Background 2

"Well, a Court Noble is no different from the rest of our nobility. Save for the fact that he doesn't have a proper fief, and the advantages of the same, behind him. My sister - or half-sister, if you must be precise, married a Court Noble. And she is famous for flaunting his exploits every time she returns home," Li Changhai sighed.

"Basically, they use their knowledge of the Royal Court, and their connections within the same to gain certain advantages in trade and such. However, they do not have sufficient coin to make any significant purchases of land that would upgrade themselves into true nobility."

Qin Feng turned to Lin Liushui, whose explanation was strangely succinct. It was as though he disdained speaking on the subject. "Then this Zhao fellow ..."

"He is an idiot. And everyone knows it. But he is a very charming idiot, who seems incapable of doing much harm. That is probably why my father tolerates him."

The Second Ducal Prince sighed, and gestured at the handsome man at his side, whose face was already twisted in anger. "Brother Liushui has a long-standing disagreement with him. Or to be exact, this is something between their families. It has been going on for close to twenty years already, I believe."

Lin Liushui looked as though he was about to expound on the situation, but Du Yan sighed, and held up a hand to stop him from continuing his tale. "That is something best left for another time. For now, I think I had better get on with bringing him up to date with my story. And since it does involve me directly, I suppose I should be the one to tell it," he murmured, in a voice that Qin Feng had to strain his ears to hear.

"Besides, I am certain that someone would add more salt and pepper - No! Even chilli powder to the same, to make it more exciting. I don't think that I should want that!"

Lin Liushui chuckled as soon as he heard that. While the look on the Second Ducal Prince's face told Qin Feng that he was more than pleased that Du Yan was taking over. Lin Liushui had a tendency to add drama and spice to all of his tellings, as though he was some sort of street storyteller. Du Yan, on the other hand, was more taciturn, so it shouldn't take too long to hear his version of the tale.

Something that Du Yan began at once:

"Well, it all started when Qianyi wanted to ... That's Yuan Qianyi, my original betrothed. We were about fourteen or fifteen at the time, and I had just been brought to the attention of my Patriarch, with my unusual fiery qi. That made me eminently suited for crafting weaponry, it seemed. So there was a lot of focus on my schooling.

"In any case, Yuan Qianyi's parents suddenly brought her over to my residence ... Er, I mean, my parent's residence, and not the main Du Family House. My father had just gotten permission to move out, you see. When I was twelve."

Qin Feng felt the knot on his brow tighten as he heard the man begin his telling. All at once, he started missing Lin Liushui's smoother, though more convoluted, style. If it went on like this, who knew when Du Yan would get to the end of his tale?

"To cut the story short, Yuan Qianyi had come to beg me to let her break off the engagement. There was a woman who had come with her, and I had thought her to be a companion at first. But it turned out that she was from the Snow Swallow Palace, and she had discovered that Qianyi had a very rare constitution. So she wanted to take Qianyi as a disciple."

Qin Feng held up a hand then, and looked at Lin Liushui and the Second Ducal Prince, who were sitting quietly at the side. "There is actually such a thing? But why did she have to break off the engagement? Is the Snow Swallow Palace like a nunnery? It didn't allow for marriages and such?"

But it was Du Yan who laughed and nodded in reply to his questions. "Something like that. The women from the Snow Swallow Palace are not allowed to engage in male-female relationships, and have to isolate themselves from even their parents, to practice their martial arts.

"That is the reason why Qianyi had come to the look for me. She had just been selected and was eager to go improve herself. So she wanted me to break off what our parents had arranged."

Du Yan shook his head again, and shrugged.

"How could I refuse her? We were friends since we were children, and I had always thought of her as a sister, rather than a bride. And I was more interested in crafting great and powerful weapons for my Clan instead. In fact, I was considering how I was going to release her from the betrothal, from the contract, when she spoke to me about this.

"So naturally, I agreed. This was something that she wanted, after all."

Du Yan paused then, as he stared into the fire. And the other three men simply sat there, in silence, while he basked in his memories. They were not too painful, Qin Feng thought, if Du Yan could wear a slight smile like that.

"Of course, her immediate family was less than pleased to hear about our little agreement. This was something that the Yuan Patriarch had promised my Patriarch, since the time that we were born. So I believe that there was something more than just the continuation of our warm relations, between the families, riding on this.

"In the end, they stayed up half the night, with her parents and mine, trying to figure out a way to satisfy everyone. That is, everyone except the two of us."

Lin Liushui gave out a sigh, the moment that Du Yan mentioned the last. But he shook his head, and waved for the burly fellow to go on. Qin Feng, however, could tell that the handsome man had some troubles of his own, probably in his own romance. No doubt he saw some parallel, between his relationship and Du Yan's?

But Du Yan only gave the gentlemanly fellow a shrug, and went on with his tale:

"I cannot remember who it was, but I had the impression that Yuan Qianyi was the one who suggested that I be matched with her younger sister, Qianlei. Of course, I had laughed at the idea. Qianlei was less than seven years old at the time, and I saw her as a little sister, if anything.

"But it was a reasonable substitution, and our parents agreed at once. Something that bothered me a little. Everyone had seemed so eager that we got married to one another. But I didn't really care. After all, I would be going back into my Weaponsmith Training with our Du Patriarch, and it would buy us another ten years worth of time, to figure something out."

Du Yan gave out a laugh then, full of self-mockery. "Such as my pulling out of the marriage! It seemed like a good plan to me, you see. It would be my turn to toss the plan out the window, right? After it had been done to me, I thought it unlikely that anyone would kick up too much of a fuss if I did that. Especially after I became a fully qualified Weaponsmith, like my Patriarch."

Qin Feng could not help but interject at that point. It seemed a little obvious, what was likely to happen after all. "But things did not go according to your plan, did it? Something happened to twist it awry?"

"Yes! You are right about that! Something that none of us expected!"

Du Yan burst into a grin as soon as he heard Qin Feng's words, and clapped the younger man on the shoulder. A little harder than what Qin Feng was expecting too. But he hid his wince, and pressed the bigger man to go on:

"What happened?"

"I fell for her. That was what happened," he sighed, shaking his head, "And it was the best time for me to cast aside this betrothal, to tell the truth.

"You see, I had just made the ranks of the True Weaponsmiths - that's Seventh Rank, which makes us qualified to craft the sort of weapons that were sought after by nobles and those of high military rank. Eighth and Ninth Rank were just like an apprenticeship. Although I had not reached the level where Royalty would start to pay attention to my works back then. But my rank was more than respectable."

Qin Feng nodded, as did the other two men. Which was something that surprised the youngest in the party a little. Hadn't they heard this before? Why did it look as though they were listening to the tale for the first time?

"This is the first time that we have heard it from his lips, so do not be too surprised if we look so engrossed in his telling," Lin Liushui told him, when he saw the look on Qin Feng's face. And in a theatrical whisper, which was enough to make Li Changhai roll his eyes, and Du Yan give out another bark of laughter.

"Well, the Yuan Family came over to my Patriarch's house, to offer their congratulations. And along with them, they brought the cutest little thing! That was the first time that I saw Yuan Qianlei since the agreement was made, and she had already reached the age of twelve.

"And the first thing that she did when she saw me was to throw herself into my arms! And ask me if I really intended to marry her, when she got older!"

Du Yan shook his head as he mentioned the last, although he was grinning as he did so. "I found out later that she had started that tantrum because she wanted me to back her up, against her parents, so that she could get out of her martial arts training! It was too hard, she said, and as long as I was not looking for a wife who could fight off Spiritual Beasts or Barbarians, she would rather spend her time learning to cook and to sew instead!"

Qin Feng frowned. "So she was ... using you to get out of the lessons that she didn't like?"

"That would seem to be the case, wouldn't it? Well, what could I do? If I told her that she had to keep training, it would more or less tell her my intentions, wouldn't it? But if I had agreed with her, and spoke to her parents, then wouldn't I have sold myself away?

"Wasn't she a cunning little thing, to have thought of that?"

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