The common people don’t fight with officials—ordinary citizens fear seeing officials most. With those two families arrested, there was no need to worry about them coming to cause trouble for some time.

The Li residence was a decent household. If it had been certain other residences, they would have slipped some silver to the authorities, and those two families would likely have had to spend New Year in jail.

Old Madam Deng put aside her complex feelings and said to Lady Liu: “Go back to your room and rest.”

Lady Liu stood up with a smile: “Then, daughter-in-law takes her leave.”

After Lady Liu left, Old Madam Deng looked at Qiao Zhao and sighed: “Third girl, about your second aunt’s pregnancy—is it accurate?”

Qiao Zhao’s eyes flickered slightly.

Old Madam Deng spoke directly: “I asked your second aunt. Calculating by dates, the child is not even a month along yet. By common logic, even if there were a pregnancy, it couldn’t be detected now.”

Whether Lady Liu was with child or not was originally the Li family’s private matter, but now it had spread everywhere, with everyone in the capital craning their necks to watch the Li family’s joke. This forced Old Madam Deng to be cautious.

Although Old Madam Deng felt Qiao Zhao wouldn’t act recklessly, the diagnosis from the old physician at Deji Hall troubled her. She had quietly found several other physicians to take Lady Liu’s pulse, and they all reached the same conclusion as the old physician from Deji Hall: Lady Liu was either not pregnant, or it was too early to detect.

Things having reached this point, Old Madam Deng wouldn’t blame Qiao Zhao. In the old lady’s heart, she was just a child—what did it matter if she made a mistake? But having this become the capital’s after-dinner gossip was truly infuriating.

Qiao Zhao was silent for a moment, then smiled: “People say Grandfather Li can heal the dead and regenerate bones—they don’t think about common logic.”

Old Madam Deng was stunned, then laughed.

She had been thinking wrongly. Common logic was always for ordinary people. Physician Li was not ordinary, and Zhaozhao, learning medicine from Physician Li, naturally had abilities beyond common people’s imagination.

“Alright, since you say so, Grandmother can rest easy.” Old Madam Deng immediately felt her depression lift.

Qiao Zhao returned to the west side courtyard and called Binglu over.

Binglu hung her head, knowing she had caused trouble. Before Qiao Zhao could speak, she honestly knelt: “Miss, it’s all this servant’s fault for causing you trouble.”

Qiao Zhao silently looked at Binglu.

Binglu panicked: “Miss, you’re not going to dismiss me, are you?”

Qiao Zhao smiled slightly: “Do you know what you did wrong?”

“I know.”

“What was wrong?”

Binglu thought seriously.

Someone spoke badly of Miss, so she beat them into pig heads—that was completely right.

“Still don’t know what you did wrong?” Seeing the little maid’s dejected appearance, Qiao Zhao was both annoyed and amused.

“Wrong in, wrong in—” Fearing that not finding a reason would anger her master more, Binglu had a flash of inspiration: “Wrong in not concealing myself well! Miss, rest assured, next time I’ll use a club from behind!”

Qiao Zhao was stunned, then laughed.

That seemed workable, too.

Regardless, think about the consequences before acting in the future. If you feel you can bear those consequences, then go ahead and act. But if you ultimately can’t handle it and need others to help solve it, then you were being impulsive. Understand?”

The reason reckless bravery invites ridicule is that it ignores the power of wisdom.

Binglu nodded with half-understanding.

After leaving the office, Li Guangshu returned to Jinrong Courtyard with a dark face to settle accounts with Lady Liu.

“This is all your doing! Insisting on believing a little girl’s nonsense. Now look—this matter has spread throughout the capital, and I’ve become everyone’s laughingstock!”

Li Guangshu had returned to the capital before the New Year for a performance evaluation. Due to various delays along the way, it wasn’t until Shao Mingyuan led troops out again that he finally found a position as Left Supervisor in the Crown Prince’s Household.

This Left Supervisor was just a nominal position, but Li Guangshu was overjoyed. The reason was simple—by convention, when Hanlin-born prefects returned to the capital and transferred to the Crown Prince’s Household, it meant the court intended to promote them.

He only needed to endure another year or two before being appointed as a junior minister.

The Minister of the Court of Imperial Receptions had been demoted by the Emperor due to successive incidents with the Western Jiang envoys, leaving that position vacant. Li Guangshu figured that if nothing else, getting the position of Minister of the Court of Imperial Receptions shouldn’t be a problem.

But before he could be happy for long, this huge joke erupted. Walking into the office, others looked at him strangely, truly humiliating!

Lady Liu sneered: “I don’t know how a wife’s pregnancy becomes everyone’s laughingstock. Did I cuckold you or something?”

“You can say such things?” Li Guangshu’s face went white with anger, his finger pointing at Lady Liu trembling constantly. “Vulgar!”

Lady Liu pursed her lips: “Of course, I’m not as delicate and charming as those concubines who know how to coax men. Unfortunately, Old Madam just likes vulgar women like me and doesn’t appreciate the concubines Master brings home.”

“Shut up!” Hearing Lady Liu mention Ice Lady completely stabbed Li Guangshu’s heart. He raised his foot to kick Lady Liu.

At that moment, a strong woman sprang out from behind Lady Liu and quickly caught Li Guangshu’s kicking foot.

“Let go!” Li Guangshu shouted frantically.

The woman obediently let go. Due to inertia, Li Guangshu fell flat on his face.

Glancing down at the man who fell at her feet, Lady Liu remained calm: “Take Master to his study!”

Hmph, she knew that when men’s hearts changed, they could do anything. Fortunately, she had prepared early.

From then on, Li Guangshu never set foot in Jinrong Courtyard again.

Lady Liu was content with the peace and focused on nurturing her pregnancy, but Old Madam Deng began to worry.

The Third girl, diagnosed second daughter-in-law, was because of her nausea—how come, as time passed, the second daughter-in-law’s morning sickness didn’t appear?

“Second daughter-in-law, don’t you feel nauseous or uncomfortable?” Looking at Lady Liu eating with relish, Old Madam Deng probed.

“No, daughter-in-law doesn’t feel uncomfortable anywhere. Everything tastes good.”

Old Madam Deng became more troubled.

This wasn’t right—how could someone be pregnant without feeling nauseous?

Lady Liu was sharp-minded. Though she hadn’t thought much about it initially, after Old Madam Deng asked several times, she suddenly understood and couldn’t help laughing: “Old Madam, you’re wondering why I don’t want to vomit, aren’t you?”

The old lady nodded.

Not only was she puzzled—the entire household was quietly discussing this, further confirming the fact that Third girl had misdiagnosed.

“Because Third Miss prepared some medicinal soup for me that helps the appetite and stops vomiting after drinking it.”

Seeing Lady Liu’s unconcerned appearance, Old Madam Deng sighed: “Counting the days, if there were a pregnancy, it could be detected now. Let’s have another physician examine you.”

“What? Another physician?” Li Guangshu hurried to Qingsong Hall upon hearing the news.

He had to stop his mother from calling another physician—weren’t they embarrassed enough already?

Li Guangshu had just reached the entrance of Qingsong Hall when the maids and women standing outside smiled and bowed to him: “Congratulations to Second Master!”