she boldly moved in the direction the sound came from in the dark, fumbling around until she found a small item under the table that seemingly didn’t belong there.

Zhu Yu picked up the item, held it in her hand, and felt a smooth, cold metallic texture. The item was small, but quite heavy.

She walked towards Lu Qing, who was standing by the window: "What’s the situation? No need to chase? Are you afraid this is a trick to lure you away?"

"No," Lu Qing shook his head, pointing to the hole in the window paper in front of him, "Look here."

Zhu Yu leaned in for a closer look and saw a round hole in the window paper, its edges smooth with no obvious frayed edges.

"This thing... was shot into the house from a distance using something like a slingshot?" Although Zhu Yu was more skilled in forensic examination, she knew more about such things than the average person, and so she blurted out her judgment after checking it.

Lu Qing looked at her approvingly: "You can indeed tell.

If this thing hadn’t been thrown from a distance with great force, the window paper wouldn’t have a hole like this.

So clearly, the other party wasn’t trying to get close to us, they just wanted us to receive something."

"Look, the item’s here." Zhu Yu extended her hand towards Lu Qing, showing the flat, round object she had just retrieved from under the table, "Take a look."

Lu Qing took it, grasped it in his hand, walked to the side, pulled the screen to block the window, then pulled Zhu Yu to sit by the table. He lit the candle on the table, sweeping away the darkness in the room, filling it with warm yellow candlelight, soft and not glaring, sufficient for them to see everything around.

Lu Qing placed the item Zhu Yu handed him on the table, examined it carefully, furrowing his brow, which then gradually relaxed.

All the while, Zhu Yu observed his expressions and reactions, having already guessed in her heart: "You recognize this thing, don’t you? Seen it before somewhere?"

"I recognize it." Lu Qing stroked the item with his fingers, then handed it back to Zhu Yu, "But I haven’t seen it before."

Earlier, Zhu Yu had picked it up in the dark, only able to clearly sense its feel and weight with her hand, knowing nothing else.

Now, under the candlelight, the appearance of the item became clear.

This thing was about the size of a Copper Coin, less than half a finger’s width thick, with a yellow, gleaming surface that seemed to be made of brass or copper.

Unlike a Copper Coin, it didn’t have a hole in the middle, but both sides bore clear carvings, resembling a lion at first glance, but looking even more dignified than a lion.

"What’s this carving?" Zhu Yu asked.

"Qilin." Lu Qing’s voice sounded very calm, so calm that it was devoid of any ripple, "The insignia of my branch of the Lu Family."

Zhu Yu, somewhat surprised, looked up at Lu Qing, then at the item in her hand: "So...this item...is from your family?"

"It seems so." Lu Qing’s lips curled slightly, once again revealing a smile devoid of warmth, "Looks like our recent actions have been too slow, causing some to lose patience and get anxious."

"How...how did you recognize this as the insignia of your branch in the Lu family? Besides the golden silk armor, does your family leave you anything else?" Zhu Yu was somewhat puzzled.

Lu Qing was the only surviving child in his branch, all other relatives had died in a conspiracy orchestrated by an unknown perpetrator when he was just a baby. Unless someone had deliberately told him, it would’ve been hard for him to know what special symbol his family had.

"Aside from the golden silk armor, there’s nothing else." Lu Qing shook his head, "You know about that golden silk armor, it doesn’t have this Qilin insignia. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Everything else in my family’s possessions was burned, leaving nothing behind, so initially, I knew nothing about this.

But later, thanks to Lu Chao, when he pretended to be frail, the Holy Emperor allowed him to read whatever books he wanted and go wherever he wished, forbidding anyone to stop him since that was virtually Lu Chao’s only enjoyment.

Once, he visited the Jade Scroll Office to glance through records of the Lu Family. Ordinarily, the Holy Emperor wouldn’t like others rifling through these records freely, since they involved matters from back during the struggle for succession which are not suitable for outsiders.

But Lu Chao was an exception; he read them and found a booklet clearly documenting some things about our family members, including the Qilin insignia.

This Qilin insignia wasn’t something anyone could wear casually; generally, only the family head in each generation would carry it, akin to a pendant, serving as decoration and as a symbol of status.

Unable to take the booklet out of the Jade Scroll Office and it being obviously unsuitable for me to access it, Lu Chao specially created an identical drawing of the Qilin insignia for me.

Lu Chao’s artistic skills were quite remarkable, so I could trust that the pattern he drew was at least 99% similar to the original.

When you showed me this item earlier, once I saw the pattern clearly, I immediately knew what it was."

"So, this item..." Zhu Yu was quite surprised. Although she knew the other party wouldn’t arbitrarily toss such an item into their room at night, she hadn’t realized this was even more important and special than she initially thought. "This item belonged to your father when he was alive?"

"Perhaps, or perhaps it’s just a replica. That’s uncertain, since... I’ve never seen anything from my family aside from the golden silk armor." A tinge of bitterness swiftly crossed Lu Qing’s eyes, which he quickly suppressed.