A Timely Rain (continued)

For someone as highly placed as Grandmother, useful people were not judged by minor faults.

Gu Wanning was very troublesome, but treating her as a thing would, at most, displease Grandmother.

As long as the Gu family did not fall, she could ride roughshod over him as she pleased.

At the thought, Xu Weibei clenched his hand beneath the table.

He did not care what Grandmother intended to do, but he would not allow that woman to run rampant under his nose!

"Go stand guard at the entrance and wait for her to return."

Xu Weibei decided to catch her red-handed and leave her with nothing to say.

He could not divorce her for the time being, but he could teach her a lesson!

Gu Wanning returned in high spirits, dreaming of making a spectacular splash with her corn, only to find a "door god" blocking her way at the entrance.

Xu Weibei stood below the steps at the entrance, looking down at her with an icy gaze.

Gu Wanning hugged the brocade box tightly to her chest and asked warily, "Do you need something, Marquis?"

A good dog doesn't block the road!

Could he know she had gotten her hands on something rare and come to steal the credit?

"Don't you know what you did?" Xu Weibei ground out through his teeth.

Gu Wanning felt guilty. "Can't I go out and buy a few things?"

"Where are the things Grandmother bestowed on you yesterday?" Xu Weibei was beside himself with rage.

So he meant those tonics. She thought he was going to take her corn!

Gu Wanning breathed a sigh of relief and said with perfect confidence, "Does the Marquis intend to take back the things bestowed on me?"

What a joke. Once they were given to her, they were hers to dispose of as she pleased.

"That was a token of Grandmother's goodwill! Did you show it any respect?"

"Oh, then my marriage to the Marquis was also a token of the princess's goodwill toward you. Did you show it any respect?" Gu Wanning said unhurriedly.

Clearly, the Grand Princess Royal was on her side.

"You..." Xu Weibei's face changed color with anger. "A state has its laws, and a household has its rules..."

"Hehe, wasn't I the one who set the household rules?"

Anyone who disrespected the mistress of the house was to be slapped!

He should hurry off and learn a thing or two from his concubine.

"Someone!" Xu Weibei turned ruthless.

Gu Wanning's thoughts raced as she prepared to feign a faint.

She was so delicate. How could she possibly withstand the Marquis shouting and bellowing?

Later, perhaps she could even win another round of pity from the Grand Princess Royal.

It couldn't be helped. Whoever was weaker was in the right.

"Please calm your anger, Marquis—" Second Concubine hurried out through the entrance, carrying a bundle.

The bundle was unmistakably the one Gu Wanning had used to carry the tonics out that day.

No wonder Xu Weibei had found out so quickly. Someone had been keeping an eye on her.

She had not noticed that Second Concubine had seized the "initiative" in currying favor with Xu Weibei.

"What are you doing here?" Xu Weibei asked harshly.

He treated his unlikable wife and concubines equally—he never bothered to hide his disgust.

"My lord," Second Concubine said, kneeling and casting a timid glance at Gu Wanning, "I heard there was a misunderstanding between you and Madam, so I came specifically to clear it up."

An intrigued smile appeared at the corner of Gu Wanning's mouth.

What a little green tea!

After doing a "bad deed," she came to play peacemaker?

This Second Concubine was rather interesting.

But when Gu Wanning heard what Second Concubine said, she found it even more interesting.

Although it was not what she had imagined.

"Allow me to explain, Marquis," Second Concubine said obediently. "Yesterday, the Grand Princess Royal bestowed some tonics, and Madam asked me to keep them safe... I don't know how the misunderstanding arose today, Marquis, but I hurried out as soon as I heard... Marquis, Madam, please don't let a misunderstanding cause a rift between you..."

Oh, a helper had appeared?

But the original owner of this body had no relationship with Second Concubine.

Gu Wanning said nothing, quietly watching her performance.

Xu Weibei frowned deeply. "What does this have to do with you?"

The stupid thing was inexplicably trying to draw attention to herself. It was revolting.

Second Concubine looked nervous, but she unhurriedly opened the bundle, revealing the very things Gu Wanning had pawned an hour earlier.

In any case, Gu Wanning could not see any difference. They looked exactly the same.

How had Second Concubine prepared in advance?

It was not that Gu Wanning was suspicious by nature; she truly felt this was like a thief crying, "Stop thief!"

"You're in cahoots with her!" Xu Weibei accused them mercilessly. "Do you take me for a fool? Gao Lan, go to the pawnshop and bring someone here to confront them!"

Gu Wanning still said nothing.

She had merely pawned things that belonged to her. Her greatest offense was failing to appreciate an elder's goodwill.

But if she got tangled up in anything else, she would not be able to resolve it.

Unexpectedly, Second Concubine was not flustered either.

Things seemed to be getting more and more entertaining.

After a while, Gao Lan returned alone, his head drooping like a frost-stricken eggplant, looking timid and fearful.

He was done for. He was guilty.

He had no idea how his subordinate had done his job. The man had reported seeing Madam enter the pawnshop and pawn something, so how had it failed to check out when he went back to investigate?

He had been so anxious at the pawnshop just now that his face and neck had turned red, and he had even invoked the marquis's household to frighten them, but the clerk had still insisted that no woman had entered the pawnshop that day.

Damn it, how could this be so uncanny!

Could Madam know some kind of sorcery?

"What happened?" Xu Weibei asked.

"My lord, perhaps, perhaps..." Gao Lan fell to his knees with a thud. "I failed in my duty, believed a rumor, and misunderstood Madam."

Xu Weibei: ???

How could there be any misunderstanding here?

They had actually found nothing?

Although Gu Wanning did not know why, she could not have been more delighted.

She immediately acted like a petty person drunk on success and beat the dog while it was down. "Oh my, Marquis, you were so eager to sweep me out the door that you even resorted to framing me!"

Xu Weibei's face turned ashen.

This woman had done it on purpose!

She had deliberately deceived him, then done who knew what to make a fool of him on purpose.

Good. Very good.