“You’re just a monster, who’s neither a man nor a woman.”
Qin Yunuan’s words were like a spell which controlled people’s minds. It whirled in Sun Baozhen’s head repeatedly. Sun Baozhen moved his chin slightly. Leng Changxi immediately leaped towards him and pulled his chin downwards. A poisonous pill in his teeth fell out.
“You want to die? It’s not that easy.” Leng Changxi shouted seriously.
Sun Baozhen figured a weird smile, “What? Don’t you want me to die by setting me up? Or, in fact, you’re scared? Oh right, tomorrow the Sun Family will return to Jinling. If they realize that something’s wrong with me, huh, I’m looking forward to seeing you all kneeling in front of me, begging for my pardon.”
Sun Baozhen had returned to his own voice. But pretending to be a woman for all these years had changed his voice significantly. Now he just sounded like a eunuch in the palace. His squeaky voice was disgusting.
Qin Yunuan slowly approached him, “Young master Sun, you know better than I do on how indifferent the Sun Family is. You think that you’re Madam Sun’s precious, but in fact, you know better than we do that the Sun Family will not come to save you, as a useless tool. Moreover, since I dare to expose you, I naturally have the way to deal with the Sun Family.”
“But it’s already too late for you.” Sun Baozhen’s smile was cold. “I contact the Sun Family every night at midnight through fireworks. If there are no fireworks tonight, the Sun Family will know that something’s happened to me.”
Qin Yunuan smiled and turned her body sideways. She pointed at the sky and asked, “Is that what you mean?”
A spark flew into the night sky and exploded into a firework soundlessly, and it fell after a short pause as if nothing had happened. At the same time, on a high tower on the other side of the Royal City, a shadow carefully examined the firework and then leaped off the tower.
After a while, there were some quarrels in the best room of the biggest hotel in the Royal City.
“It seems that Prince Ning didn’t notice anything wrong.” Madam Sun concluded calmly. Then she carefully said to the Old Madam Sun, “But I still think that it’s too risky to put Baochen in such a dangerous place, the Prince’s Mansion. He’s a man after all. Even if he could hide it for now, he can’t hide it forever. Old Madam, he’s the only man left in the Sun Family, Old Madam…”
Different from her usual self who was quiet and calm, Old Madam looked steady at the moment, looking capable of being in charge of the family.
Old Madam Sun looked at Madam Sun in disdain. She looked down on the worried look of Madam Sun. “One man left? Who do you think Chengzhen is? Indeed, Chengzhen’s mother is not as noble as you are, but Chengzhen is one of the Sun Family’s heirs as well. Besides, I spent so much effort in picking Caidie, and I spent years turning her appearance and body to be the same as Baochen. How could it be so easily exposed?”
“But…” Madam Sun stuttered.
“Fine, I’ll go along with it then. As soon as Baochen gets hold of the map of the Leng’s family, I’ll find a way to get him out and restore his identity as a man.”
Every time Madam Sun thought of her son pretending to be a woman in order to survive, she felt complicated about it. “Old Madam, I’m just worried that with the old Ge Yunying in Prince Ning’s Mansion, it’s not that easy for Baochen to succeed.”
“Don’t worry about Ge Yunying.” Old Madam Sun looked at Madam Sun with the corner of her eyes, “She’s just an old fool, who’s about to die soon. Can’t you see that the most dangerous one in the Prince’s Mansion is actually the Third Young Madam? She’s an interesting opponent.”
Right then, a servant girl came in to report the news.
Madam Sun opened the door and took a quick glance at the secret message.
“There’s news from Prince Ray’s side.”
Old Madam Sun said faintly, “Huh, he’s still alive?” It was an ironic sentence. That was because Prince Ray chose to cooperate with the Sun Family at his lowest times. To Old Madam Sun, he still had the slightest use to them. Whether he could succeed or not depended purely on his own luck.
Apart from the Prince Ray’s request of asking the Sun Family to send some people to hijack the squad sending him to the Imperial Mausoleum as bandits, which made Old Madam Sun felt that this young man was courageous, she had no other impression on this unfamiliar Prince.
“Prince Ray said he wants to borrow the commander’s tally of Jinling.” Madam Sun said timidly.
Qi adopted commander’s tallies to control the armies. There were twelve commander’s tallies in Qi. The Central army was under the control of the Royal family. The half-tallies of the Queen Mother and the Emperor combined could command a hundred thousand central army soldiers. As for the remaining armies, the armies in Jinling and Qingzhou were the most powerful ones.
Qingzhou was on the border with North Di. In order to defend Qi from its enemies, the army in Qingzhou was not only fierce and powerful, but they also had the best equipment as well. It could be commanded by the half-tallies of Leng Changxi and the local head-officer of Qingzhou combined. As for Jinling, it was a rich place, well-guarded with a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, who could be commanded by the half-tallies of Sun Family and the Earl of Jinling combined. However, it was located in the midland. The stability made the local army lazy. As a result, the Sun Family especially trained part of the army in extra. Even though they don’t have as much real combat experiences as the army in Qingzhou, they were considered the elites in Qi in terms of their physical strength and combat skills. The problem was, only people in the Sun Family knew about this secret.
Since Sima Ray dared borrowing the commander’s tally of Sun Family so directly, it was apparent that he knew this secret clearly.
Old Madam Sun frowned. It seemed that she needed to review this lone wolf, “How many men does he want?”
“All of them.”
“For what?”
Madam Sun’s voice trembled as she said, “Overthrowing the Emperor.”
Old Madam Sun sneered, “Huh, this Prince Ray is quite interesting.”
The next day was the day that the Sun Family left the Royal City. The Sun Family came in a low profile, but as they were about to leave, everyone knew about it. The nobles in the Royal City sent invitation letters to the hotel which the Sun Family stayed in days ago, hoping to hold a feast for Old Madam Sun and Madam Sun, but they were all rejected. Hence, the departing feast was really simple. The Prince Ning’s Mansion sent an invitation to them, inviting them to the First Boite of the Royal City before they were leaving.
As soon as the carriage of the Sun Family arrived, Ting Xue and Xi’er, who were at the door, went forward to greet them.
Old Madam Sun and Madam Sun dismounted the carriage together, as they looked up at the sign of the First Boite of the Royal City. The gold-painted words shined under the sun.
“Old Madam Sun, Madam Sun, this way please.” Ting Xue showed the way decently. Old Madam Sun recognized her as the servant girl of Qin Yunuan at first sight, and she smiled. Very well, this was what she expected for, her long-awaited opponent.
Qin Yunuan especially chose a spacious and sound-proof room, which was decorated elegantly. Apart from the Old Madam, all the important people of Prince Ning’s Mansion were there, including Prince Ning, Leng Changxi, Qin Yunuan, Leng Changxuan and Leng Chang’an. Old Madam Sun looked around the room, but she didn’t see Sun Baozhen. She couldn’t help but felt confused.
“Where’s Baozhen?” Madam Sun couldn’t hold it back.
Qin Yunuan invited the madams of the Sun family to their seats and smiled, “She’ll be here in a while.”
Old Madam Sun looked calm, but Madam Sun was a bit unsettled already. Her heart was pounding, as she had a strong feeling that something bad was going to happen.
Qin Yunuan reached out her fine wrist and pushed a plate of nice-looking Glutinous Rice Balls towards Madam Sun.
“This is the best snacks here. Try some, Madam Sun.”
Madam Sun was not paying attention. She just looked at the door. Just then, the wooden door painted in red was pushed open. Sun Baozhen appeared at the door, wearing a new pink skirt, smiling.
“Mother. Grandma.” Sun Baozhen greeted Madam Sun and Old Madam Sun with a smile. Prince Ning also went forward with a smile on his face, held Sun Baozhen’s hand and lead her to her seat. They looked very much like a pair of lovebirds.
After some small talks, the feast was almost finished. Madam Sun held Sun Baozhen’s hands, and she didn’t want to let go. She looked around, and requested with a smile, “I haven’t seen Baozhen for a long time already. Is it alright to let us talk in private for a short while?”
Leng Changxi exchanged glances with Qin Yunuan. Seeing Leng Changxi’s almost unnoticeable wink, Qin Yunuan smiled and said, “I’ve always heard of Concubine Sun talk about her missing Madam Sun a lot. Indeed it was hard for you to see each other again after today.”
Prince Ning got it immediately, and he nodded generously, “Naturally,” Then he looked at Sun Baozhen affectionately and said, “Talk to your mother well.”
Sun Baozhen nodded obediently. After the other people left, Madam Sun cautiously pulled Sun Baozhen towards her and asked, “How’s it going? How’s it going in Prince Ning’s Mansion? Did they notice anything?”
Just when Sun Baozhen was about to answer, Old Madam Sun interrupted them. “Why you ask these useless questions? I have only one question for you, Baozhen. Have you found out the whereabouts of the map of the Leng Family?”
Sun Baozhen lowered her head, “Not for now.”
Old Madam Sun sneered, “Useless.”
Hearing that, Sun Baozhen became more and more respectful. She lowered her head as she couldn’t help but trembled.
Old Madam Sun soon noticed the strangeness of Sun Baozhen. She cautiously looked at Sun Baozhen, “Why are you shaking? I’ve scolded you before, yet you weren’t this scared before. You’re just becoming timider.”
Hearing that, Sun Baozhen became more nervous. Old Madam Sun took a cautious step backward and suddenly ordered to her servant girl.
“Tie her up. This little b*tch is a fake.”
Old Madam Sun’s servant girl had practiced martial arts, as she held Sun Baozhen’s shoulder right then so that she wasn’t able to move. Old Madam Sun reached out to test Sun Baozhen’s pulse, and sneered, “You don’t have any internal Qi. You’re indeed an impersonator.” Then, she further ordered her servant girl.
“Peel off her skin mask. Let me see who dares fool me.”
