Lady Li actually dared to scheme and manipulate right under Old Madam Song’s nose, even using Song Yi as a shield! She was truly lawless!

Thinking of how Lady Li had shamelessly seduced Song Yi, becoming pregnant before marriage with an illegitimate child, Nanny Xu couldn’t help but curse viciously. “What kind of creature is this? Absolutely disgusting! So the so-called literate young lady from a scholarly family that everyone praised is actually this vicious inside!”

Lianyi’s tears fell like rain.

“Miss, you must seek justice for Lianyi.” Nanny Xu knelt before Song Chuyi and refused to get up, tears and snot flowing freely. She had never lost her composure like this before. Without waiting for Song Chuyi’s answer, she kowtowed to the ground again. “Seek justice for our madam! Miss, let’s tell the Old Master about this, tell Old Madam! Let them see what kind of person Second Madam, who has pretended to be virtuous under their noses all these years, really is!”

Lianyi tugged at Song Chuyi’s hand, continuously shaking her head. Seeing Song Chuyi look over, she frantically picked up paper and brush and wrote two prominent characters: Don’t.

Song Chuyi helped Lianyi up and carefully assisted her to sit in a chair, nodding very lightly.

She understood Lianyi’s meaning.

After all, the object of Lady Li’s adultery and premarital pregnancy was the beloved son of Old Master Song and Old Madam Song. No matter what, several portions of responsibility for Lady Cui’s death had to be attributed to him.

And these portions of responsibility were thorns lodged in the hearts of Old Madam Song, Old Master Song, and even Song Yi himself.

“Don’t worry.” Song Chuyi looked seriously into Lianyi’s eyes. “The justice you all deserve, I will certainly return to you completely. I will make Lady Li receive the punishment she deserves!”

The last sentence was spoken with firm resolution. Even Qing Tao standing beside couldn’t help but shiver.

Some hopeful expression appeared in Lianyi’s already somewhat clouded eyes, and she kept nodding with tears in them.

Nanny Qian was already so shocked she didn’t know how to react. When she came back to her senses from the shock, she realized cold sweat had soaked through her clothes. Throughout the entire process of Song Chuyi receiving Lianyi and questioning her, she hadn’t avoided her at all, openly allowing her to witness a spectacular drama.

But she understood this drama wasn’t free. Song Chuyi had completely and without leaving any retreat dragged her into her own camp.

Though Nanny Xu didn’t understand, she knew Song Chuyi always had her reasons for what she did. She wiped her tears and stood beside Lianyi. The moment she touched the strangulation marks on the back of Lianyi’s neck, her eyes blurred with tears again as she asked Song Chuyi, “Miss, how should we settle Lianyi?”

Lianyi was pregnant again now and unsuitable for long journeys. Song Chuyi thought briefly and made up her mind. “Nanny, I won’t feel at ease entrusting Lianyi to anyone else—she should still remain with you. But you must be doubly careful not to let other people discover her.”

Nanny Xu was now at least a steward’s wife. Saying Lianyi was a distant relative come to seek shelter and settling her in the villa was acceptable. In a few more days when Song Ren and Song Jue returned to the capital, things would be even freer.

Only at this moment did Hong Yu speak up. “If that side discovers Lianyi is missing, will they make a fuss?”

Lianyi shrank back, gripping Nanny Xu’s hand so hard it turned somewhat pale.

One could imagine how much suffering she had endured in the Li family’s villa all these years.

“They wouldn’t dare!” Song Chuyi laughed coldly, her voice as cool as if soaked in water, making people feel somewhat heavy. “Who knows better than them what kind of person Lady Li is? If Lady Li knew they had hidden Lianyi for their own son and she was then taken by someone else, would they survive?”

Anyone who could get this assignment under Lady Li’s hand—how could they be fools? Right now they were probably busy covering up themselves. How would they dare make a fuss and invite suspicion?

Having been frightened all night, Lianyi gradually became somewhat lacking in energy. Song Chuyi had Nanny Xu take her to rest. She also instructed Qing Tao to find some blood-activating and stasis-removing ointments, nourishing pills, and other things to send to Lianyi.

Outside, the sunlight gradually intensified, spilling through the gaps in the parasol tree outside the window onto the ground.

Song Chuyi’s heart felt as if soaked in cold water.

She suddenly didn’t know how to face that kindly grandmother, that father who had also been sad, uneasy, and tossed and turned when she was ill. These two people had once given her the best protection, but now made her feel it was all the heaviest burden.

This goodness wasn’t hers—it was exchanged with her mother Lady Cui’s life for a bit of guilt and a bit of pity, nothing more.

She sat alone by the window in a daze for a short while. Then Qing Tao came in with a somewhat strange expression to report, “Miss, His Highness the Grand Prince sent someone to relay a message, saying he wants you to bring that cook from Guiyan Tower to make him a dish.”

What Guiyan Tower cook was there?

Song Chuyi blinked, somewhat getting a headache.

This Grand Prince was truly unfathomable. He clearly knew there was no such cook. Was he calling her over for a showdown?

She stood up and had Qing Tao serve her in changing clothes. After thinking, she brought Nanny Qian along to fill the cook’s role, walking around the corridor and through the small courtyard to see the Grand Prince.

For some reason, the Grand Prince’s courtyard, which should have been the most heavily guarded with the most guards, was instead quite refreshingly sparse. Front and back together, only seven or eight people were standing guard.

As soon as Song Chuyi entered the courtyard gate, a half-grown youth dressed as a Daoist came out to invite her in.

Had practicing as a Daoist become a hobby? Why did everyone serving around him have to dress as Daoists? Song Chuyi felt somewhat critical in her heart but didn’t dare show it, following that young Daoist through the door.

The Grand Prince was sitting at a writing desk spinning a bamboo tube between his fingers. Seeing her arrive, he revealed a smile and glanced behind her. “Is this the world-renowned cook from Guiyan Tower who can make pufferfish?”

As he spoke, he had already stood up. Though wearing luxurious garments, they couldn’t steal the spotlight at all—people could still only stare fixedly at his face.

Song Chuyi turned her head to glance at the bamboo tube he had placed on the table, then suddenly smiled. “His Highness the Grand Prince is clearly asking knowingly. Where would any Guiyan Tower cook come from?”

“Oh? That’s not a cook from Guiyan Tower?” Zhou Weizhao raised his eyebrows, seeming slightly surprised as he looked at Song Chuyi. “But there’s no such person in the villa’s personnel registry. Don’t tell me Jingchuan was deceiving me?”

Hmm, rather like a fox—not at all like a Daoist who had spent several years in secluded cultivation at a temple.

Song Chuyi could only speak frankly. “Thank you for resolving the situation this morning, Your Highness. To be honest, that wasn’t any cook Young Master Ye went to invite. It was an old friend I entrusted Young Master Ye to bring back.”

The corner of Zhou Weizhao’s lips curved slightly upward in a shallow smile, seeming thoughtful. “Old friend? I wouldn’t have thought that at such a young age, you’d have an old friend of such advanced years at only eight years old.”