The day her husband welcomed the time-traveling girl into the house, she woke up

"Oh?"

Li Shu suddenly became more energetic.

She thought that the secret that made Lin Yuan stop talking in the middle of his words must be quite important.

But Lin Yuan didn't reveal the hidden secret right away. Instead, he looked at her for a few moments, hesitantly, before slowly speaking: "More than three years ago, shortly before the young lady and her husband's wedding, the emperor returned to the palace incognito and brought back an orphan girl from the people, the Chess Consort Lin Qi. At that time, the emperor only said that the Chess Consort was the orphan of a certain general, but he didn't specify which general it was. Because the emperor directly gave her the title of consort, many people secretly investigated who her father was, but no one found out. Later, the Chess Consort became more and more favored, but she always kept to her duties and never took advantage of her favor to become arrogant. Even the empress dowager and the queen praised her, so gradually, no one tried to investigate her background."

Li Shu nodded. "These are all known to everyone. Could it be that you accidentally found out who Qi Fei's father is?"

Lin Yuan shook his head. "Miss, you don't know that our Peacock Terrace is a well-known theater with many famous actors on the surface, but in reality, it is mainly engaged in the investigation and sale of various secret information..."

This surprised Li Shu.

Nanny Gui immediately sent Qinghong Cuiwei away.

The excuse used was "It's better for you not to know about anything related to fighting and killing."

After Nanny Gui closed the door, Lin Yuan continued, "When the young lady previously instructed her subordinates to investigate whether those people had any connection with Concubine Qi, I heard her tone and felt that she and Concubine Qi were probably not as close as outsiders said. So while I was arranging people to investigate whether those people had any connection with Concubine Qi, I also arranged for people to conduct an in-depth investigation into Concubine Qi.

Coincidentally, before the emperor went on a secret visit that year, someone paid us a large sum of money to follow and record where the emperor went and what he did. Every time we completed a transaction, we would leave a file just in case.

The people sent by Sanniang to carry out that mission were all very meticulous in their work. The file not only recorded where the emperor met Concubine Qi, but also recorded some of the conversations they heard between Concubine Qi and the emperor, among which the name of Concubine Qi's mother happened to be included.

This time, the people I arranged started investigating his mother and discovered that she was actually from the capital and was also related to...

The young lady’s father is an old acquaintance…”

Li Shu blinked and almost immediately understood why Lin Yuan stopped talking mid-sentence.

But she immediately shook her head and said, "Princess Qi can't be my father's illegitimate daughter. She is the same age as my four brothers. At that time, everyone in the capital knew that my father was so nervous about my mother's pregnancy that he even asked for leave from the morning court and stayed with my mother all the time. During that time, almost no one in the capital saw him go out, until my mother successfully gave birth to quadruplets..."

As she finished speaking, Li Shu noticed that Lin Yuan's ears had turned even redder.

Then she heard Lin Yuan say with a rather self-reproachful tone, "I was judging you by my own standards. I'll have someone continue investigating. If there's nothing confirmed in the future, I won't bother you with anything else!"

"No problem." Li Shu shook her head. Seeing Lin Yuan was about to leave, she blurted out, "Are you going back to Peacock Terrace?"

"Yes."

"Mammy, get him a cloak."

"..."

Lin Yuan was confused.

Nanny Gui immediately went to get a black cloak that could be used by both men and women for Lin Yuan.

When Lin Yuan looked at Li Shu in confusion while holding the cloak, Li Shu said, "I see your ears are red from the cold. Put them on before you go."

Lin Yuan was stunned for a moment, and then his whole face turned red.

Li Shu was a few years older than him, so she immediately realized that she had made a mistake. Just as she was about to say something, Lin Yuan disappeared in a flash.

She frowned, looked at Aunt Gui with a rather conflicted look, and asked, "Aunt, do you think Lin Yuan...has any feelings for me...or does he truly regard me as his master and worship me?"

Nanny Gui smiled and said, "If it were someone else, I would think it would be the latter, but for Lin Yuan... Miss, look, Lin Yuan is so handsome, so good at martial arts, and he also knows medicine! And he is also very thoughtful. There are many things he can do without you telling him..."

"Alright, alright, Ma'am, you just think there's nothing about me that's worthy of Lin Yuan's admiration. But Ma'am, you forgot that Kong Sanniang was most likely a way out for me, my mother. Is it possible that Lin Yuan was a secret guard trained by Kong Sanniang specifically for me? And because Kong Sanniang kept praising me for so many years, he unknowingly came to adore me, his master?"

"Hmm... now that Miss Jing mentioned it, it's not impossible..."

"Then let it be so! Mammy, don't let your imagination run wild!"

"..."

Nanny Gui felt secretly guilty.

Didn’t the lady fall asleep yesterday?

How did the lady discover that she was having wild thoughts?

Then she murmured in a low voice with regret, "With Lin Yuan's looks and abilities, if he were a young man from a noble family, even if his birth was lower, he could be a good match for the young lady. But he is an orphan with no one to rely on..."

After hearing this, Li Shu said helplessly, "Mammy, I haven't divorced yet! And what's wrong with orphans? In my eyes, orphans are better than Ning Jin now!"

"That's right! Lin Yuan is indeed better than my son-in-law in every way!"

"..."

Li Shu smiled and said, "Madam, you like Lin Yuan so much, but it's a pity that you don't have any daughters. Otherwise...Madam, try to match Qing Hong or Cui Wei with Lin Yuan?"

Aunt Gui shook her head without even thinking, "How can those two girls be worthy of Lin Yuan! Our Lin Yuan..."

Before Aunt Gui could tell us how Lin Yuan was doing, there was a knock on the door.

Then Qinghong's voice came in, "Miss, the doorman came to tell you that Concubine Qi is here to visit you. She has already entered the mansion and is heading to our Bamboo Garden."

Li Shu frowned and said to Aunt Gui, "Bring me the bronze mirror."

After Nanny Gui brought the bronze mirror over, Li Shu looked at herself in the mirror and confirmed that her complexion was still very bad before she lay down with peace of mind.

After a while, Lin Qi rushed into her room.

Before he even reached her bedside, a voice filled with heartache and sobs had already reached her ears, "Oh my God! Shushu, how did you become so thin? We haven't seen each other for just a few days!"

Li Shu looked her over quickly.

As always, the dress is simple and casual.

There was only a silver hairpin in her bun.

Although the silver hairpin was inlaid with valuable pearls, people who did not know her and did not appreciate the value of things would definitely not believe that she was the most favored concubine in the palace in the past two years.

However, she is born charming and bright.

Even though she was dressed simply and without heavy makeup, she was still as beautiful as a fairy, making people unforgettable at first sight.

No wonder the emperor dotes on her so much.

And most importantly!

Not only did Lin Qi's appearance not resemble her at all, it also did not resemble Li Yunzhi and his four sons at all!

After subconsciously confirming this, Li Shu smiled and said to Lin Qi in her usual casual tone, "Greetings, Madam Chess Consort. I'm sorry I can't stand up to greet you right now."