I swept the harem by pretending to be weak

As a very traditional mistress of the house, Zhao didn't care much about what was going on in the outer house, but she had more or less noticed something wrong recently.

Her husband seemed to suddenly start paying attention to Liu Zhijin, the concubine's daughter who had been abandoned by the family. After hearing that she was missing, he sent many people to look for her.

Compared to before, Zhao is now more confident. She has a very promising daughter. As long as she doesn't make any big mistakes, no one dares to touch her. If her husband leans a little towards his concubine, she will no longer be so fussy.

In the past, he didn't care about it. If he didn't care about it, how could there be a place for the three of them, mother and daughter, in such a big Liu family? But now he has focused most of his energy on educating his youngest daughter, Liu Zhilan, hoping that this daughter can become a talent.

What Liu Zhilan did today really shocked Zhao. How could a proper daughter care about a man outside her family? She even rashly mentioned to her father that she wanted to marry that handsome man. It was simply ridiculous.

Zhao didn't think that there was anything wrong with her little daughter. She just thought that it must be that smooth-talking pretty boy who used extremely despicable means to deceive her Zhilan, and she was eager to prove this to Zhilan.

But when she walked to the outside of her daughter's boudoir and was about to go in, she saw Liu Zhilan's personal maid jumping out in a panic and telling Zhao that the young lady was not feeling well recently and could not see guests.

Zhao suddenly became worried. If she said she couldn't see the guests, most of the time it was a traditional tactic used to get rid of unwelcome guests. She was the mistress of the Liu family and Liu Zhilan's biological mother. What could have happened that would prevent Liu Zhilan from letting her in?

So she scolded the maid fiercely and asked someone to open the door immediately. However, the result of opening the door scared her a lot. The well-behaved and lovely little daughter in her mind was not in her own boudoir.

Zhao was furious, but she didn't dare to make it public. If a young lady who had been secluded in the inner chambers ran away for no apparent reason, would her reputation be ruined? And how could she marry into a good family?

She strictly ordered her servants not to say anything casually, and sent two of her trusted maids to drag the maid serving Liu Zhilan to a nearby house for interrogation.

Before she could do anything, the little girl couldn't help but tell the whole story. After hearing what she said, Zhao's eyes went dark and she almost fell down.

The maid beside her kept pinching Zhao's philtrum, and it took a while to bring her back to her senses.

Zhao is now in a state of panic. If they go looking for her in a high-profile manner, everyone outside will know that the Liu family's girl is missing, and how will the Liu family marry off their daughter in the future?

If we don't go looking for her in a high-profile manner, it would be a disaster if Liu Zhilan ran into trouble outside and was deceived by that evil-minded man.

When Zhao thought of this, she couldn't help but shed tears secretly. They were both daughters born from her belly, so why was Liu Zhirou so worry-free and hardworking, while Liu Zhilan was born with such a devilish temper? She just saw a man, but she completely disregarded the rites, ethics, and kindness of her parents and insisted on following that man?

Zhao thought about it again and again, and finally decided to tell Liu Ming the news.

Liu Ming pondered for a while and said, "This matter is indeed difficult to handle, but we will not say that the young lady of the Liu family is missing. We can just say that the maid of the Liu family was abducted by some hooligans when she was out on business, and then ask the guys to look for Zhijin together on the way."

Zhao was already frightened and scared. When she heard her husband Liu Ming's nonchalant words, the resentment in her heart burst out all of a sudden. She cried and said, "My husband, if you don't consider me and Lan'er, you should at least consider the Empress in the palace! Lan'er is the Empress's legitimate sister. If something happens to her outside, wouldn't the Empress still lose face?"

"Lock up those who know about this and shut them up. The guys outside who are looking for her don't know what's going on, so how can this news get out and implicate the queen?" Liu Ming was very calm. He said calmly, "There's no rush for this matter. As long as we don't spread it outside, no one else will know about it. If someone familiar really asks about it, just say that Zhilan is sick and can't see guests."

The more Zhao listened, the more scared she became. According to what her husband said, wouldn't she have to give up Liu Zhilan?

Although she was also angry, angry that her little daughter was disobedient, did not listen to her parents' teachings, and secretly dated a man outside her, but this was a piece of flesh that fell from her body after all, and it was also her hope for a long time in the future. How could she be so cruel as to really give up this little daughter?

When Zhao thought about Liu Zhijin, who was also missing, and yet was valued by her husband so much that he was willing to mobilize the entire Liu family's connections just to find her, she felt sad and could not hold back.

In terms of status and position, she is Liu Ming's official wife after all, and her daughter Liu Zhilan is also a legitimate daughter. Why did she only get the treatment of "looking for someone by the way"?

So she continued crying:

"I know that I am not good at talking and I have no ability, so I am not favored by the master. But even if the master does not consider our years of relationship as husband and wife, please consider the queen's feelings and find Lan'er!"

"Lan'er was raised by the Empress since she was a child. They have a deep sisterly bond. If the Empress knew about this, she would definitely be furious!"

Liu Ming was already very irritated, and hearing Zhao's relentless pestering, he couldn't help but feel a headache.

Why did he have the audacity to marry a stupid woman like Zhao?

Did he say he wouldn’t look for Liu Zhilan anymore?

The situations of Liu Zhilan and Liu Zhijin are different. Liu Zhijin once entered the mansion of Duke Deng and served as a concubine of the fifth young master of their family. She is definitely not an innocent daughter. Basically, everyone with some connections knows this. But Liu Zhilan is different. She is Liu Ming's youngest daughter and currently the most precious and valuable daughter of the Liu family.

If the news of her accidental disappearance spread, even if nothing really happened, people outside would talk about it and think that she had encountered something unspeakable.

What people say is scary, and it is never an empty statement. At that time, Liu Zhilan was truly socially dead in the upper class, so she could look for Liu Zhijin in a high-profile manner. Outsiders would not say anything when they saw her. They would only think that Liu Ming was a father who loved his daughter very much and was unwilling to give up even though his daughter had fallen into such a situation.

However, they had to look for Liu Zhilan secretly, because only in this way could they keep the news from being leaked out, so as to preserve Liu Zhilan's reputation and allow her to find a good marriage in the future with the help of the Empress's prestige.

Zhao Shi, who didn't even understand such a simple truth and only kept on worrying about the difference in treatment between legitimate daughters and illegitimate daughters, was really disgusting. Liu Ming wanted to slap her aside, but he had to explain the whole thing to her bit by bit.