“Understood.”
Qin Huaiyuan was stunned for a moment before turning back with a bitter smile. “His Highness the Crown Prince has also endured Imperial Uncle Cao for a long time. The anger he usually doesn’t dare express came out today. It seems he’s truly reached his limit.”
Third Master nodded. “Big Brother speaks truly. Among all those who have served as the Crown Prince’s grand tutor and grand preceptor, Big Brother is closest to His Highness. Now that Imperial Uncle Cao wants to take advantage of others’ misfortune and pin all the Ministry of Revenue’s shortfalls on Big Brother and Second Brother, given the relationship between His Highness and Big Brother, he would naturally stand up to speak for Big Brother.”
“Yes. His Highness the Crown Prince has an open heart, upright character, and considerable achievements in calligraphy and painting. He’s an excellent talent. It’s just a pity he was born at the wrong time, with bad luck and ill fate…” Qin Huaiyuan’s smile gradually faded as he sighed. “If this were a time of peace and prosperity, with two or three loyal ministers assisting him, His Highness could handle being a maintaining ruler. But now Great Yan is in chaos with war and famine, and the people have no means of livelihood. There’s simply no opportunity left for His Highness to display his abilities.”
Second Master also said, “Speaking with great disrespect, if His Majesty abdicated to His Highness the Crown Prince now, then executed the demon empress and the Cao family members, and commanded Big Brother to assist the Crown Prince, the dynasty might still have a thread of hope.”
“With Father’s wisdom and strategy, using our 350,000 troops to defend a single city against the Huben Army’s mere 100,000, they truly couldn’t do anything to us. Great Yan might not necessarily lose. It’s just a pity His Majesty listens to treacherous ministers, expecting Tatars to come from afar to help. Even now the commander’s seal hangs empty with no leader—how can we fight the Huben Army?”
The more Qin Yining spoke, the angrier she became, wishing she could grab the foolish emperor and slap him dozens of times to see if it would wake him up.
If even she, a young woman, felt this way, what about Qin Huaiyuan, who had been a minister for decades?
That worthless emperor had truly failed her father’s talent and betrayed his loyalty.
“Enough. His Highness should have vented enough by now. I’ll go outside to take a look.” Qin Huaiyuan brushed his sleeves and left Cixiao Garden for the front courtyard.
Only then did the Old Dowager react. “Could it be that Meng Ge’er deliberately spoke for a while to delay going out?”
Second Master smiled. “Big Brother saw that His Highness has been suppressed too long. If he had gone out early, His Highness would inevitably have suffered grievances. Better to let things be—after all, Imperial Uncle Cao won’t do anything to His Highness.”
“But no matter how unfavored His Highness is, he’s still an imperial prince and grandson, His Majesty’s son. Imperial Uncle Cao is merely a minister, yet he dares quarrel with an imperial prince. He’s truly too presumptuous, arrogant beyond measure.”
By the end of his words, Second Master could only manage a cold laugh.
Everyone also felt Imperial Uncle Cao was arrogant.
But at this point, besides talking about him behind his back, they couldn’t find any way to suppress this person.
“This can’t continue.” Qin Yining said quietly. “Imperial Uncle Cao could bring people to our door to throw mud today—there’s no guarantee he won’t bring people to raid our home and plant evidence tomorrow. We must be extra careful with our household security. I think Imperial Uncle Cao wants to use this period when His Majesty is relying on the Tatars to take the opportunity to weaken our family. Now that Father has been forced to retire, probably only His Highness the Crown Prince still has some sense of justice in the court. The rest can barely protect themselves—who would dare offend Imperial Uncle Cao by speaking for Father? If things continue developing this way, our family will eventually have to bear this pot of dirty water.”
Qin Yining paced back and forth with worry, finding the situation more frightening the more she thought about it.
Imperial Uncle Cao now held great power with the emperor and demon empress backing him. He lacked neither authority to act nor power to speak. If Imperial Uncle Cao were even slightly more vicious and spouted nonsense in court, with Father retired at home, wouldn’t he only be able to let others pin dirty water on him without even being able to open his mouth to refute?
“What Yining says is right. What are we to do?” Sun Shi also became anxious.
Now with storm clouds gathering, the family lived together, and Qin Huaiyuan no longer avoided the female family members when discussing state affairs with his brothers. So the women had experienced the scheming and plotting of the court like never before, and all understood the difficulties the men faced outside.
Though everyone felt afraid in their hearts, they all desperately tried to think of solutions.
Qin Huining, who had been silent all along, raised her head and looked hesitantly toward Qin Yining. “Fourth Miss, you’re familiar with His Highness the Crown Prince. I think for Father’s sake, you should be more active with His Highness. The Crown Prince is the Crown Prince after all—perhaps if he’s willing to exert effort for Father, it could be useful.”
Seeing everyone’s gazes turn to her, Qin Huining’s face turned red as she hurriedly explained, “I, I’m just worried about Father and want to contribute. I don’t have any other meaning. My suggestion is probably nonsense too.”
At first, Qin Yining suspected Qin Huining was stirring up trouble at this time.
But this time, Qin Yining only saw fear on Qin Huining’s face and didn’t sense any malice from her.
Qin Yining was particularly sensitive to others’ gazes and malice—it could be said this was her innate survival instinct. Now facing Qin Huining who harbored no malice, she only nodded and said plainly, “I’ll consider it.”
Hearing this, Qin Huining visibly sighed with relief.
Now that the world was in chaos, she had to continue living in the Qin family to ensure her safety. Qin Yining’s position was already unshakeable—whether in terms of the Qin family’s hearts or morally, everything favored Qin Yining. Even if she felt unwilling, she wouldn’t be foolish enough to continue throwing eggs at rocks and seeking death. What she needed to do now was curry favor with Qin Yining, the managing miss, just as she had previously curried favor with the Old Dowager and Sun Shi.
Qin Huining showed Qin Yining another timid smile.
Qin Yining looked away and ignored Qin Huining, her mind constantly analyzing the current situation.
“Regarding His Highness, I actually think it doesn’t matter if we don’t ask for help.” After a long while, Qin Yining said, “His Highness will definitely stand up to speak for Father, just as His Highness is already confronting Imperial Uncle Cao now without our request. It’s just that His Highness’s abilities are truly limited, and his words don’t carry enough weight. This matter can’t be resolved just by pleading with His Majesty—it requires completely removing the source of the problem.”
Second Master also nodded. “I think so too. Given His Highness’s character, he won’t stand by and watch our family’s affairs, but his heart exceeds his strength.”
By now, Qin Huining’s face was flushed red, even her earlobes were red.
She had offered a suggestion wanting to perform well in front of the family and restore her image somewhat, but unexpectedly her idea was the worst strategy.
Seeing Qin Huining like this, Sixth Miss took her hand and shook it.
Qin Huining, with a purple-flushed face, gave Sixth Miss a smile that looked worse than crying.
Qin Yining didn’t notice Qin Huining and Sixth Miss’s expressions but fell into thought while fingering the red bean bracelet on her wrist.
This had become her recent habit—whenever she was deep in thought, she would unconsciously fiddle with that bracelet.
Second Master and Third Master also frowned tightly. “To remove the source of the problem, how exactly should we do it?”
Qin Han said, “To remove the source of the problem, naturally we must completely clear Uncle’s name and prove his innocence.”
Qin Yu also nodded. “Exactly so. Uncle has been honest for so many years—he really shouldn’t bear this kind of blame. The Ministry of Revenue’s silver was lent out, but our family didn’t do it. So many eyes were watching—how can they just renege on debts? We’re not afraid of accounting—we can definitely settle the accounts clearly.”
Yu’s wife said, “That’s what you say, but how exactly do we prove Uncle’s innocence?”
Everyone fell silent again.
The Old Dowager leaned against her large pillow, watching her children and grandchildren working together and united like a rope in the face of difficulty. Tears nearly fell from being moved.
When she used to manage the inner residence, she sometimes felt that each branch of the family had their own thoughts, like scattered sand. She never expected the Qin family to have such strong cohesion when facing difficulties.
Thinking carefully, all this seemed to have started when Qin Huaiyuan was imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice jail and Qin Yining took charge of family affairs.
It seemed her granddaughter was quite formidable, and it was fortunate the family had her then.
The Old Dowager smiled as she looked toward Qin Yining and asked, “Yining, what do you think?”
Qin Yining hadn’t expected the Old Dowager to call on her specifically, but seeing her kind expression as if there had never been any friction between them, Qin Yining was happy to be closer to the Old Dowager and spoke honestly:
“I think proving Father’s innocence is possible, but it will inevitably require considerable wrangling and won’t be easy. Actually, I’ve been thinking about what true removal of the source would be.”
Qin Han looked toward Qin Yining. “What does Fourth Sister think would truly remove the source?”
Qin Yining smiled slightly and said softly, “The source removal I can think of would all require bloodshed. Better not say it out loud.”
Her voice was pleasant and her smile light, but that faint tone speaking the words “bloodshed” inexplicably sent chills down people’s spines.
Second Master frowned. “Yining, you mean…”
“Some things are better understood than spoken aloud.”
To protect Qin Huaiyuan, the only way to truly remove the source was to send all the bad people who wanted to harm him to meet the King of Hell.
After deep thought, Qin Han gasped in shock.
Sixth Miss, Seventh Miss, Qin Huining, and several others also understood, their faces turning deathly pale.
Sun Shi even put her arm around Qin Yining’s shoulders and gently patted her cheek. “Young ladies shouldn’t always talk of fighting and killing. Don’t have such heavy killing intent.”
Qin Huaiyuan, who had just seen off the Crown Prince and returned to the corridor, happened to hear Qin Yining’s words. He gestured to stop Ruyi from announcing him and stood in the corridor without immediately entering.
Qin Yining smiled. “I was just saying. To prove my father’s innocence would also require considerable effort in my view. Since it requires the same effort, might as well do it cleanly to avoid endless future troubles.”
“Easy to say—it’s just upper lip touching lower lip. Do you know how difficult it really is? That’s a great tree that even many people banding together couldn’t shake! Yining, you must never speak like this again in the future.” Second Master sternly lectured.
Qin Yining just smiled and nodded without arguing further.
But in her mind, that killing intent surged again.
Could they really not be killed? Could it really not be done?