Why had a reality set in stone suddenly changed?
Why had her doting brother stopped backing her up once he owned the world and wielded utmost authority?
He was even suddenly telling her that Pang Xiao loved another. Then what of her many years of hopes and yearning?
Fat teardrops trickled down Li Helan’s delicate face, collecting on her chin and wetting a patch of her clothing. Her bright pink cotton jacket was dyed a deep burgundy.
Li Qitian looked at his little sister, who seemed like she’d been struck by lightning. He rose with a sigh and slowly walked up to her, helping her up with both hands.
“Don’t cry, Helan. We only have this singular little sister, We would never harm you. Although Ji Lan is an aloof sort, he’s a true gentleman. He’s not any worse than Pang Zhixi. You’ll have a good life with him. Besides, I’ll be here. He wouldn’t dare treat you poorly. Just prepare for your wedding with peace of mind, mm?”
Li Helan sniffled and raised teary eyes to look at Li Qitian.
“Royal brother, Lan’er doesn’t want to marry Ji Lan. Can Lan’er not marry him?”
The emperor’s expression darkened with impatience. With a frown, he rebuked, “Helan, you must be a good girl. You’re not a country bumpkin, you should know the rules and manners. Women need to follow the three obediences and four virtues. [1] Do you intend on disobeying Us?”
Though Li Qitian hadn’t lost his temper, someone as smart as Li Helan understood his meaning very well.
The marriage had been finalized.
Whether it was out of obedience to her brother or the Son of Heaven, she had to marry Ji Lan. There was no way out of it.
Wait, no, perhaps there was still something to be done.
What if Pang Zhixi was willing to marry her? If he brought up the subject with her royal brother, things may take a turn yet.
When her thoughts travelled here, Helan wisely argued no further with Li Qitian.
She knew her brother very well and understood that he was no longer the same brother of yesteryear. As the ruler of the nation, his words were precious and sacred. No one could argue against them.
If she wanted to live on happily, her greatest bulwark was her brother’s love and protection. Appearing to agree with him for now would earn his pity. If she kept being stubborn, that would only make him lose patience.
Li Helan wiped at her eyes and smiled faintly at Li Qitian. She responded hoarsely, “Lan’er will listen to her royal brother.”
She was the aggrieved party, but here she was, smiling through her tears and softly declaring that she would listen to him. This poked at the softest parts of Li Qitian’s heart and increased his pity for his docile, considerate little sister.
He patted her shoulder and comforted her for a long while, gifting much gold, silver, and precious jewels before sending her back to rest at the Palace of Serene Piety.
Li Helan lived at the Palace of Serenity Piety with the empress dowager.
After leaving the imperial study, the princess hurried along with a blank expression, her head maid Hexiang at her side. The moment they reached the side hall of the Palace of Serenity Piety, Li Helan furiously yanked out a golden hairpin and threw it to the ground, stomping on it a few times for good measure.
Hexiang quickly dismissed all of the servants and carefully closed the main doors.
Vicious thuds of pillows marked the grand princess’ charge inside. Her face twisted in a grimace, she shrieked soundlessly. In fact, her expression was so contorted that she looked like a madwoman throwing a fit.
Her wild exertions didn’t still until she panted with tiredness, tears springing forth once more to answer emotion’s call.
The head maid strode up with heartache, offering some soft words of consolation. “Your Highness should take care of your health. Don’t be like this on yourself.”
Li Helan hiccuped in her crying fit and covered her face with her hands, wailing for a few more minutes. “No. This matter won’t be over like this. I’m going to find Pang Zhixi. I don’t have the ability to make my royal brother change his mind, but Pang Zhixi will!”
“But what if the Faithful Prince of the First Rank is unwilling?”
“Unwilling? Will he be?” Li Helan blinked through teary eyes, the look in them slowly sharpening. “Go investigate just who it was the prince carried off that day from the inns. I want to know all the rumors about them, no matter how small!”
“Understood, this servant will go do so immediately.” Hexiang took her leave with a solemn expression.
Meanwhile, an average-looking young eunuch who’d been keeping watch outside the Palace of Serene Piety quietly scuttled off to the imperial study.
……
Qin Yining had passed the previous two days in extreme leisure. Although née Yao’s words had been filled with thorns at their initial meeting, the Qin fourth miss felt that, after spending more time with the madame, née Yao bore her no hostility. In fact, the madame might even like her a lot.
Née Yao was the smart, genteel sort. The tenderness in her words gave one the feeling of bathing in the spring wind—placid and refreshing. There wasn’t the slightest hint of pressure in her company. She seemed to possess the ability to set one’s body and soul completely at ease, as if immersed in a warm spring.
Née Ma was an absolutely straightforward type. She would have the maids fetch Qin Yining whenever she was bored, and née Yao would often join in their conversation.
Having adventured through the jianghu in her youth, née Ma had seen much of the world and regaled Qin Yining with stories of the outside. The girl would volunteer unique insights and pertinent questions, further increasing the Yao matriarch’s affection for her. Née Ma often chatted with the girl until dinner, and didn’t want her to go back even afterwards.
“Mom, you’ve forgotten again. Yining needs to go back to Snowtrace Garden or it’ll give rise to unseemly gossip.” Née Yao took the cape from the maid’s hands and fastened it for the girl.
Qin Yining hastily thanked the madame and lifted her chin appropriately so that née Yao could tie the silk ribbons for her.
“What a bummer,” née Ma sighed. “Our house is too big now. It’s not like when we all bunked together under the same roof. That made for easy conversation and time with each other. We didn’t have all these rules before either.”
Née Yao smiled at this. “Our Dafu didn’t have such a lofty position before either. Yining’s in the capital now, are you still afraid there won’t be a time when she comes to make her morning and evening greetings?”
The question sent née Ma roaring with laughter.
Her cheeks burning, Qin Yining quickly bid her farewell and left.
Watching the girl flee all helter-skelter, née Ma and née Yao looked at each other, finding it funny.
“I like this child the more I spend time with her.”
“Isn’t that right? It’d be Dafu’s fortunes if she can marry into our family.”
……
As mother and daughter chatted, Qin Yining called out to Lian Xiaozhou, who was playing in the yard. The two lifted lanterns together to return to Snowtrace Garden.
However, they ran into a group of people just as they rounded the corner. In the lead were two young women wearing resplendent clothing.
* * *
1. Three obediences: “obey your father before marriage; obey your husband when married; and obey your sons in widowhood”. Four virtues: ethics, speech, visage, works.
Chapter 314: I Specialize in Those Who Are Unwilling to Accept Things
Of the two women, one was wearing a crimson red cape topped with a white fur collar. She was tall, slender, and tenderly inviting. The other was wearing a leather vest made from silver fox fur, paired with a pale-green cotton skirt. She was holding an exquisite hand warmer the size of an apple, which further highlighted her adorable cuteness.
Both were about eighteen years old and flanked by various servant girls and g
ranny servants. It was quite an entourage.
Qin Yining paused and looked at the group. She didn’t even need to think to know that these must be the beautiful concubines that the emperor had bestowed onto the prince.
She didn’t want to have anything to do with them. Even if they might live under the same roof in the future, that was something to consider later. There was no rush to get to know each other now, so she only nodded slightly at the two and steered Xiaozhou around them.
The tall, slender girl had been glaring at Qin Yining all the while. Her eyes narrowed, unbridled hostility shining out of them.
The Qin fourth miss could tell that they were purposefully here to cause trouble. As she brushed past them, the tall girl spat on Qin Yining.
“Pah! What a bitch! Shameless hussy trying to seduce the prince!”
Qin Yining looked at the wad of spittle on her skirt and looked askance at the gentle-looking girl.
The development seemed a surprise to the cute one in pale-green clothing. She quickly spoke up, “Lady Rou, don’t start trouble!”
“What do you know?” Lady Rou sneered. “If you’re scared, scurry back with your tail between your legs. No one asked you to come with me.”
A maid off to the side reached out to support the girl clad in green. “Miss Xinche, let’s go back.”
Lady Rou cast a sideways glance at the other, contempt plain in her gaze.
Qin Yining pulled on Lian Xiaozhou’s hand so the little girl wouldn’t take impulsive action. She sniffed disdainfully in response. “Lady Rou, is it?”
“That’s me, and what about it?”
“Lick that clean.” Qin Yining pointed down at the spit on her skirt.
Taken-aback, Lady Rou studied the Qin fourth miss for a moment. She smiled scornfully. “If I’d spit on your face, would you have me lick your face clean?”
“If that was the case, do you think you’d still be alive?”
“Bullshit!” Lady Rou raged furiously. “What the hell are you? You’re just a stray bitch that the prince took in off the streets! He’ll slaughter your entire family in the future, including you! You’ll only be able to use your looks to beg the prince not to kill you. How dare you be so arrogant in front of us!”
Xinche hastily pulled on Lady Rou’s arm when she saw the latter was being so loud. “Let’s go. We’re the prince’s concubines, after all. We shouldn’t lose our temper to such a degree with a girl of unknown identity. You’ll make things awkward for His Highness and insult His Majesty’s favor.”
Xinche’s words sounded sweet-tempered, but every bit of them was emphasizing that they were imperially bestowed concubines to the prince. They were good matches with a noble status. They were naturally different from a low-born girl kidnapped into the manor, and Qin Yining would do well to remember her place.
It looks like Miss Xinche’s more than a degree sharper than Lady Rou.
The situation was rather laughable to Qin Yining. She hadn’t even officially crossed the Pang doorstep, but here the concubines were, completely exploded in irrational fury. They’d lain in wait to take her down a peg! It was all thanks to Pang Xiao’s masterful acting outside that this was happening.
Inspiration flashed across Qin Yining’s mind when she thought of this. She immediately hauled up Lady Rou by the collar and thrust the concubine to the ground, shoving the hem with the gob of spit next to Lady Rou’s face.
“Lick that clean!”
Lady Rou and the others were beauties that Li Qitian had sourced from the general population and trained for many years. He had high hopes for them to be of great use, so apart from learning how to wait on men, they had spent their days in ease in comfort. Almost no one had ever dared treat them this way; how would they possibly remain calm with such brutish handling from Qin Yining?
“Let go of me, you poisonous harlot!” Lady Rou shrieked with anger and shock. “Cheap slut! The prince will have your head for this when he comes back! You bitch!”
“Have my head? Let’s see how he does that then! My life is like this already, so what am I afraid of? I come from a high and illustrious noble house, but even someone like you dares bully me now! Do you think I’m actually afraid of you??”
Qin Yining had a firm grasp on Lady Rou’s hair and cursed loudly as she pressed the concubine into the ground. She didn’t care if the concubine’s wildly flailing arms might hurt herself.
Seeing that they’d come to blows, Xinche hastily urged the serving girls and granny servants forward to break up the fight.
Lian Xiaozhou threw all of the manners she’d been taught to the back of her head. She pounced forward like a kitten with puffed up fur, knocking servants over left and right. The incoming granny servants ended up as bundles of shocked pain on the ground.
Even Miss Xinche stumbled two step backwards from a push, the apple-sized brazier falling to the ground and scattering the coals everywhere.
Lady Rou’s face was still being ground into the dirt. With Qin Yining’s foot ruthlessly keeping her down, the concubine wailed loudly with shrieking sobs.
Any maids or granny servants that could still rise and approach the two were sent spinning back down with firm Qin slaps across the face.
Qin Yining and Lian Xiaozhou had completely terrorized the retinue of the two concubines.
The cacophony of the din sent née Ma and née Yao rushing out of nearby Pinecrane Hall, cotton jackets hastily flung on their backs. They screeched to a standstill when they saw Qin Yining stepping on a bedraggled beauty, flinging a maid to the side like a female general with unlimited strength.
Heavens! Was this the gentle and intelligent noble girl that they knew?
The chaos of the scene also alarmed those by the flower-hung gate.
Pang Xiao and Yao Chenggu quickly strode over. They were also rendered speechless when they saw Qin Yining and Lian Xiaozhou heroically presiding over a crowd of people knocked to the ground.
“What’s going on here?” Yao Chenggu couldn’t help but ask.
Lady Rou cried out loudly when she heard the voice, “Save us, Your Highness! This crazy wench wants to kill us!”
Qin Yining leaned into her foot even more. “I’ll have your life if you say another word!”
“Ah!” The concubine’s voice was hoarse from the pain and she breathed out more air than in, her eyes rolling up to the back of her head.
Née Ma’s eyes were glittering with excitement and glee. She’d long since been annoyed by those ten simpering fakes. Who would’ve thought that the Yi lass would be so domineering and be able to take them all out with a just a few moves! She was someone her darling grandson loved, alright!
Née Yao looked thoughtfully at ‘female bandit’ Qin Yining.
After recovering from their shock and exchanging glances, the same contemplative expression crossed Yao Chenggu and Pang Xiao’s faces. They all seemed to understand something.
Pang Xiao suppressed his amusement and coughed before he could force a livid expression onto his face. “What are you doing?!” he hectored. “This is the Pang Manor! How dare you act up here?? Let go immediately!”
Incredulous disbelief shuddered through Qin Yining and she looked at Pang Xiao, stubbornly responding with a trembling voice, “She provoked me first and spat on me, and insulted me, I…”
“Enough! They are good matches bestowed by the emperor himself! How would they do anything like that? How dare you make things up?”
The Qin fourth miss seemed stunned by Pang Xiao’s anger. Light danced off her glistening eyes; she appeared quite pitiful in the lantern light beneath the night sky.
Lady Rou instantly scrambled up when she sensed that the foot on her back loosen. She didn’t dare hit back in front of all the others, but she looked at the Qin fourth miss with unconcealed contempt.
“Are you alright, big sister Rou?” Xinche limped over to support Lady Rou, turning back to look gratefully at Pang Xiao, her eyes saying: thank goodness for his arrival! They would’v
e been slaughtered by this demon if he hadn’t come!
Pang Xiao and Qin Yining were in perfect tandem. Though they knew what each other was thinking, heartache still wracked Pang Xiao to see his darling like this. He continued doggedly on with great effort, “What are you glaring at me for?! Do you dare have any other opinions?”
Like snowfall cascading down from tree branches, Qin Yining’s tears spilled over with this loud shout.
Chapter 315: A Fierce Grandma
Lian Xiaozhou shrieked loudly with anger and charged Pang Xiao, kicked and punching whatever parts of him she could reach.
She was tiny, and her hands and feet even shorter when compared to the prince. Thoughts filled her mind, but she didn’t know how to verbalize them. Fury raged, but she didn’t know how to curse. She could only cry from frustration and garble out, “Bully sister! Bad guy! Bad guy!”
Heartache wracked Qin Yining to see Lian Xiaozhou defend herself like this. She quickly pulled Xiaozhou away from Pang Xiao’s legs and stooped down to hug the little girl, caressing her in apology.
The little girl’s fists hadn’t hurt at all, but Pang Xiao’s heart squeezed painfully to see the two girls crying pitifully on the ground—even when he knew that this was all just as act.
“Cry? How dare you cry after causing such trouble in my manor? Do you think I’ll show you mercy just because of a few tears?!”
Qin Yining hugged Lian Xiaozhou tightly on the ground. She’d buried her face in the little girl’s shoulder, her own shoulders shaking slightly as well.
Xiaozhou didn’t know how to yell at the prince and knew that she wouldn’t win in a fight. Seeing her beloved big sister like this, she had no recourse other than to burst into loud sobs as well.
A stunned née Ma off to the side finally collected her senses. Just look at how badly my grandson is bullying the girl!
Return of the Swallow c1-644 Page 177