Novel Full Chapter 1378: Side Story: Qi Xiuyuan (10)
Chapter 1378: Side Story: Qi Xiuyuan (10)
Editor: Atlas Studios
Later on, when the Imperial Court suddenly wanted to escape to the south, their family only had time to pack up some thin clothes before following the Emperor’s carriage.
However, the Qi family was too inconspicuous in the south escape team consisting of the noble families and important ministers. Therefore, the family could only walk on the periphery. When Great Jin’s army caught up, they would be the first to be abandoned. This was how Father Qi died.
The proud young man who had become a jinshi at the age of 20 had fallen from the clouds to the ground. In order to survive, he had no choice but to give up his dignity.
He went to seduce Zhu Wan.
The Zhu family was also among those who followed the Imperial Court to the south. What was different was that the Zhu family had a powerful military background and controlled a troop of soldiers. Furthermore, Father Zhu was a third-grade military general while Zhu Wan’s two older brothers were also fifth-grade lieutenants. As their families, Zhu Wan and Xia Tong were extremely safe.
Zhu Wan was a kind-hearted lady, and Old Madam Qi never denied this fact. Back then, when Zhu Wan saw her fall to the ground and almost stepped on, she saved her. Actually, not just her, but all the old, weak, women, and children who had fallen to the ground at that time. However, Qi Feng saw Zhu Wan’s ability and energy, so he used this matter to get close to her, harboring ulterior motives.
Qi Feng was not bad-looking. He might not be the most handsome man on earth, but he was pleasant-looking and talented. Zhu Wan had been practicing martial arts with her two brothers since she was young. Often entering the army camps, she’d only felt that men were rough and reckless. This was the first time she had seen such a gentle and flirtatious man. In less than a month, her heart was captured by him.
At that time, no one knew when Great Zhou would fall. As they followed the Imperial Court to the south, they’d stay in this county for half a month and stay in that prefectural capital for a month. Once Great Jin caught up, they would flee, simply living each day as it came. Furthermore, Father Zhu and his two sons were generals and had to charge in front.
At this moment, the Zhu family saw that their daughter had grown fond of a man. Upon inspection, they were not very satisfied because they felt that he had a treacherous nature. Still, they relented because of two reasons: Firstly, their daughter fancied him and insisted on marrying him. Secondly, they did not know how long they could live for. Afraid that Zhu Wan would sink into professions not socially respectable should the Zhu family men die during the escape, they gritted their teeth and consented.
Hence, on the way south, the two of them got married.
Father Zhu died while protecting the Emperor on the way south. The Emperor was grateful for that and specially had his family protected in the square formation in the middle as a show of kindness.
Just like that, Qi Feng and his family relied on his father-in-law’s hereditary privilege and survived the journey to the capital.
During the southern escape, eight out of ten officials lost their wives, children, and parents. Every family lost a family member during the southern escape. Qi Feng’s luck couldn’t help but make people raise their eyebrows. Everyone said that he had found a good father-in-law. They even said that if he had married Zhu Wan earlier, perhaps even his father wouldn’t have died.
Everyone spoke of it in a jealous tone, but Qi Feng was ashamed of it. Not long after settling down in Lin’an Prefecture, he elevated Madam Wu to a noble concubine.
A mother knew her son best. Old Madam Qi naturally knew that her son felt terrible, so she had always turned a blind eye and let him be, hoping he could feel better. Moreover, they had indeed let Madam Wu down in this matter.
However, she did not expect Qi Feng and Madam Wu to cause Zhu Wan’s death and even let Zhu Qing have something on them. She wanted to tell her son, but seeing how furious he was at the Zhu family, she was afraid that this would alert the enemy and make the Zhu family not show any mercy.
Suppressing the worry in her heart, Old Madam Qi could only grab his hand and instruct him word by word, “You must keep Haoran by your side. Don’t ever let him leave.”
As long as Qi Haoran was in the Qi family, the Zhu family and Qi Xiuyuan would not dare to do anything.
“They’re your flesh and blood after all. You have to protect them. Don’t let your cousin (Madam Wu) mess around.”
Seeing that her son lowered his head and did not respond, Old Madam Qi knew that he was resistant to her mentioning the Zhu family. For a moment, she was anxious and irritable. She could only send him away and call Madam Wu over to warn her, “Xiuyuan and Haoran are the blood of my Qi family after all. I can let bygones be bygones, but if you dare to target these two children again in the future, even if I watched you grow up, I won’t show any mercy.”
“Aunt—”
Old Madam Qi raised her hand to stop her. “Alright, you can leave. Pay more attention to Xiuyuan and don’t mistreat him.”
Old Madam Qi thought that there was plenty of time ahead and she could slowly persuade her son. Alas, she did not wake up the next day.
Old Madam Qi passed away in her sleep.
When Qi Feng stumbled in, he was still in disbelief. She was clearly fine yesterday. Although he was somewhat mentally prepared for his mother’s death, he did not expect it to happen so quickly.
Qi Xiuyuan also widened his eyes. He didn’t expect the person who recently threatened him to die just like that. At this moment, he wasn’t sad. Instead, he heaved a sigh of relief.
The martial arts teacher, who was sent by the Zhu family, arrived at the Qi Residence at this moment.
At this moment, Qi Feng had to observe filial mourning. After experiencing the pain of dismissal and losing his mother, how could he still be in the mood to worry about Qi Xiuyuan?
So, Qi Xiuyuan brought the teacher into his courtyard and began to practice martial arts under his guidance.
Zhu Qing knew that Qi Xiuyuan wanted to make his mark by joining the army. So, apart from martial arts, he also had to be well-versed in archery and horsemanship.
It was impossible to count on Qi Feng for these, so Zhu Qing had arranged everything for his nephew.
While Qi Xiuyuan could learn martial arts and military strategies in his own courtyard,he had to head outside to learn horsemanship and archery.
Hence, Qi Xiuyuan practiced martial arts and studied at home every morning and went out to practice horsemanship and archery in the afternoon.
Because everyone in the Qi family ignored him, Qi Feng did not realize that his son was practicing martial arts and studying. By the time he realized it, his son had already left the capital and escaped his control.
Though Qi Xiuyuan started practicing martial arts later than he should have, he was quite talented in this aspect. The martial arts he learned were more than enough to deal with the situations on the battlefield. What really surprised Zhu Qing though, was Qi Haoran.
At that time, Qi Haoran was only three years old. Occasionally, he would watch his big brother practicing a set of boxing techniques. After watching it twice, he would immediately master it.
The martial arts teacher and Qi Xiuyuan were pleasantly delighted.
Because of this, Zhu Qing even found time to secretly come back and gauge his martial arts talent by feeling his bone structure. Then, he laughed and said, “My Zhu family finally has a successor. The world only knows that our Zhu family was a family of military generals, but three generations ago, our Zhu family was a famous figure in the martial arts world. If not for the fact that the Great Zhou Empire was in danger, our ancestors would not have joined the army.”
Smiling brightly, Zhu Qing said, “Although my Zhu family has left the martial arts world, we have a lot of martial arts manuals. Haoran has a good bone structure and is extremely cut out for martial arts. It would be a pity if such a child only learned some boxing techniques and horsemanship like you.”
The more Zhu Qing spoke, the more he felt that he was right. He immediately went back to the Zhu family and found a few high-grade martial arts manuals. After marking the order, he got someone to send them to Qi Haoran and let him practice according to the order. For this, he even sent two of the Zhu family’s hereditary servants.
These weren’t just servants who specialized in serving others like Uncle Zhu, but someone who had practiced the Zhu family’s martial arts. In fact, they were more like disciples than servants.
These people were specially here to teach Qi Haoran martial arts. In Zhu Qing’s words, with these capabilities, even if Qi Haoran did not become a military official or a civil official in the future, he’d easily survive. He could go anywhere in the world.
Even Qi Xiuyuan couldn’t help but envy his brother’s talent.
While Qi Xiuyuan would need at least a month to practice a set of boxing techniques, Qi Haoran only needed to read it twice to memorize it. One might think it was due to him having outstanding memory. Yet, when it came to his studies, he could not memorize a single word even if you gave him three days to do it. He was so stupid that Fan Zijin kept knocking his head.