Chapter 29: Waves of Deception

  The children of Zhangjiacun and those few craftsmen were temporarily settled in Qingfengju by Qin Yu. The place was big enough, with many rooms, so it wasn't a problem for them to stay there.

  After settling these people down, Qin Yu hurriedly entered the city again. This time he was gone for half a month and when he returned, he had to go tell Qin Qiong about it.

  Qin Yu arrived at the Qin residence and knocked on the door a few times. Before long, the large gate of the Qin residence creaked open with a "creak".

  The door was opened by Ma Bo, who saw that it was Qin Yu and immediately felt a surge of joy. He exclaimed, "Young Master, you're back! Come in quickly, General is thinking about you every day. Just now, Lu Guogong came to ask about your situation."

  Qin Yu listened and silently sighed, "As expected."

  Qin Yu hadn't thought that leaving for so long would cause misunderstandings. Now that he had heard it with his own ears, the result wasn't too bad after all. He nodded reluctantly and said, "Alright, Uncle Ma, I'll go see Father Zhong first. As for the Cheng manor, I'll have to trouble you with that."

  "Don't worry, young master." Ma Bo said with a smile.

  Qin Yu nodded and hastily went inside, arriving at the rear residence just as Qin Qiong was frowning in thought. He quickly stepped forward to pay his respects, speaking respectfully, "Nephew greets Uncle Zhong, nephew is unfilial, letting Uncle worry."

  "Ah, it's good that you're back. If you didn't come back, your uncle would have sent someone to fetch you." Qin Chong heard Qin Yu's voice and was taken aback for a moment. He turned around to look, but it wasn't Qin Yu. His tightly furrowed eyebrows relaxed in an instant, and he smiled warmly.

  Qin Yu awkwardly touched his head, indeed, originally there was still a month before the wedding, but the master had disappeared without a trace, and it had been half a month since he vanished. Qin Qiong could tolerate not sending someone to catch Qin Yu, which was enough to show that he trusted him even more, believing that Qin Yu would not do something like run away from marriage.

  "Has that matter been taken care of?" Qin Yong asked with a smile, amused by Qin Yu's slightly comical expression.

  "En, it's all right, nothing happened, so there's no need to go over there, at least not before getting married." Qin Yu nodded in response, but his words were left unspoken, who knows if he still needs to go or not, saying too much is never good.

  "Yes, it's best this way. In a few days, I'll be bedridden. Fortunately, you've returned in time. Don't wander around anymore." Qin Chong nodded, but still felt somewhat uneasy and reminded him once again.

  Qin Yu smiled awkwardly, "No way, this time I absolutely won't wander around randomly, the importance of things is still understood by my nephew."

  "Hmm." Qin Qiong was very satisfied with Qin Yu's attitude and nodded in response.

  "Is your body a bit better, Uncle?" Qin Yu saw that Qin Qiong's face was still as pale as before, like wax, and suspected that Qin Qiong had not obtained the donkey hide gel from Li Shimin, so he quickly asked.

  "It's still the same, don't worry, Father will not die for a while." Qin Feng could feel Qin Yu's concern and smiled, saying.

  "Didn't you ask His Majesty for donkey hide gel, Uncle?" Qin Yu furrowed his brow and asked anxiously.

  Qin Qiong's eyes suddenly widened, and after a moment, he let out a long sigh. "Nephew, I've asked the Emperor, and Ah Jiao is made from cowhide. Now that the Tang Dynasty is short of plowing cows, how can we still make Ah Jiao and harm the people of the Tang Dynasty? From now on, don't mention this matter again."

  Qin Qiong glared, naturally wanting to lose his temper, but Qin Yu could sense it. However, Qin Qiong wasn't a person who couldn't distinguish right from wrong. Since Qin Yu was doing it for his own good and he understood that in his heart, he let out a sigh instead, and finally warned Qin Yu not to mention the matter again.

  Qin Yu was slightly stunned before he remembered that the donkey hide used in the Tang Dynasty's aspic hadn't been developed yet, at least not now. He hastily opened his mouth and said, "Who says aspic has to use cowhide? The best material is actually donkey hide."

  Qin Qiong looked at Qin Yu with some doubt, not knowing if Qin Yu was making it up again. Seeing this, Qin Yu hastily added a sentence, "This is what my master told me, I've seen my master make donkey hide gelatin."

  Qin Qiong then believed it and immediately felt delighted, "Nephew, are you telling the truth?"

  "Of course, only donkey skin is needed, not cow skin. Zhongfu will tell Your Majesty about this and make the ejiao as soon as possible. Zhongfu can also take it to nourish his qi and blood." Qin Yu nodded heavily.

  "Good, good, now the great Tang generals will surely win every battle and expand the territory of Tang, haha!" Qin Yong laughed wildly towards the sky after getting Qin Yu's answer.

  "Unbelievable, I said that to get Li Er to hurry up and make the donkey hide gelatin for you to eat, how could you think of taking it out?" Qin Yu's mouth twitched unnaturally, but this was something he could only say in his heart, not aloud.

  The materials for Ejiao, Qin Yu only knew a few kinds, after all, the modern manual wouldn't tell you all the materials. To make authentic Ejiao, one could only rely on Li Shimin, who else would have sealed off the Dong'a well? The craftsmen were naturally also in Li Shimin's hands.

  Qin Yu could do it himself, but the effect would be somewhat different. As for how much different, Qin Yu didn't know. After estimating the time, Qin Yu felt that he should start making some donkey hide gelatin first and supplement a bit at a time.

  Cheng Fu, after Cheng Yaojin returned to the mansion, had a gloomy and frightening expression. The three brothers, Cheng Huaimo, Cheng Hualiang, and Cheng Huaiye, didn't dare breathe loudly. Cheng Lingyun's eyes were red and swollen, still silently shedding tears, clearly having cried multiple times, or else they wouldn't be so swollen.

  With a loud "slap", the tables in the hall were slapped by Cheng Yaojin, and a roar came, "Damn little boy, I'm going to skin you alive..."

  "A report..." A long, drawn-out voice interrupted Chai Jin's shouting. A general wearing armor hastily ran in.

  "Report to General, Wing Guo Gong sent someone to convey the message that he has returned." The general knelt on one knee and shouted.

  Cheng Huailiang and his three brothers let out a sigh of relief, Cheng Lingyun also stopped crying, with a surprised look on her face. Cheng Yaoguang's face stiffened for a moment before he coughed heavily, "Cough, yes, Wen Man lead the troops back to camp, the thieves have fled in disarray."

  "Don't be too pleased with yourself." Commander Wen Man replied calmly and neither condescendingly nor arrogantly, then immediately stood up and strode away, as if this were a military camp.

  The palace, Li Lijun said Qin Yu after, Li Shimin and Empress Longsun looked at Li Lijun in disbelief, asking in unison, "Is it really Qin Yunfei? The nephew of the Duke of Wing State?"

  Li Li looked at Li Shimin and his wife with a puzzled expression, then lowered her head and nodded slightly.

  "This, this rascal." Li Shimin was at a loss for words for a moment and directly spat out such a sentence.

  "Lizi, tell your mother, are you or aren't you, have you taken a fancy to that Qin Yunfei?" Empress Changsun suddenly remembered something and hastily asked.

  Li Li didn't dare respond, and instead hung her head in silence, but what she didn't know was that this behavior was seen by Empress Changsun as an answer.

  "No, absolutely not, Lizi. Do you know that Qin Yunfei is about to marry your Uncle Cheng's daughter soon?" The Empress Changsun was still startled by this answer and hastily spoke out to stop her.

  "What?" Li Lili was clearly stimulated by this answer, and a cry of surprise came out. Li Shimin saw this and shook his head with a bitter smile. A princess actually fell in love with a married man, what kind of thing is this?

  Taking a deep breath and forcing himself to calm down, Li Shimin asked, "Did Qin Yunfei say how to treat the disease caused by premature birth?"

  Li Lixi was still in a state of agitation, but Li Shimin's words gave her a reminder, temporarily suppressing her annoyance, and she looked towards Empress Changsun.

  But Li Lihua remembered that Empress Changsun had given birth to her older brother, Li Chengqian, very early on, and had been in poor health ever since, likely due to the premature childbirth mentioned by Qin Yu.

  Li Li's face flashed a hint of regret, and after a moment, she shook her head, sobbing as she said, "I'm sorry, Father Emperor, I'm sorry, Mother Empress. Chang Le didn't think of this, forgot to ask... Wuuu..."

  "Alas." Li Shimin let out a long sigh, and Empress Longsun's face also turned somewhat gloomy, but she quickly regained her composure. She didn't want Li Shimin to see her looking haggard, so she took his hand and said softly, "Your Majesty, I'm fine. Besides, this child is still very young, what he says may not be accurate."

  "Father, mother, I'll go ask him now." Li Lishi said and turned around to run out. Li Shimin's mouth opened, just about to shout for Li Lishi to stop, but closed again. Empress Changsun also did the same, and in the end, Li Lishi left the palace.

  Originally, this matter could be resolved by simply sending someone to ask, but the problem is that Li Lijun has feelings for Qin Yu. Li Shimin and Empress Longsun thought that once Li Lijun arrived there, she would definitely ask Qin Yu if he wanted to get married, regardless of whether or not she asked about the treatment method, it would still put one's mind at ease.

  "Guanyin, let's put the marriage on hold for now. If what this child says is true, it would be equivalent to harming Lizi. For the time being, we can only send someone to investigate first and then make a decision." Li Shimin said after a moment of silence.

  The Empress Changsun sighed and said, "Alas, it can only be this way. I hope that child is just talking nonsense."

  "I would have liked what this child said to be true, alas." Li Shimin sighed similarly, but it was a completely different answer.

  "Your Majesty." said Empress Changsun with deep emotion.

  Qin Fu, Qin Yu and Qin Qiong chatted for a while before bidding farewell to Qin Qiong and returning to Qingfeng Residence.

  Chang'an was the capital of the Great Tang Empire, and in Qin Yu's view, the security was still good. However, as soon as his carriage turned into a street, a group of men carrying wooden clubs rushed towards him. The coachman who was driving Qin Yu's carriage hastily stopped the horses and cried out in alarm, "Young master! Young master!"

  Qin Yu thought it would be hard to get through with so many people, but the carriage driver's tone was tense. Qin Yu quickly lifted the curtain and took a look, suddenly shocked, "What is this situation?"

  "Hurry up and turn around." Qin Yu hastily shouted.

  A good man doesn't take a loss in front of his eyes, Qin Yu wouldn't be stupid enough to have a face-to-face confrontation with a group of people who didn't seem to have any good intentions at first glance. However, just as the carriage driver turned the horse's head around, they were blocked by someone on this side too.