Chapter 67: Counterattack
Editor: Atlas Studios
Sure enough, Fan Zijin ran to the military camp with two servants to stop Lu Cheng and reprimanded him. “My cousin is young and insensible. When he heard the rumors outside, he inevitably felt indignant for my cousin. It’s his fault for attacking you, but you’re a few years older than him after all, and you’ve been to the battlefield and seen bloodshed. You could’ve just taught him a lesson. Why did you have to hit him so hard?”
With a dark expression, Lu Cheng looked at Fan Zijin gloomily and said, “I don’t understand what you’re saying. When did Fourth Young Master cause trouble for me?”
Fan Zijin snorted coldly. “You know very well whether he did.” As he spoke, he stared at the injury on his face and said, “You don’t have to come out in such a pitiful state. If anything really happens to my cousin, I’ll definitely seek justice for him.”
With that, he glared at Lu Cheng viciously before leaving with a flick of his sleeves.
Lu Cheng’s heart was even more gloomy, for he was truly seriously injured. Qi Haoran’s martial arts skills were not bad, and he had practiced internal cultivation since he was young. Coupled with the anger in his heart, he had not shown mercy. Even if Lu Cheng tried his best to avoid it, he still sustained pretty significant injuries.
He had originally planned to pretend that nothing had happened and wait for everyone to guess that it was Qi Haoran who had done it before revealing that he was seriously injured. By then, even if Qi Xiuyuan feigned ignorance, the soldiers would definitely not believe him.
With the decrease in Qi Xiuyuan’s prestige, coupled with a few tricks, should the emissary want to replace the general in the future, the soldiers would not have much objections. Only then would he be able to subdue everyone faster.
Unexpectedly, all of this was ruined by Fan Zijin. When he came out to say these words, everyone knew that he had injured Qi Haoran. Previously, in order to play the part of a silent victim, he had been putting on a gentle appearance and insisting that those were just superficial wounds…
If he were to now say that he had suffered internal injuries, no one would believe him after Fan Zijin had said. Besides, after this fiasco, he no longer dared to say that. If he said it now, it would be equivalent to admitting that he had ulterior motives.
Lu Cheng gritted his teeth.
Rong Xuan, who had rushed over to watch the commotion, heaved a sigh of relief. He smiled at Jiang Ze beside him and said, “This Young Master Fan is quite quick-witted. No wonder the general agreed to let him be Fourth Young Master’s Military Advisor.”
Jiang Ze smiled and said, “Young Master Fan is the same as you, full of tricks up his sleeves.”
Rong Xuan looked at Jiang Ze and smiled. He said gently, “Thank you for your praise. Don’t worry, I am slightly more so than him.”
Jiang Ze wished he could sew his mouth shut. He looked at Rong Xuan pleadingly. “Military Advisor, I’m praising you.”
“Oh?” Rong Xuan looked at him with a faint smile. “Thank you for your praise, then.”
Jiang Ze looked at Rong Xuan with tears in his eyes. He was really praising the Military Advisor for being smart.
When Qi Xiuyuan heard about this from the guard, he smashed the table angrily and asked the guard gloomily, “You said that Lu Cheng injured Haoran?”
The personal guard quickly waved his hand and said, “General, don’t worry. I personally went to the residence to take a look just now. Fourth Young Master isn’t injured. He’s just detained in the courtyard by Young Master Fan. The doctors invited have been arranged to stay in the side courtyard.”
Only then did Qi Xiuyuan look better. He didn’t blame Lu Cheng for wanting to replace him. As long as there was a chance, who wouldn’t want to be a general? In fact, he himself wished to replace the emissary.
However, Lu Cheng should never have implicated Qi Haoran. If he wanted to step on Qi Haoran to climb up the ranks, he had to first ask for his permission.
In Qi Xiuyuan’s heart, Qi Haoran was his only kin. How could he tolerate Lu Cheng using him?
Initially, he had wanted to hear Lu Cheng’s explanation, but there was no need for that now.
“Let Haoran stay at home and rest for a few days. After some time, let him go to the 4th Division. I’ll arrange for someone else to do the patrolling.”
The guard said, “General, Overseer Huang…”
“Treat him with courtesy and don’t worry about anything else for now. I want to see what his stand is.”
The army supervisor sent by the emissary might not necessarily be on the same side as the emissary. Xingzhou Prefecture, with its hardships countless times higher than Xingyuan Prefecture, was not a good place. How many officials in the court were willing to come here?
While Xingzhou Prefecture was in turmoil, Linshan Village slowly recovered from its sorrow and life began to get on track.
After the funerals in the village were completed, everyone stayed at home due to the freezing cold.
Because the weather had suddenly turned cold, about half of the vegetables left in the fields that had yet to be harvested froze in the snow. Although they were harvested on the third day, there was still not much that could be preserved.
Fortunately, they had saved a lot of smoked meat previously. In addition, the autumn harvest could be considered a bumper harvest. As long as they could ensure that the firewood supply could keep up, they should do alright this winter.
At this moment, Mu Yangling was sitting on a small stool around the brazier. From time to time, she would place a few peanuts beside the brazier and a few skewers of meat on it. As the fragrance of meat wafted out, the three children sitting at the side could not help but swallow their saliva.
Little Bowen looked at the meat skewers on the brazier with sparkling eyes and asked, “Sister, how long until we can eat?”
“Wait a little longer.” Mu Yangling nimbly flipped over the meat skewers. “Go and ask Father if he wants to eat.”
Little Bowen said in a dilemma, “If Father wants to eat too, it definitely won’t be enough.”
Xiulan also looked at the 20-odd skewers of meat worriedly. Xiuhong said, “It’s hard on Uncle to enter the mountains. We should let him eat it.”
“There’s more. If Father wants to eat, let him pick out the remaining rabbit meat. I roast meat very quickly.” The reason Mu Yangling enthusiastically roped Mu Shi in was because she wanted to help out. Mu Yangling was not good at picking meat and had only picked out very little meat after working for the entire morning. On the other hand, with his excellent knife skills, Mu Shi could clean up a rabbit in no time.
Mu Yangling wanted her father to scrape the meat off the rabbit’s bones.
Xiuhong instantly understood her cousin’s intention, so she volunteered, “I’ll call Uncle over to eat meat skewers.”
When Xiuhong ran to look for her uncle, Shu Wanniang and Madam Ma-Liu were both here. Quick-witted, she also called out to them. “Uncle, Aunt, do you want to eat meat skewers? Cousin roasted a lot of meat skewers.”
Shu Wanniang smiled as she shook her head. “No thanks. The four of you can go ahead.”
Mu Shi also said, “You guys eat. Just bring a few skewers for your grandmother.”
“I’m good. It’s fine if it’s broiled, but I can’t eat this roasted meat. Your sister and little cousin are still young. Watch over them and don’t let them eat too much, lest they get heaty.”
However, Mu Shi’s heart skipped a beat. He asked, “How many skewers did you guys roast?”
Xiuhong couldn’t count, so she could only say, “Cousin said there are more than 20 skewers.”
Mu Shi raised his eyebrows. “More than 20 skewers aren’t even enough to fill the gaps between your cousin’s teeth.” He said to Shu Wanniang, “Ah Ling must want me to go over and scrape the meat.”
Shu Wanniang nudged him and said, “Then why aren’t you going? Ah Ling is mischievous. What if she accidentally hurts herself with your dagger?”
Mu Shi’s dagger had been passed down to him by his father, who had inherited it from his brave father. That dagger could slice through iron as though it were mud, and was not something that could be bought with money.
Mu Shi always brought it with him when he went into the forest. Mu Yangling had been eyeing it for a long time, but Mu Shi did not allow her to use it. Shu Wanniang was even more fearful that she would be injured and strictly forbade her from touching it.
However, if Mu Shi did not go, this child would probably take the opportunity to use it under the excuse that the kitchen knife was not sharp enough.