The concubine, a former cannon fodder, becomes pregnant, and the childless prince spoils her rotten.

He dared to put on such a pretentious act in front of her, belittling himself and lacking any self-respect, which she found despicable.

Cen Jingyi only took some time today to inspect the work, and he didn't expect to run into the two arguing.

Instead of wasting your time arguing, you should think of ways to earn back the money you've spent.

Liu Gulan was indignant; she was furious with the maid, but dared not offend the prince.

He replied reluctantly, "I understand."

Since Liu Gulan is now an outsider, it is not appropriate for him to stay in the mansion for a long time, so he moved to this shop to live.

Lin Zhizhi followed Cen Jingyi back to the mansion, and on the way, he asked, "What do you think of Liu Gu?"

Is her opinion important to the prince?

"Young Master Liu has decorated the shop beautifully, but it's a pity he won't listen to my advice," Lin Zhizhi pondered. "He seems to think he doesn't need to do anything; customers will come to him with money. This is just my opinion; Young Master Liu must have his own considerations."

Such a witty remark softened Cen Jingyi's expression considerably. "If he owes the Prince's Mansion money, then he must work for the Prince's Mansion. And no one would dare to employ someone who owes money and doesn't pay it back."

Lin Zhizhi felt a chill run down her spine; she felt as if she wasn't qualified to be involved.

If the shop makes a profit, that's fine, but if it loses money, it will directly trap Liu Gulan, and even the concubine will be quiet for a long time.

If Liu Gulan has no power to turn things around, then her path of using the prince to make connections with powerful figures will be completely blocked.

The prince had long seen through her intentions and wouldn't let her be used for nothing. Instead, he used her to keep the concubine in check.

From this perspective, whether the shop makes money or not, it's still a win for the prince.

Even if Liu Gulan loses everything in the end, and the concubine's family finds out about it, they will only think that the prince misjudged people and would never let the loss of a shop ruin their relationship.

If they knew that a concubine had been involved, they might have thought of her and wanted their daughter to have a better life, so they might have sent her money.

Upon further reflection, everything made sense, but she had only stepped into it and felt lost in the fog, unsure of her own position.

She felt a little down, but thankfully she hadn't expected the prince to actually like her.

Her current situation is much better than in her previous life; she needs to gain the prince's complete trust.

At this moment, her eyes were filled with admiration and respect as she looked at Cen Jingyi, as if she had not fully understood the calculation behind it, and she only said: "Your Highness must have your reasons for doing this."

This perfectly matches Lin Zhizhi's original character, but Cen Jingyi always felt that she was hiding something.

Not in a hurry to find out, the two stopped talking and walked one after the other.

The sunlight stretched her shadow long, and Lin Zhizhi deliberately avoided it, fearing she might break a taboo.

But then I saw their dark shadows blend together, just like the choices they had made now.

Lin Zhizhi wasn't on duty that night. She had been tired lately and went to bed early. Suddenly, she heard rustling sounds outside.

Immediately alerted, he didn't dare go over to look, and quietly pushed open the window and jumped out.

In her past life, things often happened against her will at night. To avoid them, she slept lightly and would hide at the slightest sound.

If they can't find her, they'll go back to looking for other women; after all, as long as she's a woman, that's fine with them.

She retained this habit in an attempt to protect herself.

Lin Zhizhi saw a dark figure heading straight for her bed and felt that she should not stay there any longer, so she quickly went to the Princess's residence.

The light in the princess's room was still on. Seeing Lin Zhizhi's flustered expression and pale face, she immediately asked, "What happened that made you so panicked?"

"There's...there's an assassin! The assassin seems unfamiliar with the manor and is wandering around my quarters. I was afraid of disturbing him, so I didn't dare to shout. There are also many maids living there. If the assassin finds the prince's residence..."

"Please calm down. There are guards at the Prince's residence. Steward Lin is still recovering from his injuries, so the guards in the manor have started to slack off," the Princess reassured her, knowing that Lin Zhizhi was exaggerating.

If a strange man broke into her residence that night and she hadn't noticed and had been seen, it would have been tantamount to catching him in the act of adultery. Even if nothing happened, the final outcome would probably have been that Lin Zhizhi would have been dealt with privately.

No wonder Lin Zhizhi was so panicked, breaking into her residence in the middle of the night; now Lin Zhizhi is also her person.

Such despicable methods and complete disregard for her—in the entire Prince's mansion, there was only one like her.

I never expected that he would be so impatient to get rid of Lin Zhizhi and do such an unspeakable thing.

When the princess sent people to find the guards in the mansion, a commotion broke out at Lin Zhizhi's residence, with the maids' exclamations audible even in the Jinting Courtyard.

A moment later, the guards brought a man dressed as a servant to meet the princess, followed by a bewildered Lin Shangya.

When they saw her, both the princess and Lin Zhizhi were taken aback.

With tears welling in her eyes, Lin Shangya immediately knelt down and said, "Please, Your Highness, do justice for me! My sister invited me to her residence, saying she had important matters to discuss. But instead of my sister, there was a man in the room. Fortunately, it was late, so I called my brother to come with me. Otherwise, tonight I fear I would have... Lin Zhizhi, I have always treated you well, how could you do this to me? Is it because I spoke a few words with the Prince, and he thinks I am good? But I have never intended to compete with my sister."

The princess looked at Lin Zhizhi, seemingly seeking an explanation.

"When did we make an appointment?" Lin Zhizhi lowered her eyes and looked at the silent servant, who seemed like a complete stranger.

"My sister would never admit to harming me like this. If I had done something with him tonight, I would have no choice but to marry him. Since my sister is so intolerant of me, there's no need to humiliate me. I'll just kill myself by hitting my head against the wall now, so I won't be an eyesore to you."

As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Shangya headed straight for the pillar, but was pulled back by Lin Ye who was standing nearby.

His eyes were filled with resentment and malice as he looked at Lin Zhizhi. "Why should you demean yourself because of someone like that?"

Lin Shangya originally planned to catch Lin Zhizhi in bed with Lin Ye, but when she rushed there in a big fuss, she found that Lin Zhizhi was not in the room at all, and she also alarmed the maids living there.

The concubine clearly told her that Lin Zhizhi was not scheduled to be on duty tonight, and she didn't know how she ended up here with the princess.

Seeing that more and more people were gathering around her, she had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure.

The maids who had followed looked at each other and whispered among themselves.

I just think Lin Zhizhi is ruthless. Why would she hold a grudge against Lin Shangya just because she has a good reputation and looks?

If the prince truly takes a liking to Lin Shangya, he cannot allow Lin Zhizhi to persecute her like this.

They're capable of such vicious things as ruining someone's reputation.

"Since you said I had urgent business with you at night, and you know I don't like you spending time with the prince, then why did you still want to see me in the middle of the night? Were you afraid I wouldn't be able to kill you?" Lin Zhizhi's expression was sharp, and her words were full of lies and loopholes.

However, using verbal skills to incite the people around her to dislike her is a tactic that Lin Shangya often uses.