Chapter 55: Hectic morning
"No!" Qing Li screamed at the top of her lungs, causing the birds sitting on the tree branches around the Qing residence to fly away. She cried and ran to Madam Hong. "My face, Mother, what is happening to my face?"
"How can this be? It was fine just yesterday." Madam Hong's face instantly drained of color when she saw that her precious daughter's face was completely ruined. Her beautiful jade-like face now had so many red marks and pimples decorating it. The sight of it made Madam Hong gasp and take a step back away from her own daughter.
Qing Li knew that even her mother was disgusted by the sight of her. Not wanting to see her her disgusted expression, she turned to the side and gritted her teeth, thinking of the reason why her face had become like this. "Was it the ointment?"
"It can't be, you used it a month ago and nothing happened then." Madam Hong frowned. She closed her eyes, trying to think about the situation. She could not let her husband see her daughter like this. "Why is it that your face suddenly became like that…" She wanted to find the culprit who dared to do this. Suddenly, the memory of her being hit by the pebbles emerged. Madam Hong shivered, breaking into cold sweat. "Don't… don't tell me…"
Madam Hong jolted and instantly grabbed her daughter's shoulders. Shocked, Qing Li said, "What… what's wrong, Mother?"
"It was the work of a ghost! It… it must be Xixi's ghost doing this to all of us…"
Qing Li frowned. She knew that her mother was superstitious, but how could she think of something like that at a time like this? Qing Li was not aware of what happened after she left the hall yesterday or anything about how Qing Guang scared her mother with the cat ghost story.
When her mother grabbed her, Qing Li accidentally saw her anxious servants, who were waiting for them on the side, as they brought a lot of jewelry box and clothes. She almost forgot that she needed to attend the ceremony today. But there was no way she could attend the ceremony with her face looking like this.
"Mother, what should we do? We're supposed to go to the ceremony in the palace today. Forget about the reason why it suddenly became like this, we should hurry and call a doctor."
"No… Not even doctors can help us. We should apologize to Xixi right away!" Madam Hong's eyes were no longer focused; she looked like mad woman. Qing Li gasped because of her attitude and tried to free her shoulder from her mother's grasp.
"Let's go to Xixi's grave now!" Madam Hong said.
"No, Mother, stop!"
While Qing Li and Madam Hong were panicking, Qing Bo, who ended up sleeping in the palace, was shocked when he came home and saw Qing Guang's now shortened hair.
That night Hu Ye spent in the Qing residence's shed was actually the last night he spent in Jin Ye, capital of the Jin empire. Before dawn, after he got back to the Hu residence, the servants welcomed him, giving him the clothes and the necessities that they prepared beforehand. Wearing soldier clothing, he rode his trusted horse, Qira, to the biggest street in the capital, along with Falcon and a few other guards.
Around three or four hours later, the main street in the capital was filled with horses and soldiers ready to depart under the Emperor's order.
"Where is my son?" Hu Quan Li said.
"He is right in the fifth row, right wing, Great General," Falcon answered.
"Alright," Hu Quan Li said while looking at his left and his right, making sure that everyone was ready. "Then we just need to wait for His Majesty."
While his father was kept busy, Hu Ye was too. He was placed with the rest of the kids who were children of soldiers and veterans. Those who didn't know of Hu Ye before always thought that he was a spoiled and weak young master. But when they met him and saw those deep and impenetrable eyes, they took all those thoughts back. Hu Ye was not a simple man.
After chatting with his new comrades, Hu Ye looked up, seemingly looking for something. "Ah, there he is, Fei Ying." Hu Ye smiled. Fei Ying was circling on top of the street. "Must be looking out for Guang." The bird had been afraid of her at first, but after Hu Ye made her cease her attempts of capturing and eating the poor bird, it warmed up to her and now wanted to say goodbye to her.
Just then, Fei Ying suddenly took a sharp turn. Hu Ye wondered why he did that.
"It's Master Shou!" Someone suddenly shouted just before Shou and Hu Zi landed on top of the two red pillars on either side of the big road.
"Wow… I knew that he was staying around the capital, but why is he up there?"
"Could it be that he is going to accompany us on our campaign?"
"Why is everyone talking about you, Master?" Hu Zi asked Shou earnestly.
"Oh? You haven't realized yet? Your master is a very famous person," Shou said jokingly.
"Show off." Hu Zi clicked her tongue.
"Aw, come on Xiao Zi. It is one of the biggest days for your little brother. You should not show such a peeved face."
"Fine…" Hu Zi opened her eyes. "So, brilliant Master of mine, should we start now?"
"Yup, though you forgot to add handsome and wonderful to my name."
"Oh, just spare me, please."
"Everyone's eyes are on us, let's use this chance to awe them all!" Shou smirked. "On count of three."
Right after he counted, Shou and Hu Zi moved their hands. Hu Zi, standing on the left pillar, moved her right hand from right to left, and Shou, standing in the opposite direction moved his left hand from left to right.
They created a whirl of winds that made the flowers that the people had prepared for the festival fly. The road became merry and everyone could not help but stare at the beautiful sight.
"This is our gift to the soldiers that are going to fight for our nation," Hu Zi and Shou said. Hu Zi deliberately looked in the direction where her winds sensed that her her brother was and smiled. Hu Ye smiled back at her. Suddenly, Hu Zi felt that someone was caught by her wind radar. "The Emperor is here."
"Xiao Zi, let's go down and move to where your mother and sisters are before the Emperor comes to the stage," Shou said.
The high officials and generals' families were given a place where they could sit and see the ceremony clearly. The Hu family and Qing family were given platform seats near the royal family's.
Hu Ye looked toward where the Hu family were seated. Hu Cheng Se and Hu Bai were waving at him, so he waved back. He glimpsed Qing Bo in the Qing family's seats because their seat was next to the Hu family's. He also saw the Left Prime Minister and Madam Hong, but the two daughters were nowhere in sight.
"She is not here? No wonder Fei Ying hasn't stop circling yet."
Suddenly, the servant announced the Emperor's arrival and that the ceremony had started.
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