"Wang … gongzi, we've arrived." Outside the carriage was the driver left behind by Pang Xiao. He had a straightforward personality and a quick mouth. He almost habitually called her "wangfei". Fortunately, he immediately reacted and changed the way he addressed her.
Qin Yining lifted the curtain and joked as he got off the carriage, "Gongzi Wang, this form of address sounds pretty good."
The coachman blushed and bowed to Qin Yining with clasped hands.
Qin Yining smiled and waved his hand. He didn't blame him at all. However, the originally tense atmosphere was greatly alleviated by Qin Yining's teasing. Even Chief Shopkeeper Zhong felt that the impetuousness in his heart had disappeared.
Master Zhong and Jing Zhe followed Qin Yining to the left and right. The three of them walked together to the entrance of Zheng's Textile Shop.
The door was tightly shut. They could only see the white lanterns hanging high in the air.
They walked along the wall to the back of the shop and could see the spirit flags hanging high above the wall.
The air was filled with the smell of burning paper money.
In the quiet alley, they could faintly hear a woman's suppressed sobs.
Qin Yining closed his eyes. His heart became heavy again. He turned around to look at Master Zhong.
Master Zhong immediately understood and went to knock on the door.
After someone knocked on the door of the backyard, the courtyard immediately became quiet for a moment. Then, there was the sound of footsteps coming in. An old woman raised her voice and asked, "Who is it?!"
"We're here to see the shopkeeper of your shop," Master Zhong replied loudly.
The old woman said, "Please wait a moment." Then she walked away.
After a while, the door to the back of the courtyard was pushed open. Two older female servants stood on the left and right. Then, a beautiful woman in her prime walked out.
The woman was dressed in plain clothes. She wore silver ornaments and white silk flowers on her head. There was also a white cloth belt around her waist. Her eyes were red and she looked quite delicate.
Perhaps because she saw the three men standing outside the door, the woman was stunned.
Qin Yining stepped forward and cupped his hands. "Are you the shopkeeper of this shop?"
Qin Yining looked like a feminine and handsome young man in disguise. She purposely lowered her voice so that it was hard to distinguish the gender of a young man's voice. In addition, she did not bind her feet and her actions were free and easy, so it was impossible to see any flaws.
The woman seemed to be on guard and politely returned the greeting, "I am indeed the shopkeeper of this small store. It's just that something happened at home, so I won't be doing business these few days. If Young Master needs anything, please come again in the future. "
Qin Yining nodded. Looking over the woman's shoulder, he saw that the courtyard was deathly pale.
The woman frowned slightly in displeasure. She did not reprimand Qin Yining for his impoliteness on the spot because of the principle of business. She only said unhappily, "Young Master, please go back."
Qin Yining whispered in his original voice, "My grandmother is Duchess Ding."
The woman was stunned and looked Qin Yining up and down in shock. "You …"
Qin Yining turned around and took an exquisite carved mahogany box from Jing Zhe and handed it to the woman.
The woman looked up at Qin Yining suspiciously and then lowered her head to open the box.
There was a golden seal on top of the box made of black velvet and a small booklet beside it.
This was the golden seal used when Qin Yining was conferred the title of Prince Zhongshun's consort. It was impossible to fake it just by looking at the material and workmanship.
Qin Yining whispered, "Duchess Ding's granddaughter is Prince Zhongshun's consort. Shopkeeper must know this."
The woman came back to her senses and hurriedly nodded. She stepped to the side and let Qin Yining and his group into the courtyard. Then, she carefully closed the courtyard door.
Qin Yining looked at the decorated mourning hall in the courtyard. There was a black coffin in the hall and her hands and feet turned cold. After a long time, she said dryly, "Did something happen to my grandmother? Shouldn't she be in the south? Why is she in the old capital? What exactly is going on? "
As she spoke, Qin Yining staggered towards the black coffin.
Her heart was filled with terror and fear. Although she resisted, she wanted to see if her grandmother had really passed away.
Who knew that when he got closer, he could clearly see that the coffin was empty.
"Princess Consort, Old Madame Zheng is not dead yet, but she is in danger."
Qin Yining quickly turned around and asked, "What exactly is going on?"
"My surname is Ma. When Old Madame ordered me to come to Zheng's textile shop, she had already instructed me that if her granddaughter, Prince Zhongshun's consort, came to the textile shop one day to contact me, I must cooperate fully if she has any instructions. I must also inform Old Madame in a timely manner.
"This time, when Prince Zhongshun was appointed as the Grand Marshal and will be coming with his family, Old Madame immediately came to the old capital in person. She was worried that you and Wang Ye had been away from the old capital for too long and would not be able to travel freely here. So, she came in advance to be the vanguard. "
Qin Yining was moved when she heard this.
How was her grandmother worried that they would not be able to travel freely? She clearly understood the situation that she and Pang Xiao were in. She was worried that Pang Xiao, who had destroyed the Dayan, would not be able to do well in the Yan dynasty's territory. She was thinking about them in every detail.
As Qin Yining thought about it, her eyes became moist.
Madame Ma continued, "Everything was fine at first, but who would have thought that Old Madame would be caught two days after she settled down in the textile shop. Dianshi Gao from the yamen came with his men and arrested Old Madame for no reason. Old Madame and Dianshi Gao argued, but it was really difficult to argue with each other.
"Left with no choice, Old Madame instructed me to prepare a mourning hall for her here before she left. She definitely did not plan well this time, so there was an 80% chance that she would not be able to come back. Once the mourning hall was prepared, she would be able to leave with a light heart."
Qin Yining's tears fell when she heard this.
Madame Ma did not say it in detail, but she knew Duchess Ding's temper and could guess a thing or two.
Madame Ma must have stood proudly in the garden and argued with reason without fear. After arguing for a while, she was prepared to die proudly.
"Why didn't you come to me for such a big thing?" Qin Yining's voice was a little sharp.
Madame Ma waved her hand repeatedly. "It's not that I didn't want to look for you, but Old Madame instructed that if you didn't come here in person, we were absolutely not allowed to take the initiative to look for you."
Qin Yining closed her eyes and felt moist and cold in her heart.
Her grandmother did not intend to implicate her.
Master Zhong's face was also heavy, and he almost burst into tears.
Qin Yining gritted her teeth and said after a while, "How early was it that she was arrested? What explanation did the yamen give? "
"It has been a day and a night. The yamen did not give any explanation. They only said that Old Madame was suspected of colluding with the enemy and committing treason. They arrested her just like that. We used money and used our connections, but it was useless. This time, the yamen did not like money. It seemed that they were determined to take Old Madame's life! "
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