The Whole Dynasty Spoils the Tyrant's Beloved Youngest Daughter-Chapter 383: Still Being Picky at This Point?
Ye Ying: "......"
"After all, Xi He is now a distinguished lady of the Bei Xia Beast Taming Clan. If she has close contact with people from Dong Chu Kingdom, it will give others something to talk about. I usually burn the letters after reading them."
Ye Ying explained, but his expression was somewhat unnatural, likely because he himself felt this explanation was rather weak.
It wasn’t the real reason he burned the letters.
"Oh..." Jun Ning felt a bit disappointed but also sighed with relief.
She was disappointed because, after all this time, she had received no news of Lan Xihe, as if she and Lan Xihe had never been acquainted, remaining strangers throughout. She couldn’t even see the letters she wrote to Ye Ying.
The relief came from the fact that not seeing the letters meant she couldn’t confirm personally that Lan Xihe hadn’t mentioned her in any letters.
As long as she didn’t confirm it personally, she could pretend none of this had happened.
Jun Ning comforted herself this way.
Ye Ying: "Let’s not talk about this anymore, shall we eat?"
This matter was a bit unpleasant, and Ye Ying deliberately avoided it.
Jun Ning didn’t have the intention to continue the discussion either.
The two started eating, and after they finished, Ye Ying escorted Jun Ning back to the Qi Family, while he returned to the Qianji Pavilion.
...
Time passed quickly.
In the blink of an eye, Jun Ning had been at the Qi Mansion for a month, yet Qi Xiangsi was out early and back late every day. Jun Ning hadn’t seen her much, let alone persuaded her to petition Emperor Yongning about exhuming Qi Qin’s grave.
Winter arrived with snow.
That day, Qi Xiangsi left early in the morning, but as it was getting dark, she still hadn’t returned.
Jun Ning felt worried and decided to wait at the gate.
The snow on the ground reached past her ankles, and Jun Ning trod heavily through the snow, pacing by the entrance of the Qi Mansion, waiting for Qi Xiangsi to return.
But the sky turned completely dark, and she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face, yet Qi Xiangsi still hadn’t come back.
Nanny Zhang held an oiled paper umbrella for Jun Ning, shielding her from the swirling snow.
But with the snowfall, it was truly cold.
Nanny Zhang looked at Jun Ning’s red-tipped ears from the cold and said with concern, "Ah Ning, shall we go back and eat something hot and return to wait? You’re weak and shouldn’t bear both cold and hunger."
Ever since the Empress Dowager’s passing, all of Nanny Zhang’s emotions had been invested in Jun Ning and Qi Xiangsi.
Seeing Jun Ning suffering from the cold and hunger, Nanny Zhang felt worse than if she were suffering herself.
Nanny Zhang looked at Jun Ning with pity, "If you get sick from the cold and hunger, this old maid would feel heartache."
"Nanny, I’m not hungry, nor too cold," Jun Ning said, clutching the hand warmer. "If you’re hungry, you should go back and eat. I can wait alone."
"Ah Ning, what are you saying? You’re the master, and you haven’t eaten yet, how can I eat alone? You really put the old maid in distress."
"Nanny, what are you saying again? You’ve cared for Xiang Si for so many years and devotedly cared for me for many years. The bond between us is more than just master and servant. Ah Ning truly regards you as a family elder." Jun Ning persuaded, "You should go and eat something. You’re older and get hungry early, so you can’t starve."
No matter, Nanny Zhang wouldn’t leave and insisted on waiting with Jun Ning.
The two waited another hour, but still did not see Qi Xiangsi return.
As the night deepened, Jun Ning decided not to wait any longer, "Nanny, notify the house servants and household soldiers immediately. Set out to find Miss Qi, search all the streets and alleys in the Imperial City, and places where Miss Qi often goes."
"Yes." Nanny Zhang also took the matter seriously and quickly went to notify about the search.
A quarter of an hour later, the entire household was mobilized and made every effort to search for Qi Xiangsi.
...
Qi Xiangsi was not elsewhere; she was locked in the woodshed behind the Prince Mansion.
In the freezing weather, she wore thin clothes, her limbs were stiff from the cold. Worse yet, ropes bound her body, leaving her unable to move at all.
She felt cold all over, not a single place was warm.
So cold, so cold.
She lay on the icy ground, tears streaming down.
She hated herself for not listening to Sister Ning, for hanging around with Jun Yang; now Jun Yang owed a huge amount of gambling debts, with creditors coming daily to demand money from Jun Yang.
Her money, except for the portion kept by Sister Ning, had all gone to help Jun Yang pay off debts, yet the amount Jun Yang owed was so huge, that despite giving so much money, it wasn’t paid off completely.
Those creditors were all underworld figures.
They said if Jun Yang didn’t pay off what she owed, they would chop off Jun Yang’s hands and feet, leaving her a cripple.
In desperation, Jun Yang kidnapped her, trying to use her to threaten Sister Ning for a large sum of silver to pay off gambling debts.
She couldn’t understand why she, who treated Jun Yang so well, like a dear sister and gave her so much money, was treated this way. Why?
Shouldn’t Jun Yang be grateful to her?
Unfortunately, this was just Qi Xiangsi’s thoughts.
Jun Yang wouldn’t feel gratitude even towards her own father, who raised her so hard; why would she be grateful to Qi Xiangsi, whom she only knew for a while?
Some people’s wickedness is in their bones, unchangeable.
Qi Xiangsi grew sadder the more she thought, tears flowed continuously from her eyes, dripping onto her neck.
She could feel the tears were warm, yet her heart felt cold.
Why?
Qi Xiangsi cried loudly.
But her mouth was stuffed with cloth, preventing her from making loud sounds, only letting out muffled sobs.
At that moment, the woodshed door was opened.
A foul-smelling servant walked in, placing a steamed bun and a bowl of spoiled rice soup in front of Qi Xiangsi.
"Eat!" The servant removed the cloth from her mouth, saying, "Starving to death won’t fetch money, eat quickly, don’t starve."
Qi Xiangsi disdainfully shook her head, "I won’t eat, take away these disgusting things."
These things, even the lowest-ranked laundry maids in their family wouldn’t eat; did he dare serve them to her? What did he think she was? A pig?
"I want to see Jun Yang." Qi Xiangsi said unwillingly, "I refuse to believe she would give me such things. I’ve given her so much money and called her sister so long!"
"You still think you can see Miss Jun Yang, huh, dreaming?" The servant said, "Wake up."
"As for your refusal to eat, intending to starve yourself." The servant said menacingly, "You don’t have a choice; when I say eat, you eat. Don’t negotiate with me. Ha, already fallen to this point, what’s there to fuss about? Such pretentiousness."
With those words, the servant stepped on the hair at Qi Xiangsi’s nape, picked up the bowl of soup from the ground, and tried to force her to drink the foul-smelling stuff.
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