A Clash of Gods - Chapter 47

Chapter 47 Changes in the Capital
Gu Qinghan frowned a little. After thinking for a while, she said in a low voice, “Canghai, give a strict order. From now on, no one in the Mansion shall go out without a good reason. If they need to purchase groceries, they shall be cautious while they are out.” Then she said to Qi Feng, “Qi Feng, you have acquaintances in Capital Bureau. You may ask them about what has happened.”

Both of them lifted their hands and answered yes. Qi Feng said, “Third Lady, the policemen of Capital Bureau are just patrolling as instructed, therefore, if anything has happened in the palace, they properly don’t know exactly what is going on.”

“I agree with Qi Feng,” Duan Canghai said, “Black Sword Camp has been sent into the Imperial City, and the defending force of the Imperial City has been shifted, which means that they wanted to block information from the palace. At this moment, it is difficult to inquire about what has happened in the palace.”

After a brief pause, Gu Qinghan asked, “Is the capital locked down?”

“Not yet,” Qi Feng said, “However, judging by this situation, a curfew may be imposed on the capital tonight. Once the curfew is imposed, the lock-down will be inevitable.”

“Well, the General’s funeral will be held in two days. If the capital is locked down, what should we do to get out of the city?” Gu Qinghan said with concern, “The date of the funeral was settled according to the rules of rites. If anything goes wrong, it will impose negative impacts on Feng Shui. Besides, if we break the rules, some people may take the chance to rebuke us.”

Duan Canghai said, “Don’t worry, Third Lady. The gate of capital is still under the control of Tiger God Camp, and the commander of this camp was once a subordinate of the General. I will find a chance reaching out to him, and ask him about the current situation. No matter how, the General’s funeral will be held without any disruption.”

Gu Qinghan patted her fleshy breast gently, then a light smile was spread on her face. “Look at me. I was too worried to remember that Commander Xue is in charge of Tiger God Camp. There should be no accident in the General’s funeral as long as we have him on our side.” Soon, her face turned gloomy. “No wonder the King has not sent anyone here yet. Something really went wrong…!”

Standing on the side, Yang Ning was quietly listening to them talking. He got to know that the capital was becoming unpeaceful.

“By the way, Third Lady, on the way here, we saw the Marquis of Martial Arts just left. He looked grumpy and…and he was mumbling something…!” Duan Canghai hesitated, but he finally said in a low voice, “He seemed to be very displeased with you. Anything happened?”

Contempt showed in the beautiful eyes of Gu Qinghan, and she said with a sneer, “Do you think anything good would happen when he was here? There is a saying, like father like son. I don’t think it is true when it comes to the Marquis of Martial Arts.” Considering Yang Ning was on the side, Gu Qinghan didn’t want to say much about it. She turned to Yang Ning and said, “Ning, don’t think about any other things. Just concentrate and prepare the General’s funeral. Let’s deal with other things after the funeral.”

Yang Ning gently nodded, knowing that Gu Qinghan must be exhausted dealing with problems that kept popping up.

As the capital is undergoing big changes, Gu Qinghan had to report the situation to the Dowager. After she left, Duan Canghai gave some orders to Qi Feng, sending him out in a hurry.

“Your Excellency, if the Marquis of Martial Arts said something offensive, you don’t have to care about that.” Seeing that Yang Ning also had a grumpy look, Duan Canghai thought that he must be scolded by the Marquis of Martial Arts, so Duan Canghai consoled him and said, “The Marquis of Martial Arts has always been a careless man, so sometimes his words could be too…too forthright.”

Yang Ning laughed in a bizarre way, and said, “He was here to break the engagement.”

“That was because…!” Duan Canghai was about to make a casual comment, when he was shocked and yelled, “What? Break the engagement?”

Yang Ning shrugged and said, “Do you think I was teasing you?”

“How could that be?” Duan Canghai was so shocked and said, “The engagement was settled while the old marquises were still alive. Both the Marquis of Honor and the Marquis of Martial Arts are hereditary marquises in the Southern Chu State, noble families. As the engagement was settled, even if it was not for noble families like us, even…even if it was for normal families, the engagement should not be broken so easily.”

Yang Ning laughed and said, “Did you just say that the Marquis of Martial Arts had always been a careless man? You got that right. He talked about breaking the engagement like he was about to tear up a worthless piece of paper.”

Anger was shown in the tiger-like eyes of Duan Canghai. He was clenching his fists and said in a furious voice, “The General’s funeral is not held yet, and he…he is about to break faith with us. What does he think the family of the Marquis of Honor is?”

Yang Ning said while caressing his chin, “He said that there was no man in the Qi Family who could take care of this family, and he also said that I was an incompetent blockhead and not good enough for his daughter.”

Duan Canghai took a deep breath and he couldn’t conceal the anger in his voice, saying, “Su Zhen is kicking us when we are down. He…!” Duan Canghai was shivering with anger, and couldn’t get out any other words.

Yang Ning patted him on the arm and said with a smile, “It doesn’t matter actually. Like father like daughter. A father who can break a promise so easily can’t raise his daughter in a proper way.” After a brief pause, Yang Ning lowered his voice and said with a cunning smile, “Uncle Duan, have you ever met with the lady of that family? What does she look like?”

Duan Canghai said, “I haven’t met her. Well, the Marquis of Martial Arts…Su Zhen’s appearance is not bad, and his wife was once a well-known beauty, so their daughter ought to have a good look.” Then he said in a low voice, “Your Excellency, did you agree with him breaking the engagement?”

“Third Auntie said we needed to report this to my grandmother.” Looked down upon the Marquis of Martial Arts for his behaviors, Yang Ning couldn’t care less about this engagement. “We shall wait for grandmother’s opinion.”

Still furious, Duan Canghai said with a sneer, “Su Zhen is not a reliable man, but I never thought that he could turn against us on such a significant matter. It is real hard to guess someone’s inner. Back to those years…!” Speaking of this matter, Duan Canghai hesitated and then decided to keep silent.

Yang Ning laughed and said, “Uncle Duan, do you know much about Su Zhen? Speaking of my father-in-law, I really have little information about him.”

Duan Canghai knew that the earl had been ignorant in the past. He was not that lousy as a blockhead, but it was true that he was not clever. Now the earl seemed to be awoken by some accidents and turned bright, getting to know about how the world works. Pondering for a while, Duan Canghai began to explain, “When Su Zhen was young, he was once a well-known playboy in the capital, always lingering in romantic places, being drunk and ridiculous. The old Marquis of Martial Arts had always been out of the capital, and paid little attention to parenting…!”

Yang Ning couldn’t help but insulted Su Zhen in his mind. While Su Zhen criticized Qi Ning for paying frequent visits to the Qinhuai River, he looked like a noble man. It turned out that he had much experience in romantic places.

“When Third Lord got married, Su Zhen attended the wedding, and he…!” Duan Canghai clenched his fists, but then he shook his head and said, “It’s all in the past. Let’s drop it.”

Well, Yang Ning got curious about it, and he asked, “Uncle Duan, what on earth has happened? Couldn’t it be Su Zhen making a scene at the wedding of my third uncle?”

Duan Canghai sneered and said, “You got it right, Your Excellency. At that wedding, Su Zhen, as well as some other playboys, sneaked into bridal chamber. They were claiming something about joking with the bride, and they acted in a flirty way. By the time when Third Lord arrived with guards…!” Speaking of this, a bizarre smile spread on Duan Canghai’s face. “When Third Lord arrived, Su Zhen was covered with blood, already passed out.”

“Huh?” Yang Ning got more curious. He was so thrilled to hear about Su Zhen being miserable. “What on earth has happened?”

Duan Canghai looked around before he said quietly, “Please keep it to yourself, Your Excellency, and don’t mention it to others. Though many people know about this, they dare not to say it out loud now.” After a brief pause, he said with a smile, “No one has seen it, but we all speculated that Su Zhen was flirty as usual, and wanted to molest Third Lady, but Third Lady stabbed him on the thigh with a pair of scissors. Even though Su Zhen is the first trueborn son of old Marquis Su, he is not as brave as old Marquis Su, so he was scared into a coma immediately.”

Yang Ning couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Now he could understand why Su Zhen, the Marquis of Martial Arts, was kind of feared when he saw Gu Qinghan. It was because of an anecdote happened in the past.

Thinking of Gu Qinghan, a pretty woman acting in a cruel way, Yang Ning couldn’t help smiling.

“I know that Su Zhen is a ridiculous man, but I never thought that he could break the engagement so easily,” Duan Canghai said with a sneer, “He is eager for instant success and quick profits. In the past, the old Marquis Su was such a heroic man and valued his words very much. Who would know that…!” Duan shook his head. “After Su Zhen inherited the title of the Marquis of Martial Arts, the fame of that family sank rapidly. Speaking of the four great marquises, many people laughed at his back, saying that the Marquis of Martial Arts was not in the same level as the other three marquises. However, the General never looked down upon him, still kept the engagement they made in the past.”

“Uncle Duan, as to the reason why Su Zhen came here to break the engagement, it must be father passing out,” Yang Ning slowly said, “He thinks the family of the Marquis of Honor is about to go down, so he doesn’t want to be a relative to our family. Judging by his history you just told me, it’s not a surprise that he would act in this way.” After a brief pause, he continued, “I only have one question now. Why did he break the engagement at this time, while my father’s funeral is not held yet? He must know that it was breaking up with the Mansion of the Marquis of Honor to bring such a thing up at a time like this. As long as he was able to think, he wouldn’t do such a ridiculous thing.”

Duan Canghai frowned and said, “Now that Your Excellency has pointed it out, it seems wired indeed. Su Zhen is dissolute and ridiculous, but he is not stupid. According to the rules, even if he wanted to break the engagement, he should wait for a while. However, he brought it up while we were preparing for the General’s funeral. Something is not right.”

Yang Ning rolled his eyes, then leaned in and whispered to Duan Canghai, “Uncle Duan, do you think there is something else behind this? I have a feeling that the reason why Su Zhen wanted to break the engagement is more complex than Su Zhen being spontaneous.”

Pondering for a while, Duan Canghai said, “As to this kind of thing, we shall not make a guess so easily.” Then he frowned and said, “If the engagement is really broken, the reputation of the Mansion of the Marquis of Honor will be ruined.”

“They wanted to break the engagement, so only they would fall into disrepute,” Yang Ning said with a sneer, “Swallowing his own words, the Marquis of Martial Arts is going to win himself some bad reputation.”

“Your Excellency, you don’t understand,” Duan Canghai forced a smile and said, “Now the family of the Marquis of Honor is in a tough situation. Many people are waiting to see what will happen to us. If the Su Family breaks the engagement with us, many outsiders, who don’t know about the truth, would think that even the Su Family is looking down upon us, and they would believe that the Su Family thinks the family of the Marquis of Honor is going down. In this case, many others will kick us when we are down.” Duan said in a low voice, “If the engagement is broken, the Su Family will have a bad reputation, but the family of the Marquis of Honor will suffer from real harm.”

“I see!” Yang Ning narrowed his eyes, pondering over something.