All the people fixed their eyes on this little kid who seemed to be only three years old. The child looked extremely beautiful with big watery eyes and fair skin. He was so cute.
Followed by the little child was a middle-aged man who looked strong and vigorous but was plainly dressed. People with good ears could still remember that the middle-aged man just called the little child young master. It seemed that the child should be from some noble family.
Since his story was interrupted by such a little kid, the storyteller was so angry. He started narrating this story a long time ago, and everyone loved the story very much. But at this time, he was provoked by a little kid!
“You kid, you know what? You weren’t even born when the Royal City was chaotic.”
“Anyway, I know that General Leng and his wife are not dead.” The kid looked unconvinced with a pout, refuting the storyteller.
“Hey, you kid. Do you know how many tons of explosives were there three years ago in Weiyang Palace? Not to mention General Leng and his wife, even the whereabouts of Vice-General Zhuge and Vice-General Leng who rushed over at that time were still unknown. You’re so young that you don’t know the tragedy of that year, so you even said such words. General Leng and Madam Leng were both buried in the ancestral graves of Leng Family. You are really…” The storyteller was a little excited as he said. After all, for the people of Qi, the loss of such a heroic couple like Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan, who were courageous, loyal and patriotic, was really a great sadness.
“Humph, I don’t think you know anything.” The kid still wanted to argue with the storyteller, but then the middle-aged man who looked like a guard next to the kid stepped forward and stopped him, “Young master, we should go back. Madam might blame you if you continued talking about this.”
The kid sighed regretfully, and he even acted like a general somewhat, “Fine. Women are really the most troublesome.”
After they left, people started discussion in the teahouse suddenly.
“That kid looked so pretty, and the guard was also handsome. When did such a legend family appear in our small town?”
“Don’t you know? A family surnamed Wen came to the east of our city last month. I saw them when they entered the city. They looked so beautiful. There can’t be such beautiful people in our town even after a hundred years.”
“You’re exaggerating! Who knows if it’s true or false?”
The crowd gradually dispersed. After all, it was not proper to keep talking about gossip all the time.
The spring breeze blew the catkins which fell on a wall in the east of the city then. The newly blooming peach blossoms looked delicate and eye-catching, and the woman standing under the tree was also charming and lovely. Her ruddy face showed her health, and her slightly bulging abdomen anticipated the arrival of a new life.
There was a noise at the door of the courtyard suddenly. A child with a bright and clear voice came to her with flying peach blossom petals.
“Mom, I’m back.” The person who spoke was just the unruly little kid in the teahouse.
The pregnant young woman was beautiful and charming. She smiled and glanced at the kid, then chuckled and wiped the sweat for the kid with a handkerchief, “You’re always so anxious. You even came to the world suddenly without warning that day when you were born.”
The guard-like person stood by and looked at them. Finally, he asked with concern, “Madam, how is Maner today?”
“She is fine.” The pregnant woman looked back at the guard with a bright smile, and her face was full of joy, “The pregnant woman will inevitably have a bad temper after giving birth to the baby. She doesn’t let you enter the room must because she is afraid that you will only like your daughter but won’t like her anymore. Maner is a simple and kind girl. You don’t have to think too much.”
“How will I not like her?” The guard grumbled with grievance, “God knows how difficult it is for us to be together.” As he said, the guard shook his head again, “I know, Maner and I haven’t experienced so much like Madam and General Leng.”
The pregnant woman smiled indifferently, “It’s all over. Don’t talk about that. Changxi went back to West Xia to visit my mother-in-law last month, and he should be back now.”
As soon as she finished speaking, there was a horse neighing outside the door. The kid ran out immediately after hearing the sound. He ran to the horse, and his small chubby face almost stuck to the horse’s leg to welcome the returning man.
“Daddy, you are back! How is grandma? When will you take me to visit grandma?”
The man on the horse lifted his leg and jumped down flexibly. He directly picked up the kid with one hand and lifted the three-year-old child up high, “You want to see grandma?”
“Yeah.” The kid nodded sincerely as he said. He always listened to his mother and father about his grandma’s past, and he was clear that the emperor of West Xia never forgot his grandma. What was more, she was his grandmother! So how could he not be curious? “By the way, dad, you have always said that the emperor of West Xia loved my grandma so much. So is the emperor of West Xia my grandfather? Then am I a descendant of the royal family?”
Qin Yunuan laughed and teased the kid in Leng Changxi’s arms, and said with a smile, “It’s not so good to be the descendants of the royal family. Even you win at the end of the fight, what you’ll get is just a cold throne. You’re lonely and you have to watch out for people trying to knock you off your throne all the time. It would be okay if you just lost your identity. But if your family and your life were sacrificed for this, you would regret it for a lifetime.”
The kid nodded, seeming to have only a hazy notion about her words.
Leng Changxi also nodded as he looked at Qin Yunuan with affection. They were living in the region south of the River under assumed names. Leng Changxi used the assumed name Wen Changxi. Wen Family was living in Le City with the identities of businessmen. Qin Yunuan opened a clinic in the east of the city to treat minor illnesses for the civilians. Leng Changxi transferred all his shares in the Royal City into Baling City in the regions south of the River. The highly skilled doctor Sun Miaoyang still traveled around, and he just came back to visit the affectionate couple occasionally. Half a year ago when he came here, he specially inscribed Leng Changxi’s restaurant in Baling City, which was called Zuifeng Restaurant.
However, apart from these industries, the cooperation between Qin Yunuan and Cui Family was still on. A few days ago, Cui Family sent a letter here. Their family had another boy again, and they hoped that Leng Changxi could pick a name for him.
At that time, Leng Changxi was busy teasing his son. He didn’t pay much attention to the person who came to report but just said casually, “Since the kid’s father likes to travel around outside so much, just name him Cui Bugui.”
“I feel most sorry for cousin.” Qin Yunuan couldn’t help sighing with emotion when she saw the colorful falling petals of peach blossoms after watching Leng Wu enter the room with her son in his arms. After finishing speaking, she felt that she called him by the wrong name. In fact, the real identity of Shi Ruisheng was not Su Chenghai, but Leng Changxi’s brother.
Speaking of this, Leng Changxi also felt emotional, “It’s just Sima Ray was too treacherous. Although he believed in Shi Ruisheng, he also poisoned him. I recovered from the burn on that day, but he just failed to recover as he had been ill for a long time.”
Looking back on that day, Leng Changxi, who had been indifferent for three years, seemed to have a raging fire in his eyes. On that day, Sima Ray ignited hundreds of kilograms of explosives hidden in Weiyang Palace frantically. Leng Changxi was right at the door. He watched Sima Ray dashing towards the palace after he lit the fuse. Then he knew that there was a secret tunnel that Sima Ray had prepared before in the palace. He could take advantage of the length of the fuse to escape directly from the secret tunnel to Lu Mountain in the north of the Royal City. The fast horses and food prepared long ago there could help him all the way from Lu Mountain to North Di to seek help from Wanyan Su.
Wanyan Su just made a great coup in North Di who had been the crown prince a long time ago. As early as Sima Ray was on the way returning to the Royal City, they two had colluded with each other and secretly made a plan. If Sima Ray had succeeded in one fell swoop, he would have formed an alliance with Wanyan Su to stabilize his position. Wanyan Su could also revolt in North Di and seize power as soon as possible. And if Sima Ray had been defeated, Wanyan Su should also have taken in Sima Ray and borrowed him soldiers and horses according to the agreement for him to stage a comeback.
Sima Ray had a brilliant plan, but he forgot that Qin Yunuan had another perfect trick.
Just when Wanyan Su was sharpening his sword in North Di, looking forward to Sima Ray’s good news, a secret letter disturbed his heart which was waiting for good news.
The content of the letter was simple.
There were four trade routes between North Di and Qi, and Qi had hundreds of shops in North Di, many of which were the time-honored profitable brands. If Wanyan Su wanted the ownership of these routes and shops, he had to disclose Sima Ray’s overall plan and every detail of it. And the person who wrote the letter was just Qin Yunuan, who helped Sima Ray get rich and recruit followers and finally made him crippled.
Wanyan Su knew how powerful this woman was. Since she said that she could give them to Wanyan Su, she must have the ability.
Facing the handy money and treasure and the revolt plan with an uncertain future, Wanyan Su chose the former one wisely. So, when Sima Ray detonated the explosives and prepared to escape from the secret tunnel on that day, he found that the tunnel had been blocked already. Even a fly couldn’t fly out.
Leng Changxi looked at Sima Ray who was as anxious as a homeless dog through the gray smoke. Ten years ago, Sima Ray burned Weiyang Palace in order to show his loyalty to the empress. While at this time, it was just the fire that turned Sima Ray into ashes. That was really retribution. But unfortunately, Leng Changxi was too close to the explosives at that time. In order to protect Qin Yunuan behind him, Leng Changxi took the risk and got in front of her like a shield. He kept motionless amid the rumbling of the fire.
When Zhuge Qingtian arrived, Leng Changxi was severely hurt and dying, as if he would die at any time.
