This was not a difficult thing to investigate. Caiyue went out and returned quickly.

“Did you find out?” Du Linghua had by now fully composed herself and was drinking a cup of longan and red date tea.

“The Eighth Young Miss had just come from the Second Young Madam’s quarters.”

“Yan Qin?” Du Linghua frowned. “How would she know about the matter concerning Sun Changyou?”

Caiyue considered. “The Second Young Madam may have had no way of knowing, but First Madam certainly would.”

“I see.” Du Linghua’s eyes glinted coldly. “First Madam has quite the scheming mind. She feared that Yutong’s marriage to Sun Changyou would further solidify my position in the household, so she did everything in her power to sabotage it. Knowing that Yan Qin and Yutong are close, she used Yan Qin’s mouth to leak the secret to Yutong. Knowing Yutong’s temperament, there is no telling what trouble she might now stir up.”

“First Madam is truly ruthless.” Caixia cursed bitterly.

“And the Second Young Madam is no better. Is she not supposed to be the young miss’s good friend? Surely she knows the young miss’s character. If she truly meant well, she would have kept it hidden. Telling her deliberately was meant to cause friction between the young miss and San Yitai.” Caiyue suddenly remembered something else. “San Yitai, yesterday I also heard about something.”

“What is it?” Du Linghua pressed her fingers to her brow. This matter truly gave her a headache — after all, it concerned her own daughter.

Caiyue said, “The Seventh Young Madam encountered a venomous snake on her way back from visiting the Second Yitai the other day.”

To avoid alarming San Yitai, they had not told her about these rather unsettling matters.

“Today I heard the servants talking — saying someone deliberately sprinkled chicken blood along the Seventh Young Madam’s path and placed a venomous snake in the grass.”

“There was such a thing?” Du Linghua was somewhat surprised. “And then?”

Caiyue glanced carefully at Du Linghua. “The servants are all saying… saying the snake was placed there by the Eighth Young Miss.”

“Nonsense.” Du Linghua slapped the table hard. “Why would Yutong do something like that for no reason?”

“At first I thought the same. So I asked around, and learned that on the day of the examination, the Eighth Young Miss had a confrontation with the Seventh Young Madam — something about falsely accusing the Seventh Young Madam of cheating, and being reprimanded by the examination overseer, Teacher Du.”

“Why would she accuse Yan Qing of cheating?”

Caiyue shook her head.

Du Linghua knitted her brow gently. “Yutong and Yan Qing have always been at odds, but there’s no deep hatred between them. Why would she go to such lengths?”

“Come to think of it — on the day of the examination, the Eighth Young Miss was together with the Second Young Madam.”

“Yan Qin — why is it Yan Qin again?” Du Linghua’s eyes narrowed, and in a flash of insight, she understood. “You scheming Yan Qin — you’re using my daughter as your weapon.”

“San Yitai, please don’t upset yourself — the child in your womb must be protected.” The two maidservants hurried to soothe her.

Du Linghua drew several deep breaths and gradually calmed herself. At this moment, she knew where her priorities lay. The child in her womb could not suffer any disturbance — his birth was bound up with her entire future.

Though the Commander cherished her, lasting favor could never be guaranteed. One day she would grow old and lose her looks, and the Commander would tire of her.

Madam Shi could hold her position in the Commander’s mansion through the authority of being the legitimate wife and the backing of her natal Meng Family. But once she herself lost the Commander’s favor, she would have nothing. Er Yitai at least had a son — what did she have?

So this pregnancy — she absolutely had to produce a son. Only with a son would she be truly secure.

“Meng Qiu chose this moment to make trouble for me. How very calculating.” Du Linghua gave a cold huff. “All these years I have deferred to her everywhere, not wanting to create too much friction. Has she mistaken me for someone easily pushed around?”

“San Yitai, First Madam has the Meng Family behind her. The Commander knows full well what she does, yet can turn a blind eye — is it not because he doesn’t wish to offend the Meng Family? Going head-to-head with her right now would not benefit us.” Caiyue kneaded Du Linghua’s shoulders. “We must think this matter through carefully.”

Du Linghua said, “If the Meng Family were not behind her, the position of mistress would not have remained hers long ago.”

The Meng Family’s former patriarch was Madam Shi’s own father, who had once fought alongside the Shi Family patriarch in the conquest of their domain. The current Meng Family head, Madam Shi’s eldest brother Meng Xiangyang, held the post of Military Affairs Minister, while her second brother and two younger brothers also held important posts in the Commander’s administration. The Meng Family’s roots ran deep — and this was the very foundation on which Madam Shi had established her position in the Shi Mansion.

“San Yitai, the most urgent matter is still to resolve the Eighth Young Miss’s situation. I fear she may act rashly in a moment of fury and cause some incident — and then San Yitai would have no way to account to the Commander.”

Du Linghua nodded. “You go find Yutong and bring her back. As for First Madam and Yan Qin, I have my own plans.”

She might not be able to bring down Madam Shi, but she was still capable of making her suffer a little. In truth, the Commander had long since grown estranged from Madam Shi — what she relied on was nothing more than the power of her family.

But there was a saying: when a subject’s prestige overshadows the ruler’s, it becomes dangerous. She understood the Commander’s nature better than anyone — he was deeply protective of the power in his hands, even where it concerned his own sons. That was why the three sons of the Shi Family found themselves in a situation of mutual restraint. By the same token, if the Meng Family continued to wield too great an influence, it would sooner or later become a target the Commander feared and ultimately sought to destroy.

News of San Yitai’s situation quickly reached Yan Qing’s ears.

Yan Qing was in the midst of organizing the materials Du Tonghuai had sent her. She needed to revise and correct these instructional materials, add new content, and finally compile everything into textbooks suitable for teaching.

In Xin Guo, there was no dedicated forensic medicine specialty, and therefore no established textbooks. For Du Tonghuai to establish a forensic medicine department at the medical academy, proper textbooks and instructors were essential — and creating the curriculum materials was of paramount importance, a task that was meticulous and demanding, far beyond what she could accomplish on her own.

Yan Qing wrote notes with one hand while listening to Jing Zhi recount the full sequence of events.

“Are you certain our people won’t be discovered?” Yan Qing’s pen paused.

“Miss, rest assured. I found a maidservant from the pharmacy owner Lin’s household. When Qing Tian went to buy face powder, I arranged for this maidservant to run into her and pretend to be a servant from the Sun household, casually letting slip that the Commander intended to marry the Eighth Young Miss to Sun Changyou. Even if someone later traces it back to the Fifth Young Miss, and tries to have Qing Tian confront this ‘Sun household’ maidservant, they could turn the Sun household upside down and never find her.”

Yan Qing nodded with satisfaction. “You are all growing more and more careful in your work.”

Even if Yan Qin one day realized she had been manipulated and tried to find this Sun household maidservant, it would be impossible. She could only swallow her bitterness in silence, with no one to complain to.

“Miss, do you think San Yitai will truly connect all of this back to the Fifth Young Miss and First Madam?”

Yan Qing turned a page of her book and said mildly, “San Yitai is very clever. But clever people all share a weakness that can be exploited — they tend to read more into things than others do. Even simple matters become infinitely complicated in their eyes. San Yitai will certainly investigate the source of the information passed to Shi Yutong, and will quickly learn that Shi Yutong had just come from Yan Qin’s quarters. And how did Yan Qin come to know such a closely guarded secret? Only through First Madam.”

Jing Zhi understood. “So San Yitai will conclude that First Madam was the mastermind — that she deliberately leaked the information to the Eighth Young Miss to incite her to cause havoc.”

“The Eighth Young Miss is now wholly preoccupied with her marriage, so she will naturally have no time or energy left to trouble Miss.” Murong could not help but look on with admiration. “Miss, this is truly a scheme to fell three birds with one stone.”

“San Yitai is no one to trifle with. All these years she has remained in the Commander’s favor — it is certainly not through beauty alone. If San Yitai now comes to clash with First Madam, First Madam will be made to suffer as well.” Jing Zhi felt a surge of satisfaction as she thought it through. Throughout the entire affair, they had done nothing more than nudge events along. No one would think to connect it back to them, and wherever things went from here would be entirely up to the parties involved.

“Miss, you are also a clever person — will you not be exposed to this same kind of weakness?” Jing Zhi was a little worried. “I hope no one with ill intentions takes advantage of you.”

Yan Qing accepted the advice earnestly. “That is precisely why I have the two of you keeping watch — so I don’t fall into my own trap.”

On the subject of this matter, Yan Qing’s thoughts turned to Bi Zhu, the woman in Er Yitai’s courtyard. “Has Di Huai not returned yet?”

Di Huai had gone to Lugou County to investigate Bi Zhu’s background, and had already been away for six or seven days. By the count of time, he should be back within the next few days.

This Bi Zhu claimed to be a distant relative of Er Yitai, but whether she was friend or foe had yet to be determined. Even if it turned out to be nothing more than overthinking, finding out the truth was always better than being caught off guard.

“Miss, trust Di Huai to handle it. He must have been held up by something.”

Yan Qing nodded. She had always had confidence in Di Huai — she only worried a little about his safety.

“By the way, Miss, yesterday I ran into someone at the pharmacy entrance.” Murong knew that Yan Qing also tended to overthink things. This had been a minor matter for her, long since pushed to the back of her mind, but now that the three of them were chatting idly, she brought it up.

“Who?” Yan Qing continued writing the instructional materials.

“Does Miss remember the maidservant we saw outside First Madam’s courtyard last time? When she passed by us, I had the impression she knew martial arts — she seemed like someone with training.”

Yan Qing’s pen paused, and she tapped lightly on the table. “I remember. She was Elder Sister’s maidservant, wasn’t she?”

“I had Jing Zhi look into it. Her name is Huan Tong, and she is indeed the First Young Miss’s maidservant — she came with the First Young Miss from Shan Cheng to Shun Cheng this time.”

“So what was strange about it?”

—