The Concubine's Daughter Travels Through Time and Space and Takes the Road of Confrontation

After seeing Miss Qiman off, Caihe stood at the gate of the courtyard for a while before turning around and going back into the house.

Lu Yun sat on a low couch, teasing her son in her wet nurse's arms. The baby was chubby and cute, with a pair of big eyes like Lu Yun, but his pupils were like his father's, with a light blue-gray tint in the sunlight.

Lu Yun: "Suck, suck, suck——"

The baby opened his mouth, which had only one small tooth, and started laughing.

Lu Yun found it interesting and teased him twice more. Cai He frowned and said, "Master, why are you teasing me like Hui Hui?"

Lu Yun didn't see any problem at all. "Huihui was much cuter when he was a child."

Afterwards, the nurse asked Mother Chen who Huihui was. When she learned that he was a big wolfdog, she was stunned for a long time and sighed, "Your Excellency is indeed different from the rest of us."

Seeing her son yawn, Lu Yun signaled the wet nurse to take him away, opened the account book accumulated over the past few months and started to work.

Cai He was holding something in her mind, "Master, the people in Xiuzhu Pavilion are really strange."

Lu Yun stared at the account book. "It's really strange."

Given General Cen's status, even if his wife had died young, with General Cen's brothers looking after him, Cen Miaoxin shouldn't have lived in such poverty. Furthermore, the King of Nanyue would annually allocate a portion of silver from his private treasury to support the orphans of generals killed in battle. General Cen's prestige within the Nanyue army was second only to the King of Nanyue, and this grant alone amounted to fifty taels of silver.

Cen Miaoxin was an orphan, and fifty taels of silver was enough for her to live a comfortable life.

However, the Cen Miaoxin that Lu Yun saw was very simple. When she entered the mansion, she was wearing only a half-new cotton and silk dress. The skin on her hands was also very rough, and only her face was still rosy.

Of course, the most suspicious thing is how Cen Miaoxin approached Zhou Boli and who was behind the scenes to facilitate this outcome.

The reason Lu Yun said this was because she couldn't see that Cen Miaoxin had any affection for Zhou Boli. Whether it was a secret crush or an open love, as long as Cen Miaoxin was moved, it would be impossible for her to have no sense of existence around Zhou Boli.

Cen Miaoxin had always been close to the Hua family, former subordinates of General Cen. It was at the Hua family that Zhou Boli was discovered with Cen Miaoxin. In full view of everyone, facing General Cen's only surviving daughter, Zhou Boli had no choice but to take her away and properly place her.

At the critical moment of military operations, any accident involving Cen Miaoxin would damage the prestige of the royal palace in the army.

Liuzi said that Cen Miaoxin once had the intention to die.

What was she really after? According to the information she had received, General Cen was a man of strict discipline and loved his soldiers like his own children, consistently providing support for injured and disabled soldiers out of his own pocket. His late wife, Lady Qiong, was also a philanthropist, not only repeatedly refusing offers of assistance from General Hua and others but also taking over her husband's mission of secretly supporting injured and disabled veterans.

Since her parents are upright, would Cen Miaoxin be willing to humble herself for the sake of fame and fortune?

Lu Yun had a big question mark in her mind.

Qiman came to Anlanyuan frequently, but Xiuzhuguan remained calm and the gate was tightly closed.

Lu Yun had sent Caihe to Xiuzhu Pavilion to deliver things three times. At most, Miss Cen would serve tea and see the guests off in half a cup of tea, which aroused Lu Yun's curiosity even more.

One day, Lu Yun received a message from Butler Zhou.

The matchmaker will come tomorrow and ask Lu Yun to go and pick a maid. She is originally selecting a maid for Xiuzhu Pavilion, so how can Miss Cen not go?

Caihe knocked on the gate of Xiuzhu Pavilion again.

After asking the visitor's name, the gate of the courtyard was opened from the inside, and the gatekeeper bent down and invited Caihe into the courtyard.

Cai He looked around the yard as usual, and suddenly heard some unusual noises coming from the main room. Cai He remained calm and secretly quickened her pace to enter the main hall.

As soon as she entered the door, Caihe smelled a faint sour and stinky smell. When she wanted to investigate again, she found that the smell had disappeared. Miss Cen walked out of the west room with red eyes.

Looking at the closed partition door, Cai He lowered her eyes and saluted, "Greetings, Miss Cen."

Cen Miaoxin's voice was a little hoarse. "Miss Caihe, there's no need to be so polite."

Cai He asked with concern, "Miss, you are not feeling well. Do you want to ask a doctor to take a look?"

The old woman came into the room with a teapot in her hand and poured tea. The precious Ru porcelain covered bowl was filled with bland white water, which was bubbling with steam.

Cen Miaoxin subconsciously wanted to pick up the cup, but she shivered from the heat and reluctantly replied, "Thank you, Miss Caihe, but I just didn't sleep well last night, so I feel groggy today."

Without waiting for Caihe to answer, he quickly said, "Miss Caihe, is there something wrong?"

Cai He had gotten used to Miss Cen's way of doing things after a few visits, so she explained her purpose. "Tomorrow the matchmaker will bring someone to the mansion. The princess said she wants to pick someone for you, Miss Cen. You have to go there in person to check it out before Anlanyuan can send someone over."

When Caihe came, she had already thought about how to deal with it if she was rejected. Unexpectedly, Miss Cen agreed after only a moment's hesitation.

"Thank you, Princess, for me. I will definitely be there on time tomorrow."

"So straightforward?" Lu Yun was surprised, frowning and thinking, "Could it be that the servants at Xiuzhu Pavilion neglected her?"

Cai He thought of the cup of boiling water and hesitated, "Master, I think this is possible. Miss Cen has nothing, and the servants have no other benefits, so they will naturally feel resentful. But I have been to the courtyard several times and found it to be clean everywhere. I think it should be acceptable on the whole."

Lu Yun understood. Xiuzhu Pavilion was located in a remote area and had no future. As the master, Miss Cen had no money to buy people's hearts, so it was obviously impossible to expect those servants to work hard for her.

But the problem is——

"Didn't I give her dozens of taels of loose silver, plus this month's salary, which adds up to about twenty or thirty taels." Lu Yun calculated carefully. "Mingde Hall and Sansi Hall will also secretly express their gratitude for General Cen's sake."

All the money added up must be quite a lot, so how come you can't even give it as a reward?

From Caihe's description, we can see that although Miss Cen speaks directly, she is not a stingy person who is ignorant of the ways of the world.

In the evening, Lu Yun expressed her doubts to Zhou Boli, "Has the Cen family's tradition always been like this?"

Zhou Boli was equally puzzled. "General Cen is an upright man, very generous to his subordinates, and I have never heard Lady Qiong complain about this matter."

Lu Yun was even more confused and couldn't help but speculate on her intentions. "She has money but she doesn't use it. She's still wearing the same clothes she wore when she entered the mansion. She drinks plain water every day. Is this to show everyone that I, as the mistress, am withholding her food, clothing, and other expenses?"

Zhou Bo laughed heartily upon hearing this. "According to what you said, the ones who withheld her money also included my father, the king, my mother, and me, the crown prince of Nanyue."

What's the point of risking offending everyone just to save a few dollars?

Lu Yun shook her head. She really couldn't understand it at all. She originally thought that the girl who climbed into bed was a white flower or a green tea girl, but it turned out to be a plain-looking, weird little bitter girl.

Lu Yun smashed the strange love that arose in his heart with a punch and decided to meet her in person tomorrow.

A dozen or so nine-year-old girls lined up in two rows. Lu Yun stood on one side, putting on a formal smile. "Ms. Cen, which two do you like?"

Cen Miaoxin was visibly hesitating between the people in the back row. When the princess spoke, she pursed her lips. "Princess, can I ask a few questions?"