“Huai Zhen, you were frightened today?”

Seeing Fourth Prince arrive, Luo Yu showed a delighted smile: “My lord has come.”

Recently he had been too busy, spending several days resting in the outer quarters without entering the inner courtyard.

“I’m fine. Fortunately Su Jin helped block it for me.”

Fourth Prince nodded: “She protected her master with merit. She should be rewarded.”

Luo Yu accepted the reward on Su Jin’s behalf. Fourth Prince also gave her something resembling a guarantee: “Rest assured, I will investigate this matter thoroughly.”

Luo Yu looked at him and slowly smiled: “My lord, hearing you say this makes me truly happy. I believe this time it should be an accident.”

Fourth Prince’s face also showed a faint smile: “Huai Zhen, truly nothing wrong?”

“Truly…”

After Fourth Prince left, Luo Yu stared at his hastily departing figure in a daze. He had been called away again by people from the outer study. He would probably be busy until the Emperor and the others returned.

As for this incident, Luo Yu had a guess about who was responsible. Even if she cleaned up all the loose ends, it didn’t prevent her from guessing who had made the move.

Luo Yu’s hand moved to her heart, feeling the steady heartbeat there, then moved to her belly. Two children were growing here.

These were her children, blood relatives.

If asked which side was more important to her, Luo Yu knew in her heart—the children were more important.

Luo Yu’s feelings toward Fourth Prince were very complicated.

He was her sky, her earth, but he wasn’t only her sky, wasn’t only her earth.

He was the support of all women in the rear courtyard.

Besides herself, he had many others, and if he wanted, he could have even more.

Because he was an imperial prince.

His heart wasn’t on these women in the rear courtyard either. His heart was in the court.

The affection they gave could almost never be reciprocated equally. This was the same as what her mother had said—women in this era had it too difficult.

Men could still choose to leave and fight for a future, but women didn’t have this opportunity to strive.

They weren’t on the same battlefield, could only be confined within the inner residence, fighting for the man’s favor, for offspring, for the foundation to establish themselves.

If Fourth Prince found evidence, with one side being herself and the other side being Li Gege and three children…

Which side would this scale tip toward?

Luo Yu had no confidence she would win.

Putting herself in his shoes, if she were in Fourth Prince’s position, even if she truly caught evidence, she wouldn’t make a scene, because making a scene would create a scandal and inevitably result in accusations of managing the household improperly.

But privately, he would certainly punish her.

Since nothing had happened to herself, this punishment probably wouldn’t be too severe.

If she cleaned up her tail tracks well enough, this punishment might not even be implemented.

On the surface, this was an “accident.”

Don’t take yourself too seriously, and don’t take Fourth Prince too seriously either.

Luo Yu went through all this in her mind. Her emotions, which had fluctuated somewhat due to Fourth Prince’s earlier words, gradually calmed down.

She didn’t know if that cat had been caught by someone else first. The cat had disappeared.

After several days, the cat’s corpse was discovered in a corner. It was already dead. Nothing could be seen from this cat’s corpse because the cat had been bitten to death by a dog.

Yun Shuyao heard about this matter from Luo Yu afterward. She looked at her daughter’s belly. She was maintaining it well—this belly was somewhat large but wouldn’t exceed that degree, so giving birth later wouldn’t be so difficult.

“Was it Li Gege who made the move?”

Luo Yu shook her head: “There’s no evidence pointing to anyone.”

Yun Shuyao: “Most likely it was her. Did Fujin get involved?”

Luo Yu sneered: “She’s currently a bodhisattva.”

A bodhisattva who only watched from the sidelines.

Yun Shuyao sighed. Everyone had their own position. Li Gege had followed Fourth Prince relatively early and had borne children. Naturally she hoped that in the future this residence could be inherited by her child.

Her daughter’s rank was higher than hers. If she gave birth to a son, Li Gege’s advantage would immediately be leveled. So she targeted her daughter.

If standing in Fujin’s position, she had given birth to Prince Hong Hui who passed away, had no other biological sons, then the lower the birth mother’s rank of sons born to others, the better—that way they would be easier to control.

Yun Shuyao could think of the reasons, but if they took action for this thought, that certainly couldn’t be forgiven.

Thinking wasn’t a crime, but taking action was different.

“Do you need help?”

Luo Yu shook her head: “Mother, I’m not a child anymore.” She had already been in this residence for over a year and was about to become a mother. She wasn’t the child from before who could only seek adults to help her come forward to seek justice when encountering problems.

Even when she was young, when she encountered problems, she didn’t first seek adults to be her backing.

Yun Shuyao nodded: “I understand. Carry this with you from now on.”

Yun Shuyao gave her a fan.

A very elegant folding fan. The fan’s ribs were made of an extremely sturdy wood and could be used as a weapon.

There were small episodes after this incident—the people guarding the gates all received punishment. Letting a wild cat sneak in was their dereliction of duty. Naturally they should bear the responsibility.

Because of this, others who kept pets all became more alert.

Fourth Prince kept quite a few dogs, all with dedicated keepers. As long as Luo Yu herself didn’t go over there, their activity ranges generally didn’t overlap. Even so, the keepers became more attentive.

This time, it seemed to pass just like that, classified as an accident.

Not knowing if it was this safe passage, after some time, someone stirred restlessly again.

Then Fujin fell ill. The illness wasn’t serious, but she needed to rest in bed. Even paying respects was canceled. She had headaches and needed quiet recuperation.

Then Luo Yu saw a snake in her courtyard.

When it raised its head, Luo Yu recognized it—this was non-venomous. She had even caught one together with her mother when they were at the estate.

The people at the estate had eaten quite a few.

Luo Yu just felt it was as expected.

She had previously guessed it would be a snake and had even reminded Fujin’s nanny. Yet a snake still appeared in the residence, and in her courtyard no less!

Luo Yu suddenly thought of Fujin’s recent illness.

Was this the method she thought of to stay out of it?

Presumably for her, no matter who gained the upper hand, it would benefit her.

These thoughts passed in an instant. To others watching, their master had been sitting on a stool eating snacks when she suddenly saw something, stood up in fright, then in her panic grabbed a dish and threw it.

What was over there?

Looking—it was a snake!

The master was quite fortunate to hit its head, then covered her belly and leaned toward her nearby maid: “There’s a snake here—”

Her voice trembled, clearly appearing frightened.

How many girls weren’t afraid of snakes?

“Ah!”

“There really is a snake!”

“Quick, help the master inside!”

For a moment, some people supported Luo Yu into the room while others struck at it with nearby objects.

There were also young eunuchs around. Hearing the commotion, they came over with brooms: “Where’s the snake?”

“Here, quickly hit it!”

This snake that had been knocked unconscious was quickly beaten into a pulp by the chaos of sticks.

Everyone still had lingering fear: “How could there be a snake in our courtyard?”

If their Ce Fujin hadn’t discovered it in time and this snake had crawled into the room, what then? Just thinking about it made their backs run cold.

“Is this snake venomous?”

“Don’t know, quickly call someone.”

“Everyone check the courtyard thoroughly. Could there be more?”

“Right, check thoroughly!”

This time was different from the last. Fujin quickly appeared with a pale face. She first came to see Luo Yu, asking with concern: “Sister, are you still well?”

Luo Yu lay on the bed, having someone call the imperial physician: “My belly feels somewhat uncomfortable. I may have disturbed the fetal qi.”

Hearing this, Fujin’s face grew even paler: “Sister, rest assured. I’m here.”

Luo Yu forced a smile: “I’ve troubled Fujin.” Her eyes reddened: “I don’t know where that snake came from. Please, Fujin, investigate this thoroughly.”

Fujin guaranteed: “Rest assured, I’ll personally oversee it.”

She led people to search the garden inch by inch. The entire residence was searching to see if there were any other snakes.

The imperial physician soon arrived: “Ce Fujin just needs quiet recuperation for a period and will be fine.”

The pulse was somewhat disordered, but there was no major problem.

The imperial physician breathed a sigh of relief, quickly prescribed fetal-calming medicine, and left.

Based on his experience, something else would soon happen here. He should leave early for the best.

Fourth Prince didn’t yet know the specific circumstances in the residence. Upon returning to the residence, what he saw was Fujin kneeling to confess her guilt: “My lord, this concubine is guilty. I failed to manage the household personnel well, creating the current situation. Fortunately Sister Lin has no major issues. Otherwise this concubine would have no face to see her, no face to see you, my lord.”

Besides the snake that was beaten to death, a smaller one was found nearby.

She was already unrecovered from illness. Now her pale face and guilty appearance made Fourth Prince’s heart soften involuntarily. He stepped forward to help her up: “What fault does Fujin have? The fault lies with those who erred.”