The following morning, Qin Feng was met with quite a few stares when he headed down for his morning"s breakfast. Du Yan was not yet present, but both Lin Liushui and Li Changhai were there, in the large common room. And like the rest of the Du Family people who were around, both of them were looking at him in a rather curious manner.Which made it rather clear that they had caught some s.n.a.t.c.hes of the shouting that had been going on the night before. It was not as if the middle-aged Elder Ling had been keeping herself quiet, when she lost her composure. And Xu Yanzhi"s telltale giggle was a little too easily recognized.
The last had generated quite a bit of jealousy and hatred for him, among the younger male staff at tavern. There was quite a bit of intensity in some of those stares, but he simply ignored it. He couldn"t do anything about the shouting and the bits that they had overheard. But he wasn"t going to reveal everything about the Snow Swallow Palace. Not yet.
His plans regarding Xu Yanzhi were still in the beginning stages, and Qin Feng was determined to keep them secret. For a little while longer, at the least. That would allow him to be certain that there was no chance of anyone letting it slip too early, and so alerting the girl of what he had planned.
Luckily, neither of the Companions made any mention of the visit the previous night, and their conversation generally focused on the missing Du Yan. And what he was up to, at the moment.
"You think that he is still asleep right now?" Qin Feng was the one who brought that up, seeing how he had been the last to show up at the breakfast table.
Li Changhai gave a shrug at the question, but he had his mouth full of a youtiao at the time, so he certainly could not make an answer. The Second Ducal Prince seemed to be playing his rough, gruff role a little too happily, Qin Feng noted. Perhaps because he seldom had a chance to act more like a soldier? There were traces of his uncle, Marquis Feng, in the pretense too.
But Lin Liushui, as expected, was the one with the answer to Qin Feng"s question. "No. He is awake, and has gone out somewhere. I asked the people hereabouts, and that is what they told me."
There was no need to point out that they didn"t need to bother to lie. Du Yan was their Young Master, and they have already shown their loyalty to their Du Family. Otherwise, they would not have been chosen for this particular mission. Still, there was a chance that they were hiding something. In fact, Qin Feng was certain of that.
Of course, he was getting somewhat upset with their stares and hatred, so he might have been a little biased against them. Not that it mattered. Because moments after they have had that little exchange, the big man showed up, striding into the tavern by the front door.
"Ah! All of you are awake! That"s good. I was just about to go inquire, and to wake you if you were still sleeping. There is a group of soldiers approaching Ningfei Town right now, and should be here within the hour. And they are escorting two carriages, so I think that someone important is on their way here right now!
"Shall we go take a look?"
The trio"s response to Du Yan"s query was rather the same. All three stuffed the remnants of their breakfast into their mouths, and guzzled down what was left of their soya milk, before rising. And after a brief check of their dressing, and making certain that they had their weapons with them - in the case Li Changhai, that glaive of his had been left leaning on the wall next to his table. They picked that up, and signaled to Du Yan that they were ready to go.
Which got a chuckle from the brawniest of them all, who simply pointed at the door. And happily stood back to let Lin Liushui to take the lead. Which the handsome gallant seemed to do so with a happy smile on his lips.
Qin Feng, in the meantime, simply hid his disgust. That was just the sort of thing that he had come to expect from the attention-grabbing Lin Liushui. Who was really taking too much pleasure from his constant self-promotion. While he understood that the fellow was only trying to distract everyone from noticing the armor-clad guard beside him, and recognizing the Second Ducal Prince from the Westlands, did he really have to make such a fuss?
It was as if he was begging for an a.s.sa.s.sin to make a move on him, rather than trying to prevent something like that from happening. Was this his method of keeping Li Changhai safe?
The group did not take too much time to get out of the tavern and reach the fortified main gate. The town wasn"t that large, and they didn"t have that far to walk. Once they were there, they simply stepped out of the same, to wait astride the road from the East. That was the direction that Du Yan had mentioned that the group was coming from.
Qin Feng doubted that it was reinforcements from the ones that had already left. None of the Schools and Sects that had partic.i.p.ated in the fight the day before were still in the town. In fact, only the Snow Swallow Palace had remained for the night. And he had a good idea why they had done so. But even those two had left, earlier in the morning.
So who were these people coming? More trouble? Or could they hope for help instead?
By the time the carriages, and its escort, showed up, the four men were already eager to find out who they were. There were rather obvious insignia on the same which were wholly unfamiliar to Qin Feng, and apparently Li Changhai, who simply scratched his head at the sight of it. Du Yan, on the other hand, recognized it immediately. And he was wearing a broad grin, as he saw the carriage approach the Town Gates.
"Relax! That is the mark of the Yuan Main Family. I saw it many times back in the Shu Kingdom Capital. I think they are just sending people here, to confirm that we have won the match!" he a.s.sured the rest.
He sounded so gleeful that Li Changhai was almost embarra.s.sed to remind him. "You are being a little too relaxed! No one sends a troop of sixteen to twenty soldiers to guard two carriages, all the way from the Shu Kingdom Capital all the way here, just to find out about the results of a simple contest."
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Lin Liushui too, agreed with his a.n.a.lysis. "There is either someone important on one of those carriages, or there is a plot here. I doubt that the Yuan Family would go through so much trouble, just to bring someone here to belittle your achievements. But we should be careful if there is any deception here," the gentlemanly fellow warned, fanning himself slowly.
Qin Feng, on the other hand, only quietly withdrew his sword from his ring, still in its scabbard, and held it with his arms crossed. Why were they making a fuss about all the enemy"s plans? If water came, they would block it with earth. If soldiers came, they had generals enough to deal with them too. So why be so worried?
Then one of the enclosed carriages" window flew open, and a female head popped out of the same, waving frantically at them.
For a moment, the Second Ducal Prince and his companions" jaws dropped. This did not meet with any of their expectations at all!
Then Du Yan gasped, and pointed a finger at the girl:
"Yuan ... Yuan Qianlei!"
* * *