“Serve the meal!” Bai Jinxiu instructed Cuiyu.

Cuiyu acknowledged and went to serve the meal.

Today’s breakfast was entirely prepared by Bai Jinxiu herself, all chosen for their auspicious meanings—”Toad Palace Laurel Porridge” and “Golden Roll Honor Buns”—all made by Bai Jinxiu’s own hands early in the morning.

Knowing that Bai Jinxiu had put her heart into this, Qin Lang didn’t avoid Bai Jinxiu’s dowry maid. He gently grasped Bai Jinxiu’s hand as she served him food, saying, “This time, I will test well and earn a title to bring back!”

Bai Jinxiu also grasped Qin Lang’s hand, her smiling eyes full of warmth: “I believe in you, husband!”

Qin Lang squeezed Bai Jinxiu’s hand firmly before beginning his breakfast.

Long ago, Grand Princess had given Qin Lang a hint—as long as Qin Lang could place within the second rank this time, Grand Princess could petition the Emperor to restore the Marquis Zhongyong title to Qin Lang.

The Marquis Zhongyong title that was lost in his father’s hands—Qin Lang was determined to win it back this time!

Bai Qingyan sat peacefully in Princess Zhenguo’s Qinghui Courtyard “recuperating,” with information continuously flowing into Qinghui Courtyard and orders being sent out from there.

Steward Hao, Manager Liu, and Lu Ping in Shouyang became busy again. Bai Qingyan had the Bai family managers purchase large quantities of grain, ostensibly to send to Yanwo disaster victims, but actually half was for Ji Tingyu, far away at Huwei Ridge.

With the excuse of sending grain to Yanwo disaster victims, this batch of grain could be sent openly and legitimately. With the Crown Prince having given his approval… the journey would be unobstructed, leaving Bai Qingyan with no worries.

However, Grand Princess in the Pure Nunnery, hearing that Bai Qingyan had returned to the capital, sent Bai Jinse and Wei Zhong back to Princess Zhenguo’s mansion.

Wei Zhong’s return was perfectly timed—Bai Qingyan was counting on Wei Zhong to investigate Wang Qiulu again.

She already knew that Wang Qiulu hadn’t betrayed her before the Crown Prince, only claiming ignorance when questioned, saying he didn’t know who had saved him. But this was enough to give Li Mingrui trouble.

She instructed Wei Zhong to investigate whether Wang Qiulu had said anything inappropriate after Lu Jin brought him back to the Court of Judicial Review.

Wei Zhong asked no questions and accepted the mission to investigate.

If Wang Qiulu hadn’t said anything inappropriate and still knew who his master was, this time Bai Qingyan would help Wang Qiulu see the light again, allowing him to honorably become a general once more, sending him to command troops at the border between Jin Kingdom and Xiliang, where he could display his talents.

Bai Qingyan thought for a moment, then turned to look at Zhenming, who was serving tea to Bai Jinse: “Zhenming… go see if Miss Shen has awakened. If she has, please invite Miss Shen here—I have something to instruct her.”

Zhenming placed the hot tea on the small table by the window and went with a smile to call Shen Qingzhu.

After collapsing yesterday, Shen Qingzhu had slept beautifully through the night. She had awakened early this morning when the eldest miss was practicing with her spear in the courtyard. Later, after the miss had watched Shen Qingzhu eat, she was firmly urged by the eldest miss to return to rest.

“Elder Sister, what can I do for Elder Sister this time?” Bai Jinse looked up at Bai Qingyan.

Through the steaming tea vapors, Bai Qingyan extended her hand to warm it over the copper brazier at her feet: “What you need to do is lie low, keep a low profile, and not let others notice your intelligence. Perhaps one day, you’ll be our Bai family’s surprise force.”

Bai Jinse understood that Bai Qingyan meant she wouldn’t be given tasks for now. She clenched her fists at her sides, then looked up seriously at Bai Qingyan: “Jinse thinks Elder Sister is right. Jinse will listen to Elder Sister!”

Perhaps because Bai Jinse had followed Bai Qingyan since childhood, she was precociously mature.

After Shen Qingzhu arrived, Bai Qingyan didn’t make Bai Jinse leave. In front of Bai Jinse, she said to Shen Qingzhu: “Qingzhu, I need you to make a trip to the Court of Judicial Review prison. When you see Li Mingrui, tell him I’m giving him two choices—either stop playing tricks and live peacefully, or the Li family’s nine generations can all go on the road together. With more people, it’ll be lively and they’ll have companions on the journey.”

Hearing Bai Qingyan say this, Shen Qingzhu glanced at Bai Jinse, as if afraid of frightening the child. But she saw Bai Jinse calmly picking up her teacup to drink tea, completely unperturbed, making her reaction seem like a fuss. Shen Qingzhu acknowledged the order and left Qinghui Courtyard.

In the prison, Li Mingrui sat cross-legged on the straw. After this long night, Li Mingrui had figured it out—this Wang Qiulu… had probably long since submitted to Princess Zhenguo, which was why he betrayed him at the crucial moment.

Perhaps when Princess Zhenguo initially placed Wang Qiulu with him, she had intended to test him.

Oh, not entirely correct. Perhaps she also intended for him to test Wang Qiulu for her.

Now, wonderful—he had helped Princess Zhenguo test out that Wang Qiulu was utterly loyal, while he, fearing Princess Zhenguo possessed personal letters between his father and the Second Prince, had no choice but to kneel and confess to everything.

Princess Zhenguo was superior in skill. Li Mingrui had thought too highly of himself, believing he had figured out Princess Zhenguo’s methods, not realizing that Princess Zhenguo’s actions followed no pattern at all.

It seemed that ever since Princess Zhenguo had angrily rebuked Marquis Zhongyong at his mansion, every move Princess Zhenguo made was startling.

This time, Li Mingrui’s defeat was not wronged.

Li Mingrui looked at Wang Qiulu in the opposite cell, sitting steady as Mount Tai with his back against the wall, eyes closed in meditation. He smiled, stood up, brushed the straw from his body, walked to the prison door, and looked at Wang Qiulu: “Wang Qiulu… you knew all along that I wasn’t sincerely surrendering to Princess Zhenguo, so you were always guarding against me, weren’t you!”

Wang Qiulu opened his eyes to look at Li Mingrui: “What is Master Li saying? This criminal doesn’t understand.”

Li Mingrui chuckled softly, spreading his arms and looking around: “Why be so cautious? Besides us… There’s no one else here.”

“It’s not that this criminal is overly suspicious, but I truly don’t understand what Master Li is saying.” After Wang Qiulu finished speaking, he closed his eyes again, adopting a posture of refusing to speak with Li Mingrui anymore.

“You told the Crown Prince that the Nandu Princess at Prince Liang’s mansion was fake—was that to protect Liu Ruofu’s life?” Li Mingrui deliberately tried to trick Wang Qiulu.

Wang Qiulu kept his eyes closed, head against the moldy wall. After a long while, he said: “I’ve admired the Princess for many years. Even if the person you found imitated the Princess perfectly, with just a little contact I would know that wasn’t our proud little Princess of Nandu.”

“What a pity. If I had known, I would have kept Liu Ruofu alive to use against you.” Li Mingrui smiled, deliberately trying to anger Wang Qiulu with his words.

Wang Qiulu clenched his fists tightly, keeping his eyes closed without making a sound.

Li Mingrui detected that this Wang Qiulu was indeed a devoted lover, apparently truly deep in love with Nandu Princess Liu Ruofu.

“There’s one more thing you probably don’t know…” Li Mingrui turned around and paced in his cell, observing Wang Qiulu. “The child in Liu Ruofu’s belly wasn’t Prince Liang’s. Liu Ruofu fell into a trap… she was taken advantage of by a secret guard. Prince Liang was just thrown into Minister of Rites Wang’s mansion by the Crown Prince’s people to take the blame!”

Wang Qiulu gritted his teeth, remaining composed.