The maid's road to success

When she returned to Chunyuan, Bihe was already waiting anxiously. She wandered around alone, fearing that she would be discovered and in danger if she went to Wushan.

He regretted that he shouldn't have asked Wushan, a child, to inquire, but apart from Wushan, there was no one else.

Julien is too honest and inflexible, while Anze is not as steady as Wushan when faced with problems.

I'm afraid if you go there, people will be suspicious. Only Wushan is suitable.

But Wushan was just a child after all, and Bihe regretted her decision not long after she left.

What if Wushan was in danger? What if Wen Niang was unhappy when she found out?

After waiting for a long time for Wushan to come back, Bihe finally felt relieved.

"How are you? Is anything wrong? Are you tired? Are you hungry?"

Wushan felt warm in his heart when he saw the worried expressions of Bihe and the others.

When I went out to find food and earn money, my sister was the only one who worried about me.

So many people today are worried about their safety.

Wushan felt that this was the life he wanted in his dreams.

"It's okay. I ate a lot of the snacks that my elder sister gave me. There were some minor incidents, but it's nothing. I got over it."

Only then did Bihe calm down and pulled him to sit in the room.

Wulan had already brought in a bowl of hot noodle soup with two fried eggs on top.

"Eat first and then talk."

Bihe pushed the bowl in front of him and told him to change into clean cotton shoes and eat before telling him what he had found out.

We walked along the road. Although it had stopped raining, there was still mud and water, and Wushan's shoes were a little wet.

After quickly finishing the noodles and drinking the soup, Wushan felt warm all over.

"I went there and wandered around the largest courtyard for a while, then I was discovered. However, I brought a lot of cakes and pastries, so I said I was delivering them to Miss Tongpan and fooled them."

"But I heard that the wife of the prefect wanted to make friends with that woman, but I went there several times and didn't even see her."

"Before I left, I walked around the area again and saw the woman come out and hand the guard a box."

"But what's strange is that the guard didn't greet the woman or show any respect. He just took it and left."

"The patrolling guards talked to me about this. The woman was researching herbs every day. She said she felt the inspector and his wife didn't get along well and weren't close."

After listening to Wushan's words, Bihe fell into deep thought. Now it seemed that the woman was indeed brought up by the Duke of Protectorate, and it was very likely that she was An Yun.

He did so much just to gain credit for Wen Niang. Isn't he afraid that Wen Niang would be angry if she knew?

Or maybe after making such a big fuss, aren't you afraid that Wen Niang will find out and then hide away again?

"Don't let Wushan do this kind of thing again."

Wen Niang was not in a good state today. She lay down and took a nap for a while. When she woke up, she found that Wushan was gone.

There were also fewer newly made pastries, so I knew that Bihe had asked Wushan to investigate.

Bihe suddenly heard Wen Niang's voice and hurriedly looked at her face. She didn't look angry, so she felt relieved.

"Niang Wen, do you think we should go away for a while this time?"

Wen Niang understood Bihe's words. They could go out and hide for a while and come back after Chen Luoxi left Yuzhou.

"Bihe, we can't hide for too long."

Bihe looked at Wen Niang in confusion. Since escaping from Kyoto to here, hasn't she been hiding well?

"I just recently figured it out. Chen Luoxi knows me very well. He knows very well that I would not be willing to take An Yun's efforts and put them on myself, but he still did it."

"Because he not only wants to use this to change the difference in our identities, but also wants me to have no place to hide, no way to avoid it."

Bihe looked worried and asked hurriedly.

"Why do you say that? If we don't reveal ourselves, no one will know who we are."

Wen Niang shook her head.

"Someone knows. During those times when Miss Tongpan came, we forgot and called each other by our real names. We thought no one knew, but we never thought that people's habits cannot be changed. We could expose ourselves inadvertently without knowing it."

"Besides, the disguise drugs we took with us before we left were limited. An Yun should be able to calculate how long we can use them. As long as she shows up at the right time with my face, when we run out of drugs, anyone who sees my face will know who I am."

Bihe felt a little cold all over. These calculations were too meticulous. Step by step, Chen Luoxi wanted to make Wen Niang famous. Not only to overcome the gap in status, but also to force Wen Niang to reveal her whereabouts.

They really can't hide for much longer.

"Then let's go now and leave Yuzhou. No one has seen your true face in other places, so it should be safer."

Wen Niang gestured to her to look at the nervous and helpless faces of the children in the room.

They did not hide anything from the children this time. How could they feel at ease if they heard what happened?

"I said, we have a bond now. If they don't settle down, we will have to come back even if we leave."

Bihe held onto the bed and sat down on it in a daze.

"Don't worry. Chen Luoxi is determined to find me. How long can we hide? His power is growing stronger and stronger. Whether this incident happened or not, it is only a matter of time before he finds me, unless he gives up and doesn't want to look for me anymore."

Bihe thought to herself, is it possible? She also knew how obsessed the Protector of the Country was.

When the Chen family was murdered, it took him seven years to come back and kill all the murderers.

For the sake of revenge, he would even marry a wicked woman like Princess Baozhu who had a grudge against him.

Fearing that his identity would be exposed, he resolutely refused to contact Bai's maternal grandfather, and endured humiliation and climbed up to achieve his revenge.

Wen Niang told him that the hatred was as important as that of the Chen family.

I’m afraid Chen Luoxi won’t give up easily.

"Take it one step at a time. Don't scare yourself. Even if I'm found, he won't force me to do anything. Don't worry."

Wen Niang was not confident when she said these words.

She was not sure whether Chen Luoxi would take her away by force.

At that time, I can only try my best to protect the safety of these children and Bihe and others.

"Don't go to Wushan anymore. There are several people with strong martial arts skills around Chen Luoxi. You were lucky that you were not discovered this time. You may not be able to do that next time."

Wushan nodded hurriedly, and Wenniang told him to have a good rest before leaving the room.

"Okay, go to bed early and don't worry about anything else. I won't leave unless I make sure you can survive on your own."

Bihe has invested more thought and energy in these children than Wen Niang and An Ping.

Wen Niang hopes that Bihe can find something she loves and enjoys, so that she can forget the bad things that happened in the past.

Therefore, Bihe always had to worry more about these children. Wen Niang found that Bihe devoted a lot of energy to these children and seldom dreamed about the things that happened in the Jiaofangsi in the past. She was really much happier.

It's not the kind of happiness that is pretended, it's real happiness.

Zhushan took it to the government office clerk and got the registration book.

"This is a list of all the shops that opened in Yuzhou City this year. There are 67 shops in the city and 102 shops in surrounding towns and villages."

Zhushan felt a headache looking at the registration book, as his memories were not clear and were messy.

"Exclude brothels and prostitute houses, exclude large restaurants, exclude bookstores, exclude blacksmiths, carpenters, and paper-making shops."

Zhuhai wanted to help but was pushed aside by Zhushan, who methodically took out all those that did not meet the requirements.

“There are still 56 left in the state capital and in surrounding towns and villages.”

Chen Luoxi sat in a chair, thinking with his eyes closed.

Wen Niang would not open a large shop as it would attract attention.

It is not realistic for silver shops, iron shops, bookstores, pawn shops and businesses to keep records with the government.

It is unlikely that she will cooperate with the dock. She will only look for a business that does not attract attention, is relatively easy, safe, and does not require too much communication with others to open a shop.

Chen Luoxi screened them himself and finally selected a dozen shops, including small restaurants, snack shops, cloth shops, and grocery stores.

"Go check these stores and see if you can find out anything. I don't think these stores will be open right now. Go ask the disaster victims if anyone knows anything."

It happened that the servant of the prefect's wife came to the second courtyard.

"My wife just got some snacks and would like to invite Madam An to taste them. There is also fresh honey tea."

An Yun was sitting in the corner fiddling with her pills, and her eyes lit up when she heard Dian Xin.

"I'm allergic to herbs, and I have a rash on my face so I can't go out. Just send the stuff over."

Chen Luoxi watched her lie with her eyes open and did not stop her.

Wu Guang was too cunning. He had always wanted to let his wife meet An Yun to test whether he really valued this lady from the An family that much.

An Yun didn't like communicating with such women from official families, as every two or three sentences she said had other meanings.

That's why he refused to meet. Chen Luoxi also didn't want An Yun to communicate more with those people with ulterior motives.

An Yun's mind was focused on researching poisons and his younger siblings, and he could not defeat those scheming women in the inner chambers.

If someone maliciously tricks you into believing something, it can easily lead to trouble.

The prefect's wife's maid had never seen such a person before, and she came to visit him many times but refused to meet him.

I invited her to have tea and snacks, but she was told to go here and she still refused to come out.

After a moment's pause, he went back to report.

The wife of the prefect was one of the most prominent women in Yuzhou, and it had been a long time since anyone had given her such a favor.

His expression changed immediately.

"Go pack up the cakes and honey tea and send them over."

The eldest daughter of the Wu family arranged for servants to deliver it.

"Fen'er, she's so unreasonable, and we still send her off. Won't that make people laugh at us?"

The eldest daughter of the Wu family knew that her mother had been pampered by the women of Yuzhou for so many years, and she could not stand this sudden offense.

"Mother, she is the one that the inspector wants to protect. The inspector is in that yard today, but the other party was so unreasonable, and the inspector did not stop him. It can be seen that he wants to protect her."

Mrs. Liu still looked very unhappy, her chest heaving, and she was obviously very angry.

"Mother, she clearly told us to send it over, and she can't come out, how can you not send it over? It will make us look like we are just being mad at her."

"If the inspector insists on protecting that woman, how will you respond? Will your father stand by you and protect your reputation?"

Madam Liu was immediately deflated. Her husband would naturally not stand on her side. He would only curry favor with the inspector and ask her to go and apologize.

"But I feel uncomfortable. Isn't she slapping me in the face?"

The eldest daughter of the Wu family held her mother's hand and spoke patiently.

"Mother, they are of higher status than us, so we have to bow down. Besides, I think this is not a bad thing. When father gets promoted in the future, you will be the most honorable female relative in Yuzhou. But what about outside Yuzhou?"

"What about in Kyoto? There are noble families everywhere there. We are nothing in Kyoto. Will you still care so much about your face when the time comes?"

"The noble ladies are even more cunning than Madam An. They even look down on us because we are from Yuzhou. We don't even go to the door or talk to them, but mother still gets angry every time?"

Mrs. Liu was not convinced and spoke stubbornly.

"She is the head lady of a real aristocratic family. She was born and married into a high-ranking family. Who is this Madam An? I have never even heard of her."

"Besides, if a woman in the harem follows a man around, she is not a good woman even if she comes from a good family."

Mrs. Liu's voice was not soft at all, and the eldest daughter of the Wu family's eyebrows were twitching when she heard it.

"Mother, please be careful with your words. The sisters in our family love to gossip about others, which shows that mother herself does not shy away from it. No matter what the background of Madam An is, she is an orphan with no one to take care of her. The Duke of the Protectorate has to protect her, and father has to praise her. If mother talks nonsense again and the news gets out, I'm afraid that when she is promoted, she will have to stay in the old house."

Mrs. Liu also knew that she had said the wrong thing, but nothing had been going well recently and she was becoming more and more angry.

"He dares. I am the original wife."

Miss Wu had someone push them out and closed the door, for fear that her two younger sisters would hear them and spread rumors in front of others.

"Mother, don't you know what kind of person father is? How do you think he will treat you if you offend the Duke of Huguo and Madam An? Now you can't stand others' indifference to you, what about when you go to Kyoto in the future? Will father watch you get him into trouble? There are so many concubines in the mansion, and there is also a concubine of high birth. Mother is really going to act on impulse and let those people get the benefit?"

Mrs. Liu then realized how nervous she was and quickly asked what to do.

"Mrs. An is unreasonable, but mother just flatters her. Even if father knew, he would only think that mother was wronged. As long as we don't make big mistakes, he won't really do anything to us."

"Those concubines want to show their faces in public, and mother just lets them go. Mistresses don't like overbearing daughters-in-law. Do they like daughters-in-law who go beyond the rules, don't know the rules, and are scheming?"

Mrs. Liu suddenly came to her senses. She had been neglected by her husband recently and was troubled by her children's affairs, so she had neglected a lot.

"Mother, look at these concubines who are so nervous about this opportunity. They can't wait to show off their excellence in front of the ladies. Once or twice is fine, but what if it happens more than once?"

"How many mistresses would be interested in a concubine's daughter who is disrespectful to her mother, is used to showing off, and has no rules?"

Mrs. Liu nodded, thinking that her eldest daughter was very thoughtful.

"Then send the cakes over. You're right. I can't let those bitches ride on my head anymore."

The eldest daughter of the Wu family didn't expect her mother to say such vulgar words, and she was a little worried.

"Just send two of each, and leave some for your sisters, or they'll cry and make a fuss later, which will give me a headache."

The eldest daughter of the Wu family felt helpless when she thought of her two younger sisters.

She had been strict with them since they were young, but she was not much older than her sisters, and she still could not prevent those vicious concubines from deliberately teaching her sisters bad things.

Now there is no way to cure it completely. She causes trouble all day long, but she still hopes that her mother will no longer have any worries and can be free to discipline her sister. Unexpectedly, her mother is unable to control her and only indulges her.