With this thought, Lu Ping dared not delay. He spurred his horse and galloped at full speed, heading straight for Dengzhou City.

Inside Dengzhou City.

Princess Mingcheng had been settled in the Dong residence, with renowned physicians and doctors from the four surrounding counties gathering, trying every means possible to save Princess Mingcheng’s life.

Dong Qingyue was also moved by Princess Mingcheng’s loyal and righteous heart in marrying for her Kingdom’s sake. He had given orders that, regardless of what medicinal materials were needed, as long as the doctors could use them, the Dong family would spare no expense. If the Dong residence didn’t have what was needed, they would search the entire city to obtain it for Princess Mingcheng.

Xiao Rongyan was deeply grateful to Dong Qingyue in his heart. Since he couldn’t interfere with Princess Mingcheng’s medical treatment, he discussed trade relations with Dong Qingyue, expressing his willingness to make a trip to Nanrong to explore whether trade relations could be arranged between the two countries, preventing the Rong Di from raiding Jin again.

However, Dong Qingyue already had other plans in mind and was waiting for the Rong Di to come raiding. He declined Xiao Rongyan’s offer with a smile, saying that Jin had just rescued Great Yan’s Princess Mingcheng from Nanrong’s hands, ruining Nanrong’s plans. Having Xiao Rongyan go to Nanrong to discuss trade at this time might cause him to be implicated for no reason. Moreover, such matters required petitioning the Emperor, so it would be better to discuss this after things settled down next year.

Since Dong Qingyue disagreed, Xiao Rongyan didn’t insist. These past few days, he had been looking at shops in Dengzhou City, accompanied by the Dong family’s guard army.

Xiao Rongyan didn’t hide anything from Dong Qingyue and Dong Changlan, saying he planned to acquire a shop as a contact point. In the future, he could obtain high-quality furs from the Rong Di and process them in Dengzhou into cloaks and garments, then send them to Jin, Yan, and Wei for profit.

Following Xiao Rongyan’s usual style, when discussing this matter with Dong Changlan, he expressed willingness to share profits with him. However, Dong Changlan said that as long as Xiao Rongyan was only doing business, the Dong family wouldn’t take a single cent of private profit—after all, Xiao Rongyan was a benefactor to the Bai family.

But Xiao Rongyan understood the underlying message in Dong Changlan’s words: if he conducted proper business, the Dong family wouldn’t interfere. But if he intended to use the shop for other purposes, the Dong family wouldn’t let it slide.

Xiao Rongyan agreed with a smile, asking Dong Changlan to look after his shop once it was established.

Dong Changlan accompanied Xiao Rongyan to view several shops, then helped him purchase an elegant courtyard in Dengzhou not far from the Dong residence. Although the courtyard had been newly renovated recently, Xiao Rongyan, while satisfied with its layout, found fault with everything else. He wanted to dig a lake here, move an artificial mountain there, build a viewing pavilion, and had flower merchants brought in to fill the entire courtyard with rare and exotic plants, displaying the full demeanor of a wealthy young master throwing money around.

The renovation of Xiao Rongyan’s courtyard according to his requirements would likely take several months. Originally, Xiao Rongyan felt embarrassed to continue imposing on the Dong family and wanted to move out to stay at an inn, but Dong Qingyue smilingly persuaded him to stay.

Privately, Dong Qingyue felt that Xiao Rongyan was no simple person. Rather than letting him roam freely outside, it was more reassuring to keep him under his watchful eye.

Xiao Rongyan saw through this but didn’t expose it, smilingly continuing to impose on the Dong residence.

Xiao Rongyan had just returned to the Dong residence with Dong Changlan after paying the silver to purchase the shop, when he heard the household servants discussing animatedly. They were saying that Concubine Luo’s brother had brazenly taken the personal undergarment of Princess Zhenguo’s personal maid and come to the residence demanding that Dong Qingyue arrange a marriage, insisting on marrying Princess Zhenguo’s personal maid.

Dong Changlan was stunned, and before he could ask for details, he saw Dong Changmao, who had rushed back from the military camp upon hearing the news, leap down from his horse with a pale face and bow to Dong Changlan: “Elder Brother!”

“You’ve heard?” Dong Changlan stood with his hands behind his back, asking.

Dong Changmao’s throat moved as he nodded with great difficulty: “Father sent someone to summon me back. Elder Brother, rest assured… I will handle this matter properly. I’m sorry to Father, Elder Brother, and Cousin. I…”

“How can this be blamed on you! We all know what kind of person Luo Fugui is. This matter has nothing to do with you. Father summoned you back only because you’re family, and this matter needed to be communicated to you since you’re about to marry, and it might affect you! Don’t overthink it!” Dong Changlan softly comforted his younger brother.

The more Dong Changlan spoke this way, the more guilty Dong Changmao felt in his heart.

“Brother Xiao, there are family matters to attend to, so I won’t accompany you back to your courtyard. I’ll have my attendant escort you!” Dong Changlan clasped his fists to Xiao Rongyan.

“Please go ahead, Brother Changlan…” Xiao Rongyan nodded with a smile.

Dong Changlan led Dong Changmao toward the inner residence, softly comforting him while walking and instructing him not to speak up later, just to follow behind him.

At this moment, Luo Fugui had been detained, and the trembling Concubine Luo had also been summoned by Old Madam Dong to the courtyard. She knelt trembling on the blue brick ground, not daring to raise her head, secretly cursing her brother for doing something so stupid.

How could her worthless brother have obtained the personal belongings of Princess Zhenguo’s maid? He must have taken something belonging to some unknown person and deliberately proclaimed it at the Dong residence, trying to use a woman’s reputation to force Princess Zhenguo to marry off her maid to him.

Stupid! Infuriatingly stupid!

Only thinking of himself, a toad wanting to eat swan meat, but forgetting about her, Changmao…

Her stupid brother didn’t think about how, after using such despicable means to marry Princess Zhenguo’s maid, with such a shameless uncle, how could Changmao ever hold his head up in this family?

Thinking of Dong Changmao, Concubine Luo’s tears streamed down. She should have listened to her son Changmao and expelled that worthless brother from the Dong residence, never allowing him to set foot in it again. But she had been mindful of family affection… and thought that since he was Changmao’s uncle, he could help support Changmao in the future!

Now look what has happened—such a huge scandal!

When Concubine Luo remembered Princess Zhenguo’s warning words from that day, her whole body shuddered.

Bai Qingyan sat beside Old Madam Dong with a darkened expression. Chun Tao’s small face was deathly pale, her hands desperately clutching an undergarment embroidered with the characters “Chun Tao” and peach blossom patterns.

She suddenly turned and knelt before Bai Qingyan, her voice choked with emotion: “Miss, this is indeed this servant’s undergarment, but this servant has never given it to this filthy creature! Miss knows that this servant is already engaged!”

“This undergarment was left behind when you were intimate with me. Otherwise… how could I have obtained your garment!” Luo Fugui shouted, kowtowing to Old Madam Dong: “Please, Old Madam Dong and Princess Zhenguo, decide for me!”

Chun Tao was about to say something more when she saw Bai Qingyan wave her hand, signaling her not to be anxious.

Bai Qingyan looked at Chun Tao and asked: “Besides this undergarment, have you lost anything else?”

Chun Tao was so anxious that tears were about to fall. She shook her head: “This servant doesn’t know! This servant didn’t even notice when this garment went missing!”

Only Chun Tao had accompanied Bai Qingyan on this trip. Chun Tao attended to everything personally, constantly staying by Bai Qingyan’s side, so she hadn’t paid much attention to organizing her belongings properly.