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

"They're just some low-class things, why should the concubine bother with them?" Granny Li didn't have a good impression of Lin Shangya and her family. They lived comfortably in the mansion because of Lin Feng's family and always looked down on them, the servants.

However, when the topic of them came up, Granny Li said seriously, "Regarding that shop, since we're worried that Lin Zhizhi might interfere, why not cooperate with Liu Gu?"

"Him?" Feng Yao had a very bad impression of him. "What can he do? I don't think the prince is prepared to give him an important position. Even if he is won over, it may not be effective."

She still remembered the argument she had with Liu Gulan, and felt annoyed.

"Right now, the only person who can keep Lin Zhizhi from being distracted is him. Since he is on good terms with the Prince, he must be an opportunist. For you, Consort, it would be enough to simply introduce him to the officials who want to befriend the Master. He has no official position."

"I understand. We still need Granny to make the connection." No matter how unwilling Feng Yao was, she had no other choice.

"Yes."

At this moment, Lin Shangya was reluctantly packing her clothes, thinking that she might be able to save face by going out now.

If they were thrown out by the guards at noon and made a fool of themselves, they would never be able to hold their heads up when they wanted to go back to the city.

Although Cheng Huilan felt that face couldn't put food on the table, she still had to consider Lin Ye's feelings.

If he does pass the imperial examination in the future, what will happen when he finds out that his family was kicked out of the Prince's Mansion?

At this moment, he kept spewing out unpleasant words, making Lin Yue sweat profusely.

"Where are we going now?" Lin Ye looked blank, seemingly clueless about what had happened.

Lin Shangya had long suspected that her older brother had a problem; he was less intelligent than the average person.

He was protected by his mother like the apple of her eye, and she wouldn't allow anyone else to say a bad word about him, let alone allow her to say anything.

They treated her second uncle so badly, yet they kept demanding that she love and respect her eldest brother, saying that she would have to rely on him in the future.

How could he possibly pass the imperial examinations? After all these years, he barely managed to pass the preliminary examination; he probably couldn't even dream of achieving that level.

The mother was fixated on the idea that her eldest brother would definitely make her a noblewoman, which made Lin Shangya suspect that her eldest brother's intelligence came from her mother's.

If it weren't for her mother holding her back, she wouldn't have been unable to even defeat someone as foolish as Lin Zhizhi.

"Going to our relatives' house in the suburbs, we still end up relying on our relatives." Cheng Huilan felt frustrated, but she wouldn't stop talking. "When my relatives came to ask for help, you refused to ask my second uncle no matter what. I had to swallow my pride and beg them to get things done. If it weren't for me, you would all be sleeping on the streets now."

Lin Ye, unaware of what had happened back then, said, "Mother is truly amazing."

"That's right, don't you know who your mother is?" Cheng Huilan felt a little better. At crucial moments, it was still her son who could cheer her up. Lin Shangya was useless.

"Mother, you did things for the concubine before and deliberately deceived the princess, which is why she deliberately gave you false information. Do you think she will let us off?" Lin Shangya's eyelids twitched, and she didn't even dare to say that she had offended the concubine in front of everyone.

The concubine is currently only confined to her quarters, so there's still room for her to deal with them.

Having lived in the manor for so many years, Lin Shangya had some guesses about what kind of things these masters were capable of.

Cheng Huilan felt annoyed upon hearing this and spat several times, saying, "What can that sickly princess do? I've been harassed by her countless times. She even insists on wiping away dust bit by bit, saying that too much dust in the room will cause rashes."

"The people in the manor say she is kind-hearted, but I think she's just so-so. Neither of them are easy to get along with."

"She only has the title of princess, and the prince has never summoned her. What can she do?"

"Besides, everyone speaks highly of her; would she do anything that would damage her reputation?"

Cheng Huilan couldn't understand why these masters valued reputation so much, but she gained a lot from it.

These words did nothing to comfort Lin Shangya. She deeply regretted acting impulsively for the money and should have thought things through more carefully.

Fortunately, she was only expelled from the manor and didn't lose her life, but Mu Yuan is probably...

Even now, recalling Mu Yuan's expression, she still feels fear.

Seeing the family's sorrowful faces, I realized that it was already a blessing that they were still alive. I felt that leaving the Prince's mansion was a good thing.

She was acquainted with the Fifth Prince's concubines, and now that she was completely separated from the Prince's mansion, she no longer needed to worry about anything as she used to.

At this moment, Lin Zhizhi was unaware that she had been hated by her uncle's family. She wandered through the streets and alleys, and only after confirming that no one was paying attention to her and following her did she step onto that dirty path.

Just as she was getting ready for the morning wash, she was suddenly splashed with a basin of dirty water without even looking. She instinctively took two steps back.

The man, picking his nose, gave Lin Zhizhi a disapproving look, whistled, and said, "Sorry, young lady, I didn't see you. What are you doing in this remote place, with your delicate skin?"

Lin Zhizhi lowered her head, covering her face, not wanting to leave too deep an impression on the people here.

Seeing her walk away in a roundabout way, the man just sneered.

After searching through her memories for a long time, Lin Zhizhi only knew that the person was someone Liu Gulan had found from this place.

The prince's advisor was less Liu Gulan and more that poor scholar.

She wanted to find this person before Liu Gulan, and she would do whatever it took to get his help.

It was all thanks to the rewards the princess had given her when she tried to win her over; otherwise, she really wouldn't have been able to come up with so much cash in such a short time.

Holding the silver in her arms, she felt uneasy. The people living here saw silver like wolves saw meat, and she was afraid of being discovered and being devoured alive.

She carried the heavy ledger with her, and her pace quickened unconsciously. She was too conspicuous in this place, and she always attracted the curious glances of those around her.

It contained curiosity and envy, as well as malicious probing and ulterior motives.

"Sweetie, open the door for your auntie. Your auntie just wants to pick up the clothes that fell in the yard."

"No, Father said he'll be back soon, Auntie, please wait for Father."

"Auntie is worried. Who knows when your father will be back?" The originally gentle voice was now filled with anger, and she even pushed the door, which didn't look very sturdy, with force.

The little girl inside was so frightened that she dared not respond.

This place is crowded and chaotic, and Lin Zhizhi originally didn't want to meddle in other people's business.

But they overheard them talking privately, "Don't waste your breath on this girl. That young master has already given us plenty of money. If we hand this girl over to him, he'll give us another ten taels."

Such blatant human trafficking?

Seeing that there were people watching but no one stepped forward to stop her, she felt that no one would dare to provoke this woman in the area.