Sure enough.
As soon as the door opened, they saw a crowd of commoners gathered outside, pointing and whispering. Xie Jin'an knelt in their midst, his eyes red.
Perhaps he had suffered a great deal lately. He had lost considerable weight, his cheeks were slightly sunken and tinged with a bruised darkness, and his expression brimmed with grievance and anger.
He looked even more frail.
The moment Xie Jin'an saw the door open, he hurried to his feet and stumbled toward it.
"Liu Wan, please, let me see my daughter. I've adored her ever since she was born. I even renamed the pavilion in the inner courtyard after her."
"Grandmother doted on Wanwan, too. Now Grandmother is near death, and my father has never even met his granddaughter. Please have mercy and let Wanwan see her grandfather and great-grandmother!"
"Let Wanwan see her great-grandmother one last time!"
Xie Jin'an shouted loudly, but before he could reach Liu Wan, a Hidden Guard beside him grabbed him by the back of his collar, stopping him from taking another step forward.
His words drew sighs from the surrounding crowd.
"Although Eldest Master Xie favored his concubine and cast aside his wife, Princess Ximing is still his flesh and blood. Her great-grandmother is dying. Surely it's not too much to ask her to visit."
"Exactly. You can't be so coldhearted. Besides, Eldest Master Xie just said he and Princess Ximing were very close. Wanting to see her is only human!"
"If they treated Princess Ximing well, asking her to see her great-grandmother one last time isn't unreasonable!"
Xie Jin'an had been playing the victim outside the gate for quite some time, so it was only natural that some of the commoners felt sorry for him.
If the truth really was as he claimed,