Seeing Qin Yining with tears streaming down her face, her expression deathly pale with tension, her slender hands gripping one of the Duchess of Dingguo’s arms, yet not daring to move a fraction because the cold blade was right at her neck—just one inch forward and she would immediately be splattered with blood—Cao Yuqing’s expression became extremely cold.
As early as when Qin Yining had refused to kill her, she had determined that Qin Yining was not the Duchess of Dingguo’s person.
Now seeing the Duchess of Dingguo’s cruelty toward her, not even caring about their grandmother-granddaughter relationship, Cao Yuqing was even more certain that Qin Yining had no connection to the Azure Sky Alliance.
If the hostage being held at this moment were any other young lady from the Qin family, Cao Yuqing wouldn’t care about her life or death and would directly order people to charge forward and kill the rebels.
But this hostage happened to be Qin Huaiyuan’s most beloved daughter.
Qin Huaiyuan had no sons and clearly treasured this legitimate daughter like the apple of his eye.
She was wholeheartedly devoted to Qin Huaiyuan. If Qin Yining died at this moment, even if she wasn’t the one who killed her, Qin Huaiyuan would bear a grudge against her, and wouldn’t that create an insurmountable chasm between her and Qin Huaiyuan?
“So even such a loyal and righteous person as the Duchess of Dingguo can turn ruthless. I wonder—dragging innocent people into this for your private interests and even wanting to kill your own granddaughter—what would Duke Dingguo think if he knew from the underworld?” Cao Yuqing’s hand gripping the precious sword had already turned white at the knuckles.
“You Cao family people are the least qualified to say such words.” The Duchess of Dingguo gritted her teeth, wishing she could pounce forward and devour her flesh.
She moved the knife in her hand closer to Qin Yining’s neck: “You let us through and let us out, or I’ll kill her. At worst, we’ll have one more young lady buried with us—our Azure Sky Alliance won’t have lost anything!”
Qin Yining cooperatively tilted her neck back and cried out in alarm, sobbing: “Save me, save me, I don’t want to die here!”
Cao Yuqing looked coldly at the Duchess of Dingguo, slowly raised her left hand, and stepped back step by step. The Silver-Masked secret agents behind her also retreated, clearing a path in front of the courtyard gate.
Qin Yining secretly breathed a sigh of relief, gripping the Duchess of Dingguo’s hand even tighter to signal her to leave quickly.
The Duchess of Dingguo immediately held Qin Yining hostage, leading the remaining six Azure Sky Alliance members as they ran out.
Seeing this, Cao Yuqing hurriedly led people in pursuit, but watching the Duchess of Dingguo pulling Qin Yining as they ran with the knife still at the young girl’s slender neck—blood traces already faintly visible—Cao Yuqing became even more reluctant to pursue relentlessly, fearing the Duchess of Dingguo would really kill Qin Yining.
Following the small path with wooden fences on both sides, after running past a corner, they saw five horses hidden behind a haystack. These were what the Duchess of Dingguo had ordered people to hide here beforehand.
“Mount up, quickly!” the Duchess of Dingguo urged loudly.
The men immediately obeyed, either one person per horse or in pairs.
At this time, Cao Yuqing had already led people in pursuit to the front.
The Duchess of Dingguo shouted: “Don’t come closer!” The knife in her hand tightened again.
Cao Yuqing could see the madness and determination in the Duchess of Dingguo’s eyes. In her hesitation, she didn’t order people to advance.
In just the time of a breath, the Duchess of Dingguo pushed Qin Yining to the ground, turned and grabbed someone’s hand to jump onto horseback. The five horses immediately galloped toward the official road.
“Pursue!” Cao Yuqing waved her hand, and the people behind her immediately gave chase.
Qin Yining lay on the ground, her palms and elbows scraped and bleeding, trembling all over as she cried.
Cao Yuqing reached her in a few steps. Seeing her disheveled hair and scattered hairpins, looking utterly wretched and crying pitifully like a pear blossom in rain, she sheathed her precious sword and used both hands to help her up, asking gently: “How are you?”
Qin Yining looked at Cao Yuqing with tears glistening in her eyes, her red eye sockets and nose tip appearing even more pitiful against her snow-white, tender skin.
Cao Yuqing lifted her chin to examine the wounds.
Her snow-white collar was stained red with blood in a small patch, and her jade neck had two cuts, obviously scraped in the tension just now. They had already stopped bleeding.
“Fortunately, it’s nothing serious.” Cao Yuqing sighed and patted Qin Yining’s shoulder as she held her.
Setting aside that she was Qin Huaiyuan’s most beloved daughter, just looking at Qin Yining’s face that was extremely similar to the young Qin Huaiyuan, Cao Yuqing couldn’t bear to be harsh. She only felt that this girl had been brought out through her scheme and suffered all this quite innocently.
“Concubine Cao, you…” Qin Yining sniffled before saying: “Your martial arts are so good. Are you really the Emperor’s secret agent as my grandmother said?”
Cao Yuqing nodded.
Qin Yining asked again: “Last time when assassins attacked His Majesty and my father, I saw Silver-Masked people come to the rescue, including a woman with excellent skills. Was that you?”
“Yes.” Cao Yuqing nodded frankly again.
Qin Yining’s feelings toward Cao Yuqing became extremely complex, and finally she said: “Then did my father know your identity from the beginning?”
Cao Yuqing raised her eyebrows, smiling like a blooming flower: “Why do you say that?”
“Because you didn’t hide your identity from me today.”
Qin Yining lowered her head, using her sleeve to wipe her tears. “I really couldn’t imagine that grandmother would be like this.” The tears seemed unwipeable, falling again in streams.
Seeing her cry so pitifully, Cao Yuqing no longer had any doubts in her heart. Instead, she embraced Qin Yining’s shoulders to comfort her.
Before long, more than ten black-clothed Silver-Masked men returned.
Without waiting for them to speak, Cao Yuqing said: “They escaped?”
“Yes.” The leading man bowed his head.
“I understand. I’ll explain this matter to the Emperor myself. You may withdraw.”
“Yes.”
The men bowed and retreated quickly.
Only then did Cao Yuqing embrace Qin Yining’s shoulders as they walked back to the courtyard.
Someone had already prepared a carriage, and an unfamiliar coachman was waiting outside.
Bingtang and Nanny Lü were both by the carriage, anxiously craning their necks to look around. Seeing Cao Yuqing and Qin Yining return with their arms around each other’s shoulders so intimately, and Qin Yining still crying with red, swollen eyes, both their hearts skipped a beat.
They had both been knocked unconscious and didn’t know what had happened.
But when two beautiful women fell into bandits’ hands, even if someone came to the rescue, they would inevitably suffer some hardship.
Bingtang was so frightened her face turned deathly pale, yet she still had to force herself to stay calm, stepping forward to support Qin Yining: “Miss, you’re injured!”
Qin Yining shook her head: “I’m fine.”
Seeing that Qin Yining’s hands and elbows were scraped and there were blood traces on her neck, Bingtang’s expression became even worse. However, with Cao Yuqing present, she didn’t dare ask more questions.
The group got into the carriage. Cao Yuqing instructed the coachman to head back to Marquis Anping’s mansion, then leaned against the cushions with her eyes closed, resting. Her lazy, delicate appearance was the same as when they came, and Qin Yining didn’t know where Cao Yuqing had put that precious sword.
Qin Yining knew that martial artists had keen senses, and if she stared too much at a master like Cao Yuqing, it would definitely cause unnecessary trouble. Therefore, she just kept her head down without speaking, as if she had suffered great grievance and fright but was still forcing herself to be strong.
Bingtang treated and bandaged the wounds on Qin Yining’s hands and elbows, her heart sinking to the bottom. She had several bad guesses in her mind but couldn’t investigate thoroughly, afraid of rubbing salt in Qin Yining’s wounds. She could only speak some dry words of comfort in a low voice.
At dusk, the carriage stopped in front of Marquis Anping’s mansion.
Qin Yining and Cao Yuqing got out of the carriage. Cao Yuqing smiled and said: “Fourth Miss, after the long journey, this concubine will go rest first. Fourth Miss should also rest early.” She behaved no differently than usual.
Qin Yining knew that Cao Yuqing hoped today’s events could be kept secret.
She had deliberately cried until her eyes were swollen, and now forced a smile: “Concubine, please go ahead. I still need to go to father’s study to borrow a book. We might not be going the same way, so I won’t accompany you.”
Cao Yuqing raised her eyebrows, not expecting Qin Yining to directly tell her she was going to see Qin Huaiyuan. “Yes, then Fourth Miss, please go ahead.”
Qin Yining smiled and nodded. After they exchanged courtesies, they went their separate ways.
Entering the mansion gate, Qin Yining went straight to the study in the outer courtyard. After asking a servant and confirming that Qin Huaiyuan was inside, she said: “Please inform him that I’d like to borrow a book from father and ask if it’s convenient for him now.”
The servant smiled and agreed, happily going to report.
Qin Huaiyuan was sitting cross-legged on a luohan couch by the window reading when he heard the servant’s report and felt somewhat strange.
The Shuoren Study had a rich collection of books. If Qin Yining wanted to read something, what was in the Shuoren Study would be quite sufficient. Today Qin Yining had gone with Cao Yuqing to the Immortal Maiden Temple for prayers and had probably just returned. Something must have happened on the road.
“Please invite Fourth Miss in.”
The servant immediately went to respectfully invite Qin Yining inside.
Only when they reached the bright area under the corridor could they clearly see Qin Yining’s disheveled appearance by lamplight. The servant’s heart trembled, afraid of prying into the master’s secrets and causing trouble, so he quickly lowered his head and withdrew.
Qin Yining left Bingtang outside and entered the room herself.
Passing around the screen decorated with the four gentlemen—plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum—when Qin Yining reached the side room, she met Qin Huaiyuan’s eyes looking toward her.
Seeing that Qin Yining had actually cried until her eyes were red and swollen, Qin Huaiyuan was startled: “Yining, have you been wronged?” His first reaction was that Concubine Cao had bullied his daughter.
Qin Yining removed her cloak and hung it aside, revealing her soiled dress and bandaged hands: “I encountered some things while out today. Is it convenient to speak here, father?”
Qin Huaiyuan nodded, his long eyebrows tightly furrowed as he examined Qin Yining. He saw that both her hands and elbows had been simply bandaged, and besides her red, swollen eyes, her snow-white collar actually had blood stains!
Qin Huaiyuan dropped his book and walked over in large strides without taking time to put on shoes, lifting Qin Yining’s chin to carefully examine her neck.
“You’re injured? Who hurt you? The Cao woman?”
“It seems father has long known Concubine Cao’s true identity.”
Qin Yining’s single sentence made Qin Huaiyuan look at her in surprise. After a long while, he said: “You know?”
“Yes.”
Qin Huaiyuan frowned: “Are your injuries serious? Should we call a doctor first? Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“Daughter is fine. Miss Tang already treated them on the way back.”
Qin Huaiyuan nodded and said: “Sit down and tell father what happened today.”