Pang Xiao leaned forward, one hand supporting himself on the edge of the luohan bed, the other pointing to the corner of his lips, eyes wide and thin lips slightly pouted as he smiled at her. “You say I have a broken mouth? Where is my mouth broken? How come I don’t feel it?”
Qin Yining was nearly dazzled by his suddenly approaching handsome face, blushing as she leaned back. “You really are so boring. I meant your mouth is too wicked, always bullying people – I didn’t say your mouth was actually broken.”
“Is that so?” Pang Xiao had already gotten down from the bed. Looking at her rosy cheeks, he couldn’t help but lean down with his hands behind his back, moving close to her as he said slowly, “Then I misunderstood.”
Qin Yining looked up, meeting his dark, deep gaze directly.
His eyes were very beautiful, his nose bridge high and straight, his lips slightly thin with upturned corners. Even now, seriously closing his mouth, she still felt he seemed to be smiling. Qin Yining suddenly realized she had been staring at Yao Zhixi’s face and hurriedly lowered her eyes, only for her gaze to fall on his Adam’s apple half-exposed outside his snow-white crossed collar.
Looking there didn’t seem right either.
Qin Yining simply turned her head to look elsewhere.
Pang Xiao laughed, pretending nonchalance as he paced back and forth in front of her with his hands behind his back. Though he wasn’t looking at her, all his attention was focused on her.
“Tsk tsk, I never imagined you’d be such a woman who knows how to accept fate. That’s different from what I thought – I guessed you’d run away directly.”
“At this critical juncture, if I fled, what would happen to my family?”
“They’re not even good to you and never raised you. To sacrifice yourself for them – are you willing?”
“They may indeed not be sincere toward me, and they never raised me before, but what have I done for them either? I’m not a golden ingot – how could I make everyone like me upon seeing me?”
Hearing this, Pang Xiao was startled and burst out laughing. “That’s not necessarily true.”
“What?” Qin Yining looked at him in confusion.
“I quite like you when I see you.”
Qin Yining’s mind went blank with a thunderous sound, her cheeks instantly flushing crimson, her lips trembling as she didn’t know how to respond.
Pang Xiao was also surprised he had said such a thing. He coughed and tried to remedy it: “Who told you to look like our Da Bai.”
“Da Bai?” Qin Yining asked blankly.
Pang Xiao smiled. “A Pekingese my mother raised – all snow-white fur, both silly and greedy. My mother named her Da Bai. There’s also a guard dog called Da Hei – they’re a pair.”
“You!” Qin Yining glared angrily at the person before her. The momentary embarrassment and shyness from before receded, and she couldn’t even tell what mood she was in now.
He always liked to tease her, his identity unclear, his words half-true and half-false. Qin Yining could no longer distinguish which of his sentences were true and which were false. She only knew that seeing him always made her teeth itch with anger. If she simply ignored him, he wasn’t really particularly annoying. But if she acknowledged him, she was always taken advantage of.
It really made her not know how to treat him.
But thinking of the approaching peace talk journey, not even knowing if she could return alive afterward, Qin Yining didn’t bother to sort out the many tangled emotions, and didn’t care anymore.
“If it weren’t for the fact that you’re my lifesaver, I’d definitely beat you up.” Qin Yining sighed in defeat.
Pang Xiao laughed. “You’d beat me up? Or give me a massage?”
“Young Master Yao, I really won’t joke with you anymore. Actually, even if you hadn’t sent word, I was planning to come see you. This trip of mine is fraught with uncertainty – perhaps this time will be our final farewell. I haven’t yet repaid your life-saving grace, and I feel quite guilty about it.”
Qin Yining stood up and called Bingtang over. “Bingtang says the poison in your body can be cleared in another three or four days. Then I can feel at ease. I’ve already instructed Master Shopkeeper Zhong that if anything happens in the future and I’m not here, you can find Master Shopkeeper Zhong just the same. Though Zhaoyun Company isn’t any great business and you might not think much of it, it does have some connections. Though this hardly counts as repayment, it’s the only thing I can arrange right now.”
After speaking, Qin Yining called to Bingtang: “Go give Young Master Yao his acupuncture treatment.”
Pang Xiao frowned as he watched her retreating figure.
Her satin-like raven-black long hair and snow-white skirt made him feel she was like a person from an ink painting who might float away at any moment.
Among women, she was considered tall, but she only reached his shoulder height. Such a delicate little girl was being forced to bear so much helplessness. From childhood to now, none of her life had been under her own control. How similar her fate was to his own?
“Fourth Miss Qin.” Pang Xiao was possessed by some strange impulse to call out to her.
Qin Yining turned back. “What?”
“Nothing, just put your mind at ease.”
Qin Yining blinked in confusion, not understanding what Pang Xiao meant by “put your mind at ease,” but still smiled and said, “I’ll go talk with Master Shopkeeper Zhong and let Bingtang stay to treat you. Young Master Yao, farewell then.”
Pang Xiao raised his eyebrows in a smile and waved his hand. “Fine, go ahead.” As he spoke, he turned around and began removing his cloak.
Qin Yining didn’t linger and went to talk with Master Shopkeeper Zhong.
The matter of Qin Yining following Qin Huaiyuan to participate in peace talks had now spread throughout the world. Many people cursed the muddle-headed ruler behind his back. When Master Shopkeeper Zhong heard the news, he was so upset he didn’t sleep all night.
Seeing Qin Yining now, Master Shopkeeper Zhong nearly cried on the spot, cursing repeatedly: “Truly muddle-headed, muddle-headed! Such a good person as our employer – why must such a thing befall her? A young lady’s reputation is most important. If she really goes to Xihua City…”
Realizing his words might cause Qin Yining panic, Master Shopkeeper Zhong wiped the hot tears from the corners of his eyes. “It’s truly sinful!”
Qin Yining could feel Master Shopkeeper Zhong’s concern for her and smiled as she personally poured him a bowl of tea.
“I’ve always felt I have a big destiny. As a child, I was abandoned in the wilderness and should have been carried off by wolves long ago, yet I was found by my foster mother. When I was seven and my foster mother was critically ill, I had decided to sell myself to get money for her treatment, but I met a kind person who gave me a sum of silver.”
“When I was eight and my foster mother died, I went into the deep mountains alone. I thought I’d meet my end any day, but somehow I managed to survive. Later I thought I’d probably spend my whole life hunting, but my father’s people found me.”
At this point, Qin Yining looked at Master Shopkeeper Zhong with a smile, comforting him: “You can see that in this life’s encounters, until you reach the very last step, you can never be certain whether what’s before you is good fortune or misfortune.”
Master Shopkeeper Zhong was infected by Qin Yining’s optimistic attitude and suddenly felt heroic. “Miss truly has a broad mind. This old man has lived these many years in vain, yet falls short of Miss by far.”
“Master Shopkeeper Zhong really jests. Actually, to tell you the truth, I’m scared to death, but when things come to a head, what use is fear? Just as we all know that being born means we’ll certainly die, do we therefore not live? Even if we’re afraid, we must continue living. When the boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally straighten – we can only leave it to Heaven’s will.”
Hearing this, Master Shopkeeper Zhong couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s exactly the reasoning.”
After discussing matters with Master Shopkeeper Zhong, Qin Yining finally said in a low voice: “This trip of mine is probably more perilous than fortunate. If I don’t return, His Majesty will likely reclaim Zhaoyun Company for his own use. Previously when His Majesty confiscated Duke Dingguo’s estate, he already had his eye on Zhaoyun Company’s assets. If something happens to me, it would be perfectly justified for His Majesty to reclaim this place. Master Shopkeeper Zhong is Zhaoyun Company’s old manager – His Majesty won’t treat you poorly. But I’m worried about my maternal grandmother and the others.”
When Qin Yining was present, she could use the convenience of her status to rent out the women of Duke Dingguo’s household and support them with silver. But once she was gone and the Emperor became Zhaoyun Company’s master, he certainly wouldn’t keep people around eating for free.
Master Shopkeeper Zhong sighed. “Employer, I’m insignificant and dare not guarantee anything, but I can promise you that within my capabilities, I will certainly help the old employer’s wife. The old employer treated me well when he was alive. You’ve saved my entire family’s lives – I haven’t yet repaid that kindness. If something truly happens to you, rest assured, I’ll do my utmost to look after them. If all else fails, I’ll take out a sum of silver to let them escape.”
Qin Yining nodded and thanked him sincerely. “Thank you so much.”
When trees fall, the monkeys scatter; when walls collapse, everyone pushes. Now that she was clearly about to fall from grace, even her own cousins and grandmother wanted to step on her, yet Master Shopkeeper Zhong didn’t kick her when she was down and could even promise to help Duke Dingguo’s widows. Qin Yining was extremely moved.
During the time she spoke with Master Shopkeeper Zhong, Bingtang had finished Pang Xiao’s acupuncture treatment.
Qin Yining then took her maids back to the Qin residence.
For the next several days, Qin Yining didn’t leave the house, only concentrating on staying in Xingning Garden to serve Madam Sun.
Madam Sun had suffered blow after blow – first learning that the daughter she’d raised for fourteen years was fake, then Sun Yuanming’s death, the execution of Duke Dingguo’s male members, followed immediately by Qin Huaiyuan taking Madam Cao as a concubine, and the drastic change in everyone’s attitude toward her became the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Now Qin Yining was to be offered to an old lecher and might not even return alive.
Madam Sun’s relationship with Qin Yining had only just improved, and now she had to watch her daughter jump into a fire pit – how could she bear it?
Under the combined assault of these factors, Madam Sun fell ill.
Qin Yining spent each day busy attending to her illness, paying no attention to anything else. Eight days passed in the blink of an eye, and on the fifteenth day of the first month, Nanny Zhan bid farewell to Qin Yining and returned to the palace.
Before leaving, Qin Yining sincerely bowed and thanked Nanny Zhan.
In this brief month or so, Qin Yining had learned much from Nanny Zhan and benefited greatly.
Looking at Qin Yining’s beautiful face, Nanny Zhan could only think of the four words “beauty’s tragic fate.” But she was only a servant, herself like duckweed, truly unable to help Qin Yining, so she could only bid farewell helplessly.
On the Lantern Festival, at the warm pavilion evening banquet, the atmosphere in the Qin household was somewhat oppressive.
The Old Madam raised her wine cup and sighed. “Tomorrow the peace talk delegation sets out. Are all of Yining’s travel preparations ready?”
Qin Yining nodded. “Yes, everything is ready.”
“Mm, that’s good.”
The Old Madam had just finished speaking when Nanny Qin came in with an extremely troubled expression. “Old Madam, all the masters.”
Behind the large rosewood carved screen depicting the four gentlemen – plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum – Qin Huaiyuan and the other men also put down their silver chopsticks, looking toward Nanny Qin at the entrance.
Nanny Qin bowed her head low. “Her Majesty the Empress has dispatched a Nanny Yanxi to instruct Fourth Miss. The person is now outside the gate.”