He didn’t expect this woman to be angry.

“There is a natural spiritual qi within Tianci’s lower abdomen.”

Yun Shimo sipped on his he looked at Tianci lovingly.

“A natural spiritual qi?”

Immediately, Hua Qiyue understood what that meant. That was because only those who have learned Qi Art will have spiritual qi. If one has spiritual qi during birth, that means… Tianci will become an incredibly strong master at Qi Art.

Hua Qiyue pulled Tianci over with delight as her eyes reddened.

It was not a long term strategy for her to be strong. Only when her son was strong can he protect himself even after her death.

With natural spiritual qi inside his body, Tianci can progress twice as fast as ordinary people, which meant that he can progress two levels when any ordinary man can only progress one level!

“Thus, I want to keep him as my disciple.” Yun Shimo squinted and smiled gently. “I apologize for my words just now. Please do not take it to heart. Tianci, will you take me as your master?”

Yun Shimo held the other hand of Tianci, smiling.

This man’s attitude changed rapidly.

Before that, he was still scolding her, but now he was smiling at her. When Hua Qiyue found him for help, he threatened to settle matters with her later, but now he had such an amicable tone?! “Hmpt, it really does seem that it is difficult to decipher the mind of a villain.”

However… Tianci will have much to benefit having him as his master, especially since Hua Qiyue knew not how to practice alchemy. After that, when Tianci learned alchemy, he would be the strongest in alchemy and Qi Art, better than everyone else in the world. That would be a good thing.

“We… will consider!” Even though Hua Qiyue had her own ideas, she gave some face to the prince.

Yun Shimo was stunned and Bingyi was obviously angered as well. They all did not expect that this matter required consideration.

The famous Prince Nan was a miraculous doctor. How can Hua Qiyue consider this offer when many wanted to squeeze into the gate of Prince Nan’s residences? What logic was that?

“Tianci, ley’s go!” Seeing that the boy was full, Hua Qiyue led her son to the entrance.

Looking at the elegant figure of the woman, the corner of Yun Shimo’s mouth twitched as he became more depressed.

No woman had dared to ignore him like that! However, Hua Qiyue managed to do that. This once frivolous and weak woman did seem to be different from the rest.

At the same time, the head of the two major herbal medicine families were all reading Hua Qiyue’s information in their study rooms.

“Hua Qiyue… used to be the sluttiest and the weakest woman in Hua’s Mansion, bullied by her sisters and servants since young. How did she suddenly become like that?” Ouyang Jing, the butler for Ouyang family frowned in doubt.

“No matter what, we need to figure out if she really obtained her Long Red from Xuanji? And check what other people did she contact… After all, a medicine like this is so rare today, how dare she just boldly plant it in her garden…” Ouyang Bo, the head of Ouyang family ordered coldly.

As Hua Qiyue had asked her butler to sell three Long Red, she had captured the attention of all big families. Now, all her information had been in their hands.

“Yes, master, I will get people to check it out as soon as possible.” Beside him, a servant replied.

“This matter must be promoted to the highest urgency. If we are slow, others will strike first!” Ouyang Bo ordered solemnly.

The few elders on the side agreed too. “Yes, Long Red is important for our family, if others get it…”

The other powerful house in the herbal medicine business would be the Xia family. Xia family had almost a hundred years of history, planting numerous herbs and employing a few master alchemists.

Both families wanted to attract medicine saint Ji Feng, but the Ji family was never interested in them.

Even though Xia family and Ouyang family were known as the head families of herbal medicine, the medicine saint had more medical herbs growing on his mountain.

However, Ji family had always maintained a low-key attitude and seldom communicate with the two major families. After all, the two families focused on the sale of herbs or medicines, completely different from the world view of Ji family.

The medicine of Ji family was sold to those who need them, without an increase on their price.

However, Xia family and Ouyang family have price hikes every year, which made many detest them. However, Ji family lived in a mountain far away and would take much time to reach. Thus, many saved the effort and bought more expensive medicine in the imperial city.

However, with Ji family recruiting disciples, Xia family and Ouyang family saw this as a form of expansion and became unreasonably nervous.

“Dad, you are right. Hua Qiyue is a special woman, attracting Ji Feng and Ji Jing, and even Prince Nan…” A young female voice rang next to him. She was the daughter of Ouyang Bo, Ouyang Nuan. Ouyang Nuan loved Ji Feng but he never looked at her straight once.

Ouyang Bo looked at his daughter lovingly. “Don’t worry, Nuan. Daddy will avenge you!”

There were other reasons involved too, as Ouyang family’s Ouyang Nuan and Ji family’s Ji Feng used to have a marriage contract.

However, Ji family did not participate in Ouyang family’s profit chain and they had an argument. Thus, Ji family used that as an excuse to retire themselves from the contract.

It’s a great insult for a woman to have her marriage contract revoked.

Ouyang Bo wanted to hire an assassin to murder everyone in Ji family, but Ouyang Nuan refused.

She said that she wanted to save her face with her own abilities.

“Sure, I believe in Dad. If that’s the case, I will excuse myself first.” Ouyang Nuan turned around elegantly and walked out of the door. The bright sunlight shone through the humid sky, signalling the beginning of summer.

At this time, Xia family, Baili family, and Liu family were all discussing about Hua Qiyue. Perhaps Hua Qiyue also did not expect her unintentional act to attract so much attention.

Liu family had the largest Qi Artist introduction organization. The hire freelance Qi Artists to perform missions and assassinations for their clients.

Liu family was strong in their connections. The most important reason was that Liu family was the family of the Queen today and thus stood strong in the imperial city.

If any of these families obtained the seed for Long Red, it would become the strongest family that could crush all others.

The days passed by slowly, with nothing exciting happening.

Hua Qiyue finally agreed to Prince Nan’s request of having Tianci as his disciple, and thus Prince Nan started walked in and out of her residence with Tianci.

Only the first half of Ji family’s tournament had been completed. The first round would only be completed after another half a month.

However, Ji family suddenly altered the rules to add competitions during night time. In this case, the whole imperial city was bustling with life every night. The first round of elimination should be completed after seven days.

At this time, Hua’s mansion received the invitation for the birthday feast of the Emperor’s mother. Seven days later, the entire Hua family could enter it.

Seven days later, the Empress Dowager’s birthday feast began. That evening, Qingchun Palace was bustling with life. People come in and out of the palace with trays of delicious and appetizing food in their hands, as well as fruits, desserts, and gifts from court officials.

Inside Qingchun Palace, court officials were all having fun with Changlong Emperor. He was a popular emperor especially because he cared for his officials and the peasants, lessening taxes and offerings. With support from the queen’s family, the entire country was at peace and happy with each other, with plenty of jobs and stability.

However, in the depth of his rule, some corruption was spreading within. Such small problems will accumulate and become a huge one, and many fear that such a peaceful and stable facade might not maintain itself for long.

Even though Empress Dowager was 88 years old now, she still had great spirit. Wearing a red coat, she smiled grandmotherly at the hundreds of court officials below.

The Emperor was on her left while the queen was on her right. Princes sat on the left next to their father while princesses were placed on the right. Under the gentle music, the prosperous and happy aura spread within the palace.

Princess Huiling peeked at Princess Huizhen, with a smug look on her face.

Tonight was about to be a stormy night. Princess Huiling looked coldly at servant Cuilian next to Princess Huizhen. She had her face shown together with the scars on her face.

Cuilian was a pretty girl but the two sinister scars on her face disfigured her.

Empress Dowager was extremely happy. First Prince Huangfu Changyu gifted her the invaluable Dragon Blood Coral, shining colorfully at the face of Empress Dowager.

Huangfu Changyu was the future of Changjing Kingdom as the Emperor had few princes. Other than First Prince, Eleventh Prince Huangfu Shenglin, the son of Consort Mei, was present too.

Actually, the Emperor used to have many sons. However, other princes were either injured or sick, resulting in their inevitable death.

Thus, the Emperor set the First Prince and then Huangfu Shenglin was kept. A famous fortune teller explained that the reason was because of the big rock in the middle of the mountain where the palace was built. It was rumored that the huge rock was crushing on the Emperor’s descendant place, causing many princes to die one after another.

Huangfu Shenglin gifted a Prosperity Painting that he drew himself, which Empress Dowager adored too.

Huangfu Shenglin was Consort Mei’s son and Princess Huiya’s sibling. The two siblings were extremely nice and were completely different from Princess Huiling and Princess Huizhen.

“Old Madame Hua from Hua’s Mansion is here!”

A report came through. Old Madame Hua led First Miss, Second Miss and Second Madame of Hua’s Mansion in. Third Madame and Third Miss excused themselves for being unwell and stayed in their residence.

Old Madame Hua wore a green color robe that resembled copper coins, while First Miss Hua Qiyue wore a light green dress. The dress was neither plain nor flamboyant, complementing her pretty face well.

Second Miss Hua Mengshi wore a pink dress which made her cute and pretty.

After the three bowed to the Emperor, the Emperor asked them to sit. Old Madame smiled and greeted, “The old woman wishes Empress Dowager on her health, prosperity, and well-being.”

Empress Dowager smiled a little. “Old Madame Hua, there is no need for such manners! There is no need to be polite when we are one big family.”

Her sentence made all glance at Old Madame Hua with curious eyes. What exactly does Empress Dowager mean?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep