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

Jiang Guo'er was forced to turn backward, with nowhere left to retreat.

"You're so generous, letting just any Tom, Dick, or Harry into my room!"

Pei Yan braced himself on the table beside her, breathing heavily and gritting his teeth.

His eyes, fixed on her, were brimming with undisguised lust.

Jiang Guo'er's lower back was in severe pain, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears.

I mentally cursed him from head to toe—

Last night, Lüyi served him very well, but today he's complaining about others?

What exactly do you want?!

On the surface, she appeared trembling with fear, and explained in a low voice, "Miss Xianxian was specially presented to you by the Third Madam as a token of respect. This servant dared not act on her own..."

"You wouldn't dare?" Pei Yan's eyes blazed even brighter. "I bet you dare!"

As soon as he got close to her, the fire that had been burning inside him all day burst forth like an old house catching fire.

This is completely different from the indifference I felt when facing Lu Yi last night.

He leaned down, his rough fingertips pinching her chin, his thumb pressing against her slightly trembling lips, and fiercely sucked on them.

Brutal, greedy, barbaric, and utterly unreasonable!

"Prime Minister...no, no...not here..."

Pei Yan ignored her and used his large hand to untie her sash, silencing all her soft pleas for mercy.

The edge of the table was digging into Jiang Guo'er's slender waist, compounded by the various troubles she had been dealing with these past two days.

Green Ripple stayed overnight, the old woman gossiped, her foot was hit by a copper kettle, and he gave her a cold look first thing in the morning...

The grievances surged like a tidal wave, and finally, tears streamed down her face.

late at night.

After tossing and turning for most of the night, Pei Yan was finally satisfied.

He scooped up Jiang Guo'er, who had collapsed into a puddle of water, and carried her back to the canopy bed.

Jiang Guo'er closed her eyes and pretended to be dead, unable to move even a finger.

Pei Yan leaned against the headboard, his large hand sliding down her slender legs and scooping up her right foot.

The bruise from the broken copper kettle stood out starkly against the fair and delicate instep.

Pei Yan's face darkened instantly.

"Didn't Lüyi apply the medicine for you? I clearly told her to do so before I went to court."

Jiang Guo'er was a beat slow to react.

Is that true?

She half-opened her eyes and said in a muffled tone, "Today, Lüyi was busy settling the new concubines, so she probably... forgot."

Pei Yan remained silent.

He turned around and took out a white jade box containing a blood-activating and lipid-reducing ointment from a hidden compartment by the bedside.

He scooped out a large piece, placed his fingertips on her bruised instep, and rubbed it with just the right amount of pressure.

Jiang Guo'er was stunned.

That's a top-grade ointment used for...!

The Prime Minister actually used it to wipe her feet?

Seeing that she could be distracted, Pei Yan leaned in from behind and bit her rosy earlobe hard.

"Last night, I made Lüyi memorize the Xue family precepts and genealogy for half the night."

"Later... she rested on the footstool outside, and I didn't touch her at all."

Jiang Guo'er trembled, her eyes widening instantly.

Noticing that Jiang Guo'er's body was stiff, Pei Yan's lips curled up slightly, and he gently rubbed her red and swollen eyes.

"Your eyes are so dark, did you secretly cry under the covers last night?"

Jiang Guo'er shook her head, but her eyes involuntarily reddened under the influence of the ointment and the man's whispers.

After a while, she pulled up the blanket and wrapped herself up like a silkworm cocoon, murmuring softly.

"Thank you for your mercy, Your Excellency, but... I'm really not feeling well today, and after all that activity just now, I'm afraid I can't take it again..."

She paused, then fearlessly added:

"If Your Excellency is still not satisfied, I will put on my clothes and go to call other concubines for you... Is that alright?"

The tenderness on Pei Yan's face froze instantly.

Good my ass!

This woman is incredibly foolish; everyone else is scrambling to curry favor with her.

But all she could think about was how to push him away!

Pei Yan took a few deep breaths and wrapped her, blanket and all, tightly in his arms, holding her like an iron hoop.

"Shut up! I'm tired, go to sleep!"

Jiang Guo'er was being strangled so tightly she could hardly breathe.

What kind of madness is this living devil having in the middle of the night?

She was finding it increasingly difficult to understand men's thoughts.

The next morning.

When Jiang Guo'er got up, her body was still sore.

But recalling last night, I seemed to have also enjoyed it, and my ears couldn't help but feel hot.

When I went to the bathroom, I suddenly ran into him, and my heart skipped a few beats.

She hurriedly bowed her head in greeting, but her eyes involuntarily lingered on him out of the corner of her eye.

As she helped him dress and put on his crown, her gaze couldn't help but sweep over his cold, sharp eyebrows and eyes, and over his well-defined hands resting on his jade belt.

The Prime Minister seems exceptionally handsome today.

After Pei Yan left, Jiang Guo'er slapped her face hard.

Sober!

He's about to marry Lingyi, you absolutely mustn't have any ridiculous thoughts!

Just as she had put her thoughts aside, Lüyi rushed over with the ointment and apologized to her in a low voice.

"Please forgive me, young lady!"

"Yesterday, I was so angry with the concubine that I forgot the Prime Minister's instructions this morning and didn't apply the medicine to your foot in time..."

Jiang Guo'er was stunned for a moment.

She initially thought Pei Yan was lying to her, but to her surprise, it turned out to be true.

"It's okay, I already wiped it myself last night."

In the following days, a strange wind swept through the Prime Minister's residence.

Since that skinny girl was thrown out, the Prime Minister has never given any concubines a chance to sleep with him again, only touching Jiang Guo'er and Lü Yi.

The rumors circulating around her about Jiang Guo'er falling out of favor were dispelled without a trace.

But there weren't any nice things to say either.

"The Prime Minister is protecting Miss Lüyi very closely these days; he's doing this to give his future wife face!"

The cleaning woman muttered to herself in the yard.

Another old woman spat out a mouthful of sunflower seed shells and sneered.

"Of course! Miss Lüyi is the mistress's confidante; that's what you call valuing the principal wife! As for that Jiang Guo'er, what is she anyway?"

"How so?"

"She's just a useful tool! When the Prime Minister can't hold back, he uses her like an animal to vent his frustrations. She's at his beck and call, and he doesn't care if she gets broken!"

Jiang Guo'er was passing by carrying a wooden basin.

The hand gripping the edge of the wooden basin tightened slightly.

It is only natural for the Prime Minister to love his wife. How could a concubine who risked her life to fight against fate feel uncomfortable just because such words were stopped?

I was really stunned.

Until the eve of the Great Founding.

Granny Qin and Steward Zhao, along with a group of servants, were in the courtyard counting the betrothal gifts to be carried to the Xue family.

Large, red-lacquered chests lay open, their lids gleaming with gold, silver, pearls, jade, and agate, dazzling to the eye.

Jiang Guo'er was also called over to help, and her eyes were immediately drawn to a piece of fabric in the box.

It was a rare brocade with gold-embroidered peacock feathers.

Under the sunlight, it shimmered and shone, so magnificent that it was impossible to look away.

She had seen it once before, when she was a noblewoman, in her mother's storeroom.

Her mother stroked her hair, her eyes full of love.

"This is something your mother specially saved to be part of your dowry when you grow up and get married! Come and see, do you like it?"

Jiang Guo'er was momentarily lost in thought and, as if possessed, reached out her hand.

Just as her fingertips touched the shimmering gold fabric...

"stop!"

A sharp shout rang in my ears.

Pei Yan had just finished his shift and was striding into the moon gate.

"Those are betrothal gifts prepared for Miss Xue. How dare a mere concubine like you touch them?"

His reprimand was merciless, and it echoed throughout the entire courtyard.

"Get back inside right now!"

Jiang Guo'er reacted as if she had been branded with a hot iron, and quickly pulled her hand back into her sleeve.

The mocking glances from the servants around her, which were half-smiling and half-smiling, felt like countless slaps to her face.

The fleeting, ethereal thoughts that had been brewing for the past few days shattered completely on the bluestone slab with a clatter.