Simply Trading 53 Invasion 1

"Lady Xie has returned from the Mountains, my Prince. The Marquis invites you to breakfast together with him and his mother. He said that you would be pleased if you accompany them this morning."

Li Changhai almost laughed as soon as he heard that. He was certain that his uncle had not put the 'request' as he called it, in such a civil manner. But he didn't blame the soldier for trying to smooth things over, and quickly hurried to the Marquis' tent after the man.

There was only the Marquis and his mother in the tent, much to his surprise. Then Li Sanlang remembered that this had not been discussed with the rest of the army. So it was only reasonable that they were not sharing this information with the rest of the generals.

They were already in the midst of talking about her little trip, and what she had managed to achieve at the Heaven Sword School, when he entered. So he slipped in quietly, and simply listened to what she had to say:

"... they don't seem to be too bothered by the Barbarians since their Mountain is a good way to the North of the usual villages that are always raided. But they have agreed to send some of their more junior disciples out to support us. No doubt to let them learn how to apply what they have learned."

The Lady didn't sound particularly impressed by the offer. But Li Sanlang had been aware of the high standards of his grandmother. After all, her abilities had been enough to make the Grandmaster of the Heaven Sword School bow his head every time that they met. Although she had never revealed where she learned her skills, it was clear that they were far superior to anything in the region.

Lady Xie smiled as she patted her son on his shoulder. "In any case, you shouldn't be that worried about this. The Heaven Sword School has agreed to my little proposal and will appear when the time comes. You will see that soon enough. They will be showing up at our door, the moment the Barbarians appear in the Forest," she a.s.sured him.

"Ah! Sanlang is here! Have you been training and listening to what goes on here? Your father might throw you out to lead one of his armies, now that you have reached the Initial Realm. So you might as well learn something here!"

"Ha! He's a long way from being ready to lead his own troops, if you ask me. He almost fell asleep during our meeting with the generals yesterday," laughed the Marquis.

"You may be seriously disappointed in your maternal grandson if you are hoping for him to be a great general like his older brother!"

"Bah! One general in the family should be enough, even for a Duke's family. So long as Sanlang learns enough to put up a good show, it would be enough. Don't you agree, Sanlang?" chuckled the Lady as she waved her son's joke aside.

Li Sanlang sighed helplessly as he bowed his greeting to his grandmother. At least she wasn't badgering him to take a wife. Or a few concubines. Just so that she could become a great-grandmother. So long as her teasing was about other matters, he was more than happy to bear with it.

Then she turned to Li Changhai, and nodded at her grandson with an indulgent smile. "Now, what is this I hear about your young friend from the Heaven Sword School? That fellow who came to us in the Winter? He has tried out for our courier troop, has he?"

"To tell the truth, I am a little more amazed about the man since he took that First Trial. That Qin Feng? He has certainly given me a shock yesterday."

"Oh?"

Lady Xie looked amused, and waved for him to continue.

The Second Ducal Prince laughed at that, and gestured at his uncle, as if to leave the older man to speak on the matter. But Marquis Feng Laixue merely snorted, and waved his pointing finger aside, as he spoke:

"He has surprised us with the results of his first Trial. His movement technique is exemplary and none of the other applying for the post can keep up with him. He completed his Trial within one day! And if we are to believe what he told Sanlang here, he had even gotten a little lost, when he reached the river."

Lady Xie's eyebrows rose at her son's words, and she nodded gravely in response. "That hardly matches what I have heard about him, when I made a few casual inquiries at the Heaven Sword School. This Qin Feng is supposed to be a rather ordinary Outer School disciple, who was ... tossed out when he could not find any suitable Master once he had completed his basic training," she said deliberately, as she turned to look at her grandson.

Li Changhai was surprised to hear that. "Tossed out? Well, he did mention that he left the School ... under a cloud. But he mentioned that it was the result of his ... relations.h.i.+p with one of the female disciple there, rather than his ... lackl.u.s.tre performance."

"Well, I suppose he was simply trying to hide the real reason why he ... left the School. But where one might believe that his abilities were lacking, I think he was trying to hide the fact that he was already far beyond what the School expects of their Outer disciples."

The woman in the lilac robe smiled as she said that, and turned back to her firstborn son. "You should take care with this one, I believe. He has a way of ... making you believe one thing, while the truth is actually the opposite. If his allegiance wasn't under scrutiny, I would even urge you to take him in as one of your personal agents," she went on.

Then she smiled and reached out to pat her proclaimed favorite grandson on the shoulder.

"Now, you can tell your grandmother what happened. With all of the bells and whistles too, if you wish. All I will say is that he had astounded all of us with the results of his first Trial."

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