Sir Jibei motioned Qiu Jinglan away with mixed feelings and then instructed his guards, “Find that vicious b*st*rd for me!”
His guards left at his command.
And then…
He waited for more than four hours. It was getting dark and began to snow again. Jiang Yadan was still nowhere to be found.
“Is he scared off? It’s so cold out there. As useless as he is, where can he go in such a hurry even if he brings men with him?” Thinking of which, Sir Jibei couldn’t sit tight. He wanted to kill Jiang Yadan as he was mad back then. But how could he kill Jiang Yadan after he calmed down?
After all, Jiang Yayue and Jiang Yaqing couldn’t come back to life. There was no turning back among the fourth branch, the first branch, and the third branch. Killing Jiang Yadan would only make things worse. As a senior of the Jiang Family, how could Sir Jibei kill another junior?
The living was more important than the dead. Even though Jiang Yadan was useless, he was still Jiang Tianchi and his wife’s beloved son.
So, although he was mad, he still stood up and was going to look for worrisome Jiang Yadan himself.
But noises came from outside at that moment.
“They finally found him!” Sir Jibei was relieved. He put on an angry look and sat back down.
“No! I won’t go! I’m not going in! It hasn’t been long. It’s not even overnight. How can my grand uncle calm down?” Sir Jibei heard Jiang Yadan yelling just when he sat down, “He may kill me right when I walk in. I’m the eldest trueborn son of the fourth branch. How dare you harm me! My parents won’t let you off the hook. Jiang Gan, remember their looks and tell my parents after I die. I won’t go! I’m not going in! I have said I won’t go in!”
Sir Jibei looked extremely gloomy at that point.
Jiang Yadan kept yelling at the door and refused to go in. But the bed canopy Sir Jibei was in began to shake. Sir Jibei looked up and then instructed with a poker face, “Go and see what he is doing?”
At the next moment, before Sir Jibei’s guards could answer, he saw the top of his bed canopy falling down towards himself while hearing the screaming from outside.
“Earl, watch out!” Guards were all shocked and rushed to the rescue.
One hour later, Jiang Yadan who was badly battered around the head and face ran around the camp with his head in his arms. He explained while running, “Grand uncle, I didn’t mean to hurt you! Soldiers who built the camp clearly didn’t do their job right. They didn’t secure the pillars of the bed canopy. That was why it collapsed when I held it! I almost got hit… Besides, you’re skilled at kungfu and well blessed. How could you get hurt because of a fallen bed canopy? You’ve been chasing me for so long, which shows that you’re still strong…”
He was so heartless that he was in the mood of complimenting Sir Jibei. But Sir Jibei who was chasing him was hopping mad.
Sir Jibei comforted poor and innocent Jiang Qizheng and Ou Qinglan and met with Qiu Jinglan himself. He who came to his senses after that intended to question Jiang Yadan properly to find out the real culprit. So that, he could decide what to do based on the result.
However…
Jiang Yadan made him wait for a long time. When Jiang Yadan finally got dragged to the bed canopy by the guards, as a grown man, he had the audacity to cling to the pillar which caused the bed canopy to collapse. Sir Jibei and others in it all got buried.
As was known to all, about half a meter of snow lay on the top of the bed canopy at that season in Shazhou!
Although crowds of guards risked their lives to protect Sir Jibei, there was still a bruise on his head after such a long time.
“Yadan was smart when he was a kid. I wondered why Qianchuan didn’t teach him in person so that he could mend his ways even though he was spoiled by the first branch.” Sir Jibei finally understood how Marquess Qin felt for all these years, “It turns out that he is… is… is…”
Although Sir Jibei wasn’t as talented as Marquess Qin, he was by no means illiterate after being taught by Marquess Qin for a few years. But it took him a long time to think of a word to describe his grandnephew.
“I may lose thirty years of my life if I let him learn alongside me!” Sir Jibei managed to tie Jiang Yadan up with his guards’ help and took him to the bed canopy which had just been cleaned out. He looked at his grandnephew who was gabbling on about how it was an innocent mistake and he shouldn’t be punished. After a long time, he managed to speak, “I’ll kill you right now if you dare to say one more word!”
Sir Jibei had been in the army for his whole life. He had a murderous vibe due to the countless killings in the wars. He deliberately restrained himself when he wasn’t in the army. How couldn’t an idle playboy like Jiang Yadan be scared when he showed his vicious side? Jiang Yadan stopped talking immediately.
Sir Jibei wasn’t in the mood of talking about other things. He asked directly, “How could a loser like you kill your two cousins?”
The first branch and the third branch sent Jiang Yayue and Jiang Yaqing to the army to fight for military power because they were adept with both the pen and the sword. At least they were the best among their brothers. Both of them could beat Jiang Yadan in one-on-one combat.
Otherwise, how could they accept Jiang Yadan’s dinner invitation and went to dinner by themselves since they had put him under house arrest?
“I drugged them!” Jiang Yadan looked reluctant to hear Sir Jibei call him a loser. But he didn’t dare to argue as he saw how angry Sir Jibei looked. He said bitterly, “After I drugged them, I could do whatever I want to…”
He stopped talking when he saw Sir Jibei’s eyes suddenly become dark.
“Drug?” Sir Jibei said coldly, “Where did you get it?”
“I brought it with me when I left Jing City!”
“You planned to kill them when you left Jing City!” Sir Jibei’s hands shook a bit. In that case, was the fourth branch behind all that? Given Jiang Yashuang’s age and his experiences as he grew up around Marquess Qin, Sir Jibei didn’t believe he could operate such a grand scheme remotely without Marquess Qin knowing about it. In that case, was Jiang Tianchi behind it?
Jiang Tianchi spent more time with Sir Jibei than Sir Jibei’s son, Jiang Tiancan. Although Sir Jibei was Jiang Tianchi’s uncle, they were as close as father and son. It was the reason that Sir Jibei suggested Marquess Qin give the fourth branch a proper explanation when he was in Jing City. Although Sir Jibei and Marquess Qin were both grateful to Kui Xiannan and adored Jiang Tianao because of him, he was more affectionate to and protective of Jiang Tianchi, the nephew he watched grow up.
However, at that moment, he found out that Jiang Tianchi didn’t need his protection. On the contrary, his other nephews and grandnephews needed his help and protection.
Sir Jibei felt dizzy.
He heard Jiang Yadan mumbling at that moment, “If I had known that Jiang Yayue and Jiang Yaqing were so vicious, I wouldn’t have accompanied Jiang Qizheng here. I’m just used to bringing this kind of drug with me.”
“You’re used to?” Sir Jibei thought Jiang Yadan wanted to muddle through after he found out that he spilled the beans. Sir Jibei couldn’t help sneering, “Don’t you think I know about your indulgent life in Jing City? Why do you take this kind of drug with you?”
Unexpectedly, Jiang Yadan said confidently, “I bring this kind of drug with me because I live an indulgent life. You can send someone back to Jing City to ask my fair-weather friends if you don’t believe me. How can’t I prepare this kind of drug?”
He took a little china bottle out of his sleeve while talking and sneered, “Although places like Spring House and Jinpa Pavilion are skilled at taming girls, inevitably there will be some fierce girls since they buy so many girls. Will the guests ask others to pin the girl down if they don’t use drugs? It’s one way to go. But some guests like me don’t like the presence of others. That’s when the overpowering drug comes in handy.”
“Animal!” Sir Jibei stared at the little china bottle in Jiang Yadan’s hand. He couldn’t believe his two outstanding grandnephews who survived wars and attacks from the Northern Army to the Western Army were defeated by a bottle of overpowering drug used in brothels.
The camp was quiet at night except for Sir Jibei’s roars.
The senior maid Mengtao carefully handed a bowl of goat milk to Jiang Qizheng with both her hands, “Your highness, please go to bed.”
“Let me embroider a little longer,” Jiang Qizheng was sewing a child’s dress by the candlelight. It was a magenta dress with an auspicious pattern. The stitching was fine but not skillful as there were several marks of repair and rework.
Looking at the bloodstains on Jiang Qizheng’s fingertips, Mengtao couldn’t help persuading, “Your highness, you will have plenty of time to do this when you go back to Jing City. I can’t find nice material here. This brocade looks nice. But it’s not soft enough for my young master to wear.”
“Really?” Jiang Qizheng didn’t agree with the first two sentences. But she was stunned by the last one. She touched the brocade and hesitated, “Is it really not suitable for children?”
Seeing Mengtao nodding, she sighed with disappointment and looked at her hands with self-deprecation, “I have too many scars on my fingers which made my skin rough. So, I can’t tell the quality of the material.”
Mengtao sensed that Jiang Qizheng wasn’t intended to go on. She felt happy and said in a hurry, “So, you don’t need to make the clothes now. You should take care of your hands first.”
“Send someone to find nicer material for me tomorrow!” Jiang Qizheng instructed, “My youngest grand uncle needs to find out how Jiang Yayue and Jiang Yaqing died. We shouldn’t be able to leave soon. Even if we’re going back to Jing City shortly, it takes a long time on the road. I don’t have time to waste.”
Mengtao said with worries, “My young master is in Jing City. Madame Shishui takes care of him and Madame Tao protects him. How can he be short of clothes? Your hands are still wounded. Why do you insist on making clothes for him now? There will be ample time. Besides, your wound isn’t severe. You may recover after recuperating for some time. You can make as many clothes as you like for my young master then. I won’t stop you, okay?”
“There will be ample time?” Jiang Qizheng smiled after hearing that. She thought, “My silly maid only cares about me. But she doesn’t know that since Jiang Yayue and Jiang Yaqing are both dead while Ou Qinglan, Ling Zui, and I, especially me, are safe and sound, this isn’t something that can be brushed off even though Jiang Yadan has taken the fall counting on his status as the eldest trueborn son of the fourth branch.”
Even if Marquess Qin and Sir Jibei wouldn’t choose to end this drama by killing another grandkid, they definitely would make the fourth branch compensate the first branch and the third branch with other things such as military power, money, forces, and jobs.
“My father joined the army when he was twenty years old, which separated him from us for decades. He only got his current position by taking the lead and risking his life in countless wars. My mother was supposed to live a luxurious life at home. But she has been accompanying my father in Beijiang with a harsh environment. And she is still there. Jiang Yadan is spoiled by the first branch because of that. What happened to Jiang Yazhu was… And Jiang Yashuang has been taught by my grandfather since he was young. He passed the exam after ten years of diligent study. Although my grandfather helped us to get our power, we earned it harder than other branches. How can I let my branch give our power to the first branch and the third branch because of me?”
Jiang Qizheng had thought it through when she convinced Ou Qinglan to do it and Jiang Yadan to take the fall. She would kill herself in front of the first branch and the third branch after she went back to Jing City. In that case, Jiang Yadan was wrong to kill his two cousins before he confirmed his sister’s death. But the first branch and the third branch also forced the trueborn daughter of the fourth branch to kill herself. Even if they couldn’t call it even, it was impossible for the first branch and the third branch to demand an exorbitant price.
That was her real plan to deal with the aftermath.
“I only hope Jiang Yadan wouldn’t blame me then. After all, I promised that nothing would happen to us as long as he insisted on claiming that he did it. But it’s impossible for our branch not to sacrifice someone.”
Jiang Qizheng folded the half-done dress slowly. She touched the dress with her scarred fingertips. She couldn’t tell if the material was soft or not. She felt sad, “I wonder how many clothes I can make for my son before I die. If I had known this, I would have spent all my time practicing embroidering instead of writing and playing the zither.”
When she thought of her son, she thought of that man. He cruelly abandoned her and was gone for more than a year. She wondered where he was and how he was.
“If he is alive, I hope he could stay heartless. I hope my family could never find him so that he wouldn’t be implicated. I thought he also loved me. It seems like a lifetime ago as I think about it now.” Jiang Qizheng laughed at herself again and instructed evenly, “I must have the right material for my son by noon tomorrow!”
“But…” Mengtao still wanted to persuade her. But she was stunned by Jiang Qizheng’s suddenly chilled looks. She answered subconsciously, “Yes, your highness!”