Quick Transmigration: Survive to the End

“Otherwise,” Young Master Qi replied, then looked Young Master Liu up and down, and held out his hand, “You don’t have a gift for our meeting, do you?”

"How could that be?" Young Master Liu examined Yin Yin carefully for a moment, then took a piece of jade with excellent quality from his person and handed it to Yin Yin.

"Today, this jade pendant is the only presentable item I have outside. Yinyin, you can accept it for now, and Uncle Liu will make you an even better one another day."

Yinyin held the jade pendant and subconsciously looked at her uncle first.

Young Master Qi said, "If he gives it to you, just accept it. He's a wealthy man."

Yinyin ignored his less-than-pleasant words and said, "Thank you, Uncle Liu."

Young Master Liu responded gently, and then said, "Tomorrow there will be a banquet at my house, and Yinyin will come with her aunt to play."

Yinyin nodded: "If my grandparents agree, I will definitely go."

“Alright, it’s settled then. I have a son at home, not much older than you, Yinyin. He can bring you along to play,” Young Master Liu said, then bid farewell to Yinyin, casually cupped his hands to Young Master Qi, and left.

"Tch, is he your son? Saying such things," Young Master Qi said with some displeasure, but looking at the jade pendant in Yin Yin's hand, he surprisingly refrained from saying anything unpleasant.

After the two had wandered around for a while, they returned to the carriage. When Madam Qi saw the jade pendant and learned what had happened, she couldn't help but tap her son on the head.

"Ouch," Young Master Qi feigned pain, then said, "Mother, if you don't want to praise me, fine, but why did you hit me? If it weren't for his good luck, would he have been the first to give Yin Yin a gift?"

Madam Qi didn't want to talk to her son, and instead asked Yin Yin how she had played earlier.

While answering her grandmother's questions, Yin Yin looked at her uncle with some concern.

Upon receiving his niece's gaze, Young Master Qi stopped pretending to be in pain and winked to indicate that he was fine.

Yin Yin smiled and then stopped paying attention to him.

As winter approaches and the weather grows colder, even the young Marquis Qi, who used to eagerly anticipate going out, is now too lazy to venture out.

In his words, this freezing weather is the perfect time to stay home and hibernate.

If it weren't for the fact that both Old Master Qi and Yin Yin were unwilling, Young Master Qi would surely have found a way to cancel even the martial arts classes.

However, after winter sets in, there are more banquets in various households, whether it's a family getting married, a daughter getting married, or someone returning to the capital to report on their work at the end of the year.

Yin Yin had already been to the palace, so now she naturally couldn't shirk her duties anymore and was often taken out by her grandmother.

She made several close friends and also met her maternal grandparents' family at several banquets.

However, Yin Yin didn't get along very well with her maternal grandparents' sisters, and since they each had their own circles, they only treated each other as ordinary relatives.

As the year drew to a close, Yin Yin stopped going out much, because Consort Shu in the palace was in her late pregnancy, and Old Madam Qi needed to arrange things at home in preparation for entering the palace to accompany her during the final days of childbirth.

According to custom, Old Madam Qi could have entered the palace to accompany her daughter more than a month before her due date. However, her family was small, and Young Master Qi was not yet married. If she left, there would be no one in the family to take care of all the things to do at the end of the year.

Because of this, Old Madam Qi was quite anxious and upset. Even the usually cunning Young Master Qi didn't dare to say anything and obediently let his mother force him to learn how to read accounts, hoping that he could help share the burden for a few days.

Seeing her uncle sighing and working on the abacus, Yinyin quietly moved closer to him and just then saw him write down a wrong number.

Yinyin glanced at the account book, then at her uncle, and turned back to her grandmother, saying, "Grandmother, you should have Sister Fengxiu and the accountant be more careful. Uncle can just oversee everything."

Madam Qi stopped, walked over to her son's side, and was so angry that she lost her composure. She slapped him: "Even Yinyin could see that you made a mistake in such a simple calculation, and you still kept going!"

Young Master Qi was startled and drew a long line on the side with his pen.

He rubbed his eyes, looked at his calculations again, and realized that he had indeed made a mistake.

He simply put down his pen: "Mother, I think Yinyin's suggestion is excellent. Why should I worry about every little detail myself? Otherwise, what's the use of having subordinates?"

“Or…” Young Master Qi grabbed Yin Yin by the armpits, picked her up, and held her in front of himself and his mother. “Mother, you can leave Yin Yin with me. I think if I can do the divination, Yin Yin can too. If Yin Yin can’t do it, then don’t count on me.”

“No, that won’t do,” said Madam Qi. “His Majesty has already sent word that Yinyin will definitely come to the palace with him, so you can forget about it.”

After saying that, Madam Qi began to teach her son from the beginning.

Young Master Qi sighed and loosened his grip.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Yinyin slid off his lap: "Grandma, I'm going to see if Grandpa has come back yet."

Madam Qi instructed her to put on her clothes for going outside, wrap herself in her cloak, and take two more people with her, and then she agreed.

Yinyin finished getting ready and went out, originally intending to head towards the second gate, but when she reached the courtyard, she saw a wintersweet tree and stopped.

"Granny, let's cut two branches to take back for Grandmother to put in a vase."

Without needing to give any further instructions, a clever little maidservant went back to the room and brought out a basket and flower shears.

Granny Zhao picked up Yin Yin and asked, "Which branch does Miss want?"

Yinyin compared them for a while and then pointed to two places.

The maidservant immediately stepped forward, cut the paper, and carefully placed it in a small basket.

Just as Yinyin was about to pick out one or two more branches, Old Master Qi returned from outside.

He saw Yinyin pruning flower branches outside, and after asking what was going on inside, he turned around and took Yinyin with him: "Grandpa will take you to arrange flowers."

The two then went to the study.

Old Master Qi instructed someone to fetch a suitable bottle, but Yin Yin's gaze fell on a painting or calligraphy scroll by the bookshelf.

The handwriting looks somewhat familiar, but it's quite immature. The drawing also has quite a few flaws, but the aesthetic sense is good.

A painting like this shouldn't have been hanging in Old Master Qi's study, but it just happened to be there.

Yinyin walked up to the painting, already guessing who the artist was.

Grandpa Qi noticed her movements, let her watch for a while, and then walked to her side and gently placed his hand on her head.

“This was painted by your father when he was young,” said Old Master Qi, seemingly reminiscing, yet with some other emotion in his voice. “He had only been learning to paint for a short time then, and he finally managed to paint a painting that he was fairly satisfied with. He insisted on hanging it in my study.”

"After looking for a long time, we chose this place and then replaced the original painting."

"Hmm?" Yinyin glanced at Old Master Qi, then looked at the painting in front of her.

It was an expected start, but an unexpected ending.

"Then... what about the original painting?"

Old Master Qi curled his lips: "It was given away as a gift several times before, and now it should be in the palace."