“Father.” Qin Yining called softly.
Qin Huaiyuan turned to see his daughter dressed in mourning robes, her face pale as a sheet. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to light incense for everyone and offer my kowtows.” Qin Yining was standing in front of the third madame’s coffin. The late madame was dressed in a vivid sapphire death robes. A single look was enough to start tears flowing uncontrollably.
She knelt in front of the altar and touched her forehead to the ground, choking out, “It’s all my fault. I’m so sorry to everyone.” Sobs rose in volume at her words.
The third elder master wiped at his face and shook his head. “Don’t blame yourself, niece Yi. Like I said before, this matter isn’t anyone’s fault. The only fault we have is to be born in these troubled times.”
Qin Yu’s wife hadn’t escaped the disaster either. They’d married each other when young and loved each other very much. Though née Yao hadn’t given birth in all these years, Qin Yu had never been willing to take a concubine. A gaping hole was ripped in his heart now that she was gone. He didn’t add anything to the third elder master’s words, just continued in a trance to place paper money into the brazier.
Qin Yining forced herself to higher alertness and didn’t want to further guess at her family’s thoughts. Even if they hated her, she deserved it for dragging them all down with her. She was more concerned about another matter at the moment.
“Father, do you know where the assassins are from?”
“Yes.” Firelight reflected off of Qin Huaiyuan’s face as he spoke slowly. “The matter has been thoroughly looked into. The Great Zhou emperor sent the assassins. One, because of what the Soothsayer said about your fortunes and two, to assassinate the emperor. There were at least a hundred involved in the operation. They caught the eyes of the Warden’s Offices of the Five Wards and Silver Masks when they entered the capital dressed as merchants two days ago.”
The second and third elder master, Qin Yu, and Qin Han handed their paper money to the servants beside them. There were too many people present; it was inappropriate to have this conversation here. They headed for the flower hall with unspoken accord, arranging trusted confidantes to keep guard outside.
Only then did Qin Huaiyuan continue. “Their plan was very thorough. Attackers were first sent to our manor and the palace while a few of their elites remained in the shadows as a backup plan. If it wasn’t for Sir Mu’s timely intervention, darling Yi would probably not be sitting here right now either.”
The second and third elder master shook their heads with a sigh.
“Who’s Sir Mu?” asked Qin Yu.
“A person that little Prince Pang sent to protect my daughter.”
This took the third elder master aback. “You mean that the little prince sent someone to protect our niece?”
Qin Yining knew that the slightest bit of concealment to her family would easily cause misunderstanding. She quickly set the record straight.
“Yes, when Pang Zhixi learned that his emperor had sent men to kill me, he quickly arranged for a highly skilled jianghu hero to come help. But water far away does nothing for a fire close at hand. He didn’t make it in time for the first group of attackers, only arriving to capture the three later assassins.”
The second elder master nodded silently.
Qin Han frowned. “It looks like the Zhou emperor and Pang Zhixi have different opinions.”
“In my opinion, emperors are all the same no matter where they are.” Qin Han snorted derisively. “They only care about the security of their positions and nothing about the sufferings of the people. It was only some wild and unfounded rumors about fourth sister, but that was enough for the Zhou emperor to send men from far away to come kill her, and kill so many of our family as well! We can tell from this that he’s a law unto himself and thinks nothing of human lives.”
Qin Yining lowered her head. “It’s all my fault in the end.” She took a deep breath in and didn’t wait for the others to console her. Turning to the marquis, she asked, “Father, have you gotten anything out of the assassins?”
“They were tortured, so they’ve spilled the beans on everything they know. A few of their compatriots are still at large. Men from Azure Justice arrived just in time to throw them all out, but the trail was lost later on. Security is very tight in the capital at the moment, so they won’t get away. They’ll just disband and hide amongst the people. The Warden’s Office has been searching and hunting everywhere, but haven’t come up with anything yet.”
“And when we do catch them?” Qin Yining asked. “Has the emperor said what he’ll do with them then?”
Qin Huaiyuan shook his head slowly. “The emperor hasn’t said anything yet.”
“Hasn’t said anything yet?” Qin Yining chuckled coldly. “Things will be difficult if the emperor doesn’t express anything. Father, second uncle, third uncle — would you say that with our emperor’s character, might he give all of the assassins back to Great Zhou if the Zhou emperor demands it?”
“That’s entirely too possible.” Qin Han’s tone was anguished. “Think about what happened to the Duke of Ding. Great Zhou hadn’t even said anything, but our emperor hurried to harm loyal subjects. If the Zhou emperor tosses out ‘hand them over and you won’t die’, our emperor will deliver the assassins wrapped up nicely with a bow! Then our family members will have died for nothing!”
Qin Yu closed his eyes, his hands clenched tightly around the seat of his round chair. The third elder master broke out in loud sobs when he thought of his eleven-year-old son and considerate wife. He wept like a lost babe.
“It’s all because of my incompetence that I couldn’t protect your mother and little brother. If the emperor wants to release these murderers, I’ll, I’ll kill him myself!”
“Father.” Qin Han took his father’s hand. “Don’t cry yourself sick. Mother would never want that to happen to you. Natural disasters and wars are unavoidable. None of this is your fault. Those of us still alive should think about how to get justice for our dead kin. We have an even more important responsibility to bear. Father, you must remain calm.”
The third elder master wiped at his face with his sleeve, forcing his emotions back under control.
Qin Yining also dabbed away tears and continued hoarsely, “We can’t let the emperor hand them over, whether it’s the ones we’ve captured or the group still running. The assassins at large will become a latent threat if we don’t catch them. But if the emperor won’t let us kill them… I’ll have to think of something else.
“Openly defying the emperor is a foolish move. We’d be dashing eggs against rocks in head-on conflict. We need to think of an appropriate way to make these murderers pay!”
“Darling Yi, do you have a plan?” Qin Huaiyuan asked.
“Yes.” Qin Yining nodded with a resolute look. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The blood of the Qins stain their hands. I’ll have these murderers pay in blood!”
* * *
Chapter 216: Revenge (II)
Chapter 216: Revenge (II)
Everyone was filled with hate given how badly the family had been oppressed. They aimed bright looks of anticipation at Qin Yining when they heard her words.
“Tell us what you’ve thought of,” Qin Huaiyuan rumbled.
“There are four critical things we need to handle as soon as possible. First, have everyone know how malicious the Great Zhou emperor is. He tried to exterminate the Qins because of the Soothsayer’s fortunes and jealousy of father’s talents. Spread the news of how devastating the attack was so that everyone can see how badly we’ve been persecuted.”
Qin Huaiyuan nodded. “I was planning to do that as well.”
The third elder master nodded after momentary thought. “It’ll be good to have everything out in the open. The emperor might want to just smooth everything over if we keep our mouths shut. We’ll really have suffered all this for nothing then.”
“Third uncle’s right. That’s what I’m thinking as well.” Qin Yining mused quietly. “Whatever the emperor feels most guilty about is what he wants to hear the least discussion of. So once this matter spreads, he’ll have to consider his reputation before taking any action, not to mention that with father’s reputation, what happened to us will absolutely arouse public anger. That might even translate to a positive effect on the war.”
The second elder master, Qin Han, and Qin Yu all nodded.
“Second is to let the public know when we hold the burial, we’ll be dismembering the three assassins in front of our family’s tombs.”
“Dismember!” The second elder master was flabbergasted and paced fretfully. “This probably isn’t very appropriate. The three haven’t been give a trial. We’re already opening ourselves to criticism with our interrogation. If we take it another step further and put them to death, not only do we run afoul of the law, but it’ll give the Caos another excuse to persecute your father, not to mention what gossip it’ll cause again.”
“That’s right,” Qin Han agreed. “What happened with the Ministry of Revenue hasn’t been settled yet. This will only give the Caos more fuel.”
“Although second uncle and second brother make sense, the law doesn’t care about people’s feelings. With what’s happened to our family, the people will only applaud us if we cooked and ate the assassins, much less just pull their limbs off.
“Are we easy targets to be kicked and thrown around however others want to? Our attackers have charged through our door, are we too scared to take revenge even after capturing them? We’ll be the laughingstock of the entire world! Great Yan and Great Zhou are at war. There’s no place left for playing nice in hopes of preventing conflict. This is when we should be displaying our attitudes. The emperor is too much of a coward to do so, so someone at court should step forward strongly.”
These words struck Qin Han like a bolt of enlightenment. The second elder master nodded as well.
“Although this is risky,” Qin Huaiyuan picked up the conversation, “it’s not a bad plan. Once the news spread, their compatriots will try to rescue them. We’ll just need to lay a trap to capture them all. And if they don’t come, killing the three we have will be some comfort to those who have passed.”
“That’s right.” Qin Yining nodded, her eyes bright. “The Great Zhou emperor gave them a mission to come kill me. He’ll fault them if they don’t complete the mission. I’ll give them an opening when we bury our family. I highly doubt that they’ll be able to refrain from taking action then.”
“No, that’s too dangerous.” Qin Yu frowned. “Fourth sister, I know that you want to take revenge for the family and nip trouble in the bud, but you’re injured and our family’s finally found momentary peace. We can’t lose anyone else. What if something happens to you after we lure the assassins here?”
He really wanted to exact revenge for his wife, but he wanted even more for all of his family to remain safe and sound.
Qin Yining smiled gratefully at her older cousin and sighed. “How will we accomplish anything major without some degree of risk? It’s not that dangerous, really.”
Qin Huaiyuan had already thought of all this when his daughter proposed her plan. “I’ll go discuss this with that person. I’ll try to borrow their experts.”
The fourth miss looked at her father and nodded with a smile. Others might not know who the marquis was talking about, but she did. He was planning on borrowing some Silver Masks from Cao Yuqing. This had been part of Qin Yining’s plan as well.
“Alright, thank you then, father. I’ll go ask Sir Mu myself, as well as approach Azure Justice.”
“Azure Justice?” Qin Han widened his eyes with surprise.
The girl smiled. “I know some people in the alliance. If things go well, they can help us as well.”
“But they’re rebels!” Qin Han murmured.
“Rebels?” Qin Yining laughed despite herself. “The heavens themselves are unfair. Who cares about this at a time like this? If it wasn’t for these so-called rebels coming in time to scare the assassins off, we’d all be dead!”
It was then that Qin Han and Qin Yu learned that the crowd of people who’d rushed in to help the Qins were from Azure Justice. The second and third elder master already had their suspicions, so they weren’t too surprised.
Qin Yining carefully went over the particulars of her plan with her father. The group offered a multitude of suggestions before the marquis picked the best way to proceed.
Seeing his daughter’s pale face, Qin Huaiyuan dismissed the meeting. “It’s getting late, why don’t we all head back and rest? We can make our next moves when daughter Yi is feeling better.”
“Alright.” The room dimmed before her eyes when Qin Yining rose. She had to close her eyes and compose herself before feeling better.
Back at the Venerable Study Hall, she fell fast asleep right after taking her medicine. Meanwhile, Qin Huaiyuan invited Cao Yuqing to the rear garden for a quiet discussion. Their conversation went on for a full hour.
In the military camp outside Xihua, Pang Xiao was finally greeted with the arrival of his Elite Tigers after several days of worrying. These were his confidantes. All of them were highly skilled and very loyal. The Yan capital was under heavy guard these days with the advent of war. Getting any information out of the city was difficult for even these elites, much less typical scouts.
Recently, Pang Xiao hadn’t been in the mood to train his troops at all. He brought this confidantes to a quiet, spacious opening and made sure that there was no one else around. “Hurry and tell me, how are things in the capital? Did the emperor’s men make it in?”
“In response to Your Highness, the emperor arranged for a hundred deathsworn to enter the capital as merchants. They raided the Marquis of Anping’s manor a few days ago. We looked in on them and saw that many were indeed dead. A majority of the servants, head maids and mamas, as well as the third madame, first wife, sixth and seventh miss…”
“I don’t want to know about them. Just tell me about the fourth miss.” Pang Xiao stood with hands balled into tight fists behind his back. Though his expression was the same as usual, a frosty aura emanated, imparting a frightening sensation of an unsheathed blade hungry for blood.
It was the first time that the Elite Tigers had seen the prince so angry. They cut their report short. “The fourth miss took a hit and lost a lot of blood. It might harm the foundations of her health. She was apparently still in a feverish sleep when we left.”
“What did you say?” Pang Xiao’s tone remained even, but the threat within was taking almost material form. His suppressed response made the Elite Tiger drop to one knee.
“Please quell your anger, Your Highness.”
Pang Xiao forced a few deep breaths, telling himself to be calm. But he itched with anger when he thought of how his emperor had reached a decision to kill Qin Yining, using the excuse of her being the talisman of Great Yan.
The emperor had actually sent an eunuch to Pang Xiao with orders to assassinate the official daughter of the Marquis of Anping. When Pang Xiao refused, the eunuch started lecturing him, also under imperial orders. The eunuch berated him for not understanding priorities and showing disrespect in defying an imperial order.
This was the second time the prince had defied an imperial order at Xihua. He was someone who could bend and extend with the times. If it’d been before, he wouldn’t have gone overboard with his response, no matter how irritating or hoity-toity the eunuch was acting. There would be a certain degree of mutual respect since they were all just doing their jobs.
But the eunuch’s every word had been to take Qin Yining’s life!
He couldn’t bear to even touch such a treasure. How would he tolerate others wanting to hurt her?
And so the prince ended up in a loud argument with the eunuch, beating up the palace servant in the end.
The servant had left in tears, undoubtedly filling the emperor�
��s ears with complaints and accusations when he returned.
But this had to do with Qin Yining, an occurrence that always evaporated all of Pang Xiao’s rationality, leaving behind only instinct.
When the eunuch had rushed off, he’d also sent a messenger pigeon to Mu Jinghu, urging his friend to enter the capital with all haste to protect Qin Yining. If he could, Pang Xiao really wanted to go himself. But he’d already left the military camp once a few days ago. If he left again when the battlefield was so tense, he’d be running afoul of an enormous military taboo.
He could only grit his teeth and tamp down the unease in his heart, pray for the safety of the Qins, and pray that Mu Jinghu would get there in time.
But she’d still been injured!
Pang Xiao closed his eyes, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white.
This was a sight that the Elite Tigers had never seen before. Their master was usually a mysterious and reserved one. He was most wary of other people seeing through him, but all that was apparently going out of the window!
“This prince understand.” Pang Xiao emitted a long sigh after a moment, his tone still the same as usual. “Take some men and secretly protect Qin Si.”
Incomprehension blanketed the Elite Tigers. They were highly trained people. They.. were being sent to protect an unmarried girl?
“Is there a problem?” Pang Xiao arched a brow.
“No, not at all. This subordinate understands and will go immediately.” The guard bowed and scurried off.
Pang Xiao remained standing in the clearing, his arms crossed as he lifted his head to look at the crescent of the new moon. He slowly spat out through grit teeth after a while, “Well now, aren’t you something!”
* * *
Chapter 217: Revenge (III)
Chapter 217: Revenge (III)
Return of the Swallow c1-644 Page 130