Chapter 28 Broken Dream

The sister and brother hugged each other and said many warmhearted words, and even Nurse Liao serving aside could not help but shed tears. The two people, one was the daughter of a concubine and the other was the son of the concubine. It was extremely hard to live well without their mother at the mansion of Grand Commandant controlled by Dou Qing’e.

At the same time, Cui Xuan courtyard was brightly lit all the time.

Stars were shining and the room of Dou Qing’e was brightly lit all the time too.

Dou Qing’e put down the letter which was taken back by Qin Yunuan from Master Hui Neng, and frowned heavily. She held the soothing tea on the table but then put it down. She was uneasy and her palm was sweating, “No. So Lvliu has been perceived. I feel very uneasy if Lvliu is still alive and stays in Wan’an Temple like a malignant tumor growing in my heart.”

“So madam, you mean?” Xiu Gu asked carefully while taking off the hairpin for Dou Qing’e and combing her long hair.

“When I got married, my mother had dispatched several master-hands in my family around me.” The thought of killing Lvliu had emerged in Dou Qing’e’s mind. She believed that even if one thousand people were killed, the target one should escape. Her belief was that it should be decisive to do anything without much fear, “They have been free for many years and now it is the right time to let them do their jobs.”

Xiu Gu nodded, “I’ll arrange people to do that right now.”

” But Qin Yunuan,” Dou Qing’e’s delighting eyes became trickier, “I want to know if she knows the background of Lvliu. The man who was dispatched this afternoon for detecting the information reported that the whole thing was investigated by Leng Changxi in a very short time, but Qin Yunuan was not silly at all. Besides, there is a young master in her yard. It is not horrible for a concubine’s daughter to be smart, but it does be horrible for a concubine’s son to be shrewd. Do you remember that when Qin Baochuan was doing Zhua Zhou (grabbing test on the occasion of a baby’s first birthday), he chose a Jade Plate, which was explained by a fortune-teller that he had an auspicious face and would be a talent for the country.”

“So what? Now the master is very taboo about the second young master,” Xiu Gu said in a deeper sound, “And I want to report one thing to madam.” Xiu Gu got closer to whisper the whole thing to Dou Qing’e that Qin Baochuan in this evening thought the clothes were very ugly and said many words unruly and impolitely. She added, “The other days, Cui’e went to observe the second young master and said he took a cold shower every day to train his will power. So, it is clear that the young man is just a mediocre person. I have much experience in recognizing people and I know that the second young master is just a playboy.”

“You are right,” Dou Qing’e nodded, “The boy is only five years old and he is naughty and needs a favor. The more he is ignorant, the more we gain benefits from him. Maybe the little boy will hate Qin Yunuan due to the cold shower. Xiu Gu, this is the right point we can use. Let Cui’e keep observing them and report to me three times a day. The master will come back tomorrow morning and I have sent a letter to Lin Feng to urge him to go home quickly. The family Qin will finally belong to us.”

“And,” Dou Qing’e turned back, “Lvliu is trapped into that temple and I am not sure if she has added the thing into the meal of Qin Yunuan. You dispatch someone to give her more. All in all, I need the whole thing going smoothly without any mistake tomorrow.”

Xiu Gu lowered his head and promised, adding, “Well, the young master Su Chenghai is not in the mansion for the whole day. I don’t know if he will come back tomorrow.”

“He must come back,” Dou Qing’e now was more delighted, “His uncle who is a high-ranking official comes back to his mansion and he as the nephew must come back to flatter his uncle if he wants to stay stably in the royal City. All in all, tomorrow, we will watch a good show.” Dou Qing’e smiled to the pretty her in the bronze mirror, just like she could take a fresh breath after near drowning into water. She thought she was not too old and still the queen of the family Qin.

In the early morning the next day, there were drums and gongs outside with crowded people. Wine steamer of restaurants for attracting customers flew in the sky. People all lined the East Avenue to welcome the Grand Prince Sima Ruo coming back from southern tour and the accompanying Grand Commandant Qin.

Golden carriages and first-class horses proceeded with flying flags. Troops with 200 people lined up in two, from the start of the street to the end. Since the people in the troops stayed for a rest in the suburbs of the Royal City for one day, the whole people in the troops were in fine fig. Tall men and strong horses manifested a hazy vigor that happened three years ago when the Emperor had royal progress.

The East Avenue was flooded with crowned people while Leng Changxi whose face was as gloomy as dark night now was sitting beside the window on the third floor of the first-class restaurant in the royal City. He used his slender fingers to rub the carven red clover Blossom on the window bar and could overlook the whole scene of the East Avenue.

His eyes were like an eagle waiting for hunting his prey. Cold winds blew into the opened window and north winds made the sweet ferment rice on the table become cold. But Leng Changxi did not raise his eyes and still drunk his wine.

“General, cold wine hurt your stomach. Let me warm a bottle of wine for you.” Leng Wu, his subordinate, bowed his fists and said.

Leng Changxi moved his head a little and said in a cold voice as chill as the winter-spring water in woods, “Cold wine makes people sober while warm wine makes people addicted.” And then he waved his sleeves quickly and wiped the word NUAN written by water on the table somehow. He asked in a lower voice, “How? Catch the person?”

“Got it,” Leng Wu pretended not to find the move of Leng Changxi just now, “The three assassins from East Qin who still planned to assassinate the Grand Prince and Grand Commandant have been caught. General, your prediction was right. It was right to deploy people into the East Avenue and caught them before they were about to act, so as not to frighten the ordinary people and bothered the Grand Prince.”

Leng Changxi did not say anything and looked at the distance, “How about Wan’an Temple?”

Leng Wu bowed his fists again, “Last night, though we caught the assassin, he killed himself by biting his tongue when we forced him to confess. It was lucky that Lvliu had been transited to somewhere safe and was not hurt. As for Master Hui An, though we observed him tightly and bound his hands and feet to avoid his suicide, he used his internal work to impact his weak spots on his body to kill himself.”

“He seemed to be the man of sacrifice, with profound internal work,” Half of Leng Changxi’s body sat on the chair, “Xue Si has once fought against one of them. According to his description, the assassin may come from the power cultivated secretly by the top four families in the south. Family Guan in Yangzhou, Family Dou in Hangzhou and Zhenyuan Marquis and Family Cui in Baling City. You investigate them all.”

Leng Wu nodded and went out. Leng Changxi poured another cup of cold Li Hua Bai for himself. The long ritual team had passed his window and noise generally vanished. Leng Changxi was not such kind of person who liked meddling other’s business, but now he cared much about the girl. However, the girl still stayed away from him.

Leng Changxi was helpless at the girl. A cup of cold wine’s aroma did not let him drunk but soberer.

“General, Xue Si is waiting outside.”

“OK.” Leng Changxi quitted the reporter and tidied his tousy clothes. Now it was the right time for him to leave.

The first thing the Grand Prince and Grand Commandant Qin Zhi did after they came back to the Royal City was to enter the palace to visit the emperor. They would not come back until noon but now people in Family Qin were busy.

Dou Qing’e had already heard about the news that her master took a risk to protect the Grand Prince from being attacked by a knife and caused himself to get stabbed by the knife. The emperor intended to award him. If the master was awarded the title of nobility, the position of Family Qin would be raised high. Dou Qing’e knew well the difference of officials and descendent nobilities. The title of nobility was descendent, and Qin Linfeng was the first son of the family. Thus, Dou Qing’e would be the biggest winner.

She never did things without much preparation. She had gained information from his fellows that last time, the emperor had written the imperial edit of awarding nobility, and the edit was taken to the Imperial Clan Court to register. It meant that if the master visited the emperor today and was awarded the title of nobility, he would be the real nobility.

“Madam, madam, the sedan of our master had come at the entrance of the lane.”

“Come on, let Ye San set off the firecrackers,” Dou Qing’e carrying her skirt, led others to walk towards the front door. On her way, she asked Xiu Gu discreetly, “Are you sure that you have added Cold-Food Powder into the porridge of Qin Yunuan?”

“All have been added. Don’t worry, madam.” Xiu Gu nodded.

Good. Whether Qin Yunuan had found her conspiracy deployed in Wan’an Temple, after today, the name of Qin Yunuan and Qin Baochuan would vanish from the family tree of family Qin. And then the master gained more achievements and higher position. Her son would come back and the face of Qin Yunzhuang would be cured. There would be no power that could stop her from becoming the super queen of family Qin.

At the entrance of the lane, 24 firecrackers were fired with many fumes. A sedan chair carried by four people came out of the fume and even the bearer got a cough by the fumes. Before the sedan chair was put onto the ground stably, Qin Zhi put aside the curtain and came out.

Qin Zhi was about 40 years old and pined away due to the busy life. His handsome check showed his long journey life and even a purple and cotton robe did not refresh him but show his decadency.

“What are you doing?” Qin Zhi covered his mouth and nose to avoid the fume, asking Dou Qing’e and shouting, “There is no sacrifice ceremony and big things at my mansion, why do you use such big firecrackers? So....” Qin Zhi frowned and shook his head and her eyes showed his loneliness. But he still struggled. He did not care about anything but fame and reputation even if he lost something that almost belonged to him already. All he wanted was to hold his arrogance in front of others apart from his family.

Dou Qing’e now was shocked and silent, but still smiled, “I just want to celebrate your promotion of gaining the title of nobility for you.”

Suddenly Qin Zhi’s face was turning into a piece of cold ice and his eyes seemed to light the firecrackers immediately. He stared at Dou Qing’e for a while, “How dare you, a female, to guess the thought of the emperor? It is the emperor that determines things, not you!” And then he waved his sleeves and walked into the mansion straightly.

Dou Qing’e suddenly froze and stood there. What did the master mean? The title of nobility, failed?