Putting on an air of having just come from the small Buddhist shrine in the back courtyard, Qiqian’er saw Granny Li from the old lady’s courtyard.

This Granny Li had originally been sent over by her adoptive father’s household to do needlework, but somewhere along the way, her needlework had landed her a spot on the old lady’s heated bed platform.

The old lady also enjoyed doing needlework herself for her adopted son and grandchildren. Being lonely on her own, she’d find someone to chat with while working, and through this chatting, the old lady had decided to make Granny Li the housekeeper of her own courtyard.

Granny Li now drew a monthly wage of one string of coin from Qiqian’er.

Seeing the eldest young mistress finally emerge from copying sutras, Granny Li came forward smiling and bowed: “Madam, the old lady has been looking for you several times.”

Qiqian’er, somewhat surprised, looked at her and said: “Why are you back early? Weren’t you supposed to stay with Granny Jiang at Green Sparrow Nunnery for a few days? Did something happen to upset the old lady?”

Granny Li came forward to support Qiqian’er, but Qiqian’er declined: “Just talk while we walk, I’m not that old yet.”

Hearing this, Granny Li stepped back and followed the eldest young mistress out.

Qiqian’er stepped out the door, and though she hadn’t felt anything unusual a moment ago, the instant her foot touched the bluestone pavement of Qinwei Lane, her mind grew distracted, thinking: ah, just now I cursed an old fossil to death, protected the peace of five hundred li around this mountain, and even donated a good deal of silver to the court, and now I’m back to dealing with these trivial, mundane days?

What did it feel like to be adored by crowds? Walking along, Qiqian’er’s mind filled with images of tens of thousands of red-ribboned horses, mountains of silver piled high, endless colorful canopies stretching beyond sight—she only had to move her arm casually and thunderous cheers erupted all around… it felt like a dream.

“Madam?” Granny Li had said quite a bit already, and seeing Qiqian’er’s mind elsewhere, raised her voice to call out.

Qiqian’er’s gaze gradually cleared, and she continued walking toward the old residence with her, saying: “It’s nothing, I just got a bit dazed from copying sutras.”

Granny Li said with a flattering smile: “Madam’s devotion is so sincere, copying sutras all day without eating or drinking—it worries the old lady terribly…”

Granny Li told Qiqian’er that old Madam Tao had complained to the family’s old lady that morning at Green Sparrow Nunnery, saying that her daughter-in-law, while chatting at Fourth Master’s courtyard, had happened to notice that Young Miss Xique had injuries on her body—quite a few of them, too…

Qiqian’er, knowing full well where Qiao Shi had gone, and knowing Wen Shi’s brutal temperament, hadn’t expected retribution to arrive so quickly for Qiao Shi.

Wen Shi was cruel by nature, and the offspring she raised were all cut from the same cloth—especially the one in her belly now, a little beast that shouldn’t even exist in this world.

But, if the old lady asked her to handle the affairs of the fourth household—should she get involved or not? Lost in thought, Qiqian’er entered the old lady’s room. The old lady’s quarters were quite different from before now—her adoptive father had furnished it inside and out, making it comparable to the quarters of even a second or third-rank ancestral matriarch in the capital.

The old lady now ate off different porcelain every meal for ten days without repeating a single set. Her heated-platform screen was patterned natural marble, the tables and chairs all brand-new top-grade rosewood. Though she still lived and moved about on the heated platform, the furnishings in the room, even the window frames, had all been replaced—even the little vase she used for flowers on her windowsill was an antique.

Only the old lady herself didn’t realize it.

Inside, Yiyue and Eryue stood attending with lowered heads, while the old lady’s face was clouded, turning her prayer beads round and round.

Seeing Qiqian’er enter, she opened her mouth to complain: “It’s really not easy finding you! Copying sutras all day at a stretch—oh, what kind of temperament is this? All debts I owe from a past life! However many lifetimes, I could never repay you all. Are you hungry? You’re just a silly child, come up here quickly!”

She beckoned Qiqian’er onto the platform, and once Qiqian’er had slipped off her shoes and sat beside her, she gave a string of orders for someone to prepare hot food in the kitchen, and to bring out the mutton soup her adoptive son had sent over yesterday.

Having given these orders, she also had someone bring a soft pillow for Qiqian’er to lean against.

The old lady’s way of giving orders now was quite methodical—her gestures and bearing no different from any grand lady of a great household, casual yet dignified, kind yet with a thousand more calculations added to her mind. This had a lot to do with her keeping company with a group of other ancestral matriarchs nearby, and the old lady’s skills grew by the day, though she herself remained unaware.

Among her circle of old sisters, aside from being unable to compare with Old Lady Jiang, she was the wealthiest and most dignified of the rest.

Even the old residence’s courtyard was now managed entirely by her own hand—she had a devoted adopted son, a grandson quietly supplementing her funds, and the rental income from the three elder male cousins’ and female cousins’ houses, all held in the old lady’s hands, not to mention the farmland she’d purchased, the two estates she’d established, and the court’s pension land—this year had all begun to show real returns.

Qiqian’er didn’t care about any of this, and wouldn’t take a single coin of unfair advantage for herself—she even kept detailed accounts for the old lady, explaining everything clearly.

She and Chen Dasheng had only this one grandmother, yet in this grandmother’s heart there was also room for Da Jie, Da Wang, Da Shun, Ding Xiang, even Li Siniu, even Xique…

The old lady used to always tell Qiqian’er, everything I have will go to you—but as her holdings grew larger, she no longer dared say this.

Indeed, if she’d only had a few hundred taels, she might have dared give it all to one person. But with tens of thousands of taels in assets in her hands, she no longer dared show favoritism to just one.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love Qiqian’er and Choutou any less—but how an elder divides their wealth has its own old principles and customs. Even if she couldn’t treat everyone exactly equally, there had to be at least a basic fairness—this was the new principle the old lady had learned from that group of other elderly ladies.

Her reputation was excellent now, even regarded in His Majesty’s eyes as the best old lady in the realm. Along the seven main lanes of Quanhou Street, who didn’t know that this matriarch could receive the Emperor’s rewards every few days—sometimes a dish of food, sometimes bolts of fabric, and when the seasons changed, the palace would even send imperial physicians to check her pulse…

Besides, it wouldn’t be fair otherwise—before, Chen Siniu hadn’t just taken from Chen Dasheng alone, he’d taken from every nephew without exception, and for the sake of this grandmother, several of the elder male cousins had endured it.

The old lady wanted to talk privately with Qiqian’er, so she had everyone step outside to wait. Once she confirmed no one was around, she set aside her prayer beads and, gritting her teeth, pointed toward the neighboring courtyard: “I knew old Madam Tao’s expression toward me lately was off—like she wanted to say something but didn’t dare!”

Qiqian’er, feigning fatigue, rubbed her own legs.

Seeing her tired, the old lady took a small cushion and warmed her legs with it, saying: “Write less. Your father-in-law and mother-in-law won’t manage you over it, and your grandfather knows you’re filial, even writing every day.”

Qiqian’er looked up and smiled: “Better to finish it all in one go and save the trouble—I won’t be writing for a while now.”

The old lady nodded and continued her account: “I came out of the main hall today and saw her expression was really off. I called her aside where no one was around and asked—oh, it made me so angry…”

Qiqian’er sighed inwardly—I just saved five hundred li worth of people, and now Qiao Shi’s courting her own disaster, I really don’t want to get involved.

But the old lady didn’t care what she thought, and continued on her own: “…I asked old Madam Tao, if you’ve got something to say, say it plainly, why keep looking at me like there’s a ghost in your eye all day? What do you mean by that? That’s when she quietly told me that shameless wench had been taking Xique to Board of Rites Lane every day, doing who knows what, and a few days ago old Madam Tao’s daughter-in-law…”

Yiyue brought in a bowl of hot soup and some pastries. Qiqian’er sat up and drank the hot soup slowly. Once Yiyue left, she asked: “Which daughter-in-law of hers?”

The old lady said: “The second房’s Zhang Shi, a real gossip, Old Madam Tao doesn’t even like her much—but this time she came in useful. She said…” The old lady picked up her prayer beads, twisted them hard a few times, then continued: “She said Xique’s body was covered in injuries. I had someone bring Xique over immediately—you have no idea, it made me so furious I nearly died!”

The old lady’s lips trembled, her hands shaking too: “Our Xique, I’m afraid, I’m afraid her face is going to be scarred! Her little face was scratched up like that!”

The old lady patted at her own face on both sides, took a sharp breath, and pointed hard toward the neighboring courtyard.

Qiqian’er’s heart clenched, and she took a deep breath too, comforting her: “The child’s still young, it’ll probably heal as she grows.”

The old lady pointed at several spots on her own body again, and finally said furiously: “And bruises all over her body too! That! And she calls herself a mother? I sent someone to fetch the child and she wouldn’t even hand her over, going on with a bunch of nonsense about how children just mess around, she wasn’t watching closely, it’s nothing serious? I’ll curse her ancestors eight generations back—that woman doesn’t care one bit.”

Qiqian’er slowly set down her bowl, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, and asked: “So what are you planning to do?”

The old lady sighed: “How would I know? You know your grandmother has no experience with this, so I went to consult your Granny Jiang and the others.”

Qiqian’er was surprised: “You told them about it?”

The old lady nodded, and said with quite some presence, in words that struck Qiqian’er as rather astonishing: “The court only has so many people, and Quanhou Street only has these few households—who doesn’t know whose business is whose? It’s just that our family’s roots here are shallow, so we’ve only recently started associating with the other old sisters.

You think you’re the only one who knows these secrets? The truth is the neighbors have known for a long time—they just didn’t want to be the ones to speak up. I don’t understand these things myself, so I go ask those who understand better, and I’m slowly learning, so I’ll know how to handle things in the future. Can’t keep burdening you every time—you’re still young, and she’s technically an elder from a side branch after all, so being the villain has to fall to me.”

Qiqian’er felt extremely gratified at this. She scooted closer to the old lady, took her hand, and patted it, saying: “Oh my, our old lady has really grown.”

The old lady, whose mood had been quite poor, pursed her lips at this and gave Qiqian’er a light smack on the back, scolding: “You little thing, struck by lightning you should be! What nonsense are you talking? Me, growing at my age? Hah! To have given birth to something like you—Granny worries I won’t be able to support you for many more years. Well, I’ll hold out as long as I can, and see about the next generation. If the next generation turns out well, you’ll all be free and clear; if not, I’ll discuss it with your father, and if it really can’t work out, we’ll just send her far away, out of sight, out of mind—what a sin this all is.”

After this scolding, all the tangled weeds in Qiqian’er’s chest were instantly cleared away, and suddenly the sky felt clear and bright.

The old lady was growing wiser the longer she lived.

Having finished scolding, the old lady laughed at herself, then continued chattering about her business: “After I said my piece, my old sisters were furious too. Granny Jing said, that old Yang family is just…”

The old lady held up her little finger and scoffed again.

Qiqian’er was curious: “Granny Jing?”

Was this a new companion?

The old lady nodded: “Eh? Oh, from the neighboring Ministry of Justice Lane, you haven’t met her—next time she comes over, you go pay your respects. She’s quite the forthright one—her family’s patriarch is of the same generation as the old commander-general, one of our Shao merchant clan’s veteran officials! These days your Elder Brother Jing is working in the Ministry of Justice too—don’t look down on it just because he only manages the Gate Bureau, that’s still a position of real power! Though our family only judges friends by character, not official rank, we’re not that vulgar sort, right?

Now where was I? Oh! Your Granny Jing said, the father of that third房’s Wen Shi was a notoriously cruel official back in Shao merchant days—her family’s temperament is hereditary. But hereditary or not, once it landed in my Chen family, this old lady wasn’t happy about it. Ha! I used to think Qiao Shi was so capable—can’t even protect her own child, both eyes just a pair of blind holes.”

Qiqian’er didn’t interject, just picked up a bowl of mutton soup and ate with a spoon while listening to the old lady ramble on.

At the old lady’s age, she probably didn’t care so much about the money in your hands—what she cared about was whether her words were heard, whether someone understood and sympathized with her hardships.

Praising her, pitying her, getting angry together with her—that’s what made you her favorite child in her heart.

“…Later Madam Tie from Ministry of Revenue Lane said to divorce Qiao Shi, and your Madam Xu said, is a mere concubine even worth divorcing? Then Madam Tie said, send her to a temple, forget it! Do temples not cost money? Does our money just blow in on the wind? What if Fourth Idiot goes crazy for her again later? I’m not raising that child for Fourth Master—if something happens to her, once she’s grown, her birth parents will reunite as one family, and I’ll have spent money and effort just to be resented for it… your grandmother’s not that foolish, right?”

Qiqian’er nodded: “You’re right.”

The old lady sighed heavily: “Still, your Granny Jiang has the broadest experience—she said, plenty of the old palace attendants who used to manage the rules inside the palace have come out now, spend a bit of silver and find one to keep her in line, no need to have a concubine running from house to house like this. So, I’ve had Jixiang go find your father in the capital, and we’ll have word back soon.”

Qiqian’er was suddenly astonished, her eyes going wide as she stared at the old lady—you, you’re running with what kind of crowd now?

The old lady was still fuming: “My family’s child, and you’d let some trifling nobody toy with her like a plaything? Delivered right to someone’s door every day like a dish of food, not even skipping a meal to send her over?”

Qiqian’er nodded: “You’re right.”

The old lady, having cultivated a good temper for herself, liked to vent by visiting around. After making a few more rounds of complaints, she finally said: “Even if I don’t feel for Xique myself, when word gets out, people will say it’s the Chen family’s child who got beaten—can’t have people looking down on you all after you’ve had children of your own…”

Just then, Yiyue came in to announce that Second Young Mistress’s mother, Dong Shi, had arrived.

The old lady hurriedly had her invited in. Before long, Dong Shi entered, beaming with joy.

Qiqian’er rose to greet her properly, personally bringing over a chair for her to sit.

Perhaps having accomplished something significant, Dong Shi, seeing no one else around, leaned close to the old lady and said quietly: “I’ve sent you word—just wait a few days, good news is coming soon!”

Qiqian’er’s hand, in the middle of pouring tea, paused, and she asked: “What good news?”

At this, the two old ladies waved her off together: “Go play, this doesn’t concern you!”

Oh dear, they were teasing her now—calling her here specially, then shooing her away?

Helpless, Qiqian’er turned and left the courtyard, heading over to Zhang Wanru’s place.

Just as she reached the door, she heard the old lady call out again: “Qian’er, take that mutton soup your father sent over to your sister-in-law!”

Madam Dong laughed loudly inside: “She won’t eat it, you eat it yourself!”

The old lady laughed too: “Too sweet, I don’t like this, let them have the sweet treats…”

And so, Qiqian’er carried the mutton soup into the Tong family courtyard, and upon entering saw four unlucky little ones sitting in a row under the flower trellis, tracing characters.

Ding Yuniang wasn’t in good health, so the Yu family’s four young ones had been receiving their basic education at Zhang Wanru’s place, and sometimes Qiqian’er would take over teaching them arithmetic. Their foundations weren’t strong, so they’d have to wait a year at home before entering formal schooling anyway.

Seeing Qiqian’er arrive, the children rose properly to bow. Qiqian’er walked over and checked each of their character-tracing exercises in turn, finally glaring at the eldest, Yu Shoutian, and saying: “You’re the oldest, and your mind wanders every day, thinking about going into the city to play with those boys. Look at these strokes you’ve written, is this even tracing? Where’s your mind flown off to? Ten more pages tonight, no sleep until it’s done properly.”

She then instructed Da Niu: “Watch him! Even if he cries himself to death, make him finish, and if he drags his feet, poke him with your shoe-sole awl!”

This was purely in jest—Shoutian was at that restless age, and having come to Qinwei Lane, he’d made friends nearby. A country child with little exposure to the world found everything new and exciting now.

Actually, neither Qiqian’er nor Zhang Wanru expected him to pass any imperial exams—they just worried he’d be too embarrassed if he fell behind once he entered school next year.

A boy’s confidence, once crushed, could damage him for half his life—he didn’t need to excel, just middling would satisfy the whole family.

After checking their lessons and distributing the mutton soup among them, Qiqian’er then went to the flower room in the back courtyard of the Tong household. The moment Zhang Wanru saw her, she said with a look of astonishment: “Do you know? Our family’s old ladies have pulled off something big!”

It turned out the old lady had dispatched Madam Dong to send word to the new in-laws, the Pan family, who served in the Censorate. She’d told them the Yang family, boasting all over Six Ministries Lane about being blood relatives of the imperial family, was committing the serious crime of impersonating imperial kin—and censors existed precisely to investigate the various offices and serve as the Emperor’s eyes and ears.

Song Shi’s side was even more eager to build good relations with them—naturally, when in-laws had matters to handle, they’d help with all their strength. Besides, what was the harm in the Pan family getting a few unrelated people to file a report against the Yang family?

Though there was no hard evidence, all of Quanhou Street knew the Yang family claimed kinship with the Emperor—where had that rumor come from? If no one said anything, how would everyone know? This hadn’t started yesterday or the day before—such rumors had circulated since the Shao merchant era.

Hearing this, Qiqian’er looked at Zhang Wanru in disbelief: “You’re saying… this was our family’s old lady?”

Wasn’t she supposed to be leading that old crowd of Madam Gao, Madam Wan and the others to sit cross-legged at the Yang family’s gate, summoning wind and rain and calling down thunder on their whole household?

Zhang Wanru also wore a strange, suppressed expression, finally grinning and saying: “Tsk—and my family’s old lady too, and the old lady from Ministry of Justice Lane, and Granny Jiang up the mountain… in short, at least a third of the old ladies along these few lanes have been quietly stirring things up over this matter of ours. You didn’t see Xique—her face had a dozen scratches, all festering with blood, and her body too, tsk! These old folks can’t stand for that.”

Dust seemed to swirl before Qiqian’er’s eyes, as a whole crowd of incense-burning old ladies rushed past in her mind. Her heart clenched oddly, and she asked: “Is… is it really okay for our old lady to be doing this?”

Zhang Wanru set down her flower shears and picked up a wooden ladle, saying: “What’s not okay about it? Our family’s old lady just happened to have Jintai and the others look after some other elder gentlemen a bit—in the dead of winter, when they dismount outside the palace gates, instead of standing in the cold wind, they get helped to the guard station to warm up by the fire—what’s wrong with that? Just common courtesy.”

Qiqian’er thought about it: “They’re all elders, taking care of them is only right.”

Zhang Wanru set down her watering ladle: “Exactly, it’s just the old ladies chatting casually, and somehow the phrase ‘relatives of His Majesty’ happened to reach the censors’ ears. If they want to file a report, what does that have to do with our old lady?”

Qiqian’er licked her dry lips: “So you’re saying… the Yang family is going down?”

Zhang Wanru, hand on a red plum branch, walked out while saying: “How could that happen! The Yang family has some connections from Shao merchant days, and while their merit isn’t great, it’s still merit. Our Emperor has always been generous to meritorious officials—this time the Yang family’s only lost its foundation, that’s all.”

“Foundation?”

“Right, they can deny being blood relatives of the imperial family, but once the higher-ups look into this, they’ll surely think this whole household consists of opportunists currying favor with power. Our Great Liang has only just gotten on the right track—this is exactly the time to establish merit and lay down roots, and this family has already damaged its reputation first.

Sister-in-law, don’t underestimate our Quanhou Street—our official ranks may be small, but whose family doesn’t have some in-laws to lean on? A reputation ruined in the back courtyards can never be salvaged. A third of the old ladies on our street are already saying bad things about that family in their own homes—hmph! Even if that family built bridges and paved roads for three lifetimes, a reputation lost in the mouths of a bunch of matriarchs can never be recovered.”

Zhang Wanru held up three fingers seriously: “A family with three generations stands to lose the reputation of three generations. If they’re unlucky enough to run into a family with four or five generations living together, the elders need only mention it once to the younger ones—the whole Yang family are bad people, don’t associate with them—and who would dare associate with them then? This isn’t just one old lady talking—hah, they won’t even send invitations for weddings and funerals, afraid of being tainted by association! That’s the end of it. You think families like ours only produce one generation of officials? I can’t speak for others, but the Jing family at Ministry of Justice is already three generations in.”

Qiqian’er felt a wronged spirit escape from her mouth, her mind wandering elsewhere, thinking: ah, has the world really changed this much? She hadn’t even done anything herself, and the old lady, relying on a group of incense-burning grannies, had already destroyed the Yang family’s prospects?

But she didn’t know that quite a few people, including Dowager Jiang, already knew this—no one here was a fool, and anyone able to enter this circle of old ladies was no ordinary person.

Zhang Wanru, still grumbling indignantly beside her: “Hmph! If our own family’s child isn’t valued, that’s our own business, but we won’t let some concubine’s woman toy with her like some plaything for a trifling nobody’s child… a young lady from a good family, beaten and disfigured—that’s a slap in the face to our whole Qinwei Lane! That Wen Shi is out of her mind arrogant! What, you want to take action yourself too? It’s not even your turn—go copy your sutras.”

What could Qiqian’er say to that? She could only stammer: “I’m not getting involved, I just didn’t expect Granny could pull off something this big now.”

Hearing this, Zhang Wanru smiled, and called out to the little unlucky ones in the outer courtyard: “Class dismissed, class dismissed! Da Niu, take your younger siblings home. Keep an eye on your eldest brother—if he dares go horse-riding with those scoundrels from Ministry of War Lane again, I’ll break his legs.”

Da Niu smilingly agreed, helped her younger siblings pack up their writing supplies, and had Da Dun’er and the others help carry things, then came back to tattle some more: “Auntie, yesterday my grandmother sent money to Shoutian…”

Before she could finish, Yu Shoutian said furiously: “Sis! You’re tattling again!”

An elder doting on a grandson was only natural—the Yu family grandmother wasn’t as wealthy as the Chen family’s old lady, but she had her son’s support, and whatever pocket money she had, only the grandson could get any of it, no one else need bother asking.

Hearing this, Zhang Wanru held back a laugh, calling Yu Shoutian over to ask: “Come, tell your auntie, what do you need money for?”

Yu Shoutian, thoroughly annoyed, finally said after a long while: “To… to go listen to storytelling at those houses on Ministry of War Lane.”

Not all officials’ children had money—only a fool would host lavish banquets every day inviting others to eat and drink for free, and Quanhou Street wasn’t quite at that level as the capital proper.

The young boys on this street, to pass the time playing around, would pool contributions—you put in five hundred coins, I put in five hundred coins, together making a dozen strings or so, then find a friend’s house with a spacious courtyard, use part of that money to host a banquet, and invite a storyteller over for entertainment—that was their idea of a good time.

Hearing Shoutian say this, Qiqian’er scolded him: “Didn’t I tell you not to play with those Ministry of War Lane kids?”

Those kids were too wild, several troublemakers among them.

Hearing his auntie say this, the young boy felt utterly wronged, his eyes reddening instantly: “Auntie, the kids from Board of Rites Lane and Ministry of Revenue Lane won’t play with us either, and besides, we… we can’t understand what they’re talking about.”

Hearing the child say this, Zhang Wanru and Qiqian’er exchanged a look, both sighing inwardly.

What kind of person you are determines what kind of friends you’re destined to make. Children aren’t like old ladies—they’re newborn calves, clear about likes and dislikes, no reasoning around that.

Helpless, Qiqian’er crouched down to straighten the child’s clothes and said: “Fine, play is play, but no more of that business of secretly taking your little uncle’s horse out like last time. If you like riding horses, I’ll have them fence off a paddock at the estate for you, and next year when the Six Steeds Stable comes to the capital, Auntie will take you to pick out your own horse.”

Shoutian’s eyes lit up, and he asked loudly: “Really?”

Qiqian’er nodded seriously: “Really, but there’s one condition—if you can’t meet it, no horse.”

Yu Shoutian nodded like he was pounding garlic: “Auntie, say it, don’t even mention one condition, I can meet ten! A real man’s word is worth a thousand gold pieces, I promise!”

Patting the child’s head, Qiqian’er said: “When you’re invited to a gathering, go ahead, but don’t ask your grandmother for contribution money anymore—come to your auntie for it instead.”

Yu Shoutian was overjoyed: “Really, really?”

Qiqian’er nodded: “Mm, really.”

That way I’ll know where you’re spending your money, and I can keep track of what you’re up to.

Zhang Wanru was stricter about this, and after hearing Qiqian’er’s words, interjected: “It’s not that you can’t listen to storytelling. We have a spare courtyard at our place too—if you study well and do better than your younger siblings by month’s end, I’ll reward you with a banquet each month, invite your close friends over to play at our house, only… I have a condition too.”

Yu Shoutian feared Zhang Wanru the most, and hearing this, sighed deeply: “Auntie, go ahead, I’m listening.”

Zhang Wanru held back a laugh and patted his head: “When you’re out socializing, there are some books you must stay far away from, absolutely must not listen to—like ‘Tale of the Foolish Girl,’ ‘Peach Blossom Heaven,’ ‘Thin Ding’s Skin Chronicle.’ If I find out you’ve had anything to do with these three, your legs will be broken, and I’ll personally peel back the skin of your friends too, one by one, in front of their own parents—believe me or not?!”

Yu Shoutian stood dumbfounded for a long while before nodding, then sighed deeply and left.

With a household full of adults—the fathers stuffing them with money and gifts, indulging their wild play, while it was the two aunties who kept them under tight control. If these two got angry, even invoking Grandmother or the fathers did no good—everyone would get punished together. Enough already!

Oh! Not worth provoking!

Once the children were out of sight, Qiqian’er happily instructed the servants with Zhang Wanru to close the doors, set up the couch, bring out wine, and lie about together being lazy… this household had the pretext of mourning observance, so any mischief could only be disguised through such indirect means.

Using the excuse of matchmaking for the younger brother-in-law to go to the Immortal Garden for opera and wine, secretly enjoying some indulgence behind people’s backs—this wasn’t unheard of, after all, times were different now; even the Emperor didn’t dare interfere with the sentiments of the court officials, so everyone muddled through with casual excuses.

Having experienced several major events today, Qiqian’er inevitably drank a few extra cups, and fell asleep at the Tong household before dark.

But she had no idea that tonight, the Emperor would be unable to sleep.

Emperor Wu, Yang Zao, stared dumbfounded at the pile of silver chests outside Chengming Hall, asking in astonishment: “This, this is for me?”