Real Empress from a Noble Family

When Ruan Qingyan went back to the little yard, it was still raining and began to dawn.

After a day and night ordeal, his face was now pale and his eyes were bloodshot even though he was in the prime of his life. But his eyes were still bright and gleaming. Flames burned in his eyes from the bottom.

He walked into the front hall as he untied his coir raincoat. Two guards behind him were dragging a man who was bleeding. He wasn’t even wearing a coir raincoat. The rainwater mixed with blood, making the floor from the threshold to the hall red.

“Hand over Yelan to me safely, and I’ll let you three leave the capital safely!” When he reached the inner room, he took the handkerchief handed over timidly by Chunran. He wiped his face when he said coldly.

Just a few minutes ago, Qiu Bo, who gossiped Ruan Qingyan with Qiu Qian, now suddenly stood up and saluted to Ruan Qingyan, “Young master, we will remember your mercy on us forever! But you know that Qiu Nie has been learning with you for many years, and he tried hard to pass that examination…”

“Too late.” Ruan Qingyan said coldly. “Raise Qiu Nie’s head!”

Hearing his words, one of the bodyguards holding Qiu Nie grabbed his hair, forcing him to raise his head.

Qiu Bo and Qiu Qian shrieked in the chorus after seeing his face.

On Qiu Nie’s face, several blade marks were crisscrossing his face! The deepest one of them, the cheekbones could be seen! As they had only applied a little bit of medicine on the wounds along the way, the wounds were already white from the rain, making his face more frightening!

“Are you expecting me to give her so many cuts too?!” Qiu Qian said. Qiu Nie’s face had already broken very severely, surely he couldn’t be an official anymore?! Qiu Bo fell desperately. Qiu Qian gritted his teeth and held a dagger to Qiu Yelan’s cheek, shouting angrily!

Ruan Qingyan stared at her for a while, then suddenly reached out and pulled out the long knife at the bodyguard’s waist, pointed obliquely at Qiu Nie’s crotch. He said slowly, “I remember that he is the only boy in your family. Your family counts on him to carry on.”

Qiu Qian’s face turned pale with anger, “Don’t forget that you and we…”

“Trade or not?!” Ruan Qingyan snapped, “Think carefully. He won’t die because of one cut!”

Qiu Qian took a deep breath, “If I cut her in the face, I don’t think she wouldn’t die either!”

The two of them looked at each other furiously for a moment. Qiu Bo coughed, “Qiu Qian, don’t be rude.” She bowed to Ruan Qingyan again, “Young master, Qiu Nie, Qiu Qian and I are sorry for what we did. But, the ‘Tianya’ is owned by the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe, not by you alone, right?”

As soon as she finished speaking, the haggard Qiu Yelan looked up abruptly! If Qiu Bo hadn’t been quick enough to pull down on Qiu Qian’s wrist, her skin would have been cut by the dagger!

But Qiu Yelan didn’t even care if there was a risk of injury, she just looked at Ruan Qingyan in dismay!

Ruan Qingyan’s appearance was complicated for a moment, and then he gathered his wits and became indifferent, “If you wanted to leave safely, you should have told me your plan. Why did you drag Yelan into this? What do you just want to say, Qiu Qian? Have you forgotten that we’re both from the same bloodline? Did you ever think of it when you kidnapped your sister?”

Qiu Yelan felt very surprised now! She turned her head to look at Qiu Qian who was near her. At the same time, the sweet girl, Qiu Qian turned to look at her, smiling, “Now, I think I should reintroduce myself… My silly sister! My name is Qiu Qian. I am from Qiu Family, the Duke of Xihe. My father, whom you should call uncle, has died anyway.”

Seeing Qiu Yelan turn to look at Qiu Bo again, Qiu Qian pursed, “She’s not our family member!”

“I’m Mei Xue. I served young master. I oversaw the ‘Tianya’ on behalf of young master. In order to conceal my real identity, I changed my name to Qiu Bo, and later entered the capital with young master as a Qiu Nie’s sister.” After saying so, Qiu Bo, no, it’s Mei Xue now, saluted towards her respectfully, “Previously, young master did not allow me to explain my real identity, so I concealed it to you!”

“Cousin… no, my dear brother, you’re killing me now!” Hearing this, no longer knowing who Ruan Qingyan was, Qiu Yelan would be the stupidest girl in the world. She wailed in her heart, “You have known that you are my biological brother and you treat me so nicely? Why do you hide it from me? If you’ve already told me who Qiu Bo and Qiu Qian are, I might not have been trapped in trouble. What now?”

Qiu Qian growled, “Fortunately, he felt ashamed and didn’t tell you the truth! Otherwise, my brother, Mei Xue and I would probably be dead persons?!”

Qiu Qian looked askance at the expressionless Ruan Qingyan. He was now Qiu Jinglan, the Young Prince of Duke of Xihe who had taken refuge in a fraudulent death thirteen years ago. He said, “If we want to escape from it, we can just tell you directly… That’s not the story I heard! My brother and I grew up in the ‘Tianya’. We know very well about the ‘Tianya’. Mei Xue, as the Left Dharma Protector, was taught by the former Left Dharma Protector, must know better! Over the past years, you were busy with Kung Fu, books and Examinations for becoming an official in the government. She is the real one overseeing the ‘Tianya’. If we three left, can you be reassured that you would not kill us?”

She continued, “Qiu Feng is a good friend of the former Left Dharma Protector. He became one of us for his good friend. As he excels at Kung Fu and is famous in the Jianghu. After the former Left Dharma Protector died because of illness, you concealed the truth and lied to him, asking him to serve you and not telling him the truth of the former Left Dharma Protector’s death. You can promise that when we say we want to leave the ‘Tianya’, you will not kill us?”

Qiu Jinglan looked at her coldly, “Either the former Left Dharma Protector died because of illness or being murdered by Qiu Nie, the Right Dharma Protector, the result is Mei Xue must be the one overseeing everything… About this, you swear you don’t know?”

Qiu Qian was stunned, and then smirked, “Oh? You know clearly about it. However, you haven’t told Qiu Feng either! Actually, it’s because you didn’t notice Mei Xue’s betrayal. You can still exploit the three of us. No matter how much Qiu Feng has done for you, you wouldn’t tell him who killed his best friend! I think the former Left Dharma Protector was so wronged. He was loyal to you when he was alive, but you didn’t avenge his death. You even used his best friend for you when he tried to avenge for him. What’s more, you get the man who killed the protector promoted… Fortunately, the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe controlled the ‘Tianya’, or we won’t get away from you even you had no time to take care of everything in the ‘Tianya’. You could not run the ‘Tianya’ at all?!”

“I did not plan to oversee the ‘Tianya’,” said Qiu Jinglan. “Before the foundation of Darui, the organization was formerly known as an intelligence agency for the Qiu Family when the family followed Chu ancestors to conquer the world. But afterward, it became useless. The family kept it as a fallback… But none of the offspring of the Qiu Family, as the Duke of Xihe, had put a tremendous amount of effort into it. The organization’s value is to support the Duke of Xihe. However, the Duke of Xihe does not put effort into running it!”

Qiu Qian said, “That’s why you handed it over to Mei Xue without hesitation… Well, wait a moment. Why do you mention the history of the ‘Tianya’? You are stalling for time?!” She realized something suddenly and then grabbed Qiu Yelan’s throat and snapped, “Don’t play tricks! You let us go or not?!”

Qiu Jinglan replied coldly, “Let Yelan go, then you are free!”

Qiu Qian smiled coldly, “She is your only sister. She’s only worth three of us?! As you don’t cherish the ‘Tianya’. You give it to us. Compared to the safety of your sister, we’re not asking too much, are we?”

“Nonsense!” Mei Xue said suddenly, “We shouldn’t take the ‘Tianya’!”

Qiu Qian was stunned, “Why can’t we?”

“Look at your brother!” Mei Xue looked at the dying Qiu Nie in distress. “You still don’t understand? Although young master did not manage the ‘Tianya’, he could but he did not want to put too much effort into it! Young master has known the flaw of the organization, and the order to clean up betrayals must be spread to every corner. Do you really want the ‘Tianya’ like this?! I guess you want him to kill us now!”

Qiu Qian bit her lip and then said, “How about our money! Thousands of taels of silver in the account of the ‘Tianya’. At least half of them are ours!”

“Don’t think about it!” Mei Xue stopped her before Qiu Jinglan said. She continued in a deep voice, “Qiu Qian, you’re too desperate for money. Without the ‘Tianya’ as our cover, and what’s more, Qiu Nie’s face is ruined and he cannot be an official anymore. How can we suppose to protect such a big sum of money even we are under the wings of Empress Dowager Gu?!”

Qiu Qian growled, “Idiot! We can use the money to bribe Empress Dowager!”

“That would indeed gain the Empress Dowager’s favor.” Mei Xue calmly said. “But have you thought about it? We’re not the only ones to please Empress Dowager. What will those who can’t come up with five million taels of silver for her? What will they think and do?!”

Qiu Qian froze.

Qiu Jinglan said, “Idiot! Do you know why Mei Xue oversees the ‘Tianya’ for me? And you, you don’t even have my permission to work for her? In terms of thoughtfulness, you’re not even close to her!”

“Mei Xue, you tell us. What are we doing now?!” Qiu Qian’s eyes flashed with resentment and coldness!

Mei Xue took a deep breath, “We only take one hundred thousand taels of silver. Qiu Nie and Qiu Qian, they are your second uncle’s children. Your second uncle can’t stay at the Prince’s Mansion to recover from illness. I don’t think this number is not much.”

“Any more do you want?” Qiu Jinglan asked without comment.

“You must swear on the safety of Commandery Princess Ningyi, not to harm us in any way! Let us be completely free!” Mei Xue was shaking slightly after saying this. Clearly, she was nervous when she said so!

The reasons that Qiu Qian dared yell at Qiu Jinglan were: First, she was Qiu Jinglan’s cousin, and second, her understanding of Qiu Jinglan was far less than Mei Xue’s! As the saying went, the ignorant man was fearless… Mei Xue knew Qiu Jinglan’s tactics and ruthlessness. Although she had planned for this day for many years, she couldn’t help trembling when it came true!

After a short time, Qiu Jinglan began to laugh. He said coldly, “So, after you are free, you are also free to retaliate against me?”

“We swear we won’t do that!” Mei Xue said promptly.

Qiu Jinglan said morosely, “Back then, you also swore to be loyal to me forever!”

“Then you swear on the safety of the Commandery Princess Ningyi to let us safely enter the Prince’s Mansion of Guangyang!” Mei Xue sighed in her heart. The most desired outcome Mei Xue hoped was that Qiu Jinglan would be distracted because of Qiu Yelan and agreed to the swear she said just minutes ago. Although Qiu Jinglan did care about Qiu Yelan, he was calmer than she thought. So, she had to seek for the second one.

This time, Qiu Jinglan immediately replied, “Okay!”

Mei Xue became more alert. She said, “Then please swear!”

“I…” Only after Qiu Jinglan said a single word, two black lights suddenly shot out from the brick wall behind Mei Xue and Qiu Qian!

“Watch out.” Qiu Nie, who was already down to his last breath, did his best to voice out a warning. But it’s late, Mei Xue and Qiu Qian had been shot and flung themselves to the ground!

Anyway, Qiu Qian was a tough-minded girl. Although the tip of the arrow was already showing through her chest, she was still trying to get to the dagger to continue grabbing Qiu Yelan. As she reached forward, her slender five fingers were indeed stepped on by Qiu Jinglan!

“Take them down. Don’t let them die!” With a slight push, a crisp bone-cracking sound immediately came from the sole of his boot, Qiu Qian shrieked and fainted from the pain!