The Marquis's line has ended? The pregnant maid is pregnant again!

Qin's gaze fell on Shen Qinghe, she narrowed her eyes, and took the confession written in black and white.

Shen Qinghe picked up the tea on the table, skimmed off the foam on the surface of the tea with the teacup, and took a small sip.

The next moment, Qin's icy voice came from beside them: "Sure enough, it really was that bitch. If that bitch hadn't been hiding so well, I would have suspected her back then."

Just look at the current situation to see how deeply Cao Xiaoniang is hiding in this Marquis's mansion.

In the early stages, she had no presence in the Marquis's mansion and did nothing. She was neither the most temperamental nor the most cowardly. Cao Xiaoniang portrayed herself as an invisible person.

No one would easily notice her.

If someone were to ask Lu Jihan, he could easily tell them that Chen Xiaoniang and Wu Xiaoniang were detestable, but he had absolutely no recollection of Cao Xiaoniang.

But this seemingly insignificant person is actually the one who planned and controlled everything behind the scenes.

To put it mildly, all of Lu Jihan's wives and concubines in this Marquis's mansion were pawns of Cao Xiaoniang.

To put it more broadly, even Lu Jihan was completely caught in Cao Xiaoniang's scheme.

However, Cao Xiaoniang did not dare to make any moves that threatened or harmed Lu Jihan, so Lu Jihan would not easily notice her.

Having remained unknown in the Marquis's mansion for so long, he was able to easily seize the stewardship that had been vacant for some time with just a Mid-Autumn Festival family banquet.

Such cunning and shrewdness even impressed Shen Qinghe, who had to admit that Cao Xiaoniang was indeed extremely clever.

Take the incident of splashing water in the garden as an example. If no one traces it back to that servant, then Madam Qin will hold all her hatred against Shen Qinghe.

The Qin family will naturally take action against Shen Qinghe, and Shen Qinghe is not one to be bullied, so she will fight back. In this fight, one of them will surely be injured.

Once the hatred between Qin Shi and Shen Qinghe has deepened enough, Cao Xiaoniang will be able to reap the benefits.

After taking a sip of tea, Shen Qinghe slowly continued:

"Not only that, I felt something was very strange at the time, so I secretly memorized the servant's appearance and ordered people to search for and investigate. But the investigation revealed that there was more than just this one thing related to Consort Cao. Would you be interested in hearing about it, Madam?"

Qin clenched the confession in her hand. Seeing Shen Qinghe like this, she no longer underestimated Shen Qinghe and knew that Shen Qinghe must have more to say today.

Qin straightened her back and glanced at Shen Qinghe, who was drinking tea: "Just say it."

"Sang Ning was found by the eldest mistress. Presumably, after the cousin replied, the eldest mistress suddenly realized that I look similar to the cousin, so she specially went to find someone who looks even more like the cousin."

Shen Qinghe paused deliberately at this point, her gaze meeting Qin Shi's in mid-air.

The two have already fought to this extent; if they continue to hide things from each other, they're just fooling the other.

Qin raised an eyebrow and lifted her handkerchief: "So what if it is? Since you were able to succeed with this face that resembles Miss Biao, I can naturally find someone who looks even more like you."

Shen Qinghe was surprised that Madam Qin was so direct, and asked, somewhat astonished, "Aren't you afraid I'll tell everyone, Madam?"

"You dare to drink tea from my Fuhuatang, why would I be afraid of you telling anyone?"

Qin's gaze fell on Shen Qinghe's face, scrutinizing her inch by inch, as if she had come to a conclusion: "No, you won't. Although I hate you, I despise you, and I look down on your methods of currying favor."

But there's one thing you're far superior to those other flashy, cheap women. Others might have many underhanded tactics, but you, Shen Qinghe, don't. You always seek favor in a completely upright and honorable way.

You won't be like Cao Xiaoniang and those other lowly concubines, who acted viciously and ruthlessly, harbored delusions, and pretended to be as virtuous as chrysanthemums.

What's good about you is your honesty. If you want to be pampered, you fight for it yourself. You work hard to get what you want, and you never hide anything. If what you want isn't my husband, then maybe I'd even admire you.

You always play open schemes, never underhanded ones. For example, now that you know all this, it's obvious you can scheme against me, and you can also scheme against me and Cao Xiaoniang together.

You can learn from Cao Xiaoniang and sow discord or stir up trouble. You have the truth about these matters in your hands. You can use a conspiracy to provoke a conflict between me and Cao Xiaoniang, and then you can reap the benefits. You can completely keep both of us in the dark. You have the ability. All you need to do is use a little trick to let me find out about these things by accident or indirectly.

But you didn't do that. You came to me of your own accord and told me all this, clearly indicating that you wanted to stir up trouble between me and Cao Xiaoniang. Whether I follow your plan or not is my own choice.

Hearing Qin's words, Shen Qinghe was surprised that Qin would think of her this way. She smiled in astonishment: "Is that so? What if you don't follow my plan, Madam? Wouldn't my so-called scheme fall apart?"

"Hmph." Madam Qin didn't think so at all. "Your open scheme is to lay everything out in front of me, including your own goals. And the reason you do this is because you are confident that you can make me act according to your plan."

Shen Qinghe hadn't expected that Madam Qin would see things so clearly. "I really never intended to take action secretly or sow discord, because if I did, I would become the second Cao Xiaoniang."

After being reborn, Shen Qinghe decided to fight, but she never took the initiative to harm anyone. All Shen Qinghe wanted to do was to win Lu Jihan's favor.

But the taller the tree, the more the wind will blow against it. Shen Qinghe's excessive favor will naturally arouse the jealousy of others.

She knew it very well.

Shen Qinghe doesn't harm people, but she's not afraid of taking revenge either.

Anyone who actively harmed her will, sooner or later, meet their own end.

But Cao Xiaoniang's actions were truly despicable to Shen Qinghe.

"I suppose this is how you put on an act in front of the Marquis?" Qin glanced at her, immediately steer the conversation back to the main topic:

"Besides my brother's matter, you mean even Sang Ning was arranged by her in advance?"

"Of course. Otherwise, does Madam really think that in just two or three days you could find someone in this vast world who resembles both Miss Cousin and me? And that person would also be willing to serve Madam?"

Shen Qinghe put down her teacup and continued, "Not only that, I suspect that the tiger in the Northern Frontier Kingdom went mad this time, and it must be related to Cao Xiaoniang as well."

After all, only I and Cao Xiaoniang benefited from this matter. My benefit was truly unexpected; if those two uncles hadn't spoken up, then Cao Xiaoniang would have been the sole beneficiary.

Cao Xiaoniang openly snatched the steward's token from the eldest mistress's hand. Did the eldest mistress really believe that the beast tamer had suddenly disappeared, and that the tiger had suddenly gone out of control?

Upon hearing Shen Qinghe's words, Qin Shi immediately understood her meaning. Qin Shi had suspected Cao Xiaoniang, but she lacked evidence.

After discussing these matters, Shen Qinghe left Fuhua Hall with Fang Yu.

-

When Lu Jihan was away, Shen Qinghe always liked to rest on the couch in the courtyard.

After returning from Fuhua Hall today, Shen Qinghe lay on the couch, holding the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic. As she read, her eyelids began to droop.

When Lu Jihan entered the courtyard that evening, he saw the little girl already asleep on the kang (a heated brick bed).

Lu Jihan immediately frowned and called Qing'er over: "It's autumn and the weather is getting chilly. Are you just going to let her sleep here? If she catches a cold, who will be responsible?"

Qing'er answered honestly, "Master, ever since my mistress returned this afternoon, she has been feeling lazy. We servants thought about helping her back to her room to rest, but she said that the sun was so bright today, and maybe there would be stars tonight, so she has been holding her book and waiting."

At this point, Qing'er paused for a moment, blinked, and smiled, saying, "My lady said she wants to wait for Master to come back so they can watch the stars together!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jihan's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly. Although his expression remained tense, he couldn't help but curl his lips into a smile.

Lu Jihan glanced at Shen Qinghe on the couch beside him, then at Qing'er in front of him, and said, "Fine, you can go now."

Lu Jihan took the cloak from Qing'er's hand and walked to the side of the couch, gently covering Shen Qinghe with it.

As Lu Jihan approached, he noticed that the little girl was still holding the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, which was causing her immense headaches.

Looking at her sleeping face, Lu Jihan couldn't help but gently stroke her cheek with his fingers.

Looking at Shen Qinghe's peaceful and beautiful sleeping face, Lu Jihan couldn't understand why this gentle and well-behaved girl, who was quiet, would have so many mischievous ideas pop into her mind every time she opened her clear eyes and looked at him.

"Fine, why should I get angry with a little girl like you?" Lu Jihan curled his lips, reached out and picked Shen Qinghe up in his arms, intending to carry her into the room.

To his surprise, Lu Jihan had just pulled her into his arms when he discovered... she was awake.

The little girl groggily opened her eyes and saw the handsome face in front of her.

Lu Jihan paused, looking at Shen Qinghe in front of him, wanting to say something.

But then I heard—

"Master is back..."

After muttering a sentence, the little girl drowsily snuggled closer to Lu Jihan, clinging to him even more tightly.

Like a cat that's exhausted to the extreme, nestled in the arms of its trusted owner, it found the most comfortable spot and position and continued to sleep.

Completely undefended.

Completely...

Under the moonlight, Lu Jihan stood in the courtyard, his gaze uncontrollably fixed on Shen Qinghe's face, looking at her again and again.

Even he himself didn't realize that his gaze had become as gentle as water, and all the fatigue from that day in the court had been soothed away.

-

When Shen Qinghe woke up the next day, she found that there were several more craftsmen in her courtyard.