Now that Manager Xia wanted to see her, instead of personally visiting, he was sending invitations.

Manager Xia showed such disregard for her that Qin Yining had long intended to discipline him properly. It was just that with grandmother’s incident some days ago, plus the New Year celebrations, she hadn’t freed up her hands yet.

Who would have thought that after such a long time, this Manager Xia still showed no signs of repentance.

Qin Yining took the invitation that Lu Dashun presented with both hands, lowered her eyes to look at it, and her face showed a half-smile expression.

Lu Dashun nervously observed Qin Yining’s expression and said, “Princess, what does Manager Xia say?”

“What does he say? See for yourself.” Qin Yining casually handed the invitation to Lu Dashun.

Lu Dashun accepted it with trepidation and, after carefully reading it, couldn’t help but gasp.

“This—Manager Xia truly has audacious nerve. Princess, you are the owner and also honored as a princess—how could you possibly visit his home as a guest? He hasn’t even come to pay respects to you yet!”

Qin Yining smiled, “Exactly. Manager Xia indeed has remarkable boldness. I’ll have to trouble you to go back and convey to him that this princess is busy and has no time.”

Lu Dashun nodded and stood to bow, “Yes, this humble person will certainly deliver the message.”

Qin Yining nodded and picked up her tea.

Lu Dashun knew Qin Yining must be displeased in her heart and naturally didn’t dare stay longer. He immediately bowed properly and withdrew.

After Lu Dashun left, Ji Yun said indignantly, “This Manager Xia has such airs! The Princess graced him with her presence once without him even requesting an audience, and now he has the audacity to invite people—does he really think he has such great face?”

Bingtang also said, “For this person to be so arrogant, he must have backing behind him.”

“Indeed.” Qin Yining seemed thoughtful and called Jingzhe over.

“I’ll have to trouble you to help me investigate the situation at the estate—see how those refugees I took in originally are doing now. Additionally, focus on seeing who Manager Xia has been closely associating with recently, and what person gave him the confidence to repeatedly ignore me as his employer.”

“Yes, I’ll handle it immediately.” Jingzhe immediately accepted the order and withdrew to secretly investigate this matter.

Qin Yining originally thought that after being refused once by her, Manager Xia would have some awakening.

But who could have imagined that in less than half a day, another invitation arrived from Manager Xia’s side. This time the errand runner wasn’t Lu Dashun—clearly Lu Dashun wanted no part in muddying these waters, fearing Qin Yining would mistake him for being in Manager Xia’s camp.

Qin Yining looked at the invitation and saw that its contents were identical to the previous one—not even a single word had been changed, making clear how much sincerity was truly involved.

Even though Qin Yining’s temperament had become much more gentle and tolerant since having Han Ge’er and Zhao Ge’er compared to before, she was still angered by Manager Xia’s various behaviors.

Qin Yining rejected the invitation as usual and instructed Ji Yun, “Tell the servant who delivered the message that if he wants to see this princess, Manager Xia should personally come pay his respects—and this princess might not necessarily agree to spare time to see him, let alone when he can’t distinguish status and shows such disrespect. This princess is very busy and has no time to eat his simple meal.”

Ji Yun was also indignant and immediately agreed, striding out to deliver the message.

Qin Yining sat propping her chin by the small table, and soon saw Ji Yun enter the room, walking around the carved screen to approach her.

“Princess, the message has been delivered. But this servant observed that the little servant was very arrogant, not putting us in his eyes at all—probably following his master’s example.”

Qin Yining laughed lightly, “His master doesn’t know whose coattails he’s grabbed onto, so he thinks he can also run rampant. Very well, their behavior has given me something to do and saved me from boring days.”

Ji Yun felt much more relaxed and smiled, “This servant knows the Princess has ways to deal with them.”

What she most admired was Qin Yining’s disposition of being able to handle any situation calmly. She never panicked when encountering difficulties and always rose to meet challenges head-on.

By evening, just after Qin Yining had finished feeding the two babies, Qiu Lu lifted the curtain and entered.

“Princess, Manager Lu San requests an audience.”

“Understood. Please show him to the front hall. I’ll be there immediately.” Qin Yining was somewhat surprised. At this hour, for Manager Lu San to suddenly request a meeting, there must be some urgent matter.

This time when Lu Dashun saw Qin Yining, his attitude was even more respectful than the previous time, and his speech was even more careful. “Princess, this humble person comes today wanting to invite the Princess to go somewhere.”

Qin Yining raised an eyebrow.

How had this person also learned to invite her out?

Seeing Qin Yining remain silent, Lu Dashun hastily said, “Princess, please don’t misunderstand—this humble person has no other meaning. Today I want to invite the Princess to Guilin Restaurant. There’s an important matter for the Princess to know about. When the Princess arrives there, you’ll naturally understand this humble person’s intentions.”

Qin Yining vaguely understood something and turned to order someone to prepare the carriage.

Ji Yun and Bingtang immediately took separate actions to prepare the carriage, horses, and guards for protection.

Qin Yining stood up, and Qiu Lu and Xian Yun had already brought her outdoor cloak and a small brass hand warmer.

Standing in place, Qin Yining quietly instructed, “Take good care of the two young masters—don’t let them get bumped or hurt.”

“Understood. Princess, rest assured. We servants will watch carefully, and the wet nurses dare not be negligent in the slightest.” When His Highness left, he had called all the wet nurses forward to give careful instructions—who would dare displease His Highness?

Thinking of Pang Xiao’s battle-ready appearance when leaving, Qin Yining also felt amused.

Properly dressed, Qin Yining took several Elite Tiger Guards and went out.

Who knew that just as the carriage exited the side gate and turned onto the main street, she saw Manager Zhong getting out of his carriage and coming this way.

Qin Yining lifted the carriage curtain and smiled in greeting, then said, “I was just about to go out. Manager Zhong, please come along—we can talk about business slowly.”

Manager Zhong immediately agreed and asked with a smile, “Where is the Princess going?”

“Guilin Restaurant.” Qin Yining laughed lightly. After all, Guilin Restaurant was her property—she wondered what those people intended to stir up at her own establishment.

The group soon arrived at Guilin Restaurant. Manager Lu San and Manager Zhong led the way on the left and right.

Manager Lu San spoke quietly with a waiter, then led Qin Yining upstairs directly to the Xuan character room.

The private rooms here couldn’t be called luxurious—they were mid-to-low grade settings. The walls were partition walls, and if you listened carefully, you could hear faint conversation from next door.

Manager Lu San lowered his voice and said to Qin Yining, “Today Manager Xia made an appointment to drink with people next door.”

The three of them and their guards took their seats. Qin Yining could clearly hear several people’s voices from next door engaged in loud conversation. Those few people seemed to have drunk quite a bit and were already showing signs of intoxication.

One of them said loudly, “Come, let’s toast Manager Xia! Now that Manager Xia holds power and business is prospering, let us brothers drink together!”

“Come, come, let’s drink, drink!” Then came a slightly aged, deep voice that spoke very slowly.