Chapter 1190: Pranks

Mu Bowen had resigned from his official position before the new year. However, Madam Fang had just given birth at that time, so he did not set off south immediately. Besides, he also wanted to spend more time with his parents and family.

Hence, he brought his family to Taiyuan, then married his younger sister off. After that, he waited for Bosi to get married and the two newborn children to be slightly older before coming south to the capital.

As he had to travel slowly and did not know the exact distance, and because he wanted to give his older sister a surprise, he did not inform her in advance.

After hearing her brother’s explanation, Mu Yangling glared at him. “Surprise me? Why did you go to Pine Mountain Academy to give me a surprise?”

Mu Bowen scratched his head awkwardly and said, “That was unexpected.”

Mu Bowen had to take care of his wife and children along the way, so he slowed down. As his speed was too slow, he couldn’t help but pay attention to the mountains and rivers along the way.

As he admired the scenery of the mountains and rivers, he couldn’t help but deviate a little from their intended path, so they encountered bandits.

This was not the scary part. Although Madam Fang and the others were frightened, the guards that Mu Shi had assigned to them had all been on the battlefield before and were more than capable of dealing with dozens of bandits.

What was heart-wrenching was that a group of people in front had already been killed. The patriarch of that family and more than ten servants had been killed, leaving only three people to protect the matriarch and two children. If they had not arrived in time, these people would probably not have survived.

According to them, they were relatives of Pine Mountain Academy’s Chief, Qin Shan and came to seek refuge with him. The patriarch was only 25 years old this year. Because he was preparing for the Spring Quarter Examinations next year, he came to the capital to seek refuge with Qin Shan, intending to study there in the meanwhile.

That family had also deviated from their original path because of the spring sunshine and the gorgeous scenery on the road. Unexpectedly, they encountered bandits. It had to be known that the country was peaceful at present. Previously, they had traveled on even more remote roads and there was no problem at all.

Eldest Madam Qin was unwilling to leave because of the pain of losing her husband. In addition, she had to collect her husband’s corpse and comfort her children, so she decided to stay in a nearby town. When she found out that Mu Bowen was also heading to the capital, she wrote a letter and handed him the invitation that Chief Qin had given them, asking him to pass it to him.

As it was common sense for clansmen to help each other, Mu Bowen knew that Eldest Madam Qin wished for Chief Qin to send someone to help handle her husband’s funeral. Seeing that the two children were dazed and clearly in shock, he was afraid that something would happen if he sent the letter late, so he sped up. As soon as he arrived in the capital, he went straight to Pine Mountain Academy.

Seeing that Madam Fang and the three children were already exhausted from traveling for days, Mu Bowen let them go to the King’s Residence first.

As it was Madam Fang’s first time in the capital and her first time visiting the King’s Residence, she was extremely nervous along the way.

Fortunately, some of Mu Bowen’s guards often sent things to the King’s Residence and so knew the way. Hence, under their protection, the carriage entered the inner city and arrived at the King’s Residence without any hiccups.

When Mu Yangling saw the post sent in by the doorkeeper, she was shocked. It was only when she came out and saw Madam Fang that she was convinced that her brother had really come to the capital.

Mu Yangling was just saying and didn’t really blame her brother for this matter. Seeing the fatigue on his face, she said, “The guest courtyard is already tidied up, so you and Sister-in-law can go wash up and rest first. You don’t have to worry about the kids since they’ve already fallen asleep. I’ll watch over them for you.”

After sending the two of them off, Qi Haoran’s expression turned icy. Mu Yangling’s expression was also a little ugly, but she turned around and patted his shoulder. “Let’s ask the guards about the specifics. Don’t be anxious. Those might not be bandits.”

“Regardless of whether they are bandits or not, these people can’t be kept alive for daring to kill so brazenly in the territory of Great Qi.”

Qi Haoran was livid.

In the past few years, Great Qi had truly been prosperous and peaceful.

Qi Xiuyuan was very benevolent to the commoners, but he also had strict requirements for officials and incorrupt governance. On the other hand, the regions had light taxes. Now that there was additional revenue from customs tax, he would give tax exemptions to certain groups of people and in certain regions from time to time. He would even take out silver from his private treasury or the national treasury to redeem slaves and distribute fields to them for them to farm.

It could be said that as long as one was not lazy, there was no situation where one could not survive in Great Qi.

Under such circumstances, there were still bandits left in Great Qi’s territory. Furthermore, those bandits killed as soon as they attacked. If the other party was not a vicious person, they must have other motives for killing.

Qi Haoran didn’t believe that they became bandits out of survival needs. One had to know that it was more than ten years ago when the world was in chaos and bandits were everywhere. Although they robbed the commoners, they rarely killed. Most of them would simply leave after robbing. Even if there were conflicts, they would mostly just hit people with the hilt of their knives.

At the thought that there was such a group of ferocious bandits in Great Qi, Qi Haoran could not sit still anymore. He stood up and said, “Attend to Bowen. By the way, the children’s expressions were not right today, so do keep an eye on them. After I ask the guards about the situation, I might have to make a trip to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice. If I can’t make it back tonight, you guys can eat first.”

Mu Yangling sent him out and reminded him, “Remember to eat dinner tonight. Don’t drink too much tea lest you can’t fall asleep tonight…”

When Mu Yangling turned around to look for the little ones, she realized that they had all disappeared.

At this moment, the children were watching their newly-arrived cousins in the room.

Yuanyuan laid on the bed and slept soundly. There were two six to seven-month-old babies placed side by side on the small bed beside her.

This was the first time Little Leopard and Baozhu had seen a child younger than them. Incredibly curious, they lay by the small bed to watch.

The children’s wet nurse looked at the group of children nervously, afraid that they would wake up the three young masters.

Little An and the others looked at the twins and commented, “They don’t look like twins at all, unlike you two whom outsiders can’t tell apart when you stand together.”

Tiger Head and Little Lion puffed out their chests proudly and said, “Not everyone can be like us.”

The three older children lost interest after watching for a while, so they held hands and left.

However, the three little ones still refused to leave. They lay in front of the bed and continued to stare at the two children.

The twins’ wet nurse was relieved to see that they were only talking softly and not disturbing the two young masters’ sleep.

Mu Bowen did not know that he was disliked. That was, until he realized that the children ran away every time they saw him. Until he kept finding all kinds of insects near his books; until his small study room was always locked from the inside and could not be opened; until one day when he woke up from his afternoon nap and realized that insects had gotten into his shoes. That was when Mu Bowen knew that he was being pranked.

Today was his fourth day in the capital. Mu Bowen sat on the bed and thought for a long time. In the end, he felt that it was time to talk to the children.

Qi Haoran and Mu Yangling had long noticed the children’s subtle actions, but they didn’t interfere.

When it came to children, as long as it was not a mistake of principle, the two of them were used to letting them resolve things their own way.

After Qi Haoran gave the order to eliminate the bandits, he noticed the children’s subtle actions the moment he returned. Seeing that Bowen didn’t notice anything until the fourth day, he couldn’t help but pout and say, “This kid was quite smart when he was young. Why has he become so slow-witted after growing up?”

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