Chapter 46
My father hadn't returned home for nearly a month, so the whole family gathered at the gate and waited, looking out, hoping to see his carriage coming back first.
After waiting for a while, the servant who followed Minister Yue came back with the message that the master had gone to the palace that night and told them not to wait any longer. The family sighed and returned to the courtyard.
Yue Qingning was supported by Qingzhu and walked to the gate of his yard. After hesitating for a moment, he stopped.
Qingzhu immediately understood who she was thinking about, and she pouted her lips, wishing she could pout them up to the sky.
"The doctor said it was a minor injury. Why are you so worried, young lady?"
Yue Qingning felt a little embarrassed by her teasing, so he stepped into the yard, walked to the corridor and leaned against the beauty covered with brocade carpet.
"I didn't say anything. Besides, if he hadn't tried to save me, he wouldn't have gotten into this situation. Isn't it better for him to live in peace and safety?"
This does make some sense, but there is always something in Qingzhu's bones that reminds her subtly that Que Ming is not trustworthy.
Moreover, since he came back, he has become a great contributor to the Yue family. Not only does the eldest lady care about him, but Young Master Qingzhe also treats him differently. It has been twelve days, and he is still delivering supplements to the horse servant's house.
Although it takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone, he didn't hurt any of his bones. The wound on his flesh hadn't healed even after half a month!
Qingzhu crossed his arms in anger, not knowing what he was thinking. Yue Qingning was beside him and had no intention of teasing him. She had not visited him for more than ten days since the day he rescued her.
She was indeed trying to avoid his thoughts, because she was not the kind of person who could settle grudges and was straightforward. The more she tried to sort out the accounts, the more confused she seemed to be.
Que Ming was shot by an arrow while saving her, and fell ill while saving Qingzhe. Not to mention all that, he was punished with a stick for a word she said when she just came back, and caught a cold for following her ridiculous orders.
Fortunately, Que Ming's frail body was in good shape, so he was able to survive despite being so hard-pressed by her family.
Now, she couldn't carry out those evil plans that failed to come to fruition. It was all because of him saving her so often. How could they be considered enemies?
Before she could figure out what to do with him, a servant from the front yard came to tell her that the master had returned.
It was not convenient to mention these entanglements for the time being. Yue Qingning put on the haggard look on his face and hurriedly responded to the visitor and went to the main hall.
But before they could get any closer, the servants who were serving in front suddenly filed out from the courtyard and waited at the gate with their heads hung. No one dared to say a word.
The further Yue Qingning walked, the more she felt something was wrong. When she reached the wall, she suddenly heard her father's thunderous roar coming from the yard.
"My Yue family treats you well, right? We've never treated you harshly in terms of food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. What about you? Is this how you guard Qingning? My Yue family only has one thing to ask of you, and that is to protect the master. How do you do it?"
It seemed like someone in the main hall was scolding the servants for their poor performance, but my father had never been so angry. Even when Qingzhe was so sick, my father never blamed the servants.
Yue Qingning's heart was beating fast. She stopped Qingzhu and asked her to wait at the gate to avoid being affected innocently. She walked into the courtyard alone, where the atmosphere was stagnant and serious. Before she entered the main hall, her father's angry voice became clearer and clearer.
"I never thought you would dare to collude with outsiders and harm my children! For a few pieces of silver, you completely forgot the owner's name..."
"Stop talking. My Yue family can't accommodate a big Buddha like you. Just go back to where you came from!"
Yue Zhizheng said this when Yue Qingning just turned the door. She saw a man kneeling on the ground with his head down in the empty front hall, silently enduring the anger of all this.
At this moment, her father also saw her. He was slightly stunned. The reluctance and guilt in his eyes were like a drizzle, soaking him and making him look very embarrassed. He turned his head slightly to avoid her sight, trying to hide the guilt that was about to pour out towards his daughter.
Yue Qingning walked into the main room and saw the man's hunched back, never looking up for a moment. She was terrified and called him hurriedly.
"Queming, look up! Tell me what happened?"
However, the gray clothes shook slightly for a moment, and then silence continued.
Yue Qingning raised his head in fear and trepidation, looking at the yellow leaves blown by the autumn wind outside. There were still three months to the twelfth lunar month, but Que Ming was about to leave earlier than in his previous life.
She couldn't believe it, nor did she dare to let it become reality, so she became more and more anxious to pull him up.
"Dad, no matter what happened, Que Ming saved me and Qingzhe. We can't chase him away!"
She pulled Que Ming's robe hopelessly to get him up, but Que Ming remained lying on the ground without saying a word. The pain in his shoulder blades caused his kneeling hands to twitch from time to time. Yue Zhizheng saw it but acted as if he didn't hear it. He stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the bright sunlight outside the porch, without wavering at all.
"It's his own fault. He went out drinking and gambling with others and exposed your whereabouts, which brought disaster upon you. Qingning, don't bother with him, let him go on his own!"
Yue Qingning was stunned. "Just for this? If those people really wanted to kill me, wouldn't it be too easy for them to find out when I left the house? And they're using this excuse to kick them out?"
Yue Zhizheng seemed unable to be cruel, so he walked around a long way and sat in the seat farthest away from the two of them.
Yue Qingning was still unwilling to let go. He pulled his arm but couldn't lift him up, so he simply squatted on the ground and lifted him up by his shoulders.
"Queming, why don't you defend yourself? I know your character, why would you go out to drink and gamble? Is there some misunderstanding here?"
The wound on his shoulder had not yet healed completely, and he knelt for a while. His handsome face, which had been flushed red from holding back his anger, gradually turned pale. He looked at her with drooping eyelids, as if he could not bear to look at her any longer.
This seemed to confirm the evidence of his guilt. Yue Qingning stubbornly followed his gaze, demanding an explanation from him.
However, there was another commotion outside the courtyard gate. Qingzhe, who had just finished school, heard about it and hurried back, determined to stop his father.
But before he entered the main room, his father seemed to be unable to bear seeing them all trying to plead for him, so he slammed the table, stood up, and looked at Que Ming with his eyes wide open in anger.
"You've won over quite a few people! My only question is, are you telling the truth about your betrayal of the master's whereabouts?"
"Que Ming!"
Yue Qingning shook her head and stood in front of him. Her thin and frail body was like a towering wall, blocking all the wind and rain for him.
Que Ming looked up at her seriously. This was the first time that he could possess all her worries so unscrupulously.
But in the end, he couldn't just be her Queming. If he didn't let her down, he would have to let down his teacher's cultivation, and even the blood debt of all the innocent deaths in the Ling family that he carried on his shoulders.
This time, he could only push her away.
"Que Ming can't possibly harm my sister! I know..."
"I did it."
Qingzhe had just stepped into the house and knelt on the ground to beg his father. He turned back in disbelief when he heard his father's words. The man who said that he would always protect his sister and the Yue family now broke his oath. There was a self-loathing look on his face that he had never seen before. He only heard him speak sadly.
"I was drinking with my fellow townspeople and, in a moment of excitement, I accidentally let slip that the Yue family was going to the Princess's residence on the 17th to organize a sacrificial ceremony. I never expected that person to use this as a pretext to harm the young lady. When I regained consciousness, I realized I had gotten into great trouble and rushed to Jietai Temple to pick her up. Fortunately, I arrived not too late..."
"Que Ming..." Yue Qingning lowered his head and looked at him. He also bowed low, so that he could not see his face.
I have never felt such disgust before, perhaps I hate him even more than the moment I woke up.
Yue Qingning held back her tears and trembled uncontrollably, finally understanding what this vicious dog, who looked like a loyal servant, was doing.
He wanted to leave.
He was going to his real master.
Since he woke up, he has repeatedly expressed his loyalty and risked his life to save others many times, and it turns out that it was all for today.
But she had clearly asked him whether he wanted to leave here and leave the Yue family, and it was he who said he refused.
Yue Qingzhe didn't expect that he would actually admit it. He knelt on the ground and begged his father, but now he staggered to his feet, grabbed his collar, and still couldn't believe it.
"You clearly said you would protect my sister... You clearly promised me!"
The young boy cried in anger, thinking that he had seen through everyone in the world, but he didn't expect that he couldn't see the person clearly even though he was so close to him.
During the days when Que Ming was recuperating in bed, he was the only one who went to take care of him from time to time. Que Ming was lying in bed, feverish and unconscious. During those days, he clearly heard his sister's name escaping from his dry lips.
But he could change in the blink of an eye and become so hated!
Qingzhe was young after all, and facing such a two-faced adult, he couldn't even scold him. He could only point at his nose angrily for a long time, and finally left with a fist.
Yue Zhizheng looked at his son's personality which was becoming more and more like his own. He was speechless for a moment. He only sighed three times and turned to look at his daughter who was nestled beside Que Ming.
Qingning is the most stubborn. Once she makes up her mind, even she herself cannot be shaken in the slightest.
This time, I don't know how to get her to not get involved...
"Qingning, go back... I'll take care of things here."
He pondered for a while and could only hope that Que Ming would be gone for a long time and time would dilute everything.
It was outside his current plans, and not what he had hoped for. But the aid money being diverted, the envoy Shu Hu arriving in the capital six months early, Prince Shou's absence, and the Crown Prince's increasingly arrogant behavior, regardless of public scrutiny, were all unexpected.
And they can no longer be swayed by current events. They must act immediately. Perhaps he has already been targeted in Yue Mansion. Sending Que Ming away is the safest way for both parties.
That's why he was so eager to drive the person away. The disciple who had followed him for five years was now about to leave for a master, and he could not allow even the slightest mistake at this time.
However, Qingning would definitely not be willing to let him go. Their fate was not determined by him, but had been formed from the very beginning. In the five years since then, they had grown up together. How could Qingning be willing to drive him away!
As he expected, Qingning was stunned for a while, then seemed to finally come back to his senses and recited incoherently.
"Dad, I will never allow Que Ming to leave the house. If this matter is really that important..."
She paused for a long moment, staring at his bun as she read the words.
"It would be better to execute the evil slave right here and now!"
Finally saying these words should have aroused the hesitation in her heart, but she felt calmer than ever before.
She was as sure that Que Ming could not create ripples in the pool as she was sure that he had not drunk alcohol that night.
Since he himself is not looking for a way out, it seems unnecessary for Yue Qingning to always think about him.
She just wanted to avoid being trampled to death by horse hooves.
She just wants to live!
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