Peach Blossom.

Xiao Rui has been bedridden since he ate spicy food last time. Zhou Yunniang comes to take care of him at dawn every day and does not leave until Xiao Rui falls asleep at night. This day was no exception.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were chatting about trivial family matters when suddenly a servant came to report that the princess and Miss Man came to visit together. Xiao Rui and Zhou Yunniang looked at each other in surprise.

As soon as Si Yao saw Xiao Rui, he knelt beside the bed. Seeing this, Tao Ye had no choice but to kneel down as well.

How could Xiao Rui dare to accept the princess's kneeling request? He hurriedly called out to Zhou Yunniang, "Ayun, help the princess up quickly! This kind of gift is really too much for me!"

Tao Ye, who was kneeling beside them, felt indignant in her heart: The princess's identity is indeed so powerful. Didn't she see that there were two people kneeling?

Zhou Yunniang hurried over to help Si Yao, but Si Yao said, "Mother, sister-in-law, Si Yao is here to apologize. Please give me this chance."

Zhou Yunniang had no choice but to stop.

Xiao Rui was still very uneasy: "Princess, you can say whatever you want, why do you have to do this?"

Si Yao lowered her head, looking very pious: "Mother, I have reflected a lot in the past two days and I have made three mistakes. First, since I came into the family, I have only thought about pleasing my husband, but not enough about my parents-in-law. I knew that my father-in-law had been ill in bed for a long time, but I never visited him, and I also let my mother eat spicy soup by mistake. It is really unfilial. Second, I didn't ask in detail, and I thought that my husband and sister A Jiao had already divorced. Therefore, I mistakenly regarded my husband's night visit to my sister as an improper act, causing sister A Jiao to get wet in the rain for half a day. It was really an ignorant mistake. Third, Yu'er is my husband's daughter, and she shouldn't have moved to the other courtyard just because I came into the family. I didn't think it through. So I came here today to apologize!"

After hearing this, Xiao Rui quickly urged, "Princess, please get up quickly!"

Si Yao then stood up.

"Ah Jiao also..." Xiao Rui turned his gaze to Tao Ye again, but before he could finish his words, Tao Ye had already stood up.

Tao Ye stood up because she saw the princess standing up. She didn't expect Xiao Rui to speak to her specially. It was really awkward to stand up too early!

Xiao Rui continued to look at Si Yao: "This is not the first time that my old illness has relapsed, and sometimes I can't tell why! Princess, you really don't have to blame yourself for this! From what I heard from the princess just now, do you want to ask A Jiao and Yu Er to go back to the middle courtyard to live?"

Si Yao nodded and said with a smile: "My husband told me personally that he and sister A Jiao have never divorced. Since they have not divorced, they are still husband and wife. I would like to follow the example of E Huang and Nvying and share a husband with my sister. We will live in harmony from now on and cause less trouble to mother and sister-in-law!"

After hearing this, Xiao Rui couldn't help but feel a little doubtful, but on the surface he had to pretend to be pleased: "The princess is so virtuous and generous, it is a blessing for the Wang family."

Si Yao continued, "Si Yao was reckless yesterday, which made things difficult for my sister-in-law. I discussed with Gillian and decided to have a family reunion dinner to get rid of the bad luck!"

Zhou Yunniang smiled and advised: "Princess, I appreciate your kindness. But right now, my father and mother are both bedridden, and my third brother and I are serving medicine at two different places, so we don't have much time to spare. My second brother is the one who hates crowds the most, so it's really hard to prepare a reunion dinner."

Tao Ye didn't really want to hold a boring banquet, so she quickly followed suit and persuaded Si Yao: "Sister-in-law is right. Sister, why don't you wait until father and mother recover before holding a banquet to celebrate, isn't it better?"

Si Yao had no choice but to agree, and said, "In that case, I won't disturb my mother's rest. Sister A Jiao, please take me to visit my father!"

Tao Ye was stunned. How could she know which room her father-in-law Wang Yi was recuperating in? She suddenly became nervous, rubbing her hands together, not knowing how to answer.

Zhou Yunniang gently pulled Tao Ye's hand and said to Si Yao with a smile, "Princess, you don't know that father's illness is contagious, so he stays indoors all day. Others, except for delivering medicine and food, do not go to his room."

Tao Ye seemed to understand something from Zhou Yunniang's words and actions, and echoed: "Yes, you see, even mother has to live in a separate room from father!"

"Is that so?" Si Yao suddenly realized and hurriedly asked, "What disease does father have?"

Xiao Rui quickly replied, "He has always had poor health. He contracted a rare disease while dealing with the flood two years ago. It's hard to tell what the disease is. But Princess, don't worry. Jing'er later met a miracle doctor who gave him a miraculous medicine. Now he takes it every day. Although it can't cure the disease, it can save his life."

Si Yao smiled and said, "That's good."

Zhou Yunniang smiled and said to Si Yao, "Father has a strange disease, which is not a glorious thing after all, so we have never told anyone else. Ah Jiao and I have never even told anyone in our mother's family."

"I understand, sister-in-law, don't worry, I will keep my mouth shut." Si Yao smiled. That smile was very innocent, and perhaps only those who have never experienced any hardships could be so innocent.

Si Yao asked again: "Father holds an important position, but he stays at home all the time. I wonder how he handles his official duties?"

Xiao Rui said: "At first, it was Dun'er who helped his father pass on messages and do things. Later, Dun'er himself had a lot of things to do and couldn't take care of them. Now it's Jing'er who helps!"

Si Yao suddenly realized again: "Is that so? I always thought my husband had nothing to do all day and was very idle!"

Tao Ye had been listening carefully to every word they said, but she couldn't be sure which of what Xiao Rui and Zhou Yunniang said was true and which was false. However, there was one thing she was basically sure of, that is, they deliberately deceived the princess about something, but Mantang Jiao knew about it.

Moreover, today's conversation also made Tao Ye basically believe what Wang Jing once said, "Over the years, our Wang family has never had any wars between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, no conflicts between sisters-in-law, and no discord between husband and wife. It has always been a harmonious family and everything will be prosperous." At least the relationship between Zhou Yunniang and Mantangjiao should have been maintained well before.

As it was getting dark, Tao Ye stayed in the East Courtyard tonight. She and Si Yao agreed to move into the Middle Courtyard tomorrow.

After coaxing Yu'er to sleep, Tao Ye took out the mirror, tapped the mirror surface, called out Chen Ji, and told him everything the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had said during the day.

After hearing this, Chen Ji frowned and thought deeply: "From this point of view, it is very likely that Wang Yi is not in the Wang family. Then the person I saw last time was most likely Wang Yi!"

Tao Ye asked: "What are you going to do? Can you still show up and go to King Yongchang?"

Chen Ji smiled faintly: "If that person is indeed Wang Yi, then this is a big deal! You don't have to worry about me first, you should worry about yourself!"

"What do you mean?" Tao Ye didn't quite understand.

Chen Ji explained to Tao Ye: "Think about it, Wang Yi holds a high position as Minister of Civil Affairs, but he claimed to be ill and actually left the capital secretly to go to the distant Yongchang. What does that mean? It means that he is doing something very important but shameful! And even the sons and daughters-in-law of the Wang family know about it, which means that the whole family is in collusion! Once discovered, it will be a crime of deceiving the emperor for the whole family, and even you will be implicated!"

"Ah?" Tao Ye was shocked: "What should I do? I finally found a place to deliver food smoothly, and I am still far from completing the task!"

Chen Ji chuckled: "Don't panic! Hasn't this been discovered yet? You have to first find out what they are colluding to do, then you will know how dangerous it is."

Tao Ye asked hurriedly: "How can I understand it clearly?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment and analyzed, "If Wang Yi is not in Beijing, someone must take care of the public affairs. Wang Dun is busy and Wang Ao is young, so what they said about Wang Jing helping with public affairs is probably true. Then Wang Jing should have the key to Wang Yi's study. Wang Yi has been absent from the capital for more than a year due to illness. It should have been more than a year since he left Beijing. It is impossible that he did not pass on information to his family during such a long period of time. So there must be some letters or something like that in Wang Yi's study that can explain what they are doing."

Tao Ye probably understood: "You mean, you want me to steal the key from Wang Jing and then go to Wang Yi's study to read the letters?"

Chen Ji nodded.

Tao Ye had never committed theft before, and her scalp went numb at the thought: "How can I...how can I get the key? How can I get into the study? What if I get caught?"

"You are now Wang Jing's wife of eight years. How is it possible that you can't get the key from his room? Besides, the Wang family did not hide this matter from Mantangjiao, so it's no big deal even if you are discovered!" Chen Ji seemed to have great confidence in Tao Ye.

Tao Ye couldn't sleep again that night. She gradually discovered that insomnia had become a common occurrence since she came to ancient times.

She missed the days in her era so much. Although it was hard to deliver food every day, she slept soundly at night and could watch TV series on her mobile phone before going to bed... Alas, those little things that she didn't care about back then have now become out of reach!

After moving back to the Central Courtyard, Yu'er was in a very good mood. Every day before going out to school and after coming back from school, she would report to Wang Jing's room to discuss homework or chat about other things. She was very happy.

Tao Ye was even more diligent. As long as Wang Jing didn't go out, she would make sure to deliver three meals a day on time. She would even like to add afternoon tea or a midnight snack, just in case anything "came to light". She had to be as close to completing the task as possible.

Si Yao was of course uncomfortable when she saw Tao Ye going in and out of Wang Jing's room every day, but she kept in mind the two words the Queen Mother had told her:

One sentence is "It's all my fault that I spoiled you a lot and taught you little since you were a child, so you were deceived by Wang Jing's little trick! But since Wang Jing dared to touch even my people, I'm afraid he would do anything for Mantangjiao! So you can't touch Mantangjiao easily!"

Another one is "Being a princess helps you get him, but not his heart. If you want to get into his heart, you must learn to "play hard to get". The first step is to "love the house and the dog". Only by moving him can he have a good impression of you."

In order to show Wang Jing his sincerity in reconciliation, Si Yao did not interfere with Tao Ye's behavior for the time being. Instead, he always greeted Tao Ye with a smile, especially in front of Wang Jing, and he was very caring towards Tao Ye and Yu'er.

However, Wang Jing did not appreciate it. It should be said that he did not pay attention to what Si Yao did at all.

Tao Ye became even more unbridled because of Si Yao's tolerant strategy.

Whenever Wang Jing was eating, Tao Ye would wander around his room, carefully memorizing every furnishing in the room and silently analyzing which locations were suitable for storing small items such as keys.

After delivering meals for a few days, Tao Ye had already memorized the layout of Wang Jing's room, and was sure that she could accurately find every spot even in the dark at night.

So, one night, after everyone was asleep, Tao Ye quietly went out and came to Wang Jing's room in the dark. She was surprised to find that Wang Jing's door was still ajar, just like during the day.

Tao Ye entered smoothly, and then followed her memory from the day, moving forward carefully, groping for the key in one place after another, boxes, cabinets, drawers... Because she was so cautious and nervous, she was sweating all over in a short while.

After a short rest, she continued searching and touched all of Wang Jing's clothes but still couldn't find it. However, she discovered another small drawer in the closet.

Her sixth sense told her that the key must be hidden in this hidden little drawer, so she tried to open the drawer, but couldn't open it after trying for a long time!

She then blew on her hands, rubbed them together, and tried to concentrate all her strength on her hands. She grabbed the handle and pulled hard - with a "clang", the entire drawer was pulled out at once, and Tao Ye fell upside down!

The noise startled Wang Jing awake. He poked his head out of the darkness and asked, "Who is it?"