192 – Reveals One’s Origin

Zhangsun He’s heart sank – the targets of these killers turned out to be Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin. In a flash, he guessed the purpose of the master behind the scenes to deal with Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin: State Defender Grand General.

The four bodyguards of the State Defender Duke Establishment were not inferior in martial arts. However, the killers had the advantage of number and that their martial movements were ruthless, so they soon forced their way to the carriage.

Chen Mufeng was so terrified. If something happened to Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin, let alone Qin Mian would not let them go, but once the news reached the ears of the State Defender Grand General, the situation at the border station would be very bad.

Fortunately, both Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin were calm enough – they didn’t cry or made a lot of noise. The carriage was very quiet all the time.

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin were ready to fight. When they were about to start, a familiar aura came like a flash of lightning. The two brothers looked at each other in extreme disappointment. Dad’s here.

“Ruiqi and Ruilin, close your eyes.” Qin Mian dashed on empty air and fell in front of the carriage. He waved his sword and slashed out with a flashing brilliance.

The four white-dressed killers who were closest to the carriage screamed before they collapsed on the ground and died. Bright red blood sprayed on the carriage – it was horrifying.

Qin Mian nodded to Zhangsun He and Chen Mufeng and continued to deal with the other white-dressed killers.

These killers were excellent in martial arts, but Qin Mian tore them apart. No more than two quarters later, except for two seriously injured ones, the rest of them died. The smell of blood filled the streets.

“These two should be enough?” said Qin Mian to Zhangsun He.

Zhangsun He nodded and breathed out, “Fortunately–”

“Guh.” Blood gushed out from the two seriously injured killers’ mouths and then they died.

Qin Mian’s expression turned extremely ugly. “Commit suicide by taking poison.”

Zhangsun He tightly frowned and said nothing for a long time.

“Fortunately, you came in time, otherwise, our two families would start a feud.”

Qin Mian explained, “On the way to Weiyuan Marquis Establishment, I noticed some people were following us. I’d been protecting Ruiqi and Ruilin in the dark.”

Zhangsun He and Chen Mufeng looked at each other. Sure enough, the master behind the white-dressed killers was targeting State Defender Grand General. The purpose was not to kill Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin but to hold them hostage to threaten State Defender Grand General.

“Lady of the State Defender Duke, let’s take a trip to the palace together,” said Zhangsun He.

Qin Mian nodded, “I’m sending the children home first.”

He got into the carriage and gathered his two sons in his arms, “Good boys, you alright?”

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin shook their heads and showed no fear on their faces or in their eyes.

Qin Mian gave each of the two little boys a kiss on the forehead.

Qin Ruiqi whispered about the disclosure of the bracelet; he could imagine that the emperor would want such a treasure. However, at that time, he couldn’t ignore the life of others.

Qin Mian set up a sound-proofing barrier and comforted him, “It’s fine. My precious son, this is not a problem you need to worry about. The two bracelets are indeed precious, but even your Old Dad and I don’t have it. In any case, the emperor can’t be very shameless to ask for it from two children. Moreover, your Old Dad is now the commander-in-chief of the battlefield. Soon, the emperor will have to curry favor with us.”

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin nodded in understanding and dropped the topic.

After sending the two children home, Qin Mian took care of domestic affairs for a moment before he went to the palace with Zhangsun He and Chen Mufeng.

The emperor had received the news. He nicely comforted Qin Mian for a while and didn’t mention a word about the bracelet. In addition to giving many treasures to Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin, he also sent a hundred elite soldiers to guard the State Defender Duke Establishment and assigned six imperial experts to protect Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin. Whenever Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin went out, the imperial experts would protect them.

It was unknown whether Qin Mian’s superb martial arts scared the master behind the white-dressed killers, or whether Emperor Xiaohui’s actions made the master behind the scenes think that he couldn’t make a move against Qin Mian, Qin Ruiqi, and Lei Ruilin so that later, there were no assassination attempts against Qin Mian and his sons.

About half a month later, Qin Mian saw Lei Tie in the space again.

Lei Tie’s expression looked very unsightly.

“A-Tie, what happened?”

Lei Tie coldly snorted, “Chen Chuang’s collusion with the enemy to betray the country has been solidly proven. His men poisoned our food. Now, more than 10,000 people in the army have been poisoned. The situation is grim.”

Qin Mian was shocked, “What kind of poison is it?”

Lei Tie said, “I don’t know. The military doctors said that the skin ulceration of the poisoned person after death is infectious. At present, more than 20 people have died and more than 100 people have been infected. The military doctors can only suppress the poison temporarily and have no idea how to detoxify it. I’ve sent a message to the Capital, but it’d be too late for the emperor to send over detoxification experts.”

Qin Mian said, “I can see that you have a plan. What do you want me to do? Say it.”

Lei Tie touched his face, “You give me a kind of antidote pill that can temporarily suppress the poison. It’d be better if it can eliminate the infectivity of the poison. I’ll arrange for a fake doctor over there, pretending that he came up with the idea. When the urgent report arrives in the Capital, the emperor will certainly consult you on how to detoxify. You’ll come to the border station in person.”

Qin Mian was a little worried, “The Tuluo people will certainly take this opportunity to launch a large-scale attack. Can you hold on before my arrival?”

Lei Tie nodded, “Don’t you believe your husband’s ability?”

Qin Mian’s ears were hot as he glared at the man.

“Don’t worry.” Lei Tie hugged him and said, “Trust me.”

Qin Mian took out a bottle of pills from the alchemy room and gave it to him. “First, according to the ratio of 1 to 1000, mix the spiritual spring water with plain water, and then according to the ratio of 1 to 1000, dissolve the pill in the solution. Just let the poisoned people drink it will do.”

Lei Tie nodded. There was no time to say more, he disappeared after he kissed Qin Mian’s lips.

Three days later, Emperor Xiaohui summoned Qin Mian to the palace.

Qin Mian changed into the Mandated Lady’s formal suit and rushed into the palace.

The palace attendants led him directly to the door of the imperial study.

“Reporting, Your Majesty. Lady of the State Defender Duke has arrived.”

“Announce.”

“Announcing the present of Lady of the State Defender Duke~~”

Qin Mian walked into the imperial study and saw that there were other people in the imperial study, all dressed in imperial doctor’s suit.

“Wish Your Majesty long live, absolutely long live!”

“Rise.”

“Many thanks, Your Majesty.”

“Give a seat to Lady of the State Defender Duke.” Obviously, Emperor Xiaohui had no intention of exchanging conventional greetings as he directly ordered the palace attendant, “Show the urgent report to Lady of the State Defender Duke.”

“Yes.”

The military report was the oral account of the military doctors and written by Lei Tie. They described in detail the symptoms of poisoning and several effective or ineffective treatments.

Qin Mian read it carefully, but he didn’t notice that a surprised and bewildered gaze of an imperial doctor opposite him was on him, endlessly flickering with an astonished expression solidified on his face.

After Qin Mian read it, he returned it to the palace attendant.

Only then Emperor Xiaohui spoke, “Now, 10,000 soldiers have been poisoned at the border station; the morale of the troops is in turbulence. The situation is extremely unfavorable for Great Xia. Does anyone know how to deal with the poison?”

All the imperial doctors were silent.

Emperor Xiaohui tightly frowned, dissatisfiedly pointed a name, “Imperial Doctor Qin, what’s your opinion?”

Imperial Doctor Qin Wencai instantly got up and knelt. He spoke with deliberation, “Reporting, Your Majesty; your subject has no opinion. Although the urgent report clearly described the symptoms of the poisoned person, your subject and the others have, after all, never seen the patient personally. Therefore, your subject and the others dare not say anything baseless. In case of a wrong step, the detoxification methods will only become the written Taoist voodoos¹ of the soldiers…”

The rest of the imperial doctors knelt and nodded in agreement.

Emperor Xiaohui coldly snorted. Had he not understood these imperial doctors yet? They just feared the responsibility. Emperor Xiaohui was disappointed and looked at Qin Mian with a calm face.

“Lady of the State Defender Duke is also proficient in medicine. Do you have any ideas?”

Qin Mian got up and cupped his hands in obeisance, “Reporting, Your Majesty. I [humble] have 90% confidence that I can detoxify this poison. However, as Imperial Doctor Qin said, since I [humble] haven’t seen the poisoned person personally, [I’m] afraid to make fool of myself if careless. Therefore, I [humble] would like to seek Your Majesty’s permission to go to the border station in person.”

“90% confidence?” Emperor Xiaohui was greatly rejoiced, “Alright! Zhen confers you the “Subsidiary Second-rank Special Case Military Inspector” title to facilitate you to walk into the army. If you can save the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers at the border station, Zhen will greatly reward you!”

Qin Mian was secretly happy, but he didn’t expect to get a subsidiary second-rank official post as soon as he entered the palace, which was only half a rank lower than the “State Defender Grand General”.

“Your subject follows your decree. Many thanks, Your Majesty!”

“Zhen will give you one day to arrange your family affairs. Tomorrow, hastily set out to the western pass.”

“Yes!”

Qin Wencai unexpectedly asked, “Reporting, Your Majesty. Lady of the State Defender Duke also needs an assistant. Your subject is willing to go with Lady of the State Defender Duke to render service on behalf of Your Majesty.”

As Emperor Xiaohui considered that Imperial Doctor Qin was his personal imperial doctor, going to the border station personally was also conducive to boosting morale, so he nodded, “It can’t be any better to have Imperial Doctor Qin over there. But my dear subject Qin is not young anymore – can your body hold on?”

“Thank you for the concern, Your Majesty. There is no problem with your subject’s body.”

“In that case, you’ll go with Lady of the State Defender Duke.”

“Yes!”

One day’s time was too limited. Qin Mian went back home as soon as he got out of the palace.

Qin Wencai wanted to catch up to him several times, but he restrained his excitement with rationality. He quickly returned to his residence and ordered his servants to pack up.

“Father, what’s this?” Qin Jian, the eldest son of Qin Wencai, came back from the outside. He noticed the movement in the house and was completely puzzled.

Qin Wencai was busy packing the medicine case. Without lifting his head, he said, “You’re home, Jian’er? Your father is going to the border station.”

Qin Jian was greatly surprised, “Father, at this time now? Not to mention how dangerous it is to go to the border; can your body hold on after such a long journey?”

Qin Wencai laughed – he was in high spirits. “This time, your father is going to the border station with Lady of the State Defender Duke. If your father is right, your father will bring your little brother home soon.”

“What? You… you said Lady of the State Defender Duke?” Qin Jian’s expression greatly changed. He accidentally bumped his right hand into the teacup on the table. The teacup fell to the ground and the tea splashed.

“Correct.” Qin Wencai excitedly said, “As soon as I saw him, I recognized him as your little brother who has been missing for many years. Now, all I need is evidence…”

Qin Jian’s body felt chill and his hands and feet were ice-cold. Qin Mian! Never would have he thought, he had tried his best to cut off any news of Lady of the State Defender Duke, but his father still ran into him (QM) head-on. Damn it! The idea of killing Qin Mian hovered in his mind for a long time.

Qin Mian had three things to arrange. First, the two children were sent directly to Chen Mufeng’s house, trusting him to take care of them. He believed that whether it was Commandery Prince Mu Establishment or Imperial Prince Ming Establishment, the emperor would adequately protect the two children like the apple of his eye – he was not worried about the safety of his children. Second, the drugstore and the silverware shop; third, the State Defender Duke Establishment.

Besides the two children wanted to go to the western pass with him which Qin Mian had a lot of trouble persuading them, everything went smoothly.

The next morning, Emperor Xiaohui personally selected 100 elite soldiers to escort Qin Mian and Qin Wencai to the western pass.

The carriage was the Qin Mian family’s big carriage which had an excellent shock absorption effect. Also, Qin Mian inscribed acceleration formation on the carriage, so the speed was not much slower than [riding] a horse.

The trip went on a whole day. Only when it was dark that the procession stopped. The group of people, out in the countryside, lit a bonfire and could only make do with the rations.

The ambush in the forest made Qin Mian sneer in silence.

A hidden arrow “swooshed” from the forest, straight to him.

Qin Wencai was so terrified and subconsciously rushed over, “Careful!”

The one hundred elite soldiers weren’t useless – they immediately went to search and easily dealt with ten killers. The leader of the escort sent an elite soldier back to the Capital to report the incident to Emperor Xiaohui.

“Imperial Doctor Qin, why are you?” Qin Mian was surprised by Qin Wencai’s action.

The whole day, Qin Wencai shared the same carriage with Qin Mian. He had hesitated several times and didn’t ask the question brewing in his mind. The killer’s act of assassinating Qin Mian made him make up his mind.

“Lady of the State Defender Duke, please forgive this old fellow for taking the liberty to ask where is your parents’ native place?”

Qin Mian shook his head. “I have no parents.”

“Is it?” Qin Wencai’s hands trembled with excitement, “You… you don’t think you look similar to this old fellow?”

Qin Mian was taken aback. He carefully looked at Qin Wencai and was flabbergasted. Both of them really had a 40~50% similarity in the looks. He thought of an incident a long time ago where he met a man from the Capital who looked similar to him – he had a guess in his heart.

“What do you mean?”

Qin Wencai took a deep breath and slowly said, “If you have a light mole behind your left waist and right shoulder, then you’re my legitimate son who has been missing for many years. He is also called Qin Mian.”

Footnotes