426. Madam Shi’s Birthday

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

However, the situation in Tianji Sect was very strange.

Wu Ronghan did have a problem, but few people were aware of this.

No one knew how Zou Qingyuan found out there was something wrong with Wu Ronghan.

In addition, some managers mentioned that their subordinates kept missing these days.

The number of missing people was confirmed to be twenty-three.

Shi Qingzhou recalled that the spies in the valley saying that their master had arranged over twenty spies in the city.

In the end, they failed to get the answer to the biggest question in the Tianji Sect.

Shi Qingzhou was grave as a stone. Liu Suifeng was grim as well.

The Shadow Guardians, who went to chase Wu Ronghan, failed to find him. Shi Qingzhou went back with a dark face.

Long Xiaoyuan had been waiting eagerly. He quickly went up to greet him.

“You’re finally back, how is it?”

Shi Qingzhou shook his head. “Wu Ronghan ran away.”

Long Xiaoyuan was very surprised. “Wu Ronghan ran away? What is going on?”

Shi Qingzhou told him everything.

Long Xiaoyuan was lost for words. “Zou Qingyuan was caught and died from the poison. Liu Suifeng didn’t watch and Wu Ronghan ran away?”

“Yes,” Shi Qingzhou said coldly, “he took with him over twenty people.”

“No, no.” Long Xiaoyuan shook his head. “That’s not right. If he had taken them with him, they would have attracted attention, especially when there were so many people running with him. It was likely that Wu Ronghan had already thought of a way out, and he escaped calmly when he got exposed.”

Shi Qingzhou thought about it and agreed. The Shadow Guardians would have found them if so many people ran away at the same time.

Long Xiaoyuan patted Shi Qingzhou on the shoulder. “Qingzhou, come on. He has escaped.  Don’t think about it. We will catch him.”

Shi Qingzhou took a deep breath and finally nodded. “Father suffered a huge loss with those people. I’m just feeling upset.”

Long Xiaoyuan kissed Shi Qingzhou on the forehead soothingly. “I know. How can I not know about it? Qingzhou, we will take revenge sooner or later.”

“Okay.” Shi Qingzhou looked down and stopped thinking about it.

That night, Long Xiaoyuan went to Liu Suifeng.

“Make Wu Xiangyuan talk. There is no need to show mercy. Let’s see if she knows anything.”

Liu Suifeng nodded. “Okay, I got it.”

Long Xiaoyuan didn’t stay long and took his leave.

Shi Qingzhou asked when he saw Long Xiaoyuan coming in from outside. “Where did you go?”

“I went to Liu Suifeng.”

“Liu Suifeng? What’s the matter?”

Long Xiaoyuan smiled. “I went to tell him not to show any mercy to Wu Xiangyuan.”

Shi Qingzhou looked at him. “Wu Ronghan knows that she is in our hands, but he chooses to escape like this. It is obvious that he doesn’t care about Wu Xiangyuan. The concern he showed for her is fake.”

Long Xiaoyuan touched his own chin. “That’s right. But I have to give it a try.”

Shi Qingzhou didn’t hold much hope about it.

Long Xiaoyuan took his hand. “Come on. Let’s go to sleep now.”

Shi Qingzhou looked at him and nodded lightly. “Okay.”

The next morning, when Long Xiaoyuan got up, a maid reported, “Doctor Liu is here.”

Long Xiaoyuan yawned. “Why are you so early?”

Liu Suifeng nodded. “Yes, I came here early in the morning. I got some information last night.”

“Tell me now.” Long Xiaoyuan got interested.

Liu Suifeng hesitated for a moment before he said, “I don’t know whether it is true or not, but I can see something from Wu Xiangyuan’s memory. She suspected that Wu Ronghan is an impostor.”

Long Xiaoyuan was stunned.

Liu Suifeng took a deep breath, “If that is the case… it is scary.”

Long Xiaoyuan looked at Liu Suifeng, “Indeed. But we are not sure if it’s true or not. How about this? You go to Tianji Sect again and ask those who have close contact with Wu Ronghan if he has changed recently. By the way, did Wu Xiangyuan say when he started to change?”

Liu Suifeng thought about it and said, “These two months, after he decided to move the headquarters of Tianji Sect here.”

Long Xiaoyuan thought about it. “Well…who came up with the idea of moving the headquarters here, Wu Ronghan, or the impostor?”

Liu Suifeng paused without saying anything.

Long Xiaoyuan shrugged. “Of course, my question is based on the assumption that the current Wu Ronghan is an impostor. If not… then it’s hard to say. So, when you go to Tianjin Sect, you can ask if the decision of moving is made on the spur, or it had been pondered before.”

Liu Suifeng nodded. “I got it.”

Long Xiaoyuan nodded. “Alright, you can go after breakfast. No rush.”

Liu Suifeng nodded and left.

Long Xiaoyuan went to the morning court.

Shi Qingshan suggested that they could form alliance with Huhe Huangcheng. They should announce to the world that Tianlong Dynasty would only acknowledge Huhe Huangcheng as the emperor of Northern Barbarians and would give him support to some extent.

The suggestion was agreed.

Shi Qingshan’s recent experiences alarmed some people.

Therefore, all the ministers agreed to the resolution.

After the court, Long Xiaoyuan did not go to Qiankun Palace. Instead, he summoned two ministers of the Ministry of War, Shi Qingshan and another general to Imperial Study.

The meeting lasted two hours.

After everyone left, Long Xiaoyuan’s stomach started to rumble. Therefore, he hurriedly left for Qiankun Palace.

Shi Qingzhou had not had breakfast when Long Xiaoyuan came back.

Long Xiaoyuan could not help but nag.

“Didn’t I tell you long ago? If I come back late, don’t wait for me. Eat it on your own first. Why do you turn a deaf ear to me?”

Shi Qingzhou smiled at Long Xiaoyuan’s complaint. “Okay, I got it.”

“You got it? What the heck do you know?”

Shi Qingzhou glared at him. “Mind your language.”

Long Xiaoyuan coughed and muttered, “It’s my habit. I didn’t mean it.”

Shi Qingzhou rolled his eyes and ignored him.

Long Xiaoyuan hurriedly ordered for breakfast. When breakfast was served, Long Xiaoyuan devoured the food as he was really hungry.

Shi Qingzhou ate in a leisurely manner.

Long Xiaoyuan rubbed his stomach when he was through. He held Shi Qingzhou’s hand. “Come on. Let’s take a stroll.”

Shi Qingzhou looked at him. “Don’t you have work to do?”

“Yes, but there’s no rush.”

Shi Qingzhou looked at him. “Alright.”

Long Xiaoyuan took Shi Qingzhou’s hand contentedly and went out for a walk.

A few days later, Huhe Huangcheng replied that he agreed to form an alliance. Moreover, he informed them of the identity of the person behind the scenes. It was a disaster caused by a love affair. Huhe Huangcheng’s grandfather had snatched a concubine of the Prime Minister back then.

This was a scandal at the time.

After the emperor got the concubine, the Empress Dowager managed to suppress the scandal.

The Prime Minister should have killed the concubine, but unexpectedly he did not do that. Instead, he killed a maid to replace the concubine and let her go.

The concubine had intense hatred in her heart. Unexpectedly, she was pregnant.

The concubine fled to a valley and was rescued by the people there.

The valley was the evil place that Liu Suifeng’s master had visited.

How could a child grow up normally in that place?

He had been thinking of taking revenge on Northern Barbarians and Tianlong Dynasty.

That was right, Tianlong Dynasty!

Because the concubine’s mother came from Tianlong Dynasty, who was sold to Northern Barbarians!

As a result, the child with the blood of the royal family of Northern Barbarians resented Northern Barbarians and Tianlong Dynasty. That was why he thought about allying with the Eastern Darkness to destroy Tianlong Dynasty first and then dealing with his country.

However, too many things had happened afterwards. For some reason, that person even wanted to destroy the Eastern Darkness as well. In short, he hated the world.

Especially when Liu Suifeng’s master destroyed his home, that person could not wait to destroy the whole world.

No one knew his real name, but he had a false name, Lord.

Everyone who worked for him called him Lord.

Lord had been powerful, but the clean-up campaign of Tianlong Dynasty not only wiped out the spies deployed by the Eastern Darkness but also his.

Because the spies he arranged were most from the Eastern Darkness.

Although the clean-up campaign of Tianlong Dynasty lasted for a long time and it was cruel, it wiped out the competent spies!

Long Xiaoyuan flicked the information note in his hand. “Lord?”

He sneered and did not say anything.

Shi Qingzhou was sitting next to him. He took the note from Long Xiaoyuan.

“Lord? The mistake of the royal family of Northern Barbarians.”

“Yeah. Now he is making them pay back. It serves them right.”

Shi Qingzhou looked at him. “If it doesn’t affect us, it is fine, but now we are involved.”

Long Xiaoyuan pouted.

Shi Qingzhou asked, “How is Northern Barbarians?”

“It’s not too good, but Lord is not popular, and he resorts to evil ways. It’s not difficult for Huhe Huangcheng to win, but it takes time.”

Shi Qingzhou nodded. “If that’s the case, it won’t be difficult.”

Long Xiaoyuan sighed. “Lord has strong poisons and many venomous insects, so Northern Barbarians would be seriously stricken even if Huhe Huangcheng wins.”

Shi Qingzhou looked at him helplessly. “Are you worried about this?”

Long Xiaoyuan immediately shook his head. “Why am I worried about this? What I’m worried about is that Lord will not focus his main forces on Northern Barbarians.”

Shi Qingzhou paused. “He wants to cause trouble to us?”

“From the information we have, he is insane. Normal people can’t know what is on a mad man’s mind.”

Shi Qingzhou narrowed his eyes. “What else can he do? Now even Wu Ronghan is just a stray dog.

Long Xiaoyuan paused and smiled. “You are right. I’m worrying myself silly.”

Shi Qingzhou said lightly. “Let’s just wait and see.”

Long Xiaoyuan nodded. “That’s true.”

It was Madam Shi’s birthday.

Long Xiaoyuan decided to give himself and Shi Qingzhou a day off.

Early in the morning, Long Xiaoyuan carried his son and went with Shi Qingzhou to the general’s mansion.

The child knew how to greet now. He called Shi Qingshan Grandfather and Madam Shi Grandmother.

He was articulate. He had rosy lips and pretty white teeth, which made him adorable.

Madam Shi even gave him a gift, which was the bracelet that her deceased mother gave her.

It was mainly because of the way Long Xiaoyuan introduced him. “Father, Mother, this is the son of Qingzhou and I. His name is Long Huan.”

Moreover, this child was Shi Qingzhou’s son in name.

When this child was enthroned in the future, Shi Qingzhou would be the Empress Dowager legally!

The male Empress Dowager.

Long Xiaoyuan was amused by the thought.

Shi Qingshan liked the child. When Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingzhou were chatting, he actually brought the child to the courtyard and taught him firm stance!

Firm stance was basic, but it was very hard.

But the child liked it a lot.

Long Xiaoyuan looked outside and couldn’t help laughing. “Qingzhou, I finally understand the saying: the apple does not fall far from the tree.”

Shi Qingzhou smiled slightly at his words.

At lunch, the family was happy.

Even though it was Madam Shi’s birthday, the family had a quiet celebration.

They did not invite any outsiders.

Long Xiaoyuan had been behaving like a perfect son-in-law.

Shi Qingshan and Madam Shi exchanged glances, happy for their son.

After lunch, Shi Qingshan taught the child calligraphy.

The child was so small that he could hardly hold the brush properly, but Shi Qingshan was teaching him well.

Most importantly, the child studied earnestly.

Shi Qingzhou and Long Xiaoyuan watched them for a while and then went back to Shi Qingzhou’s yard for a nap.

On the bed, Long Xiaoyuan was aroused by Shi Qingzhou.

Shi Qingzhou felt shy. After all, this was his home!

However, Shi Qingzhou’s rejection excited Long Xiaoyuan more.

In the end, Shi Qingzhou could not resist Long Xiaoyuan and complied to him with half reluctance.

They rolled around until it was almost time for dinner.

During this period, Madam Shi came with her maid, but they were stopped by the Shadow Guardians.

The two women outside could hear the faint sound from inside, and they blushed.

In the end, Madam Shi scrambled away.

Shi Qingzhou didn’t know about this… They had made a joke of themselves!

And the person who was laughing at them was his mother!

If he had known, Shi Qingzhou would regret doing that with Long Xiaoyuan.