Jingzhe went out for no more than half an hour before returning, but he came back alone. Upon seeing Qin Yining, he first paid his respects, then whispered by her side: “Princess, this subordinate has already found Manager Xia. However, Manager Xia seems to be ill, keeping his doors closed and refusing to see guests. This subordinate conveyed the message and returned to report.”
Qin Yining’s delicate willow eyebrows furrowed.
This matter wasn’t quite right.
When Qin Yining had departed for the Great Zhou capital, she needed to develop the northern situation, so she brought along Manager Zhong, whom she trusted most. For the south, all her estates, shops, and the connections with horse caravans and transport gangs for moving grain and goods were already established arrangements that only needed stability rather than expansion. Moreover, the south was their base of operations after all, and with the Duke Dingguo’s wife looking after things, Manager Zhong had recommended his most trusted second-in-command to take over southern affairs.
Manager Xia was past forty, precisely the age when men are at their most robust and steady, and Qin Yining had always trusted him greatly.
Who would have thought that upon coming today, such a situation would arise?
Manager Xia wasn’t someone who didn’t understand proper etiquette. There was no reason that when she, the proprietress, returned to the old capital with her impressive entourage, her chief manager wouldn’t know about it. Not only did he fail to proactively come pay respects, but when she sent someone to fetch him, they couldn’t even bring him back.
If Manager Xia was truly so ill he couldn’t get out of bed, that would be one thing, but if not, then this matter would be rather difficult to handle.
“When you went, was there anything unusual about Manager Xia’s household?”
Jingzhe thought carefully and shook his head: “The servants and maids in Manager Xia’s house showed no unusual expressions, and the house didn’t look like anything had happened. It seems nothing major has occurred.”
“I understand. Thank you for making this trip—go rest now.” Qin Yining nodded and politely thanked Jingzhe.
Jingzhe was overwhelmed by this favor, waving his hands repeatedly: “Handling affairs for the Princess is this subordinate’s duty. Princess, please don’t be so courteous with this subordinate anymore. This subordinate takes his leave.”
Jingzhe bowed and slowly withdrew. Watching his respectfully bowed head, Qin Yining couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
However, after laughing, Qin Yining once again fell into deep thought.
The situation with Manager Xia was truly suspicious.
This made Qin Yining inevitably think of Pang Xiao’s situation. Deng Minchang, who should have come to pay respects to Pang Xiao, hadn’t appeared, requiring Pang Xiao to rush to the military camp to investigate the situation. She still didn’t know what the current circumstances were.
It seemed that after Yuchi Yan and Gu Shixiong returned to the south, the common people on the land that originally belonged to Great Yan no longer acknowledged themselves as Great Zhou citizens.
This was understandable. After all, how long had it been since the Yan Dynasty’s fall? In everyone’s memory, the Yan Dynasty was still the country they recognized in their hearts. Even if the emperor had been incompetent with tyrannical and harsh governance, it couldn’t diminish the Yan Dynasty’s position in the people’s hearts. Only someone in her unavoidable position would force herself not to decide based on emotions, but rather analyze situations and view problems rationally.
Qin Yining rubbed her temples, leaning back against the soft pillow and closing her eyes to rest.
Perhaps during her pregnancy, she had always stayed by Pang Xiao’s side, being protected too well, so that when she needed to think and strategize again, she even felt unaccustomed to it.
Actually, if she did nothing and just stayed home caring for the children, that would be acceptable too. Pang Xiao was capable and responsible—he would certainly handle everything properly without letting her suffer grievances. It would be enough if she didn’t cause trouble or drag him down.
But she didn’t want to become a burden. She wanted to become someone who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Pang Xiao, not someone hiding behind him. If she truly became like that, she would be no different from any other woman. What reason would Pang Xiao have to remain wholeheartedly devoted to her?
Qin Yining never believed that in matters of the heart, the other person must be completely devoted to oneself. Feelings needed cultivation, and marriage needed even more cultivation. It wasn’t that having love meant one could be reckless and do whatever one pleased.
On the contrary, precisely because there was love, one needed to carefully nurture it, perfect oneself, and work hard.
Moreover, if for no other reason than to provide one more layer of protection for Zhao Ge’er and Han Ge’er, Qin Yining couldn’t allow herself to continue relaxing.
Thinking of this, Qin Yining suddenly straightened up. Her eyes blazed with sharp determination, and her entire spirit and energy became completely different from moments before.
No, she couldn’t allow herself to grow accustomed to depending on Pang Xiao. She had to become independent. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Pang Xiao, but she needed to be like her grandmother—able to support the entire family even alone. Only then would she have greater confidence to survive.
“Princess, Manager Zhong has arrived.” Xian Yun called softly from outside the door.
“Please invite him in quickly.” Qin Yining stood up and walked toward the main room for receiving guests. Just as she sat down, the ink-green bamboo warm curtain was lifted, a gust of cold wind rushed in, and Manager Zhong ducked his short frame into the room.
“Princess.” Manager Zhong paid his respects.
“No need for excessive courtesy—please sit down quickly.” Qin Yining smiled as she instructed someone to prepare tea, then asked: “How did the estate matters go?”
Ji Yun entered carrying a black lacquered tray with double handles, placing two white porcelain blue-and-white covered bowls respectively on the square tables beside Qin Yining and Manager Zhong, then bowed and withdrew.
Manager Zhong nodded in acknowledgment. After there were no outsiders in the room, he said in a low voice: “Princess, to be honest, this trip to several estates didn’t go smoothly for me, so I didn’t carefully inspect the remaining dozen or so estates and our shops. I hurried back here to report to you first. I was afraid of alerting the snake in the grass.”
Qin Yining nodded understandingly: “It seems there are indeed problems here. Things aren’t going smoothly on my end either. The news of the Prince and my arrival shouldn’t be any secret. Yet Manager Xia hasn’t proactively come to call, and when I sent someone to fetch him, Manager Xia claimed illness and refused to see anyone. I already began to have suspicions, and unexpectedly your situation is the same.”
Manager Zhong shook his head somewhat self-reproachfully: “This matter is my dereliction of duty. At the time, I felt the south was stable enough to serve as our foundation, so after entrusting things to Manager Xia, I stopped managing them. I only thought about following the Princess to the capital to settle in and develop, to establish another family fortune. I neglected southern affairs.”
“This isn’t your fault.”
Qin Yining consoled him: “I know you did your best. Moreover, we were all in Great Zhou’s capital—truly distant mountains and a far emperor from here. By the way, when I previously had you notify Manager Xia to promptly send messages reporting on the city’s situation along the way, did you notify him?”
Manager Zhong nodded: “I had someone ride fast horses to deliver the letter.”
Qin Yining smiled with interest, twirling the long hair by her temples with her finger: “Now this is interesting. After Manager Zhong left the group, I didn’t receive a single letter, nor did anyone bring oral messages. Clearly Manager Xia treated this instruction as something going in one ear and out the other.”
“That old bastard—he’s rebelling!” Manager Zhong angrily slapped the table.