“What news?” Qin Yining walked up to Pang Xiao with confusion.

Pang Xiao stretched out his long arm to embrace her shoulder, walking toward the house while saying: “Zuo Jinwei angered His Majesty yesterday. His Majesty ordered him to be dragged away for thirty strokes of court beating, then immediately stripped of all official positions. He’s now idle at home.”

Qin Yining smiled but made no comment.

She had long predicted that Zuo Jinwei’s outcome wouldn’t be good. After all, Emperor Zhou was suspicious by nature. Zuo Jinwei’s reports had contradicted each other, causing Emperor Zhou to make such a grand display at the city gates, exposing conflicts that had been hidden in darkness to broad daylight.

Emperor Zhou was quite deep and scheming, but this time he had been made to reveal his hand and lose face. How could he possibly tolerate Zuo Jinwei?

Even if Zuo Jinwei had talents that reached heaven and earth, Emperor Zhou’s suspicion of him would cause him to lose his future prospects.

Seeing that she wasn’t surprised at all, Pang Xiao felt both admiration and affection. He scraped her nose with his index finger and said dotingly: “Your reaction is so calm that I have no sense of achievement at all. I just came from the study, where Master Xu and Master Xie praised you as a half-immortal with prophetic abilities. I felt proud listening to it, but I couldn’t show off in front of them, so I had to painfully endure it. Who knew that when I came to you, you wouldn’t give me any chance to feel proud.”

“How strange. It was bound to happen anyway, so what’s there to be happy about?”

Pang Xiao waved his hand to dismiss Xianyun and the others, pressed her shoulders to make her sit on the warm kang by the window, bent down to look at her bright little face, and lovingly kissed her forehead.

“In any case, I’m very happy, not just because of the position of Huben Army commander, but because my Yi Jie’er is so capable. You don’t know how much they admire you now. I knew it – my Yi Jie’er has the ability to win over all those people. You’re so wonderful that even if someone has prejudices against you, they’ll come to like you after getting to know you.”

Hearing this, Qin Yining’s face burned with embarrassment, and she gently pushed his shoulder.

“Enough, if you’re so pleased with yourself, be careful they don’t laugh at you.”

“Laugh at me? They’re too busy envying and being jealous.” Pang Xiao sat down beside her.

“That’s one thing. Didn’t you say there was another matter?”

“Mm.” Pang Xiao said, “The people His Majesty arranged have brought back the scattered Great Yan troops. They should be able to enter the capital tomorrow.”

“My father and mother have been found!” Qin Yining stood up joyfully.

But Pang Xiao held her shoulder to make her sit down, comforting her: “That’s what I wanted to tell you. Your family members are all there, but your father, mother, and your aunt weren’t seen in that group.”

Qin Yining felt as if struck by lightning, standing dazed on the spot. The worry she had been suppressing for many days now seemed like a bursting dam, flooding her entire being and leaving her dizzy and disoriented.

“How can this be? Why wouldn’t my father and mother return together? On that day, our family was relatively toward the back of the convoy. Aunt Cao has martial arts skills, and there were guards and attendants with my father. How could they not be found?”

“Don’t panic, Yi Jie’er, don’t panic.”

Pang Xiao gripped her shoulders with his large hands, patted her cheek and said: “As you said, Marquis Anping has guards protecting him, and Cao Shi is with him. He must be safe and sound, just held up by something. Put your mind at ease. I’ve already arranged for people to go search. They’ll investigate all the way back from the incident site and will definitely find them.”

Qin Yining closed her eyes, still unable to recover from the news that while her entire family had been found, her father and mother hadn’t returned.

Pang Xiao embraced her slender waist, and she leaned somewhat dazedly into his arms, even nuzzling his shoulder like a coquettish kitten, making his heart melt with tenderness.

“Good girl, don’t worry anymore. Your health hasn’t been good all along. You haven’t replenished the blood and qi you lost before, and then you experienced disaster, fleeing and scheming. Even someone made of iron couldn’t withstand it. Now you mustn’t worry anymore. Just take good care of your health and leave everything else to me, alright?”

“Mm.” Qin Yining nodded obediently, closed her eyes, and leaned against him with peace of mind.

Pang Xiao said: “Also, I had people secretly inquire. It’s said that the Old Dowager and Second Master, Third Master, and the others from your household found Prince Yan’s convoy themselves when it was almost approaching the capital. Before that, they had been scattered. From their condition, it seems all the money and wealth they brought had been completely looted. In the bitter cold, they were all in tattered clothes. It’s remarkable that after being scattered, they could still gather together. My scouts said their appearance seemed somewhat wrong. You should be mentally prepared and have some calculations in your heart beforehand.”

“Good. I understand.” Qin Yining closed her eyes tiredly, just leaning against Pang Xiao, not wanting to move at all.

She just wanted to empty her mind now, not think about her father and mother’s whereabouts, not think about what had really happened to the Old Dowager and the others, and not think about the settlement problems after the Qin family members arrived in the capital. She just wanted to have a good sleep, cast aside all these worries, and not think about anything.

Pang Xiao’s large hand gently patted her back. Feeling her body growing heavier and gradually leaning completely into his embrace, he sighed softly and kissed her temple, carefully lifting her to place her on the kang and tucking her in with the blanket.

She must be very worried, right? So worried that she was using sleep to escape reality.

Pang Xiao touched her face with heartache, then sat sideways beside her, admiring her sleeping face while thinking about current court matters.

Just then, a soft call came from outside the door.

“My lord.”

Hearing the voice, Pang Xiao immediately got up, tiptoed outside, carefully and quietly closed the door, then asked softly: “What is it?”

Xianyun bowed and said in a low voice: “The people outside say that the Dingbei Marquis mansion has sent an invitation, asking you to take a look.”

Hearing the three words “Dingbei Marquis,” Pang Xiao first froze for a moment, then instructed Xianyun to serve Qin Yining well before striding outside.

Ji Zeyu had sent Pang Xiao an invitation, asking him to go riding and drinking tomorrow.

After Ji Zeyu returned to the capital to plead guilty and then “requested marriage” to Princess Imperial Anyang, His Majesty had agreed and instructed Ji Zeyu to remain in the capital for the wedding while the Tatars were in internal chaos and the borders were stable.

Thus Ji Zeyu finally had the opportunity to stay and drink and make merry with the idle Pang Xiao as they had before.

Pang Xiao instructed someone to tell Ji Zeyu that he would definitely keep the appointment on time tomorrow.

After thinking it over, he went to the outer courtyard study to gather his advisors for discussion.

The next morning, Pang Xiao left with Huzi and several guards.

Meanwhile, after sleeping, Qin Yining’s mood had already calmed down. She had now thought it through clearly. Things being as they were, she could only meet soldiers with generals and water with earth. Worrying about things that hadn’t happened yet was like the man of Qi worrying that the sky would fall. Worrying about things that had already happened was also useless. She might as well do well with the present.

Qin Yining called Lian Xiaozhou in and smiled: “While we have this leisure time, I’ll teach you a few more characters.”

At the same time, an luxurious carriage slowly stopped in front of Prince Zhongshun’s mansion.

Several pale, beardless young eunuchs dressed as attendants lifted the carriage curtain, and the head palace maid He Xiang carefully helped Princess Imperial Anyang down from the carriage.

Li Helan raised her eyes to look at the golden plaque of Prince Zhongshun’s mansion, smiled slightly, and instructed: “Go knock on the door.”