Jiang Shi stared with her dead-fish-like eyes in Qiao Zhao’s direction.

She desperately wanted to see how the shallow, ignorant little girl from her memory had become the unfathomable existence she couldn’t read now. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a trace of light before her eyes – only deadly silence.

Qiao Zhao knelt quietly, saying nothing.

Jiang Shi finally gave up thinking and squeezed two words through gritted teeth: “Go then.”

The young woman’s voice was calm and unperturbed: “Please take care of your health, Madam. This great-niece takes her leave.”

After Qiao Zhao left, Jiang Shi swept her hand across the table, knocking all the items on the side table to the floor.

With a tremendous crash, porcelain shards scattered across the floor, and a spherical hand warmer rolled around, making skin-crawling sounds.

The maids who had come to report all fell silent as cicadas in winter.

Their East Residence’s Old Madam had become increasingly bad-tempered since losing her sight. Previously, she would at most scold them verbally, but now they could suffer physical punishment at the slightest provocation.

Only Jiang Shi’s trusted old servant carefully advised: “Madam, be careful not to hurt yourself.”

Jiang Shi remained furious: “Did you hear what that girl said! Telling me to take care of my health? She must be secretly delighted to see me blind!”

“Madam, please don’t overthink…”

“How can I not overthink? The West Residence has grown bold and no longer respects the East Residence. I’m waiting for Deng Shi to come begging me after the West Residence’s second master returns!”

When officials posted elsewhere returned to the capital for evaluation, they usually needed to cultivate connections to secure good positions. Although Li Guangyan from the East Residence wasn’t a Personnel Ministry official who handled such matters, as Deputy Minister of Justice, he was already a significant figure with influence at the Personnel Ministry.

The trusted servant seized the opportunity to console her: “Yes, Madam, don’t be angry. When it comes to accomplished descendants, how can the West Residence compare to our East Residence? Not to mention our master, even our two young masters are performing excellently in their posts, while the West Residence’s Hui Ge’er is still just a child.”

Hearing her trusted servant say this, Jiang Shi’s expression finally softened somewhat.

No matter what, the West Residence couldn’t compare to the East Residence in this regard. When Deng Shi came to beg her, she definitely wouldn’t soften her heart!

Qiao Zhao looked at the several stewards from various residences, her expression slightly grave.

She didn’t believe in such coincidences.

A’Zhu came over and whispered a few words in Qiao Zhao’s ear.

Qiao Zhao nodded slightly, indicating that A’Zhu should properly receive the stewards from the various residences, then quietly went to the neighboring house.

Shao Mingyuan was waiting there.

“Is there a problem?” Qiao Zhao asked.

Perhaps the more one cared, the more complications would arise. Qiao Zhao had already sensed this.

“Did that Madam from the East Residence give you trouble?” Shao Mingyuan asked simultaneously.

Seeing the worry in his eyes, Qiao Zhao’s anxious heart inexplicably settled somewhat. She smiled: “Even if she did, it was just some inner courtyard tactics – nothing serious.”

Shao Mingyuan’s gaze fell on Qiao Zhao’s knees, where her padded skirt was dirtier than elsewhere.

“She made you kneel?”

The man’s gaze deepened, radiating a beast-like danger. Qiao Zhao even felt that if she didn’t say something, the man before her would transform into a lone wolf and go fight someone desperately.

“Look.” Qiao Zhao lifted her skirt hem, revealing the cotton pads tied to her knees, smiling brightly: “She has her stratagems, I have my countermeasures. There’s no need to confront her directly – as long as I don’t suffer any real loss.”

Shao Mingyuan breathed a heavy sigh of relief: “That’s good then.”

As soon as he heard that Zhaozhao had gone to the East Residence to pay respects to that Old Madam, thinking of the information he’d gathered beforehand, he couldn’t help worrying about her.

The frustrating part was that they currently had no formal relationship. As an unrelated man, he couldn’t openly protect her for the sake of her reputation and could only resort to indirect methods.

“Zhaozhao, let’s get engaged as soon as possible – let’s settle it when spring begins.” Shao Mingyuan gazed at the delicate young woman before him and sighed softly.

Once she became his fiancée, whether it was the Old Madam or Deputy Minister Li, even if they held the status of elders, he wouldn’t need to show them consideration anymore.

“Mm.” Qiao Zhao gave a vague response, then urged: “What problem did you encounter?”

Shao Mingyuan smiled bitterly: “Censor Xing refuses to transcribe.”

Qiao Zhao was silent for a moment, then sighed: “Though I don’t agree with some of Censor Xing’s views, he’s an admirable person.”

“Yes. But now this admirable person has given us a major difficulty, so I came to find you.”

After brief consideration, Qiao Zhao understood Shao Mingyuan’s meaning. She tightened her grip on her hand warmer and said softly, “Three days. I’ll start transcribing the account books in three days. Remember to prepare the same paper and ink that were used for the original account books.”

To forge those two account books, simply imitating the handwriting wouldn’t be enough. The type of paper and ink used, and the degree of wear on the paper, all required attention.

Shao Mingyuan nodded: “You needn’t worry about these things – I’ll prepare everything. It’s just that these three days will be hard work for you.”

He handed over a stack of papers: “Drafts that Censor Xing discarded while writing memorials. The Left Chief Censor secretly gave them to me.”

Qiao Zhao took them: “If we can handle the case properly, why fear hard work? By the way, Miss Kou and the others inviting me to visit their residences – does this have anything to do with you?”

The man said solemnly, “How could other young ladies have any relationship with me?”

Qiao Zhao glanced at him sideways: “Does it or doesn’t it?”

Shao Mingyuan coughed lightly with his fist to his lips: “Minister Kou mentioned it to Miss Kou.”

“What about Miss Zhu?”

“Zhu Yàn told her.” Before Qiao Zhao could ask, Shao Mingyuan continued: “Miss Su happened to be with Miss Zhu and somehow joined in the excitement.”

“So none of it has anything to do with you?”

The man nodded with a smile: “Mm.”

“Shameless!” Qiao Zhao reproached.

Shao Mingyuan grasped her hand and placed it on his face, saying seriously, “It’s not thick – feel for yourself.”

“Who wants to feel—” The young woman’s cheeks flushed peach-blossom pink as she was drawn into the man’s deep eyes that rippled like waves, suddenly forgetting her words.

The two gazed into each other’s eyes. For a moment, all was quiet and still, with only invisible sparks secretly igniting between the young man and woman.

Qiao Zhao noticed that the large hand holding hers was gradually tightening its grip. Feeling inexplicably flustered, she quickly withdrew her hand, raised it to smooth her falling hair, and asked: “What about Miss Jiang?”

“What?” Shao Mingyuan was somewhat distracted.

“I mean, Miss Jiang. How did she also join in and invite me to visit the Jiang residence?”

Shao Mingyuan looked innocent: “That one has nothing to do with me…”

Qiao Zhao put away Censor Xing’s discarded drafts and thought: “It wouldn’t be good to decline all of them. I’ll just visit the Kou residence.”

She would rather go to the Kou residence than deal with Jiang Shiran – going to the Kou residence would give her a good excuse to decline the others.

Both had important matters to attend to. Though they both harbored feelings of reluctance, whether strong or faint, they still parted hastily.

Qiao Zhao accepted the invitation to the Minister Kou’s residence, where Kou Zimo stood at the ornamental gate wearing a cape, waiting to receive her.

Upon seeing Kou Zimo, Qiao Zhao couldn’t help but be startled.