Be Modest,My Master of Imperial Guards

Chapter 22 Who are You

Early October.

Gu Yunxi and the Master had been practicing archery on the Training Field for some days.

During these days, Leng Qingtang started to look at Gu Yunxi with new eyes. He found out that even though this girl was soft on the outside, she had this competitive force inside of her. She was like the leaf of cattail, simple but tenacious.

In the morning, Leng Qingtang taught Gu Yunxi some simple self-defense techniques.

Leng Qingtang only taught Gu Yunxi the move of "Backhand Catch" twice, and she already mastered the basic points. Her only shortcoming was that she couldn't let go of the movement even though she had practiced it multiple times.

After practicing one move, Gu Yunxi lay on her stomach on the ground. The field was covered by a thick layer of soft sand, so people wouldn't get hurt when they fell.

"Again! Do it again!"

Leng Qingtang walked up, picking up Gu Yunxi from the ground, looking serious. She had the chance to fight back a couple of times, but she wouldn't do it.

Gu Yunxi breathed heavily and posed again.

The Master hit with the side of his left hand. Gu Yunxi raised her right arm to defense. The Master suddenly changed the shape of his hand in the air. He moved behind Gu Yuxi and grabbed her shoulder by his right hand.

Gu Yunxi was surprised. She swiftly twisted her left arm and used her hand to grab the Master's right palm. She then turned back and faced the Master.

Her next move was stretching her leg and kicking him.

But just like before, Gu Yunxi couldn't raise her leg.

"Kick! Kick!" Leng Qingtang was getting anxious. He ordered Gu Yunxi loudly.

"Master... I don't dare to!"

Gu Yunxi was honest, voicing out her thought directly.

"Why?" Leng Qingtang secretly felt her funny.

"You are the Master!" Gu Yunxi looked up at him, answering without thinking.

"This is no Master here. There's just your enemy in front of you!"

Leng Qingtang raised his left hand in anger and put his five iron-like fingers around Gu Yunxi's throat with force. Gu Yunxi looked painful. She squeezed a sound out of her throat.

"Like this, you would be dead!" Leng Qingtang stared at her, warning her with a deep voice.

Being kind was a good thing, but not being cruel enough when you needed to would cause people's deaths!

"I'm sorry. I was wrong."

Gu Yunxi looked up with great difficulty. She squeezed the sentence out of her throat.

Leng Qingtang let go of her. Seeing Gu Yunxi covered in sweat and her dark green clothes getting all dirty, looking like a monkey in mud, his cold heart melted.

"That's it for today. Go back and take a shower. Change your clothes. Remember, in critical moments, when you fight with your enemy, aim to kill. If you give them time to recover, you would be the one dead!"

"Thank you for the lesson...."

Gu Yunxi nodded. Her eyes shimmered with gratefulness and respect towards the Master.

Staring at the tiny oval face covered by dust and sweat, Leng Qingtang slowly raised his hand and tidied up a wisp of Gu Yunxi's sweaty messy hair on her forehead.

The soft hair in sweat ran through Leng Qingtang's pale fingers and left a wet trace.

The strange yet subtle touch gave Leng Qing an unusual feeling. He then held her sweaty hand and smiled gently,

"Come. Let's go have lunch back in the Eastern Depot."

Gu Yunxi woke up and found herself overslept.

It was already broad daylight. Washing her face in haste, Gu Yunxi took a bit of the dim sum and quickly ran to the main hall of the Eastern Depot.

The Master was walking out, leading a group of people.

"Didn't I tell you to rest?"

Seeing Gu Yunxi running in haste, Leng Qingtang was surprised.

"Master, where are you going? Take me with you!"

"Go get a prisoner from the Royal Prison. It's too b****y there. You can't go."

He said considerately. Seeing pieces of dim sum sitting on Gu Yunxi's mouth, Leng Qingtang couldn't help but smiled. He took out his handkerchief and wiped it clean. He then tidied up her messy robe.

Gu Yunxi frowned and looked at him, trying to be brave,

"I've been taking medicines for a long time! I'm already well!"

"Don't push yourself. You need to rest a bit longer."

Her indignant look was just too adorable in Leng Qingtang's eyes. He couldn't help but raise his hands and gently pinched her puffy cheek.

"Come on. I'll be back shortly!"

Since she was left alone, Gu Yunxi had no choice but to go back to the Southern Residence.

Sitting in the room, feeling sulky, Gu Yunxi grabbed a dish of melon seeds. She peeled all of them and threw away the peels, saving the shelled melon-seeds into a clean teacup.

She planned to add in the dried apricot slices and black sesame that she bought on the street days ago. Adding sugar and crushing all the ingredients, she would get the basic material for making lotus congee.

The residence was too quiet because of the Master's absence. Even the sound of a leaf falling down the phoenix tree outside could be heard clearly.

"The Royal Prison?"

Gu Yunxi suddenly remembered Gu Yunyao's ask.

Her lover, Zhao An, was kept in the Royal Prison.

"Sister Yunyao asked me to find him if I can. Today is the perfect opportunity!"

Gu Yunxi couldn't sit any longer. She threw away the half-peeled melon-seeds and thought carefully for a while before sneaking out her room.

The Royal Prison was located in a deserted area, a few miles away from the Eastern Depot.

In the dark dump prison cells, the terrifying sound of whipping and people howling came out of a dark corner.

Besides the iron gate of that cell, a fireplace was burning fiercely. In the dark, the flame was bright and wild like a ferocious monster making threatening gestures.

The stone walls were hard and cold, and the prison cell was airtight. The suffocating smell of blood and death was pervaded in the filthy air.

Outside the prison was a morning with a clear sky and fresh air. Yet the bright sunshine couldn't penetrate this cell that didn't have a single window.

"Leng Qingtang, you persecuted the faithful and honest, disturbed the governmental affairs... Aren't you afraid that you would go to hell and suffer?"

On an iron pillar tied an old man with white hair. He was just whipped. Now his white clothes were covered in blood.

But he was a tough guy. Leng Qingtang just waved to signal the guards to stop. He immediately spotted out b****y phlegm and started cursing.

He had been tortured for days and hadn't eaten or drunk anything. Even an iron man couldn't bear it, let alone an old man in his sixties. He was still cursing but it was getting vaguer and weaker.

"Lord Zhong, wouldn't it be better for you to just confess and sign the paper? We can leave each other in peace, and I'll give you a quick death. Why bother holding on?"

Leng Qingtang wore a clean light blue robe with Kylin and auspicious clouds patterns, leaning on a recliner with animal furs. Opening his thin lips, he slowly said to Lord Zhong. His eyes were focused on the gilding jade ring in his hand. He didn't look up to see the prisoner once.

Cheng Wanli, the Chiliarch, stood by the recliner with a serious look. A short weapon was hung around his waist.

Lord Zhong breathed heavily. He opened his dim old eyes widely to its maximum, almost busting out of his eyelids. He was in great excitement. The bloodlines on his forehead and neck bulged out, making him look like a ferocious ghost that had just climbed out of the hell.

"You want me to confess? How can I confess? I worked for the court for thirty years. I have always been honest and fair. You f**cking eunuch dare to slander me? Saying that I form a clique to pursue selfish interests? I took a bribe? I sold official positions with local officials? Hahaha, what a funny thing to say! You eunuch, how dare you to make irresponsible remarks and frame honest officials?!"

"Frame?"

Leng Qingtang laughed eerily. He stood up and grabbed some pieces of paper on the table in front of the recliner.

These were letters that Lord Zhong sent to local officials. It was mostly about taking someone's money and recommending his relative to The Ministry of Personnel to take an official position.

Leng Qingtang's slim and long fingers brushed through the letters. He found it funny after reading the letters again. He couldn't help but laugh quietly.

He knew better than Lord Zhong that these letters serving as the proofs of his crime were all forged by Leng Qingtang himself.

Leng Qingtang studied calligraphy since little. With some research on the style of writing, he can forge anyone's writing.

He played the long game for more than five years just to bring down the Vice Minister of Personnel. Yet Lord Zhong was a cautious and careful person. He gave the Eastern Depot a hard time finding his dirt.

Leng Qingtang decided to end this game. He couldn't wait any longer. Therefore, to get more evidence, he used his hidden forte.

"Indeed, I did frame you..."

Suddenly changing the topic, Leng Qingtang didn't want to continue speaking in riddles with this dying man.

Yet Lord Zhong became furious after hearing this. His hair stood on its end. He pulled up all his strength and tried to come over to Leng Qingtang. He shook his arms and kicked his legs, yet they were all tied up on the pillar. His surprising strength made Leng Qingtang wonder whether this was his momentary recovery of consciousness just before death after all the t*****e he had.

"Leng Qingtang, you f**cking eunuch really had some game! How dare you to forge documents to frame a government official!"

"How dare you!"

Lord Zhong was cursing Leng Qingtang with the worse language. It was intolerable to the ear. The guards standing by his side immediately threw his arm, preparing to whip Lord Zhong. Just before he was about to whip, Cheng Wanli, the Chiliarch, stepped forward and took away the whip.

"You f**king piece of s**t! How dare you to cure the Master? How dare you?"

Cheng Wanli whipped Lord Zhong with his full strength. Lord Zhong howled in pain. Blood spattered on his body that was full of scars and wounds.

"Frame... So you now know how bad does getting framed taste?"

Leng Qingtang finally walked out of the darkness and calmly walked to the fireplace by the iron gate.

"Then what do you think how Lord Protector Zheng and the former Master of the Eastern Depot felt when they were sentenced to death and tortured ten years ago because you framed them?"

Leng Qingtang said coldly. He slightly turned his handsome yet somber face and glowered coldly at Lord Zhong, who just fell silent.

Lord Zhong opened his mouth in astonishment and shock. He stared at Leng Qingtang with a terrified look and frozen for a while.

Lord Protector Zheng, the Provincial Magnate of Dayi. He was an ever-victorious general. The only one time he lost led to his whole family being killed.

"You..."

Lord Zhong held his breath. Unnamable horror and loss climbed all over his aged face.

Leng Qingtang was just a eunuch. Who gave him the balls to forge documents and frame a government official?

And why, why did he bring up that thing that happened ten years ago?

Lord Zhong felt like the air in the cell frozen in a second. The fireplace was burning, yet the temperature among these walls just suddenly dropped. It was colder than an icehouse.

The cell was dead quiet. After a while, Lord Zhong spoke weakly with a shivering voice,

"You, Leng Qingtang... Who are you? Who are you?!"

Leng Qingtang laughed arrogantly. His laughter was cold and piercing. It resounded for quite some time in this gloomy cell.

"Twenty-three years ago. Baishui Gate... Do you still remember, my lord?"

Leng Qingtang bit his teeth in hatred. After saying it word by word, he turned his entire face and looked directly at the b****y man on the pillar.

His handsome face revealed a natural elegance. He may look tenuous, yet he had this natural breathing-taking power that can intimidate people without looking angry.

At this moment, the raging fire painted his eyes in red. They were bright and sharp, making him look like a beast that had just been provoked and were at the edge of outrage.

"You said that you'd been an official for 30 years. So you have served the former Emperor of Dayi! You took his order and served him with your life. But how come you performed such a treacherous evil that killed Lord Protector Zheng's whole family?!"

Leng Qingtang hurled the question at Lord Zhong sonorously and forcefully. Lord Zhong held his breath. He squinted his dim eyes, carefully looking at Leng Qingtang's handsome face up and down.

Could it be...

Lord Zhong suddenly remembered something!

"No! No way! It can't be..." Lord Zhong was greatly shocked. He shook his head frantically while talking to himself.

Leng Qingtang moved his eyes and stared at the fire in front of him. There's not a single expression on this cold face,

"As long as you write about the truth about what happened 23 years ago and sign it. I will spare your family's life!"

Lord Zhong twitched his whole body intensely as if possessed by an evil spirit and sprayed a mouthful of blood into the distance.

Leng Qingtang already knew something was wrong with him. He swiftly turned away and avoided the blood. Lord Zhong's blood was all sprayed on the burning fireplace.

The blood was burned into a couple of gusts of white smoke. They crushed on each other and rolled up in the air, adding a rancid smell into the filthy air.

Cheng Wanli threw away the barbed whip. He carefully examined Lord Zhong and saluted at Leng Qingtang,

"Master, he was shocked and died of a heart explosion."

Leng Qingtang waved his hand. He didn't look like he cared as if he had done this a million times.

"Never mind. He's not going to escape it anyway. Press his finger on the documents later. Work on the body a bit. He still needs to be taken to the street to decapitate in public tomorrow morning with his family."

"OK, Master!"