Glass Peach Tree
In the afternoon, the five children of noble families went to the Moonfall Camp together. He Qi hurriedly followed and said to Wu Qi, "I'll go with you."
Ning Xunxu waved the token in her hand, not to show off, but simply to kindly remind her, "We're going to the Moonfall Camp."
“I know.” He Qi showed the token in his hand. “I have a token too, and I can also enter the Moonfall Camp.”
To prove its authenticity, he pressed down on the butterfly's wings in front of everyone.
The patterns on the token began to rotate and recombine, becoming exactly the same as the tokens of Wu Qi and the others. Only the bell remained stationary within the rotating patterns. A pleasant sound rang out, and the surface popped open, revealing the two characters "He Qi" inside.
It was still an inscription by the Emperor.
The tokens of the Moonfall Camp were exquisite and intricate, especially the patterns. Ning Xunxu glanced at them twice and memorized their patterns. He then examined He Qi's token closely; it didn't seem to be a fake.
Moreover, who would dare use a fake Moonfall Camp token?
Ning Xunxu raised an eyebrow and asked He Qi, "Where did you get this token? Where did it come from?"
His sister really liked the pattern on the token. When he first saw the pattern on the token, he almost thought that his sister had drawn it.
He wanted to get a Moonfall Camp token for his sister to play with too.
He Qi stammered, "Don't worry about how I got this token, it's a real token anyway." Then, as if remembering something, he stared suspiciously at the group of aristocratic children and asked doubtfully, "You wouldn't be secretly ostracizing me in the Moonfall Camp just because I'm not from an aristocratic family, would you?!"
Lin Kuo frowned and was about to say something when Song Yinxing tugged at his sleeve, stopping him. However, he still looked at He Qi with some displeasure.
What did Heqi mean by that?
"You can't just say things like that. If we ostracize or slander others in private, we'll be punished." Ning Xunxu skipped classes every day and spent all his time with his sister. He wasn't very familiar with the children of the important officials in Cizi Pavilion. Hearing He Qi's outrageous words, he retorted sarcastically, "Besides, we wouldn't dare touch General Wei's nephew. After all, General Wei's son killed someone in the street and got away scot-free."
"Han Su, be careful what you say!" Lin Kuo said.
"I know, I know, General Wei is back." Ning Xunxu glanced at He Qi. "The Wei and He families' backers have returned to the capital, so everyone has to keep their distance."
Yi Shen said, "Han Su."
Ning Xunxu glanced at Yi Shen, then abandoned her nonchalant demeanor and pouted, saying, "I'm not going to talk about it anymore."
Ning Xunxu was fearless since childhood. When his parents were alive, he often angered them. Wu Qi remembered that once, he did something that made his uncle Ning so angry that he chased after him and beat him. But in the blink of an eye, his parents died and only his sick sister was left at home. He became much more restrained.
His current temperament is the result of his self-restraint.
If Ning Xunxu hadn't restrained himself, he might have been driven to his death by anger today.
"Let's leave once we're done arguing," Wu Qi said.
Wu Qi went to the Moonfall Camp today for two reasons. First, to see what kind of place the Moonfall Camp was, how many people there were, and whether she could focus on developing the ground armor and the sky wings without distractions. Second, it was Wu Shanyun's birthday in three days. Although it wasn't a big birthday, Wu Qi still prepared a birthday gift.
However, the birthday ceremony is still one small step away.
The group stepped into the Moonfall Camp with their tokens. As soon as they entered, they found the camp to be spacious and heavily guarded, with guards every three steps and soldiers every five steps. Moreover, everyone had their own territory, and no one else had any say in the matter.
A woman led the way, and Wu Qi asked her name with a smile. The woman looked at Wu Qi and said, "Reporting to Master, my name is Zhao Xiwei, and I am from Pingwu."
Everyone was taken aback and looked at Zhao Xiwei.
Zhao Xiwei said, "Master, there's no need to look at me like that. I am indeed Zhao Lang's sister, and I am indeed safe and sound. I think you can understand the importance of this matter."
"You made a mistake but still got away scot-free, and even got a job in the Moonfall Camp, a promotion and a raise. You definitely have powerful backers," Wu Qi said. "But are you threatening me?"
"Reporting to the master, my daughter dares not."
"Good that you don't dare. I don't fall for threats."
Wu Qi had no intention of reopening her wounds, but regardless of whether it was Zhao Xiwei's intention or not, she had taken Li Shuying's spot. The fact that she was safe and sound today was due to the person behind her. Now, she showed no remorse and was complacent just because she had someone behind her, which was quite like "let them eat cake."
Wu Qi said to Zhao Xiwei, "Do you know why your brother died, yet you are unharmed?"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Xiwei blinked.
She didn't need anyone else to tell her; she could figure it out herself. Her brother suddenly died in prison, and everyone involved died in prison, but she was not implicated at all. Instead, she was transferred to the Moonfall Camp.
It seems that my elder brother made some kind of deal before he died.
He kept the secret, paving a smooth road for her.
“It seems you’ve figured it out,” Wu Qi said. “Since that person could kill your brother, why do you think he can protect you for life? Besides, have you ever thought about why you are under my jurisdiction when the Moonfall Camp is so large?”
Zhao Xiwei was not a clever or quick-witted person, but she understood the implication of Wu Qi's words.
First, she could be abandoned at any time, just like her brother;
Second, that person deliberately placed her under Wu Qi's command.
Wu Qi said, "So, put away your temper. I don't want to kill you right now."
“…Yes,” Zhao Xiwei replied.
"Go down," Wu Qi said.
Wu Qi preferred to research and develop halberds and armor on her own. After Zhao Xiwei left, she asked everyone else to leave as well. She stayed in the room, looking around, and took some halberds to put in Wu Shanyun's birthday gift.
The most convenient thing about the Moonfall Camp is that it can use the Tiger's halberd.
Today, she had nothing else to do, so she checked the birthday gifts and then called everyone to leave.
"Let's go, let's go!"
Lin Kuo exclaimed in surprise, "You've only been here for half an hour? And you're already leaving?"
"Yeah, why make it so tiring on the first day? Let's get going!"
Although the Emperor entrusted these people to Wu Qi and ordered them to obey Wu Qi's orders and be at her disposal, the five of them had grown up together since childhood. Wu Qi and He Qi were both students of Ci Zi Ge and could be considered classmates and friends. She could not treat them as subordinates.
And then there's Yi Shen.
That was the man she loved.
Inside the carriage, Wu Qi held Yi Shen's hand and asked him, "What does Young Master Yi think of the Moonfall Camp?"
“Strict management with clear rewards and punishments,” Yi Shen said.
"Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"
"It's both good and bad. The good thing is that it makes it easier to get promoted and receive titles, but the bad thing is that if someone tries to frame you and you can't clear your name, you'll be severely punished."
“It’s a bit bad,” Wu Qi said. “The bad thing is that the potted plant in the room has been withered for many days, and I don’t like it. However, there are also advantages. For example, I can use copper, iron, and halberds at will.”
"Is Uncle's birthday gift ready?" Yi Shen asked.
"Hmm, are you ready?"
"Alright," Yi Shen replied.
On the day of Wushan Yun's birthday, everyone came. It was one thing for people from aristocratic families to come, and it was another for students from Cizige Middle School to come. But when the festivities were in full swing at night, the Emperor himself arrived dressed in ordinary clothes.
Everyone hurriedly knelt down to pay their respects.
The Emperor waved his hand and said, "No need for formalities."
He sneaked out tonight without bringing any gifts, but fortunately, four or five boxes of gold and silver jewelry were sent over this morning, so he could at least have a cup of tea at the Wu Mansion without losing face.
The Emperor sat on the steps, accepted the tea offered by Wushan Yun, and pointed to the covered object in the courtyard, asking, "What is this?"
“Your Majesty, that was a birthday gift prepared by my daughter for me,” Wushan Yun said.
The Emperor said, "That's perfect, I'll take a look too."
Seeing this, Wu Qi tore off the black cloth covering the birthday gift, revealing its true form.
The glass lamps in the courtyard shone brightly, reflecting off the glass branches and leaves, which emitted a lustrous light. It was a lifelike glass tree, covered with peach blossoms. The glass peach tree was not as tall as a real peach tree, only reaching Wu Qi's chest.
Each glass leaf has veins, and each peach blossom petal is gracefully unfolded. The smooth glass branches appear uneven under the light, just like a real peach tree.
This is a peach tree that will never wither.
Everyone in the mansion stared in astonishment at the glass peach tree. Wu Shanyun stood in front of the glass peach tree in a daze, reached out and touched it, then turned to ask Wu Qi, "Did you make this yourself?"
“Yes, I made it myself!” Wu Qi said with a smile.
Wu Shanyun doted on her from a young age, never hitting or scolding her. Whatever she wanted when she was little, Wu Shanyun gave her. Others always said, "No father spoils his daughter like Wu Shanyun." To this, Wu Shanyun always said, "My daughter is so good, she would be spoiled no matter which family she goes to."
Some people said to Wushan Yun, "A daughter, after all, will eventually marry into another family."
Wu Qi had heard these things and had also seen Wu Shanyun sighing and saying to Qi Kong, "I don't want Xiao Qi to get married."
Qi Kong chuckled and said, "She can marry if she wants to, and she can't marry if she doesn't want to. You can't stop her."
Wu Qi kept this in mind. It had nothing to do with whether she got married or not. She just wanted to use this glass peach tree to tell Wu Shanyun that no matter whether she got married or not, she would always be his daughter.
In truth, Wu Qi originally intended to create a glass peach tree as tall as a regular peach tree and present it to Wu Shanyun. He even planned to bury the glass peach tree in the ground and plant it in the courtyard. However, things didn't go as planned. Glass is smooth, and it wasn't easy to use it to create the uneven texture of glass bark.
Wu Qi made the molds himself and fired the glass.
Even so, she failed more than ten times and finally decided to give up on making a tall glass tree and instead make a smaller glass peach tree.
It took about seven or eight more attempts to finally create this glass peach blossom tree.
Wu Shanyun stared at the glass peach tree, then looked at Wu Qi, her eyes already brimming with tears. Seeing that Wu Shanyun was about to cry, Wu Qi hurriedly said, "Father! Don't cry! Don't cry!! Wait, wait! It's not over yet!! Quickly extinguish the glass lamps in the mansion, quickly, quickly!!"
Several maids and servants immediately got up and extinguished the glass lamps in the mansion.
The mansion was completely dark. Wu Qi crouched down in the dark and, by the moonlight, found a protrusion at the base of the glass peach tree, then lit it.
The veins of the glass leaves and glass flowers were filled with glittering halberds. In a short while, fire quickly ignited in the slender veins, and the glittering halberds emitted a shimmering light.
In an instant, the veins in the tree trunk, peach leaves, and peach blossoms were illuminated.
Even in complete darkness, when people cannot see the glass peach tree clearly, they can still tell from the light that it is a short peach tree with many blossoms.
Wu Qi stood beside the glass peach tree and smiled, "Happy birthday, Father."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
