Chu Yi truly felt his son had matured.

Since marrying Yun Chu, Yu’ge had become increasingly diligent and studious, Changsheng’s health had gotten better and better, and his own days had become increasingly fulfilling.

He simply couldn’t imagine what a stagnant pool Prince Pingxi’s residence would have been without Yun Chu.

Just as the family was talking, suddenly a figure rapidly approached.

Qiutong, standing behind Yun Chu, stepped forward in a flash and pressed her hand against the figure’s back. The person being restrained made gasping sounds from their mouth.

“Let go… let go of me!”

From the voice, it was a woman.

Yun Chu protected the children and raised her eyes to look.

The woman was filthy and disheveled, looking extremely wretched.

After being restrained, the woman struggled violently, her hands pulling at her own hair, her emotions agitated, appearing somewhat deranged.

“We greet Prince Pingxi and the Princess Consort. This woman is the madwoman from our manor!” A large group of old women came searching and apologized to Chu Yi and Yun Chu. “We were careless for a moment and let her run out, disturbing these honored persons. We apologize here. Our manor just caught many fish—we’ll send some to Your Highness and the Princess Consort to taste shortly.”

The old women took the madwoman away.

The steward of Chu Yi’s manor arrived late, sweating profusely as he explained: “The manor behind that mountain belongs to the Duke’s residence. A madwoman lives there. In all these years, she’s never escaped before, so this old servant was negligent. We nearly caused harm to the masters. Please, Your Highness, punish us!”

“The Duke’s residence?” Yun Chu looked thoughtful.

She had reviewed information about the Duke’s residence. All the illegitimate sons had met with misfortune, but the illegitimate daughters had all married well into alliances. Who could this madwoman be?

Just now, so many old women had come searching, each one looking tense, clearly very concerned about the madwoman. Yet the madwoman was covered in filth, suggesting she normally had no one attending her.

This was very contradictory.

She asked the steward to explain in more detail.

“About twenty or thirty years ago, the madwoman was sent to the manor to recuperate.” The steward didn’t know much either. “As for her specific identity, this old servant isn’t clear. However, this old servant once saw the Duke’s wife personally bring an imperial physician to the manor to treat the madwoman.”

Chu Yi’s fingers rubbed together: “Arrange for people to go to that manor and make thorough inquiries.”

The steward nodded and went to handle the matter.

“Chu’er, what are you thinking?” Chu Yi turned his head to ask.

Yun Chu raised her eyes: “Perhaps she’s someone the Duke’s wife cares about. She might be able to become a breakthrough point.”

The Duke’s wife had the current Emperor protecting her and acted without restraint. Yun Chu couldn’t allow herself to be in a passive position.

Sometimes, one should take the initiative to strike.

She said slowly: “Under cover of night, take away that madwoman and see how the Duke’s residence reacts.”

Chu Yi nodded and called for Chengxu.

That night, fires suddenly blazed outside—the old women from that manor had come to their manor looking for someone.

Yun Chu became even more certain that the madwoman’s identity was extraordinary.

Otherwise, how would those lowly servants dare to request entry at night into the manor where Prince Pingxi was staying to search for someone?

Yun Chu’s attitude was very gentle. She smiled at the lead old woman: “The night is dark. She shouldn’t have gone far. I’ll arrange for people to go searching with you.”

“Thank you, Princess Consort, thank you!”

The old women expressed profuse gratitude.

After the old women left, Yun Chu and Chu Yi went underground in the manor to see the madwoman bound to a chair with her hands tied behind her back.

A cloth was stuffed in the madwoman’s mouth, making muffled sounds.

“Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.” Yun Chu spoke gently. “I’ll help you take out the cloth. You won’t scream, will you?”

The madwoman seemed unable to understand and continued struggling in terror.

Yun Chu had someone light calming incense and sat there with the madwoman until she gradually calmed down. Only then did she reach out to remove the cloth.

“Let me go…”

These were the first words from the madwoman’s mouth.

Yun Chu asked softly: “When you escaped from the manor, where did you want to go? I’ll have someone take you there.”

Confusion instantly floated in the madwoman’s eyes: “Go where… where, find Erlang, yes, where is Erlang? You take me to find Erlang!”

“Erlang?” Yun Chu still smiled. “What’s Erlang’s name?”

“Just Erlang, my Erlang!” The madwoman shrieked. “I want to go find Erlang, let me go…”

She began struggling violently.

Yun Chu tentatively spoke: “Li Jingshu?”

The madwoman suddenly stopped, her large eyes staring at Yun Chu.

Yun Chu’s eyes narrowed.

Li Jingshu was the Duke’s wife’s maiden name. The madwoman reacted to this name, which meant her relationship with the Duke’s wife was extraordinary.

Just as she was about to test further, the madwoman shook her head painfully, making anguished sounds from her throat, screaming, and then directly fainted.

“She’s suffered mental trauma and needs treatment.” Chu Yi said. “I’ll arrange for an imperial physician.”

“No.” Yun Chu immediately shook her head. “Imperial physicians are loyal to the Emperor, and the Emperor protects the Duke’s wife. We can’t let anyone know the madwoman is here. I’ll write a letter to Wu Yun and have him come treat the madwoman.”

Wu Yun was one of their own people and would absolutely not leak this matter to others.

Although there was an additional madwoman in the manor, it didn’t affect the family’s original plans at all.

On the third morning, the family of four took carriages south, first going to Li Manor. The scenery here was beautiful and it was a food capital. They played here for a full three days.

Then they continued south. From the capital all the way south, they lingered for several days in every city they passed through, viewing all the scenery—great mountains, great rivers, waterfalls—eating all the delicacies, sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy. Before they knew it, they had reached Quan City, the southernmost coastal city.

By this time, it was already autumn, but Quan City was still in summer.

Yun Chu nestled in the man’s embrace, watching the several children playing and roughhousing in the distance. She smiled and said: “You know, a long time ago, I wanted to travel through Great Jin with the two children. You weren’t in that plan.”

Chu Yi looked at her: “Then when did I enter the plan?”

“From the moment I agreed to marry you, you’ve been in all my future plans.” Yun Chu’s lips curved. “So now there are things for you to handle.”

Last year her father came south and stockpiled large quantities of grain. Although grain could be stored for some years, the longer it was stored, the worse it tasted, so it needed to be disposed of.

Also, the large ships that went to sea in spring were about to dock at Quan City’s wharf. She planned to sell off all the sea goods in Quan City, then buy Quan City merchandise to resell back in the capital. This way, she could earn even more silver.

These matters were all handled by Chu Yi.

That old grain—he had it transported to Luochuan, which was his fiefdom. This grain could fill the bellies of all the poor people in Luochuan.

But of course it wasn’t given away for free. Rather, he had the poor people sell their labor, repairing and reinforcing city walls and moats, and distributed grain as compensation to the common people.

After the sea goods from the large ships were sold in Quanzhou, they earned a full forty thousand taels of silver. This trip alone had earned back nearly half of the capital Yun Chu had invested.

The young manservant Shuangxi came to report: “This time going to sea, we encountered a small problem.”

Shuangxi was a young manservant that Yun Chu had promoted, specifically responsible for matters related to going to sea. He was a very clever young fellow.

Yun Chu indicated for him to continue.

“Halfway there, we encountered an island nation. The other party was extremely arrogant and wanted to take half our cargo.” Shuangxi clenched his fists. “Fortunately, our ship carried gunpowder, which scared them off.”

Yun Chu parted her lips: “Was it Dongling Nation?”