“Thank you, Miss, for saving my son’s life.” Princess Yong An paid no regard to her status and gave a big bow to Tian Miao. “Thank you so much for bringing my precious treasure back to me.”
Tian Miao nodded gently before saying, “The Young Marquis still has some abrasions on his body. It’d be best to quickly take him back home and get a doctor to take a look at them.”
“Thank you so much, Miss, for saving Ning’er. Please come back home with us. We have to repay you well for your benefaction.” At this time, an old man, who had such an overwhelming, authoritative presence without even actively trying, stepped forth. He went up to Tian Miao and expressed his gratitude while cupping one of his hands over the other as a form of paying obeisance. Although this man was old, he still had an overwhelmingly oppressive, murderous air about him. This was the Duke, Xiao Anning’s grandfather.
At this time, another old man dressed in rich, elegant clothes also came up to them. He pulled Xiao Anning into his arms in one fell swoop. Then, as he hugged the Young Marquis in his arms, he also cried out, “My dear, my darling.” Xiao Anning patted the old man gently on his back to comfort him. This was the current Prince Ying, Xiao Anning’s maternal grandfather.
Seeing that Xiao Anning had returned safely, the round-faced youth and his group of friends could now finally breathe sighs of relief. In view of how timely they’d been in reporting the situation, Xiao Anning’s father gave them some words of comfort and made a few promises to them and then got them to return home early as well.
The group of youths was overjoyed, for the Duke was bound to fulfill any promise that he had made. They had long forgotten about Tan Weizhi, who’d been arrested. No one seemed to care about what would happen to him. They were all eager to cut off all ties with him and have nothing to do with him ever again, so why would they even bother to ask about him?
It was already late at night when the group returned to the Duke’s residence.
The imperial physician had been waiting here for a long time. After rushing to diagnose Xiao Anning and ensuring that all he had was a few cuts, everyone finally felt completely relieved.
“I have yet to ask for your name, Miss,” the Duke asked in a voice that resounded like a ringing bill as he looked at the woman who was sitting off to the side, quietly drinking her tea. This woman was incomparably beautiful. She was dressed in an uncommon fashion and had such a noble air about her that even he found it a little awkward to look her straight in the face.
Back then, he’d only been concerned about getting Anning back. At the time, he hadn’t thought too much into the situation because Anning had returned safely. However, now, after thinking a little more deeply into the matter, he found it so incredible. Where had they come up from? And how had this woman saved Anning? But no matter what, the fact remained that she had saved Anning, so they had to repay this great kindness!
“My surname is Tian.” Tian Miao put down the teacup and smiled. Then she said, “The tea you serve at home is pretty good.” It was just that the skills of the person who had brewed the tea were subpar, thus causing such good tea to go to waste. When the time came for them to leave, she could take some of these tea leaves with her and get Kong Hou to brew the tea for her. It would be best if she were to pair it with the rainbow pastry that she had collected from the previous world. She had no doubt such a combination would allow her to get the most out of the delicate taste of the cake and the fragrance of the tea.
“Miss Tian, it’s already late into the night. You can go and rest for the night, and we’ll catch up again tomorrow, all right?” The Duke then asked, “As for the tea, if Miss Tian likes it, we’ll try to find some more of it to give to you.” The emperor had given this tea to him as a reward. He’d only received a total of 1,500 grams of it and had given one-third of it to him and his family. Today, they were showing their hospitality to Anning’s savior, so naturally, they had to use the best tea leaves they had. Because of how rare it was, if they wanted to find more of it, the only way they could really get some would be to ask the emperor for it.
“Well, then thank you very much.” Tian Miao nodded her head in delight. The Duke was quite a tactful man with worldly manners.
Princess Yong An summoned the housekeeper and ordered him to bring Tian Miao to Ruoqiu Residence, the best guesthouse in the entire residence.
Tian Miao nodded at everyone and then left the hall with the housekeeper.
After Tian Miao left, the Duke ordered all the servants to leave and had someone close the doors and stand guard outside; then with a grim expression written all over his face, he looked at Xiao Anning and asked, “Anning, think carefully and tell me in detail everything that happened. And also, this Miss Tian, who exactly is she?”