Chapter 180 One More Vicious Stab
“How dare he comes?” Qiu Yelan was furious when she heard that.
Although it was unlikely that the two a.s.sa.s.sins were from Kuang Qingwu, who had just arrived in Jing City, it was absolutely provocation that he, a member of the Empress Dowager’s party who had a conflict with her not long ago, came to visit at this time.
Hearing this, Ruan Ciyi asked in astonishment, “Did he do it?”
“No.” Qiu Yelan knew that her cousin had thought too much, but she couldn’t help her. She didn’t want to put any more pressure on her, so she said, “I had a quarrel with him not long ago. This man had no contact with our family. Why is he coming now? I guess he’s up to no good!”
Ruan Ciyi sighed, “Things are changing. He should have visited us first when he came to Jing City.”
“He’s an ungrateful and vicious person. I’d rather he didn’t come.” Qiu Yelan knew that Ruan Ciyi had seen Kuang Shihan at home when she was a child. When she heard of the Kuang Family, she couldn’t help but sigh with emotion, but this was no time for emotions. Qiu Yelan urged the maids, “Send my cousin back to her room. Who is going to fetch the doctor? Why are you still here?”
Qiu Yelan sent Ruan Ciyi back to her room because she didn’t like the Kuang Family. She waited until the doctor came to diagnose and prescribed. Then she made the medicine and took care of Ruan Ciyi until she fell asleep. She asked, “Is Kuang Qingwu gone?”
Chunran answered helplessly, “No! I sent someone to check. Someone in the front hall said that the son of Marquess Zhang was a little restless at first. Then Mr. Leshan, who came with him, said something to him and he made up his mind to wait. It was dinner time just now. When he saw that there was no dinner for them, he asked whether there was a restaurant nearby. As a result, the servants had to bring them food and found an excuse to say that everyone was too busy. n.o.body had the intention of neglecting them.”
Qiu Yean frowned. “Who is Mr. Leshan?”
“He looks like a middle-aged scholar. He should be an aide to the Kuang Family.” Chunran said, “I never heard of this man either!”
“Since they don’t leave, I’ll go over and have a look now.” Qiu Yelan said helplessly.
Entering the front hall, she saw that Kuang Qingwu was sitting opposite to a gentle and elegant scholar. They were playing chess. When they saw her coming, they stopped the chess game and rose to greet her.
“You are too polite. Please have a seat.” Waving her hand, Qiu Yelan sat down and asked, “Do you have anything urgent today?” The implication, of course, was “Don’t disturb me if there’s nothing urgent!”
Kuang Qingwu took a complicated look at her and said, “My father was an old acquaintance of your family. I heard your brother had been a.s.sa.s.sinated, so I came over to visit him.”
“My brother is seriously injured and now it is inconvenient for outsiders to visit.” Qiu Yelan said bluntly, “Thank you for your kindness on his behalf. I will let you know when he gets better.”
Then she signaled for them to leave.
Kuang Qingwu smiled, “So your brother is badly hurt? I heard Dr. Qi may have magic skills.”
This sounded an ironic remark to Qiu Yelan. She sank her face. “What do you want to say?”
“This medicine may be useful for your brother’s injury.” Kuang Qingwu took out a small exquisite jade box from his sleeve and put it on the table when he saw that Qiu Yelan had no intention of sending someone to pick it up. “If you don’t believe me, you can show it to Dr. Qi. If he is not sure, you might as well try it on someone. There are two pills in this case. You’ll know the effect!”
How could Qiu Yelan believe him? She said coldly, “Thank you for your kindness, but we are not short of medicine!”
“This medicine… is hard to get with money! You may regret it later if you don’t believe me.” Kuang Qingwu smiled meaningfully. He did not mind her att.i.tude and stood up. “Good-bye!”
Leaving the Ruans’ residence, Mr. Leshan frowned and asked, “Your father seemed to have given you only two pills of this medicine?”
Kuang Qingwu nodded, “Yes, they are in that jade box.”
“Why didn’t you keep one for yourself?” Mr. Leshan, who had always been cold and calm, rarely had a fluctuating tone.
Kuang Qingwu smiled, “Didn’t you say that Empress Dowager Gu was the most suspected person when Qiu Jinglan was a.s.sa.s.sinated this time? But she will never give the Jiang Family and Qiu Jinglan a chance to question her. Instead, she will lead the suspicion to my family. So, in order to avoid being a scapegoat, we must find an excuse for ourselves in case we have to rely on Empress Dowager Gu for protection and are further controlled by her. We must show goodwill to Qiu Jinglan, even if it is just superficial, so that we’ll have a reason to explain away for ourselves without the help of Empress Dowager Gu.”
Mr. Leshan said, “You are right. But… the medicine?”
“Now that we want to show goodwill, we’d better do it thoroughly.” Kuang Qingwu said calmly. “I give him a hand now. If he survives on the medicine I gave him, who will suspect that I wanted to kill him? Although this is actually the truth!”
Mr. Leshan stopped stroking his beard and looked at him in shock.
Kuang Qingwu smiled apologetically at him. “I didn’t want to keep it from you. It happened all of a sudden. You were not there at that time, so…”
“That was all your father’s achievements in the Ruans’ family.” Mr. Leshan was extraordinarily calm. He was startled for a moment and then regained his indifference, with only a slight fluctuation in his tone. “Otherwise, how could you seize the fleeting opportunity yesterday as soon as you arrived in Jing City?”
Qiu Jinglan held “Tianya” in his hand and knew that he had been exposed, so how could he not be prepared?
He wouldn’t see anyone whom he was not familiar with. Even if he had to see him, he would be on guard. It was a pure coincidence yesterday. His sister suddenly came over with a group of people. It happened to be the Qianqiu Festival. And among those who came were Empress Jiang’s beloved daughter and nephew. It happened that everyone knew that the Empress and the Empress Dowager were at odds with each other, so it was natural that Empress Dowager Gu seized this opportunity to embarra.s.s Princess Yongfu and Jiang Yashuang and Empress Jiang sent someone to inform them while she was with Empress Dowager Gu.
Such an opportunity was rarely met！
“No. The message was from Empress Dowager Gu.” Kuang Qingwu explained. “The a.s.sa.s.sins were secret guards who came to Jing City with me. But they are indeed internal servants.”
“Are they Princess Xingkang’s servants?” They were internal servants who came from the west. Mr. Leshan figured that they should be Princess Xingkang’s men. He just wondered whether they were dowry of the princess or were recruited over the years. He said blandly, “It happened all of a sudden yesterday. Empress Jiang and Empress Dowager Gu were both in the palace. If Empress Dowager Gu sent her people, it might be noticed by Empress Jiang. But you had just arrived and n.o.body knew about you, so you could be easily ignored.”
Kuang Qingwu regretted, “it’s a pity that we failed.”
“But it’s said that Qiu Jinglan’s life is at stake.” Mr. Leshan had regained his calmness and said, “Princess Ningyi’s look showed that the rumors are not necessarily false. If you don’t give him the medicine, maybe he won’t make it.”
Kuang Qingwu shook his head and said, “You don’t know that the medicine belonged to Qiu Zhongyan. When he ‘died’ on the battlefield that year, that man who collected his corpse got the jade box from him. I guess since he was Old Princess Lian’s only son, she had prepared it for him in case he was wounded in battle. So, Qiu Jinglan may also have the medicine. I’m afraid his confidant had already given him the medicine before we got to the Ruan’s house. Therefore, I can no longer interfere with his life this time whether I gave the medicine or not. So, it would be better for me to play a good guy!”
Mr. Leshan hummed “Can’t you interfere? The medicine and jade box belonged to Qiu Zhongyan. Princess Ningyi was young at that time, so she did not recognize them. But Qiu Jinglan was the only son of Qiu Zhongyan. When Old Princess Lian feigned his death, she had made up her mind to die. How could she not explain everything to him clearly? Even though Qiu Jinglan could survive, when he saw the jade box, how could he not think of his father? He’s already seriously injured. Now I am afraid he won’t survive it when he is irritated.”
“You are discerning!” Kuang Qingwu did not hide his purpose. He said solemnly, “Qiu Jinglan is a serious problem for my family. He must die! Since the a.s.sa.s.sination failed, I have to give away the two pills to make up for it! I hope he is satisfied and dies as wished so that n.o.body has to worry about it!”
Mr. Leshan said blandly, “Speaking of it, I feel sorry for you and your father. The medicine is so precious and there isn’t much in the world. When I met your father that year, he gave me one pill… It was a pity that my servant was so idle that he lost it.”
Kuang Qingwu said, “Don’t worry about it! I know there should be more of it with that man. I’ll get one for you later.”
“There’s no need!” Mr. Leshan said calmly. “Life is destined. I said this medicine was useless to me. But you, in order to irritate Qiu Jinglan, have given away both pills. You should think more about your current situation. There are so many open measures and covert tricks against you every day. You should have kept one for yourself.”
Kuang Qingwu sensed the concern in his cold words. He felt warm in his heart and said with a smile, “With you by my side, I am not afraid of those monsters!”
Hearing this, Mr. Leshan did not respond immediately, but pondered for a moment before saying, “Whether Qiu Jinglan dies or not, Princess Yongfu and Jiang Yashuang were involved in this a.s.sa.s.sination. There is also that Miss Ou… Empress Jiang will never give up this time. I’m afraid you’ll be busy next!”
Kuang Qingwu sighed, “There is just no choice this time! When Qiu Nie and others betrayed Qiu Jinglan, he would have been destroyed forever in a few days. But Iron Master Qiu intervened unexpectedly. It was said that he reminded him of only one sentence and he went back to the city that very night and changed everything! I won’t spare him even if I failed the metropolitan exam next year!”
Mr. Leshan hummed, “But if Qiu Jinglan dies, isn’t it good for Empress Dowager Gu? Wouldn’t it be unfair if you were the only one to worry next?”
He said blandly, “Because of the a.s.sa.s.sination yesterday, the Qianqiu banquet was ruined and you did not see the ladies of the Jiang Family… There will be opportunities in the future. Don’t let Empress Dowager Gu think you managed smoothly on Princess Changping lest she uses it to test your bottom line! It is all reserved for you by your father in times of real crisis, not for Empress Dowager Gu to try to figure out how to deal with you!”
Kuang Qingwu hesitated for a moment. He seemed to see the cold, impatient but gorgeous face of Qiu Yelan just now in the front hall of the Ruan’s… He was in a trance before he suppressed his thoughts and nodded in agreement.
Mr. Leshan wanted to say something else when suddenly the wagon came to a stop!
The two were almost thrown out of the wagon!
Kuang Qingwu was quick enough and grabbed Mr. Leshan to avoid a disaster. Before he got furious, the driver had already shouted angrily, “Who’s bold enough to stop our wagon?”
A young man shouted coldly, “Kuang Qingwu! What did you do at the Ruan’s just now?”
“The young man is really courteous…” Hearing that it was Jiang Yashuang, Kuang Qingwu frowned, rubbed his forehead, and raised the curtain helplessly to respond…