Luo Sheng returned to the Grand Marshal’s Manor and went straight to her room without stepping outside again.

Si Nan had obtained release, yet he had trapped her.

Her heart, after all, was not made of iron.

Learning that Luo Sheng had killed Si Nan, Pingli was extremely furious.

“Wasn’t Fifth Brother accompanying Third Miss? Why did he allow her to act against a major criminal?”

“Third Miss said she had some things to discuss with Si Nan… My apologies, Big Brother. I didn’t expect Third Miss would do such a thing.” Yun Dong apologized verbally, yet his heart remained calm.

The person was killed in the Jinlin Guards’ Imperial Prison—the news couldn’t possibly spread unless Pingli deliberately made it so.

If Adoptive Father hadn’t awakened, Pingli might have done this, but now that Adoptive Father had awakened, he didn’t believe Pingli had that kind of courage.

Pingli obviously understood this as well and, suppressing his anger, asked: “Why exactly did Third Miss kill Si Nan?”

Yun Dong smiled: “Naturally to vent anger for Adoptive Father.”

Pingli suddenly felt there was nothing to say.

Those things that would be unthinkable if placed on ordinary women seemed not at all strange once placed on Third Miss. After all, this was a young lady who would snatch home any man who caught her eye.

After a moment of silence, Pingli asked: “Where is Third Miss now?”

He had just returned from the palace when he heard about Si Nan being killed and hadn’t yet had time to go to the Jinlin Guards.

“Third Miss returned to her room. She’s probably in a bad mood from having killed someone—Big Brother had better not go disturb her.” Yun Dong kindly reminded him.

He had only vaguely sensed Third Miss’s spirits were somewhat low. Whether it was fear or something else was hard to say.

He didn’t care either.

“Understood.”

After Yun Dong left, facing Qi Si, Pingli finally vented the fire in his heart: “I had you follow Fifth Brother at the time, but Third Miss said one thing and you backed down. If you had insisted, would we have this mess now?”

Qi Si smiled bitterly: “Third Miss spoke so harshly at the time—if I had any sense of dignity, I couldn’t forcibly follow.”

Pingli picked up his teacup and drank several mouthfuls to suppress his anger, his tone perplexed: “Did you offend Third Miss, or does she regard Fifth Brother with special favor?”

“How would I know?” Qi Si glumly sipped his tea.

If it was the former, it meant he was doing poorly. If it was the latter, it meant he was ugly. Neither situation could make one happy.

Pingli rose and went to the window.

The study window was tightly closed, the sunlight making the gauze curtain transparent.

Holding his teacup, Pingli let out a sigh: “Third Miss has grown up—her thoughts are increasingly difficult to fathom.”

Yet she had an influence on Adoptive Father that couldn’t be ignored.

The study fell into silence.

Not long after Pingli returned to the Grand Marshal’s Manor, rewards continuously arrived from the palace.

Grand Marshal Luo had awakened—these were rewards from His Majesty for Grand Marshal Luo to nourish his body.

Another team of palace attendants brought rewards to Divine Physician Li’s residence.

From the moment Divine Physician Li stepped out of the courtyard with Luo Sheng, countless eyes in the capital had begun watching. Now they had finally confirmed the news that the divine physician had acted to revive Grand Marshal Luo.

Even His Majesty had bestowed rewards on Grand Marshal Luo—how could they not show their respect?

For a time, the Luo manor’s gates were besieged with visitors. From imperial relatives and nobles above to minor officials below, those who could go personally went personally, while those who couldn’t sent their stewards.

Whether they could see Grand Marshal Luo wasn’t important—attitude was most important.

After leaving the Luo manor, quite a few people headed straight for Divine Physician Li’s residence.

Grand Marshal Luo had been unconscious for over a month while the entire Imperial Medical Bureau was helpless. Yet when the divine physician made his move, he immediately revived the man—this was a living immortal!

So what if there were no critically ill people at home? Even for headaches or fevers, could treatment by a divine physician be the same as treatment by a mediocre doctor? Perhaps the divine physician would root out the underlying cause of the headache or fever.

Too many people thought this way. As a result, not only was there no room outside Divine Physician Li’s teahouse, even the clearing in front of the grove had no place to stand.

Yet the gatekeeper boy only distributed thirty number tokens per day, and among the thirty people who obtained tokens, at most three could receive the divine physician’s treatment. The probability was too small.

Looking at the sea of people before the divine physician’s gate, someone sighed: “This is harder than the imperial examinations.”

The person beside him smiled bitterly: “Of course it’s harder than the imperial examinations. Failing the examinations at most means having no official position, but for some people here, if they can’t obtain the divine physician’s services, they’ll lose their lives.”

These words received countless echoes, especially when people discovered in shock that even Prince Kaiyang had been refused by the divine physician. They immediately gained a deeper understanding of the difficulty of requesting the divine physician.

Those who had come to join the excitement merely for minor ailments like headaches and fevers quietly left, while those whose families had urgent illnesses, terminal illnesses, or rare conditions and were waiting to be saved grew worried.

What exactly could interest the divine physician?

They unanimously thought of one person: Miss Luo!

Miss Luo had made the divine physician—who had declared he would absolutely not treat Grand Marshal Luo—act. What she brought must have aroused great interest in the divine physician.

If they could find out what it was, wouldn’t seeking medical treatment have hope!

The Luo manor’s gatekeepers suddenly discovered that the visitors who had just decreased were increasing again, and quite a few were familiar faces who had just come calling.

When the gatekeepers learned these people had come to visit Third Miss, they didn’t dare make decisions on their own and hurriedly reported the news to Hong Dou.

Before long, Hong Dou and Kou’er rushed to the entrance hall.

“They all came to visit our Miss?” Hong Dou took the stack of visiting cards the gatekeeper presented and casually flipped through them, curling her lip as she looked.

“Miss doesn’t like Marchioness Changchun, yet she still has the nerve to send a card. Who’s this? A card from the Deputy Commander of the North City Cavalry Bureau? Good heavens, the family member of a seventh-rank sesame seed official actually wants to see Miss!” Hong Dou flipped through quickly and paused when she came to a dark gold patterned visiting card.

This was—a card from Prince Kaiyang’s manor?

After thinking for a moment, Hong Dou pulled out the card and tucked it into her sleeve. She tossed the other visiting cards back into the gatekeeper’s hands and said impatiently: “Go tell those people that Miss has no time to receive them.”

These past two days, Miss had been shut in her room sleeping, saying she was exhausted from traveling. She herself couldn’t even spend more time with Miss—did these people want to see Miss? Dream on.

The gatekeeper held the visiting cards and acknowledged the order.

Kou’er hurriedly stopped the gatekeeper: “You can’t say it like that. Old Wang, just say that Miss has been constantly attending the Grand Marshal and has no free time. Moreover, it’s inconvenient for a young lady to see outsiders—please ask them to understand.”

“Yes.” The gatekeeper breathed a sigh of relief and quickly withdrew.

On the way back, Hong Dou’s small mouth curled: “Still ‘inconvenient for a young lady to see outsiders’—Miss even kept a male companion. Saying it that way makes our household seem so hypocritical.”

Kou’er’s expression turned stern: “That’s exactly why I said I wanted to come look with you. Miss keeping a male companion doesn’t interfere with outsiders’ business, but if you spoke that way, wouldn’t you offend everyone? Hong Dou, being this blunt won’t do…”

Hong Dou listened to Kou’er’s nagging all the way back to the courtyard. She touched the visiting card from Prince Kaiyang’s manor in her sleeve and knocked on Luo Sheng’s door.

“Come in.” A calm voice came from within the room.

Hong Dou and Kou’er pushed open the door and saw Luo Sheng leaning against a pillow with a scroll in her hands.