In the blink of an eye, several days passed.
Outside an elegant quiet chamber in Huang Manor, its master, Huang Xunjiu, paced slowly with his hands behind his back. His face was grave but calm; the faint trembling of those hidden hands betrayed his unease.
"Master, Qian has been in seclusion in the quiet chamber for two days and still hasn't come out. Could something have...?"
He Yunrou, dressed in a brocade gown, twisted a handkerchief anxiously between her fingers.
Huang Xunjiu frowned. "Why are you panicking? Drawing in qi has always been a difficult hurdle. Even with a Qi-Gathering Pill, Qian will need a day or two to cross it. Back when I first transformed spiritual qi into true qi, it took me four full days. You wouldn't understand the hardship and danger involved."
Indeed, they were waiting outside because Huang Qian was inside, taking the pill and drawing in qi.
His words did nothing to reassure He Yunrou. If anything, she grew more worried and let out a soft sigh.
"What are you sighing for? You'll spoil the auspicious mood for no reason!"
Huang Xunjiu rebuked her. "And why was Qian in such a hurry to take the pill and draw in qi? Ultimately, it's your fault! If you hadn't indulged the second and third sons when they bullied the fourth, leaving him nursing a grudge...
"With the fourth son's aptitude, if he'd been close to Qian and the others, how could our Huang Family have failed to prosper? Qian wouldn't have been burning with worry, desperate to break through..."
He Yunrou did not argue aloud, but inwardly she fumed. *Now he's blaming me? Who was it that despised Huang Tian and his mother and treated them like servants? If he hadn't loathed them so much, why would