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Return of the Swallow
Chapter 307: A Tactful Clash
Pang Xiao rose with a bit of worry and caught up to Qin Yining and née Yao. He grinned merrily. "How about I keep the two of you company? It'll be too boring with just you two."
Née Yao turned back to glare at her spineless son. "What are you listening in on womenfolk for?"
The Pang matriarch was in an enormously good mood when she saw how lovestruck her usually cool and aloof grandson was. She laughed heartily. "Dafu, come here. Come chat with grandma. Let your mother chat with the lass. Don't go sticking your nose into things."
Née Ma adroitly hopped down from the heated platform and pulled Pang Xiao down to sit with her.
Resigned, since he couldn't push his grandmother aside, he cast a grin at the two leaving-the absolute epitome of a foolish grin.
Finding it ludicrously funny, née Yao glared at her son once more and tucked Qin Yining's hand into her arm, walking into the outer room.
Maids immediately brought their cloaks forward and offered bronze hand braziers at the perfect temperature. Servants followed them out to the covered hallway, whereupon née Yao waved a hand. "You're all dismissed."
"Understood." Maids and granny servants retreated to the sides after curtseying respectfully.
Née Yao and Qin Yining strolled slowly along the covered hallway that connected the flower-hung gate to the rest of the residence. The Yao madame didn't say a word, and neither did the Qin fourth miss blurt out questions. She remained half a step behind née Yao.
After one full circuit of the hallway, the madame nodded to herself when she saw that the girl was still the picture of solid dependability.
"Dafu is often out in the battlefield." She started the conversation softly. "When he turned sixteen, the grand-lord and grand-madame wanted to rustle up a wife for him, so that there would be someone at home for him. But he said he wasn't guaranteed to even live out another day in the battlefield, so he didn't want to detain a good girl."
Qin Yining smiled wordlessly.
"Then they fought to conquer all and the war grew tense. I hadn't been in favor of Dafu hastily marrying someone, but also encouraged him a few times later on so that he might pass on the family name. He wouldn't listen to me-just saying that he got along well with his brothers in the military camp, and that a wife would only crimp his style. Listen to that, what kind of words were those?"
An involuntary smile spread across Qin Yining's face. The image of a young, hot-blooded Pang Xiao came to life in her mind.
Née Yao smiled as well and patted the back of Qin Yining's hand. "The days passed one by one. All of his brothers got married and we urged him to as well. But as he refused again and again, there was nothing we could do about it. The band of brothers that'd fought by his side are all married with children, apart from him and Ji Lan. As a mother, I can only look on enviously at other families' grandchildren. Don't laugh, but Dafu's grandmother once said that we're already lucky he didn't bring his sword or battle horse back as a wife!"
