Return of the Swallow c1-644

by Edited by Deyna up to chapter ~100.

  Née Sun nodded sorrowfully. “I’m not worried about her. With how she is, she won’t suffer no matter where she ends up. I just feel that I’ve spent the entirety of my life up to now in vain. I’ve finally seen the true selves of so many people. I never knew that people could treat others like this. I knew that not everyone was kind by nature, but that didn’t necessarily mean they would be evil.”

  Qin Yining couldn’t help but sigh when she heard née Sun’s emotional reflection and noted the lost look in her mother’s eyes, like a lost child. Her mother wasn’t a bad person; she’d just been too sheltered and too well protected for too many years. Add to that how strong her own family had been, that meant the old dowager simply hadn’t had a chance to reveal her true self.

  “It’s not a bad thing to finally see these people for who they are, and to see everything clearly, right?” Qin Yining used her unharmed left hand to hold née Sun’s.

  The madame was moved when she thought of how Qin Yining had defended herself without reservation today. She squeezed Qin Yining’s hand with a smile and nodded lightly.

  “Miss, the medicine has been applied. Don’t touch water over the next two days. I’ll use my special scar ointment when the wounds have scabbed over. I promise that your hand will go back to how it was before!” Bingtang put away the white porcelain medicine box.

  “Thank you.” Qin Yining flashed a smile back.

  “Don’t be so polite, miss!” Bingtang merrily shifted off to the side.

  Née Sun’s dislike of Qin Yining before had also extended to the people at the girl’s side. Now that she understood her daughter more, a mutual hatred for the Caos and the trash emperor made née Sun feel a few degrees of kinship with Bingtang. Add to that the maid’s multiple sessions of treatment for née Sun, the madame was now exceedingly gentle and polite towards Bingtang now.

  “I can be at ease with Miss Tang at daughter Yi’s side. Thank you for taking care of my daughter.”

  “Oh not at all, madame. Serving the miss is this servant’s duty.” Bingtang curtsied with a slight smile.

  Née Sun sighed to hear the girl refer to herself as ‘this servant’. I’m actually a lucky one. Although my family is gone, my mother and sisters-in-law are still alive. I have a husband I can depend on and a daughter who makes me proud. Bingtang was the truly piteous one here. There was no one waiting at home for her, and she was a maid now despite being a noble girl.

  Even more pity welled up for Bingtang at this point. Née Sun pulled the girl’s hands over. “You’ll be at daughter Yi’s side from now on and can take care of each other. Just ask for whatever you want. You can come ask Jin-mama if you need something. Just treat this as your home.”

  Bingtang was startled and flattered by the attention. To be honest, she was very disdainful of this bumpkin of a madame and only felt some sympathy for the Suns’ fate. It was clear to the girl why née Sun was being so nice to her after coming to her senses, so she smiled back politely.

  Just as a touching atmosphere pervaded the house, the sound of the serving girls calling out a greeting in the covered hallway travelled inside. “The lord’s returned.”

  The door curtains lifted to admit Qin Huaiyuan. Née Sun and Qin Yining both rose to sweep concerted curtsies.

  Qin Huaiyuan waved a hand. “No need to stand on ceremony when we’re at home.”

  Taking note of the time, Qin Yining knew that her father had already spoken to Cao Yuqing and settled the Tatar affair. Having stayed up all night and weathered the nonsense of the morning, Qin Yining felt incredibly tired. She knew that her father would be even more so.

  “Father, mother, I shall take my leave then.”

  Née Sun nodded with a smile and had Jin-mama show her daughter out. She stayed behind to help Qin Huaiyuan change.

  Qin Yining, Jiyun, and Bingtang were taking the bluestone path to Venerable Study Hall when they heard a din of wailing and crying by the flower-hung gate as they passed the rear garden. They took a closer look to see that it was Cao Yuqing and Qin Huining.

  “Foster mother, please! I don’t want to leave! I’m not sick, I’m not ill! Please speak to father! Father will listen to you if you talk to him!” Qin Huining was kneeling in front of Cao Yuqing and crying up a piteous storm.

  “You should get up. The lord’s already spoken after your base act. How would there be any room for someone to beg for mercy?” Cao Yuqing sounded quite resigned.

  “I, I did it for you, foster mother!” Qin Huining hadn’t expected that Cao Yuqing would turn her down without a second word. She started panicking.

  Cao Yuqing’s charming face froze and she frowned ferociously. “Please watch your words, Miss Huining. What do you mean that you did it for me? Did I tell you to hurt the old dowager?!”

  Qin Huining abruptly realized the implications of her panicked words and hurriedly tried to explain herself. However, Cao Yuqing’s patience had run dry and she circled past the girl, leaving the manor with her people.

  Qin Huining fell to a sitting position on the ground, looking helplessly at Cao Yuqing’s departing figure and covering her wracking sobs. She well and truly regretted everything now. This wouldn’t be how things ended up if her plan had been thorough enough!

  A chilly gust scraped her back all of a sudden, like someone was scraping off the hairs of her back with a knife. She whipped her head back to see Qin Yining, Jiyun, and Bingtang standing on at the fork of the road that would split off to Venerable Study Hall.

  The sight of Qin Yining’s pastel outfit and stunning looks sickened the foster girl. The fourth miss was looking at Qin Huining with a supercilious smile, so mocking that it was almost materializing as an actual blade to render the rest of her paltry dignity into shavings.

  Qin Huining flushed beet red, but the fourth miss had already turned away when she was about to speak. That last remote flick of the eyes seemed to be some sort of alms to Qin Huining.

  “Come on, Miss Huining. Don’t make our job difficult for us.” Qin-mama and the other servants had long since lost their patience.

  Qin Huining had absolutely no face left and wished she could ram herself to death, but she forced herself to lift her chin proudly and leave through the flower-hung gate. The Snowpear Courtyard servants who’d also been exiled all wore dark, glowering expressions. They spat at Qin Huining a few times behind her back. She heard them, but had to pretend she didn’t know anything.

  ……

  At the same time within the Soaring Phoenix Palace, the empress dismissed her servants and asked Elder Statesman Cao in hushed tones, “What brings you here for no reason, father? Has something happened at home?”

  “It’s nothing terribly devastating,” the statesman responded similarly. “But it’s not a small thing either. Our partnership with the Tatars is likely to be leaked.”

  The color drained from the empress’ face and she asked urgently, “Father, what’s going on?”

  * * *

  Chapter 159: Poison Flaring

  Chapter 159: Poison Flaring

  Elder Statesman Cao looked back and forth, confirming that the door were tightly shut and that no one was peeking in. “Has Your Majesty heard of a fire at the Northern Gathering of Sages?”

  The empress shook her head blankly. With her personality and position, if she didn’t purposefully go looking or someone intentionally let her know, how would a seemingly ordinary fire travel to her ears?

  The statesman continued to whisper. “Last night, the manor we arranged for everyone caught on fire. The Bureau of Fire Control came to put it out, but the water in the carts had been swapped out for oil. The Warden’s Office and Bureau fought to put out the growing fire while the people in the manor fled, but are now missing.”

  “Missing?” The empress’ slightly husky voice was incredulous. “This is obviously a plot! Someone’s set their eyes on us!”

  The statesman nodded. “The princess of the Tatars flew into a rage. I conducted an emergency investigation and
interrogated everyone who had possibly had something to do with the manor. I finally got a clue from Xu Mao in the end. The Qin fourth miss passed by the area a few days ago and said she lost a gold bracelet embedded with jade. She said that the people in the manor took it and wanted Xu Mao to search for her. He turned her down severely, and no one else has been by apart from her.”

  “That Qin wild brat?” The empress narrowed her eyes. “She’s not a simple character. Her looks are a seductive tramp’s and she’s thoroughly bewitched that Great Zhou barbarian. He even gifted the Spring Portrait Garden to her. I’ve taken a close look at her and she looks very much like Qin Meng. She might be just as wily as him.

  “Father.” The empress frowned at this point. “Qin Meng’s not an easy character to handle. I’ve been at the emperor’s side for so long, but still haven’t heard anything useful about Qin Meng. My sister is being so useless as well, only thinking of love and useless faff everyday, and not finding out anything useful!”

  The statesman noted that the empress had gone off on a tangent. “It’s not a bad thing that your sister only thinks of Qin Meng. He’s my good son-in-law now, so that relationship could be very useful.”

  “And what about his daughter passing by the manor?” The empress’ tone had just softened a bit when she thought of the next suspicious item. “Do you think that she’s in cahoots with Great Zhou, father? Is it the prince who wants to cause trouble for us?”

  “That’s possible, but we also can’t rule out that she was given instructions by Qin Meng.”

  The empress sniffed coldly. “I don’t care about anything else, but if that wild brat dares be rude to me, then I’ll make sure I get her for every last bit of indiscretion! Whether she’s helping her father or her lover, I’ll make sure she doesn’t have a life to interfere with any of this anymore! How dare she look down on me that day and watch me be made a fool of! I haven’t suffered like that in so many years! Would I lose to a little thing of a girl? Don’t worry father, just leave Qin Yining to me!”

  The statesman didn’t say anything else when he saw his daughter thus and only smiled.

  Later that night after the statesman took his leave, the empress pouted and flirted with the emperor. She wanted to make a trip to Celestial Nunnery to commission some peace rites because she’d had nightmares for several days in a row. This made her deathly worried about her husband and family, and she wanted to pray for fortune.

  Tears fell as she spoke, assaulting the emperor’s heart with pain. “My dearest sweetheart, don’t cry. My heart is breaking from your tears. I’ll give you anything you want.”

  The emperor placed his arms around the empress’ waist and rocked her back and forth. He thought for a moment. “Commissioning peace rites isn’t a major undertaking. The Faithful Prince of the First Rank has been summoned back to the Great Zhou capital. Their officials will remain behind to handle the war reparations. They’ll be without a backbone as soon as the prince leaves, and it’ll be even easier to make the handover. I’ll be free then and will take you to the nunnery. How about that?”

  The empress pouted her pretty red lips and looked like she would start crying again. “That is naturally wonderful, but I’ve felt so panicked these days and can’t sleep well. Look at the wrinkles at the corners of my eyes. If you care about me, Your Majesty, then send someone to go with me. I’ll feel more at ease after kowtowing to the image of Goddess Doumu.”

  Her pale, tender fingertips slide across the emperor’s shirt and slowly probed downwards. “I’ll make another trip when you’re free, Your Majesty. Is that acceptable?”

  The emperor’s heart melted under the coy pleas and restless hand. His protestations were immediately breached and he agreed to everything the empress wanted.

  The next day, the empress set off in a plain outfit to visit Priestess Liu at Celestial Nunnery, escorted by a set of imperial guards.

  At the same time, Qin Yining was curled up on a soft pallet of the living room in the Venerable Study Hall. She was cuddling and teasing the fluffy Riceball with one hand, and going over the accounts with another. Rapid footsteps from the covered hallway suddenly padded up to her.

  “Reporting to the miss, runners have come from the inner door to say that the Faithful Prince of the First Rank’s body servant requests an audience.”

  Qin Yining started and handed over the accounts to Qiulu, standing up with Riceball in her hands. The maid was in charge of all money and treasure related items now. Bingtang and Jiyun flanked their mistress as they headed into the yard.

  They saw Huzi standing by the door, dressed in a dark blue combat uniform.

  “So it’s you.” Qin Yining played with Riceball’s ears with her gauze wrapped hand.

  Huzi quickly bowed to Qin Yining, ran his eyes over her injured hand, then grinned at Bingtang. “You’re here too, stumpy potato.”

  Bingtang flushed beet red with anger at this nickname but couldn’t lose her composure in front of her mistress. She settled for the most ferocious eye roll she could muster.

  Huzi rubbed his nose after the visual attack and raised a cupped fist salute. “Fourth Miss, our prince’s old injuries are flaring up and have caused a return of the poison from last time. He specifically asked me to request Miss Bingtang to look in on him."

  Qin Yining’s heart skipped a beat. The image of Pang Xiao taking an arrow for her, breaking it off in his shoulder and continuing to defend her with blood-stained robes, was still sharply imprinted in her mind. A poisoning was no small matter. Although Bingtang possessed strong medical skills and a deep family background, she was still very young. What if she’d missed something?

  Qin Yining frowned with worry, but Bingtang twisted her mouth with indifference. “Is poison really troubling your prince?”

  Huzi blushed as Bingtang’s large eyes fixed unblinkingly on him. He grinned even more happily. “Yes, oh yes, the poison’s back. So please, Fourth Miss and Miss Bingtang, please come with me.” His cupped fist salute had now morphed into a begging motion with two palms together.

  This actually made Qin Yining pause with indecision. She looked questioningly at Bingtang, who glared at Huzi in return.

  “Don’t listen to his nonsense, miss. Although the prince has some latent injuries because of his many years in the battlefield, I did indeed already cure the poison. They’re definitely up to something when they say that the poison’s back!”

  Qin Yining nodded slightly at this.

  “Fourth Miss, please consider our prince’s sincerity towards you and make a trip!”

  This made the girl’s face flaming red. Pang Xiao had saved her a few times. Even if née Sun’s execution had been a show, the prince had still moved to save her mother. He’d even gifted her such a valuable residence and offended others just to prop her up. This man was overly domineering and never asked about her preferences, but she still owed him.

  “Alright then, we’ll go with you.” Qin Yining gave Riceball to Jiyun. “I’ll go with Bingtang. Go tell my mother that I have business outside, so you’ll look after her in my stead. If the old dowager summons my mother, go with her and don’t let anyone make things difficult for her.”

  “Don’t worry, miss.” Jiyun nodded with a smile and went back inside with Riceball, while Qin Yining and Bingtang followed the guard out.

  * * *

  Chapter 160: Lovesick

  Chapter 160: Lovesick

  As the carriage sped down the road, Qin Yining felt an increasing sense of wrongness when she looked at their route.

  “Isn’t this the way to Cloudsoar Inn? Why isn’t the prince at the Hall of Welcome?”

  “Indeed,” Huzi responded easily. “There’s too many people at the Hall of Welcome for a diagnosis. Besides, old dog Lian is there too.”

  Irritation welled up when Qin Yining thought of the lecherous Lian Shengjie. Pang Xiao was very thoughtful.

  The carriage stopped at the back door of the inn before long. Qin Yining alighted to see that tw
o tall and strong men were waiting for her. They bowed respectfully upon seeing the Qin fourth miss, who responded with a slight smile and nod. She felt that they looked slightly familiar. Perhaps I saw them at Ning Park that day.

  The two were flattered by the attention and raised cupped hands in return, standing aside to let her in.

  Bingtang followed close behind Qin Yining. “I wonder if Grand Steward Zhong is here today.”

  “No worries. The accounts have been received, so it doesn’t matter if we don’t see him today either.”

  The maid nodded. Huzi took advantage of the lull to sidle up and chuckle lowly. “Hey potato, you seem to have grown taller!”

  The girl raked him with a vicious eye roll. “Not like you! You have heights but no brains. You haven’t learned anything from your prince but a glib tongue, oily speech, and shamelessness!”

  Huzi blinked and shouted angrily, “Don’t drag His Highness into this! You can say I’m shameless, but how is the prince shameless?!”

  “He’s pretending to be sick. What’s that if not shameless?” Bingtang had a never-ending supply of glares for the guard.

  The argument was both amusing and provoking. Qin Yining looked back to see Bingtang puffy-cheeked, leveling a thorough glare at the guard. Huzi was also huffing and widening his eyes back, but the laughter in his look couldn’t be concealed.

  The two associates showing them the way stopped and pushed open the door to the Prosperity Pavilion. “Please go in, Miss Qin.”

  “Many thanks.” Qin Yining walked in first as Huzi and Bingtang were preoccupied in a furious staring contest. The maid ended it with a harrumph and stomped on Huzi’s foot with all her might, quickly following her mistress in.

  Huzi looked at the small footprint on his shoe and burst out laughing. The two men also snickered when they saw how foolishly Huzi was chuckling.