Chapter 121: Breaking Out

Back in the Qin Manor, the old dowager was happily ordering servants to prepare a sumptuous dinner banquet, and had posted men every fifty steps on the roads that Qin Huaiyuan was certain to take on his way home. She had given explicit orders to have a carriage bring news the moment the lord was sighted.

The group remained in the Garden of Loving Piety to keep the old dowager company. The happy atmosphere permeating the air was even warmer than the one around new year’s. It obviously wouldn’t do for Qin Yining to return to the Venerable Study Hall first, so she had to stay and partake of the gathering.

However, this wait stretched into a four hour vigil. Even as dusk fell, Qin Huaiyuan still hadn’t returned, and the old dowager was beginning to worry.

“Even if there is a palace banquet being held, there’s no reason for them to stay so late. What kind of banquet runs so long?” The emperor should consider the family more if he’s keeping my son behind! I haven’t seen him in so long! But the old dowager feared the emperor in the end, and swallowed her complaints, opting to inwardly nag him a thousand times over instead.

The third madame was best at currying favor, so she smiled when she saw the old dowager’s impatience. “Senior brother-in-law’s great merit marks his name as one for the halls of fame. It’s only natural that the emperor would keep him to talk a while longer. Only he would have such a special honor. Anyone else might spend their entire life waiting for such treatment in vain!”

“That’s right, grandmother.” Qin Huining chimed in. “We’re all Qins, so it’s easy for us to see father, but other officials and court peers? It’s probably hard for them to even talk to father normally, so they’ll definitely make use of today’s banquet to have a good chat with him!”

Qin Huining had spent fourteen years as the old dowager’s most doted upon and favored grandchild, but had found herself suppressed in every way possible after Qin Yining’s return. Now that she was once again by the old dowager’s side, she was both gratified and excited. Naturally, Qin Huining used every trick in her arsenal to make the old dowager happy.

Scenes of Qin Huaiyuan being surrounded by adoring peers crystallized in the old dowager’s mind. When she dwelled on the fact that her son was the one being feted by everyone, and how filial he was normally, the old dowager felt as if her heart had been immersed in honey. She couldn’t help but laugh heartily.

The third madame and Qin Huining started teasing the old dowager when they saw how happy the matriarch was. The sixth, seventh, and eighth miss also clustered around them, lifting the old dowager up into immense delight.

Qin Yining sat removed from that group with the third miss, the two sipping tea and chatting randomly in low voices. They weren’t of a mind to join in the fawning action at all. The third miss was already engaged and her wedding day wasn’t far off. Besides, she’d always had a nature detached from worldly strife and desires. Qin Yining on the other hand, had completely seen through the old dowager and no longer sought her deeply cherished wish for pure, familial love from her grandmother. The old dowager didn’t like her or née Sun at the moment anyways. Qin Yining wasn’t the sort to offer her right cheek when her left cheek was struck.

Just as the house full of females were chattering and tittering happily, rapid footsteps suddenly sounded from outside. The vague tones of a man’s voice filtered inside to them.

“It must be Meng’er.” The old dowager looked to the door with a smile.

However, the door curtains lifted to reveal Qin Huaiyuan’s body servant, Qitai! The servant thumped to his knees as soon as he entered the house.

“Old Dowager! Something’s happened in the palace!”