Chapter 284: Death of the Emperor Emeritus
Née Sun buried her face in Qin Huaiyuan"s embrace, dampening his s.h.i.+rt and collar with her tears. "Qitai came the other day and said that you had business to discuss with daughter Yi. She was to wait at the bottom at the mountain that night so that he could take her to you. I let her go because I thought that since Qitai had been by your side for so many years, he would never think of betraying us.
"But who knew that not only would our daughter go missing, our men found Qitai"s body as well. He died from a single stab through the neck! This is when I realized our darling might"ve been kidnapped! She"s such a wonderful girl and I"m such a useless mother! She lives such a hard life these days and I couldn"t even keep an eye on her!"
Pain wracked Qin Huaiyuan"s heart when he hugged his wife, noting that she was all skin and bones. "Don"t panic, don"t cry. Daughter Yi is fine."
"Really? You"re not lying to me?" Née Sun lifted her head to look at her husband.
"Of course, she"s my only daughter and her safety is incredibly important. Why would I lie to you about this?" Qin Huaiyuan wiped her face off with his sleeve and comforted. "Come, let"s go in first. I"ll tell you what"s going on."
Née Sun had a deep understanding of Qin Huaiyuan"s personality. If he said that Qin Yining was fine, then she was fine. This was when she realized that she"d pounced on her husband in front of everyone and bawled her eyes out. Her face instantly flamed red and she quickly took a few steps back.
Qin Huaiyuan didn"t mind at all and led the way while holding née Sun"s hand. He greeted everyone who came out to welcome him along the way. Cao Yuqing followed behind the two with a lowered head, heading upstairs as well.
The old dowager was overwhelmed with joy that Qin Huaiyuan had returned. She came out on Qin-mama"s arm to welcome her son.
"My Meng"er"s finally returned!"
The man walked up with a smile to bow. "Greetings to you, mother."
"Hurry and get up, hurry hurry! I missed you so!" The old dowager grasped Qin Huaiyuan"s arm and looked him up and down, remarking with heartache, "You"ve gotten tanned and lost weight."
Qin Huaiyuan smiled, bidding a h.e.l.lo to the second and third elder master off to the side, as well as the other members of the family.
Née Sun could hold back her questions anymore after a round of catching up. "My lord, where is daughter Yi?"
The old dowager finally recalled that her granddaughter was missing.
Qin Huaiyuan brought the family inside to relay what the emperor had said to him. He might"ve guessed at the exact sordid details, but didn"t mention them since they had to do with the nation"s dignity.
"…the emperor has decided to surrender to Great Zhou. The days to come will be busy ones," he concluded.
Collective sighs echoed around the room. Though everyone shared the sorrow of the country being no more, it was a relief that these days were finally at an end.
"Senior uncle, will the Great Zhou army retreat once the emperor agrees to surrender?" asked Qin Han.
"They will."
"Will they raze the city?" This quite concerned the second madame.
Qin Huaiyuan shook his head with a rea.s.suring smile. "The Zhou emperor is a very shrewd person. He"s very adept at winning people"s hearts. I think not only will he refrain from killing people, but he"ll also send over food as soon as possible."
Everyone understood that since the former Yan emperor hadn"t given a hoot for the people and hidden all the silver, if the Zhou emperor ended the ma.s.s starvation, the extreme contrast would build a highly favorable impression for the latter.
To the starving people, they didn"t care about the country falling! They just wanted to know if they could live on. Even the Qins were happily expectant, to say nothing about the commoners.
Only the old dowager had an ugly expression on her face. She"d just eaten the bunny that the Faithful Prince of the First Rank had given Qin Yining, and rubbed it in the girl"s face!