As soon as master Xie left, the Emperor cast the cup in his hand to the ground.
The worlds was a chessboard, but I should be the only player! Others were all chess pieces!
After I usurped the properties and hidden power of the Ning family and the military power of the Su family, there wouldn't be again super-noble families, let alone your Xie family.
The Tianqi dynasty would be the world of my Gu family. There wouldn't be people sitting at the same level with me. Everybody would kneel and kowtow below my feet.
By then, with small tricks, I would revoke the privileges of the first-class families. Then, the so-called noble families would vanish into ashes.
Tianqi dynasty had only one supremacy—the royal family!
By then, no one dared to have names! They were all my slaves!
*
Hearing that crisp sound, master Xie sneered.
Beyond the hunting mantis near a cicada, there was an oriole!
A nice calculation the emperor had made! He wanted to devour the entire meat of the Ning family and leave no soup for Xie? No way!
He didn't know my Xie family didn't want to cuddle up with the royal power any longer.
Among the several generations of empresses surnamed Xie, none of them ever gave birth to a son.
The empresses either couldn't get pregnant or suffered incidents during or after boys were born. The only safe ones coming to the world were daughters. Did the royal Gu really regard my Xie as stupid pushovers? The boss in the imperial palace was the emperor. As long as he didn't wish Xie had sons, then the empress would never have sons.
Daughters were born only after the examination and confirmation of the imperial doctors, partly to block the public voice, and partly to appease the Xie family's rage.
As for the property and hidden power of the Ning family, he swore to seizure.
**
Escorted by the several guards, the carriage galloped all the way in peace.
Since the official roads were deemed with eyes and easily exposed their traces, the final route that Ning Shaoqing had worked out included mostly paths in forests.
The paths were covert in that although attacks would take place anyway, the attackers couldn't make a regular plan without the knowledge of their traces so they couldn't set up ambushes in advance.
It was dark totally, in the depth of a forest, the team of people and horses stopped to take a rest.
Before the eyes were endless undulating hills and vast green sea of forest dotted with clusters of tiny yellow flowers.
This site, with an open vision, was obviously a place prepared beforehand for passers to take a rest or sleep at night.
Asan hunted some wild animals, and Awu built a fire in the leeward. Nanny Mo took Chuyi and Shiwu to cook the meat on fire and divide to everybody. The hidden guard and the four hidden guards took turns to stay awake during the night.
The carriage was large, so Mo Qianxue and Ning Shaoqing spent the night in it.
In the end of spring and beginning of summer, it night wind in mountain forests was still chilly.
In the carriage, Mo Qianxue leaned in the arms of Ning Shaoqing, who stroked her smooth hair and said in a calm but rare serious tone, "It's said that in the capital, father's doing worse and worse than before. After the spring festival, he has been lying in bed. I didn't believe it at first, but the rampant and careless behaviors of the mother and son make me have to believe it."
Father, for his entire life, was a wise man who couldn't tolerant any grain of sand in his eyes, so he wouldn't have sat idle.
Having witnessed her husband being domineering, aloof, and jealousy, Mo Qianxue rarely and for the first time saw him being so worried about something.
Sensing his homesickness and concerns, Mo Qianxue suddenly felt distressful for him, pinching repeatedly his hand and comforting, "Your father will be blessed by heaven. He'll be fine. I guess his indisposition is caused by missing you so much. Probably, as long as he sees you again, he'll be well again."
"I hope so." Ning Shaoqing sighed a long breath. The first time he had the news of father's illness, his initial reaction was to regard it as a plot to lead him back.
However, now it seemed…
The Shadow of the Ning family was in charge of all the hidden forces across the country. Supposedly, every of his movements could escape from the mother and son's eye but absolutely impossible to hide from the intelligence network of the Shadow, the top agency in the country, for so long.
If they tried their best for a year, it was barely possible for the Shadow not to have found any trace of him. But now, his father's people didn't come but the mother and son's did.
In such an emergent situation, the disgusting mother and son acted so rampant while father remained motionless. He had a bad feeling.
An idea which he was unwilling believe but confirmed occurred to him.
Very likely, the disgusting mother and son had done something to father.
At first, he wouldn't believe it, but the moment he saw the men of sacrifice from the Xie family, he had to believe it!
With their own power, they couldn't have acted so bold! But with the intervention of the Xie family, then the things got more complicated.
In this case, the way returning home might also be the road of no return.
This was also the biggest reason why he had suggested her to go back to the Founder mansion.
The Mo people might dare to hunt down upon Mo Qianxue when she was outside, but once she was back in the capital living in the Mo mansion at the foot of the imperial city, they wouldn't dare to do so, at least openly and brazenly.
The Founder mansion wasn't a property of the Mo family.
When Founder Mo was alive, either the army or the mansion had been managed in a meticulously organized way, holding it in a grip of iron. No drop of water could be splashed into. Even the Ning couldn't arrange a spy into the mansion, let alone others.
It was said that even when the master of the Mo family visited, he wouldn't get the permission to enter until being reported to Mo Qianxue's father.
Although things had changed, it was proved that the Founder mansion was still safe so far since it didn't collapse after nanny Mo came back to the mansion.
In the Founder mansion, Mo Qianxue was the real master of it.
If she went back with him to the Ning mansion, then what waited for her was a storm of blood.
Since he had decided to go back, then he wouldn't give up what her deserved any more.
If to regain real power and to take charge of the family again, then he couldn't stay home all day long. Now the mansion must be in controlled of concubine Xie. The dangers and perils of could be known without witnessing with one's own eyes. Sometimes, the fight in the inner mansion (dwelled by females) was fiercer and crueler than the front yard.
He wouldn't put her in danger or let her suffer any discomfort. Only after he cleaned the mansion and cracked down all potential perils could he take Mo Qianxue back in a large sedan chair lifted by eight people in a spectacular wedding ceremony.
The heavy topic made the couple silent. Mo Qianxue thought about it and said softly, "Tomorrow, let nanny sit in the carriage with me." She wanted to know more about the Founder mansion and the Mo family.
There was no turning back!
When she had decided to help him, naturally she should be able to stand on her own feet first. She must streamline the intertwined relations between the Founder mansion and the Mo family.
Only after the internal feuds were settled could she turn to him and give him a hand without constantly looking back to the worries behind her.
Certainly, she also wanted to inquire about the function of the black wooden token. A forces of two hundred thousand riders, if used well, would be enough to daunt any potential enemies.
Ning Shaoqing hugged her harder and nodded, "Good." Ning Shaoqing was smart and the two were in the same mind, so he understood what she was considering without spelling it out.
She was touched and felt more at ease.
The night was quiet. Except for waves of mountain breeze and intermittent chirps of insects, there was no other noise.
The two hugged each other and fell asleep. Soon, it was dawn.
Seeing Mo Qianxue playing cute to invite her to sit in the carriage, Nanny Mo was clear and found gratified.
A huge crisis and losing memory made lady tough and active in face of obstacles. Madam could rest assured in heaven.
"Nanny, tell me more about the Founder mansion, about father and the Mo family." After nanny Mo got on board, Mo Qianxue got down to the topic.
In fact, Mo Qianxue had speculated in private that her father must have been at odds with the Mo family, and probably there was deep hatred. If he felt strongly attached to the family, he would have had a sense of responsibility to the family like Ning Shaoqing and would never give the title to her.
As the saying goes, if you know yourself and your enemy equally well, you can win any battle. She must resort to nanny Mo as to dig out the secrets.
"It's a long story…" Nanny Mo was calm and looked up from her contemplation, "The Mo family was originally one of the lower-level noble families. It's not a secret either that your father didn't have a decent origin…
Although the master of the Mo family was at lease ten years older than your father, they were actually brothers.
The master of the family was a notorious pleasure hunter, the son of the concubine of the former master. At that time, the former master had a bunch of sons and his wife was a mean woman who had violently opposed the mother of the Founder to become a member of the family.
Therefore, his mother had always lacked an official identity, and the Founder, as a boy, wasn't recognized by the family either.
When he was eight years old, the former master died, and the incumbent master inherited the position and stopped offering the allowance to the Founder and his mother. The mother, of a poor origin, had no place to live in or financial support and quickly died of illness.
Although the Founder had a hard backbone, as a helpless boy, he didn't bear to watch his mother die, so he had to come to the door but only nothing but humiliation."
Mo Qianxue could imagine that how helpless and furious a proud teenager could be when, desperate, seeking for help and being driven away. In this case, she didn't need to take the Mos too seriously.
"Later, his mother died, and your father buried your grandma and joined the army without hesitation at the age of ten. Fighting in shower of blood, he finally struggled a way out and a promising future.
He cracked down the enemies, forced them back home, achieved huge military feats and was finally be entitled as general. At that time, he saved the Emperor, who by then was still a prince, and helped him take the throne, so the title of duke was granted to him as a reward."
Nanny Mo summed up lightly, but there was mist flashing in her eyes. A nobody fighting from an insignificant soldier all the way to become a general, there must be incredible hardship, tears and sweats.
"Then, the Founder came back with honor and the affection of the Emperor and thus climbed to a status second only to the emperor. Of course the Mos began to cuddle up with him and suggested him to trace back his origin. He had wanted to ignored them, but his mother's biggest wish before death was to move her coffin to the graveyard of the Mo family and to put her memorial tablet in the ancestral hall of the Mo family.
If he didn't recognize Mo as his ancestors and without the admission of the family, his mother would be a lonely ghost without a name forever."
Needless to mention, the next was the Founder's recognition of the Mo as his ancestor. Certainly, the Mos wouldn't have stepped aside from his honor and properties. In the Founder's name, the Mo became one with greatest power after the first-class families.
This information was enough to Mo Qianxue. She only needed to know what kind of people the Mos were and what kind of attitude she should put on.
Then, she asked things about the Founder mansion.
Speaking of it, nanny Mo pissed off. In the past, it indeed was a mansion like an iron bucket, but after the decease of the Founder and madam Mo and the assassination and disappearance of Mo Qianxue, the mansion was dwelled by only servants and no lords or ladies…
The Mos let Mo Qianxue's servant girl Xiao to dress up like Mo Qianxue and buried her body in a hurry, together with the Founder and madam.
All the superiors died unfortunately, so the mansion, without no boss, fell into the hand of the Mo family.
The biggest sin of unfilial piety was having no offspring.
At that time, the Mos suggested to live in the mansion and selected a son to inherit the duke title and all the properties of the mansion. This sounded natural and humane, so the butler of the mansion had no reason to stop them, let alone the guards. Even if the emperor would found it improper to object.
Luckily, at that time, nanny Mo was sober-minded and, regardless of her own injuries, rushed to the Founder mansion and together with the Fengs, told the Mos that the person in the coffin wasn't Mo Qianxue but a fake one pretending to be her.
The Mos naturally didn't believe her because they had witnessed with their own eyes that Mo Qianxue fell off a cliff and her corpse was picked up from the river. Fearing that more assassins would be sent to kill her, nanny Mo deliberately told half of the truth, eyes flickering in uncertainty and saying words ambiguous.
She was the servant of madam Mo and a dowry girl from the Feng family. Hence, the Mos were surer that Mo Qianxue was dead and that the Feng family was vying for the property and thinking in the same mind as them.
Speaking of this, nanny Mo mentioned the kindness of the Emperor, "Speaking of this, lady, you should express gratitude to the Emperor. After all, the Founder saved his life once, and the Feng was the first-level family, so when this dispute was proposed for discussion in the court, the Emperor remembered your father's friendship and set a one-year period.
He made an imperial edict: Within a year, if the legal daughter of the Founder is found, then everything remained unchanged; if she couldn't be found, then the proposal suggested by the Mos would be carried out to select a son for the Founder so as to inherit the property and observe the mourning."
Then, nanny Mo gritted and talked about the Mos again, "After the edict, the Mos came up to another plan, complaining to the Emperor that the Founder was such a poor man that he had achieved great military feats for this country but had no son to observe mourning for him after he passed away, and recommending three outstanding boys who were said to be willing to observe mourning first for a year without an official recognition.
The Emperor, not knowing the true shameless face of the Mos, was so touched by them that he agreed at once. Hence, the three Mo boys took with them guards rampantly moved to the mansion…"
Mo Qianxue's face changed slightly, "So, you mean now the mansion isn't in charge of nanny and the butler?"
Nanny Mo's face turned stern, "On the surface, the Founder mansion isn't in charge of me and the butler, but as long as the foundation is there and lady returns to the capital safely, those rats can't stir up huge troubles. After lady claims your identity, the butler and I will use some means to drive those three people out of the Founder mansion."
Finishing this, she kneeled again, "Lady, I'm so sorry to have made so many troubles. At that time, I had no better plans except for letting Xiaonian pretend to be you. I only thought as long as we got rid of the assassins and returned to the Founder mansion, everything would be solved, but I had never expected that you lost your memory because of it…"
"Get up. Don't kneel anymore." How could she blame a woman who treated her as daughter and always thought for her? Besides, this woman hadn't done anything wrong.
Mo Qianxue had a clue of the Founder mansion and the Mo family, and then she asked, "Nanny, do you know anything about my internal strength?"
Ning Shaoqing had checked her internal strength and taught her some methods to draw it out, but it just couldn't be triggered totally. Even Mr. Wang said it was strange. Although it was unlocked, it appeared to be a pool of dead water which couldn't run at all.
Since nanny Mo had been taken care of her since she was a child, then she must know this situation.
As expected—
Hearing her mentioning the internal strength, nanny Mo looked both surprised and worried, "Lady, you can use it now? Did it affect your body?"
"I'm well, but it can't be used…" Therefore, she told nanny Mo the process how Mr. Wang had unlocked her internal strength and by the way praised his excellent medical skills.
Nanny Mo thought that Mr. Wang had cured her strange disease and was very happy. She took out from her sleeve pocket a book and handed to Mo Qianxue, "Although madam came from a noble family, she was a martial artist. When she was young, she took me to travel everywhere so that she had the opportunity to meet the Founder…"
Then she began to excitedly tell a love story of a noble lady marrying to humble general, which touched Mo Qianxue as well as herself who even shed tears again.
"This internal strength was taught to madam by a miraculous master. Lady, you began to practice this kungfu since childhood. Madam didn't wish you to become a master but only to make you healthier… Lady, as long as you practice it based on this book, the internal strength will be triggered…"
After obtaining the secret book, Mo Qianxue then tried to inquire indirectly and found that even nanny Mo had no idea of the existence of the black wooden token. Therefore, saying that she was tired, she closed her eyes and pondered to herself.