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That alone was enough to make Qin Feng more alert. This seemed a lot more serious than he had expected it to be. And made him all the more curious. What had happened to Du Yan?

"His betrothed"s family is kicking up a fuss because he had not visited them this New Year, and some have insinuated that he shall be breaking off that engagement. Which has caused several of the neighboring Martial Schools to stick their oar in. They have all made plans to descend on Du Yan"s hometown, and are even bothering to keep it a secret."

Qin Feng scowled at that. Du Yan was engaged? He had a betrothed? Qin Feng didn"t know that. Everyone that he knew had certainly not mentioned something like that before.

"You are spoiling the whole story, Sanlang! How can you just throw something out like that, without any context? Without any background? Had I known that you would make such a mess of it, I would have made the effort and told the tale myself!"

Lin Liushui fanned himself agitatedly as he pushed Li Changhai aside, and gestured for Qin Feng to sit down. "See how our Brother Feng is already squinting at you? He is clearly confused by your account of things! Here, let me put things in order for you."

The gentlemanly fellow pointed at the empty seat at the table, which Qin Feng took to mean Du Yan immediately. Something that he did not get wrong:

"Our Brother Yan was engaged to be married to a girl from the Yuan Family, back in his hometown, since he was a child. That was something that his parents desired, since they were good friends with the Yuan Family back in the day. Both families were rather prominent back in their hometown, and everyone was pleased with the match. More or less.

"Unfortunately for our dear friend, Brother Yan showed a remarkable apt.i.tude for forging weapons when he reached his early teens, and was quickly dragged off to the Du Main Family where he came under the tutelage of the Patriarch, at Chuanshui Town. That"s just one province away from the Capital, as you may recall. After the usual tests and such, of course. But that is besides the point."

Lin Liushui paused in his telling to take up his tea cup and have a sip. No doubt to give the impression that he was relieving the strain in his throat. From the roll of Li Changhai"s eyes, Qin Feng could only guess that this was how the irritating fellow did things.
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But he went on, without keeping the other two waiting for too long:

"There were some conflicts that the Yuan Family were involved in, and to make a long story short, the girl involved ran off with another man. That was a little disgraceful, but since she had never met Brother Yan, and the wording of their engagement was not altogether clear, the Yuan Family quickly pushed her younger sister to take her place. To cover the whole thing up, you understand?"

"And Du Yan agreed to this?"

Lin Liushui grinned at Qin Feng, who had interrupted with his question. "He didn"t even hear about it. Apparently, the Yuan Family had approached his parents, who had quickly agreed. It seemed that they were more than aware of the details. Probably because they were living in the same town, and so knew everything that went on. Suffice to say, they had no objections and had written a letter to Brother Yan, telling him everything.

"And he, taking advantage of the situation, used that as an excuse to run away from the Main Family, and head back to his hometown. And after spending about five years there, in the company of his new, much younger bride-to-be, he ran away to our dear Sanlang"s home here in Yanyun City. One might say that he is avoiding his new betrothed."

"Or the rest of his Du Family," Qin Feng grunted. "Are they so adamant on his continuing to forge weapons for them then? This all sounds like an elaborate ploy to drag him back into their clutches, doesn"t it?"

The eyebrows of both men in front of him rose as soon as they heard that. Which had Qin Feng giving out another of his snort of derision. "Oh, don"t look at me like that. It is rather obvious, isn"t it? That Du Yan has received the secret training of the Du Family Patriarch, and is the best weapon-smith in the family? That is why you claimed that you were so envious, when he agreed to craft a sword for me, isn"t it?"

Lin Liushui chuckled as he nodded his head at the youngest in the group. "You are right about that. I had not expected you to have paid so close attention to me during that lunch that we had, three days ago. I had rather thought that you would be more concerned with describing the sort of weapon that you wanted him to craft," he sighed.

All of this was new to the Second Ducal Prince, Li Changhai, however. And he quickly turned on Lin Liushui, as soon as he heard that. "What is this? Du Yan agreed to forge a weapon? For Qin Feng here? How did he manage to convince Brother Yan to do that? I thought that a hundred wild horses wouldn"t be able to drag him to the anvil again!"

"That is something that you"ll have to ask Brother Feng yourself. He had already managed to convince that big idiot before I arrived. And Brother Yan wouldn"t give himself away to me, you can be certain of that."

Lin Liushui laughed openly as he finished and gestured at Qin Feng again with his fan. And the latter had already gotten familiar with his signals with the same, to recognise that he was going back to his story. And that Qin Feng was invited not to interrupt:

"Well, like Brother Sanlang had mentioned earlier, the Yuan Family is rather upset that he has run off like that. At least, that is the story on the surface. And there are a good number of other Sects and Schools, that are a.s.sociated with the same, who are likely to be headed to Yuan Family"s home in the Capital. Ostensibly, to make trouble for his intended parents-in-law. Something to do with the reason that he fled?

"Needless to say, he is rather anxious about the whole thing, and is making ready to head back there too. So it appears our little treasure hunt is going to be further delayed."

Li Changhai gave a loud sniff as soon as Lin Liushui finished, and eyed the gorgeous fellow haughtily. "As if I can be bothered by something like that, when Brother Yan is facing such troubles. I am half-tempted to head there myself, to lend my support!"

"Then why don"t you?"

The Second Ducal Prince whirled to face Qin Feng again. And even Lin Liushui"s eyes were wide open as he stared at the youngest one in their party. "What was that you said? You think we should head ... You want us to show our support for Du Yan? In such an overt manner?"

"Why not? As you said, he is our brother. And whatever he chooses to do, he shall always have our support, doesn"t he?"

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