Lv Xin was also freaked out because at this moment, Youshui was helping Tianci with his lesson! And that scream was from Youshui!
Hua Qiyue rushed out of the courtyard as quick as lightning. But at the other side of the courtyard—Pavilion of Scholar, a huge black bird was picking up Tianci; unexpectedly, Tianci suddenly emitted a halo and it exploded, which made the black bird burn!
As for Tianci, he fell from the air like a kite!
Hua Qiyue felt hurt in her heart and immediately flew up to hold Tianci, who almost fell down the ground!
"Caw, caw, caw…" the black bird cawed miserably. The black bird's huge body was burnt by something and with a puff sound, it suddenly turned into a pile of black ashes!
Hua Qiyue held Tianci with her face becoming serious!
There was a protective screen which was made by anima energy over the Hua's Mansion, but generally, the evil beasts at superior levels could break it down.
However, it didn't raise the alarm this time, which meant, someone had tampered with the anima energy screen! And that person must be a Qi Artist at the stage above the middle stage of the Dragon Diagram!
Hua Qiyue was at the bottom stage of the Dragon Diagram, thus, only those Qi Artists who were superior to her could destroy the protection screen!
So, a Qi Artist who was superior to her was someone she didn't know, other than Hua Mengshi.
There were no witnesses nor evidence since the black bird was burnt to ashes at once.
"Tianci, are you alright?"
Hua Qiyue worriedly squatted down and checked Tianci's entire body, to find whether he was injured, but Tianci shook his head and said, "Mom, why did the evil beast come here?"
"I don't know. Someone must have done it on purpose. Youshui, are you alright?"
Hua Qiyue looked at Youshui whose face was white and pale.
Youshui came to life and gasped heavily, saying, "Gosh, it freaked me out. Miss! That strange bird suddenly flew in and picked up the Childe; I screamed in fright. So, I grabbed an inkstone to hit it; unexpectedly, it knocked down my inkstone."
"We're fine now. I'll figure this out," Hua Qiyue said calmly.
There were two kinds of people that would frame her: those who worked for the Queen, or those who intended to steal the magical medicine.
Hua Qiyue had a look at the pile of ashes on the ground and thought, "I have to find some people that I can rely on to protect Tianci."
"Master, what happened?" Hearing the news, Caining and Caiqing arrived, but saw nothing except a broken inkstone.
"I'm fine, you two cure your wounds. Lv Xin, what I gave you just now, hand it over to them."
Hua Qiyue said to Lv Xin who had just arrived. Lv Xin blushed and handed over the Long Red to them. Seeing this, Caiqing and Caining shook their heads at once, saying, "Master, it's no big deal and we don't need the Long Red to cure our wounds."
After all, it was the magic medicine. It was a waste to use the magic medicine to cure such little wounds; of course they were unwilling to take it.
But Hua Qiyue didn't think that it was a waste to use the magic medicine because she could take it from the green jade gourd as much as she wanted.
"You're welcome. Take it, or I'll regard it as a violation of my order," Hua Qiyue said. She glanced at Caiqing and Caining who were still hesitating, and held Tianci to enter the courtyard.
Caiqing and Caining had to take it and went back to the courtyard to treat their wounds. They looked at the attractive Long Red and intended to take it. While Caining was in a trance at the thought of what that woman had said and done.
But Caiqing held the Long Red in his arms and fondled it with his face blushing.
Caining immediately said disdainfully, "Do you have a crush on Hua Qiyue? Humph, how disgusting!"
"Caining, that's nonsense. I, I… I've never gotten the magic medicine before, it's no big deal to touch it, right?" Caiqing angrily tossed the Long Red aside and turned around, walking into the room embarrassedly.
Caining sighed slightly, and was suddenly speechless.
While Hua Liting and Old Madame Hua hurriedly came to Hua Qiyue's room, they were relieved when they saw that everyone was safe.
******
This day, an honored guest—Liu Mo visited the Queen's Qifeng Palace.
"Dad, what can I do for you? It's been so long since you came to visit."
Queen Liu used her fingers, nails polished with a scarlet color, to pick a black grape and elegantly put it into her mouth.
Liu Mo reverently stood below and said, "Your Highness, there is no one else, but we should also follow proper etiquette. Your Highness should call me Mr. Liu."
Queen Liu slightly smiled and shook her head, saying, "Dad, don't say that. Take it easy and be casual, we're family."
Liu Mo lowered his head and said in a low voice, "Your Highness, the Emperor shows his appreciation to Princess Jinghua… As far as I'm concerned, we might as well stay away from her."
The news that Hua's Mansion had been attacked by an evil beast was widely spread in the capital, since early in the morning.
According to what happened in the hunting ground that day, Liu Mo conjectured that it was Queen Liu who had done it. Therefore, he hurriedly came to the palace to visit the Queen in the morning.
Queen Liu's facial expression became a little serious and said, "Dad, what do you mean?"
Liu Mo took a look at Queen Liu's face and said in a low voice, "Your Highness, Hua Qiyue's magic medicine can bring the dying back to life; if our family can make friends with such a genius Qi Artist…"
"The Liu's will have an infinite prospect, right?" Queen Liu laughed coldly and she pinched that tasty grape she picked into a ball of purple jam.
Liu Mo was astonished because he was clueless as to how Hua Qiyue had offended the Queen. He continued, "Your Highness…"
"It was she that killed Huizhen, Dad! How can I let her go?"
Queen Liu smiled coldly and whipped out a handkerchief to wipe up her fingers, which were stained by the grapes.
Liu Mo was surprised and looked at Queen Liu in shock. In his heart, how could it be possible for Hua Qiyue to kill Princess Huizhen?
And then, Queen Liu told every detail about the dispute between Princess Huizhen and Zhou Zhicheng to Liu Mo, only to see Liu Mo's face become more and more severe.
The Liu's relied on Queen Liu very much, but nowadays, the Queen regarded Hua Qiyue as an enemy. If Hua Qiyue became strong and the Queen fell from power, the Liu's would have no one to rely on in the palace.
Although the Liu's now were very strong and powerful, if the Emperor intended to deal with the Liu's, it would be a big problem for the Liu's to win.
As long as Queen Liu didn't fall from power, the Emperor wouldn't make a move on the Liu's.
"It's unexpected for Hua Qiyue to be such a vicious and calculating woman! What's more, the mysterious Master behind her…" Liu Mo frowned tightly and didn't know what to say.
Hua Qiyue behaved so incredibly, even Prince Nan stood up for her; not to mention medicine saint, Huangfu Xuan and other people.
"It's indeed intractable to deal with her. Our Liu's also have several hundreds of Qi Artists who are deemed at an extremely low stage, but we have an array to extinguish evil, don't we? Whoever enters our array will definitely die!" Queen Liu smiled slightly and said.
Liu Mo shook his head and said, "Your Highness, the array to extinguish evil is too dangerous. If we're unlucky, all the Qi Artists will explode and die because of the powerful anima energy."
"Of course, using the array is our last choice. Now… even the poisoner works for me and he is a man of strategy, so, take it slow. Dad, please don't interfere."
Queen Liu took another grape calmly. She was annoyed by Hua Qiyue, but she was almost sure that she would win at the thought of Shui Qianruo and her many other trump cards.
Liu Mo sighed slightly and thought that if he made friends with Hua Qiyue, he could get his hands on a Long Red to study, but unexpectedly, he was disappointed.
Queen Liu couldn't help laughing and said, "Dad, don't worry. Once Hua Qiyue is killed, those magic medicines would be ours, won't they?"
Liu Mo nodded and said, "Yes, Your Highness is right. But it's difficult to deal with Prince Nan and the medicine saint. It's said that the Eleventh Prince will visit Hua Qiyue today. Besides… Hua Qiyue's adopted son Tianci is said to be very powerful, otherwise, Prince Nan wouldn't have adopted him as his son. Therefore, we should consider carefully before making a decision and not be impetuous if we really want to deal with Hua Qiyue, because those people around her are not simple."
"I know," the Queen said calmly. As long as these matters were mentioned, the Queen would feel hurt in her heart, and that was why she had to carefully consider and wait for the right time without anxiety and impatience, otherwise she would have already killed Hua Qiyue.
"In this case, I'll take my leave. May Your Highness have a good rest."
"Dad, thanks for your efforts," Queen Liu looked at Liu Mo's back with a hateful look in her eyes; it was as cold as ice, as if she wanted to kill someone with her sight.
"Your Highness… Your Highness…"
A eunuch rushed into the palace and knelt down in front of Queen Liu. Why was he so panicked?
"What happened?"
"First Prince… First Prince intends to go out of the palace and head to the Hua's Mansion!"
The First Prince?
Queen Liu's face became serious and she thought, 'Unexpectedly, my son, who is unaware of the truth, is going to the Hua's Mansion to ingratiate himself with Hua Qiyue, what a loser!'
"Why did he go there?"
"First Prince said… that Hua Qiyue regained Eleventh Prince's favor and he wanted to see what kind of woman she was!"
They were obviously angry words, but Queen Liu knew that the First Prince had always regarded Huangfu Shenglin as his opponent.
Although he was the dignified First Prince, he still took the past to heart, because Huangfu Shenglin was superior to him in all aspects and had often gained appreciation from Changlong Emperor, before Huangfu Changyu was enthroned to be First Prince.
Once upon a time, everyone thought that Huangfu Shenglin would definitely be the First Prince, but it was unexpected that Huangfu Changyu was enthroned!
Therefore, those who worked for Huangfu Shenglin immediately changed their minds and most of them decided to work for Huangfu Changyu.
That was the reason why most of the Qi Artists who still worked for Huangfu Shenglin were loyal to him.
"Your Highness, what should we do now?" Xiao Zhouzi said with extreme concern. Xiao Zhouzi was a spy at the First Prince's side who was arranged by the Queen.
"No action is necessary… just let him go," the Queen said with a satiric smile, "Maybe this time, I can get a chance to do it."
Xiao Zhouzi didn't understand what the Queen was talking about, but generally speaking, the Queen was quite right.
——————
Right now, sitting in the Pavilion of Scholar in the Cuihua Court, the Eleventh Prince was teaching calligraphy to Tianci with a smile.
Hua Qiyue was sitting quietly at the side. The Eleventh Prince's arrival to the Hua's Mansion was a major event for the household; thus, Hua Qiyue could do nothing but accompany the Eleventh Prince.
What did the Eleventh Prince want since he came here?
"Righteousness means that we should be morally right and justifiable in the world. The help which is though as little as a drop of water, we also should repay it with great kindness. As for justice, when it comes to evil forces, it means that we'll never be fearful of it or back off, otherwise, people will die when justice is extinguished," Huangfu Shenglin taught Tianci every word he said and wrote every word down on a Chinese art paper. Hua Qiyue smiled and said, "What Eleventh Prince said seems to remind me to repay kindness!"
Huangfu Shenglin smiled slightly and said, "You misunderstood me. I didn't mean that."
Tianci practiced what Huangfu Shenglin taught and Hua Qiyue asked him to leave. Only Hua Qiyue and Huangfu Shenglin remained in the pavilion. There were also four Qi Artists who weren't far away to protect Huangfu Shenglin.
"Eleventh Prince, we're reasonable people, so, come straight to the point," Hua Qiyue took a sip of Bi Luo Chun (a kind of tea in China) and the fragrance of tea filled her mouth.