Chapter 394 - 393 Actually, it’s escorting Ye Zi
Qi Younian had been prepared for the current situation, yet he never expected it to arrive so swiftly.
He knew his granddaughter bore an extraordinary identity, and at first, he had clung to the slim hope that, in this vast world and amid the sea of people, they would never encounter Ye Zi’s family.
However, that hope did not last long before Prince Yu and Magistrate Sir got involved.
To the then Qi Younian, the Magistrate Sir was already an unreachable local authority, and the royal prince, a son of the emperor, was even more an out-of-reach figure who should not have appeared before commoners like them. Yet, the prince did appear, and the granddaughter he had acknowledged often maintained a state of equal footing with the prince, although Ye Zi would also yield to the prince. But that was because she did not want her runaway whereabouts to be revealed, not because she feared the prince’s status.
In fact, he should have realized earlier that the capital was thousands of miles away from Qingyuan County and the difference in regional status was enormous. Yet Ye Zi managed to encounter old acquaintances and her ex-husband. With such connections, Duke An’s Mansion would sooner or later discover Ye Zi’s traces.
Sure enough, that day had come.
Duke An was, after all, Ye Xinyan’s grandfather, and moreover, the messenger this time did not demand Ye Zi’s return. The Duke merely wanted the family servant, Nanny Jin, to return. If Ye Zi could harden her heart and disregard Nanny Jin’s fate, letting Nanny Jin return on her own, she might be able to fend off for a while.
But was Ye Zi that kind of person? Besides, even if they dodged this time, who knew what situation they would face the next time? According to what Ye Zi told him, the imperial court was not as hierarchical as these commoners thought. Being one rank higher did not necessarily mean having absolute say, and the relationships within were intricate and complex.