Chapter 51 - 51 You don't look like his daughter at all!
Chapter 51: Chapter 51 You don’t look like his daughter at all!
Qi Yue was rendered speechless.
“Commander Guan, I don’t understand.”
Guan Yidao didn’t speak. He reached into his bosom and handed over a wrapped paper.
Following his gesture, Qi Yue opened the paper wrap.
Inside was an envelope slightly worn, obviously having been read hundreds, if not thousands, of times.
Subconsciously, Qi Yue almost thought this was a dying letter from a lover?
Otherwise, who would idle about, reading and rereading a letter like this?
With suspicion, she flipped to the front, only to clearly see a few words written boldly atop it.
“From Dragon Tiger Army’s Guan Yidao, personally opened. Signed, your brother—Qi Yunzhang.”
Opening the letter, she found the paper inside even more tattered than the envelope, the creases nearly tearing apart.
“Commander Guan, are you really—letting me have a look at this letter?”
Qi Yue was somewhat uncertain.
“I’ve always had little interest in secrets.”
Though she said this, her heart was already slightly excited.
“Of course, once you’ve seen it, it’s no longer a secret,” Guan Yidao’s composure made Qi Yue feel inexplicably oppressed.
She carefully unfolded the letter and was shocked to find only one sentence written on it.
Damn, just one sentence, not even remotely related to any juicy gossip.
[Upon receiving this letter, withdraw from the flank immediately. Military orders are as imposing as mountains!]
What is all this about?
Qi Yue irritably threw the letter back to Guan Yidao.
He immediately picked it up in a panic, as if a young wife embroidering, meticulously rewrapped the letter and placed it back into his bosom.
“Commander Guan, I still don’t understand your point. Can you speak plainly if there’s an issue?”
Only then did Guan Yidao slowly start to explain.
Six years ago, the Prince of Nanyue Kingdom ascended the throne as Emperor. In the same year, in June, he led 200,000 cavalry to land on the south side of Longnan Ridge from Nanling Gulf.
Qi Yunzhang was ordered to intercept. Commanding the Dragon Tiger Army, he camped there for three months and set up numerous ambushes in Yunling to the south, preparing to capture the king first to force the retreat of the great Nanyue forces.
Unexpectedly, just as the plan was about to be executed, Guan Yidao, responsible for the right wing’s defense, suddenly received this letter, instructing him to withdraw immediately.
As the letter said, military orders are as imposing as mountains.
Even though Guan Yidao harbored doubts, he had to obey the order and withdraw.
He originally thought that Qi Yunzhang had some better arrangement, but after his withdrawal, he discovered that the plans proceeded as usual.
At the same time, Guan Yidao also found that dozens of other Lieutenant Generals and Deputy Generals had received the same letter instructing withdrawal, and they all survived as a result.
Only Qi Yunzhang did not return.
Soon there was news that the great Nanyue army had retreated, and a major victory at Yunling.
The Emperor bestowed posthumous honors, granting infinite glory to the deceased Qi Yunzhang, and those who survived received different degrees of reward.
“So what?” Qi Yue spread her hands. She didn’t quite understand what Guan Yidao was trying to express.
The events had passed; what could dredging up the past achieve?
Qi Yue’s indifferent attitude obviously angered Guan Yidao.
“Qi Yue, don’t you think there’s a problem here?”
“If we hadn’t retreated according to the letter, perhaps your father wouldn’t have died.”
“He’s your father, don’t you at all want to know what really happened to him?”
Guan Yidao was very agitated, the scar on his brow moving vehemently, appearing quite fierce.
Qi Yue suddenly felt her late father’s Lieutenant General had an extraordinary brotherhood with her father.
Very stubborn, yet very respectable.
She no longer argued with him about this matter and merely arched her delicate eyebrows.
“So, Commander Guan’s intention is for me to look into this matter?”
Clearly, Guan Yidao did not expect her to change her stance so quickly. He was momentarily stunned but soon regained his composure, his demeanor softening considerably.
“Yes. That’s also the reason I didn’t let you kill Qian Faliang before.”
He paused, then lowered his voice.
“At this point, there’s no need to hide anything from you anymore. I suspect your father’s death may be related to nefarious elements. Over the years, I have been investigating individuals connected with this matter, and Qian Faliang is one of them…”
Before he could finish speaking, Qi Yue interrupted him with a swift gesture.
“Commander Guan, everyone knows that my father served his country with utmost loyalty and died a heroic death. Now you claim his death is related to the infamous ne’er-do-wells. What if after all the investigation, things are not as you suspect, what then?”
The moment Guan Yidao heard this, he flew into a rage.
“Qi Yue, your father had a lifetime of honor, what could possibly be found out? What he needs is the truth! You are his daughter, and it is your duty to uncover all of this!”
“The truth?” Qi Yue couldn’t help but raise her voice, “What truth do you want? The truth is that he earned a good name both in life and after death. Isn’t that enough?”
Guan Yidao was left speechless by the question, and, in a fit of anger, threw down a remark and turned to leave.
“You! … You simply don’t resemble his daughter at all!”
Qi Yue curved her lips into a smirk.
Of course she didn’t resemble her, did she?
She was not even his daughter!
She simply couldn’t understand. Qi Yunzhang had served his country faithfully and died a proper death. What was there to investigate?
It’s not like he died with his name smeared and unavenged!
Did they really think she had nothing better to do?
In the following two days, they focused solely on traveling.
Guan Yidao ignored Qi Yue, and Qi Yue ignored Guan Yidao.
It was already late autumn, but the deeper they went, the warmer it seemed to get.
In her past life, Qi Yue had lived in the south for many years and was well accustomed to this kind of hot and humid weather.
But it was tough on the people in the exile crew.
Many complained that it was hard to breathe, feeling almost suffocated.
Now and then, the sky would be crossed by swarms of black mosquito ants.
From a distance, they appeared as a dark cloud, but as the swarm drew closer, one could see that it was made up of mosquitoes, each with large wings.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Even the smallest of these black clouds contained thousands upon thousands of mosquitoes.
Beyond that, the wild grass was teeming with many nameless, writhing mysteries.
All these sights terrified those who had just come from the bustling Capital City.
Qi Yue casually picked some herbs and made medicinal sachets to distribute to everyone to wear on their persons.
With the special sachets, everyone at last avoided the pestering mosquitoes.
Such a simple act greatly elevated the goodwill towards Qi Yue among the people to its peak.
Some of the more daring ones spontaneously approached Qi Yue to lodge complaints against Qi Fengzhang.
“Miss Qi, we owe you an apology, and we hope you can forgive us. The truth is, our prior accusations against you were incited by your uncle,” they said.
“Miss Qi, we failed to recognize your true nature, you are a good person!”
“Miss Qi, you should be wary of your uncle; he’s no good. Who knows when he might try to harm you.”
“Miss Qi, we’ve already given your uncle a beating. If he dares to speak ill of you again, we certainly won’t believe him.”
“…”
Qi Yue responded indifferently to the people’s kindness.
As for Qi Fengzhang, she had no immediate plans to take any action against him.
She needed to find out to whom he was a spy and what his schemes were.
After several days, they finally reached the destination of their exile.
Guan Yidao handed them over to the Governor’s Office in charge of managing the exiled people, and his task was considered complete.
Then, the dispatch office allocated their new locations.
The prisoners in chains, sentenced to death, were taken to Nanling.
Nanling, backed by the gulf, was where their task would be to harvest pearls.
Qi Yue and the others were to head to Northern Ridge, where the main job involved cutting down trees and clearing the land.
Zhang Zhao, being a serious offender, was taken to Nanling.
But before he left, he entrusted Cong Zhonglan and the two children to Qi Yue once again.
Once everyone was allocated, a clerical officer from the dispatch office came to lead them to their respective locations, with Qi Yue’s group being the closest to the forest.