Chapter 169 - Beacon in Troubled Times 19 (1/2)

The relations.h.i.+ps in the prince’s mansion was really a mess.

Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou stood next to them and had a headache. Madam Han was Guard Qin’s aunt. Guard Qin’s ‘private relations.h.i.+p’ was actually with the third young lady.

In fact, thinking carefully, the third young lady did indeed go to the backyard yesterday afternoon. She said that she saw her fourth sister hurrying to Hongmei Park and asked her about it. Yu Hanjiang treated the third young lady as a witness but ignored one fact. What was the third young lady doing in the backyard?

The prince heard his daughter’s own admission that she had a ‘flesh relations.h.i.+p’ with Qin Rui and was so angry that he felt a pain in his head. He pointed to Qin Rui. “Qin Rui, how dare you have a private relations.h.i.+p with the third young lady behind my back! Come, drag him 100 blows!”

The third young lady immediately rushed over. “Father, he has been teaching me martial arts every day since two years ago. All of my martial arts have been taught by Brother Qin. I liked him first. IF you want to fight then just hit me!”

This girl had a strong temperament and was very brave. She stopped in front of Qin Rui and refused to let anyone do anything.”

Qin Rui heard this and finally moved slightly as he watched the third young lady. “Your friends.h.i.+p is remembered by this subordinate but please don’t ruin your innocence because of me.”

Qin Yiru blushed for a moment. “Father, I really do like Brother Qin!”

Madam Han had just woken up. She heard this and stared at the prince. “Rui-er has no parents since childhood and I brought him up. I can be considered half his mother. The third young lady has such a deep affection for Rui-er. I’m begging you, can you allow their relations.h.i.+p? Rui-er is good at martial arts and will surely protect her…”

Qin Rui gazed at the third young lady with a complicated expression before finally saying with red ears, “It is all up to my aunt to decide.”

The prince frowned and looked closely at his daughter.

His third daughter had always been arrogant and brash. She was like a wild horse that was hard to tame and it wasn’t easy to change the way she thought. If he disagreed, she might cry, fight or hang herself and then the prince’s mansion would be too ugly…

Qin Rui’s family background wasn’t bad. Madam Han was from a famous family and he was currently serving as a guard in the prince’s mansion. His status wasn’t worthy of the third young lady but he was highly capable in martial arts. As long as he treated the third young lady sincerely, it wouldn’t be difficult for the prince to find him or job or even make him a leader in the imperial army. Thinking of this, the prince simply nodded. “According to my wife’s words, I will agree to your marriage.”

The third young lady looked excited. If no outsiders were present then she would probably jump up and run outside.

The prince continued, “Your older sister has just pa.s.sed away and you are still young. Your marriage can wait two years. Go back and discuss it with your mother.”

The third young lady nodded obediently. “Yes, Father.”

The girl had come over in a hurry. She heard that her sweetheart had been sent for questioning and she hurried to make a false testimony for him. Unfortunately, Qin Rui was an upright person and broke it down. However, Mrs Han was Qin Rui’s aunt and she was willing to fulfill their wishes. This was completely unexpected.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang seemed to have indirectly become matchmakers?

The third young lady looked at Yu Hanjiang and blushed. “Daren, I lied just now. I was wandering around the backyard yesterday and saw Guard Qin hurrying to the Buddhist temple like he was chasing someone! He was so powerful that I couldn’t catch up. Just now, I was worried you would misunderstand him so I talked nonsense.

Yu Hanjiang glanced at Qin Rui and spoke softly, “Guard Qin, please tell me about yesterday’s situation in detail.”

Qin Rui nodded. “Yesterday, I was patrolling the prince’s mansion when I saw a figure flying into the backyard from a corner. The person’s light footwork was a ghost and I was afraid that they were an a.s.sa.s.sin, so I chased them. Unfortunately, this subordinate wasn’t good and after a while, the person disappeared. The last place I saw them was near the Buddhist temple.”

Yu Hanjiang frowned. “Disappeared into thin air?”

Qin Rui replied, “It was like they disappeared into thin air. This subordinate chased them to the Buddhist temple and saw the fourth young lady pa.s.sing by. I asked her if she had seen the a.s.sa.s.sin and the fourth young lady shook her head, saying she had never seen a stranger.”

Qi Yiru blurted out, “No, that isn’t right!”

Qin Rui looked back at her. “What’s wrong?”

“I saw you rus.h.i.+ng in the direction of the Buddhist temple and couldn’t catch up with you. I called out to you but you ignored me. Therefore, I turned to stroll to the rockery and found the fourth young lady hurrying over from there. How can she be there and at the Buddhist temple at the same time?”

Qin Rui insisted, “This subordinate really did see the fourth young lady at the Buddha temple.”

They looked at each other.

According to the timeline, the third young lady first saw Qin Rui going to the Buddhist temple and then saw the fourth young lady near the rockery. Qin Rui saw the fourth young lady at the same time in the Buddhist temple. How could there be two of them?

Yu Hanjiang immediately noticed the problem. “The fourth young lady that Guard Qin saw was likely someone posing as her.”

The confessions of the third and fourth young ladies met. They did meet near the rockery yesterday afternoon. Therefore, the fourth young lady that Qin Rui saw at the Buddhist temple definitely wasn’t the real person.

The fourth young lady liked to cover her face with white gauze and the guards rarely came to the backyard. Therefore, the specific appearance of the fourth young lady wasn’t very clear. If they saw a woman with white gauze then they would subconsciously think this was the fourth young lady.

In fact, the person Qin Rui saw was the real murderer!

She knew light footwork and was strong in martial arts. She was accidentally seen by Qin Rui when crossing the wall into the backyard. Qin Rui was very alert and immediately chased her. She couldn’t get rid of Qin Rui’s pursuit so she led Qin Rui to the Buddhist hall and then covered her face with white gauze, pretending to be the fourth young lady.

In order to confirm this speculation, Yu Hanjiang called the fourth young lady over.

Qin Rui carefully examined her and paled. “The person I saw was different.”

Qin Rui felt regretful after realizing he had been deceived. “No wonder. This subordinate searched all over the Buddhist temple and couldn’t find any traces of the a.s.sa.s.sin. It turned out the a.s.sa.s.sin was dressed as the fourth young lady and walked away right in front of me!”

At this point, Qin Rui felt guilty and clasped his fist in his other hand as he spoke to the prince, “This subordinate was incompetent and let go of the a.s.sa.s.sin. Please punish me!”