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

After finishing her painting, Jiang Guo'er felt a little sleepy.

The afternoon sun was blazing, but the breeze blowing through Qingyi Garden on the cool mats of Qizhou made it quite pleasant.

Jiang Guo'er leaned against the pillow, her stray hairs falling over her shoulders, a trace of green paint still clinging to her fingertips from her painting.

Pei Yan lay on his side beside her and reached out to tuck her disheveled hair behind her ear.

His fingertips brushed against her delicate white earlobe, lingering longer than usual.

Jiang Guo'er tilted her head and glanced at him, her ears gradually getting hot.

"Prime Minister, are you busy with official duties today? How come you have the leisure to take a nap with me?"

Pei Yan lowered his eyes, took her hand, which was lying on the cool mat, into his palm, and held her wrist bone little by little.

"It'll only take fifteen minutes, it's no big deal."

As he spoke, his fingers traced down her wrist to the outside of her waistband.

Jiang Guo'er felt an itch on her waist, so she quickly pressed his hand down and whispered reproachfully, "Don't be silly in broad daylight."

A hint of intimacy appeared in Pei Yan's eyes as he leaned close to her ear, the scent of ink mingling with the fragrance of agarwood emanating from his body.

"I'll just check your belt to see if it's too tight anywhere."

Just as Pei Yan was about to lean over and ask for a treat, a sudden burst of noisy crowing came from outside.

"Giggle! Giggle!"

Immediately afterward, Lu Yunzheng's loud voice echoed throughout the courtyard: "Prime Minister! I've come to deliver your holiday gifts!"

Pei Yan's face darkened.

Jiang Guo'er suppressed a laugh and quickly got off the bed and put on her shoes.

Pei Yan straightened her clothes and tightened the loosened belt around her waist by half an inch before letting go.

Lu Yunzheng stood boldly in the flower hall, holding two live roosters with large red combs flapping their wings upside down in his hands.

The two chickens were full of energy, their sharp claws still kicking wildly, scattering feathers all over the ground.

Jiang Guo'er's lips twitched slightly.

Brother Lu is so honest!

During the Dragon Boat Festival, people give gifts such as zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), five-poison cakes, cherries, and sachets.

He actually brought live poultry to her door. If they start crowing in the middle of the night, how will she be able to sleep?

"Brother Lu, what are you doing...?" Jiang Guo'er pointed to the two chickens.

"Here you go!" Lu Yunzheng handed the rooster to the maid beside him, his face full of pride.

"I specially went to a farm on the outskirts of Beijing to pick them out. They grew up eating cordyceps, so their meat is firm and the soup made from them is fragrant."

"You should take good care of yourself now, stew it for a longer time, drink the soup and eat the meat, and you'll have a rosy complexion."

Pei Yan changed into a black casual outfit and slowly walked out of the inner room.

He glanced at the two chickens, a hint of disdain in his eyes, then took Jiang Guo'er's hand and led her to sit down next to the head of the table.

Lu Yunzheng sat down at the lower end of the table, picked up the cool tea that the maid had just brought him, gulped it down, and casually wiped his mouth.

The smile on his face quickly vanished, and his expression turned serious.

Upon seeing this, Pei Yan immediately dismissed his attendants.

"I've made some progress on the matter of the flood in Heihe," Lu Yunzheng said in a low voice.

Upon hearing this, Pei Yan paused, grabbed Jiang Guo'er by the waist, pulled her close, and held her firmly in his arms.

Lu Yunzheng's eyelids twitched. Seeing the two of them being so affectionate in broad daylight, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Give me a break! I treat Shunshun like my own sister, why are you so wary of me?" He said with a look of disdain.

Jiang Guo'er's face flushed, and she secretly pinched Pei Yan's lower back.

Pei Yan, oblivious to the pain, rested his chin on her shoulder, his arms wrapped around her waist, and retorted defiantly:

"You can hold me if you want, but let's get down to business."

Lu Yunzheng snorted, leaned closer, and lowered his voice.

"When the Heihe River breached its banks, the Marquis did indeed allocate a large quantity of relief grain from the garrison to the severely affected areas."

"But a large portion of that grain never reached the disaster victims!"

Jiang Guo'er was startled and stared at him intently.

"The officer in charge of escorting the grain was a minor official surnamed Gou. He colluded with a clerk from the local transport office halfway through the journey and secretly embezzled all the relief grain."

"They conspired to submit a forged official document, claiming that flash floods had occurred again, roads had been washed away, and grain could not be transported."

"In reality, they resold that life-saving grain to gentry who had hoarded grain in other areas, making a fortune!"

At this point, Lu Yunzheng slammed his fist heavily on the coffee table, making the teacups rattle.

Jiang Guo'er's breathing became rapid, and her chest tightened.

"The village where Liu Quan's wife and children live has been waiting for food for a long time."

"With the entire village on the verge of starvation, the able-bodied men had no choice but to risk leaving the highlands and wading through the water to find a way to survive."

"Liu Quan's wife and children were among them. Who would have thought that when the next flood peak came, all those who went out to find food were swept away."

"When that man surnamed Gou saw that so many people had died, he was afraid that the truth would be exposed, so he falsely accused the guilty party first."

"He instructed his men to spread rumors among the surviving refugees, saying that the Marquis of Dingyuan refused to help the dying people and that this was why they had nowhere to go."

Lu Yunzheng sighed.

"Liu Quan was serving in the army in southern Xinjiang at the time. After returning home and inquiring, he found that everyone in the village was saying the same thing."

"He believed it and concluded that the Marquis had harmed his wife and children because he didn't care about the lives of the people. That's why he held a grudge and was manipulated by the person behind the scenes."

Only the sound of the wind under the eaves remained in the flower hall.

Jiang Guo'er trembled uncontrollably.

Her father, who spent his life on the battlefield and guarded the northern frontier, was actually taken on such a huge smear!

The people they risked their lives to protect were killed by corrupt officials, and in the end, all the blame was poured on them.

Her eyes were bloodshot, her jaw was clenched so tightly it was grinding, and her hands were clenched into fists, her nails digging deep into her palms.

Pei Yan pried open her fingers and held her trembling little hand in his palm.

He bent down and gently massaged her palms, his movements slow, his thumb tracing over the red marks.

Don't hurt yourself.

Jiang Guo'er took a breath and suppressed her surging emotions.

"Brother Lu, where is that guy surnamed Gou now?"

"That's where the difficulty lies." Lu Yunzheng frowned and scratched his hair.

"After that grandson divided the loot, he soon ran away, claiming his elderly mother had passed away."

"After that, he went into hiding and disappeared without a trace. The people I sent were like headless flies, searching for a needle in a haystack, how were we supposed to find him?"

Jiang Guo'er forced herself to calm down.

She leaned against Pei Yan's chest, closed her eyes, and frantically searched her mind for related memories.

Back then, she liked to read military books in her brother's study, and sometimes her brother would allow her to grind ink beside him.

The window frame of the study in the Marquis's mansion, the paintings on the wall, the potted asparagus fern on the desk that her brother cherished... all these things flashed through her mind.

"The display cabinet against the north wall in my brother's study..." she muttered to herself, frowning. "On the second shelf, there are several indigo-covered registers."

Neither Pei Yan nor Lu Yunzheng dared to make a sound to disturb her.

"I remember now!" Jiang Guo'er suddenly opened her eyes, a sharp glint flashing in them.

That spring, my brother threw a huge tantrum and smashed his favorite paperweight.

"A soldier was addicted to gambling and lost several months' worth of his men's pay! My brother said he should be severely punished as a warning to others."

Jiang Guo'er turned to look at Lu Yunzheng, speaking faster.

"My brother mentioned that person's name and said he was punished with thirty strokes of the military rod."

"That man had an extra finger on his left hand, making him six-fingered. Many in the army privately called him 'Six-Fingered Gou'!"