As the commander of the Jinyiwei, Shi Chuan was no ordinary character. Seeing the dismissive look in Liu Yu’s eyes, he couldn’t help but sigh deeply in his heart.

Supporting the Prince of Liao was originally for the sake of “rare goods are valuable.” If he couldn’t enjoy the benefits exclusively, why would he take such a great risk?

Shi Chuan pondered silently, then instructed Liu Yu: “Write an apology letter for me immediately. Say that Song Yan Tang was ungrateful, that I had originally intended to kidnap Song Yan Tang’s sister to force him to agree to this marriage, but the men I sent failed and were captured by Song Yan Tang… Although Song Yan Tang didn’t get a confession, with his intelligence, he’ll soon figure out who was behind it… Request that our lord punish me.”

Liu Yu bowed and responded, “Yes.”

Shi Chuan slowly descended the stairs with his hands behind his back.

At the Prince of Liao’s residence in the capital, Geng Li, upon receiving the news, flew into a rage. He crumpled the note in his hand and said to his confidant, “Shi Chuan cannot be used! His interests are too strong!”

The attendant mused, “But the position of Zhenfu in the Jinyiwei Zhenfusi is already in his hands. It might be troublesome for us to replace him.”

Geng Li paced around the room, saying, “I didn’t agree to give the Zhenfusi Zhenfu position to Shi Chuan in the first place—with the Zhenfusi in his hands, he truly has complete control over the Jinyiwei! This is very unfavorable for us. Yet the lord listened to that lame Chen and not only replaced Duke Ying’s son’s people but also went to great lengths to appease Duke Ying’s son with a hereditary Baihu position, needlessly making him uncomfortable. Now he’s done something so reckless…”

He stamped his foot.

The lame Chen was another advisor to the Prince of Liao.

Geng Li’s attendant frowned upon hearing this and hesitantly said, “The lord will surely punish Shi Chuan. You shouldn’t worry too much!”

“No!” Geng Li firmly refuted, “Not only will the lord not punish Shi Chuan, but he’ll also have to clean up Shi Chuan’s mess!”

After a moment’s thought, Geng Li’s attendant understood.

The Prince of Liao still needed Shi Chuan to gather intelligence in the capital. At this time, no matter what Shi Chuan had done, the Prince of Liao had to magnanimously forgive him and clean up after him, to show those who had turned to the Prince of Liao that he was a “broad-minded man who respected and recruited talents,” in exchange for their loyalty.

He said somewhat reluctantly, “Doesn’t Shi Chuan fear that the lord will settle accounts after autumn?”

Geng Li smiled bitterly, “He can easily explain to others that he was testing whether the lord could tolerate people!”

This way, the Prince of Liao would be even less able to move against him.

Geng Li’s attendant also smiled bitterly.

At the Yizhi Hall in Duke Ying’s manor, Gu Yu waved his arms indignantly and scoffed loudly, “River pirates? How could they come up with such an idea? Who in the northern directly-administered areas, be it from legal or illegal circles, would dare to kidnap Tian Ci’s people now? This must be someone trying to harm you! Who could it be? Dong Qi? Impossible! He’s not that stupid! Besides him, who else?”

Could Song Mo say it was the Prince of Liao?

Probably not!

He stared wide-eyed at Gu Yu.

Dou Zhao quickly said, “Since the people who kidnapped Ah Yan have been found, there’s no need to worry. We can investigate slowly. Though the capital is large, with you, Lord Ma, and Lord Jiang, how could we not find out? Don’t be anxious.” Then she asked about the shipyard in Tianjin, “I heard the Ministry of Works sent people to learn from you, wanting to borrow your craftsmen to build some large ships that can carry cannons?”

At the mention of this, Gu Yu was like a cat that had its sweet spot scratched, unable to contain his pride.

“Yes!” His tail was almost up in the air. “Those fools at the Ministry of Works, letting good ship blueprints gather dust, yet they come to learn from me. I didn’t hold back either, I made them trade the blueprints of the ships from the voyages to the Western Ocean.” At this point, he became excited and leaned towards Song Mo, “Tian Ci, let’s build some big ships and go to sea too! Those Jiangzhe merchants are too greedy, turning 10,000 taels of silver worth of goods into 100,000 taels of profit. It’s like turning stone into gold!”

Song Mo was glad he changed the subject and smiled, flicking Gu Yu’s forehead, saying, “Don’t be greedy for what’s in the pot while eating from your bowl. If you build good ships, won’t people pay a high price for them? Focus on doing your current job well. There’s plenty of silver in the world, how could it all end up in our pockets? Be careful not to choke if you try to eat it all yourself!”

Gu Yu looked sheepish. Just then, the wet nurse brought Young Master Yuan over, and he happily went to play with the child, forgetting about the matter.

Song Mo and Dou Zhao both let out a sigh of relief.

After Gu Yu left that evening, Dou Zhao discussed with Song Mo, “We should settle Ah Yan’s marriage soon. The Prince of Liao only proposed to make Ah Yan his wife, which was easy to refuse. But if someone petitions to make Ah Yan their primary wife, we can’t disregard the imperial edict, can we?”

Song Mo still felt a bit uncomfortable, but thinking of how Chen Jia had been running around helping after Jiang Yan was kidnapped, he grudgingly grunted an “Mm.”

Dou Zhao laughed and persuaded Song Mo, “Don’t be like this! Chen Jia will be family soon. When you see him, be a bit nicer. It’ll make Yan-mei look good too!”

Hearing this, Song Mo jumped up like a cat with its fur standing on end, saying, “He should be grateful just to marry my sister! What more does he want?!”

He was like a child who had his favorite toy taken away.

“Alright, alright, alright!” Dou Zhao was both exasperated and amused, treating him like a child to comfort him, “In the future, we’ll tell him not to visit often. After all, you’re his brother-in-law!”

Song Mo snorted a few times, but his expression finally softened.

On the day the Chen family came to present betrothal gifts, although he was cool towards Chen Jia, at least he didn’t show an outright bad face.

Chen Jia didn’t mind, after all, it was the Song family who had him come to propose. But his colleagues’ eyes nearly popped out, and as soon as Song Mo left, someone exclaimed, “Pinch me! I just saw Lord Song smile! Am I dreaming? I’ve been to the Jinwu Guard on official business no less than ten times, but I’ve never seen Lord Song smile!” Then, enviously, “Zan Zhi, you’ve done well! You’ve become the brother-in-law of Duke Ying’s son!”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Song Yichun, however, was furious.

He called Song Mo to question him: “How could you not inform me about Jiang Yan’s marriage?”

Song Mo smiled and said, “Didn’t you say Jiang Yan had nothing to do with you? I thought since she has the Jiang surname, it would be enough to have the Jiang family elders’ approval, so I didn’t tell you. You’re not angry, are you? If you want, you can acknowledge Jiang Yan, and I’ll cancel this engagement and find her a more prestigious family!” Seeing Song Yichun’s eyes widen in shock and anger, he couldn’t help but add, “It’s such a pity! I don’t know what the Prince of Liao heard, but a few days ago he sent an advisor to propose marrying Jiang Yan as his wife. I was afraid of arousing suspicion from the Emperor and Empress, so I had to painfully refuse this marriage! If you had acknowledged Jiang Yan back then, you’d have a Prince as a son-in-law now. Wouldn’t that have been something?”

With that, he strode away.

Song Yichun was left speechless for a long time.

When he finally came to his senses, his mouth twitched, feeling utterly discomfited.

Meanwhile, Miao Ansu also received an invitation. She asked Song Han, “How much should we give as a gift?”

After moving to Sitiao Hutong, although Song Han’s daily life was not as luxurious as before, he became a real master, coming and going without anyone to manage him. He couldn’t help but regret not moving out earlier, finding endless joy in arranging the new residence. Even in the dead of winter, he often strolled around the courtyard with servants, and wrote plaques for various places, busy but content and in high spirits. He left all household matters to Miao Ansu. When Miao Ansu brought up Jiang Yan’s wedding, he was quite surprised, thinking Song Mo would keep Jiang Yan for life.

“What’s the point of going?” Song Han said dismissively, “It’s not like it’s a legitimate daughter getting married!”

Miao Ansu could only return to the inner chamber.

There, she saw Ji Hong hiding behind a flowering tree, retching with a pale face.

She was momentarily stunned, quickly realizing that Ji Hong might be pregnant.

Miao Ansu felt both sour and bitter and called for a doctor to check.

The doctor, accustomed to visiting Duke Ying’s manor and aware of the situation in Sitiao Hutong, nervously said it was a pregnancy pulse, then glanced at Miao Ansu from the corner of his eye, not daring to even say “Congratulations.”

After sending the doctor away, Miao Ansu sat in a daze for a while, then went to Song Han’s study.

Song Han showed no sign of joy, his brows furrowed as he said, “How could she be pregnant? Could it be a mistake? Didn’t you have the maids drink the medicine? How are you managing the household? This child is illegitimate and cannot be kept. Go call a midwife to give her some medicine.”

Miao Ansu didn’t know exactly how she felt.

Joy didn’t seem appropriate; sorrow didn’t seem to fully describe it either.

She relayed Song Han’s intentions to Ji Hong.

Ji Hong nodded silently, saying nothing. After Miao Ansu left the room, she bit her handkerchief and wept silently.

Miao Ansu took a five-year-old ginseng root from her dowry storehouse to nourish Ji Hong’s body, then heard about Song’s eldest madam and her daughter-in-law Tan going to Duke Ying’s manor to add to Jiang Yan’s trousseau.

She became anxious and again asked Song Han about the wedding gift for Jiang Yan.

Song Han looked very displeased and remained silent for a long time before reluctantly saying, “Since everyone is going, you might as well go too.”

Miao Ansu finally felt relieved. She opened the storehouse and took out twenty taels of gold to make a set of head ornaments for Jiang Yan and sent them over.

Dou Zhao invited Miao Ansu, Song’s third madam, and Song’s fourth madam to stay for a meal.

During the meal, everyone talked about Tan’s pregnancy and advised Miao Ansu, who hadn’t shown any signs yet: “I heard she sought help from the great monk Defu at the Great Xiangguo Temple. You should try that too.”

Miao Ansu smiled awkwardly, but her heart felt as bitter as eating gentian.

Dou Zhao’s forehead broke out in a sweat.

She hadn’t expected Defu to be involved in such matters!

She thought of Ji Yong.

Would Ji Yong become a monk again in this life?

After lunch, as Miao Ansu, Song’s third madam, and Song’s fourth madam were about to take their leave, Ji Shi and Han Shi arrived to add to Jiang Yan’s trousseau.

Everyone engaged in some friendly conversation.

Before they finished talking, the three generations of women from Huaishu Alley arrived.

Everyone went to greet them, and there was another round of laughter and chatter.

Song’s third madam and fourth madam exchanged a glance.

The Dou family treated Jiang Yan as an official relative.

Should they also pay more attention to this matter?