Su Nanxin's attention sharpened, but her smile remained gentle. "Then I am pleased to meet you at last. We were just discussing your journey this afternoon. Please come in. Have you eaten?"
"I have, thank you, Madam Su. Young Miss Gu showed me a very good rice cake stall."
"Then she has introduced you to one of the city's most important treasures. I will have to forgive her for being late."
Gu Yangjin looked at her mother. "I was not that late."
"Of course not. The moon is only beginning to rise. You have arrived at a perfectly reasonable hour, and I was not standing by the window wondering whether you had stopped to discuss every sword manual in the city."
Qiao Zhi lowered her head to hide a smile. Gu Yangjin sighed. "I can see that Mother has been waiting to speak to me."
"I always wait to speak to you. You are my daughter. It is one of the duties of being a mother."
