A warning to her face: you have no right to dictate what happens in the prince's residence

The flame in the charcoal brazier tilted slightly.

Gu Moran didn't answer, but glanced at her first.

That glance was so brief, so brief, that even Lady Wang herself thought it was an illusion.

"Which outsider are you referring to, Madam?"

"How would I know?" Lady Wang smiled. "I only heard that Your Highness brought a whole village of the elderly and weak from Black Wind Stronghold into your residence, and some of the children don't even know who their parents are."

"Those children you mentioned are all learning to read in school now," Gu Moran said slowly. "They may not know who their parents are, but they know where to eat, where to learn to read, and who to see if they're sick."

He pulled the blanket up a little.

"If Madam finds their origins questionable, I can have my men investigate them one by one. Once we find out whose house the missing person belonged to, I will send them back, and the royal palace will cover their travel expenses."

"However, Madam, are you saying this yourself, or are you speaking on behalf of Lord Yun?"

Lady Wang's fingers tightened on her knee.

"Your Highness is too kind. I was just asking casually."

"I'm not joking." Gu Moran looked at her. "I must ask Lord Yun another day if it's a waste to keep such a talented woman like you, who has the world in her heart, in the backyard all day."

The hall fell silent again.

Lady Wang's throat moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she only picked up her teacup and took a sip.

As she put down the cup, her hand trembled with nervousness, and her sleeve brushed against the edge of the table.

A corner of something white slipped out of her sleeve and fell onto the floor tiles beside her feet.

She didn't notice.

The curtain moved, and a little head peeked in first.

Tiedan's hands were already clean, and Auntie Zhao had rubbed off half of the grime on his face, leaving only a little bit of grease on the corner of his mouth.

Murong Xue grabbed him by the back of his collar with one hand and put the other hand on her hip.

"Your Highness, this little brat insists on coming in."

"I'm here to apologize." Tiedan struggled a couple of times. " Auntie Zhao said that if you hit someone, you have to apologize; otherwise, you won't get a second chicken leg."

Gu Moran nodded slightly.

"Go."

Tiedan shuffled over in his newly made cloth shoes, stopped three steps away from Lady Wang, placed his hands in front of him, and bowed.

"Auntie, I'm sorry I bumped into you."

Lady Wang leaned back in her chair.

"That's enough."

I'll wash your skirt.

"Need not."

Tiedan Dan looked down and saw a corner of moonlight on the floor tiles.

He bent down and picked it up.

An old handkerchief, the stitches along the edges loose, with something embroidered in the middle, its shape crooked and twisted, made of reddish-brown silk thread.

"Is this you??"

Lady Wang sat up straight in the chair.

She reached out to snatch it, but before her fingers could even touch the corner of the handkerchief, Tiedan had already held it up to his eyes, turning it over and looking at it again.

"What kind of thing is this embroidery?"

"Give me."

"I asked you what you were embroidering." Tiedan said earnestly, " Auntie Zhao taught us to recognize stitches. She said that for good embroidery, the stitches should be dense and the thread should be smooth."

He handed the handkerchief forward, pointing his finger at the hook.

"Your embroidery is crooked. The thread is twisted here. Auntie Zhao says that's called rushing. Such good material, what a waste."

Lady Wang snatched the handkerchief away.

She clutched the handkerchief tightly in her hand, so tightly that the edges of her fingernails turned white.

"What do you know, child?" Her voice trembled. "I embroidered this myself."

"You should embroider what you've made yourself, and make it even better." Tiedan Dan grinned, revealing a missing front tooth. "What do you want to embroider? I'll have Auntie Zhao embroider one for you. Her cat embroidery looks just like the real thing."

Lady Wang's angry eyes lingered on that small face.

His face was ashen, his mouth missing teeth, his head shaved down to just an inch, and he wore a coarse cloth jacket with the cuffs rolled up, his arms as thin as sticks.

This guy is about the same age as my son, yet he has such poor manners.

The slight pang of unease, like being pricked by a needle, had just begun to surface when it was quickly suppressed by an even greater sense of disgust.

Her son is fair-skinned, well-behaved, and handsome!

Born at full term, weighing 5.8 pounds, fair-skinned, with thick eyebrows, a heavy bundle in your arms, running around everywhere, and showing two tiny teeth when you smile.

Not this dark-skinned, skinny, greasy-mouthed, and unruly wild child.

"Alright."

She tucked the handkerchief back into her sleeve and raised her hand to cover her nose. "You smell."

Tiedan took a step back, his smile vanishing.

I've washed my hands.

Murong Xue reached out and pulled him into her arms.

Go back and eat your chicken leg.

Tiedan was carried by her towards the door. When they reached the curtain, he turned back and glanced at Lady Wang.

He carried with him a bit of resentment after being disliked.

"I really will wash your skirt." He raised his chin. "Don't wear something so slippery next time."

The curtain fell.

Gu Moran looked at the swaying curtain, and with his right hand under the thin blanket on his knee, he activated the Eye of Detection.

[ Lady Wang, remarried to the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner]

[Current emotional struggle: Six years after my child went missing, I am filled with anxiety day and night]

[Hidden Crime: The Death of Yun Shuyue's Birth Mother (Accomplice)]

[Hidden Connection: Yang Tie, a wealthy businessman from Cypress Village ]

Accomplice.

Gu Moran pressed his fingers against his knees under the blanket.

Above the accomplices, there is also a principal offender.

A person who can get the wife of the provincial judge to be an accomplice must be quite remarkable.

"Your Highness?"

Seeing that he didn't speak, Lady Wang tried calling out to him.

Gu Moran raised her head, her face showing signs of illness, but she smiled gently.

" Ling'er will write down the prescription for Madam's medicine in a moment," he said. "As for Madam's concerns, I have something I'd like to ask you to take back to the manor."

"Please speak, Your Highness."

"Everyone in my household, whether hired, employed, or found, I will protect," Gu Moran said very slowly. "Whoever fabricates stories about their origins outside, I will investigate their origins thoroughly, all the way to the bottom."

When Lady Wang stood up to take her leave, the cushion on her lap slipped to the ground.

She walked out of the main hall and down the steps in the corridor.

The chicken leg bone on the steps was gone, leaving only a small oil stain, which had been swept away but still left a faint mark.

The sedan chair was carried out of the alleyway, with guards following behind, their footsteps fading into the distance.

Uncle Fu closed the door himself, and when he turned around, he saw a row of people standing under the eaves.

Yun Shuyue stood at the front, her snowman hat askew, her hands clenched into fists inside her sleeves.

"She's gone?"

"They're gone."

"What did she say in the main hall just now?"

Gu Moran got up from the rattan chair and draped the blanket over the armrest.

"They say you live in the Prince's mansion, and the rumors outside are nasty."

Yun Shuyue's face turned pale instantly, then flushed red.

"Then I'll move out." She turned to walk towards the east wing. "I'll stay in a shared dormitory in the south of the city; it'll be fine if I squeeze in with the couriers."

"No."

"I cannot allow anyone to speak ill of the prince."

"I said I would protect you." Gu Moran didn't raise her voice. "If you do this, tomorrow the whole of Yi Prefecture will be saying that the wife of the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner came to the door and the Prince Yi's Residence kicked her out."

Do you want her to be smug?

[I'm going home to rest today, and I'll post this at dawn. Thank you all for your continued support. If you find anything objectionable, please let me know. Yesterday, I saw several people criticizing a Mixue Ice City Cream shop, which I didn't quite understand. I was just researching how amassing 100,000 troops would cost 1-2 million taels of silver a year, so I just wanted to think of something that would develop quickly and be easy to manage. Also, a little promotion for my hometown brand, hahaha.]

[Thank you Sisi for the character summon x2, love letter x2, milk tea, inspiration capsule, the strongest update reminder x5, Guiyi, Weimeng's milk tea, Eoia, Liming, Ye Fan's love letter, Beifeng, Lilith's inspiration capsule, Gradual Praise, Xinzi's update reminder. And thank you everyone for your love and support!]