chapter 43.1

After Yu Pin Yan had settled Shen Miao Qi down, he immediately proceeded to Xue manor.

This Xue family was a prominent family in Lingnan and somewhat had a foundation in the royal court. However, their descendents were not as good with each generation and soon declined rapidly. However, Old Master Xue had a breadth of vision. Seeing that Shen Yuan Qi was highly intelligent with extraordinary wisdom, he developed the thought of admiring talent and regarded him as an adopted son while ridding his slavery record.

Shen Yuan Qi would also seek ways to return his kindness. After he was conferred as top-scorer, he brought the family of Old Master Xue to the Capital and showed them the filial respect likened to his own parents. His relationship with the eldest Di son of the Xue family was also extremely harmonious.

In the early years, Yu Pin Yan was known as ‘The beautiful King of Hell’, but in recent years the word ‘beautiful’ had been removed in wake of his high-handed actions and was now known as ‘The Living King of Hell’. This was because the number of deaths by his hands were getting more that the vicious evil aura enshrouded him was also getting heavier, thus no matter how beautiful he looked, terrors would merely struck others.

Seeing him at the door with the Xue Chun sword in hand, Old Master Xue was intimidated with trembling legs and covered in cold sweat that he couldn’t even speak properly. Humming and hawing the words you…I…for half a day until Shen Yuan Qi rushed over to help him out of this predicament.

“This lowly official pays respect to Commander Yu.” Shen Yuan Qi bowed slightly with hands cupped in front, his bearing was neither haughty or humble nor was he startled or afraid.

Yu Pin Yan didn’t respond. His sharp gaze wandered over his face. This was an extremely handsome face. Except for those long narrow phoenix eyes, his other features were at least five to six points similar to Xiang’er.

Simply looking at this face, one could not deny the blood relation between him and Xiang’er.

Yu Pin Yan’s unpleasant mood grew even gloomier. His thumb pushed the top of the Xue Chun sword. The friction noise of the blade rubbing against the scabbard reverberated in the hall, not only was it piercing to the ears but also bore a trace of murderous aura which frightened the wits and crushed the guts out of Old Master Xue’s family.

Hearing the sound of clattering teeth from his sworn brother, the composed face of Shen Yuan Qi finally revealed a little helplessness. His hand extended an invitation gesture,”Can I please have a word with Commander Yu.”

Yu Pin Yan slowly pushed the sword back and followed without a word. Once he left, everyone in the Xue family instantly released their breath and felt as if they had come back from hell’s door.

“Commander Yu, please have some tea.” After personally pouring a cup of hot tea for the imposing youth, Shen Yuan Qi got straight to the point, “Since Commander Yu is here, I presumed my identity has been thoroughly checked and Shen Miao Qi must have been brought out of prison? She is truly blessed with good fortune.”

He sneered without a shred of anxiousness on his face, merely incessant resentment that caused Yu Pin Yan to look up. He then said nonchalantly, “As I recall, she is your younger sister.”

Shen Yuan Qi shook his head, “This lowly official remembers you are her biological elder brother.” He couldn’t help but laughed after saying those words. What was blood-ties to the cold-blooded Yu Pin Yan? It would only take three to four days for the Dragon Scaled guard which was under his control to find Shen Miao Qi if he had wanted to, however it took him four whole years which simply showed his aloofness about the life and death of Shen Miao Qi. Were it not for Xiang’er saving his life, would her days still be as stable as present? Yu Pin Yan however had never recognized his family and relatives[1].

Seeing the youth sweeping his cold gaze over, Shen Yuan Qi restrained his laughter hastily and opened his mouth slowly, “My Lord Commander doesn’t need to probe me with words. I can tell my Lord the truth. I don’t have a shred of sentiment for Shen Miao Qi except hatred now. When she caused the collapse of the Shen family, I merely complained. However, she really shouldn’t have stolen the money that was for my mother’s treatment and ran away secretly. My mother spent three days in bed before she passed away with hatred. I had failed to close her opened eyelids several times which showed the grievances she suffered even after death. You might not have known, the day she ran away, my mother had already passed an oral message asking me to take leave from my adoptive father and bring her to the Capital to find her relatives as compensation for her sufferings over the years. Sufferings? When had she ever suffered the least bit of grievances in my home?”

At this point, Shen Yuan Qi poured away the hot tea and replaced it with a cup of strong wine which he drained in one gulp before laughing grimly, “If we had known this earlier, we would have sent her back even if we risked death. It was also my father’s ill-considered action as he was afraid of reprisal from your Marquis manor, thus he concealed his track and fled back to Lingnan. As merchants, our status is inherently low, so how could we afford to provoke the reigning influential officials that might have caused the perishment of our entire family if we were found. Who would have thought, she still caused the destitution and ruination of my family even without you finding us. Isn’t this retribution?”

Shen Yuan Qi successively emptied two cups of the strong wine and shook his head with a sorrowful smile, “My Lord Commander might not be aware, our Shen family was not completely unscrupulous. Knowing that she was born noble, we dared not neglected her at all. Since childhood, she had eaten and worn the best. A teacher was even invited to give her the utmost teachings in hope of moulding her into becoming a noble lady. As far as status was concerned, even my father fell a head shorter in front of her. Thinking back now, it could precisely due to our indulgence that she was raised with this loftiness and ambitious countenance which had long planted the root of trouble.”