Qiu Yelan wasn’t eager to cook for Emperor. She wasn’t afraid that Emperor would refuse to eat things she worked hard to cook. Instead, she was afraid that her cooking would give Emperor a good appetite. In that case, Princess Yongfu would ask her to cook for Emperor every day!
However, Empress Jiang had been very helpful to Qiu Yelan these days and she adored Princess Yongfu. So, Qiu Yelan couldn’t refuse. She agreed but thought, “I’ll just make a few ordinary dishes. Yongfu doesn’t know how good my cooking skill is anyway. I don’t want to come to the Palace to cook every now and then!” Although she wasn’t in charge of her branch, she still needed to deal with the trifles in her yard.
To say the least, she could make Empress Jiang like her more by spending time with her when she didn’t have much to do at home. But cooking for Emperor would not only be hardly beneficial but also make her reek of the odour of cooking oil. She wasn’t so kind like that!
Emperor moved to the Fu Ning Palace after getting poisoned. Not only did he move away from his concubines, but Empress Dowager Gu and Empress Jiang also forbade his concubines and most of his offspring from visiting. And they insisted that he couldn’t leave the Fu Ning Palace until complete recovery. It was the reason why he didn’t have an appetite, wasn’t it?
“Ask your mother to send his favorite concubines to his place. I guarantee he’ll be full of vim and vigour instantly!” Qiu Yelan talked to Princess Yongfu and followed her to the kitchen in the Zishen Palace. She criticized inwardly, “Emperor is frustrated enough since he has a tiger mom and a fierce wife who control the level changes of his concubines. Now he’s robbed of his only pleasure to spend time with his concubines. He is almost like a prisoner. No wonder he can’t eat! You ask me to cook for him, but it won’t make a difference! The right thing to do is to find a few young and beautiful concubines to play with him!”
Princess Yongfu didn’t know what was in Qiu Yelan’s mind. Considering the environment where she was raised, it was too difficult for her to learn to be perceptive. She babbled on and on about Emperor while Qiu Yelan was cooking, “My father asked a servant to bring his ‘Fen Baolin’ to show me yesterday when I went to visit him. I wondered if ‘Fen Baolin’ could walk? Why did she need to be carried in? And didn’t my grandmother and mother order my father’s concubines not to bother him? Why was there a Baolin in the Fu Ning Palace? I found out it was a ‘Fen Zhuanglou’ which was also called ‘Yu Linglong’ when the servant brought it to me. You don’t know what it is, do you? It’s a kind of Chinese rose! My father said that he planted it himself last autumn. Now it has a few buds. He said he would give it to me when he recovered.”
Qiu Yelan was annoyed at first, but then she felt sorry for Princess Yongfu as she talked about those trifles with excitement. Qiu Yelan thought, “She must have had very little time with her father. That’s why she keeps talking about those trifles so excitedly.”
It was just a pot of Chinese rose.
Qiu Yelan’s heart melted. She wasn’t going to cook properly at first. She planned to cook dishes that only look good. But she tried her best at last.
She regretted it when she went out of the Palace, “Emperor won’t like my cooking, will he? Princess Yongfu won’t drag me to the Palace to cook all the time, will she?”
While she was worried, the drama in Shazhou was ringing down the curtain.
“You’re finally here,” Qiu Jinglan was dressed in plain clothes with sackcloth on his head and linen shoes on his feet. It was what a person in mourning should wear. Standing in the fiercely cold wind, he calmly watched Kuang Qingwu who was in chains walking up to the high platform under the escort of soldiers.
The high platform was built day and night as ordered by Qiu Jinglan right after the western savages retreated.
Although the platform was high, there were just a few things on it. Just three pillars each with a man tied were on it. And an incense table for sacrifice was at the center.
Besides those three tied to the pillars, only a few soldiers were on the platform. But they were light on their feet and had a fierce vibe. They were all Kungfu masters who remained in Tianya.
One of those three tied to the pillar hung his head with messy hair covering his face. The another two were forced to show their faces. One was Kuang Shihan, the other one was spiritless but still elegant. If officials of Shazhou were there, they would definitely recognize her that she was the daughter of Empress Dowager Gu, the Xingkang Grand Princess!
While waiting for Kuang Qingwu to walk into the trap, Qiu Jinglan surely wouldn’t let people who killed his parents have an easy time. He tortured Kuang Shihan and his wife every now and then. So, the Xingkang Grand Princess couldn’t even stay awake at that moment. And the Major General of the Western Army was shivering in the cold wind since he was only in his underclothes which were covered with blood.
Kuang Shihan began to tremble spontaneously instead of shivering when he saw Kuang Qingwu. Actually, Kuang Qingwu’s condition was no better than his. He was dragged there the moment he got caught and didn’t get tortured on the way. But his face was pale and his eyes were bloodshot which indicated that he hadn’t been able to sleep lately.
Kuang Shihan stared at his only son. His heart was like dead ashes, utterly dissipated. General Ruan might feel the same as him when he heard his son and grandson died at war.
However, General Ruan could wail back then. But Kuang Shihan whose mouth was gagged couldn’t make a sound at that moment! He could only hint at his son with his eyes… But what kind of a hint should he give to his son who was at Qiu Jinglan’s mercy?
“It’s karma!” Kuang Shihan collapsed. The ropes on him and the pillar behind his back kept him in his original kneeling position. He was kneeling towards the direction where Qiu Zhongyan died! As he was forced to bring back the memories in such a position, he just wanted a quick death at that moment.
“It would be nice if I could die before Qingwu. However, Qiu Jinglan has devoted himself to torturing me. How could he let it happen?” Kuang Shihan felt despairing and he thought, “I killed Qiu Zhongyan and the western savages killed the offspring of the Ruan Family back then. But General Ruan and the others of the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe didn’t see it! So, would Qiu Jinglan be relieved from his anger after killing my son in front of me? If so, please don’t torture Qingwu and give him a quick death!”
However, it went more cruelly than he thought.
Qiu Jinglan had no intention of torturing or humiliating Kuang Qingwu when Kuang Qingwu stood in front of him. He looked at him calmly and then drew out his sword. He threw the sword in front of Kuang Qingwu, “There are three people. I need two of their hearts as sacrifices. Kill two of them. I’ll release the last one!”
Kuang Qingwu was ready to die, but he was stunned by the sudden change.
Kuang Shihan who was tied up figured it out instantly. He began to struggle violently. Bodyguards behind him kept smashing him fiercely with the hilt until he couldn’t struggle anymore!
Qiu Jinglan neglected the fuss he made and looked at Kuang Qingwu with a faint smile, “What’s your decision? I can release the last one. And I can release you as well if you do so!”
Kuang Qingwu stared at him with caution. He could grasp Qiu Jinglan’s evil intention without Kuang Shihan’s reminder.
He glanced at those three and croaked, “Where’s Mr. Leshan? It’s the custom for a son to pay his father’s debts. But is Mr. Leshan innocent?”
“He’s among them!” Qiu Jinglan gave a sign and someone pushed back a man’s hair that covered his face, revealing Mr. Leshan’s pale face. Kuang Qingwu was shocked by the sight of the dying man, “What did you do to him?”
“I heard that he knew you well. So, I hoped that he could tell me what you planned to do. Or I could ask him to write to you to tell you to be someplace,” Qiu Jinglan said casually, “I didn’t expect that he didn’t say a word after all the torture even though he was sick. I was afraid that he might end up dead. So, I took him here for you to choose!”
“Liar! Liar!” Kuang Shihan screamed inwardly, “Qingwu, don’t listen to him. Leshan is the one who has framed us! Qiu Jinglan, Ren Ziyong, d*mn you two. Go to hell! How dare you pull such a dirty trick! Qingwu came back to save Ren Ziyong! How dare you do this to him! My poor son, it’s all my fault. If I hadn’t been so blind as to recommend Ren Ziyong to you… God! How could you punish my innocent son like this for my sins!”
However, he couldn’t spit out the cloth in his mouth no matter how hard he tried. He could only watch Kuang Qingwu picking up Qiu Jinglan’s sword after his expression changed for a few times. Kuang Qingwu asked in a low voice, “Do you mean it?”
“Of course.” Qiu Jinglan stared at him, “Kill two and release one. And you also get to live… How’s that sound?”
Kuang Qingwu held the sword and walked to Xingkang Grand Princess. He pierced through her chest without even a blink!
“Ah!” The distinguished princess was still in a coma after the torture. She only managed to let out a short scream and stopped moving after twitching rapidly for a while. She was dead!
“I’ve been waiting to do this for a long time!” Kuang Qingwu looked at her corpse, showing no respect for his official mother. Instead, he was delighted, “I hate your hypocrisy and you were even eager for me to die early!”
Qiu Jinglan wasn’t surprised that he killed the Xingkang Grand Princess without hesitation. Kuang Qingwu’s hatred of his official mother stemmed from the miserable memory of his biological father killing his biological mother. Especially, Xingkang Grand Princess had been trying to take over the Western Army under Empress Dowager Gu’s command. So, she tried every means to control Kuang Shihan’s only successor. Mr. Leshan tried his best to discredit her which made Kuang Qingwu think the worst of his official mother.
If he weren’t afraid of Empress Dowager Gu and the Xingkang Grand Princess’s identity, he would have killed her a long time ago. When he had a chance at that moment, as expected, he killed her first without hesitation.
“The second one is the highlight. I hope you won’t disappoint me!” Qiu Jinglan smiled at Kuang Qingwu and watched him turning around after shaking the blood off the sword. Who would he go to?