The Fujin learned the news first. Initially, she suspected Lady Li was feigning illness, but after confirming she truly had a high fever, she informed Fourth Master.

If this was deliberate on her part, one could only say she had thrown caution to the wind. A cold with fever was no minor ailment—it truly could cost someone their life.

Even if Lady Li got her wish and had Master come see her, so what?

After this incident, most of Lady Li’s favor had been exhausted.

Master wasn’t a forgetful person.

Even if she could emerge from confinement afterward, Master’s affection for her would be far less than before.

Even though she had borne two sons, she wouldn’t be an obstacle in the future and couldn’t lord it over her anymore. If she couldn’t pull through this time, then there was nothing more to say—such was her fate.

So the Fujin didn’t delay at all. She immediately had someone fetch an imperial physician to treat her illness. When Fourth Master returned, she promptly reported this news to him.

Lady Li’s high fever was genuine, and the imperial physician’s expression was solemn too.

He knew this Lady Li’s status—the children she bore were second to none in the Fourth Prince’s residence.

Out of just five children total, she had three.

Facing the Fourth Fujin’s inquiry, the imperial physician gave his diagnosis euphemistically.

He dared not guarantee he could cure her, only that he could first prescribe medicine for her to try. If drinking it could bring down the fever, that would be good. But if the fever wouldn’t subside…

After the Fourth Prince returned and heard this news, he came to Lady Li’s courtyard. Seeing her lying on the sickbed, having lost much weight and looking pale and wretched, the Fourth Prince grew angry. “Is this how you attend to your mistress? With so many servants around, what use are you?”

The eunuchs and maids attending her knelt all over the floor.

They didn’t dare say they felt wronged, though they truly did. Did they want Lady Li to lose so much weight?

They had thought of many ways, hoping she would eat and sleep well. But she kept throwing tantrums. The meals sent up weren’t as good as before, but they still followed her allotted portions—everything that should be there was there. However, the mistress looked down on them—either not eating at all or eating very little. Going back and forth like this, naturally she had grown thin.

The Fourth Prince was furious that Lady Li dared lay hands on the children, but he hadn’t wanted her life. With years of affection and several children between them, he looked at the imperial physician. “How is Lady Li’s condition?”

The imperial physician bent at the waist. “After drinking the medicine, the high fever has subsided somewhat and is improving. Feed her another bowl of medicine later. If the fever breaks by tomorrow morning, she’ll be fine.”

The Fourth Prince scanned the surrounding attendants. “Serve the Lady well and make amends through service. When the Lady recovers, there will be rewards.”

Lady Li seemed to hear his voice and struggled to open her eyes. Seeing the Fourth Prince, tears slid down from the corners of her eyes. Combined with being ill, weak and powerless, her voice was light and airy—just hearing it evoked pity: “Master, is it you… is it really you?”

The Fourth Prince: “It’s me.”

Lady Li struggled to reach out and grasp him. “This concubine truly knows her wrong. Master, forgive this concubine. I swear, if there’s a next time, let this concubine be struck by lightning and after death enter the eighteenth level of hell.” She made a grave oath.

She knew she had been foolish. She believed that no matter how she targeted the Ce Fujin or made things difficult for her, as long as she didn’t use poison or witchcraft-type methods, even if Fourth Master learned of it he would be angry but absolutely wouldn’t be as heartless as now—she had committed a grave taboo.

Imperial children weren’t hers to touch, unless she could make it so no one could tell it was her doing.

“This concubine truly knows her wrong.” She covered her face and wept. “This concubine doesn’t know what possessed her during that time to do such a deranged thing. Master, when the illness is better and the confinement ends, this concubine will go beg Ce Fujin’s forgiveness. If she won’t forgive me, I’ll keep begging her, making amends to her, until she forgives me. Master, I beg you…”

Standing silently to the side, the Fujin tightened her grip on the handkerchief in her hand. This soft and weak appearance reminded her of when Lady Li first entered the household.

She was like this when she first arrived. Later, as her children were born one after another, her conduct became increasingly ostentatious and she lost her sense of propriety more and more.

Now she had turned misfortune into fortune, finding her initial caution again.

To say she should just forgive her and let this matter pass—that was impossible. But indeed, because of these words, the Fourth Prince’s expression softened somewhat. “Don’t think about so much right now. Focus on recovering.”

The Fujin chimed in from the side. “Sister Li, taking care of your health is most important right now. We can discuss other matters later.”

If she couldn’t pull through, saying anything now would be empty talk.

The Fujin: “Master, let’s return. We shouldn’t interfere with sister’s rest.”

She feared that if Lady Li continued talking, she’d truly soften Master’s heart. Moreover, she was ill after all—they shouldn’t stay here too long. What if the illness transmitted?

Hearing this, Lady Li nodded in agreement. “The Fujin speaks truly. Master, you should return quickly. If this concubine’s illness transmitted to Master and the Fujin, even ten thousand deaths couldn’t atone for it.”

The Fujin’s eyes darkened further. This Lady Li had truly made progress.

The next morning, Lady Li’s fever broke, and all the attendants breathed a sigh of relief.

Excellent—if the Lady’s high fever had persisted, they would have been in trouble.

After the fever broke, Lady Li quietly followed the imperial physician’s instructions, properly recuperating and taking her medicine. She neither mentioned wanting to go out nor wanting to see her daughter and sons, much less urgently saying she wanted to see Fourth Master or go apologize to Lin Ce Fujin. Instead, she very quietly recovered from her illness.

This delighted the attendants. Being assigned to serve Lady Li was already quite unlucky, and after arriving, they’d been scolded countless times. Now that she was so cooperative, it was truly rare.

At Luo Yu’s place, she soon heard through others about what Lady Li had said upon seeing Fourth Master.

This news was deliberately spread by someone the Fujin had planted in her courtyard.

Was this hoping that after hearing it, she would become enraged?

If she lost her reason and did something, that would surely better serve the Fujin’s interests.

Luo Yu shook her head. “Since she says she wants to beg forgiveness, let her come.”

Just because she came to beg forgiveness didn’t mean she had to forgive her.

She wasn’t someone without a temper. She had come to the Fourth Prince’s residence, but not to be a punching bag. What, Lady Li had done things wrong to her, now she suddenly repented, she regretted it, she admitted her wrong—did that mean what she’d done before could be written off?

If apologizing and admitting wrongs were useful, what need was there for laws?

Then everyone would “turn over a new leaf.”

Luo Yu also didn’t want to make sacrifices for the harmony of Fourth Master’s rear courtyard. She wanted Fourth Master’s favor and his regard, but that didn’t mean she had to completely depend on him. She had her own joys, anger, sorrows, and happiness too.

Moreover, if she said she forgave Lady Li, would others believe it?

This concerned her and the two children. If she could forgive even this, how would others view her?

She needed to have her own principles.

Furthermore, this way she could earn a reputation for genuine character from Fourth Master. Forgiving would be too hypocritical.

When Yun Shuyao came to see the children and heard her say this, Yun Shuyao nodded. “You did right.”

Why forgive?

Was Lady Li worthy? Even the Fourth Prince couldn’t say words asking her to forgive.

This news first spread at Luo Yu’s place, then reached the other Ladies. When Niuhuru Shi heard this news, she sighed and said nothing, somewhat worried.

Fourth Master didn’t come to her place much. Even now, no good news had emerged.

She wanted children.

Would Lady Li, acting like this, cause new turmoil in Fourth Master’s rear courtyard once her confinement ended?

The news also reached the two newcomers—Lady Chen and Lady Uya’s reactions differed.

After hearing it, Lady Chen went to Lady Song’s place to inquire, her mouth chattering nonstop, giving Lady Song a headache.

She didn’t know what was wrong with this Chen Shi. She looked very good, with a slender figure and delicate features—she appeared to be a fragile porcelain beauty. But once you knew her a bit, you could conclude she was a chatterbox.

Very inconsistent with her appearance.

She loved hearing gossip.

Not just between the various mistresses—if anyone was willing to talk, she was happy to listen. If no one talked, she would actively inquire with the maids about various gossip events around them.

Fortunately, she had some restraint—she liked to listen but didn’t personally go around spreading rumors.

Now, having inquired about Lady Li’s matter, she hadn’t said a single word of evaluation. This made Lady Song take note.

This one wasn’t truly foolish either.

The other one, Lady Uya, was different from Lady Chen. She was proud.

Proud of her surname, proud of her background, proud of the important mission she shouldered.

In her view, the Fourth Prince had some problems.

He and the Noble Consort were birth mother and son, but their relationship was too distant. This couldn’t be blamed on the Noble Consort—surely they couldn’t expect the Noble Consort to actively accommodate him. It should be the Fourth Prince who took initiative. After all, there was no principle of having elders accommodate juniors.

If he was very busy, well, there were the Fujin and others.

Going more often to the Noble Consort’s place to build relationships would naturally improve things.

Her thoughts were simple—this was a woman without too much scheming. She didn’t understand the subtle relationship between Fourth Master and Noble Consort De. Only the Fujin’s expression was somewhat unpleasant upon hearing this.

This implied she hadn’t done her job properly.

Had she not humbled herself enough before the Noble Consort in the palace?

After hearing such words several times, the other Ladies felt much more at ease. This temperament wasn’t what Fourth Master liked. Now even the Fujin was offended—even with a good surname, she wasn’t their great enemy.

Lady Uya’s gaze was “far-reaching”—she didn’t take Lady Li, who had committed wrongs, seriously at all. Whatever Lady Li said, she wouldn’t care.

The Jia family held a grand banquet for Grandmother Jia’s birthday, sending invitations far and wide and inviting many relatives and old friends.

Regardless of the previous reasons, now it was just to celebrate Grandmother Jia’s longevity.

This time the Jia family had become quite a laughingstock. Only because of Grandmother Jia were things suppressed.

Before long came the full-month celebration for Luo Yu’s dragon-phoenix twins. This time, the Fourth Prince sent out many invitations. If they were still too low-key this time, that would be excessive—this was itself a great joyous event that should be celebrated.

Although the Emperor didn’t personally leave the palace, he had someone send a pair of peace locks.

With his example leading, the Noble Consorts with status also contributed generously.

Besides those from the palace, gifts from others were also very generous.

Afterward, Luo Yu looked at the gift list—the two children had become wealthy in one go.

She particularly noticed the Jia family’s gift. This was an apology—previously they couldn’t deliver it, so now it was converted into gifts for the children.

She didn’t know what Noble Consort De would do. When the children were a bit older, she would need to bring them to the palace.

She had entered the palace before, spending time with the Fourteenth Fujin and others in Noble Consort De’s palace. She could only say, if one didn’t know beforehand they were birth mother and son, those unaware might think Fourth Master was adopted.

Polite in excess, intimate not enough.

After attending the Fourth Prince’s residence full-month celebration, the Old Madam continued burning incense and worshipping Buddha. She was waiting for good news from her grandson. To this end, she deliberately performed good deeds to accumulate merit.

She went to temples to light lamps, distributed congee to impoverished families in the vicinity, bought some old cotton clothes to distribute, donated silver to charity halls, and even did another good deed.

The scandal at Ningguo Residence wasn’t false. Before it broke out, the Old Madam had written a letter in advance to the previous family head, Jia Jing, who was cultivating the Dao at a monastery.

Speaking of it, the Old Madam truly didn’t know what to say. Jia Jing was one of the rare people in the Jia family with a gift for scholarship—he passed the imperial examination and became a presented scholar. But because of his background, he was ostracized by a group of scholars. Unable to bear it, he turned and entered the Daoist order, passing both the family headship and title to his son Jia Zhen.

That Jia Zhen had become the good-for-nothing he was now—his father bore inescapable responsibility.

The good deed the Old Madam did was writing him a letter, informing him of the filthy thoughts his son harbored. Compared to his son, Jia Jing still had shame.

Moreover, although he had passed the family headship to Jia Zhen, the Jia family’s educational tradition was consistent—sons fearing fathers was famous.

Giving Jia Zhen a beating and strictly supervising him might save Qin Keqing’s life.

She couldn’t and wouldn’t manage the Jia family’s political leanings, but this woman Qin Keqing was innocent.

The matter hadn’t happened yet. If Jia Jing intervened, the course of events should also change.

She had done so many good deeds, hoping only that her grandson could achieve a good ranking.

Her granddaughter’s situation had a satisfactory outcome. Now she was just waiting for her grandson’s.

The autumn examinations had already concluded by this time, but the results would come out later, and sending them over would take another period of time.

She was counting the days.

Meanwhile, Jia Jing, who was cultivating at the monastery, received the letter from the Lin family’s Old Madam. He was very puzzled—the Lin family? That Lin family related to Rongguo Residence by marriage—why would they write to him?

He had long since stopped managing worldly affairs.

Impatiently opening it, upon seeing the letter’s contents, Jia Jing’s face flushed completely red.

This was red from shame.

Soon it transformed into fury: “Someone come, summon that wicked son to me!”

Soon he changed his mind again: “Pack up—we’re returning to the residence!”

He wanted to return and see with his own eyes whether that wicked son truly disregarded ethics and had designs on his own daughter-in-law!