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

"Miss, the concubine is here. She said she will also go to the Chengjun Prince's Mansion for a banquet today and would like to go with you. She asked if it would be convenient for you and if she could come in and sit for a while."

When Jingzhe entered Li Shu's room, Li Shu was sitting in front of the dressing table, having Qinghong Cuiwei do her hair and makeup for her.

Before Li Shu could say anything, Cui Wei started mumbling, "Strange! The concubine has only been to our Bamboo Garden a couple of times so far, and she's not close to our young lady. Why would she suddenly come and ask to go with her?"

Li Shu was also a little puzzled.

Xu Daijun was well-known for his virtue and was especially kind to all of Ning Shuyang's concubines, as well as his illegitimate sons and daughters.

But the concubine Chi Jianxi is an exception.

Although Xu Daijun had never fallen out with Chi Jianxi, and on the surface treated her and his children the same as anyone else, secretly he had long hated Chi Jianxi and wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible.

Because Ning Shuyang and Chi Jianxi fell in love with each other at first sight and promised to spend their lives together. However, although Chi Jianxi was the only daughter of the richest man in Beijing and her father claimed that he would give her most of his property as a dowry, the old Marquis Ning looked down on merchants' families and forced Ning Shuyang to marry Xu Daijun, who was of the same social status as theirs.

Xu Daijun had already fallen deeply in love with Ning Shuyang before she came of age.

When Ning Shuyang came to propose to her, she was ecstatic.

After entering the room, she learned that Ning Shuyang had another lover and was forced to marry him. She already had an unsolvable knot in her heart.

Who would have thought that soon Chi Jianxi would marry Ning Shuyang as a concubine with a huge dowry that shocked most of the capital.

Because he failed to give Chi Jianxi the position of wife he had promised her, and Chi Jianxi did not care at all and married him as a concubine with the huge dowry promised by her father, Ning Shuyang still dotes on Chi Jianxi.

Moreover, if Ning Shuyang had not been afraid that the old Marquis Ning would target Chi Jianxi, he would not have taken in so many concubines.

Therefore, among all of Ning Shuyang's concubines, only Chi Jianxi can be regarded as Xu Daijun's love rival.

A few years ago, when the Queen noticed that she and Ning Jin had feelings for each other, she veiledly told her about the secrets of the Dingbei Marquis' Mansion that outsiders did not know.

And she knew that Xu Daijun would never like her because she couldn't allow Ning Jin to have many concubines and children, so she had kept her distance from Chi Jianxi's illegitimate sons and daughters long before she entered the house, and after entering the house, she rarely had any interaction with Chi Jianxi and her son.

But she still knew a little about Chi Jianxi.

Although Chi Jianxi was born into a merchant family, he lived a wealthy life that was almost as rich as the royal family since childhood, and was spoiled by his parents. He was not contaminated by the shrewdness and cunning of merchants, and was so calm and clear-headed that he had almost no desires or demands.

The relationship between her and Ning Shuyang is the only thing she wants.

Is it possible...

Had the nearly twenty years of life as a concubine eroded her calmness and clarity, causing her to have other desires?

Thinking of this, Li Shu raised her eyebrows and looked at herself in the mirror.

She only drew her eyebrows and put on lipstick today.

But she wore a set of ruby ​​head ornaments in her hair that the Queen had previously awarded her.

Not only did his complexion look better, but his whole spirit seemed to have returned to what it was more than a year ago.

At that time, Ning Jin had not yet brought Xie Yu back to Beijing, and she had not yet become increasingly haggard in the day-to-day quarrels.

No matter what occasion she attends, she will dress herself carefully to become the focus of the audience.

Even though she no longer has the mood to do that, and her eyes can no longer return to the carefree look of those days, at least she has slowly become stronger.

At this time, Jingzhe's voice sounded again, "Miss, if you don't want to let the concubine come in, and don't want to go with her, I will go and tell her..."

"Invite her in."

"Yes."

After Jingzhe left, Nanny Gui immediately went to get some tea and said in a low voice, "Young lady, you know that the tea Princess Xuanping sends to each courtyard every year is actually made by the Concubine. Besides tea, many daily necessities are also taken care of by the Concubine. Plus, Young lady also takes care of a lot for Princess Xuanping. I'm afraid no other mistress is as comfortable as Princess Xuanping!"

Li Shu raised her eyebrows slightly.

I thought that Xu Daijun never broke off relations with Chi Jianxi. Besides wanting to establish a reputation as a virtuous person, it was probably also because Chi Jianxi had never been stingy in helping to cover the expenses of the Marquis' Mansion since she came into the family.

Fortunately, Xu Daijun is still the head of the Dingbei Marquis Mansion. Otherwise, she would have to give Ning Jin a few concubines who are from merchant families and have more money than she can spend to supplement the family income!

Because there was no way she would spend a single cent of her dowry in their mansion!

Then, just as she sat down on the soft couch at the side, Chi Jianxi, wearing a dark blue cloak with large fur edges, was led into her room by Jingzhe.

Chi Jianxi is thirty-eight years old this year, with three sons and two daughters. Her figure is a little plump, but just right, not fat at all. Her skin is as white, tender and delicate as a young girl, without a single wrinkle.

Maybe this is the power of money.

Even the traces of time that everyone cannot escape are particularly tolerant to her.

As Li Shu looked at Chi Jianxi calmly, she inexplicably recalled the girl in her dream who had a sallow complexion and wrinkles all over her face before she was 38. She immediately decided to start taking care of herself.

Then Chi Jianxi walked up to her, knelt and bowed, saying, "I greet the Crown Prince's wife."

"Madam, you can't do this. You are the elder after all. Hurry up and get up and sit down."

Even though she said this, Li Shu did not show any sign of being unable to bear it.

Chi Jianxi also sat down confidently on the soft chair brought by Nanny Gui.

Then she said directly, "I know that the Crown Prince's wife must be very puzzled about my purpose of coming, so I will not beat around the bush with her. I will tell her directly that I am here to ask about the character of her eldest brother."

Li Shu frowned slightly.

Li Jin's character and behavior are recognized as good in Beijing.

Chi Jianxi wanted to know, so why bother asking her?

Then she thought of Chi Jianxi's daughter, Ning Keyi, who had just reached the age of marriage earlier this year, and said, "Since Madam didn't beat around the bush, I'll ask directly. Could it be that Mother intends to marry the Sixth Young Lady to Li Jin?"

"Exactly. Madam, have you heard that your eldest brother's fiancée fell into the water and died a few days ago?"

"..."

Li Shu shook her head slightly in surprise.

She didn't know.

I also completely forgot about my future sister-in-law.

Because six years ago, her future sister-in-law left Beijing to mourn for her mother who passed away.

Then three years ago, before she married Ning Jin, she returned to Beijing and was about to marry Li Jin, but her father passed away again, and she left Beijing to observe mourning again.

Li Jin is very career-oriented and is not in a hurry to get married. He promised to wait for her, and was praised a lot for this.

Li Yan, Li Shen and Li Xing refused to ask others to find them a marriage partner in the early years because they wanted to wait for their sister-in-law to marry into the family.

As a result, to this day, my sister-in-law has not yet entered the house.

In addition, there were constant wars in those years, and even the emperor had no time to arrange marriages for them.

As for why she, the youngest, was able to marry before them, it was because the emperor had arranged the marriage, and Li Yunzhi and his two sons said that the next war would be very dangerous, and they wanted to see her get married before going to the battlefield.

Originally, Ning Jin would not go to the battlefield, but after marrying her, he suddenly said he wanted to go for no apparent reason. She was unhappy for a few days but finally agreed.

If she hadn't agreed...

Thinking of this, Li Shu took a deep breath and stopped herself from thinking further.

But suddenly, some images related to Li Jin and his four brothers appeared in her mind.

After Li Jin and his wife got married, their wives died for various reasons, and she was present at all the deaths. She was wrongly accused of being the murderer and imprisoned, and then released because there was no evidence to prove that she was the murderer!

Is that why they ignored her later?

Even though she thought she had become much stronger than before, she still couldn't help but feel a chill all over her body when she saw those scenes.

Since she didn't kill the person, it is very likely that Xie Yu did it!

What a terrifying ability Xie Yu has!

He could kill someone without them noticing, and then put the blame on her, but he didn't kill her directly!

Could Xie Yu gain anything by constantly putting the blame on her and ruining her reputation?

At this moment, she thought of Xie Yu's inexplicable recovery from heart disease, and his appearance that was becoming more and more like hers. She was about to think about it carefully, but she inadvertently caught a glimpse of Chi Jianxi's eyes looking at her, which contained deep inquiry and a hint of cunning.