A Quiet Dinner 2

"Let me offer you a toast, young man. To welcome you to the Palace. You must let Sanlang know if there is anything that does not suit your taste. He tends to be a little careless when it comes to his guests."

The Duke's first words to Qin Feng after sitting down at the table seemed to be a little derogatory towards his own son, in the latter's opinion. There were definitely better ways of indicating that he was a valued guest, and deserved the best treatment.

The way that the beardless old man said it, however, seemed to say that the Second Ducal Prince was next to useless when it came to such protocols, and in making certain that his guests were well taken care of. Not exactly the sort of words that endeared him to Qin Feng.

Nor did the Duchess and Li Changhai miss that either. There was a brief flash of displeasure that crossed the Ducal Prince's face, although his mother seemed to be more experienced in hiding her true feelings, and had hidden a similar look behind her wine cup. If Qin Feng had not been looking out for the same, he would have missed it.

Yet, to be utterly honest, he felt that things could not have gone better than what he had hoped for. From the look of things, Li Changhai was little more than a wastrel of a second son, who held a fixed impression as a troublemaker in his father's mind! If that was the case, didn't it mean that Qin Feng could get away with disagreeing with the Duke later on? Openly?

That was something that he was eager to try!

But it took close to a quarter of an hour or so, before the conversation left the usual polite topics and asking after the situation in the South, and questions were asked about the Green Shadow Sabre. And it was the Duchess who had brought it up too, rather than the Duke:

"I heard that it was Young Hero Qin who dealt with a unexpected guest in the South, and managed to wrest away his saber? Perhaps you can tell us more about what happened there? Hai'er has a tendency to smooth everything over too quickly, and I fear that he may have missed certain details. Perhaps you can let us know your own impressions?"

Qin Feng could not be happier to comply. He had spent a good bit of time and effort to come up with a story that would answer all questions regarding the appearance of Mu Yang, and his personal weapon. And he ended the tale with a caution as well, regarding the situation involving the Barbarians thereabouts in the Northern stretches of the woods.

To his surprise, the Duke scoffed at such a warning at once. Apparently, he was not the first to have given voice to that; Li Changhai had evidently said something similar to his father, when he first reported this to him.

"You are paying too much attention to Hai'er here, and not considering the situation hereabouts. The Barbarians have never dared to make a move against our Armies, and I doubt that anything has changed in the past year or so. You should not be too gullible, child, and see dangers where there are not."

That was enough to make Qin Feng frown. And he did not care if anyone else realized that he was displeased with the Duke's words. "I am telling you what I saw, and what inferences I had drawn from my experiences in the woods. Your son was not present, and definitely did not contribute. The fact that I had met Barbarians who knew how to ambush the Marquis' scouts and attack their forts out of season should be a warning in itself.

"How can you say that I see dangers where none exist? If so, how would you explain why the South had experienced an assault that is far too early in the season, compared to the Barbarian's past invasions?"

The Duke, however, seemed insistent on dismissing his ideas. "That could have been done by a just faction of the Barbarian forces there. Probably influenced by some malcontents from some of the more rebellious Sects and Schools, no doubt."

Qin Feng shook his head at the older man, ignoring the look of surprise that had appeared on his face. It was obvious that he had never considered the possibility of anyone disagreeing with him. Much less someone as young and as inexperienced as Qin Feng.

Which made it more than perfect for him to play this particular role to the hilt!

In all honesty, he had been wondering what sort of person the Duke of the Westlands was, and how he was going to come to argue with the man. Especially with Li Changhai being so amicable and easy to get along with, Qin Feng had been worried that his father was exactly the same sort of person. That would have made his task a great deal more difficult.

But since he was just the opposite ... Didn't that make it all the more simple? All he had to do was to disagree with the man! And vehemently at that! Wouldn't that be sufficient to cause any chance of forging an alliance to completely break down?

Besides, he wasn't saying anything that was an outright lie, was he? Even Lady Xie and the Southern Marquis had said the same thing about the Barbarian attacks. So didn't that mean that he had some support for the theories that he was throwing out? And that there was a possibility that he was correct?

So what qualms should he have for disagreeing with Duke?

And he had already shared those same theories with Li Changhai, hadn't he? The Second Ducal Prince would be able to support him, if anyone questioned the possibility that he was just making things up to cause a break with the man's father! That should make matters sound authentic enough, wouldn't it?

"And this does not trouble you? That there are enough rebellious Sects and Schools who would bother to make ties with the Barbarians, and make use of their numbers to trouble the Kingdom's borders ... That is insufficient to raise your suspicions, and for you to call upon your elites to investigate further? And you still insist that this is naught but an action caused by malcontents within the enemy camp?

"If that is all that you see - No. If that is all that you can see out of these unusual movements, then it is clear that you are in greater danger than you know. If these malcontents have already gained sufficient influence to call these numbers to launch an assault on the South, what other plans would they have already set into motion. For all that you know, your own borders may come under assault soon. In fact, your whole Duchy may soon be destroyed by your enemies, working with the Barbarians, right before your very eyes. What a pity."

As expected, Li Changhai's face went pale as soon as he heard those harsh words. And even his mother looked a little shocked at what Qin Feng had just said. But the youngest at the table simply fixed the startled, red-faced Duke with a firm gaze, and refused to back off. This was going just the way he had hoped. In fact, it was even better than what he had planned!

And more importantly, he hadn't even bothered to force an argument at all!

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