Qi family’s military households?
Qi Yuan merely paused for a brief moment before she smiled—and then, with one swift motion, sliced off one of the man’s fingers.
The man let out a bloodcurdling scream.
“You think I’m a three-year-old?” Qi Yuan sneered. “How far is Jizhou from here? Let’s not even talk about whether you’re really from the Qi family’s military division—I’ll just ask you this: if you are from the Qi family, how did you know my movements in advance? Why were you able to ambush me on the road and simultaneously attack this private estate?”
Forget the idea that Old Marquis Qi or Qi Zhen had lost their minds.
If they’d truly gone insane to that degree, the Qi family would’ve fallen long ago.
As for the rest of them, the second and third branches of the Qi family had always behaved themselves—because the Old Marquis had made it clear: the noble title belonged to the main branch, but the estate would eventually be divided fairly.
They’d have to be idiots to make enemies of the main branch.
And if someone were picking a fight with the main branch, they should be targeting Qi Zhen or Qi Yunzhen. What use was there in killing her?
Qi Yuan toyed with the dagger in her hand.
In her grasp, the dagger moved as if it had eyes—its twirls even more graceful than a folding fan.
Cold sweat poured from the man’s forehead. Suddenly, desperate, he blurted, “It was the eldest young master! We acted on his orders! He’s the one who gave us the information!”
If he brought up Qi Yunting, maybe Qi Yuan would believe him.
After all, she and Qi Yunting had a deep, bitter grudge.
But Qi Yuan merely curled her lips—and then stomped down hard on the sleeve arrow still lodged in the man’s body, forcing it in completely.
The man howled in agony. He couldn’t understand—how had the Qi family produced such a monstrous woman?
What had he said wrong?
Anyone else would’ve at least gone to verify what he claimed. But not her—she didn’t believe a single word!
And fine—if she didn’t believe it, she’d let you know what happens to liars.
A total freak!
Qi Yuan squatted down and clicked her tongue: “Look at you. Not a good spot left on your body. How about this—I’ll skin you alive. Ever heard of it? Out on the grasslands where the Oirats live, there are those so-called Living Buddhas—they love making drums out of human skin. I was just thinking, your hide would probably do nicely.”
……
He was wrong—Qi Yuan wasn’t just not a woman.
She wasn’t even human.
Qi Yuan turned the dagger, switching its grip: “Don’t worry. I’m fast. I’ll start with your scalp and peel you clean. It’s New Year’s after all—consider it a little return gift for all the people you killed.”
The moment the dagger touched his scalp, the assassin finally broke.
He couldn’t outlast this deranged woman—she was terrifying. Absolutely terrifying!
He finally screamed, “I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Yes, we’re from the Qi family’s military households! But—we’re also enemies of the Qi family!”
Enemies of the Qi family.
Qi Yuan looked at him with intrigue. “Go on then—why are you part of the Qi family’s forces, but also its enemies?”
They’d defied military orders, abandoned their post, and traveled thousands of miles from Jizhou to the capital just to assassinate her.
If there wasn’t something fishy going on, she’d chop off her head and use it as a stool.
Not her own head, of course.
She remained calm and composed, so that when Xiao Yunting finally arrived, the one looking the most disheveled wasn’t Qi Yuan—who had just finished a deadly skirmish—but the Imperial Grandson, who had rushed there at full gallop.
Babaot followed close behind. The moment he saw the seven or eight corpses lying next to the eldest Miss Qi, he gasped aloud on the spot.
Holy h*ll. Don’t mess with her. Just—don’t.
On the way here, he had already met with the Qi family’s steward. The steward had been completely dumbfounded, but still insisted that their young lady had suffered a terrible fright, and that all the assassins had been killed by the Qi family’s own guards.
That was a story only the magistrate of Tongzhou could believe.
What a load of cr*p.
Qi Yuan frightened?
She was more likely to give the King of H*ll a fright in the middle of the night than be scared by a few assassins!
And now, it all made sense.
Only when Xiao Yunting saw her sitting calmly on the steps, her foot pressing down on the man’s chest, did he finally let out a slow breath of relief. He walked a few steps closer, glanced at the man, and asked Qi Yuan, “Are you alright?”
“Perfectly fine,” Qi Yuan replied without even lifting her head, still staring coldly at the man. “I’d suggest you speak quickly. I’m not known for my patience. If your answer displeases me, or if you lie—well, I’m still in a rush to flay you and make a human-skin drum. As for your buddies over there, I’ll turn them into human-skin lanterns and send them to your master. Believe me?”
Babao coughed once, casting a somewhat sympathetic glance at the man.
Bro, you better believe her.
Luckily, the man was definitely scared now, and this time he confessed without hesitation: “We are the Qi family’s military households, but—but someone in the Qi family was secretly trafficking iron goods from the army to the Oirats! And they threw us out as scapegoats! We… we were driven to desperation!”
Babao sucked in a sharp breath.
Ironware had always been strictly controlled across every dynasty—after all, it was used to forge weapons.
The Oirats had powerful warhorses, but they didn’t produce anything themselves. They didn’t even have the technology to smelt metal.
So they needed iron—and naturally, they came begging to Great Zhou.
But Great Zhou wasn’t stupid. Why would they ever sell it to them?
So most of the ironware in Oirat hands came from raids on border towns.
But even with looting, it was never enough.
Every year when winter came and they couldn’t pasture their animals, they would launch large-scale invasions on Great Zhou’s borders.
And to fight, weapons were indispensable.
No matter how tightly Great Zhou tried to control it, there were always loopholes.
If the Qi family had really sold iron to the Oirats—then that was high treason. Betraying the country.
Treason.
A crime punishable by extermination of nine generations.
What a bold move.
Qi Yuan had just stomped out Liu Wangfei and Duke Chu’s household. She had dragged Qi Wang down, turning him into a powerless, crippled shell of a man.
And now these people were trying to return the favor—by wiping out the Qi family in one fell swoop.
Savage.
When Xiao Yunting saw Qi Yuan’s expression darken—mistaking it for fear—he quickly said, “The Qi family has served the court loyally for generations. And even though the Old Marquis is retired, Qi Zhen is still a trusted minister with active assignments. How could they possibly do something like this?”
Yes—the profit from such a thing would be immense, almost unimaginably so.
But the risk was just as great.
If discovered, the whole family line would be eradicated.
Even though the Old Marquis and Qi Zhen weren’t present, Qi Yuan knew—there was no way they would be stupid enough to do something like this.
And even if, by some outrageous chance, they had done it, they would never sacrifice their own trusted inner circle to take the fall.
That would be no different from stabbing themselves in the heart.
