Qin Feng was surprised, but not too greatly surprised. At least, he thought he had taken it rather well, compared to Li Changhai, who had staggered and almost fell on his face. Fortunately, the Second Ducal Prince was leading his horse by the bridle, and ended up leaning on his mount at the last moment."What?! You are ..."
Then he managed to pull himself back from the brink, in more ways than one. And checked to make sure that the women were still far enough so that they could not overhear him. But Lin Liushui was already nodding at the Second Ducal Prince before he could say a word after that.
"Yes, yes. I didn"t tell you my position in the pecking order earlier, but yes. I am the Patriarch"s fifth son. But apart from that, I didn"t lie about my circ.u.mstances, did I? I did leave my family under a cloud, and my brothers do dislike me and my bothersome ways.
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"So you might say that I have only made a single omission?"
"And a very significant one! I thought you were just another wealthy younger son who had more interest for martial arts than upholding your family name! I didn"t know that you were related to the Patriarch of the Wuyang Lin Family!"
But Lin Liushui merely shrugged. "Well, you do now. And it is of little significance, to the grand scheme of things. Although I would urge you both to keep quiet about it, seeing how it now involves the Snow Swallow Palace. How did we ended up on opposing sides, I have no idea!"
Qin Feng had to admit the last bit was more troubling than Lin Liushui"s true ident.i.ty at the moment. Especially how it would put them at odds with the Snow Swallow Palace. And how it would get in the way of his "revenge" on Xu Yanzhi. So he had no problem with keeping it quiet.
For the moment, at least.
But this may be something that he might be able to leverage on, if he wanted to show the rest of the Snow Swallow Palace disciples the lengths that he would go to, for the sake of that particular lady. If he could take steps here, and leave the rumors to spread ...
So he turned to Lin Liushui immediately, with a question on his lips. This would have a bearing on the sort of action that he could take!
"Well, if it is really your family involved, it shouldn"t be your Main Family, should it? In that case, wouldn"t a simple word from you be sufficient to quell the whole matter?"
Lin Liushui gave out an odd chuckle as he turned to look at Qin Feng. And even Li Changhai looked at the youngest in the trio in an embarra.s.sed manner. But it was the former who replied, after a while.
"That would depend on who is behind this whole mess. If it is one of those subsidiary families that are only borrowing the name of our Main Family to wreak havoc, I should have no trouble squashing them beneath my heels. But if the ones doing this are tied to one of my older brothers, or if they have permission from one of them to make trouble here ... I think you can guess what would happen, if I stick my oar in?"
"In that case, would you be able to find out? And take action if it is possible? I think you do not wish the Snow Swallow Palace upset with you and your family right now, do you?"
"That is true. But like you said, I would have to investigate first. And cautiously, at that. So it is important that they do not find out who I am."
Qin Feng almost grinned when he heard that. But he was able to stop the smile on his lips before it got too wide. He wanted to show some confidence, and his plan was reasonable. At least to himself. How the other two would think about it, he had no idea.
But it was still worth a try!
"In that case, I suggest that you toss everything into my lap. Make it look as if you two are just here to support me. Let them wonder who I am, and what sort of backing I have behind me. Between that, and the Prince"s performance earlier, it should be enough to make them wonder, don"t you think? The Snow Swallow Palace, I mean.
"After all, I am a complete stranger. And they wouldn"t be able to find out too much, in a short period of time. That should give us a chance to find out more about what is going on here, doesn"t it?
He glanced at Li Changhai as he finished, and saw that the Ducal Prince was a little surprised at his suggestion. Clearly, he had not been expecting something like this from Qin Feng. It was something that he would treat as a normal occurrence, if it had come from Lin Liushui. But this was the first time that Qin Feng had purposely stepped to the fore!
"You have a plan?"
"The beginnings of one, at least. I intend to play up my friendship with their Elder Ling, you see. And since they have asked us for help ..."
Lin Liushui nodded with a familiar gleam in his eye. "Ah! You intend to use that as an excuse to dig deeper. Well, for me to dig deeper, at least. So long as I am your adviser, your strategist, no one would be shocked if I started to ask all sorts of questions. They would think that I am only gathering information for your sake!"
Qin Feng nodded, not the least surprised that Lin Liushui was already supporting his move. Well, he was the one who desperately wanted to head to the Snow Swallow Palace. And all of this was because of his family"s involvement. So he had no qualms pushing all the work onto Lin Liushui"s lap. Instead, he turned to Li Changhai, who would have to play a more difficult role.
"And since the Prince had stepped out earlier, to shield me from the women, I would trouble you to keep playing that bodyguard role. It would make them wonder, I"m sure, at how I can get a Ducal Prince as a protector."
"That might work. It would make everyone confused, since they will be wondering about you, and who you are, to command us like this. That is not a bad thing. It would make them more cautious, and that is to our advantage," Lin Liushui added, looking as if he was trying to help convince Li Changhai.
Who simply laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "It is a good plan, and it would allow me to play my gruff soldier part as well. But we will need to find an ident.i.ty for Brother Qin Feng here, so that his role would be more convincing, don"t you think?"
Qin Feng was quick to step in then, before Lin Liushui got started on expanding his role. And he had the perfect excuse too, to keep something like that for later.
"Well, we shall have to discuss that, when we have the time. For now, we have the women from the Snow Swallow Palace to deal with. See, they are already heading back to us."
Lin Liushui looked up and saw that Qin Feng was correct. And nodded at him for pointing that out. "Agreed. So let"s take it one step at a time, and let them wonder at Brother Qin Feng here. There are a few organisations that could make my Wuyang Lin Family take a step back. Just play up your alchemical knowledge later.
"I have a rough idea that we could use."
* * *