The Grand Secretary has no heir? His concubine gives birth to triplets.

"Tie up this wretched maid! Pull out her tongue!"

Just as the eunuchs were about to swarm forward, Xue Lingyi stepped to the side, shielding Jiang Guo'er completely behind her.

Lu Yi was even more decisive, directly clenching both fists and protecting the other side.

"Please calm down, Your Excellency!" Xue Lingyi stood up straight, her face showing no fear.

"According to the laws of the Great Chu, Lady Jiang was a concubine of the current Grand Secretary, not a palace slave."

"If you believe she has committed a serious crime, you may ask your elder brother to submit a petition to the Shuntian Prefecture or Daxing County government."

"To carry out a private trial in a Taoist temple based solely on one side's account would be a violation of the laws of the Great Chu!"

How could Consort Yu listen to such things?

Before entering the palace, she was a maid who could barely read or write, and her mind was filled with the tragic memory of her mother having her tongue cut out.

"What laws! My words are the law!"

Consort Yu, her voice shrill and her nails digging into her flesh, shouted, "Pull it out! I'll take responsibility if anything happens!"

The low-ranking eunuchs looked at each other in bewilderment.

Just then, the young eunuch pushing the wheelchair stepped forward, flicked his whisk, and lowered his voice.

"Your Majesty, many officials' families have come to offer incense today. If blood is spilled before the Three Pure Ones, and this reaches the ears of the censors, they will say that you are abusing your power to bully the Grand Secretary's family..."

This young eunuch was the adopted son of the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, and Hongzhu dared not disobey him.

Consort Yu's chest heaved violently a few times as she stared intently at Jiang Guo'er, gritting her teeth as she forced out a sentence:

"Very well, very well indeed! Jiang Guo'er, you just wait, I'll take your life sooner or later!"

Having said that, she tossed her handkerchief aside and had the eunuchs help the limp Li Mama back to the alchemy room in a grand procession.

Jiang Guo'er rolled her eyes inwardly.

[After eating well for a few days in the palace, she really thought she was an empress.]

Those who are ignorant of the law and disregard the rules will inevitably meet a terrible end.

Once the group of people had completely disappeared around the corner of the corridor, Xue Lingyi turned around.

"Snapped!"

A crisp, resounding slap landed squarely on Tan Yu's face.

Tan Yu was knocked back two steps, covering her rapidly swollen cheek, completely stunned.

"How dare you interrupt when the masters were speaking?!"

Xue Lingyi's phoenix eyes widened, and her dignified and elegant demeanor revealed the authority of someone who had been in charge of the household for many years.

"Lvyi, drag her into the quiet room and lock her up!"

Tan Yu panicked and started screaming and struggling.

"Madam is biased! I merely spoke the truth, and you want to lock me up?"

"Why didn't Madam go and lock up Jiang Guo'er! She was just having a secret rendezvous with the Xie family's young master in the quiet room!"

Several old women from the Pei household gasped in shock.

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Xue Lingyi scolded.

"I'm not lying!" Tan Yu said innocently, but looked indignant.

"She and Young Master Xie were hugging and kissing inside the house!"

"When Young Master Xie left, Jiang Guo'er even gave him a sachet as a token of their betrothal!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Guo'er felt a weight lifted from her heart.

[So that's why the sachet disappeared without a trace; it turns out it was waiting for me here.]

[I thought there was some earth-shattering conspiracy, but it turns out all they know are these petty tricks of splashing dirty water in the inner quarters.]

She walked out slowly and deliberately from behind Xue Lingyi, without a trace of panic on her face.

"Aunt Tan, you're catching a thief red-handed! You're falsely accusing me with baseless accusations; do you have any evidence?"

"Of course!" Tan Yu pointed at Jiang Guo'er's nose.

"That sachet is your handiwork. Just send someone to stop Young Master Xie and search him!"

"Then take out the sachets you gave to Madam and Lüyi and compare the stitches, and everything will be clear!"

Jiang Guo'er almost burst out laughing.

"Do you know that Young Master Xie is a scholar of the Hanlin Academy? Searching a scholar of the Hanlin Academy? Aunt Tan, you have quite the nerve."

"According to the laws of the Great Chu, when suing an official appointed by the imperial court, regardless of the reason, the plaintiff must first receive thirty strokes of the cane as a form of punishment."

"Since Aunt Tan is so certain, why don't we go down the mountain now and beat the drum at Shuntian Prefecture?"

"You go to the yamen gate and receive thirty strokes of the cane first, then let the yamen runners search Lord Xie's body, how about that?"

Tan Yu's smug expression froze instantly, and her lips trembled slightly.

Thirty strokes of the cane?

Is she still alive?!

She didn't dare to answer Jiang Guo'er's words. Her eyes darted around, and she knelt down at Xue Lingyi's feet with a thud, crying with snot and tears streaming down her face.

"Madam! You are the mistress of the Pei household!"

"Aunt Jiang has committed such a scandalous and disgraceful act, disgracing both the Prime Minister and the Old Madam! If you don't investigate, how can the rules of the Pei household be upheld in the future?"

Since searching the body of an outsider will result in punishment, then the mistress should bear the burden of this trouble.

If the mistress doesn't investigate, she's failing in her duty; if she does investigate, she has to figure out how to deal with the thirty lashes.

Jiang Guo'er glanced at Xue Lingyi.

Xue Lingyi frowned slightly, her body suddenly swayed, and she raised her hand to her forehead, letting out a cry of "Ouch!"

"Madam! Madam, what's wrong?"

Lu Yi reacted quickly, grabbing Xue Lingyi's arm and shouting at the top of her lungs.

"Help! Help! Is there a doctor in the Taoist temple? My wife has been angered by Aunt Tan's crazy talk and it's affecting her pregnancy!"

These shouts terrified the old women and maids of the Pei household.

"Quickly, fetch a doctor!"

"Quickly, help the lady to her room!"

Tan Yu knelt on the ground, completely dumbfounded.

In that instant of her daze, Jiang Guo'er quickly stepped forward, took Xue Lingyi's arm, and at the same time gave Lüyi a wink.

Luyi understood and turned to pounce on Tanyu.

"How dare Aunt Tan try to harm the child in Madam's womb!"

Luyi knew a bit of martial arts, and she pinned Tanyu to the ground, her hands quickly and groping her waist and sleeves.

"What are you doing! How dare you—"

Tan Yu struggled desperately, but she was no match for Lü Yi's strength.

Soon, Lüyi pulled an object out of Tanyu's sleeve pocket.

"Aunt Tan, what is this?"

It was a small sachet embroidered with several pomegranate flowers, the very one that Jiang Guo'er had lost a few days ago.

Tan Yu was shocked and her face turned pale instantly, but she quickly calmed down and tried to argue her way out of it.

"This... I found this while eavesdropping outside the quiet room!"

As long as she insists that the sachet was picked up outside the quiet room, Jiang Guo'er will never be able to clear her name.

At worst, she'll just get a scolding. She's from the Empress Dowager's family; would Xue Lingyi dare to take her life?

Thinking of this, she became even more emboldened and shouted at the top of her lungs:

"It was dropped by her while she was having an affair! Mistress, you can't protect her! Otherwise... otherwise I'll have to ask Consort Yu to judge this!"

"What's all the noise about?"

A deep, authoritative male voice drifted slowly from the other end of the corridor.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Pei Yan dressed in a black casual outfit with his hands behind his back.

His face was frosty, and his narrow eyes held no warmth whatsoever.

He exuded an aura of power and influence from years of experience in the cutthroat world of officialdom, and slowly walked towards Tan Yu.

"You're saying... Aunt Jiang is having an affair?"