Bingtang shook her head helplessly, “I don’t make immortal pills—how could you get better just from taking medicine?”
“Being able to survive is already extremely fortunate. Compared to losing our lives, a small cold is nothing.”
Qin Yining’s words left everyone silent.
Ma Shi entered carrying a bowl of brown sugar eggs and, hearing Qin Yining’s words, sighed, “Yi girl, did you truly encounter danger on the road?”
Bingtang and Ji Yun quickly got down from the kang to bow to Ma Shi.
Ma Shi smiled and handed the bowl to Qin Yining, “Drink this while it’s hot to warm your body.” She then asked, “You weren’t injured, were you? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
“We did encounter some trouble, but it was danger without harm. Grandmother needn’t worry.” Qin Yining accepted the white porcelain soup bowl with lotus-petal edges with both hands, took a large sip, and sighed comfortably.
Ma Shi sat sideways on the kang’s edge, looking at Qin Yining with pity. Thinking of her grandson buried in the underground palace, then seeing Qin Yining’s pale face as she smiled despite being pregnant and having experienced so much danger, tears nearly fell.
“Good child, our family has wronged you.”
“What are you saying, Grandmother?” Qin Yining placed the soup bowl on the low table and took Ma Shi’s hand, “Grandmother, don’t think so much. Life is naturally full of storms—just grit your teeth and endure. Though I encountered danger, aren’t I fine now?”
Moving closer to Ma Shi, she continued, “Moreover, I can now be certain that the Prince is definitely all right.”
Ma Shi looked at Qin Yining in surprise, carefully studying her expression, suspecting Qin Yining was deliberately saying this to comfort her.
Qin Yining then told Ma Shi about encountering Tianji Zi on the road, omitting the dangerous parts.
“Tianji Zi firmly believes in her calculations and orchestrated a scheme, but came to trouble me because it fell short of success. Precisely because she calculated that His Majesty was influenced by the Prince and definitely didn’t die. Now both the Prince and His Majesty are still in the underground palace. As long as we excavate quickly, they’ll be fine.”
Ma Shi listened with half-belief, but seeing Qin Yining’s eyes so determined, she believed somewhat.
“Yi girl, is what you’re saying true?”
“It’s true.” Qin Yining nodded emphatically.
“But that Tianji Zi doing such things—isn’t she a madwoman? Who kills people just because their fortune-telling revealed something? She’s not killing just one or two people! How many died when the explosives ignited in the imperial mausoleum? How many died when border warfare erupted?”
Qin Yining fell silent, then gritted her teeth after a long while, “She’s precisely a madwoman.”
At this moment, footsteps sounded in the courtyard. Qin Yining listened and knew it was Qin Huaiyuan and Sun Shi arriving, quickly calling for people to help assist them.
The main door opened wide as Qin Huaiyuan got off the sedan chair and, supporting Sun Shi’s hand, jumped directly inside.
Ma Shi stood up smiling to offer her seat, then thought for a moment and took Sun Shi’s arm, “In-law, let’s go to the kitchen to see what we can prepare for Yi girl to eat.”
Sun Shi also knew she didn’t understand outside affairs, and besides, her greatest concern now was Qin Yining’s health, so she went along with Ma Shi’s words, “Yi’er was out for three days without eating well. I had the kitchen stew black-bone chicken soup—let’s go see what else we can prepare to nourish her body.”
Ma Shi and Sun Shi left with their people, leaving only Qin Huaiyuan, Qin Yining, Bingtang, Ji Yun, Qianyun, and Lian Xiaozhou in the room.
Qin Huaiyuan asked, “What happened on the road?”
Qin Yining detailed how they descended the mountain, who among Ji Zeyu’s guards were assigned, what they experienced on the road, including everything Tianji Zi and Mu Jinghu had said, telling Qin Huaiyuan everything in detail.
Qin Huaiyuan placed his sprained foot flat on the kang’s edge, leaning back against a soft bullet-ink large pillow, listening carefully with lowered eyes while occasionally tapping the table surface with his hand.
After Qin Yining finished speaking, Qin Huaiyuan said, “So you’re saying she calculated that His Majesty preserved his life because the Prince was present, which is why she considers you some kind of variable and came to kill you?”
“That’s right.” Qin Yining frowned, “I think Tianji Zi has definitely gone mad. Who takes fortune-telling results so seriously, treating them like golden rules? Tianji Zi using such extreme means for some so-called righteous path is absolutely absurd.”
Qin Huaiyuan said, “Actually, Tianji Zi is similar to many people who take their beliefs extremely seriously—they can sacrifice everything for what they believe in. She considers everything she does correct, so naturally she feels all our actions are obstructive. However, at least we have some good news. If her calculations are truly that accurate, the Prince should still be alive now.”
“Yes.” Qin Yining couldn’t help but smile, and much of the depression from recent days lifted because of this news. As long as Pang Xiao was alive, their future still held hope.
Qin Huaiyuan thought for a moment, “This news hasn’t been verified, so it shouldn’t be spread for now. Otherwise, if people ask questions, we’ll have trouble explaining.”
Qin Yining agreed, “With His Majesty having had an accident, so many variables have emerged in the palace. Those seizing power have just tasted success and definitely won’t want anyone to obstruct them.”
If they knew His Majesty was still alive, having Prince Li serve as regent and changing the Huben Army commander would be great disrespect to His Majesty. Others might not believe this news if it spread, but those seizing power would definitely say the rumor-spreaders had ulterior motives. The Prince’s mansion shouldn’t create additional complications now. Just knowing Pang Xiao was alive and excavating as quickly as possible was enough.
“It’s good that you understand this.” Seeing Qin Yining so composed, Qin Huaiyuan said with relief, “I was worried that getting news about the Prince would make you act impulsively.”
Qin Yining couldn’t help but laugh, “Father worries too much. I’m not a child—how could I not distinguish between important and trivial matters?”
In Qin Huaiyuan’s eyes, wasn’t Qin Yining just a child?
Qin Yining remembered Tianji Zi’s earlier words and asked hesitantly, “Father, when you used strategy against General Pang, was it really because Mother was pregnant with me?”
Qin Huaiyuan had long expected Qin Yining would have questions and smiled, “Those are all past matters. Your mother was indeed pregnant with you then. This matter isn’t entirely wrong as Tianji Zi said—there was indeed this reason, though it wasn’t the whole story.”
So when Qin Huaiyuan used the divide-and-conquer strategy against Northern Ji, there really was a reason related to her mother being pregnant with her?
Thinking of how Pang Xiao’s style of action changed when she was pregnant, exercising restraint and patience, Qin Yining could roughly guess the situation then. It was probably to ensure her mother could safely give birth to her, wasn’t it?
Remembering Pang Xiao’s background, Qin Yining felt somewhat fortunate.
If not for Lady Pang’s jealousy—discovering Yao Shi had become Pang Zhongzheng’s concubine and secretly sending her away—and if not for the wise Ma Shi beside Yao Shi, who didn’t let her bring the child back to the Pang family to seek advancement but instead let Pang Xiao grow up in the countryside, he probably wouldn’t have escaped when the family was raided and exterminated.
Wait.
Tianji Zi said Pang Xiao was destined to be a young general.
Could it be that without the divide-and-conquer strategy, Pang Zhongzheng wouldn’t have died? Could it be that he would have eventually risen up against Northern Ji’s tyranny?
Thinking of this, Qin Yining couldn’t help but shiver.
If Pang Zhongzheng hadn’t fallen for the divide-and-conquer strategy, Northern Ji couldn’t have found an opportunity to kill him. He would have had sufficient time to prepare and eventually raise a rebellion. Then he would have brought Pang Xiao to his side, making Pang Xiao the son of the rebellion leader. After overthrowing Northern Ji, even if the imperial throne fell to Pang Zhongzheng, it would eventually pass to Pang Xiao.
So this was the true historical trajectory?
If this was really the case, her existence truly was a variable.
Although she thought Tianji Zi’s determination about heavenly mandate and her mad desire to make everything conform to her so-called heavenly will was insane.
But she had to admit that Tianji Zi’s calculations of some matters were quite accurate.
In the span of a few breaths, Qin Yining’s mind raced through a hundred different speculations.
Seeing her expression fluctuating, Qin Huaiyuan knew she was thinking about past events and changed the subject, “I see Prince Consort Ji presiding over the excavation so dedicatedly—part of the reason should be his friendship with the Prince, with the bond between ruler and minister being secondary. I’ll have someone send word to the mountain later. Prince Consort Ji will definitely urge everyone not to slacken when he knows this speculation.”
“Father noticed too?” Qin Yining said, “Adversity reveals true character. Now that our family is in trouble, I’ve discovered that Ji Lan isn’t what I originally thought. It seems the Prince’s trust in him isn’t without reason.”
Hearing this, Qin Huaiyuan smiled and called Jingzhe over, whispering instructions in his ear.
Jingzhe accepted the order and immediately left without hesitation.
The atmosphere in the room was unprecedentedly relaxed since Pang Xiao’s accident.
Seeing Qin Yining’s good complexion, Qin Huaiyuan said, “I was originally thinking that if we couldn’t find anyone in the coming days, once court authority was transferred to others, the speed of rescue would definitely slow down. Then the Prince would truly have no hope of salvation. If that really happened, I would take you back to our hometown, far from the court’s turmoil and noise.
“Now it seems Heaven has opened its eyes, and I was overthinking and calculating wrongly. If the Prince can be saved, that would be the best possible outcome.”
Qin Yining couldn’t help but sigh, “My thoughts were the same as Father’s. Actually, while sitting idly on the mountain these past days, I often wondered what to do in the future. If there really was some mishap, our best option would be to take the mansion’s people and relocate together. Only by being ordinary citizens in the countryside, keeping to ourselves, would be best for our whole family.”
When Ji Zeyu was intensively organizing his men to excavate on the mountain, Jingzhe found him.
The two spoke quietly to one side for a few moments, and Ji Zeyu’s weary face finally showed the first smile in days.
“Can this be true?”
“This is what my master and the Princess Consort speculated together. Though we have no concrete evidence, it shouldn’t be far off. His Majesty and the Prince must still be alive. Otherwise, Tianji Zi wouldn’t have been so desperate to intercept and kill the Princess Consort.”
Jingzhe gave Ji Zeyu a deep bow, “Thank you, Your Lordship, for arranging your men to escort her. Otherwise, the Princess Consort’s life would have been forfeit.”
Thinking of his dead brothers, Ji Zeyu felt terrible too. He only exchanged a few polite words with Jingzhe before anxiously returning to urge continued excavation.
The faster their speed now, the greater Pang Xiao’s hope of rescue.
And just as urgent work proceeded on Chong Mountain, a huge upheaval in the court had already reached the Empress Dowager’s ears through an inner attendant’s report.