“Bad news, née Cao’s run off! Two of our brothers at the door have died!” He panted out.
“Run off?” The duchess was taken aback. The woman’s hands and feet had been tied, and there were two men standing on guard at the door. Who could possibly be so skilled and vicious to kill the guards without anyone noticing and save née Cao? The duchess looked suspiciously at Qin Yining.
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Chapter 139: Hostage
Chapter 139: Hostage
Qin Yining was also filled with confusion. They’d just exited the woodshed and spoken only a few words, but that’d been enough time for née Cao to escape! Was someone protecting them from the shadows?
She didn’t have anyone by her side like this, but Cao Yuqing was a Cao, so it was possible that she did. But, if that was the case, why hadn’t the rescuers appeared earlier? Why had they waited until she’d woken up and gone out to speak with the duchess?
Perhaps the Caos wished nothing more than for her to die here? Or perhaps they felt that she was in cahoots with the duchess! This would spell great trouble if the Caos really did think that she was on the same side as the Duchess of Ding!
Although the Caos and Qins were connected by ties of marriage, Qin Huaiyuan wasn’t warm towards née Cao and he’d taken over Elder Statesman Cao’s old position. Even if Statesman Cao was no longer an official, his connections were everywhere and his network wide and complex. The Qins didn’t have the ability to resist them at all.
Quite a few thoughts occurred to Qin Yining in an instant, and she felt that this development was quite tricky. All of this had happened because of her maternal grandmother, and the latter happened to be assessing her with a suspicious glance. At the moment Qin Yining really didn’t know whether to be angry or resigned.
The duchess sized up Qin Yining for quite a while and didn’t read anything from the girl’s expression. She laughed self-deprecatingly. “Well, she’s run off now, so nothing I say will make a difference. But you live under the same roof as née Cao, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to kill her in the future.”
Qin Yining looked back at her grandmother and responded seriously. “Grandmother, I think I was quite clear just now. I won’t tattle on you or make life difficult for you, and I’ll even continue looking after everyone’s lives here. But I really can’t drag the Qins into this.”
The duchess shook her head with disappointment after the repeated rejections. Those remaining on guard around the duchess had gathered not too far away. When they heard Qin Yining’s repeated rejection, they couldn’t help but grow angry.
“Leader, why waste all these words with her? I can tell this girl lusts after wealth and glory and is the same as that dog of an emperor!”
“That’s right, Leader! Not only is she the same as the dumperor, she’s long since forgotten the ties of family she has with you and is even involved with Great Zhou!”
“Right! I heard that that Pang fellow from Great Zhou is overly intimate with her!”
“Perhaps old man Qin brought her to the peace talks to turn traitor!”
“Not only is she so blind as to serve that fool of an emperor, but she’s a traitor as well! Leader, kill her!”
“Kill her! Kill her!” The men had violent grimaces on their face as they hoisted their iron blades high, looking at Qin Yining in a bloodthirsty fashion. They were like feral dogs, ready to pounce on Qin Yining and rip her to bits at any moment.
But she wasn’t afraid. She merely looked calmly at the Duchess of Ding.
“Everyone, be quiet.” The duchess’ voice wasn’t loud, but it was full of authority that really did quiet everyone down. “The Marquis of Anping is wholeheartedly devoted to Great Yan. He is the same as the males of my house and would never betray his country. As for my granddaughter, do you really not know why the trash emperor had her join the peace talks?”
The group thought carefully of Qin Huaiyuan’s character and quieted down again.
“Didn’t we want Miss Qin to be the leader today because the Marquis of Anping is trustworthy?” the duchess continued. “I hope we don’t act emotionally and just impulsively call for someone’s head. Wouldn’t that make us the same as those greedy and corrupt officials who murder and harm innocents?”
These few words were enough to make hands wielding blades trail down, their desire to hurt Qin Yining waning. The girl heaved a silent sigh of relief, gaining a deeper understanding of her grandmother’s place in Azure Justice.
“Grandmother, should…”
“Bad news! Everyone run!”
Qin Yining was interrupted as soon as she’d spoken. She quickly looked backwards at the source the voice and her eyes widened with shock. Cao Yuqing was wielding a longsword, dressed in silk skirts and a flaring cloak around her shoulders! She was at the head of ten other silver masked, black garbed men and charging in from the distance!
Cao Yuqing’s face was frost and the edge of her blade keen. The agility she displayed in her twists and turns demonstrated an even higher grasp of martial arts than the Silver Masks behind her, and it was clear that the men looked to her as their leader!
In her extreme surprise, Qin Yining suddenly recalled the Silver Masks who’d come running down walls to protect the emperor on the day of the welcoming ceremony. Their leader was a woman, and her figure had been remarkably similar to Cao Yuqing’s!
Even though her brain was sluggish from the unexpected development, Qin Yining had realized by now that Cao Yuqing was the leader of the Silver Masks that served the emperor! So she was the one who’d killed the guards and run away, there was no one else!
Cao Yuqing had purposefully brought Qin Yining with her to the nunnery and allowed herself to be captured, likely because she already knew that the leader of Azure Justice was the Duchess of Ding! She was testing me and using me to lure grandmother out!
And if the Silver Masks that served the emperor knew of the duchess’ involvement, would the emperor remain in the dark? Now that née Cao was Qin Huaiyuan’s concubine, did he know of Cao Yuqing’s true identity as well?!
The color drained from Qin Yining’s face the more she thought about this. Cao Yuqing was charging in with her men, slaughtering people like she was slicing vegetables. A handful of alliance members were dead on the ground already and the Silver Masks were about to break through. Qin Yining frantically threw significant looks at the duchess.
The Duchess of Ding was also arrested in her tracks by Cao Yuqing’s momentum and instantly understood when she saw the girl’s looks. Qin Yining was telling her to use the girl as a hostage! Mixed emotions assailed the duchess. She’d wanted to use and had then threatened Qin Yining, but her granddaughter was still trying to protect her!
There was no time to think and the duchess immediately threw an arm around Qin Yining, yanking a blade from the hands of a man next to her. She rested the blade on Qin Yining’s pale,slender neck, “Halt, or I kill her!”
Cao Yuqing pulled out her sword from another’s chest and looked expressionlessly at Qin Yining and the Duchess of Ding. She snorted coldly. “The ties of family run deep between you two, huh? This is certainly eye-opening.”
“Oh I’m unworthy of that sentiment. The eldest Cao daughter is the trash emperor’s secret service. This is certainly eye opening as well. I wonder if your father, mother, and younger sister know of your identity?” The duchess was coolly composed as she backed towards the outskirts of the fields, the blade still on Qin Yining’s neck.
Qin Yining was panicking wildly and sobbing ferociously through her struggles. “Let me go! I was so filial towards you, but this is how you treat me! I was wrong about you!”
“Shut up! You’re just a dog for that pathetic excuse of an emperor. How dare you talk of filial piety with me?! If you really are filial, why didn’t you kill her just now?!” The duchess steeled her heart and banged the sword hilt firmly onto Qin Yining’s shoulder. When the girl shouted with pain, the blade was once again pointed towards her neck. �
�Have all of your men move away and let us leave, or I’ll kill her!”
Cao Yuqing could see that Qin Yining’s face was mottled with tears and that her complexion was wan from nerves. Her slender hands were grasping one of the duchess’ arms, but the cold blade edge was pressing against her neck. It seemed that blood would paint the scene if the girl leaned forward even the slightest bit. And so, Qin Yining was frozen with fear, prompting a dark and vicious expression on Cao Yuqing’s face.
The concubine had been certain that Qin Yining wasn’t in the same camp as the duchess when the fourth miss had refused to kill her. Now that she saw how heartless the duchess was being and ignoring ties of family with her granddaughter, Cao Yuqing was even more certain that Qin Yining had nothing to do with Azure Justice.
Cao Yuqing wouldn’t have cared if it’d been any other Qin daughter. She would’ve ordered her men to charge forward and execute all of the rebels. But this hostage was Qin Huaiyuan’s most beloved daughter. He had no son and loved this firstborn daughter like no other. Cao Yuqing was devoted to Qin Huaiyuan and if his daughter died here, he would hate the concubine even if it wasn’t née Cao’s fault. Wouldn’t that form a moat between the two of them that could never be bridged?
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Chapter 140: Loving Everything About a Person
Chapter 140: Loving Everything About a Person
“So it seems that someone as righteous as the Duchess of Ding can be this cold hearted as well. I wonder how the Duke of Ding would feel if he knew that you’d dragged innocents in for your own purposes and was threatening even your own granddaughter?” Cao Yuqing’s knuckles were white from her tight grip on her sword.
“You Caos are least qualified to say that!” The duchess spat through clenched teeth, wanting nothing more than to pounce on the concubine and eat her alive. She shifted the blade closer to Qin Yining’s neck. “Move aside and let us leave, or I’ll kill her. It’ll just be some noble blood accompanying us in death if it comes down to it, so it’s not a loss for Azure Justice at all!”
Qin Yining played along nicely and arched her neck, shrieking in sobbing tones, “Save me, save me! I don’t want to die here!”
Cao Yuqing looked coldly at the duchess and slowly lifted her left hand, backing away as she did so. The Silver Masks behind her also followed, clearing a path.
Qin Yining heaved a silent sigh of relief and clutched her grandmother’s arm even more firmly, urging her to leave quickly. The duchess immediately ran out with the remaining six alliance members, still holding Qin Yining hostage along the way.
Cao Yuqing quickly ran off in hot pursuit, but she could see that the Duchess of Ding still had her blade resting on the girl’s slender neck as they ran. Flecks of blood could even be glimpsed, making the concubine more fearful about her pursuit. She was deathly worried that the duchess would really kill the girl.
Wooden fencing lined the path and the group rounded the corner to see five horses hidden in the grass. The duchess had prearranged this and loudly urged her men onto them.
“Get on the horses, quick!” Her people obeyed and jumped on, two or one to a horse. Cao Yuqing had caught up by now.
“Don’t come any closer!” The duchess tightened her grip on the blade.
Cao Yuqing could see the crazed determination in the duchess’ eyes. This gave her enough hesitation that she didn’t order her men forward.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. The duchess threw Qin Yining down onto the ground and swiftly whirled, taking someone’s hand to jump onto a horse. The five horses immediately galloped down the road.
“After them!” Cao Yuqing waved her hand to send her men forward.
Qin Yining was sprawled on the ground, scrapes on her palms and elbows and gulping down wracking sobs. Cao Yuqing took a few steps forward and sheathed her sword when she saw the girl’s hair in wild disarray, her entire being bedraggled and in shambles, and weeping up a piteous storm. The concubine helped her up with both hands.
“How are you?” she asked gently.
Qin Yining looked tearily up at Cao Yuqing, her reddened eyes and nose inviting even more sympathy when offset by her creamy skin. Cao Yuqing lifted the girl’s chin up to inspect for injuries and found that a small patch of her white collar had been dyed red from fresh blood. There were two cuts on her neck, likely from when things had gotten tense earlier. They’d already stopped bleeding.
“Thank goodness nothing major happened.” Cao Yuqing sighed and put her arm around Qin Yining’s shoulder for a good pat. Setting aside how she was Qin Huaiyuan’s most beloved daughter, Cao Yuqing would’ve never been able to harm the girl given how similar she looked to a young Qin Huaiyuan. She only felt that the girl was quite innocent for having suffered all this, having been tricked into making this trip.
“Auntie Cao, you…” Qin Yining sniffled loudly. “Your martial arts skills are so good, are you really the imperial secret service that my maternal grandmother mentioned?”
Cao Yuqing nodded.
“I saw the Silver Masks come protect the emperor when the assassins attacked the emperor and my father. There was a woman with them who was highly skilled. Was that you?”
“Yes.” Cao Yuqing nodded forthrightly.
Qin Yining had an exceedingly complicated impression of the concubine, she finally concluded, “Then my father knew of your identity from the very beginning?”
Cao Yuqing arched a brow and asked prettily, “What makes you ask that?”
“Because you’re not hiding your identity from me, today.” Qin Yining looked down again and wiped away tears with her sleeves. “I really hadn’t thought that grandmother could be like this.” There seemed to be no end to her tears as they kept falling.
Her sad form dispelled the last suspicions in Cao Yuqing’s heart. She held the girl and comforted Qin Yining instead.
The remaining Silver Masks returned before long.
“They got away?” Cao Yuqing didn’t wait for them to speak.
“Yes.” The man leading them responded with a downcast head.
“I see. I’ll explain this to the emperor. Dismissed.”
“Understood.” The men raised cupped fist salutes and quickly took their leave.
Cao Yuqing brought Qin Yining back to the residence that the woodshed was a part of. A carriage had already been readied, and a unfamiliar groom was on it, waiting to be of service. Bingtang and Lu-mama were standing next to the carriage, craning their necks around anxiously. Their hearts pounded when they saw their mistresses walking back so intimately and how Qin Yining’s eyes were puffy from crying.
They’d both been knocked unconscious and hadn’t known what’d happened, but their mistresses were beauties. Even if someone had saved them from the bandits, they still must’ve suffered to certain degrees.
Bingtang’s complexion was shockingly pale, but she still had to retain her calm. She walked up to help Qin Yining. “Miss, you’re hurt!”
“I’m fine.” Qin Yining shook her head.
The maid’s expression grew even uglier when she saw that her mistress’ hands and elbows were scraped, and that traces of blood dotted Qin Yining’s neck. However, Bingtang didn’t ask further given that née Cao was present as well.
The concubine gave orders to return to the manor when they settled into the carriage. She leaned against a cushion and closed her eyes in rest. That lazy gentleness was the same as when they’d travelled to the nunnery. Her sword was somewhere, somehow.
Qin Yining knew that those who practiced martial arts had exceedingly fine sensitivities. An expert like Cao Yuqing would give her trouble if the girl so much as took a few extra looks at the concubine. Thus, the Qin fourth miss trailed her head down without another word, as if she’d suffered a grave injustice and fright, but still had to put on a brave front in spite of it all.
Bingta
ng’s heart sank to new depths as she treated the wounds on her mistress’ hands and elbows. Some foreboding speculations surfaced in her heart, but she couldn’t satisfy her curiosity out of concern of pouring salt in Qin Yining’s wounds. She could only speak some soft words of comfort.
The carriage stopped in front of the Anping Manor at dusk. Cao Yuqing turned to the fourth miss with a smile when they alighted.
“Fourth Miss, traveling by carriage is so tiring. This concubine will go back first and rest. You should as well.” She didn’t behave out of the ordinary at all.
Qin Yining understood that the concubine wished to keep today’s matters a secret. The girl had purposefully cried her eyes puffy and now ‘forcefully’ squeezed out a stalwart smile. “Go well, Auntie Cao. I need to borrow a book from father’s study and won’t accompany you since we’re going in different directions.”
Cao Yuqing flicked a brow up, surprised that Qin Yining was so directly revealing that she was going to Qin Huaiyuan. “I see, then as you wish, Fourth Miss.”
Qin Yining nodded with a slight smile and went her separate way after bidding farewell to Cao Yuqing. She made straight for the outer study after entering the manor doors and grabbed a pageboy to confirm that her father was there.
“Please deliver a message from me that I’d like to borrow a book from father. Is he free at the moment?”
The pageboy happily confirmed and bounced inside to deliver the message.
Qin Huaiyuan happened to be reading cross-legged on the luohan bed next to the window. He found the servants’ words rather odd. The Venerable Study Hall has a rich library. Daughter Yi can read her fill there. His daughter had come to him just after a trip to the nunnery with Cao Yuqing, so something must’ve happened on the road.
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