An uneventful night.

The next day when Yan Sanhe awoke, Li Buyan was once again absent.

Only when she sat at the dining table did Li Buyan come in covered in sweat.

“You eat first. I’ll wash up and be right there.”

“Miss, what were you doing so early?” Tangyuan curiously added an extra question.

“Training!”

Li Buyan glanced at Tangyuan and smiled. “Your Third Master also rises quite early. His training form is quite impressive.”

Yan Sanhe, for once, curved her lips. “Did you go to train, or to peep?”

“No choice—while running I heard him shout.”

Li Buyan showed not a trace of shame. “So I just climbed a wall. Tangyuan, isn’t the Xie family full of civil officials? How did they produce a military general?”

“Third Master’s health has been poor since childhood, so later he found a master at home to learn some skills for strengthening his body.”

“I also heard your Third Master is short-lived?”

Tangyuan’s face changed in fright. “Miss mustn’t speak carelessly. If the old madam or madam hears this, it will cause another round of grief.”

“It was when several maids were gossiping—I overheard it unintentionally.”

Li Buyan put her arm around Tangyuan’s shoulder and asked with a smile, “Short-lived to what extent? How many years can he live?”

Tangyuan’s legs were going weak with fright.

Li Buyan acted as if she didn’t see Tangyuan’s expression and continued self-absorbed:

“Oh right, I also heard Steward Xie is an old bachelor. That man is fat, but his face is decent enough. He’s also a manor steward—how did he end up a bachelor?”

Tangyuan’s face flushed red. Her legs bent and she dropped straight down to her knees.

Li Buyan sneered coldly. “My, what are you doing?”

“Buyan!”

“Fine, fine, fine—pretend I didn’t ask!” Li Buyan flicked her sleeve and went into the inner room.

Yan Sanhe helped Tangyuan up. “If you find something difficult to answer, just say you don’t know. There’s no need to kneel at every turn.”

“Yes, Miss.”

Tangyuan turned to ladle congee with her head lowered, concealing a trace of guilt in her eyes.

Yan Sanhe sensed something was wrong. Walking into the room, she asked in a low voice, “What happened during training just now?”

Li Buyan closed the door and said quietly, “I saw this Tangyuan and that fat Xie muttering secretively in a corner, so I thought I’d test her.”

Yan Sanhe immediately understood.

When speaking of the wastrel Xie, she didn’t kneel.

But when speaking of fat Xie, she kneeled.

“She felt guilty!”

“Clever!”

“So it seems someone is very interested in us.”

“Not in us—in you!”

Li Buyan said jokingly, “Let me guess who’s behind fat Xie. It won’t be Old Madam Xie and Xie Daozhi. Xie Thirty is married with children—unlikely. That leaves only one Xie Forty and one Xie Fifty.”

Yan Sanhe: “Your analysis is correct. Continue.”

Li Buyan: “Xie Forty is a concubine’s son, Xie Fifty is legitimate. Tangyuan said concubine-born aren’t favored—they probably can’t command the head steward. So there’s only one possibility.”

Yan Sanhe nodded—they’d thought of the same thing.

Li Buyan made a face. “Just don’t know if this person is curious about you because he covets your beauty, or is curious about more.”

Beauty?

Do I even have such a thing?

Yan Sanhe looked deeply at Li Buyan, then walked to the outer room.

“Buyan wants to eat breakfast on the street, saying she wants to try the capital’s food. I’ll accompany her. You can have the congee, dishes, and dim sum!”

Tangyuan quickly said, “Then this servant will have someone prepare a carriage.”

“No need. She and I will walk!”

Yan Sanhe turned her head. “Buyan, are you ready!”

“Ready!”

Li Buyan ran out smiling. “Sister Tangyuan, if there’s anything you want to eat, tell me. Next time I’ll bring you a portion too.”

With that, she put her arm around Yan Sanhe’s shoulder and floated away.

Tangyuan looked at the table full of breakfast—where was any appetite? After standing dazed for a long while, she bit her lip and hurried out of Tranquil Reflection Residence.

The moment she left, Yan Sanhe and Li Buyan emerged from around a corner.

Yan Sanhe looked at Tangyuan’s retreating figure and said coldly, “You go follow her.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be right back!”

A quarter-hour later, Li Buyan returned and smiled sweetly at Yan Sanhe.

“She went to find fat Xie. Fat Xie immediately went to Third Master’s courtyard. We guessed correctly.”

Yan Sanhe ground her back molars.

What did wastrel Xie want to do?

…

After eating breakfast on the street, they arrived at the Ji manor. Pei Xiao was waiting at the side gate just like yesterday, except behind him there were no longer two monks, one fat and one thin.

After exchanging greetings, no one spoke much and they headed straight for the flower hall.

Ji Lingchuan was already waiting in the courtyard. Seeing them arrive, he quickly invited them inside to sit.

As maids served tea, fruit, and refreshments, Ji Lingchuan asked, “Mingting, where’s Chengyu?”

Pei Xiao coughed. “He had some business at the yamen today and couldn’t come.”

Ji Lingchuan said nothing, but his originally rigid shoulders and back silently relaxed.

Yan Sanhe saw this clearly.

It seemed Third Master Xie claiming to have business was false—not wanting to put Ji Lingchuan in a difficult position was true. After all, today’s questions would more or less involve some Ji manor private matters.

Moreover, with Pei Xiao this informant present, what wouldn’t he know?

Curious about what shouldn’t be curious about, not curious about what should be…

Interesting!

The maid closed the door and withdrew. The flower hall suddenly dimmed.

Yan Sanhe gathered herself and looked toward Ji Lingchuan, her gaze turning cold. “Master Ji, let’s not waste time. Let’s begin!”

Ji Lingchuan had been waiting impatiently. “Miss, ask whatever you wish.”

Yan Sanhe arranged the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone properly and got straight to the point. “The old madam’s ancestral home was Guangxi. At what age did she come to the Ji family?”

“My mother entered the Ji family at sixteen.”

“Who made the connection, who built the bridge?”

“I knew Miss would ask this. I thought about it half the night yesterday.”

Ji Lingchuan looked regretful. “Unfortunately, my parents never mentioned it in front of me.”

Yan Sanhe: “For a concubine to be elevated to wife is uncommon in this world. Were there any special circumstances?”

“First, my mother was fertile. I have three younger brothers and one younger sister—Mingting’s mother.”

“Second?”

“Second, she nursed my grandmother through illness and saw her to her end.”

The Ji family’s ancestral home was also Guangxi. Later, after becoming a capital official, the entire family moved to settle in the capital.

Ji Lingchuan’s father was named Ji Chunshan, who married Zhang-shi.

Zhang-shi’s health was originally weak. After marriage, she became pregnant twice, but both pregnancies were lost, and her health deteriorated as a result.

To have descendants, the father-in-law and mother-in-law arranged to take a concubine for their son.

The two elders thought girls from their Guangxi hometown had sturdy constitutions and were all fertile, so they might as well have someone select one from there.

After much selection, they chose sixteen-year-old Madam Hu.

Madam Hu grew up by the river, a fisherman’s daughter. Since childhood, she’d weathered wind and rain with the adults—her constitution was sturdier than a man’s.

A few months later, Madam Hu took a boat to Tongzhou Dock, then was carried into the Ji manor in a small sedan chair. That very night the marriage was consummated.

Madam Hu was indeed fertile. Soon she became pregnant, carried the baby to term for ten months, and gave birth to a son—the present Ji Lingchuan.

The Ji family was overjoyed. The full-month celebration banquet ran for three full days.

At the hundred-day ceremony, the Ji family opened the ancestral hall and transferred him under the name of the legitimate wife Zhang-shi, making him a legitimate son.