While the emperor summoned his ministers in the Imperial Study, Chu Hang was enjoying a measure of ease at the Chu Residence.
With honored guests making a rare visit, the Chu Residence naturally had to prepare a family banquet to entertain them. They could hardly let them leave after nothing more than a chat.
After catching up in the reception hall, however, A Fei and Chu Hang had some time alone. Despite the many misunderstandings and awkward moments between this son-in-law and father-in-law, there were still things they needed to say in private.
Such as the guilt of all these years, Chu Qi's longing in days past, and all the requests she had entrusted to him beside the Bridge of Forgetfulness in the Underworld...
Hui Mian had no notion of making himself scarce-or rather, he did not think there was any need to. He might well have been listening from somewhere.
Yi Shuyuan and Qi Zhongbin, meanwhile, stepped away for the time being and went for a walk in the Chu Residence's garden.
At the pond in the distance, Chu Hang's little grandson was trying to catch fish with a scoop net. But the fish were fast, and the child was young; no matter what he did, he could not catch one. Servants and maidservants watched over him, running here and there along with him.
For all the Chu Residence's size, there seemed to be hardly any members of the Chu Household there.
Yi Shuyuan and Qi Zhongbin, however, knew the household's circumstances like the backs of their hands.
Of Chu Hang's two sons, one served as an official elsewhere, while the other had inherited the Chu Household's Kiln Works in Longwind Prefecture. The family's craft had not been lost.
Of Chu Hang's two daughters, one had long since married