“Come in.” Emperor Zhaoxuan frowned. Actually, Emperor Zhaoxuan felt so embarrassed about the suggestion proposed by Guo Shidong. His child had been spoiled since childhood. If his child was expelled out of Qi, he must be in deadly danger.
At this moment, Qin Yunuan came in slowly. In the eyes of Sima Ray, she was like a small delicate frightened bird, which attracted others to give much love.
“Your Majesty, her Majesty.” The Queen Mother was not present. She got frightened and had a rest in her chamber.
Qin Yunuan glanced at Sima Qiu who was kneeling beside her. She could clearly see the fingerprints on his face, and then she said in a grave voice, “I have something to show you, your majesty.”
The eunuch passed the handkerchief which was held by Qin Yunuan to the emperor at once. Something inside was tightly wrapped, and it was hard to guess what it is inside.
Emperor Zhaoxuan glimpsed at it and just waved his hands. He had no much energy to figure out much and just indicated Eunuch You to open the handkerchief. The eunuch just shook the handkerchief lightly, and then two silvery needles fell out of the handkerchief on the ground. The ringing sound of falling silvery needles was very clear in the palace.
“What’s this?” Emperor Zhaoxuan looked at the silvery needle, which was then put on a crystal plate and asked. The silvery needle was about middle-finger-sized, as tiny as the cow hair.
Qin Yunuan glanced at people present, and said with a smile, “It seemed that my husband came to save me when the earthquake happened. But he was hit by giant stones and then got faint due to excessive bleeding. Luckily, my maidservant knew some medicinal knowledge. She found by incident that there were two silvery needles stabbed deeply into the cervical vertebra of my husband when she was treating him, which was hard to find by eyes from outside. We figured out finally that the two needles were used to block two main vessels of my husband, which aimed to make him faint after he got injured and bled.”
Emperor Zhaoxuan stunned, “How dare the attacker deliberately hurt the Grand General of Qi.”
Qin Yunuan sneered in her heart. And then she looked at Guo Shidong, who stood beside the emperor, “My husband is always robust and won’t get faint just by stones. The two silvery needles are the key point. It is clear that the attacker not only knows well that my husband practices every day, but also masters the unpopular knowledge. I think among those people who I know, there is only one person who can do it except a man.”
“Who?”
The words of Qin Yunuan had attracted the attention of all people in the court. She stepped forward and raised her head, “He is my elder brother. The son of the legal wife of the Mansion of Grand Commandant, Qin Linfeng.”
“Your brother left a letter and has run away from home,” Qin Zhi said gloomily, “Now you get strong. How dare you disgrace Qin Family?”
Qin Yunuan even did not glimpse at Qin Zhi, “No, my elder brother has never left. In other words, he is at the Royal City all the time with us. Besides, he is standing in the court.” Qin Yunuan said while she was walking toward Guo Shidong. Guo Shidong, though wore a mask, had expressed the cold and gloomy temperament from each pore of his body.
After they could not hide their eyes, Qin Yunuan smiled to the talented Mr. Guo, who just appeared for only one day but had stirred up the whole royal family in a mess, “Brother, long time no see. How are you?”
“I don’t understand what Infanta Ping said just now,” Guo Shidong glimpsed at Qin Yunuan and turned his head, “I have heard about the Grand Young Master of Qin Family. Infanta Ping and the Grand Commandant Qin, I also feel so sorry for the uninformed leaving of the Grand Young Master of Qin Family.”
Qin Yunuan raised her eyes slightly. Without the information of Leng Shuang, Qin Yunuan would not make sure that Guo Shidong was Qin Linfeng. As her plan, she just indicated Leng Shuang to investigate within three days Guo Shidong’s residence in the Royal City and the people he had connected. But to her surprise, Guo Shidong followed secretly the troops of the nobles who left the Royal City and went to the palace nearby, and then he entered the palace secretly. He did not go to visit the emperor and the Third Prince Sima Ray, who was very intimate with him, but only went to the outside of the chamber of Qin Yunzhuang.
“The healer said Guo Shidong stood outside the chamber for the whole night. When the earthquake happened, he almost rushed into the chamber to save the Grand Prince’s Wife. I guess that because he knew that he was not the imperial member, so he did not enter the chamber and then left.”
In the whole world, there was only one person who treated so well to Qin Yunzhuang. The person was dead in front of her and Qin Yunuan. But surprisingly, all was a play conducted by Sima Ray. He let Qin Yunzhuang believe that Qin Linfeng had died, which could break all the hope of Qin Yunzhuang. To think more deeply, Sima Ray was likely to have known Qin Yunuan and Leng Shuang had hidden behind at that moment, but he did not mind that two more audiences were there.
As for the son of Minister Liu who was the dead body, he was so hapless. His body height and shape were the same as Qin Linfeng, and he wore similar clothes compared with Qin Linfeng. Thus, he was used as the corpse substitute of Qin Linfeng. Sima Ray must let everybody believe that Qin Linfeng had died. However, the careful Leng Changxi found the trick during the plan of Sima Ray.
In the beginning, Qin Yunuan doubted that Qin Linfeng was not dead. And with the information of Leng Shuang, now she could make sure that behind the mask of Guo Shidong, the man was Qin Linfeng.
“The Taoist Priest, please take off your mask.”
“No way,” Sima Ray suddenly stood up, “The mask of the Taoist Priest was put on by his master Gui Lingzi personally. His master had done a fortunetelling for the Taoist Priest that if he left the mountain, he would have a bad misfortune. If he wanted to get away from the misfortune, he must wear a mask all the time. If he took off the mask, he would die immediately. Infanta Ping, don’t tell a joke with the life of the Taoist Priest.”
Qin Yunuan looked at Guo Shidong, and he nodded lightly, “Yes, he is right. Infanta Ping, if you really suspect my identity, you can ask the official who was dispatched by the emperor to visit my master. He saw me and knew my identity. I am the real disciple of Gui Lingzi, not the Grand Young Master of Qin Family.”
“It’s easy,” Qin Yunuan had figured out the plots and tricks between Guo Shidong and Sima Ray, “Well, my elder brother has a deep relationship with my elder sister. Third Prince and the Taoist Priest, if you do not mind, I can invite my elder sister to come here. Without face recognition, she can recognize if the Taoist Priest was my elder brother just by close observation.”
As expected, the moment Qin Yunuan mentioned Qin Yunzhunag, Guo Shidong shuddered clearly. Guo Shidong kept calm all the time but felt touched only when he heard about the name of Qin Yunzhuang.
At this moment, an imperial maidservant rushed in the court. She was the maidservant of Qin Yunzhuang, Caiyue.
“Third Prince, Third Prince, something bad happened. The Third Prince’s Wife was hit by a falling stone in the rockery. Now she got faint and bled excessively.”
“What?” Guo Shidong and Sima Ray said simultaneously.
Sima Ray quickly found the conspicuous reaction of Guo Shidong. He was about to remind Guo Shidong, who paid much attention to the injured Qin Yunzhuang, but Guo Shidong got absent-minded. Just in a flash, Qin Yunuan stepped back and shouted, “Leng Shuang.”
At this moment, a purple body flashed across with silvery lights and then took off the mask of Guo Shidong, who was absent-minded. The black mask fell on the ground with a weird sound.
For the first time, the real face of Guo Shidong was exposed in front of all people here. But just in a flash, they all felt shocked. The face of Guo Shidong was not normal. His face turned so blurred and was covered by many skin ulcers and scars. His nose was no longer raised but collapsed like a deep hole, which was so frightening.
Unlike ordinary people who must retreat due to the scary face, Qin Yunuan suddenly shouted before everybody calmed down, “Leng Wu.”
Leng Shuang cooperated with Leng Wu, and nobody could resist their attack in a short time. Leng Wu flashed into the court, holding a bottle of medicine water, and then he poured it into the face of the frightening Guo Shidong. Immediately, those scars and skin ulcers fell on the ground, and quickly the glossy half face was disclosed.
“This is the medicine water that is used to resolve the skin mask. Elder brother, I remember that you told me that you had 1000 methods to kill me by your abundant knowledge which was gained when you traveled outside. But unluckily, you are too weak.”
The skin mask on the face of Guo Shidong had been resolved completely while Qin Yunuan was speaking. As expected, everybody here was astonished. The face of the Grand Young Master of Qin Family could prove well the real identity of Guo Shidong.
“How dare you!” Emperor Zhaoxuan got outrageous and stood suddenly, “Qin Zhi, is he your well-educated son? You are the Grand Commandant of the imperial court and a good example of all officials. Is he your qualified son? He is even deceiving me!”
At this moment, Qin Yunzhuang, in a simple dress, showed up in the court with her tousy and untidied hair. Qin Yunzhuang was frightened by the earthquake and just slept with a bad grace under the comforting of the imperial maidservant. She rushed into here when she heard a big thing happened. She could not help but cry when she saw Qin Linfeng standing in the middle of the court.
“Brother, are you alive? Are you really alive? On that day, I saw you….” Qin Yunzhuang knew she said something wrong because she should not tell others the trace of Third Prince or she would die distressingly.
The Third Prince exactly expressed his surprise. He said doubtfully, “Impossible! Master Guo, no! Grand Young Master Qin, how come you? Father, I was cheated by him. I don’t know Qin Linfeng pretended to be Master Guo.”
The whole scene was in a mess. Qin Linfeng looked at Qin Yunzhuang who he had not seen for a long time. He missed her very much but felt confused, “Yunzhuang, did you got hurt? Why do you come here?”
Qin Yunzhuang shook her head, “I did not get hurt. I was well protected by my servants when the earthquake. I am OK.”
Qin Linfeng turned his eyes to Qin Yunuan and said with overwhelming outrageous eyes, “Qin Yunuan, I am gonna kill you!”
