When Qin Yining walked near the courtyard wall, Mu Jinghu had already avoided the two patrolling members of the Azure Sky Alliance and was waiting there.

“Young Master Mu, when did you return?”

Mu Jinghu walked up to Qin Yining, and before answering, first looked her up and down thoroughly, frowning as he said, “How have you lost so much weight? Pang Zhixi would definitely be anxious if he saw you.”

Qin Yining gave a bitter smile, not knowing how to respond for a moment. She had experienced too much during this period – even if she saw Pang Xiao, she would have the feeling of not knowing where to begin.

Mu Jinghu said, “I just entered the city. Actually, I should have arrived earlier, but on the road I saw the Old Madam and their convoy. I was worried something might happen, so I followed behind them to escort them for a while.”

As he spoke, he took out a letter from his chest and handed it to Qin Yining.

When Qin Yining saw the handwriting on the envelope, her eyes immediately reddened. Taking a deep breath, she smiled at Mu Jinghu before opening the letter and taking out the thick stack of letter paper inside to read.

Pang Xiao’s letter rambled on expressing his devotion, and also wrote down in detail everything he had done in the south. Finally, he instructed her to definitely take care of her health and prioritize self-preservation. At the end, he carefully comforted her, concluding with the phrase “kissing the corner of your lips.”

Qin Yining’s slender fingers unconsciously caressed the corner of her lips, not even noticing herself. Just because of one letter, her constantly furrowed brow finally relaxed.

She carefully read through what had happened in the south again and said with sudden understanding, “No wonder that person gave me an opportunity to speak at the time. Has the Prince now established relations with South Yan?”

“Shanshan’s Sitong Trading Company is now busy trading with South Yan merchants. This has stimulated commerce, and the people of South Yan no longer hate and fear Pang Zhixi as they did before. Although we can’t say South Yan has been completely recovered, the relationship with South Yan’s new emperor isn’t as strained anymore.”

“New emperor?”

“You don’t know yet? After Yuchi Xuji died, Yuchi Yan ran away. Pang Zhixi deliberately left a gap for him to escape back to Great Zhou. The South Yan people simply hate Yuchi Yan to the bone, and have now enthroned Yuchi Xuji’s nephew, Yuchi Chuan, as emperor. Yuchi Chuan is only fourteen this year. All affairs are arranged by the court ministers – he’s not someone who can stand on his own. However, this does make things more convenient.”

Mu Jinghu was not someone good at thinking about court matters. From his tone, you could tell these words were all things he had heard Qiu Feishan or Pang Xiao say many times and remembered.

Qin Yining tucked the letter paper away, planning to dispose of it later.

If this letter fell into someone else’s hands, it could very likely become evidence of Pang Xiao’s “treason.” This also showed how much Pang Xiao trusted Mu Jinghu.

“What are Young Master Mu’s plans after returning to the capital?”

“Pang Zhixi was worried there might be changes in the capital, so he sent me to protect your safety. As for other matters, there isn’t much. If my martial uncle doesn’t assign me anything, I should be able to stay with you.”

Qin Yining was overjoyed: “Then I must thank you greatly. Many things have happened these days, and now the household is in such chaos – I was actually worried something uncontrollable might happen. With you here, I feel much more at ease.”

Being so trusted and relied upon, Mu Jinghu couldn’t help but blush a little, scratching the back of his head as he said, “We’re all family here. If you have anything, just give orders directly. If I can’t protect you, never mind Pang Zhixi – even Shanshan would be unhappy with me.”

Hearing his tone, Qin Yining couldn’t help but smile slightly. “How is Mrs. Mu doing now?”

Mu Jinghu smiled: “She’s doing well. She’s over five months pregnant now and it’s inconvenient for her to come out, so I didn’t bring her along. She’s in the territory under Pang Zhixi’s jurisdiction, so I can be at ease.”

“That’s good. So in another five months, you’ll be a father.”

“Yes!” Mu Jinghu’s face flushed with excitement, his eyes bright and shining. “If it’s a son, I’ll have him become brothers with your son.”

“That’s only natural.” Qin Yining nodded with a smile. Someone like Mu Jinghu, who had accompanied and helped them so much along the way, would certainly be a close family friend.

Thinking of the two children, Qin Yining’s heart again filled with continuous, dense longing. An eighteen-month-old child should have grown so much. They should be able to speak simple words now, should be able to call “daddy” and “mommy,” right?

It was just a pity that reality didn’t allow her to accompany the children constantly and participate in every stage of their growth.

Qin Yining sighed softly, composed her emotions, and went to arrange Mu Jinghu’s lodging. Mu Jinghu wasn’t an outsider and was quite familiar with the Qin family members. After seeing his quarters, he went to the mourning hall to help.

Qin Yining then went again to check on Sun Shi’s condition.

Everything in the Qin family was proceeding in a busy but orderly manner.

But at this time, the Chunhui Hall in the Prince’s mansion had already descended into chaos.

Yao Shi’s face was swollen from being slapped, and she was sobbing as she hid around the room: “Mother, stop hitting! Stop hitting!!”

“Enough, you’ve already disciplined her, that’s sufficient. Don’t beat the child to injury!” Yao Chenggu came over to protect Yao Shi, and his arm was also struck several times by Ma Shi’s shoe sole, making him wince and grimace in pain.

Now Yao Chenggu was truly angered: “Why are you acting like this as soon as you return? Our family hasn’t seen each other for so long – this should be a time for reunion, when everyone should be happy together. The mansion had finally calmed down a bit, but you insist on stirring up trouble! What, are you going to show your authority over me too!”

Ma Shi looked at Yao Chenggu’s angry expression and spat viciously: “Bah! What kind of person are you trying to pretend to be with me now? You want to put on airs, but you should first look at whether what you’ve done are things a human being would do! Our Dafu married into the Qin family, so we’re all one family now. We should support each other going forward – to put it plainly, we prosper together and suffer together! And you? What have you been doing? Driving people away when they’re in their most difficult time?”

“Who drove anyone away? We didn’t drive anyone away at all. It was Miss Qin herself who made trouble, saying that setting up a mourning tent in our mansion was inauspicious, so she took the whole family and moved out. Could Yuping and I have gone to stop her?”

“Bullshit!” Ma Shi spat again harshly. “What kind of person Yuping is, I know better than anyone! Don’t think you can hide your scheming from me, Yao Chenggu! If you two father and daughter hadn’t conspired together, wanting to squeeze people out, and had Yuping go speak those cutting words to Miss Yining, Miss Yining would never have taken all her family members away while leaving behind the guards that Dafu had left for us!

“Don’t you two have any sense? What time is this? Dafu is doing business outside, and that person above is watching our family like a hawk with beady eyes – who knows when he’ll take us as hostages? Haven’t we been ‘invited’ into the palace enough times when Dafu went to war before?

“Now Dafu has a family and household – with such a large Qin family, if anything happens to any one of them, it could become a burden for Dafu’s work outside. And you two were so good as to drive them away! To put it plainly, you’re not just selfish, you’re also brainless! You think you’re making things difficult for the Qin family? You’re making things difficult for Dafu! You’re wronging Miss Yining!”

Yao Chenggu couldn’t help but fall silent under Ma Shi’s rebuke.

Yao Shi covered her heavily swollen face, sobbing as she cried: “After all this reasoning, isn’t it just because that bitch Miss Qin gossiped behind our backs again! I knew she was a wife who would ruin the family!”

“You!” Ma Shi, in her fury, swung her arm in a wide arc and struck hard with her shoe sole again.

Yao Chenggu saw that Yao Shi was being beaten too severely, so he extended his arm to block, but Ma Shi was after all a martial artist – with a casual wave of her hand, Yao Chenggu was pushed aside, and that blow still landed solidly on Yao Shi’s face and ear.

This strike made Yao Shi’s ear ring with a buzzing sound, her vision went dark, and she swayed unsteadily for a long while before finally collapsing to sit on the ground, unable to get up for quite some time.

Yao Chenggu hurried to help his daughter up, glaring at Ma Shi with dissatisfaction. He wanted to scold her but feared Ma Shi’s fierce temper that recognized no family ties when angered. In the end, he just nagged: “Look at you, why do you always hit the face or the head? What if you injure her or make her stupid? As her mother, don’t you feel heartache?”

“It would be better if she became stupid! At least then she’d have a pure and kind heart! Look at what kind of heart your daughter has? This is just because the temptation isn’t enough – if there were sufficient benefits, she could sell her own father and mother!”

Yao Shi’s ears were buzzing, and when she finally recovered her hearing, she vaguely heard Ma Shi saying this, which immediately made her cry loudly in anger.

Yao Chenggu helped Yao Shi walk into the room: “Come, come, come, let’s go, father and daughter. Don’t pay attention to your mother – your mother has been bewitched by someone!”

But Ma Shi said: “You all stop right there. Now go change your clothes and go help at the Qin family.”

“We won’t go.” Yao Chenggu said. “I advise you to settle down too. You just returned and don’t know what’s happened in the capital. The entire Dai family was exterminated – could that have nothing to do with someone surnamed Qin?”

Ma Shi was stunned.

She really didn’t know about this matter.

Yao Shi and Yao Chenggu then told Ma Shi about what they had seen at the Qin family gate when they went there yesterday.

“That shrew Miss Qin actually used an axe right then and there. If Duke Dingguo hadn’t arrived, she might have chopped the person up on the spot. That attitude was so frightening that we father and daughter didn’t dare go inside.” Yao Chenggu shook his head, clicking his tongue. “As a result, in just one night, yesterday’s Lord Dai’s entire household was killed except for the women, children, and males under fourteen. They say the bloody smell made all the neighbors in the street sick to their stomachs, unable to eat for several days!

“Now the Qin family is the prime suspect, and your good daughter-in-law is the foremost suspect! You still dare to get close to your in-laws – don’t you value your life?”

“So yesterday when you two went and saw villains with dozens of people blocking the Qin family’s gate, you father and daughter didn’t even dare show your faces and just shrank away and hid?” Ma Shi’s back teeth ground together with a grating sound. Finally, pointing at Yao Chenggu and Yao Shi, she said, “How could I have married such an inhuman thing like you and given birth to such an inhuman daughter!”

Having been both beaten and scolded today, and with so many servants in the mansion watching, Yao Chenggu could no longer maintain face. He immediately said harshly: “If you’re not satisfied, you can leave! Who’s begging you to stay!”

A flash of hurt crossed Ma Shi’s reddened eyes, but she quickly raised her shoe and struck Yao Chenggu’s face hard: “Then I’ll beat you to death first!”