Hearing Yao Chenggu’s words all centered around his own safety, with clearly no intention of analyzing what had happened, Pang Xiao couldn’t help but sigh and shake his head. He bowed to the two elders and was about to leave.
Seeing this, Yao Shi became anxious and hurried to grab Pang Xiao’s hand: “Hey! Son! Listen to what mother has to say! If you go ask those people, there’s no guarantee they won’t be biased and speak entirely in favor of that Qin family girl. If you want to know what happened, I’ll tell you.”
“No need.” Pang Xiao shook his head and walked away.
Yao Shi chased after him, supporting herself against the door frame as she watched Pang Xiao disappear, immediately flying into a rage.
“Marry a wife and forget your mother!” She turned back to Yao Chenggu: “In this world, there are only heartless sons, not heartless mothers. Look how Dafu treats me, yet I can’t bring myself to be angry with him.”
Ma Shi lay down on the soft couch. She was so angry her heart was cramping, and she was too tired to listen to Yao Shi talk.
She had originally thought that once they were alone, Yao Chenggu would revert to his usual behavior, criticizing the Qin family and teaching Yao Shi how to be one way in public and another in private. Now facing this father-daughter pair, she felt a bone-deep powerlessness radiating from within. No matter how she taught her daughter, Yao Yuping would turn around and learn something else from her father. How could she single-handedly pull such a heavy cart?
Who knew that this time, Yao Chenggu’s reaction would exceed Ma Shi’s expectations.
“Go kneel in the side room!” Yao Chenggu stood up and angrily slammed the table. “Without my permission, you’re not allowed to come out or eat!”
Upon hearing this, Ma Shi’s heart cramps even eased. She flipped over and sat up, looking at the father-daughter pair in amazement, not understanding how Yao Chenggu had suddenly changed his nature.
Yao Shi was shocked and grabbed Yao Chenggu’s arm, shaking it: “Father, what are you doing? There are no outsiders here, you…”
“Get going!” Yao Chenggu shook off Yao Shi’s hand, walked to the door, lifted the sapphire blue warming curtain, and called loudly to two unfamiliar servant women in the courtyard: “You two, come here.”
The two servant women walked over suspiciously and bowed: “Master Yao.”
“Mm, you don’t need to do anything else. Go watch Madam Yao for me. Watch her kneel as punishment without taking your eyes off her for a moment! Without my orders, don’t let her get up, and don’t give her food or drink!”
Both servant women were loyal servants of the Qin family who had heard about the earlier events and were privately scorning Yao Shi. Who would have thought such a good opportunity would fall into their laps? They were just looking down on that shrew when she delivered herself to their door!
The two servant women quickly bowed and eagerly agreed.
Yao Chenggu had them enter the room and waved his hand: “Take her away.”
“Yes.”
The two servant women supported Yao Shi’s arms from both sides.
Yao Shi screamed in disbelief: “Father, Father, how can you treat your daughter like this! Weren’t you just putting on a show for outsiders earlier? There are no outsiders watching now—why are you still punishing me? Father!”
Yao Chenggu’s face turned black.
It seemed this daughter had indeed been spoiled beyond reason, so thoughtless and careless with her words. All these years had been wasted! Could she say such things in front of the Qin family’s servant women?
“Take her away now!”
“Yes.”
The servant women pursed their lips and supported Yao Shi from both sides as they left, feeling sorry for their Fourth Young Mistress in their hearts.
Such a celestial beauty who had married such a good husband—how did she end up with such a troublesome mother-in-law? Truly, men fear entering the wrong profession and women fear marrying the wrong man. The family customs of both husband’s and wife’s families were indeed too important.
Yao Shi was forced to kneel in the side room. The servant women were quite clever, choosing a thick, soft large cushion to place under Yao Shi’s knees and bringing over a brazier for warmth.
Though Yao Chenggu said no food or drink was allowed, while meals could be withheld, hot water could still be provided. For such a pampered noble lady, only drinking water without eating was already sufficient torment. Going too far would inevitably invite criticism that the Qin family was too cruel.
Yao Shi was forced to kneel on the cushion and struggled twice to get up.
But Yao Chenggu’s voice came from outside the door: “Kneel properly! If you won’t listen to me, don’t call me father anymore!”
Yao Shi’s movements immediately stopped, and she began sobbing pitifully.
Seeing through the gap in the warming curtain that Yao Shi wasn’t getting up again, Yao Chenggu was satisfied and returned to the room.
Ma Shi had recovered by then. Seeing Yao Chenggu enter, she sneered: “When I tried to discipline our daughter in earlier years, you interfered horizontally and vertically, just refusing to let me. After I taught her in person, you had another set of explanations behind my back. You turned a good daughter into someone with such character. Now you think of teaching her—isn’t it a bit late?”
Yao Chenggu had been somewhat afraid of Ma Shi since his youth and remained so. Even when contradicting Ma Shi, he didn’t dare look directly into her eyes, only mumbling: “Teaching daughters is originally women’s business. If the daughter isn’t good, it’s your problem too.”
“Yes. I can’t teach. I’m not a mother who knows how to raise children, but you’re not exactly a good father either. Look what you’ve spoiled your daughter into!”
“Didn’t you spoil her too?”
Ma Shi sneered: “You two father and daughter just continue your reckless behavior. Don’t be too despicable, or heaven will punish you!”
Looking at his wife’s pale face from anger, Yao Chenggu’s lips moved, but ultimately he said nothing more.
At the same time, Pang Xiao had already reached the front hall and called the Elite Tiger Guards who had remained in the mansion to inquire about the situation.
The Elite Tiger Guards were always the most loyal, acting objectively and cautiously, never deliberately lying to mislead people.
When Pang Xiao asked, they supplemented each other’s answers.
“At the time, the princess consort went to pay respects to Old Madam Yao, but Old Madam Yao, perhaps holding a grudge from returning from the estate, immediately started with sharp words against the princess consort. After they exchanged a few words, Old Madam Yao threw her hand warmer at the princess consort. The princess consort reacted quickly and stepped back to dodge, but the charcoal from the hand warmer fell out and ignited the princess consort’s dress, nearly causing a serious accident. Fortunately, Miss Ji Yun was quick with her hands, so the princess consort wasn’t burned, though we noticed Miss Ji Yun’s hands seemed to have several blisters burned on them.
“When this commotion started, Lord Qin and the great madam both came out. Old Madam Yao then said the princess consort had committed two of the seven grounds for divorce and wanted to divorce the princess consort.
“Lord Qin kept acting as peacemaker, and the princess consort also said it was a misunderstanding. Later, when Master Yao arrived, he and Lord Qin mutually apologized to each other. The atmosphere had already calmed down when Old Madam Yao started making a scene again, angering the Grand Dowager to the point of wanting to hit someone. They were in the middle of this chaos when Your Highness returned.”
Pang Xiao’s face remained calm as he pressed his lips together and nodded.
“So old madam was holding a grudge and making unreasonable trouble, nearly burning Yining, which caused father-in-law and mother-in-law to stand up for their daughter?”
“Yes.” The Elite Tiger Guard nodded.
Pang Xiao nodded and dismissed them.
He only felt his face burning with shame and no longer had the face to see Qin Yining.
The Elite Tiger Guards were his subordinates, and though their report was objective enough, they were ultimately preserving his dignity by not describing Yao Shi’s actions in too much detail.
But how could Pang Xiao not know what his own mother was like?
Qin Yining was sensible and magnanimous—she wouldn’t stir up trouble for no reason. So today’s incident was entirely Yao Shi’s fault.
Moreover, given the current situation, anyone with even a bit of sense would know they absolutely couldn’t let the Qin and Yao families become unpleasant with each other.
Neither of these two families could survive completely safely in Xi Yue if they left the other. Even if their survival capabilities were sufficient, once they harbored ill intentions, they would both suspect whether the other might betray them, and might actually end up betraying each other.
Pang Xiao was going to stay with Qin Yining to face Li Qitian together—what they were doing could cost them their heads. One wrong step would lead to eternal damnation. Neither of them wanted trouble in the rear quarters at this crucial moment.
So whether it was Qin Yining or Qin Huaiyuan, these intelligent people who clearly understood court situations would only suppress matters, not provoke incidents.
Even so, the situation had escalated this much, which was enough to show how excessively his birth mother had behaved.
Pang Xiao wanted to investigate, but he didn’t want to hear from others just how excessive Yao Shi had been—it brought him no honor!
Pang Xiao sat down weakly, propping his elbows on the table and covering his forehead, burying his face in his palms.
After a long while, Pang Xiao gradually calmed his emotions before rising to go to Xueli Courtyard.
He felt extremely ashamed and had no face to see the Qin family, but even feeling ashamed, he had to express his thoughts. He couldn’t let people suspect he was avoiding the problem.
Today Yining had been publicly humiliated—who knew how heartbroken she was? If he just shrank his neck and ignored it, could he still call himself a man?
However, Pang Xiao had thought for so long here without coming up with a definite good solution to the problem, which truly exhausted him mentally and physically.
“The prince has returned.”
As soon as Pang Xiao entered the main gate of Xueli Courtyard, Qiu Lu, who was walking toward the small kitchen, called out a greeting and bowed to Pang Xiao.
Pang Xiao waved his hand and stood in the courtyard asking quietly: “Where is the princess consort?”
“In reply to Your Highness, the princess consort just returned and is currently feeding fruit to the two young masters.”
Pang Xiao nodded, hesitated for a moment, then strode up the steps and entered the door.
As soon as he entered, the two children rushed out from the inner room like two excited little puppies, bouncing and jumping.
“Father, Father!”
“Daddy, hug!”
“Hey!” Pang Xiao’s heart was about to melt. He hugged this one then that one, holding both soft children like glutinous rice balls, one in each arm, and his mood improved considerably.
Qin Yining came out from inside carrying a delicate white porcelain small bowl containing a puree of fruits and vegetables specially prepared by Bingtang.
“Come, whose turn is it to eat this spoonful?”
Zhao Ge’er turned his head and buried his face in Pang Xiao’s embrace.
Han Ge’er shouted: “Brother’s turn to eat!”
Qin Yining smiled and walked over.
Zhao Ge’er began kicking his little legs in Pang Xiao’s arms, struggling to jump down.
The child struggled so earnestly that Pang Xiao, afraid of hurting him, had to put him down. Zhao Ge’er simply turned and ran away, shouting in his childish voice: “Don’t want to eat, don’t want to eat.”
Qin Yining chased after him with the small bowl: “No way, we already agreed—you and your brother take turns, one spoonful each. Zhao Ge’er can’t go back on his word.”
“Mama, don’t want to eat!” Zhao Ge’er hid under the table.
Han Ge’er in Pang Xiao’s arms giggled and clapped his little hands happily.