In the garden pavilion of the Earl of Changchun’s residence, several ladies were sipping tea when one casually brought up the matter: “Speaking of Third Miss from the Li residence, she’s truly never without controversy. A while ago, she stole the show at the banquet welcoming the Western Jiang envoys, which was a good thing—she brought glory to our Great Liang. But this recent incident is quite amusing.”

“What incident?”

“Lady Huang, you don’t know about this matter that’s been circulating so hotly these past two days?”

“My mother-in-law has been ill, and I’ve been managing the household while attending to her. How could I have time to listen to such things?”

“No wonder you don’t know…” Lady Wang, wife of the Supreme Court Minister, eagerly poured out everything she had heard like emptying a bamboo tube.

“That can’t be right. Would Third Miss Li joke with her aunt about such matters? I know Lady Liu, the Li residence’s second wife. When she gave birth to her second daughter, she injured her body, and the physicians said she absolutely couldn’t conceive again…”

“There’s such a thing?” Some uninformed ladies expressed surprise.

The lady who brought up this matter covered her mouth and laughed: “After all, it’s not a pleasant matter, so it’s natural you wouldn’t know. I only heard about it by chance because the physician who treated the Li residence’s second wife—his wife is the cousin of my maternal family’s steward’s mother…”

“If that’s the case, Third Miss Li was too thoughtless. How could she joke about such matters?”

“The strangest part isn’t this, but rather that second wife of the Li residence—even after the old imperial physician said Third Miss Li misdiagnosed her, she still refuses to believe it and stays in her room nurturing her pregnancy.”

“Pfft, could the Li residence’s second wife have become obsessed with wanting a child?”

“After years without children, suddenly someone tells her she’s expecting—it’s not strange she’d become obsessed. People always refuse to believe bad news but willingly believe groundless good news.”

The ladies grew more animated in their discussion, with only the Countess of Changchun remaining silent.

Lady Wang, wife of the Supreme Court Minister, wondered: “Why hasn’t Lady Yang been speaking?”

The Countess of Changchun smiled: “I don’t much like mentioning that family. But to say Third Miss Li can detect pregnancy in others—that’s ridiculous!”

By the end, the Countess of Changchun didn’t even bother concealing her disgust toward the Li family.

Everyone understood the underlying reasons, and Lady Wang, who had always been at odds with the Li family, deliberately said: “I remember your young master was cured by Third Miss Li—”

“Nonsense!” The Countess of Changchun cut off Lady Wang’s words, then seeing everyone’s surprised looks, quickly drank some tea to cover her outburst. “Our Shu’er had no illness at all. The imperial physicians said it was just blood clots from a head injury, and he would naturally recover once the clots dispersed. What does that have to do with Third Miss Li!”

Mentioning this matter made the Countess of Changchun grit her teeth in hatred.

Although the culprit who injured Shu’er was never found, believing the Li residence had nothing to do with it was impossible. More infuriating was that Shu’er was perfectly fine—just a bit confused after the injury—but after Third Miss Li’s interference, everyone in the capital knew Shu’er had been mad and foolish. Now they couldn’t even find him a decent marriage prospect!

“Exactly. A little girl gets a few pointers from a divine physician and claims to have inherited the divine physician’s true teachings. Earlier, the Li family’s second miss caused the impersonation incident at the Great Fortune Temple, which shows the Li family’s education has always been problematic. Only someone like Marquis Guanjun, who has no mother to make arrangements, would agree to such a match…”

A minor secretary’s daughter marrying Marquis Guanjun—thinking of this made countless ladies and madams in various residences feel sour. They would naturally be polite to the Li family in person out of respect for Marquis Guanjun, but once they had a chance to step on the Li family behind their backs, all these suppressed, bitter words came pouring out.

At Prince Rui’s residence, Li Jiǎo was stunned for quite a while after hearing this news.

Everyone outside scoffed at the idea that Third Li had cured her second aunt’s infertility and declared her pregnant, but why did she faintly feel this might be true?

Yes, ever since that day when she inexplicably had that strange thought, she could no longer view Third Li as the same person she used to be.

If Third Li truly was the kind of monster she suspected, what would curing her second aunt’s infertility matter?

Perhaps—

Li Jiǎo gently touched her abdomen.

These past few days, the chief physician had been taking her pulse daily for peace of mind. She understood this clearly—the Prince was anxious to know if she was pregnant, though the chief physician said it was still too early to make a diagnosis.

This waiting for results was too agonizing; every moment was torture. Perhaps she could have the Prince invite Third Li over—

No, the Prince already regarded Third Li differently; she couldn’t increase their opportunities to interact!

Li Jiǎo painfully dismissed this thought.

At Deji Hall, the old physician was furiously scolding the medicine boy who carried his medicine box: “How dare you gossip about other families’ affairs! You little beast, get out of Deji Hall today!”

The medicine boy knelt on the ground pleading: “Old Master, don’t drive me away! I didn’t mean to spread it—I just accidentally let it slip—”

“Don’t give me excuses. Whatever your reasons, Deji Hall cannot keep you. Go.” The old physician waved his hand.

“Old Master, I truly know I was wrong. I have no father or mother and grew up in Deji Hall. If you drive me away, where will I go?”

The old physician closed his eyes, hiding the reluctance in them, then removed the purse from his waist and threw it over: “There are still two taels of silver inside. Take it.”

“Old Master—”

“Go, go.”

The medicine boy left Deji Hall with reluctant backward glances. Once he reached a deserted place, he immediately wiped away his tears and revealed a smile.

That person was right—crying pitifully could indeed earn him a few taels of silver.

So what if he left Deji Hall? That person had given him a hundred taels of silver!

In the west side courtyard of Yahe Courtyard at the Li residence, Binglu stormed into the room angrily.

Seeing several red scratches on her face, Qiao Zhao couldn’t help wondering: “What happened?”

“I’m so angry! I was buying things from a peddler outside the residence when I heard two women talking nonsense. I got so mad, I fought with them!” Binglu said while carefully observing Qiao Zhao.

She had gotten into a fight—she wondered if Miss would be angry—

The little maid was worried when she heard Qiao Zhao laugh: “So you lost the fight?”

“No way! I only got scratched on the face. Miss, you didn’t see those two women—I beat them into pig heads!”

Qiao Zhao shook her head with a smile.

It seemed Grandmother would soon invite her to Qingsong Hall for a heart-to-heart talk.

Just as this thought crossed her mind, Qing Jun, Old Madam Deng’s chief maid, arrived: “Third Miss, Old Madam requests your presence.”

Walking along the path, Qing Jun quietly reminded her: “Two women are sitting at our main gate crying loudly—one woman is holding a baby, and the other is holding a dirt dog.”

Qiao Zhao paused in her steps.

She could understand a woman holding a child while causing trouble, but what was the situation with holding a dirt dog?