Martial arts mastery? But I'm just a spoiled brat!

"It's rare for him to come home so early today."

The car drove directly into the courtyard. After getting out of the car, Yan Qing intended to go straight back to his own private residence. However, when he looked into the distance and saw that the highest courtyard was brightly lit, he knew that his father, Yan Fengqi, must have returned home today.

The soldiers had already reached the outpost, and Chief Steward Cao had also quietly disappeared into the darkness. Only the two sisters, Wanxing and Lanyue, remained by Yan Qing's side.

"Let's go take a look."

Yan Qing turned and walked towards the mansion where her father, Yan Fengqi, lived.

"Oh, who do we have here? You're always out there flirting with other women, never bothering to help out at home!"

Just as he reached the entrance of the mansion, a sarcastic and acerbic remark reached Yan Qing's ears.

Yan Qing looked up and saw a woman in a cheongsam standing at the door. This woman was Xu Tinglan, the concubine of her father Yan Fengqi and Yan Qing's stepmother. The sarcastic and barbed words she had just spoken came from her mouth.

"Heh~ It's only early autumn, and the weather is quite dry. My lady seems to be a bit feverish."

Yan Qing's expression remained unchanged upon hearing the other party's words; his eyes were still slightly narrowed, and a smile played on his lips. He replied in a seemingly gentle manner, but then patted Lan Yue's waist and added:

"Go to the manor and fetch 305 silver dollars to send to the concubine's courtyard, so she can buy some cooling fruits to relieve the heat."

"yes!"

Upon hearing this, Lan Yue softly agreed, then turned and went out, clearly to collect the silver dollars.

Yan Qing spoke casually, but Xu Tinglan's expression changed repeatedly as she was about to continue her sarcastic remarks.

Xu Tinglan was not short of money. If it were three hundred silver dollars, it would be fine. Yan Qing could take it out casually, and she wouldn't care. But it was a total of three hundred and five silver dollars, which was exactly the amount she had lost playing mahjong with several officials' wives in the past few days.

This is a very private matter; even the people playing mahjong with her might not know exactly how much she lost.

But Yan Qing was able to accurately state the amount, clearly indicating that he knew everything about her.

Although she believed she had nothing to hide, the feeling of being completely exposed in front of Yan Qing made her extremely awkward.

This reminded her of her husband's favoritism towards Yan Qing, so after her expression changed for a moment, she chose to shut up and turn away.

Yan Qing didn't care about this and continued to stroll into the house, go upstairs, and head straight for the study on the second floor.

Without knocking, Yan Qing pushed the door open and entered, while Wan Xing obediently closed the door after Yan Qing entered and then stood guard outside.

Inside the study, a middle-aged man with glasses and a mustache was solemnly flipping through documents. Hearing someone push the door open, he only looked up once, and put down his pen after seeing that it was Yan Qing.

"I've roughly found out the backgrounds of those who just tried to assassinate you. I'll handle the official matters, but you'll need to investigate the martial artists involved."

Yan Fengqi remained serious as he watched Yan Qing enter the room and sit opposite him as if he had no bones.

"Sure!"

Yan Qing sat slumped lazily, his eyes casually glancing around, and replied indifferently, without asking about the matter of Japan.

Yan Qing was not surprised at all that Yan Fengqi knew his whereabouts.

Yan Fengqi was able to maintain his position as the King of Shanxi not only because he had elite troops under his command, but also because he had established a number of intelligence agencies, such as the Special Higher Police Group, the Iron Discipline Corps, and the Special Police and Military Bureau, to monitor various institutions and officials.

When Yan Fengqi assigned some martial arts personnel to Yan Qing, he also gave them some intelligence personnel. However, Yan Qing was very discreet and only focused on developing martial arts-related matters, without interfering in military and political affairs.

As for knowing about Xiao Niang's affairs, it was naturally just information obtained incidentally while having martial arts experts secretly protect the safety of the Yan family members.

"I'll be leading troops out in a few days, things might get a bit chaotic, so you need to take good care of the home base."

Yan Fengqi is a very assertive person, as can be seen from the various intelligence departments he has established, so he would not take the initiative to talk to his son about some of his decisions.

"Will you bring your second brother along?"

Yan Qing swung one foot slightly, picked up a book from the table and flipped through it quickly, asking casual questions as he spoke.

The second brother he mentioned was the son of Xu Tinglan, who had just been placed in the army by Yan Fengqi. However, he did not seem to have much talent, so his position in the army was not high.

This is also the main reason why Xu Tinglan would be sarcastic and even jealous of Yan Qing.

If an ordinary person heard Yan Qing ask such a question, they might think that Yan Qing was trying to win favor, but Yan Fengqi knew that Yan Qing had no such intention at all.

Lately, he felt that Yan Qing was becoming more and more like his younger self. His eldest son died young, his second son was ambitious but lacked ability, and only this third son was ambitious, patient, and intelligent enough.

It was this undignified posture, this lack of proper sitting and standing, that made him look so listless, even though he knew Yan Qing was acting this way because of martial arts training and disguise. It still made him, someone who always strictly demanded a soldier's image of his appearance, feel awkward.

Thinking about all this, Yan Fengqi subconsciously straightened his already ramrod-straight back even more, and said aloud:

He will continue to stay in Taiyuan.

"..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yan Qing unconsciously slowed down his hand as he turned the pages of the book.

Neither of them spoke again. Yan Qing continued to flip through the thick book, while Yan Fengqi stared at Yan Qing, somewhat lost in thought.

*Smack!*

Yan Qing continued reading until she had flipped through the entire book to the last page, at which point she closed it.

"I'll have Lao Cao lead a group of men to go with you. No matter how the battle goes, at least Lao Cao can ensure your safe return."

Yan Qing put the book back on the desk, said something, and got up to leave, clearly not wanting to give Yan Fengqi a chance to refuse.

"Then you~"

Yan Fengqi knew of Steward Cao's abilities, so he didn't refuse. However, he had already handed over all the martial arts-related power to Yan Qing, and had no intention of taking it back at this time.

"Don't worry, I'll keep a low profile lately."

Yan Qing waved his hand and walked out, his body still swaying from side to side, one hand in his pocket and the other gently waving in front of him, still in that lazy manner.

"Sigh... I'm getting old!"

Watching Yan Qing's departing figure, Yan Fengqi stopped straightening his back and let out a soft sigh. He never thought that he would be cared for by his son one day.

Clearly, Yan Qing had already guessed from his decision not to take his second son with him that there would be danger on his trip with his troops.

"You're not old—times have just changed, and the old ways are no longer working."

Yan Qing's voice drifted over from afar, clearly indicating that his sigh had been heard by the other party.

"That kid!"

Yan Fengqi's usually serious expression broke into a rare smile. He then picked up his pen and continued reviewing the documents.