Lighted by the sunshine, Xie Ruying was still beautiful and gorgeous, as if she had been a beauty walking out of a painting. No one could tell that her real face had been disfigured.
Walking towards Xie Ruying, Qin Yunuan fired the first shot before she spoke up. “I will keep your secret from others, both there,” Qin Yunuan said coldly and glanced at Xie Ruying’s face. And then she looked down at her belly and continued, “and there. I won’t tell others.”
Qin Yunuan was about to leave when Xie Ruying pulled her sleeve and asked anxiously, “How did you know? I’ve conceived everyone. I even spilled chicken blood on the underwear during my periods. No one has found out, except you, you monster.”
“Miss Xie,” Maner and Ting Xue had kept a distance from them, waiting quietly at the entrance and exit of the slab bridge in case anyone should approach. So, Qin Yunuan did not need to worry about being heard, “Was that your way to beg my help? Really?”
“Who said that I was going to beg you?”
Qin Yunuan glanced at Xie Ruying’s face with her clear and calm eyesight. “Aren’t you intended to ask me who did that to your face?” she sneered.
“Oh, really, was it not you?” Xie Ruying said out of spite.
“Humph,” Qin Yunuan titled, looking at the flaming maple leaves falling to the water, fluttering and causing ripples, “If I had been you, I would first think about who’s the father of the baby.”
Xie Ruying cried out involuntarily, “It was the Second Madam.”
Qin Yunuan raised an eyebrow. She only knew that Xie Ruying was pregnant from Sun Miaoyang. He was a highly skilled doctor indeed. With just one glance, he concluded that Xie Ruying was two months pregnant. So, what Qin Yunuan did not know was the father. Xie Ruying was not a decent person in nature. But to Qin Yunuan’s surprise, she actually had an affair with the Second Master of the West House who was about twenty years older than her. That was a more interesting discovery than what she had expected.
Qin Yunuan remained silent, watching Xie Ruying getting angrier and angrier.
“I know it must be her,” Xie Ruying said to herself, “She always dislike me. Now, she even destroyed my face in such a vicious way. She will have to pay back her whole jaw for a tooth.”
Qin Yunuan titled to avoid eye contact. In a flat tone, she seemed to persuade her, “Revenge doesn’t come cheap. Miss Xie, I’m afraid that you may lose more before paying off those scores. It’s not worth it.”
Xie Ruying glared at Qin Yunuan and then left in a rage after saying that “it was none of your business”.
Watching Xie Ruying walking away, Maner took a silver gown for Qin Yunuan. Bleak and chilly, the weather of the late autumn was getting colder.
“Third Young Madam, why did you do her a favor? Would your warning do any good for us?” Xi’er was too young to figure those things out.
Holding the gown tightly, Qin Yunuan kept walking and then smiled at Xi’er, “First, even though I told her, she does not have the ability to bring down a principal wife. So, her efforts would be in vain. Second, I never said that it was the Second Madam of the West House that did her harm. It was just her own single consent. Besides, she would not dare to drag me into the dirty water even though she had realized that I knew about her baby. Last but not least,” Qin Yunuan fixed her hair and then continued in a flat tone, “The one who harmed her was not the Second Madam.”
“What…?” Now, even Maner was surprised.
The courtyard appeared in a distance. Qin Yunuan slowed down, “The Second Madam of the West House was mean and caustic indeed, but she’s still a shallow person in nature. She doesn’t have the planning or ability to disfigure others. Instead, the most generous and gorgeous one in this mansion is most likely to be the wire puller. Maner, Ting Xue, Xi’er, you are the most trusted people of mine. From now on, remember that you should learn people by their hearts, not their faces.”
They all agreed sincerely. As they had arrived at the gate, they noticed that nurse Liao was not guarding the inner court as usual. Instead, she was waiting by the gate, looking far into the distance anxiously. She came to them at once when she saw Qin Yunuan.
“Why are you so anxious, nurse Liao? Today is the vacation of the Imperial College, isn’t it? Baochuan should be coming back soon. I prepare to make some Green Bean Cookies for him.” Qin Yunuan, who looked exhausted all the way, finally smiled when speaking of Baochuan.
Having checked around, nurse Liao said in a lower voice, “Third Young Madam, do you still remember the brocade boxes that Third Young Master brought back last night?”
Qin Yunuan nodded, “Yes. Yesterday, Changxi returned with Baihua Yulu and many other tributes from the imperial palace.”
Nurse Liao continued, “This morning, a servant girl was so careless that she knocked one of the brocade boxes down to the ground when cleaning. Besides an ink slab, there was also a painting in there that was about an arm’s length and width.”
She then walked into the room. After Maner and Ting Xue closed the door, nurse Liao took out the painting from her sleeve right away. The painting used high-quality rice paper with tiger-skin patterns, and it could tell from the handwriting that the painter was quite skilled. But the painting looked very weird: In the pens made of thorns, a group of livestock were in tears; a gorgeous-looking lady was standing outside of the fence, holding high of a sharp knife, as if she was going to kill them.
“What a strange painting,” Maner looked closely aside, “The one who kills animals should be the butcher. Why would it be such a beautiful and dignified lady?”
Qin Yunuan’s eyebrows knitted, “Which brocade box was it in?”
Nurse Liao brought the sapphire blue brocade box with golden seaming at once. With just one glance, Maner concluded, “I remember that this one was from Imperial Concubine Yang of the Haili Palace.”
“Imperial Concubine Yang? We had just met a few times at the banquet. Why did she send things to me while Changxi entering the palace?” Qin Yunuan thought to herself for a while, and then her eyes were lit with surprise. “I got it! The Grand Prince is in trouble, and he was asking for our help in this way!”
Again, Qin Yunuan checked the painting carefully. After Leng Changxi came back, she told him everything, including the painting and her own guess, in order to figure it out. They did not sleep the whole night, but the next day, they acted as if nothing had happened. The servant girls in the courtyard all remained silent.
Seven days later, it was the day of the imperial banquet held for ambassadors from North Di to celebrate the establishment of the diplomatic ties between North Di and Qi, which ended their war that had lasted for about 50 years. Surely enough, Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan were invited.
The goblets flash from hand to hand at the banquet. But the ambassador of North Di was not the Seventh Prince Wanyan Su but the most powerful rival of the imperial throne, Wanyan Ba. He had been managing the national affairs of North Di since the old khan became seriously ill. He was also the biggest propellent and advocate behind the establishment of diplomatic relations with Qi.
Different from the refined behaviors of Wanyan Su, Wanyan Ba’s action at the banquet was cavalier and rugged. He drank in big bowls and ate in chunks, not caring that he was in the Central Plains where there were many rules and rites.
“Emperor Qi, your women are very beautiful. I like the one sitting opposite the most,” Wanyan Ba pointed at Qin Yunuan suddenly, his eyesight showing the desire of a wolf towards its prey. He even made clicks and complimented, “Look at her tiny nose and mouth. Her skin is as white as tofu. She is much more beautiful than those women in my country who only know how to ride and fight. She’s very adorable, and I could not take my eyes off her.”
Before Emperor Zhaoxuan made any remarks, an ivory chopstick with gilded carvings was shot across the way to Wanyan Ba. As it went so near to Wanyan Ba’s left eyeball, its direction changed all of a sudden and thrust into the red pillar behind him deeply, which showed the great arm strength of the shooter.
“Grand Prince from North Di,” Leng Changxi said slowly, and then picked up a golden wine cup in an elegant and leisure way with the hand that flung the chopstick, “You are in the imperial palace of Qi, drinking the rice wine made of our grains. And the one you looked at was my wife. So, you’d better be careful about your behavior. Or next time, I’m not sure whether my chopstick will diverge or not.” Leng Changxi drank the wine and stared at the left eyeball of Wanyan Ba coldly as if that was a trophy.
Wanyan Ba felt that his left eyeball was burning. He was so angry that he was to stand up, but the civil officials aside that came along from the North Di stopped him.
“Don’t do that, Grand Prince. Do you forget the crushing defeat at Jialing Pass? At that time, it was General Leng who led 50,000 troops and defeated our army of 250,000 soldiers. Please be careful, Grand Prince.”
Wanyan Ba glared at Leng Changxi ferociously for a while, and then whacked the table and said to Emperor Zhaoxuan, “Fine, Emperor Qi, it is your blessing to have such a gifted man. But all I want is to take a look at my sister who married your prince. She is the most beloved daughter of khan. I don’t think it’s too much.”
Qin Yunuan paused when she heard this. Empress Chen laughed, trying to ease the embarrassment. “That’s a pity. Now, Saichun is suffering from vomiting during pregnancy, and she had not come out of the Jingxi Palace for more than half a month. And the Grand Prince is always there for her and stayed in the palace the whole time.”
“I don’t mind coming to the palace to look after her,” Wanyan Ba almost lost his patience.
“I’m afraid that it’s not appropriate,” Empress Chen explained, “Now, Princess Saichun is the Prince’s Wife of Qi. A female member of the royal family cannot meet other men freely.”
At present, Qin Yunuan had left the banquet for sickness and was heading off to a lonely place. She knew that someone was waiting for her there.
