At that moment Xiao Zai approached them, asking out loud, "Who asked for grandmother?"
"Chu Hean's master," Chu Yun said, keeping his register low.
The Queen Dowager appeared over Xiao Zai's shoulder at the same time his eyes widened with a silent hiss.
"Why the aura of secrecy?" she asked, clearly amused.
Hua Nanyi shot Chu Yun an apologetic grimace. He understood she couldn't just hide the information from the Queen Dowager, and in any case, her own servants would inform her, and Hua Nanyi would then find herself in a compromising position.
"Answering her Royal Highness: an elderly man, accompanying a young woman, requests an audience with her Royal Highness, and says that her Royal Highness expects him."
The Queen Dowager's thin eyebrows rose in recognition, and a pleasant smile lifted the corners of her lined lips. "So it seems, tell the servants to show him to the Orchid Room."