A Clash of Gods - Chapter 54

Chapter 54 Wild Dogs
The breakfast was brought to Yang Ning by a maidservant in the mansion, instead of Gu Qinghan. Yang Ning knew that Gu Qinghan certainly had noticed his vacant face. Yang Ning thought that the beautiful young woman was not flirty, so he had to be more careful in the future.

It was true that Yang Ning admired how Gu Qinghan dealt with people. To be honest, the beauty was loved by all. Due to her pretty face and curvy body, Gu Qinghan was attractive to almost every man. However, Yang Ning also knew that if he acted recklessly, it would lead to an estrangement between Gu Qinghan and him somehow.

Gu Qinghan cared for Yang Ning so much, like a considerate elder sister. Deeply inside, Yang Ning actually enjoyed the caring of Gu Qinghan, so he didn’t want to ruin their relationship for certain things.

After breakfast, Yang Ning decided to walk around the mansion.

Since he had made up his mind to continue faking himself as the earl, he certainly needed to get familiar with structure of the Mansion of the Marquis of Honor.

It turned out that the Mansion of the Marquis of Honor was bigger than he had expected. There were front yard, middle hall, east yard, west yard and backyard garden. Besides, there were also stables and a field of martial arts.

Two generations of people in the Mansion of the Marquis of Honor were all military officers. There was a field of martial arts in the mansion, which was quite vast. Under normal circumstances, it was used for practicing martial arts. Totally, there were more than thirty guards in the Mansion of the Marquis of Honor, and they were all originally in the army, so the guards would also practice the martial skills and combat with each other in the field of martial arts.

Changing into fancy clothes, Yang Ning now looked very handsome.

Now Yang Ning was walking down a wooded lane bordered by lush greenery. The view was incredible, and there was even a small artificial cannel on the roadside.

“I can’t wait!” As Yang Ning was enjoying the view, a low voice came from somewhere nearby. Tracking down the voice, Yang Ning saw there were several flower beds nearby. He didn’t know what plants were in those flower beds, but they still flourished in the late autumn. Yang Ning immediately recognized the voice, and it sounded like Qi Yu.

During the last few days, Yang Ning saw Qi Yu once in a while, but they never had a conversation. Qi Yu looked grumpy all day long, and it was like that everyone in the world owed him money.

Yang Ning frowned as he quietly stepped over, then he heard the voice of Lady Qiong, “I’m begging you. Could you lower your voice? People are watching and listening everywhere. He is so perky now that everyone in the mansion is trying to butter him up. If anyone heard what you just said, he might get to know about it.”

“What if he gets to know this?” Qi Yu said with a sneer, “For more than ten years, I have been putting up with him. Why is he qualified of walking all over me? Just because the bitch who gave birth to him was a legal wife?” He said in a cold voice, “After all, it’s all because you are useless. Why would you be a concubine of that guy? Why did you give birth to me? If you hadn’t done any of that, I wouldn’t be so humiliated, ran over by an idiot.”

Yang Ning sneered to himself.

He always knew that Qi Yu was unhappy being a baseborn son. In Qi Yu’s mind, he was the most qualified heir of the Marquis of Honor, but he could never reach to the title of the Marquis of Honor due to his identity.

“Clap!”

Yang Ning heard a loud snap. Apparently, someone had been slapped, then Yang Ning heard Lady Qiong kept her voice as low as possible and scolded, “You beast, how many times did I tell you that endurance was the hardest thing to do? If you can do it well, you can always get what you want. If you can’t retain your composure, how could you make big achievements in the future?”

“It’s always the endurance. How long do you want me to endure for?” Qi Yu said with an angry voice, “I thought he couldn’t make it back, but… If he died outside, the title of Marquis of Honor would be mine. But now, even if he is a big idiot, I have to watch him inheriting the title of Marquis of Honor.”

“What are you anxious for?” Lady Qiong said with a sneer, “There is no official order, so the earl is not necessarily going to be the marquis. Before he officially inherits the title of Marquis of Honor, no one could make sure that he would be the marquis. At a time like this, you especially need to be composed. Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish.” She sneered and said, “The real winner is the one who wins the final battle. Don’t you understand this?”

Yang Ning looked serious. He always knew that the mother and the son were not nice ones. Qi Yu was trying so hard to be a dutiful son before. Now it turned to be that he was just trying to take place of Yang Ning and inherit the title of Marquis of Honor.

Thinking about it now, if Yang Ning didn’t fake himself as the earl and come back to the mansion, the title of Marquis of Honor might be inherited by Qi Yu, like what those two had said.

The title of Marquis of Honor could only be inherited, like a permanent job. If the eldest trueborn son died, the baseborn son, being a son of Qi Jing, was certainly qualified of inheriting the title.

It suddenly came to Yang Ning’s mind. Did those two have anything to do with the assassination in the villa of the Loyalty Cemetery?

Speaking of motives, if Yang Ning died of the assassination, Qi Yu would be the one who would benefit most from Yang Ning’s death. Seeing them trying so hard for the title of Marquis of Honor, Yang Ning suspected that they had something to do with the assassin.

Yang Ning was thinking about how to track down the man behind the assassination, and he clearly knew that those people would never disappear like that, since they had already made an attempt and failed. They might have following plans, so Yang Ning didn’t have to hunt for them. He just needed to be cautious and waited for them to give the show away.

People like Duan Canghai were faithful to Yang Ning. Duan Canghai, Qi Feng and Zhao Wushang, they were all extraordinary. With them helping Yang Ning, it was not that hard to figure out who the ringleader was.

But then again, before the funeral, Qi Yu had no chance to get familiar with the villa of the Loyalty Cemetery. Qi Yu and his mother were evil, but Yang Ning didn’t think that they could come up with such an elaborate assassinating plan. Qi Yu was fishy, but there was no evidence to prove that he had something to do with the assassination.

“How can we win the final battle?” Anxiety showed in Qi Yu’s voice, “In a month, the King will definitely give an order, then the title of Marquis of Honor will be inherited by him. By that time, it will be too late to do anything.”

Lady Qiong said with a sneer, “You silly, how come it will be too late? Do we still have one month? We certainly won’t let him inherit the title of marquis. In the worst case, he gets to inherit the title, but if anything happens to him before he could have a son, the title of marquis will still be inherited by you, since you are an heir of the Marquis.”

Yang Ning was worried, thinking about how evil this woman could be.

“Mother, do you have any plans?” Inspired by Lady Qiong’s tone, Qi Yu hurriedly said, “Just tell me, what should we do?” Then he continued, “You know that only when I inherit the title of the Marquis of Honor can you get the chance to be an Imperial Mandate Madam Otherwise…you will always be a concubine!”

“I don’t care for the title of Imperial Mandate Madam. All I care is you.” Lady Qiong said in a cold voice, “You and I, we have been putting up with so much for so many years. Once you inherit the title of the Marquis of Honor, we will get even with all of them.”

“Gu Qinghan!” Qi Yu gnashed his teeth in hatred and said, “There will be a day when I make the woman miserable. There are many painted boats in the Qinhuai River, and I will send her to one of the damn painted boats. I will make her a whore, a prostitute, to seek my revenge.”

Yang Ning was patient at the beginning. As he heard Qi Yu was trashing Gu Qinghan with dirty words, he got furious and said in a cold voice, “Where are the wild dogs from, barking in the yard? Get your asses here.”

Yang Ning’s command was like a bolt out of the blue for Qi Yu and his mother. Qi Yu had already jumped over the flower beds and made his way through the bushes. He was kind of sharp and swift. Apparently, he knew something about martial arts. Seeing Yang Ning standing over there with his hands at his back, Qi Yu suddenly turned blue. He opened his mouth but nothing came out.

Lady Qiong also took a detour around the flower beds and made her way here. Wearing heavy make-ups, pretty clothes and fancy jewelry, she looked kind of pretty. Seeing Yang Ning, Lady Qiong also turned pale.

“Are you eavesdropping?” Qi Yu got composed very soon, and he clenched his fists, staring at Yang Ning in hatred. Qi Yu looked like a furious wild dog, who might pounce on Yang Ning at any time.

“So it’s you. I thought there were some wild dogs barking.” Yang Ning said with a sneer, “What did you just say? Eavesdropping? This is the Mansion of the Marquis of Honor, and I am the earl. Everything in this mansion belongs to me, and I can be anywhere I want to be. The only case is that some people are sneaking behind me, trying to take me down. Do I need to eavesdrop?”

Hearing Yang Ning’s contemptuous tone, Qi Yu kept clenching his fist, and the veins on the back of his hands popped out. He stared at Yang Ning with fierce eyes, saying nothing.

Lady Qiong also got her wits back by now. She didn’t argue, but said in a cold voice, “Yu, let’s go!” She turned and was about to leave. Qi Yu shotted a glance to Yang Ning, then turned following Lady Qiong. Yang Ning said in a cold voice, “Wait a minute!”

Lady Qiong first turned and said with a sneer, “Qi Ning, you are not the Marquis of Honor yet. Even if you are, I am a concubine of your father, so you are not qualified of commanding me.”

“You, turn around!” Yang Ning ignored Lady Qiong, and pointed at Qi Yu, saying, “Now that Father passed away, I am the master of this family. You shall respect your elder brother in the way you respected your father, since our father is gone. Why didn’t you salute to me when you saw me?”

Qi Yu suddenly turned and said in an angry voice, “You…!”

“What about me?” Yang Ning said with a sneer, “Are you unhappy with this? Qi Yu, you don’t understand this, but your mother should have told you that if you break the rules and disrespect elder family members, I can get your ass out of the Mansion of the Marquis of Honor anytime I want.”

“How dare you!” Qi Yu yelled, “Qi Ning, don’t push it. I already knew that you disliked me. Now that our father is gone, of course, you can do whatever you want. You try and drive me out, showing what you got to all the members in the Qi Family. Third Elder Lord…!”

“I knew you would mention Third Elder Lord.” Yang Ning smiled, “But don’t you forget that even though the last name of Third Elder Lord is Qi, he is not a member in the Mansion of the Marquis of Honor. It’s true that Third Elder Lord could keep your name in the family book of the Qi Family, but he can’t stop me from driving you out of the Mansion of the Marquis of Honor.” Yang Ning snorted and coldly said, “I am just driving you out of the mansion, not getting you out of our family. Since you are a smart guy, I don’t think you will be starved outside the mansion.”