Chapter 86: A Farce

On the same night, Old Marshal Qiu Jianhan was browsing through the military news in his residence. It was temporarily peaceful. The Empire of Yutang finally had its days of peace as things were rested and calm.

The old marshal felt light-hearted as well.

He even had the mood to order the kitchen to make a few side dishes and drank alone.

However, before he could drink as he raised his goblet with a smile, a long cry tore through the air suddenly as a stern voice bellowed, "You have gone too far!"

A white light then shot down from the sky. A concussive boom cracked the air before all traces were gone. The person had entirely disappeared before anyone from the marshal's residence could run out. A ball of flame suddenly ignited in one of the side rooms; the fire soared high as thick smoke began to roil upwards.

"Put out the fire!"

"Bring in the water!"

The residence was in chaos. In an instant, hundreds of guards crowded the front of the foyer as military experts filled the rooftop. The area within thousands of feet around the old marshal was guarded heavily in the blink of an eye!

"Everybody retreat!"

The old marshal stood by the foyer entrance, his muscular form trembling lightly. His eyes watched the room that caught fire strangely while his lips quivered faintly.

A saber was in his hand!

Blood was on the saber's blade.

"What has happened?"

Everyone in the residence was on their guard, even the old mistress had made an uncommon appearance.

"Nothing!"

Qiu Jianhan's face relaxed. "It's just a secret letter that needs to be handled urgently."

As he spoke, he turned right away heading to the study room without looking at anyone.

His pace was brisk, the old marshal was very agitated.

There was a symbol of nine encircling stars on the letter. Nine Heavens Dictum!

On it were a few words - "To be read personally by Old Marshal Qiu."

Old Marshal Qiu understood the meaning behind these words well. No other person should be seeing it. Therefore, he had gone to the study room immediately and locked himself inside.

This was a red colored package... red like a ball of flame.

Old Marshal Qiu exhaled before he opened it with trembling hands. Without surprise, there was a letter inside. It was only one thin sheet of paper within the envelope.

Qiu Jianhan's face fell when he read the first line.

It was without courtesy - "Why does the Board of War harass me?"

The old marshal could feel the flaring murderous intent within the words right away.

It was a boiling wave of rage.

He read on, almost holding his breath. The more he read, the more his eyes widened. Suddenly, he shouted, "This is terribly infuriating!"

He glared hard, a palm landing harshly on the table.

The sturdy table cracked and split at his heavy strike.

"Cirrus House's Zuiyue belongs to the heart of Supreme Flame. What is the intention behind the people from the Board of War's Heroic Duo of Saber and Sword's residence persuading her to marry others? What position am I, Supreme Flame lord, placed at when Old Mistress Ding made her personal appearance? If old marshal is interested, why not find another spouse for His Majesty's empress? Why humiliate the family of Nine Supremes?"

"Nation-guarding general's residence as the matchmaker, marshal's residence as the guardian, crown prince's residence as persuasion, Plethora Gem Tower as a set up; Such humiliation had been sworn not to be accepted under Nine Heavens Dictum! This justice shall be granted at the price of lives!"

"This has gone too far, it is absolutely absurd!"

The wordings in this letter were harsh, the grudge within deep, terrifying to any reader!

It had even said "If old marshal is interested, why not find another spouse for His Majesty's empress? Why humiliate the family of the Nine Supremes?".

Obviously, the other party was beyond infuriated. The old marshal was enraged to the point of almost spitting blood before he could finish reading the letter.

It was not because of the harsh tone employed in the letter but from the shameful matter that happened within his own residence! The humiliation could last for millennia.

Qiu Jianhan could feel his face burning.

Even if he was beaten violently to near-death, it was still better than this feeling right now. He loathed the act of harassing the warriors' families the most, but who would have thought that his home was one of the perpetrators now?

Recalling the Nine Heavens Dictum that had informed him by setting a room on fire, they must be extremely enraged to be using such an extreme method.

Thinking of the war, Supreme Flame had obviously made his move...

Was there still a need then to guess who it was who had ignited his room?

The old marshal had even felt that they were already being lenient. Your father has just ended the war for all of you and you're forcing your father's woman to marry someone else? What is this bullsh*t?

...

The old mistress was immensely worried. The residence had suddenly caught on fire. While the fire was not serious and had only burned one room, the intention within was terrifying enough. A sense of utter danger gnawed at her heart.

Who in the world dared to set fire directly to the marshal's residence?

Worried as she was, she heard the maids outside exclaim in surprise before an angry roar followed. "Out of my way!" With the sound of a slap, she then saw her husband charging in enraged.

"What good deed did you do?" He hollered furiously.

The old mistress was shocked before she got angry as well. "What is it? Are you crazy?"

Qiu Jianhan was infuriated. He suppressed his voice as he retorted, "Bullsh*t! It's you who are crazy! What good deed of yours, neither virtuous nor righteous, gross and shameless, and you still have the guts to cuss at me?"

The old mistress was dumbfounded.

Old Marshal Qiu had always thought that he had neglected his beloved wife with his devotion for the military, so he had always been gentle and subservient to the old mistress his entire life. Since when did he ever show such a violent temper?

What was this now? He had shouted something so vulgar to the ears! The old mistress felt something was amiss. "What has happened?" She was not even angry but a sense of panic rose in her heart. Things must be impossibly awry to have this husband of hers who had been docile to her this entire life become so absolutely angry!

Qiu Jianhan's eyes were spewing fire as he growled, "Utterly shameful! Let me ask you, did you decided to become a matchmaker recently?"

The old mistress understood it right as she heard. "What about it? It was your nephew, infatuated with Cirrus House's Yun Zuiyue just as he got to Tiantang and asked me to help me, saying he wanted to marry her as his concubine. He's come to our doors to plead and you were not here. Moreover, this is nothing significant."

Qiu Jianhan was shaking with rage. "Not something big? My wife, you're about to make the sky fall! What else is considered big? You've gotten foolish!"

The old mistress paled. "What has happened?"

Qiu Jianhan huffed and puffed, trying hard to recover his emotions but still replied through gritted teeth, "You went to be a matchmaker. Didn't you first check if the woman was married? If she already has someone she loves? If she's willing? Have you just gone ahead like this? Qiu Yunsan that bastard likes her! So what if he likes her? You went just because he likes her? Are you going if he likes the empress? This is utter bullsh*t!"

The old marshal was blinded with rage, spewing even coarser words.

The old mistress was shocked. "Could it be... His Majesty's?"

She sucked in a cold breath.

The old marshal bellowed, "Not His Majesty's!"

Just as the woman heaved a sigh of relief, she heard her husband roar, "It's even more terrifying than His Majesty's woman! My wife, you're really putting me in the land of vile and unjust..."

The mistress was stupefied.

More frightening than His Majesty's woman? Who was it?

"What... what should I do?"

"All in all, do not stick your nose in this matter anymore! Otherwise, I do not have any face to live in this world; I would have to commit suicide..." The old marshal sighed, his gaze in despair. "This is utterly humiliating!"

"If Qiu Yunsan comes to the residence again, make him stay! Wait for my return to put him right where he belongs! I'm going to Old Leng's residence. Both our families have been shamed."

Qiu Jianhan spat his words and left mounting the horse, rushing over to Leng Daoyin's residence with great urgency.

The old mistress collapsed on the chair, her aged face pale and ashen.

She could gauge how serious it was from her husband's reaction. Regret filled her heart as she had never thought that she would cause such trouble unintentionally.

She was still doubtful though. What was involved to actually infuriate her husband so much?

...

On the same night, Leng Daoyin was pacing furiously in the residence of the guarding general, directly asking his janissary to call his son-in-law out and scolded him. He had even broken his son-in-law, Zhou Zizheng's legs, just like that.

"Go once more to spew nonsense and persuasion in matchmaking, I shall end your life by brutally beating you up!"

"My eyes must be blind to marry my daughter to such a humiliating failure!"

Old General Leng fumed, the entire residence was terrified into silence.

"Man of men going to be a matchmaker, this is utter bullsh*t! Why don't you..."

The old man swallowed the following words, it must be something vulgar indeed!

Zhou Zizhang was in agony from his broken legs but he gritted his teeth did not make a single sound.

This man was nothing as bad as the old general had mentioned. On the contrary, he was actually a rather capable general. Otherwise, Leng Daoyin would not have agreed to marry his daughter to him.

However, by making a mistake now, he had become worse than bullsh*t in this old man's eyes.

...

Qiu Jianhan went straight to the crown prince's residence. He could speak honestly to Leng Daoyin as the latter would never leak the secret but it was not the same for the other people in the residence of the crown prince.

Therefore, the old marshal charged in and harshly spat, "Yun Zuiyue is this old man's adopted daughter. I shall be in charge of her marriage, His Highness the crown prince need not be worried!"

Then he left without a second glance.

His Highness the crown prince had no idea what happened and was chided by the old marshal just like that.

Qiu Jianhan then made his way to Plethora Gem Tower. "Find fault with this old man's goddaughter again and I shall seal this broken tower!"

The threat rang loud in his words.

When Qiu Jianhan returned to his residence, Qiu Yunsan had already been summoned to the place by the old mistress, his head lowered after being scolded. The old man said nothing but took a stick as thick as a bowl and landed blows right on the man accompanied with curses.

"What f*ck do you consider yourself as! Pestering the woman just because you're infatuated with her? What kind of bastard are you! Other than f*cking humiliating me, what else have you done growing up? I shall beat you to death today so you don't go on causing shame to the Qiu Family! ...taking in concubine... take your grandmother..."

The old marshal was out of his mind with rage.

The others quickly stepped forward to stop him when they saw things were amiss. Young Master Qiu was already bleeding here and there.

When the old mistress had saved this nephew from further damage, he had already taken eight to nine beatings. Not only was he bleeding, his waist had been beaten to a point where it almost fractured. If it were not for this nephew having some martial skills, he might really be beaten to death by the merciless stick...

This entire incident was just like a farce.

Hearing what had happened, the anger within Yun Yang subsided. Obviously, elder Qiu and Leng, and even the crown prince, did not know of all these.

Since the old marshal had gone berserk once, even Qiu Yunsan who was the culprit was quelled, this incident should have passed.

However, what Yun Yang did not understand was how could this matter be so simple?