The temperamental white moonlight is back, and the entire Marquis's family obediently calls him

As soon as Lu Mingzhao entered the garden, he was surrounded by people, led by Madam Dong, whom he had met before at Yunding Manor.

Everyone warmly welcomed her into the central, heated tent.

A stove burned inside the heated tent, and a thick blanket was laid on the floor, on which low tables laden with tea, snacks, and hot drinks were arranged in a staggered pattern.

The woman in the main seat is Jiang, who is now the matriarch of the Dong family and is in her thirties.

Upon seeing Lu Mingzhao, she stepped down from the main seat and quickly came to greet her, taking Lu Mingzhao's hand and saying warmly, "Madam Lu, it's been a long time. You look much better."

The current head of the Dong family, a royal merchant family, is Jiang's husband—Dong Heyu, who is thirty-seven years old.

Dong Heyu has a younger brother and a younger sister. His younger brother, Dong Heshan, travels with him as a merchant, while his younger sister, Dong Heqing, married the deputy director of the Imperial Observatory this year.

Standing on Lu Mingzhao's other side, Dong Heqing smiled and said, "Since we parted at Yunding Manor last time, I have been thinking of Madam Lu, but unfortunately I haven't had the chance to see her. Today, Madam Lu has graced me with her presence."

Lu Mingzhao smiled and said, "It's not that I didn't want to come. My husband has been back in Beijing lately, and things have gotten busier, so I haven't had time to think about these things."

"Yes, I also heard that Marquis Zhongjing seems to have been injured. Is it serious?"

Everyone started asking questions all at once. Lu Mingchao shook his head, and just as he was about to answer, he saw several people coming in through the door.

The woman in the lead seemed to want to come in and talk to him, but when she saw Lu Mingzhao, her face stiffened, and she turned and left with an ugly expression.

"who is she?"

Lu Mingzhao was puzzled.

"Madam Lu doesn't recognize her? She's the eldest daughter-in-law of the Duke of Huguo's family," Dong Heqing said with a smile.

After her explanation, Lu Mingzhao learned that since she broke off her daughter's engagement, Feng Liang's already bad reputation in the capital had plummeted.

Now, more than two months have passed, and no one dares to come to propose marriage anymore.

Even if there are such families, they are all from families that are not respectable and are not a good match. After all, what respectable family would push their daughter into a fire pit?

Furthermore, the incident involving Zhou Ming'an a few days ago also led to the discovery of Madam Cui from the Duke of Huguo's family.

The Duke of Huguo went to great lengths to protect the Cui family.

But with Zhou Ningchuan intervening, the investigation continued in the end.

Even if Cui is not brought to justice in the end, he will still suffer greatly.

This made Feng Liang's marriage even more difficult.

Recently, due to the investigation, Cui was not allowed to leave her home, so she entrusted her youngest son's marriage to her eldest daughter-in-law, asking her to attend more banquets and make connections with the in-laws.

His grandmother came over just now, hoping to find someone to chat with, but as soon as she entered the tent, she bumped into Lu Mingzhao, the culprit who had caused all this chaos in their home, and had no choice but to run away with a dark face.

Lu Mingzhao, however, thought this was a good thing.

It's best if Feng Liang can't find a wife, so he won't ruin other people's daughters.

However, Dong Heqing whispered a reminder: "Right now, the Duke of Huguo's mansion is naturally not doing well, but Madam Lu should still be careful. The Feng family has been having close ties with the He family in the past two years, and those young ladies and wives have been visiting the He family quite often."

"Madam Lu knows that although we are women, the affairs of the inner quarters are inevitably intertwined with those of the court and officialdom. If the He family deliberately makes things difficult in court, it will be our men who suffer."

Lu Mingzhao was taken aback. After a moment's thought, he remembered that the He family seemed to be a prominent family with a background of founding heroes.

The He family has produced one duke and two marquises, and now includes the emperor's tutor, grand tutor, and many other high-ranking officials.

Such aristocratic families naturally have far more seniority and greater influence in the court than meritorious families like the Duke of Protectorate and the Marquis of Loyalty, which have not been established for very long.

However, before this, Lu Mingzhao had never met anyone from the He family, and had rarely even heard of them.

Because of the strict family traditions and rules of the He family, members of the He family rarely interact with the outside world except on necessary occasions.

Even Lu Mingzhao has made more public appearances in the past two months than the He family has in a whole year.

Even when Princess Wenyu returned to the capital last time, the He family only prepared generous gifts and visited the princess's residence alone, without ever showing themselves in public.

The fact that the Feng family and the He family are now in contact is likely related to Madam Cui's affairs.

Lu Mingzhao smiled gently: "Thank you for reminding me. I will tell the Marquis and the others to be careful."

"I don't go out often, and I don't know many people. If there's any further news, please let me know."

Seeing that she had done him this favor, Dong Heqing's smile became even warmer.

She's not afraid of trouble; she's afraid of not having trouble.

Isn't social interaction all about helping each other out?

Marquis Zhongjing is now a very popular figure in the capital.

Although Madam Lu had always been at odds with Marquis Zhongjing, she had held that title for over ten years, which was enough to show her ruthlessness.

Furthermore, since Madam Lu had made an appearance in front of Princess Wenyu again, Dong Heqing realized that this woman did not seem to be as useless and incompetent as the rumors suggested.

Coming from a family of merchants, she almost immediately sensed the potential for profit.

She was determined to be friends with this person.

Madam Jiang was very cooperative, and she and her sister-in-law quickly started a conversation, all revolving around Lu Mingzhao.

Lu Mingzhao, however, was not quite used to it.

Every time the topic turned to her, she would subtly steer the conversation away from it again.

After a few times, Dong Heqing and her sister-in-law exchanged a glance and then wisely chose a different topic, no longer trying to steer the conversation towards her.

Lu Mingzhao would also bring it up herself; for example, she looked around and asked, "Didn't Princess Wenyu come?"

But these words made the smiles of the group freeze.

Princess Wenyu rarely attends banquets like ours.

Lu Mingzhao observed the expressions on everyone's faces and then belatedly realized that although the Dong family were imperial merchants, they were still businessmen after all.

Without regular contact, powerful families and imperial relatives rarely looked up to them.

This is why Lu Mingzhao became the focus of everyone's attention as soon as he entered the warm tent.

After all, for someone of Lu Mingzhao's rank, getting along with them would actually lower his status.

Lu Mingzhao naturally didn't understand these things.

Even if she had known beforehand, she wouldn't have cared.

So she quickly laughed it off and changed the subject.

After drinking a cup of tea, Dong Heqing said with a smile, "The snow outside has lessened a bit, would you like to go for a walk?"

Lu Mingzhao responded.

When she entered the garden, she heard from the servants who were leading the way that today's banquet would be held with men and women seated separately first, and then they would sit together in the next group to enjoy the snow.

I haven't seen Zhou Ningchuan for so long, I guess we'll have to meet again at the banquet later.

However, as she stepped out of the warm tent, she heard Dong Heqing whisper beside her, "Madam Lu, don't worry, we'll have another pavilion to enjoy the snow later."

Lu Mingzhu was completely confused.

Another pavilion? What does that mean?

However, her question was quickly answered.

After leaving the warm tent, the ladies who had come with their husbands today split up and went to meet up via another route.

Lu Mingzhao, led by Dong Heqing, went with the other ladies who disliked crowds to a slightly higher pavilion.

Dong Heqing added with a smile, "After the banquet, we'll be drinking. I heard that Madam Lu doesn't like drinking much, so let's go to the pavilion upstairs for tea instead."

She then realized that Dong Heqing and the others did not know that Zhou Ningchuan had come with her.