âCanât?â Pang Xiao chuckled disdainfully. âYou are just the family members of surrendered officials and defeated soldiers. Even the head of your household would have to bow and scrape to this prince, much less you lot! Do you think this is still Yan territory? Only death awaits those who say no to this prince!â
Xie Yue trembled from head to toe. âHow dare you bully us this way!?â He took a trembling, protective stance in front of Qin Yining.
Huzi led the Elite Tigers forward and plucked Xie Yue away to the side, to be trussed up like a chicken. He then stuffed Qin Yining and Lian Xiaozhou back in the carriage theyâd just come in.
The Qin fourth miss remembered to put on a show of struggling before going back in. Granted, the girlsâ resistance was quite futile given how strong and ferocious the Elite Tigers were.
Everyone outside of the guest inns could only watch as the Faithful Prince of the First Rank rode off with the Qin fourth miss.
The Great Zhou officials didnât understand the relationship between Pang Xiao and Qin Yining. They were too far away from Great Yan, and their positions were far too low to read secret reports.
But the Great Yan citizens did.
This prince had once pursued the miss in an extremely high profile mannerâsticking up for her in public, gifting her manors, and doing everything he could to make her happy. But now that their country had fallen, his attitude had changed completely to that of a banditâs.
Fear and horror exploded in their hearts, threatening to drown them completely. If someone with such a strong backer like Miss Qin was being treated this way in their new home, what laid in store for the rest of them?
â¦â¦
Qin Yining had her arm around a terrified Lian Xiaozhou and was patting her head comfortingly. âDonât be afraid, the big brother just now isnât a bad guy. Big sister did all of this on purpose.â
Though the little girl couldnât speak very well, she was sharp as a whip. She looked at the older girl with bafflement. âBig sister, knows, uncle?â
Uncle?
It hadnât crossed her mind for a while, but come to think of it, Pang Xiaoâs nominal age was 24 now, wasnât it?
Lian Xiaozhou was nine, but sheâd grown up in the mountains and so was very different from a typical nine year old. Her mental age was probably still six or seven, which was why she called the prince âuncleâ.
I wonder what Pang Xiao will think of this, heh!
Laughter snuck out of Qin Yining when she considered her belovedâs possible reactions.
Possibly infected by the easy mood, Lian Xiaozhou also relaxed. Though she didnât know why big sister was laughing, it didnât preclude her from chuckling along.
The Elite Tiger outside escorting the carriage found the situation incredibly bizarre. Had this Miss Qin been scared out of her wits? How could she still laugh when sheâd been carted off like this?
He hadnât gone to Great Yan with Pang Xiao, so naturally had no idea what had happened there. All he speculated was that the prince liked the beauty, or had taken his enemyâs daughter in order to seek revenge for his father.
He wasnât the only one to think so; perhaps everyone who didnât fully understand the situation thought so.
This was also precisely the effect that Pang Xiao and Qin Yining wanted.
When the carriage returned to the manor, Pang Xiao had the side door opened so that the occupants didnât need to disembark.
The manor of this imperial prince was quite magnificent and grand. Winged engravings on building facades were covered by pristine snow. In contrast to the delicate exquisiteness of Great Yan architecture, solemn augustness and stately roughness filled every corner. Though it wasnât the same as the gentle sophistication of Great Yanâs manors, there was another dimension to beauty to it all.
Qin Yining peeked out of the carriage windows as they travelled to the guest rooms, awed by the striking size of the manor just from this short glimpse.
Such an enormous complex couldnât possibly have been built in one or two years. This mustâve been the home of one of the Northern Ji imperial princes. Had Li Qitian just awarded it to Pang Xiao when Great Zhou was founded?
The carriage slowed down in the midst of Qin Yiningâs wild speculations, and she didnât have time to react before someone burst through the door curtain and enveloped her in a familiar bear-hug.
This gave Lian Xiaozhou another fright, and she quickly pushed at the baddie who dared to bully her big sister. âBad man, go away, bad man!â
Pang Xiao was oblivious to it all as he dropped a shower of kisses on Qin Yiningâs ear lobes and nape of her neck.
When Lian Xiaozhou saw that the bad guy wasnât letting go, and that her efforts werenât changing anything, she anxiously charged forward to bite Pang Xiaoâs arm.
The attack didnât hurt at all since it was dulled by winter clothing. Xiaozhou clung doggedly to the princeâs arm and continued flailing her fists.
Pang Xiao finally let go when he almost suffered a blow to the nose. He demanded impatiently, âWhere did you get this wild girl? Is her zodiac the dog? Why does she even bite people?â
Qin Yining pushed Pang Xiao aside and pulled Lian Xiaozhou over for some comforting pats. She pinched little cheeks reddened from anger. âDon't be angry, heâs teasing us.â
The little girl pointed furiously at Pang Xiao. âBad, uncle! Bad man! Big sister, we, go!â
Even if Xiaozhou wasnât good at speech, her words still set Pang Xiao off. Glowering, he snatched the little girl and threw her out the carriage at Huzi.
The guard scrambled to catch an unrepentant Xiaozhou, who was still jabbing an accusatory finger. âBad man! Bad uncle!â
Completely fed up, Pang Xiaoâs expression was very dark. âShe calls you big sister, but Iâm a bad uncle!â
âBad uncle!â Xiaozhouâs legs kicked frantically as her hands were pinned by Huzi.
Well, he really was eight years older than Qin Yining. A thick blanket of depression draped over Pang Xiao.
Having watched the show for a while, Qin Yining finally burst out laughing at the scene of one person standing off to the side with a black expression, and another still thrashing about with, âBad uncle!â
Her laughter stunned the guards and servants who hadnât seen her before.
The crisply cheerful sound dispelled Pang Xiaoâs irritation, and he chuckled in return as well. The atmosphere became a lot lighter.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Qin Yining looked around and let down the window curtain. She wasnât sure if there were eyes and ears from any other factions amongst those present.
Pang Xiao waved a hand. âAll of you are dismissed. Clean up Snowtrace Garden for Miss Qin to stay at. Those who have no business here are dismissed.â
âUnderstood.â The group took their leave and departed, leaving only Pang Xiao, Huzi, Xie Yue, and Lian Xiaozhou outside the carriage.
The little girl seemed to have tired herself out from all the yelling and had settled on glaring ferociously.
âUncle Pangâ had recovered from the blow to his age and lifted the door curtain to help Qin Yining down.
The Qin fourth miss made introductions when she was certain that no one else was around. âThis is Lian Xiaozhou. I almost froze to death in the mountains this time. She saved me.â
Pang Xiaoâs expression finally warmed when he heard that the little girl had saved his beloved. Putting aside the fact that heâd been aged a generation, he turned to Qin Yining. âIâll have someone help her settle in. Come meet my mother and maternal grandparents.â
Qin Yining blushed nervously.