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Qin Yining raised her eyes to Sir Zheng and responded gently, “My servant just wanted to protect his mistress. The situation today was abominable. We weren’t the ones to start things at all. We were enjoying the weather and minding our business when this group came charging straight at us on their horses. My men know some kung fu and killed the leader’s horse in an effort to protect me.
“As for the noble scion sent to the hospital, he fell from his horse because he lacked riding skills. It has nothing to do with my servant.
“As for this gentleman.” Qin Yining’s beautiful eyes swiveled to the swollen-face youth. The look in them bore straight through to one’s heart, as if she could see the innermost depths of his mind.
The young man’s face burned with a hot blush, and his cheek didn’t even seem to hurt anymore. It was dizzying to have such a beauty look at him this way.
The Qin fourth miss continued in a measured pace and she explained courteously, “My servant did indeed slap this gentleman, but he didn’t turn violent for no reason at all. Their words were simply too vile.”
“What did they say?”
The girl lowered her head. “Vile, dirty things. It really was offensive and mortifying. It’s alright if you don’t take my word for it, Your Lordship. There were many eyewitnesses on the streets, you can ask any of them.”
Sir Zheng nodded, highly satisfied with Qin Yining’s mild and well-mannered attitude. However, he didn’t have a chance to speak further before another boy closer to Cheng Yue started arguing heatedly.
All of the parties involved were children of officials. The warden was momentarily at a loss of what to do.
As the situation dragged on, a large disturbance suddenly erupted outside. A panicked shout sounded from the covered hallway. “Your Lordship! This is very bad! Minister Cheng’s surrounded the yamen with troops!”
“What!?” Sir Zheng shot to his wide, wide-eyed with incredulous disbelief.
Though the minister was in charge of the Bureau of Military Affairs, it wasn’t like he could send out troops at the drop of a hat. All troop deployment necessitated an imperial decree and the proper command token.
Minister Cheng’s personal use of the soldiers was naturally because he’d lost all reason after learning his son was unconscious. He’d thrown all caution to the wind!
A fine layer of cold sweat broke out on Sir Zheng’s back. If he didn’t handle this properly, it could easily evolve into military unrest within the city. The likes of him, a mere warden, wouldn’t be able to answer to the emperor then!
Sir Zheng made to walk outside, but stopped after taking two steps. He turned back to look at the group of wildly gesticulating noble sons and the mundane-looking, but highly skilled guards by Qin Yining’s side.
The two sides wouldn't dare do anything if he was here. But if a fight broke out the second he wasn’t, and he failed to placate the mess outside, his own position would be jeopardized if a few more casualties appeared on the list.
When his thoughts traveled here, Sir Zheng quickly gave orders to his most trusted confidante. “Hurry and go invite Minister Cheng in. Remember to treat him politely.”
“Understood.” The man hurried through the door, through the passageway, to the front door, whereupon he was promptly shocked by the crowd in front of him as soon as he poked a head out!
The yamen wasn’t in an out-of-the-way location as there were a decent amount of houses nearby and bystanders usually in the streets. But today, everyone had been scared off far into the distance.
Minister Cheng had blockaded the entire area around the yamen with five hundred men! There were only roughly one hundred troops at the yamen, and all were ashen-faced at the crowd in front of them.
The man swallowed and bolstered his courage for the task ahead.
Past forty years old, Minister Cheng’s stocky body and fleshy face belied his age. He was rough around the edges to begin with, and now he scowled ferociously due to his rage. He would devour anyone who came at him!
Perhaps out of consideration for Sir Zheng’s face or also knowing that he couldn’t exacerbate the situation, he followed the man into the yamen in the end.
“All of you stand guard outside. No one takes a step without my orders.”
“Understood!” responded the soldier.
Minister Cheng strode quickly to the front hall. Sir Zheng heaved a long sigh of relief when he saw the minister willing to come inside and walked up with a smile.
However, the minister shoved Sir Zheng away with a mighty push and pointed his finger at Qin Yining. “You little bitch! How dare you hurt my son! Pay with your life!” He charged at the girl with brandished fists.
Who would’ve thought that the lofty minister of the Bureau of Military Affairs would resort to violence without forewarning, in the yamen??
Caught off guard, everyone jumped with shock. And how would the four guards allow the minister to harm their mistress? They flew into battle stances.