Volume 3 – The Place Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 21: Successor Examination
“That’s good.” Qianye let out a sigh of relief. He did not think that this Miss Qiqi would be lacking in lovers. With such an ill.u.s.trious status as hers, no matter how she looked like, even if she looked like a sow there would still be a whole bunch of handsome and capable men orbiting around her.
However, Qianye frowned again and said, “Why does it sound like I have to do everything? Doesn’t that mean that I don’t actually have to do anything at all?”
“That is so. You will do whatever Miss Qiqi requests you to do, and you will do it well. As for the reason, you will know after you’ve pa.s.sed tomorrow’s interview. If she has no requests, then you simply need to stay by her side.”
Qianye continued to frown. He had a feeling that this was an obviously troublesome mission where he did not have sufficient reason to turn down. In the end though, he agreed. A bit of potential trouble was nothing compared to the rich reward.
A night pa.s.sed just like that. The next day morning, Qianye was taken by Old 2 to the highest cla.s.s hotel in the city. They went right up to the top floor.
The price of this hotel wasn’t cheap, and the entire top floor had already been booked. It was likely that the expense of the booking would cost several gold coins per day. This gave Qianye, who was still calculating his mission rewards by silver coins not long ago an indescribable feeling. Although both parties were standing on the same floor, they were like creatures from two different worlds.
Qianye sat in the wide living room for forty minutes straight before a series of crisp footsteps finally rang from outside the hall. A middle-aged woman stepped inside.
This was a woman who took very good care of her appearance, although her countenance revealed a bit of her age. She wore a wide gown with big sleeves, and her long hair was divided at the center and rolled into a lean bun hanging behind her head. The ornaments from the tip of her hair to her clothes and shoes were perfectly in order and completely unblemished. However, even though her long face was perfectly expressionless, one could feel the extreme unkindness and pickiness radiating from her.
“You are Qianye? Stand up!”
Qianye stood up in compliance and looked at the woman with full wariness. This woman dressed in retro clothing was a rank seven expert!
Right now it wasn’t too difficult for Qianye to deal with rank six Fighters, but it was definitely not a sure thing if it was a rank seven Fighter. Moreover, big aristocratic families would often cultivate one, or even many kinds of secret martial arts that granted them combat power that was far beyond another expert of the same rank.
Back at Xiangyang’s soldier recruitment point, Qianye did not think highly of those aristocratic secret arts. However, having watched the battle of the Broken Winged Angels’ recruits, Qianye finally noticed that as one’s rank increases, the secret arts would gradually grow in power as well. For example, Wei Potian’s secret art “Thousand Mountains” could instantly increase his defense rapidly, turning him into a hard-sh.e.l.led tortoise that could not be moved. Therefore, he now viewed these aristocratic experts with additional caution.
The girl circled around Qianye twice with her eyebrows that had already completely locked together as one, “You’re actually not rank three but rank four. Mm, this is slightly better than what was expected, but it doesn’t change the fact that you are still useless. I doubt you understand at all how lucky you are, and how much others have paid so that you can stand here. Never mind, it is none of my business anyway. Now, remove your makeup.”
Qianye hesitated for a moment before heading to the toilet for several minutes and wiping away the little disguises on his face completely. He then stood before the woman once more.
The woman’s eyebrows immediately soothed, and her gaze became a lot gentler after the removal of his makeup. She nodded and said, “Good, very good! You are very suitable! Go back and tidy up your things. You have two hours. You can throw away anything that isn’t too important. Over there at the Miss’ place, you can get anything you want!”
Wait a moment…”
“Go tidy up your things, now! Throw away everything that is unnecessary! Money is not a problem.”
Qianye opened his mouth, finally understanding that there was no possibility of communication with this domineering woman at all. He could only bid her goodbye and walked off the floor.
Old 2 was waiting at the entrance, his anxiety overflowing to his speech as he immediately asked Qianye upon seeing him, “How is it?”
Qianye spread his arms wide and said, “She told me to tidy up my things and gave me only two hours.”
Old 2 immediately let out a sigh of relief.
Qianye was a little curious, “Is this mission really this important to you?”
A faint bitter smile of helplessness floated on Old 2’s face, “A single line from an important figure like Miss Qiqi can affect many people’s futures. At the very least, if she is happy with the results of this mission right now, then the fates of two families can be changed. So you tell me if this mission important or not? Of course, you will be compensated for this mission with a large sum of money and the resources needed to increase your strength. The latter may not even be purchasable with money in Darkblood City, so you can say that the benefits at least stand equal with the drawbacks.”
Qianye could hear the helplessness in Old 2’s tone.
“Where’s Yingnan? Why haven’t I seen her come back?”
“She has already left.”
Qianye was startled, “Left? Where to?”
“Her family troubles have already been resolved. Therefore, she can return to her family and not stay here and continue as a hunter. She said that she will not be bidding you goodbye. As for the items inside her house, you can take away whatever you want. I’ll keep the rest on her behalf.”
Qianye felt a slight sense of melancholy he could not describe, and he asked, “Does her family have something to do with this mission?”
Old 2 sighed and said, “There is some relation, but… not too much. Miss Qiqi had always wanted to help her, but was turned down every time. Yingnan is sometimes a very stubborn kid.”
Old 2 slapped Qianye’s shoulder and said, “Work well, for your own sake and Yingnan’s!”
Qianye nodded in silence.
Two hours later, an airs.h.i.+p rose into the air and flew far away with Qianye in it.
On a grave at the outskirts of Darkblood City, a few big men were lifting an unusually huge coffin and slowly suspending it into the grave pit. The coffin was not covered up yet, and Yu Renyan lay quietly inside with a peaceful expression that made him looked like he was asleep.
Yu Yingnan stood beside the grave pit and watched the coffin enter the ground in silence. While standing beside her and sighing, Old 2 asked, “Do you really not want to reconsider?”
“Brother has long said that he wishes to be buried at the place he perishes in combat. Back then, my brother had killed those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds and hid here at this forgotten land only because he wanted to save me from the officers’ humiliation. Now that he has left forever, I will accomplish his dream on his behalf. My brother’s biggest yearning was to become an imperial general and command the army to take out those black blooded b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. Therefore, I will return to the Qin Continent and join the imperial army.”
“But…”
“I have already made up my mind!”
It was at this moment Yu Yingnan suddenly looked towards the sky as if she had sensed something.
Several airs.h.i.+ps floated above the west city district of Darkblood City. Looking at their channels, some were landing and some were taking off. The most gorgeous airs.h.i.+p of them all was a rare barracks airs.h.i.+p. Its white sail was drawn up on its mast, and the head of a green piebald could be vaguely seen. The airs.h.i.+p was slowing turning to the wind and flying farther and farther away. It was none other than the Yin Family’s private airs.h.i.+p.
Yu Yingnan finally withdrew her gaze when the airs.h.i.+p had vanished from the horizon. Suddenly, she untied her ponytail and gripped her long hair with one hand and pulling out her military knife with the other. With a swing, she cut off her full head of long hair and tossed it casually into the air.
The wind blew away the cut strands of hair and carried them towards the far sky.
The wrinkles on Old 2’s face deepened even further. With a heavy sigh, he said, “I did not know that you and Qianye are in that kind of relations.h.i.+p already.”
Yu Yingnan smiled and said, “It’s not that kind of relations.h.i.+p. I know that he doesn’t like me, so there is nothing to regret about parting ways. Back when I went to Qiqi to recommend him to her, I’ve already made up my mind to give up. Old 2, you should know that someone like Qiqi would never let him go the second she sees Qianye. Perhaps Qiqi is more suitable for Qianye!”
The coffin had been covered up, and the big men began to fill the pit with soil. A moment later, a new grave had appeared on this graveyard. The gravestone was completely blank, and there wasn’t even a name on it. This was also Yu Yingnan’s intentions. What should be remembered would be remembered. What would be forgotten would be forgotten no matter how many words were engraved on the gravestone.
Yu Yingnan walked to Old 2 and hugged him, saying, “Old 2, I’m leaving. Thank you for taking care of me for such a long time. Take good care of yourself. You must see me become a general no matter what. When that day happens, I’ll come back and drink with you again!”
Old 2 sighed deeply as his eyes wetted involuntarily. Slowly, he said, “Yingnan, I will grant you this parting word: Live!”
Yu Yingnan smiled and nodded strongly.
She took a few steps back, carried her backpack and walked towards the public airs.h.i.+p base.
The short haired figure looked vigorous, and also desolate beneath the evening sky.
While sitting on the airs.h.i.+p and watching the ground flying backwards outside the window, Qianye suddenly felt an emptiness in his heart as if he had lost something. However, this feeling was very thin and faint, just like the breeze that was about to arrive during the light season.
It was at this moment the middle aged woman Auntie Lan pa.s.sed two pieces of paper to Qianye and said, “This is the essentials of your mission. Also, memorize this person. You may encounter him in the future while you are performing a mission. If he is in your way of business, don’t go easy on him. You can do whatever you want as long as it is not murder.”
Qianye accepted the papers and gave it a look. As it turned out, the main mission was to a.s.sist Yin Qiqi in completing the examination to become the core successor of the family. The content of Qiqi’s examination was to battle against the dark races on the Evernight Continent, and her military accomplishments would be her results in this examination. In addition, obtaining precious resources and some important information granted additional points.
This was a very common aristocratic examination content. Qianye had once partic.i.p.ated a similar mission back when he was with the Red Scorpions. A certain important figure had secretly mobilized a small Red Scorpion squad in order to a.s.sist his son in obtaining a better examination result.
There was the portrait of a young and handsome man on another paper. Although the portrait was a simple black and white sketch, one could still see the high spirits and extraordinary confidence on the person. He had to be a very talented youth. Beside the portrait, there was a record of this person’s resume written in small letters. As Qianye read through them carefully, his expression gradually turned serious.
Gu Liyu was born in a landowning household. With the full support of his family, he pursued his studies in the empire’s high military academy and graduated among the top ten several years later. Later on, he joined the corps “Arms of War” and served for five years, accomplis.h.i.+ng outstanding military merits again and again. Last year, he retired from “Arms of War” and had joined the empire’s military division. He was now a lieutenant colonel staff officer.
This resume could be rated very impressive. Although his individual combat result might not compare to Qianye, and the elite corps “Arms of War” had always been suppressed by “Red Scorpion” despite ranking among the top five, the direction Gu Liyu was striving for was very obviously command and not military force. However, his individual strength wasn’t weak either. He was rank seven, and he was only twenty nine years old.
For a child of a landowning household, a promotion rate like this was absolutely something to be proud of. After all, the medicines that aids in cultivation were extremely expensive, and they were absolutely not something a landowning household that was often slightly wealthier than a poor family could afford. Their family arts probably wasn’t anything impressive either. If one wished to avoid the Combatant Formula because of its exceedingly high wear and tear rate, they could only rely on uncertain opportunities such as joining under an aristocratic family or becoming an apprentice of a great teacher.
“Who is this person?”
“He is the Miss’ fiance.”
Qianye wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. His opponent was a rank seven expert, and this three ranks of difference was nothing to be laughed at. A person who could enter an elite corps, transfer and hold an office within the military division absolutely could not be compared to an average rank seven Fighter even if he might not have practiced a secret art.
Moreover, this Gu Liyu was Qiqi’s fiance, and he looked like quite the talented youth. Just what on earth was that Qiqi planning? Did she hire Qianye to complete her family’s examination, or to cope with her fiance?
If it was to complete her family’s examination, then just how big of an effect a rank four two star hunter could have on the battlefield? There was no way they knew about Qianye’s true strength. From the moment they met until now, they appeared to pay no attention to his strength either. If it was to cope with her fiance, then why didn’t then find someone stronger then?
Qianye thought that he smelled the scent of a conspiracy.