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

On the third day of the Lunar New Year when she returned to her parents' home, Meng Qi asked Meng Wan about her situation in the palace. Meng Wan told her about the salt incident, and Meng Qi laughed contemptuously, "Hu is so smart that she thinks no one can match her. But she didn't know that she was defeated because she underestimated her opponent. It's not her fault, because at the beginning, her opponents were all people she could deceive, such as the old princess, the prince, and your dear mother-in-law."

Meng Wan smiled bitterly. She had always suspected that Hu had some leverage over the old princess to force her to agree to make her her wife. The prince could only say that they were too emotional, and Hu was used to acting. There was no need to say much about Wang, who was not liked by her mother-in-law and husband. It was reasonable for her to fall into the trap when someone approached her and showed her concern, and she was soft-hearted.

"Don't worry, she is no match for you. Just fight her with real swords and guns. But the matter of the former princess is not that easy."

Meng Wan nodded, "I have arranged the next few things. If there are no accidents, even if the prince is unhappy, he will let Hu transfer some of the housekeeper's power to me, or even give me more. I think only if I really get in touch with the affairs of the prince's mansion can I find out more about what happened back then."

Meng Qi said disdainfully, "It's not easy to find out. My second brother-in-law has been bullied by Hu for so many years that he can't even keep his mother's dowry. It's really difficult for you to get your hands on it. If you ask me, I must find out what I want to do. As long as Hu, the prince, and those who harmed his mother don't die a good death."

Meng Wan agreed with Meng Qi's statement. Sometimes, it is better to look at the result directly instead of dwelling on the cause. But she knew that this was definitely not what Zhou Yu wanted. She also wanted to find out as much as she could within her ability, at least to let Zhou Yu find peace of mind in front of his mother's grave.

Afterwards, Meng Wan told Meng Qi about Zhou Yingning's hard work and study.

"You mean she practices the lyre?"

"Yes, we even invited Madam Qin to give us instruction and we practiced that piece every day. You don't know, but every time we went to pay our respects, the princess would always ask her to play it again and ask if we had made any progress." Meng Wan said.

"Second sister, this Zhou Yingning has been giving you a lot of flirtations, right?"

"Well, she has repeatedly used my identity to make trouble. She and Xie Fen are the princess's two henchmen."

"The two generals Heng and Ha? What do they mean?" Meng Qi was puzzled.

Meng Wan explained, "She is the one who takes the lead for the princess. Whenever she has to do something thankless, it is always Xie Fen who speaks up first. Whenever I want to provoke the prince to be dissatisfied with me, the third lady will take action."

Meng Qi came close to Meng Wan and asked with a smile, "Do you want to embarrass her?"

"Zhou Yingning? Think of a way to embarrass yourself. Do you have any ideas? Is it possible to do it at the palace banquet?"

Meng Qi nodded. "Since she is practicing so hard, she must want to attract someone's attention. Then we should fulfill her wish. But who should we let notice her?"

Meng Wan was a little surprised when she heard this, but she thought that since Meng Qi was reborn, it would be easy to find capable old people in the palace. She had been married to the royal family for almost a year, and she was confined to the palace, serving the Queen and fighting with Princess Fanghua. She spent more than half of her time in the palace. It seemed that Meng Qi already had her own spies in the palace.

"There is one more thing I need to tell you." Meng Wan told her that the material that Princess Yong'an gave to Zhou Yingning was given to her by Hu, and she was asked to wear it at the palace banquet no matter what.

Meng Qi was stunned at first, but Meng Wan knew from her expression that this kind of thing should not have happened in her previous life. This proved that his guess that there was no Meng Wan in Meng Qi's previous life was correct.

"Second sister, are you saying that the material is only for Princess Yong'an and Princess Fanghua?"

"Yes, it is said that the emperor only had two pieces, and he gave them to the two princesses."

Meng Qi nodded, "That's easy. I know who to ask to keep an eye on Zhou Yingning." Then she smiled, "I promise that after this incident, Mrs. Hu won't have too much energy to focus on you. She has to clean up the mess for her good daughter."

Zhou Yu was incredulous when he heard this. "How is it possible? How could Meng Qi have such a skill?"

Meng Wan pretended to be unhappy and said, "How can it be impossible? The method of luring Hong Zhe into the trap was thought up by my fourth sister."

Zhou Yu waved his hand, "That's not what I meant. I meant that it was the imperial palace, and the zither was handed directly to the female official of the virtuous concubine after it left the hands of Zhou Yingning, the girl holding the zither. How did Meng Qi do that?"

"Don't underestimate me. Fourth sister is the daughter-in-law of the royal family after all. She has been in and out for more than a year. Who doesn't have a few friends?"

Zhou Yu chuckled, "Friend? Haha, but if that's the case, she is quite capable. Before the New Year, when Third Brother Yue was still here, she heard about Lord Song's arrangements for the palace banquet and wondered if there was another 'capable person' around Prince Rui. It turns out that all those ideas were from Meng Qi."

Meng Wan thought to herself, that’s because you don’t know that she was reborn.

"Tell me more about the cloak. Who did Zhou Yingning use to spread the news?"

"you guess?"

"Princess Fanghua?"

"That's right." Meng Wan snapped his fingers.

"Humph, I immediately guessed it was that idiot. She has no mother and is disabled, but she doesn't want to keep the queen and find a suitable consort while the emperor is still healthy. Instead, she is always competing with this one and disliking that one. I heard that when the emperor went to Kunning Palace, she dared to interrupt the queen's reply. Not to mention the concubines and several princesses, she doesn't care about any of them."

Meng Wan understood that this was a girl seeking death. No matter which prince sat in that position in the end, the future queen would not let her have an easy time.

Zhou Yu asked, "In your opinion, at that time, did more people believe what you said or what Hu said?"

"Those who are close to the princess or don't know her true face will naturally believe her words. But it doesn't matter. We didn't expect to change the people's view of her in Beijing with this incident. After all, she has played the role of a loving mother to you for so many years, and outsiders don't know what she is like inside."

Zhou Yu nodded, "That's right, in fact, no one got any advantage in this matter."

"Yes, but no matter what, the fact that I didn't cut the material doesn't prove that I'm filial. I will return the material tomorrow and see what she says." Meng Wan said with a smile.

"Don't worry, you have to wait for Zhou Yingning to come back, and then you can return it to her in person."

Meng Wan chuckled when she heard this and crawled back into bed, "What do you think Princess Fanghua will do to Third Sister today?"

"There are so many things going on in the palace, and you can't see them from outside, so you can't even speak out your suffering. But these sufferings are nothing compared to losing the marriage with the Meng family."

"You mean Madam Meng will care about what happened today?"

"Duke Zhongguo's Mansion never considered Zhou Yingning as a candidate for Meng Zewen's wife. It was just that Mrs. Hu was too sentimental and wanted to find a promising and handsome man for Zhou Yingning. On the other hand, she could also help Zhou Zheng."

"To help Zhou Zhengla is to help King Jing. That's why King Jing's wife is so concerned about planning for Zhou Yingning. Even the zither is held by the maid of the virtuous concubine." Meng Wan said.

"It's a good thing that the virtuous princess was holding him, otherwise who knows how he would have been caught in such misfortune."

"How have you found out about the second sister? I think that after what happened to the third sister, the princess will no longer have any ideas about the Meng family. If she has her eyes on another family, I'm afraid she won't be able to stop her." Meng Wan asked.

"There are two candidates, and there are still some situations that Wu Hen needs to inquire about. How about I let Wu Hen go tomorrow?"

"No need, just tell me the details of the two of them. Since they want to lean on me, they have to show some sincerity."

Zhou Yu understood that Concubine Li had always been Hu's capable maid before she was employed by Zhou Yiheng, and she must have valuable information for them.

"By the way, the young lady of the Lu family has been chatting with me today, and she was very affectionate. From what she said, it seems that she has a good relationship with the fourth sister, especially her sister-in-law."

Zhou Yu frowned, "Lu family? Minister of War Lu family?"

"Yes, what is the situation in their family? Do you have any intersection with them?" Meng Wan asked softly.

"No, never. They only have good children, none of them are with me. Well, don't think about it. Anyway, today is still a happy day for us. Let's wait and see what news there is from the palace tomorrow."

Zhou Yu hugged Meng Wan and lay down. Meng Wan looked at the ceiling and thought about his next plan.