“This…” Steward Li was shocked for a moment.

This old county lady was quite direct indeed.

Standing to the side, Nanny Zhou urged, “What are you hesitating about, Steward Li? Third Miss’s letter is inviting the divine physician – there’s nothing improper about it. Our county lady is only worried that Third Miss is young and might have inappropriate language that would be disrespectful to the divine physician, so she wants to look it over personally.”

Steward Li shook his head inwardly.

Just because there was nothing improper about it, she could read someone else’s letter?

“What is it?” Old Madam Jiang looked over with her one eye, her gaze heavy and dark.

Steward Li came back to his senses and helplessly presented the letter.

Nanny Zhou stepped forward to take it and handed it to Old Madam Jiang.

Old Madam Jiang opened the letter, scanned through it once, and her expression softened.

That girl was quite sensible after all!

“Alright, go quickly now.” Old Madam Jiang handed the letter she had read to Nanny Zhou, instructing: “You must handle this matter properly for me – don’t let anything go wrong.”

Nanny Zhou hastily replied: “Please rest assured, County Lady. This old servant will be very careful.”

Steward Li and Nanny Zhou left the East Residence and headed straight for Prince Rui’s residence.

After the rain had cleared, the vermilion gates of Prince Rui’s residence looked brand new, the glazed tiles on the roof sparkled with dazzling brilliance, and the tall stone lions before the gate appeared spirited and vigorous.

The two alighted from their carriage. Seeing all this, they couldn’t help but become constrained. Steward Li stepped forward to call at the gate and explained their purpose.

“A letter for the divine physician?” Upon hearing this, the gate attendant’s expression immediately changed, and he waved his hands: “Leave quickly, leave quickly!”

As he was about to close the gate, Nanny Zhou became anxious and hastily pressed her hand against it: “Young sir, please wait.”

The gate attendant’s face immediately darkened: “What do you want?”

Nanny Zhou smiled and slipped him a purse: “Young sir, we’re from Minister Li’s residence. Today’s letter is from our Third Miss inviting the divine physician. You might not know – Physician Li has acknowledged our Third Miss as his goddaughter—”

Before she could finish, the gate attendant gave a cold laugh: “Even a real granddaughter would be useless. Physician Li is no longer at the prince’s residence. Leave quickly!”

“Young sir, wait – what do you mean by that?”

The gate attendant glared at Nanny Zhou and scolded: “You old woman, can’t you understand human speech? Physician Li is no longer at our prince’s residence. Forget about some goddaughter coming to invite him – even if immortals came, it would be useless! Leave immediately. Our prince is in a foul mood right now. If the prince runs into you, you’ll have hell to pay!”

The gate attendant finished speaking and slammed the door shut with a bang, leaving Nanny Zhou and Steward Li stunned for quite a while. They wanted to knock on the door again to ask for details, but seeing the large red lacquered dragon pillars in front of the prince’s residence, they both lost their nerve.

This was a prince’s residence – if they angered the occupants, and they were beaten to death with clubs, where would they go to seek justice? They should just return and tell the truth.

Nanny Zhou’s mood was heavy. Upon returning to the East Residence, she reported their encounter at the prince’s residence to the expectant Old Madam Jiang. Old Madam Jiang felt as if someone had poured a basin of ice water over her head. Her fervent heart was instantly extinguished, and with a dark expression, she asked: “The divine physician is no longer at the prince’s residence?”

“Yes, that’s what the gate attendant said. He also said their prince was very unhappy.”

“Did he say where the divine physician had gone?”

Nanny Zhou replied with increasing trepidation: “He didn’t say. This old servant wanted to ask, but that attendant showed no consideration and refused us entry outright.”

The light in Old Madam Jiang’s one functioning eye dimmed, and she waved her hand: “I understand. You may go now.”

After Nanny Zhou withdrew, leaving Old Madam Jiang alone in the room, she grabbed a teacup and hurled it violently to the ground.

Was Heaven playing tricks on her, giving her hope only to dash it again?

Although she held the title of county lady, her maternal family was already marginalized within the imperial clan. With her influence, she couldn’t meet with Princess Rui – at most, she could ask around through intermediaries to inquire about Physician Li’s whereabouts.

Where on earth had Physician Li gone?

At the West Residence, upon hearing Steward Li’s report, Old Madam Deng’s heart stirred, and she immediately had someone summon Qiao Zhao.

“Zhaozhao, did you already anticipate yesterday that—”

The young girl smiled gently and calmly: “Anticipate what?”

Grandmother and granddaughter looked at each other for a moment, then Old Madam Deng burst into laughter: “Nothing – anticipate that today would be sunny!”

After laughing, Old Madam Deng asked Qiao Zhao, “I heard you’re going out today?”

“Yes, Mother is taking me shopping. I heard many silk shops have new merchandise. If I see something nice, I’ll buy it back to make you several summer outfits.”

Old Madam Deng was delighted to hear this, holding Qiao Zhao’s hand and not letting go, exclaiming: “Zhaozhao has truly grown up. Then Grandmother will wait for you to make me beautiful summer clothes. You don’t need to make several – one will be enough.”

Qiao Zhao: “…” That’s not what she meant! Make summer clothes by hand? Don’t joke around – even Binglu disdained the purse she made!

Miss Qiao hastily tried to salvage the situation: “I heard several newly opened ready-made clothing shops are quite good too—”

“Those ready-made clothing shops nowadays have many patterns, but in the end, clothes made by oneself are still the most satisfying.” Old Madam Deng sighed.

Over the years, among the four girls in the West Residence, only the eldest granddaughter had personally made clothes for her, and the fourth granddaughter had given her a headband. The sixth granddaughter was still young, son’t need to be mentioned, but thinking about it, only the third granddaughter had never given her any needlework. Thinking of this, she felt quite expectant.

As the time for her appointment with Li Guangwen approached, Qiao Zhao left with He Shi. Even after boarding the carriage and changing into men’s clothing, Miss Qiao’s mood remained heavy.

Indeed, disaster came from the mouth – why did she have to mention shopping for silk? If she had said shopping for cosmetics instead, she would have bought whatever color cosmetics the old madam wanted! The last time that purse had hidden mechanisms inside, which was why she made it by hand. Now, asking her to make an entire summer outfit was completely cutting off her escape route!

Seeing her daughter’s melancholy expression, He Shi felt sorry for her and asked: “Zhaozhao, what’s wrong?”

“Mother, it seems you’ve never hired a needlework tutor for me.”

Upon hearing this, He Shi laughed: “Does Zhaozhao want to learn needlework?”

“I’m just somewhat curious.”

He Shi raised her hand to smooth Qiao Zhao’s slightly disheveled hair, saying nonchalantly: “What’s the point of learning that? It would ruin your perfectly good eyes, and your fingers would get pricked full of holes – it would break Mother’s heart to see. Besides, no matter how well ordinary girls learn, they can’t match professional embroiderers. When needed, just pay for a good embroiderer.”

Qiao Zhao nodded repeatedly.

What excellent reasoning!

After the carriage had traveled for some time, Qiao Zhao looked outside and said to He Shi, “Mother, let me get off here.”

He Shi knew the reason for Qiao Zhao’s outing and shook her head: “This won’t do. I’m not comfortable with you going alone.”

Although her daughter was disguised as a young gentleman, she was still too young. Having experienced one kidnapping, how could she feel at ease letting her daughter go to a tea house alone?

“I’ll wait until we reach the entrance of Five Flavors Tea House and see your father receive you before I leave.”

Upon hearing this, Qiao Zhao stopped insisting and nodded in agreement. When the carriage stopped in front of Five Flavors Tea House, she spotted Li Guangwen waiting at the entrance and bid farewell to He Shi before alighting from the carriage.

Jiang He from the Jinlin Guards, who had been secretly following Qiao Zhao, saw a young gentleman jump down from the carriage, and his eyes widened in shock.