Masquerade 3

The three men stayed with the horses, brushing them down as the girls from the Snow Swallow Palace went to set up camp. Which was something that Li Changhai had suggested, to give them a chance to figure out what they were going to do next.

Lin Liushui, of course, was the first to call Qin Feng out on his unusual ploy. "I thought that you were going to make them beg us for help? Why did you simply offer them our assistance, just like that?" the gallant asked him quietly.

But Qin Feng only grinned at him. "Ah. I think you got the wrong idea. I wasn't making them beg us for help. I just wanted to prevent them from begging our Ducal Prince here. If you remember, I had promised his mother to keep him from getting into trouble while we are away from the Duchy. And using his name here would definitely attract the attention of the Yang Empire's authorities.

"I'm sure you will agree that he had already kicked up enough of a fuss at Du Yan's place, with his use of his Blue Lightning Fist?"

Li Changhai gave out a soft, embarrassed laugh at that, while Lin Liushui only frowned. And asked another question:

"Then ... your mention of Xu Yanzhi and this ..."

Qin Feng held up a hand to stop the handsome fellow from going on. "This gives us an excuse, and you know as well as I do that these Snow Swallow Palace girls are young. They are about the same age as Yuan Qianlei. And that means that they are likely to consider ... romantic reasons for my offer.

"Why waste such a perfectly good excuse?"

The Second Ducal Prince chuckled and agreed with Qin Feng immediately. Although the latter suspected that he may have other reasons for doing that. Like his mother's and grandmother's anger at him, for exposing himself.

"Think about it, Brother Liushui. If they are watching him closely because of Xu Yanzhi, they won't be paying too much attention to you and I. Which leaves us free to ask questions and check for clues. To find out just who is behind all of this nonsense.

"Isn't that better for all of us? It would make things a lot easier, wouldn't it?"

Lin Liushui nodded back at him almost immediately. Although he did have a rather anxious expression on his face. "I will not disagree with that, Brother Changhai. But this might bite us on our behinds, if it turns out that my Lin Family is really involved. Especially when they find out that I am actually from that Clan as well," he sighed.

"If that is the case, won't it be even easier to settle?"

All eyes turned to Qin Feng then. And Lin Liushui edged a little closer to the youngest in the trio, with a rather obvious sparkle in his eye. Which made the youngest in the group wonder at what had happened to the handsome fellow's wits. Had his anxiety and his affection for that Snow Swallow Palace girl of his made him a dotard?

"What do you mean? You have a solution for this? Even if my family is responsible?"

"Of course! You are the fifth son of the Patriarch, aren't you? And you have already broken the arms and legs of your relatives, for daring to oppose you earlier. So why not just do that again? That is, if they are not linked to any of your older brothers."

Then Qin Feng's grin widened. "In fact, if they are really from some distaff branch of your Lin Family, wouldn't it be easy to make they act out the play with us? And win you some boasting points when you get into the Snow Swallow Palace? That would certainly incline the Elders there to support your suit, don't you think?"

It was a rather underhanded move, and from the look that he got from Lin Liushui, the handsome fellow had understood that at once. But it was also clear that Lin Liushui was more than inclined to follow his lead! Especially when that look on his face made it clear that he was already scheming how to do just that!

After all, this didn't hurt his chances at all. And he still needed Qin Feng's help to get to the Snow Swallow Palace anyway. So what harm was there, in finding out just who was behind all of this nonsense?

So Qin Feng didn't hesitate to outline the plan that he had in mind, and quickly told the other two men their duties:

"I will take care of talking Ye Honghua into this, but I will need you two to help deal with the other girls. I was not lying about needing to disguise ourselves when we head into Chestnut Town, and keeping a close watch on this Su Family.

"So I will need you two to ..."

*

"You want us to wear this?"

Ye Honghua held the garments out at arms-length as she glared at Qin Feng, who merely shrugged at her. "It isn't that awful looking, is it? It is just some common men's clothing, and the material is rather comfortable, I assure you."

Qin Feng had sprung the abridged version of his plan on the women the following morning, after a quick breakfast of their dried biscuits and such. And had tossed out a rather sizable collection of masculine attire that he had stored away inside his ring.

He had actually gotten those clothes from the Qiankun pouches of those assailants that had assaulted Li Changhai on his way back to Yanyun City a good while back. Why they had such items in their possession, he had no idea. Yet, for some reason, he had never gotten around to getting rid of them, so it seemed liked a good idea to push them at the young women now.

"But ... you want us to disguise ourselves as men?"

Lin Liushui smiled and stepped in. "As gentlemen, if you follow me? These men's robes are made of silk and rich cotton, and would not look out of place on a young man of means. And I think you should have read about how it is fashionable, for some daughters of noble houses to ... dress themselves up as men, to experience the world?

"Who would think you lot as disciples of the Snow Swallow Palace, if you were present yourselves as such noble daughters? I think it should be enough to fool anyone watching out for reinforcements arriving at the Su Family House. Don't you agree?"

The girls from the Snow Swallow Palace were a-titter after hearing what he said. And Qin Feng merely smiled as he stepped away, gesturing for Ye Honghua to follow him. It was clear that Lin Liushui could handle the other disciples, but he would be responsible for dealing with her, as he had promised.

Qin Feng was rather confident that he could convince her to play her part.

* * *