56 Hectic morning (1/2)

”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.