Back courtyard of the General Mansion.

All unrelated people had been completely cleared out.

Anqi had been crying the whole time. She hadn’t expected things to develop to this point, hadn’t expected Luming to fly into such a terrible rage, and had even caused Jinyu to be thrown into prison.

Right now, because she was flustered, she was all the more at a complete loss.

An Youyou had been comforting Anqi nonstop.

She had actually also guessed that her brother would be furious, which was why she had asked her imperial father and mother to return together. She, too, had been afraid that the few of them juniors wouldn’t be able to handle her brother. But having just seen how cold-blooded and indifferent her brother had been, she couldn’t help feeling worried anyway.

"Sister Anqi, don’t cry, nothing will happen," An Youyou consoled.

An Ning also came over to soothe Anqi. "Don’t be afraid. Luming would never truly hurt his own family. He’s just angry right now. Don’t worry, nothing will happen to Jinyu. Your imperial father and I will never let anything happen to him. We will never allow kin to slaughter one another."

Anqi had been crying with her face buried in An Youyou’s shoulder. At this moment, hearing her imperial mother’s voice, she hastily lifted her head, her face streaked with tears. "Mother, I’ve disappointed you and Father."

Anqi was more delicate in her thoughts. Since childhood, she had always cared a great deal about how she appeared in others’ eyes, always strictly disciplining herself, afraid of causing others trouble.

This kind of temperament had instead led to some innocent hurt.

For example, Luming. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Perhaps since he was young, Luming had always believed that Anqi had feelings for him. It was precisely because of this ingrained belief that he could not accept, for a time, that in the end the person Anqi liked was not him.

"We are family," An Ning gently stroked Anqi’s head. "There is no such thing as disappointment between family. We only hope each other will live better."

Because of An Ning’s gentleness, Anqi’s tears flowed even harder.

The greatest blessing of her life was that she had been adopted by her imperial mother. Not only had she enjoyed all the splendor and wealth, she had also genuinely felt the warmth of family.

Because of this gratitude for kinship, she always wanted to do more for her loved ones.

Her painstaking care toward Luming was the same.

"Ruotong," An Ning turned and said, "we won’t be attending the evening banquet."

Xie Ruotong didn’t try to keep them, only nodded. "Business comes first. When there’s a chance, we’ll gather privately."

"All right." An Ning glanced once more at Xie Qianyun, who was standing beside Xie Ruotong. "Qianyun, happy birthday."

"Thank you, Empress Dowager." Xie Qianyun hurriedly saluted in thanks.

"Xiao Jinxing, let’s go," An Ning instructed.

Xiao Jinxing gave a slight nod.

The group all followed and left the General Mansion.

Xie Ruotong and Song Yanqing escorted them to the gate of the residence. Watching the imposing line of carriages depart, they still couldn’t help letting out a sigh.

Every household has its own hard-to-read scripture.

For the imperial family, it was all the more complicated.

"Xie Qianyun!"

Xie Ruotong suddenly flew into a rage.

Xie Qianyun hurriedly dropped to her knees.

She had known that once the Empress Dowager left, she would be punished.

Song Yanqing didn’t dare shield her either.

If they really started fighting, he’d be the one who got hurt the worst!

"What’s with your face?!" Xie Ruotong demanded.

"Well, didn’t I just go and break up the fight just now?" Xie Qianyun lied.

When the little Emperor and the Prince of Jin had been fighting just now, she had been the one to go tip them off.

After she’d finished tipping them off, she realized she’d been in such a hurry she hadn’t changed her clothes, and she regretted it on the spot.

Anyway, the little Emperor wouldn’t really beat the Prince of Jin to death, and she herself had instead walked right into the trap. Who knew, she might be packed off to the border tomorrow.

"Oh, really?!" Xie Ruotong stared fixedly at Xie Qianyun, speaking through gritted teeth. "Then what’s with the clothes you’re wearing?!"

"I-I-I just went out for a stroll. I didn’t fight, I really didn’t fight!" Xie Qianyun kept arguing.

Her mother hated it most when she went out into the streets and stirred up trouble.

"Didn’t fight?! The servants just came to report that you beat the Minister of Justice’s grandson to the ground, his face all swollen from the blows! They said if it weren’t for the fact that it’s your birthday today and they didn’t want to affect your birthday banquet, they would have come straight to the door!"

Xie Qianyun pouted and muttered under her breath, "A grown man can’t win a fight and gets beaten up, and he still has the nerve to go running home in tears. If it were me, I’d just hide in a corner and cry myself to death. It’s mortifying..."

"You still don’t know how to repent!" Xie Ruotong was furious.

At this moment, Song Yanqing even wanted to disappear on the spot a little.

If the mother and daughter really started fighting, a weakling like him would definitely suffer.

"Do you know that a minister has already impeached you in a memorial?" Xie Ruotong grew even angrier as she spoke.