Chapter Eighteen: Clear Wind Residence

  Cheng Huailiang was lying on the ground, snoring loudly. Because he had applied lip balm and powder when returning to his residence, covering up his panda eyes, he wasn't discovered and avoided a flogging. It's unknown whether he was cleverly cunning or simply incorrigible.

  Fang Fu, Fang Yi Ai Zheng was kneeling in the yard, although he didn't get beaten, but was forced to kneel until dawn. Fang Xuanling was a noble Duke and also the Prime Minister of Tang Dynasty, but Cheng Huailiang happened to be fond of martial arts and disliked literature, which made him not liked by Fang Xuanling at all times. Today, he fought with Cheng Huailiang again, and ended up being punished.

  Compared to the few lashes Cheng Huailiang received, this was much heavier. Although he wasn't beaten, kneeling for a whole night would definitely be very uncomfortable. However, Fang Yiai originally had a martial arts background and shouldn't have felt anything, but he pretended to be a weak and frail scholar.

  If Qin Yu saw this, he would definitely sneer at it. Fang Erming had martial power and didn't like literature, yet he was dressed as a scholar, now pretending to be one, which really made him suspect of being a hypocrite.

  That night, Qin Yu slept somewhat fitfully. The next day, at the crack of dawn, he got out of bed early, fortunately his clothes were light and easy to put on.

  Although Qin Yu had been acknowledged by Qin Qiong, this place was full of big masters, each one bigger than Qin Yu, and naturally couldn't be called to serve, besides Qin Qiong also said that they should treat each other with uncle-nephew courtesy, Qin Yu didn't dare.

  After having breakfast, Qin Yu bid farewell to Qin Qiang and rushed to the mountain villa outside the city. Accompanying him was old man Ma Bo, who raised horses; otherwise, Qin Yu wouldn't have known where his own mountain villa was.

  Qin Yu sat in the carriage, looking at the deed in his hand and sighed silently. "The plan can't keep up with the changes, what to do about Yongnian? This matter has gotten big and is also a troublesome thing."

  The mountain villa is located in the south of Chang'an City, covering a large area. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "eight waters surround Chang'an", so irrigation here is extremely convenient. Otherwise, the price would definitely drop by a lot.

  The river water here belongs to the Yellow River system, and at this time the river water has not been as muddy as it was in later generations. The river water is clear and transparent, only because of the felling of trees, which led to the Yellow River becoming more and more yellow, with mud and sand filling it.

  Ma Bo was missing an eye, and his left arm wasn't very agile, but his driving skills were extremely good. All the way here, he could hardly feel the bumps of the horse carriage, although Chang'an was the capital of the Great Tang Empire, the roads here still had potholes, not like the asphalt roads of later generations, which didn't necessarily have no potholes, and sometimes even more.

  The horse carriage had traveled for about an hour, mainly because it was difficult to speed up in Chang'an City, after all, there were many people there. At this time, the horse carriage stopped, and Ma Bo's words full of vicissitudes sounded immediately. "Young master, we're here."

  Qin Yu opened his eyes, lifted the curtain of the carriage, got off the horse-drawn vehicle, and looked at the mountain slope in front of him which was several hundred meters high. He was slightly stunned, beyond Qin Yu's expectation, the scenery here was not bad at all.

  The trees were neatly arranged, obviously carefully trimmed, a three-meter-wide stone staircase led directly to the top of the mountain, and both sides were filled with flowers and grasses. Qin Yu estimated that the original owner of this place was a elegant person, or maybe a woman, otherwise why hadn't he seen deliberately planted flowers and grasses anywhere else?

  The mountain villa was situated on the slope, covering a large area of land. The high walls and unique buildings all caught Qin Yu's eye, and in that instant, he found himself liking this place.

  Ma Bo saw that Qin Yu liked it here, and he smiled slightly, pointing to the mansion not far away. "This is where the mountain villa is used to park carriages," he said. "The general has already purchased a carriage and horses, so it will be more convenient for you to go out, young master."

  Qin Yu looked in the direction that Ma Bo was pointing, gazed for a while, then nodded slightly, feeling grateful but not needing to say it out loud.

  There are thousands of acres of fields around the mountain villa, which now all belong to Qin Yu. Unfortunately, they are not permanent property and require paying taxes. However, this amount of tax is really nothing to Qin Yu.

  As he climbed up the stone steps, the villa became clearer and clearer until he stepped on the last step. The three big characters "Qing Feng Ju" appeared in front of him. Qin Yu raised his head to take a look and was stunned for a moment. The three characters "Qing Feng Ju" were carved on the signboard, different from the current font, not existing in Qin Yu's knowledge, revealing some strange meaning.

  It's strange, but the three characters reveal a carefree atmosphere. With just three characters, it can give people this feeling, which is not strange at all. Qin Yu was very sure that even those who didn't understand calligraphy could easily feel the carefree meaning conveyed by the three characters "Clear Wind Residence".

  The killing intent that had been building up in Ma Bo's body suddenly dissipated by more than half.

  There are thirty-six maids and twenty-eight servants in the Qingfeng House at this moment. Some of them were bought by Qin Yong for Qin Yu, while others were brought by Cheng Lingyun from the Cheng House, as Qin Yu was about to become the son-in-law of the Cheng House. These servants were not sent back and stayed here instead.

  Ma Bo gathered all the servants together and had them meet Qin Yu, so that they would know their master here and not mistake Qin Yu for a thief.

  Qin Yu glanced at the neat and tidy maidservants and houseboys, when his gaze passed over a fourteen-year-old maid, he suddenly turned back, "Double Happiness!" A sudden exclamation appeared.

  Shuang Xi was actually Cheng Lingyun's personal maid, growing up with Cheng Lingyun since childhood, their feelings were quite deep. However, this little maid had indeed stabbed Qin Yu with a knife, although it was to protect her master, she still ended up hurting Qin Yu. Later on, Qin Yu didn't pursue the matter, but Shuang Xi was still worried.

  This is not the case, as Cheng Lingyun is about to marry Qin Yucheng, Qingfeng Residence has been bought back by Qin Qiong, and it's inconvenient for her to continue living here, so she returned to the Cheng Mansion. However, Shuang Xi insisted on staying behind, intending to atone for his sins. What sins he needs to atone for, Qin Yu naturally doesn't know.

  Shuang Xi's face turned pale as he heard Qin Yu's shout, and he quietly gritted his teeth before stepping forward. With a "thud", he knelt to the ground and kowtowed three times, his forehead cracking open from the impact. Just as Qin Yu was about to help him up in surprise, Shuang Xi spoke with sincerity.

  "Sir, it was always a double happiness before. Please treat our young lady well from now on. Double Happiness has apologized to you."

  Shuang Xi finished speaking, then pulled out a dagger from his sleeve and stabbed it fiercely into his own chest.

  "Ah!" The maids naturally saw the movement of the Double Happiness, and they all exclaimed in surprise. Even the family servants were the same, stunned and at a loss for what to do.

  "Ah!" Qin Yu shouted in anger, not having time to be shocked, and hastily stretched out his hand to grab the dagger from Shuang Xi. With a fierce motion, he flung it outward. At this moment, Ma Bo had somehow appeared beside Qin Yu without anyone noticing, his right hand raised, but as Qin Yu moved, he put it back down again.

  Ma Bo's actions were clearly intended to prevent Shuang Xi from assassinating Qin Yu, but unexpectedly, this maid named Shuang Xi was preparing to take her own life. At that moment, it was beyond Ma Bo's expectations, however his right hand remained in a state of readiness to strike at any moment, prepared to deliver the fatal blow.

  Because he grabbed the blade of the dagger, and used a lot of force, it directly cut through his palm, with big drops of fresh blood flowing out quickly. Ma Bo furrowed his brow, then tore off a piece of cloth to bandage Qin Yu's wound, but was stopped by Qin Yu who raised his hand. He joked that if they just casually bandaged it, it would be better not to do anything at all.

  Ma Bo saw Qin Yu stop him and was slightly stunned, still thinking that Qin Yu did it on purpose, so he simply retreated to the back.

  "Brother, young master." Shuang Xi's heart was racing and trembling as she looked at Qin Yu, her words were no longer coherent. Originally, she had thought of using death to exchange for Cheng Lingyun's happiness, but unexpectedly, not only did she not die, but also hurt Qin Yu, without any joy of being spared after the disaster.

  Qin Yu saw the determination in Shuang Xi's eyes, silently sighed, and immediately stepped forward to help Shuang Xi up from the ground. With a faint smile, he said, "The past is already gone, I don't take it to heart."

  Qin Yu's smile brought a hint of warmth to Shuang Xi, but his determination did not decrease in the slightest. Seeing Shuang Xi like this, Qin Yu furrowed his brow, thought for a moment, and then leaned in close to Shuang Xi's ear, whispering something. A few breaths later, Shuang Xi let out a sharp cry of "ah" and jumped to one side.

  Shuang Xi seemed to have been frightened, but his eyes had regained their vitality, and the look of despair had vanished without a trace. Moreover, there was even a hint of anticipation in them.

  Qin Yu let out a sigh of relief, while Shuang Xi's face turned bright red with embarrassment. Ma Bo looked at Qin Yu with an odd expression, shook his head slightly and smiled faintly, but said nothing.

  Qin Yu's words were spoken in a very soft voice, so others didn't hear them, but Shuang Xi would definitely be able to hear them, and Ma Bo's ears were also extremely sharp, so he could hear them too.

  Qin Yu looked at the startled Xiao Lu and said with a grin, "Go, boil some water for me and prepare some cloth strips. I have use for them."

  "Yes, yes, young master." The two joyful faces flushed with shame, stole a glance at Qin Yu, then quickly lowered their heads, stuttered out the words and hurriedly ran off to boil water and prepare bandages for Qin Yu.

  The maids and servants in the house saw that Shuang Xi had hurt Qin Yu, but not only did they not receive any punishment, it seemed like they were being reused, one by one, their gazes towards Shuang Xi underwent a clear change, filled with envy and jealousy.

  "Master, your wound." Ma Bo saw that Qin Yu still hadn't treated his injury and furrowed his brow, saying with some concern.

  "It's okay, Ma Bo, this wound won't be fatal, but it can't be bandaged casually. It needs to be disinfected, otherwise, it's easy to get infected." Qin Yu explained with a smile.

  Marbot was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly thought of something and hastily asked, Qin Yu simply told Marbot the concept of disinfection in later generations.

  Ma Bo listened and was stunned for a while, then said with tears streaming down his face, "If the young master had appeared earlier, it would have been great. Perhaps brothers..."

  Qin Yu naturally understood Ma Bo's meaning. In this era of extremely poor medical conditions, even minor injuries on the battlefield could lead to death. Ma Bo was reminiscing about his former comrades-in-arms.

  Ma Bo wiped away the tears from his eyes, a sorrowful smile, "Let the young master see the joke, the old slave will go back now, does the young master have any other requests to tell the old slave, the old slave will go back and report to the general."

  Qin Yu shook his head and said softly, "That's all, everything is complete here. Thank you, Mr. Ma, for seeing me off. At Uncle Zhong's place, I will have to rely on several uncles to take care of me. Qin Mou thanks you again." After finishing speaking, he bowed deeply.

  "Young master, if it weren't for the general, we would have lost our lives long ago. We naturally want to repay the general's kindness with our lives." Ma Bo hastily helped Qin Yu up and said sincerely.

  Qin Yu naturally knew that although these three people had all blocked swords and guns for Qin Qiang, Qin Qiang had also saved them many times. In ancient times, people valued relationships, especially the kindness of saving one's life, which was why there was a situation where the vast Qin Mansion only had three servants, but they were as close as brothers.

  Qin Yu saw Ma Bo off at the entrance of Qingfeng Residence. When Ma Bo sat in his carriage, Qin Yu bowed with a fist and solemnly shouted, "Ma Bo, take care."

  Qin Yu's attitude won over Ma Bo's favor, and Ma Bo returned to the Qin manor with a relieved heart. Qin Yu gazed after him for a long time before returning to Qingfeng Residence.