Chapter 348
“The alchemists who examined her said the same thing. Ah Qi had no choice but to use spiritual medicine to nurture that child. Fortunately, apart from being frail and having occasional coughs, there were no other issues.”
“Later on, I encountered a bottleneck in my cultivation and went into seclusion,” the old family head continued. “I only emerged from seclusion a little over half a year ago.”
“For these years, I’ve left the affairs of the Nan Gong family to Yi’er. Even after I could leave seclusion, I didn’t leave the seclusion place.”
“That place is quiet,” the old family head said. “It’s not noisy.”
When he mentioned the last three words, he glanced at Nan Gong Qian, nearly explicitly saying that Nan Gong Qian was the one causing the commotion in the Nan Gong family.
Nan Gong Qian looked away, not daring to meet his father’s gaze, but was unwilling in his heart.
His actions back then were also for the sake of the Nan Gong family!
The Nan Gong family was the foremost family in the Tian Qi Empire. Although its status was indeed high, the Tian Qi Empire was not only home to the Nan Gong family but also other families. To maintain the Nan Gong family’s position as the top family, an alliance with the royal family was the best option.
The late Emperor valued Qi’er highly. The royal position could be chosen by Qi’er. What was wrong with that?
Yet that little rascal refused to agree, and even went so far as to run away for training. When he returned, he brought back a woman. If he had been told at that time that the woman was from the Spirit Race, he wouldn’t have forced him to part with her.
Nan Gong Qian never thought he was wrong, including now. In his view, it was Ling Ran’s fault for not revealing her identity. If she had revealed that she was from the Spirit Race, he wouldn’t have pressured them to part.
The situation became so bad, and it was still Ling Ran’s fault.
If she had revealed her identity as a Spirit Race member, he wouldn’t have pressured them.
Nan Gong Qian never considered that the identity of a Spirit Race member was not something one could easily disclose.
“In the past six months, I tried to contact Ah Qi but couldn’t get through.” The old family head said.
Communication devices can be replaced, and after replacing them, they need to be re-touched to record another device’s information.
So the old family head didn’t think much of it.
Chapter 349
He had stopped cultivating and had not left seclusion, so he didn’t know about Nan Gong Qing Le’s situation or the later discoveries.
“Great-grandfather, we came to the Nan Gong family this time because we have a matter we need your help with,” Nan Gong Yan said. “You once gave my father a jade pendant. Does that jade pendant have any hidden messages?”
Upon hearing this, the old family head sensed something was wrong: “Why do you ask? Has something happened to Ah Qi?”
Nan Gong Yan and Huang Quan exchanged a glance, and finally, Nan Gong Yan explained the situation to the old family head.
The old family head was enraged upon hearing this!
He had encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation and had to go into seclusion. He had no idea what had happened afterward. He didn’t expect Ah Qi to have been missing for so many years!
After Ah Qi went missing, how bad must the lives of those children have been?
The events had already occurred, and discussing right or wrong was now useless. The only thing left was to make amends.
The old family head was determined to keep Huang Quan and Nan Gong Yan in the Nan Gong family, but the immediate task was to examine the jade pendant: “The pendant itself doesn’t conceal any messages.”
“But since Ah Qi left the pendant as a clue, there must be a reason,” the old family head said. “Let me take a look at the pendant.”
Nan Gong Yi looked at Nan Gong Qian: “Father, Grandfather wants to see the pendant.”
Nan Gong Qian glanced at him and then took out the jade pendant.
The old family head took the pendant, pressed it in the center and along the edges, and the pendant split into two.
Chapter 349
It wasn’t split into two halves but separated into top and bottom parts.
The old family head opened the jade pendant, inspecting it while explaining: “This jade pendant isn’t as significant as you might think. It’s not a magical artifact; it was given to Ah Qi by his grandmother for protection when he was young and ill.”
“He was always busy with cultivation and rarely appeared. His grandmother had no choice but to ask me to pass it to him when I went to visit.” The old family head continued, “This jade pendant is engraved with a few characters.”
“Look here.” The old family head showed one side of the separated jade pendant to everyone.
Huang Quan looked and saw three characters.
‘佑祈兒’ (Bless Ah Qi)
There was one character before ‘佑’ that was already faded and unclear.
Jing Chen guessed, “Is the character before ‘佑’ the character for ‘protection’?”
“No.”
The old family head looked at the character with a serious expression: “The characters on the pendant are ‘天佑祈兒’ (Heaven Protect Ah Qi).”
“That character is ‘Heaven,’ not ‘Protection.’”
Heaven?
Suddenly, Huang Quan thought of the man in the white robe she met in Xiaoyun City.
When Third Brother was about to kill the man in the white robe, the man said, “If you kill me, the Tian family will not let you go!”
Could the ‘Heaven’ here refer to the Tian family mentioned by the man in white?
It was no wonder Huang Quan was suspicious. The coincidence was too striking.
If she didn’t know about the Netherworld King’s Order, she wouldn’t doubt that the Tian family mentioned by the man in white had captured her parents.
But the Netherworld King’s Order did exist, and her mother was a saintess of the Spirit Clan…
If it was indeed the Tian family mentioned by the man in white, then capturing her parents for the Netherworld King’s Order made sense.
But the Netherworld King’s Order had already been taken away by the man who possessed her Second Brother!
“There’s one character missing,” South Palace Yan frowned. “In the places I’ve visited over the years, I haven’t heard of any large family or force with a name starting with ‘Tian’.”
Feng Jiu Yuan added, “Maybe it’s not a name starting with ‘Tian,’ but just has ‘Tian’ in it.”
The old family head also said, “I haven’t heard of it either.”
“It doesn’t matter if you haven’t heard of it,” Huang Quan said. “At least this is a clue.”
“We can follow this lead.”
The old family head nodded, “Exactly, let’s follow this lead.”
“Father,” South Palace Gan said, “What can we find with just one character?”
The old family head glared at him, “To have a father like you, Ah Qi must have been incredibly unfortunate!”
“Even if we don’t find anything, we must investigate!” The old family head looked at South Palace Yi, “Yi’er, mobilize everyone we can in the South Palace family to investigate!”
South Palace Gan said, “Father, we have limited manpower. What can we find?”
“Why not ask His Highness the Crown Prince for help?” South Palace Gan suggested, looking at Emperor Qin with a smile. “Your Highness, you and Quan Quan are friends. Will you help us?”
Emperor Qin’s expression turned cold as he looked at South Palace Gan, “Quan Quan?”
“Are you very familiar with her?”
South Palace Gan didn’t expect Emperor Qin to respond this way. He was momentarily embarrassed and took a while to respond, “She is Ah Qi’s child, my granddaughter. How could we not be familiar…”
“Is that so?”
Emperor Qin remained impassive, “Who knew that South Palace’s Fifth Miss is Quan Quan?”
“Isn’t South Palace’s Fifth Miss South Palace Qing Le?”
“Your Highness…” South Palace Gan had expected Emperor Qin to agree to his request out of respect for Huang Quan’s grandfather but was taken aback by Emperor Qin’s sharp response.
“Quan Quan’s family is my family,” Emperor Qin said to the old family head, “Rest assured, I will send people to investigate.”
End of chapter!
