“No, no. Brother-in-law, I… then I’ll withdraw.” Eighth Miss curtsied, her ears burning red, her face flushed with color as she lowered her head and walked outside.
Pang Xiao watched Eighth Miss’s retreating figure with a cold smile and asked directly: “Who sent you here?”
Eighth Miss’s steps halted as she turned back to look at Pang Xiao with terror and embarrassment.
“The Qin family wouldn’t be without even a servant girl to serve tea. You’re still a miss of the Qin family after all—having you come to the front hall to serve tea, whose idea was this?”
Pang Xiao didn’t restrain his imposing presence. These days he had been irritable to begin with, and now with his haggard appearance, his face carried an additional air of menace. His gaze was sharp like an arrow glinting with cold light—even a grown man would be intimidated by Pang Xiao’s aura, let alone Eighth Miss, a young woman.
Eighth Miss retreated repeatedly until her back was against the wall by the entrance before stopping, stammering: “No one, it wasn’t anyone’s idea.”
“Lying.” Seeing her so frightened, Pang Xiao was too lazy to say more and simply stated: “The person who had you come serve tea has no good intentions. Although you’re of concubine birth, your eldest uncle is the current Minister of Rites. With this status, you’re fully qualified to become someone’s principal wife in the future. But the person who had you serve tea this time was thinking of making you a concubine. You’re not young anymore, and as your brother-in-law, let me advise you—you don’t need to listen to everyone in the future. Think more for yourself.”
Having said this, Pang Xiao waved his hand: “You may go.”
Not only was Eighth Miss’s face red, but her eyes were red too, tears streaming down as she turned to leave.
Who would have thought that just as she reached the corridor, she ran right into Qin Huaiyuan—she didn’t know how much he had heard while standing there.
Eighth Miss was utterly mortified, lowering her head as she hurriedly curtsied and addressed him as eldest uncle.
Qin Huaiyuan said: “Go tell the Old Madam to take good care of her health and not meddle in outside affairs anymore—only then will her illness recover quickly.”
Eighth Miss nodded, tears flowing even more fiercely as she ran away sobbing.
Qin Huaiyuan had lost considerable weight these days. His dark blue Taoist robe hung on him like it was draped on a clothing rack, making his figure appear even more gaunt and adding an otherworldly air.
Seeing the disheveled Pang Xiao, Qin Huaiyuan couldn’t help but sigh.
It seemed Pang Xiao had also been having a difficult time these days.
“You’ve come.”
“Father-in-law.” Pang Xiao approached, bowing with cupped hands and kneeling in salute.
Qin Huaiyuan sighed as he helped Pang Xiao to his feet: “We’re all family here, no need for such formality. Your sudden visit—is there news of Sister Yi?”
Qin Huaiyuan was always so perceptive.
Pang Xiao didn’t keep him in suspense and handed over the note: “This is news from Young Master Mu Jinghu. He’s currently in Tatar territory and has seen Sister Yi.”
Qin Huaiyuan read the note carefully several times, as if wanting to disassemble and reassemble each character to ensure what he was seeing was real and not a hallucination.
“Are you certain this message really came from Young Master Mu?”
“I can confirm it.”
With his daughter safe, Qin Huaiyuan’s shoulders instantly relaxed, his taut nerves finally finding relief.
“Truly wonderful news.” Qin Huaiyuan let out a long sigh and closed his eyes.
He only had this one daughter. When he first heard news of her disappearance, he truly was so anxious he wanted to search for her personally. Later, when he heard from Jingzhe and the others about the situation in the underground cave, Qin Huaiyuan became even more convinced the outlook was grim.
Now, learning that Qin Yining had gone to Tatar territory, what didn’t Qin Huaiyuan understand?
“It seems the Tatars were deliberately targeting the treasure and had been secretly infiltrating and tracking for a long time.”
“Father-in-law speaks truly. I was too careless, which led to this situation. I should have arranged careful defenses from the start—I wouldn’t have remained unaware that Tatar people had already penetrated deep into the disaster area.” Pang Xiao was filled with regret. If given another chance, he would rather defy imperial edicts than bring Qin Yining out.
Qin Huaiyuan smiled consolingly: “This isn’t your fault. Back then, His Majesty secretly deployed the imperial presence around the old capital—how would you dare act rashly? Moreover, the disaster area situation was already tense, with people lacking medicine and the court’s relief arriving so late. You had to deal with common folk who might riot at any moment, with too many things to consider—how could you attend to everything?”
What Qin Huaiyuan said reflected the true situation at the time. But he had lost Sister Yi, and regardless of the reasons, this was unforgivable.
Qin Huaiyuan extended his arm and patted Pang Xiao’s shoulder: “Don’t take all the blame upon yourself.”
Pang Xiao felt both sour and swollen inside, his eyes reddening.
At this moment, he would rather have Qin Huaiyuan give him a severe beating and scold him. The more understanding and tolerant he was, the more guilty Pang Xiao felt.
Qin Huaiyuan shook his head and sighed: “Enough. Since you’ve married Sister Yi and call me father-in-law, you’re also my son now.
“Let me speak frankly—even if something were to happen to Sister Yi, you would still be my son-in-law. This is an indisputable fact. If I were to lose Sister Yi as a daughter, I couldn’t bear to lose you as a son as well. Otherwise, wouldn’t this old man suffer too great a loss? Even if you remarry in the future, wouldn’t you still have to call me father-in-law when you see me?
“Fortunately, Sister Yi is fine now—everyone can rejoice. You needn’t blame yourself anymore. This matter wasn’t your fault to begin with. What’s most urgent now is for us to discuss what to do next and how to ensure Sister Yi’s continued safety.”
Pang Xiao was deeply moved, and only after a long while could he suppress his surging emotions and say seriously: “The Tatars must have been targeting the treasure’s location long ago. Capturing Sister Yi this time was probably a chance encounter. The situation in the underground cave was very complex—when Si Qin suddenly arrived with people and saw that all the key figures were there, he decided to capture them all.”
Qin Huaiyuan continued: “We just don’t know what happened to the Qingtian Alliance people. But in my opinion, those alliance members who were captured are probably in grave danger.”
Qin Huaiyuan nodded: “I think so too. Otherwise, with the treasure’s allure, after nearly four months, the Tatars couldn’t possibly show no interest in the treasure’s whereabouts.”
“Considering the Tatars’ interest in the treasure, they’ll certainly try every means to use Sister Yi and Second Master Lu to negotiate conditions with us.” Pang Xiao said somewhat worriedly: “Only my situation is precarious now. His Majesty still hasn’t issued judgment on my defying over thirty imperial edicts, and I’ve been irritable these days, offending quite a few people. I’m afraid His Majesty won’t care about Sister Yi and the others’ lives.”
“Most importantly, Elder Lu’s health is currently very poor, and the Lu family’s power transition is at a critical juncture. I’m afraid Second Master Lu will also be abandoned by the Lu family.” Qin Huaiyuan stood up, pacing with hands behind his back: “Sister Yi is a woman—I think aside from us family members who care about her, others will only regard her as an accessory. Even if the Tatars negotiate conditions, they’ll prioritize the Lu family. If they can’t get the treasure, they can demand ransom or other benefits. If even the Lu family abandons them, Sister Yi’s situation will be even worse.”
“Your Lordship! Your Lordship!” Just then, Huzi ran in from outside, shoving a carrier pigeon at Pang Xiao: “Look, it’s from Young Master Mu.”
Pang Xiao hurriedly stood, removing the small paper roll from the pigeon’s leg and urgently unrolling it. There were three characters written on it.
Killed Khan, fled.
“Father-in-law.” Pang Xiao frowned as he handed the note to Qin Huaiyuan.
After reading it, Qin Huaiyuan murmured: “What does this mean? The Khan was killed? No… could it be!”
“Who killed the Khan and fled? Sister Yi?”
“It must be Sister Yi, otherwise Young Master Mu wouldn’t send you this message. Sister Yi isn’t rash—she must have had reasons for killing the Khan. Only now, power must have fallen into Prince Consort Si Qin’s hands, and he’s a ruthless character who will certainly use this incident to great advantage.”
Qin Huaiyuan could already imagine Si Qin’s methods. He usually collected considerable information about Si Qin and roughly knew his ambitious temperament.
“This doesn’t bode well. Regardless of whether Sister Yi actually killed the Khan or not, even if it’s false, since this news came through Young Master Mu, it must be accepted as fact by everyone in Tatar territory. In my view, Si Qin will certainly use this as an excuse to seize power first and scheme for other things later.”
Qin Huaiyuan said: “Perhaps even the killing was part of Si Qin’s plan.”
Pang Xiao nodded in agreement.
Father-in-law and son-in-law both fell into contemplation and anxiety.
If news of Qin Yining killing the Khan had already spread throughout Tatar territory, regardless of whatever conditions Si Qin might set for Great Zhou, Qin Yining’s situation in Tatar territory was bound to be extremely dangerous.
The two exchanged glances and began anxiously discussing the various possibilities ahead and countermeasures.
At this time, Qin Yining’s health had improved considerably, and she was hiding with Lu Heng among the Mino tribe.
Several days of interaction had made Qin Yining realize that these Mino tribespeople were actually very warm-hearted and honest folk. Brothers like Ha’er Bala and Chagan Bala, being the former tribal chief’s sons, had some exposure to political maneuvering and thus possessed some cunning, but their scheming appeared quite straightforward to Qin Yining and Lu Heng, which made it even clearer that they harbored no ill intentions.
Because of their special status and young age, A’na Ri had kept them alive to humiliate, which was why they hadn’t been killed. But the shame they endured and the hatred for their parents’ murder had also taken deep root in their hearts.
They were also people who kept their word. Originally, they had sworn that whoever could kill A’na Ri to avenge their tribal chief and tribespeople would become the next tribal chief.
So even though Ha’er Bala and Chagan Bala felt somewhat displeased, they still treated Lu Heng and Qin Yining as their new tribal chiefs, especially Lu Heng, who held high status in their hearts.
After several days like this, the capital had been searched from top to bottom without any results. Si Qin was busy gradually consolidating power in his hands and could only instruct his subordinates to supervise the search, turning the entire capital upside down without finding any trace of the “murderers.”
When the matter returned to Si Qin, he frowned thoughtfully and said: “Search again, paying special attention to the remnants of tribes the Khan destroyed, such as the Mino tribe. They harbor resentment against the Khan and might very well be in collusion with the murderers.”
His subordinates received orders and headed straight for several slum areas in the city.
“Trouble! They’re searching here!” A raggedly dressed little girl ran in from outside, pulling at Ha’er Bala: “The soldiers are searching here! They’ll arrive soon!”
Ha’er Bala’s face went deathly pale upon hearing this. He hurriedly stood and rushed to the inner room, pulling Qin Yining and Lu Heng toward the back courtyard.