Chapter 297: Learning One’s Identity 7

It was anyone’s guess what this young man was trying to get close to her for.

Could it be that he was trying to investigate her identity like he was?

However, that did not make sense either. When he first joined her, she had none of her achievements; she had not designed the small building or saved Heir Pei…

Jiang Yeqian was a little confused.

Knowing that this nameless boy, whose name had been given to him by Qi Qingyao, had been looking forward to him leaving… Jiang Yeqian could do nothing about it. He could only get up silently and leave the house through the back door.

The hostler at the stable stared at the ox-head man’s appearance as he was leaving “sullenly”. After thinking for a while, he then informed Lu Wei.

…

After Qi Qingyao woke up from her afternoon nap, she realized that at some unknown time, the children had also laid down on the bed, sleeping together in a pile! She got out of bed carefully without waking the three little ones. Then, she took out the small sewn purses from the sewing baskets and placed them by their heads.

Each of their initials had been sewn onto the purses. She held the extra few purses in her arms but after thinking about it, she threw one of them back into the sewing basket.

Qi Qingyao kissed the children one by one, then got out of bed. She opened the door, closed it behind her silently, and went to the hall. She found Lu Yan sitting there, drinking tea by himself when she entered through the door.

Seeing her walk in, Lu Yan beckoned her over.

He was inviting her to come over and take a seat.

After Qi Qingyao sat down, Lu Yan poured her a cup of tea.

Qi Qingyao held the tea bowl, then put it back down, sighing.

“He passed his last words to Si Jin… No, it was parting nonsense. And then he left.” Looking as if he were waiting for mayhem to ensue, Lu Yan asked her, “Didn’t you ask me to not say anything earlier? Why did you end up showing your hand in the blink of an eye?”

Qi Qingyao said nothing. She took out a purse from her robe pocket and looked at the name inscribed in it. After making sure it was the right one, she gave it to Lu Yan.

Lu Yan did not reach out for it.

Qi Qingyao was stunned for a moment. Then, recalling his issues, she decided to take it back.

Lu Yan, however, snatched it from her hands at this moment.

He glanced at it curiously at first. When his gaze fell onto the name embroidered on it, Lu Yan froze slightly.

There were vague, gold koi patterns embroidered on the red purse and the color was really beautiful. Embroidered on the lower right corner of the purse, were the very… distorted characters “Lu Yan”.

His fingers, delicate as clouds, landed on top of those two characters, stroking them slowly for a while.

Something like this had also happened… back then. However, he had not liked the things that those women had given him. Perhaps he actually found this particular purse cute and interesting given the current situation of Qi Qingyao being his friend and doctor. However, the embroidered words could be aptly described by the words, “unsightly and messy”.

Oh, and one more word.

Crooked…

“The embroidered words are ugly but that’s because I haven’t done this before. Before I started sewing, I didn’t think I had to write down the names. I just sewed directly over it and used your name as a test subject. That’s why it turned out like that. If you find it ugly, you can throw it away. It’s just some plaything anyway,” Qi Qingyao said, sounding none too concerned.

Lu Yan could not help but laugh when he heard this. He immediately tucked the purse away.

Only then did Qi Qingyao take a sip of tea and start to talk about the more serious business.

“I thought I could pretend not to know, but I can’t. That’s because it’s already difficult for me to trust others. I find it even harder to trust people now especially after he lied to me repeatedly.”

Lu Yan said with slight pity, “His skills were undeniably powerful! You just lost a loyal guard.”

“Loyal?”

Qi Qingyao opened her eyes, her eyebrows looking languid. “You’re such an idiot.”

Lu Yan was speechless. “I… you’re calling me an idiot?!”

Qi Qingyao continued calmly, “You may be really shrewd when it comes to reconciling accounts and in terms of business, but for what happened today, I drove him away based on my own considerations.”

“What considerations?” Lu Yan asked.

Qi Qingyao surmised for a moment instead of answering immediately. Instead, she asked indirectly, “Let me ask you first, about the Lingyun Restaurant massacre back then, did you find out the outcome after that?”

Lu Yan replied, “The government bought information from the Zhaixing Administration. It was said that it was the work of a grand master, but none of the seven grand masters are in Qingzhou City, so this matter is now a pending case.”

“I roughly understand the strength division between the seven master-ranked experts as well as those of rank eight or nine you mentioned the last time. This question is a no-brainer, but was this information by the Zhaixing Administration only given to the government?” said Qi Qingyao.

Lu Yan nodded. “The courts probably know about this too.”

Qi Qingyao blinked. She took a sip of tea calmly and refilled another serving for herself from the teapot “If the Northern Liang court knows, then do you think the State Preceptor does too?”

“They must know.” Had she already considered this?!

Qi Qingyao replied without much concern, “If the State Preceptor, Li Ruoxuan, knew that none of the seven grand masters are in Qingzhou City, but learns that a grand master-ranked expert has appeared in Qingzhou City, what would he do?”

“Considering State Preceptor Li Ruoxuan’s personality, he would personally come to Qingzhou City to investigate things.” A hint of darkness suddenly flashed through Lu Yan’s eyes. “You…”

He did not voice his next words.

However, when he raised his eyes to look at Qi Qingyao…

Both parties already knew what the other was thinking.

“It’s exactly as you’re thinking,” Qi Qingyao said unhurriedly. “If the State Preceptor was to personally come here, he would definitely seize the opportunity to investigate the clues on the Head Grand Secretariat as well. Once his investigation reaches me, I will become your typical scapegoat. It’s hard to say if I’ll be killed in front of him or if he will convict me. Then he’ll punish me by casting me out to the border of the country with my children or something like that. That’s why I want to settle these issues as quickly as possible.”

“Thank goodness you realized it soon.” Lu Yan suddenly let out a breath of relief.

“Apart from that.” Qi Qingyao’s expression was controlled. With a flawless smile on her face, she said, “None of the seven grand masters are in Qingzhou City, but there has been a massacre in Qingzhou City involving someone that was ranked nine and above. Let’s first assume that if the State Preceptor really were to come, do you think the grand masters of the various countries… will sit idly by under these conditions?”

Lu Yan, “…” They would not.

Qi Qingyao’s smile did not change as she said, “None of the seven grand masters are in Qingzhou City but an expert comparable to them has appeared here. The way I see it, those oddballs won’t be able to resist coming to take a look.”

Lu Yan, “.. ” Indeed.

Qi Qingyao asked, “There is a saying in this world, it’s called the butterfly effect. Have you heard of it?”

“Do tell,” said Lu Yan.

Qi Qingyao’s smile was somewhat sly as she said, “A little butterfly in a small village in Northern Liang flapped its wings, eventually creating a huge storm in Eastern Ling.”

Lu Yan raised his brows. His gaze was like a cold light as he replied, “That’s interesting.”

“If those oddballs as well as the State Preceptor were to come, then Qingzhou City would become the eye of the storm!” All of a sudden, Qi Qingyao patted her thigh. “I think we should hurry up and leave this place. We should return to the town, or the village,” Qi Qingyao said seriously.

Lu Yan went silent for a moment before uttering two words. “How cowardly!”

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