After the replacement marriage, I was forced to fight at home

Zhou Yinghan was fiddling with the gift Meng Wan gave her last time. Li came in and asked, "Are you still thinking about it?"

"Aunt, didn't you also say that my guess was correct? Why don't you let me go..."

Li sat opposite Zhou Yinghan and said, "Now is not the right time. We have to see the outcome first."

"What's the point of talking about it then? Auntie, before and after, even during, the effects and the attention it attracts are all different."

Li looked embarrassed, "I know that, but I don't know if she can beat the princess. What if... wouldn't it be even worse for us?"

Zhou Yinghan smiled coldly, "Could it be that we are getting along well now? She can only pretend a little when my father is around. Otherwise, she doesn't treat us as the masters of the palace. When the eldest wife of the Hu family came a few days ago, she actually asked my aunt to add fragrant cakes, serve dishes, and even bring mouthwash..."

Li saw her daughter's blushing face and smiled, "What's the big deal? I'll give it back to her sooner or later."

"I know that Auntie has her own concerns, but you also said that you need an opportunity, isn't that what Second Sister-in-law needs? If you continue to wait and see, and wait for Third Brother to arrange a marriage next year and marry someone from a high-class family, even if you want to help, I'm afraid Second Sister-in-law won't be interested, right?"

Li took her daughter's hand and said, "You are right. The princess will definitely arrange a marriage for the third young master and the third young lady next year, but now she refuses to even take you out. If this continues, when the third young lady is settled, what good things will she have left for you?"

Zhou Yinghan looked at the small bubbles on Li's hand and blew them gently, with tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Auntie, how long do we have to endure this?"

Li looked at her daughter who lowered her head and blew gently on her hands. What a well-behaved and obedient child she was. She was ten times or a thousand times better than Zhou Yingning, just because she was born in her belly...

After thinking it over again and again, he finally made a decision. He stood up and called loudly to Zhou Yinghan's personal maid, asking her to go to the main entrance and tell her what to do when she saw the Second Madam.

——————

In the carriage, Zhou Yu held Meng Wan's hand, "Will you blame me for not telling you that Master Lin is Prince Rui?"

"No, if I had known earlier, my performance today would definitely not satisfy King Rui. If he knew that you let me know his true identity without his permission, he would definitely have other ideas."

Meng Wan knew that those in power were very sensitive and suspicious, especially someone like Prince Rui who had to put on a show for others to see. He would care more about the loyalty of his subordinates to him.

Zhou Yu nodded, "Yes, last time at Third Brother Yue's house, he could have chosen not to see us. I think the reason why the prince met you was probably because he was waiting to see how you would perform today."

"What a thoughtful person." Meng Wan stroked his forehead. How should Meng Qi deal with such a secretive person?

However, on the other hand, if Meng Qi had married Prince Rui in her previous life, she would have been able to cope with it.

"Why does Prince Rui call himself 'Lord Lin' outside?"

"The surname of Concubine Lian is Lin."

I understand. Just like Zhou Yu told me back then that his name was "Wang Xiaoer".

"In fact, I only found out about Master Lin's true identity two years ago."

Meng Wan was a little surprised. "Don't you go to the palace every year? Haven't you seen Prince Rui?"

Zhou Yu shook his head. "I rarely have the opportunity to enter the palace, and I heard that Prince Rui's health has not been good in recent years. He hardly even leaves the palace."

"A Yu..."

"Ok?"

Meng Wan turned to look at him, "Prince Rui supports the Crown Prince, right?"

"Yes, Concubine Lian was pregnant with Prince Rui as a maid of Concubine Xiang. Concubine Xiang was very angry and used many means to get Prince Rui... Later, it was the late Queen of Princess Jing who took Concubine Lian to her own courtyard, and only then was Prince Rui born safely. Later, after the Emperor ascended the throne, Concubine Lian basically ignored Prince Rui, but the late Queen took good care of Prince Rui."

"Therefore, the relationship between King Rui and the Crown Prince is very good."

"Yes, this is one of the reasons why Prince Jing and Prince Cheng targeted Prince Rui. Of course, they didn't know that Prince Rui was secretly working for the Crown Prince, nor did they regard Prince Zai as a competitor. They simply didn't like Prince Rui being so close to the Crown Prince."

Meng Wan understood, so they planned for Prince Rui to marry Meng Qi.

"Do you believe that Prince Rui supports the Crown Prince?"

Zhou Yu was stunned, "What do you mean?"

"The prince doesn't have a son. Even if he sits in that position, who knows who will be the next one?"

Zhou Yu stared at Meng Wan's eyes for a long while, then suddenly smiled, "Third Brother Yue said that you are smart, and there are some things that cannot be hidden from you. It seems that my brother-in-law was right to let me have a good talk with you today."

"So, I guessed it right?"

Zhou Yu nodded, "Let's talk about this tonight."

Meng Wan suppressed his inner excitement. Judging from the situation of Zhou Yu and the others, and from the fact that Meng Qi was reborn, did that mean that the person sitting on that position was Prince Rui?

After a while, the carriage entered the palace gate and stopped at the second gate. Zhou Yu got off the horse first, then pulled Meng Wan down. When they wanted to get into the warm sedan chair, they saw a maid wearing a hood walking towards them hurriedly.

"Second Madam, this servant is Yueru who is by the Second Young Lady's side."

Meng Wan stood firm, looked him up and down, and said, "If you have anything to say, talk to Chuan'er." Then he stepped into the warm sedan chair.

After waiting for the couple to go back to the house and change their clothes, Chuaner entered the house.

Seeing Chuan'er keep looking at Zhou Yu, Meng Wan took a sip of hot tea and said, "Tell me, what's the matter with Yueru?"

"Yueru said that around noon, the stewards from Viscount Lecheng's mansion, Baron Bo's mansion, and the Zhanshi's mansion came and said that something went wrong with the New Year gifts we sent. It happened that the prince was at home at noon, and when he heard about it, he got very angry. When Concubine Li served tea to the prince, the prince smashed the cup hard, and it splashed on Concubine Li's hand, causing bubbles."

Zhou Yu and Meng Wan looked at each other and saw understanding in each other's eyes.

"What else did she say?"

"It seems that the salt was delivered by mistake. It was not originally on the gift list, but each family got twenty bags of it. A full twenty bags."

"Look, you're really willing to do it. Is this enough to put me in jail?" Meng Wan said with a smile.

Zhou Yu nodded, "Yes, sixty packets, you are in big trouble."

After a while, someone outside came with a message that the prince wanted the second young master and the second young mistress to go to Junyueju now.

Zhou Yu shook off his cotton robe and said with a smile, "Let's go to Junyueju and sing opera with them."

At Junyueju, everyone who should have arrived had arrived. Meng Wan felt like a three-person trial was underway. The couple entered the room, attracting everyone's attention. After greeting each other, Zhou Yu sat in a chair with his feet up.

"It's not even time for dinner yet. What brings you here so early?"

Zhou Yiheng felt a severe toothache when he saw his second son's disdainful look.

Seeing Zhou Yiheng remained silent, Mrs. Hu coughed softly and said, "Brother Yu's wife, when you left this morning, I told you many times not to go out with the New Year gifts from the remaining families. I originally thought that you should at least go and see them in person, even if you go to see your sister, but it doesn't matter if you go earlier or later. And no matter how important the banquet outside is, it is not as important as sending New Year gifts to relatives. This is a matter related to the reputation of the palace."

Meng Wan stared at Hu with his big eyes in confusion, without saying anything, and let Hu continue singing.

Mrs. Hu wanted to continue singing, but the person involved didn't respond, so she didn't know how to continue. She turned her head and glanced at Xie Fen.

"Second brother and sister-in-law, the New Year gifts from the Hu family, the Hong family, and the Xie family, who did you arrange to load the car, and how many did you count?"

Meng Wan thought for a moment and said, "I really don't know about this. These are all handled by Mother Kong. Why don't we call her over and ask Sister-in-law? But whose family didn't deliver it?"

"It was delivered, but it was delivered to the wrong place." Xie Fen sighed.

"Ah? Could it be that the things from Viscount Lecheng's Mansion were sent to the Zhanshi Mansion? What should I do? I don't know if it will be too late to get them back now. Sister-in-law, the same goes for me. Since you knew it was sent to the wrong person, why are you waiting for me to come back? You should have gone to get it back in time." Meng Wan glanced at Xie Fen with a reproachful look.

Xie Fen was so angry at Meng Wan's words that she fell backwards. How could this fool say such a thing?

Xie Fen turned her head to look at Zhou Yiheng who was staring at Zhou Yu, then glanced at Hu who was squinting her eyes, picked up the tea and drank it, and said no more.

The room suddenly became quiet. Meng Wan wondered, is this the calm before the storm?

Thinking about what happened just before Zhou Yu came here, when Cai'er came back and said that everything was done and there was no problem, Meng Wan felt more confident.

"Okay, why are you wasting time beating around the bush?" Zhou Yiheng's voice came, "Second daughter-in-law, your mother gave you this job, you should do it yourself, how can you just let the servants do it without even asking."

Meng Wan stood up immediately after hearing this and said, "Your Highness, you have wronged your daughter-in-law. She has been asking about the accounts every day. She has to look over the accounts in person before she can feel at ease."

"How could I be wrong after seeing it myself?" Zhou Yingning whispered.

Zhou Yu opened his slightly narrowed eyes and stared at Zhou Yingning. Zhou Yingning felt uncomfortable being stared at by him, but she didn't want to show her weakness, so she also looked at Zhou Yu. After a while, she gave in and pulled the handkerchief in her hand without saying anything.