Although it was a sudden decision to return to the capital, the proper protocols still couldn’t be neglected. Moreover, because they needed to bring Song Linlang’s memorial tablet, Third Old Master Song had specifically gone to the temple beforehand to have the Master consult an auspicious date, deciding to depart on the twelfth day of the twelfth month.

On the day of departure, Qingzhou had clear weather again. A sun hung distantly on the treetops, accompanying the cool breeze as it poured its radiance onto the ground, adding some warmth to the icy winter day.

Old Madam Song grasped Xiang Mingzi’s hand, pulling her into her embrace. “Azi, before your mother died, her greatest wish was to hope you could return to the Song family. Now Grandmother is taking you home.”

She rubbed her chin against Xiang Mingzi’s smooth, fragrant hair, gently patting her back. “From now on, you have no more connection with the Xiang family. Don’t be afraid.”

Xiang Mingzi knew that Ziwei and Zilan must have told Old Madam Song about her frequent nightmares recently. Her heart felt both sour and bitter. After hesitating for a long time, she finally raised her head from Old Madam Song’s embrace. “But Grandmother, after all I still bear the Xiang surname…”

She had seen girls living under someone else’s roof at their maternal family’s home. After wearing out whatever affection there was, they lived cautiously under their aunt’s hand, barely scraping by.

This was precisely what Song Linlang had feared, which was why she had painstakingly persevered for over a decade, all to personally raise her daughter herself, to ensure she had a place to settle down and make a living. It wasn’t until she finally could no longer hold on that she had no choice but to turn to her natal family for help again.

Old Madam Song wasn’t angry. Holding her, she laughed once. “Your aunts are not that kind of harsh people—you can rest assured. Moreover, as long as your grandfather and I are alive, we will never let you suffer even the slightest grievance.”

No matter what, life in the Song family couldn’t possibly be worse than in the Xiang family. Xiang Mingzi thought of her mother’s instructions and expectations, and she had also observed Old Madam Song’s care and affection for her during this time. Fighting back tears, she nodded.

When the carriage convoy passed through Zhengyang Main Street, it couldn’t move forward. Old Madam Song looked at Xiang Mingzi, who was already half-dozing in her arms, and asked Nanny Qin who was accompanying the carriage through the curtain: “What’s happening outside?”

It wasn’t a festival or holiday—why was the road blocked for no good reason?

Nanny Qin’s voice, carrying some schadenfreude, passed through the curtain into the carriage, causing Xiang Mingzi to also raise her head. “Reporting to Old Madam, Magistrate Xiang is also being escorted to the capital for trial today. Quite a few people on the street are gathered around to watch the spectacle, so the road is blocked.”

Old Madam Song frowned with slight disgust. Given that Xiang Mingzi was present, she didn’t say anything harsh in the end, but she still felt somewhat uncomfortable. She instructed Nanny Qin: “Have Third Master see if we can leave immediately. If it’s really too congested, take a different route.”

She hadn’t expected that changing the date would result in traveling on the same day as Xiang Yunzhang. Old Madam Song felt as disgusted as if she had swallowed a fly.

Xiang Yunzhang, however, looked at the carriage bearing the Changning Earl’s residence emblem with such excitement that tears welled up in his eyes. He widened his eyes and desperately waved at Third Old Master Song who was on horseback.

Third Old Master Song looked straight ahead past him, not even glancing in his direction with his peripheral vision from start to finish. He turned his horse around and went to the back to speak with Old Madam Song.

The official escorting Xiang Yunzhang sneered, looking at Xiang Yunzhang with eyes both mocking and disdainful. The words he spoke made Xiang Yunzhang feel somewhat ashamed. “What’s Master Xiang trying to do—still wanting to greet your former mother-in-law or something?”

Another more serious-looking head constable glared at that official, then looked at the Changning Earl’s residence’s massive carriage convoy. He didn’t speak sarcastically, and seeing that the crowd had been dispersed enough, he ordered people to continue moving.

Seeing that Xiang Yunzhang still wouldn’t give up and was shouting loudly, he glanced back at the Song family members who were acting as if they hadn’t heard anything at all, and kindly advised Xiang Yunzhang: “Master Xiang should give up. Their family lost a daughter—right now they wish you were dead. They won’t help you.”

But it wasn’t like this back then!

Back then, everyone in the Song family had treated him with courtesy and respect. Old Master Song and Old Madam Song had treated him as a son-in-law, showing warm concern and thoughtful care. The several brothers-in-law from the Song family had all addressed him as brother.

But why had it become like this now?!

It was all his mother Old Madam Xiang’s fault! From the very first day Song Linlang married into the Xiang family, she had been jealous and petty, saying unpleasant things in his ear. Over time, he couldn’t help but be somewhat influenced.

It was also all Concubine Bai’s fault. On the surface appearing gentle and weak like a caring little padded jacket, but secretly harboring such malicious thoughts. She even fantasized that after he and Song Linlang reconciled their marriage, she could be elevated to principal wife—truly delusional!

Even more hateful was that witch doctor, saying that Xiang Mingzi was a calamity star reincarnated, when in reality he had conspired with Concubine Bai all along.

These people—all of them were the chief culprits who forced him from being a court official to falling into becoming a prisoner!

No, no, no—there was also Song Linlang.

Xiang Yunzhang stared blankly as tears fell, not understanding why Song Linlang could be so heartless—when Old Madam Xiang had visited him in prison, she mentioned that all of Song Linlang’s dowry and the shops and fields she managed had all been taken back by the Song family. Even that portion in distant Shu had already contacted the Xiang family’s clan leader to demand its return.

Husband and wife for so long, yet at the final critical moment she had unhesitatingly used her powerful natal family to suppress him.

But now resentment and complaints were useless. These days of imprisonment had finally made him understand one principle—when under someone’s roof, one must bow one’s head.

A gentleman can bend and stretch. He consoled himself this way in his heart, then searched all over his body and found a gemstone that Song Linlang had once set on his belt buckle. Taking advantage of the head constable going into a tavern to buy wine, he quietly handed it to that official from earlier, with some scholar’s bashfulness and shame, stammering to ask him to go to the Song family convoy to pass along a message: “Young brother, I trouble you. Please just pass along a message for me, asking them to let us travel together with them on the road.”

His abacus was certainly clicking away loudly.

That official looked at him in surprise, then looked at the Song family convoy that had already gone far ahead. He couldn’t help but find it amusing, but the gemstone before his eyes was sparkling brilliantly—clearly not an ordinary item.

He snatched the gemstone into his palm in one motion, tucking it into his sleeve along his hand. The expression on his face was no longer so mocking. “Since that’s the case, I’ll shamelessly try on Master Xiang’s behalf. But let me say the ugly truth first—anyone with eyes can see the Earl’s residence nobles’ current attitude. Whether I succeed or not, I can’t guarantee.”

Xiang Yunzhang breathed a sigh of relief, his two hands barely managing to make a gesture of thanks within the prisoner cage. “As it should be, as it should be. Young brother, please rest assured—no matter how much my mother-in-law hates me, I’m still her granddaughter’s biological father after all. Please, young brother, just go and try.”