Return of the Swallow c1-644

by Edited by Deyna up to chapter ~100.

  Ghastly wails sounded from outside the carriage. The Qin family guards had lost! And they were now being slaughtered outside the carriage! A bloodstained blade flicked the door curtain up, allowing a rough man with thick eyebrows to poke his head in. Although his face was covered by a cloth, it didn’t obstruct the delighted surprise in his eyes when he saw Qin Yining and Cao Yuqing.

  “Tsk tsk, this girl is somethin’ fine alrigh’!” He reached towards Qin Yining’s face as he spoke.

  She glared ferociously back, baring her teeth at him as she abruptly stabbed his hand violently with the hairpin. Caught off guard, the man didn’t draw his hand back fast enough, leaving a thin cut raked into his arm. Blood immediately dripped from the wound.

  “Ah!!” He stumbled back, making his companions roar with laughter when they saw him injured. Rage brewed as he pointed at Qin Yining with the tip of his blade. “Stupid girl, go to hell!”

  He threw the blade away and flung himself into the carriage. Qin Yining used all the strength in her body to fight back, but although she was strong, she didn’t know martial arts. She was also the only one in the carriage who could put up any resistance at all. Cao Yuqing and Lu-mama were already sprawled weakly on the cushions from terror. They didn’t dare move an inch, and Bingtang’s struggles were nothing to the bandits.

  In the end, all four ladies were dragged out. Cao Yuqing fainted after a shrill scream and Lu-mama remained supporting her mistress, tears streaking her cheeks from fright. Bingtang was slightly more composed, but she too was white as a sheet and trembling all over.

  Two men had restrained Qin Yining’s hands behind her back, and she had to bend over from the pain. But she still glared ferociously at the first brute and yelled, “Just what do you want?!”

  * * *

  Chapter 137: Kidnapping (I)

  Chapter 137: Kidnapping (I)

  “What do we wan’? We’ll kill you, of course! We specialize in scalpin’ and skinnin’ and pullin’ out yer tendons. We’ll have a few rounds with you stinkin’ women when we get back an’ then peel yer skin off to make lanterns! We’ll slice the rest of you up for the dogs!” The man roared with laughter as he excitedly described what he wanted to do. It was almost like he could see the grisly scene in front of him. His companions guffawed as they too began to get excited.

  Bingtang was trembling in fear, but she drew deep from within herself as she forced herself to keep from fainting. On the other hand, Lu-mama was not as strong-willed, fainting at the thought of such atrocities. Her eyes rolled up, and as she fell, she brought the already fainted Cao Yuqing down to the ground with her in twin thumps.

  The man could tell that although the color had drained from Qin Yining’s face, there wasn’t the slightest ripple of emotion in her eyes. In fact, she seemed to be even calmer than before instead of showing any fear. He patted her face with one callused hand.

  “Tsk tsk, lil girl, aren’t you afraid at all? Go on, cry some so we can have a good laugh!”

  Qin Yining jerked away from the man’s hand and retorted coldly. “Aren’t you simply fine men after money? If you really wanted to kill us, you would’ve done so back in the carriage. Since you didn’t, that means you think you have a use for us. But you won’t get silver if the hostages are harmed. You’ll have gone to all this effort for nothing!”

  “Aren’t you an interesting one! You’re that old fox’s daughter alrigh’!”

  Another bandit called out to him. “Shaddup and quit jawin’. Just knock ‘er out and take ‘er back!”

  Qin Yining tensed all over warily. Even though her hands were bound behind her, she hadn’t given up thinking furiously on how to get free. However, the bandit seemed to see through her thoughts and brought his hand down sharply on the back of her neck before she had the chance to attempt anything.

  The girl trembled violently once and fell to the ground in a dead faint. The man hauled her up and threw her face down over his shoulder. Bingtang panicked and tried to struggle free, but her little bit of strength was nothing to these bandits. She too was quickly knocked unconscious.

  ……

  When Qin Yining opened her eyes next, she found herself in a dusky, simply lit room. The scent of straw, fresh firewood, and mildew immediately filled her nose. The moist dirt on the ground gave off its own unique scent, mixing in with the smell of mold. It was a scent that was very familiar to her, bringing to mind memories of the childhood straw hut she’d lived in with her foster mother.

  A scrap of a rag was stuffed into her mouth, and her hands and feet were bound by hemp ropes. She cautiously peered around and noted that she and Cao Yuqing seemed to be locked in a small woodshed. She could hear low voices outside the door if she listened closely. The sound of chickens and ducks close by confirmed her budding theory; this was the woodshed of a farm.

  She looked around but didn’t see Bingtang or Lu-mama. When she peered closely again at Cao Yuqing, she noted that the concubine had been stripped of all her valuables. Cao Yuqing’s clothing was in slight disarray and her pretty face was still ashen. She was lying on her side on the ground with her eyes firmly shut, a similar rag stuffed into her mouth. Her arms and legs had also been tied with hemp ropes.

  The girl was now beginning to panic slightly. It seemed this group had actually kidnapped them to threaten her father. What they’d said about flaying skin and pulling out tendons was just to scare them.

  I wonder if they did this for silver or something else. It’d be easier to manage if they just wanted a ransom. But if they had deeper ulterior motives and were tools of her father’s political enemies in a larger plot, then the ladies wouldn’t be traded for anything simple.

  Qin Yining was filled with worry and questions. Thankfully, her emotions didn’t impact her ability to assess her surroundings. She’d certainly been searched. Anything that could be used to cut the ropes seems to have been confiscated. After checking her bindings for weaknesses, Qin Yining frowned in defeat. What should I do? Do I just sit here and await my fate?

  Right as she’d almost given up, scattered footsteps approached the door. She turned to peek through the irregular door crack and could vaguely discern a very luxuriously dressed person approaching. She could see the sunlight glinting off of silver thread, delineating designs wrought into the brocade.

  The woodshed door creaked open, prompting a nervous gaze from the Qin fourth miss. Two men, both with obscured faces, escorted another in. When she got a clear look at who was in their midst, Qin Yining’s almond-shaped eyes widened with stunned shock.

  It was an elderly woman!

  The plain, ruby-colored outfit the woman was wearing was decorated with orchids picked out in silver thread. A pure-white cloak was flung over her shoulders, and the woman’s hair had turned completely white since Qin Yining had last seen her. Now, it was neatly upturned into big curl with a white flower tucked into the side.

  The newcomer walked close and yanked out the rag gagging Qin Yining. The girl looked dumbly back, murmuring, “Grandmother, why is it you?!”

  “Granddaughter Yi, apologies for the suffering.” The Duchess of Ding smiled faintly down at Qin Yining and leaned over to undo the ropes on Qin Yining’s limbs.

  Once freed, her clammy hands clasped by the duchess’ dry, cool ones, and Qin Yining used them to help herself up. “Grandmother, what’s going on here?!” She looked incredulously at the elder woman and then at the men in the back. “Who are these people?”

  The duchess remind smiling faintly, but a sharp light shone out of her shrewd eyes. She surreptitiously assessed the expression on her granddaughter’s face and then looked at the unconscious Cao Yuqing on the floor.

  “Granddaughter Yi, do you know of the Azure Justice alliance?” [1]

  Qin Yining’s heart skipped a beat as understanding dawned. “Grandmother, you… Azure Justice is a gathering of rebels that the government has sworn to hunt down!”

  “Rebels?” The duchess snorted derisively. “I wasn’t a rebel
before, and neither were your maternal grandfather, cousins, and nephew. Even then, at the end of the day, how did they end up?”

  Sorrow was born anew in Qin Yining’s heart when she remembered the grisly deaths of the Sun family males. She could understand her maternal grandmother’s bone-deep hate of the trash emperor, and how her grandmother wouldn’t suffer to coexist with the emperor beneath the same heavens. But was joining Azure Justice a prudent response?

  Azure Justice was a brand new organization that’d recently risen from the general populace. It sought to overthrow the trash emperor and discard the tyrannical policies he’d enacted, returning a future as bright as clear blue skies to the people. It loved standing up for justice, so it was present wherever it saw people being oppressed or innocents being wronged. Many citizens who’d been suppressed by the emperor or his greedy officials ended up becoming members.

  Qin Yining had only learned about all this through chatting idly with Grand Steward Zhong. Her gut reaction back then hadn’t been alarm. The appearance of a rebel organization was only normal with how decrepit the emperor was. Azure Justice might even be able to eliminate the scourge of corruption in Great Yan and act as the hand of justice, saving some who’d been harmed by the trash emperor. But to think that this alliance had something to do with her maternal grandmother!

  “Grandmother, is this… what you’ve been doing…” Qin Yining swallowed and continued with difficulty. “Did you create Azure Justice?”

  The duchess nodded, her face breaking out into a smile. “There are too many who’ve suffered beneath that filth of an emperor. I only needed to send out a call for countless unheard victims to respond.” She accepted a dagger from the man behind her and placed it in Qin Yining’s hand. “Darling Yi, go. Kill that Cao bitch for your maternal grandmother.

  “If it wasn’t for that trampress egging things on, your senior cousin wouldn’t have wanted to kill himself to protect his brains. Your maternal grandfather and the rest of the family wouldn’t have been dragged off either. There are so many evil people in this world, so let’s start with née Cao!

  “If you kill her, you’ll be the head of Azure Justice! And all of the power with the alliance will come into your hands!”

  * * *

  The literal translation for this is Blueskies Alliance, but the use of ‘blue skies’ can also mean a morally upright judge. Hence I combined both meanings for the name here. Azure is a clear, bright and cloudless blue sky that plays well into this theme as well.

  Chapter 138: Kidnapping (II)

  Chapter 138: Kidnapping (II)

  A loud hum filled Qin Yining’s mind, and the light dagger in her hand suddenly seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. She looked back at the unconscious Cao Yuqing on the ground. Killing a woman who was out cold was the definition of easy, and certainly much easier than hunting in the mountains. But could Qin Yining possibly kill Cao Yuqing?

  It wasn’t that the girl was afraid of killing. Nor was it a matter of motivation; she still felt a righteous anger over what had happened to her maternal grandfather and male relatives. She hated the trash emperor and trampess’ oppression of the Suns with a fury, matched only by the rage she felt over how the imperial couple toyed with her father and mother.

  In reality, she very much supported Azure Justice. But her mind was not one to fall to momentary impulse, as consequences and possibilities revealed themselves in all their dark and twisted glory in her head. Her grip tightened, and she tookthe duchess’ arm.

  “Grandmother, shall we talk outside?”

  The duchess’ slightly upturned mouth froze for a second, almost curving downward. A sharp light shone out of her eyes once again, seemingly assessing Qin Yining. It felt rather unnerving to Qin Yining, and the girl once again pressed, “Grandmother, can we talk outside? I have a few words I’d like to exchange privately with you.”

  The duchess hesitated for a moment before finally nodding. “Alright then.” She turned to two Azure Justice members holding the door open for her.

  Qin Yining followed the duchess to a field out front and discovered great mountains to their rear. Fields covered the other cardinal directions, houses dotting the landscape not too far in the distance. Each house was separated by large tracts of land. Because it was early spring, hints of green could be found in the fields closer to the forest, but the chilly wind here was even more biting than in the winter time.

  The two walked deeper into the field, leaving the alliance members on guard behind. There was no fear of being overhead, but it was still advantageous for the duchess. The alliance members would be able to rush to aid their leader in plenty of time if Qin Yining tried to make a move against the duchess.

  When Qin Yining saw how the guards positioned themselves, her heart chilled some more. It looks like not only does grandmother want to drag me into her quest for revenge, but she distrusts me on a fundamental level.

  “Grandmother, are my people alright?”

  “Naturally. Would I harm an innocent little girl?” The duchess laughed mockingly. “Aren’t you too concerned about your servants. Why don’t you ask after your aunts-in-law and cousins?”

  “Grandmother’s ability is without parallel, so I trust that the Sun females are naturally in good hands.” Qin Yining responded, keeping her tone measured and not rising to the duchess’ bait. “Please forgive me for being unable to do what grandmother spoke of today. I won’t spread the word that you’re the leader of Azure Justice, nor will I leak information about your movements. But I really can’t agree to joining you.”

  The duchess’ lips pursed unhappily, but her face remained expressionless as she responded. “Do you have no desire for your own faction? Or the power that comes with it? Do you know how many more you’d be able to call upon if you were the head of Azure Justice?”

  “Your granddaughter is but an ordinary noble girl, what would I do with so much power?”

  “Others may not see it clearly, but would I be that blind?” The duchess laughed coldly. “You’re smart, and ambitious enough to desire it. I wouldn’t gift you the position of the alliance head if I didn’t know you personally either.”

  “Does grandmother think that the alliance members really would follow and believe in me, an unmarried girl, if I simply kill née Cao? Since grandmother says I’m smart, why do you try to lull me into false security like a fool? What people respect isn’t me, but my identity. The fact that my father is Grand Preceptor Qin, Marquis of Anping!” Qin Yining’s tone turned sad. “I understand grandmother's pain and hate, but I’m still a Qin daughter. I can’t endanger the entire Qin clan for my own desires. I have no right to dictate the lives of the rest of the family.

  “And grandmother, had you really not thought of any of this before kidnapping me today and forcing me to kill née Cao?” Qin Yining lifted her eyes to look at the duchess, tears gathering in them. “I will never forget the love and protection that you showed me, but grandmother, you shouldn’t have tried to use me as a flag to delineate sides or as a blade for your purposes.”

  The duchess’ expression had already flickered through several faces by this point. Qin Yining’s words made perfect sense, and the girl wasn’t in the wrong to take those factors into consideration.

  But the hate burned! The Sun matriarch couldn’t let her family die for nothing! She was going to use everything at her disposal to exact revenge! The kidnapping today was a step they’d taken to tie Qin Huaiyuan to Azure Justice and get some initial interest by eliminating the trampress’ sister.

  “Granddaughter Yi, do you recall your maternal grandfather’s face? Do you still remember the appearance of your senior cousin and fifth cousin?” The duchess’ tone was bleak and desolate.

  Qin Yining closed her eyes, the tears swimming in them escaping down her cheeks. “I remember. I’ll never forget!”

  “Then why don’t you want to take revenge for them?!” The duchess suddenly shrieked.

  “I want to, but I know I can’t.” Qin Y
ining responded evenly. “I can’t turn the Qins into my funeral pyre or put my father in a position where he’s attacked on all sides, unable to take a single step!”

  The duchess looked at Qin Yining with a complex and resigned gaze. All of the emotions in her eyes were slowly crystallizing into tears, but she didn’t shed them. Instead, she suddenly smiled.

  “Granddaughter Yi, if you’re not willing to kill Cao Yuqing, the alliance members will kill you and your servant. I won’t be able to do anything about that.”

  “Grandmother!” Qin Yining’s head jerked up. She looked incredulously at the elder who’d done nothing but impart endless warmth and love since the girl had returned home. Had her shrewd and just maternal grandmother, who’d once spoken up on her behalf and gifted her the Institute of Luminous Charm, become so blinded by hate that she refused to recognize her family?

  “Grandmother, you want to kill me?”

  “Not me, them. How would they let you live if you won’t be the alliance head and know so many of our secrets?” The duchess looked at Qin Yining. “Cao Yuqing more than deserves her death. You can receive the adoration and respect from all of Azure Justice if you rid the world of one bitch. Is that not enough for you?”

  Qin Yining sighed lightly and tilted her head back to look at the azure sky. “I don’t care about worldly goods, or receiving adoration and respect from others. My desires have always been very simple, grandmother. I want my family to be safe and sound. Although I’m not terribly smart and can’t do much for them, at the very least, I know what I can’t do. Grandmother, I really can’t do what you ask of me.”

  The duchess stared fixedly at Qin Yining, her hands clenching and unclenching, forcefully tamping down her rage.

  Qin Yining’s heart softened when she thought of the hate coursing through her grandmother, and the difficult position they were both in. She gingerly approached the elderly woman and wanted to speak words of comfort when a terrified yell rang out. A man quickly ran up to the duchess and pointed at the woodshed door not too far away.