Favoring a concubine and destroying the wife? I'll abandon my husband and children and wipe out

Cheng Nanzhi twitched the corner of her mouth, "Yu Jie'er won't tell them these things for now."

From a young age, Zhao Huaiyu learned that women should be dutiful, support their husbands and raise their children, and also consider their relatives and support their elder brothers.

After hearing her completely different words, Zhao Huaiyu was still confused about what was right and couldn't care less about Zhao Ye and Old Madam Zhao.

When she came to her senses, even if she wanted to speak, it was too illogical and went against the requirements of Old Madam Zhao and the others. She would probably be scolded before she could even finish speaking.

Therefore, Zhao Huaiyu dared not speak or ask.

However, as time goes on, it is indeed inevitable that Zhao Huaiyu might say something.

But don't forget, she can also hear Zhao Huaiyu's thoughts. She will keep a close eye on Zhao Huaiyu and have someone watch her, nipping any potential problems in the bud and never giving her a chance to speak!

Cheng Nanzhi's expression was calm, but her eyes were sharp.

"Besides, I'm doing this for Yu'er's own good. Since she feels that the adults and the old lady are being unfair to her compared to Ze'er, I'm trying to ease her worries and let her know what she can do. Is there a problem with that?"

"No...no problem..." Seeing that Lan was being led astray, she felt that it really made sense, but she still subconsciously felt that something was not quite right.

Cheng Nanzhi laughed: "Do you think I'm deliberately letting Yu Jie'er compete for it?"

Lan shook her head immediately.

Cheng Nanzhi led her toward Guantang Courtyard and said slowly, "You are my confidante, and I won't hide it from you, I really did it on purpose."

In the dream, the female tutor that Cheng Nanzhi invited for Zhao Huaiyu was a highly respected lady-in-waiting in the palace who had served the Empress Dowager.

Over the years, Zhao Huaiyu has been raised to be dignified and composed in public, a model of a noblewoman, someone even high-ranking families would want to marry into. This led to a marriage that was suitable in every way, giving the Zhao family a helping hand.

But since she wanted the Zhao family to be utterly disgraced, she couldn't allow them to have any connection with that family anymore. Therefore, she planned to find someone else to spoil Zhao Huaiyu, making him even more arrogant and domineering than he is now, and hated by everyone.

However, this was based on the premise that Cheng Nanzhi was unaware that Zhao Huaiyu harbored ambitions to compete with Zhao Shize.

Now that she knows, Cheng Nanzhi plans to change her methods of revenge against Zhao Huaiyu and even the Zhao family—to subtly instigate and encourage Zhao Huaiyu to actually fight for it, but without giving Zhao Huaiyu the ability to fight for it.

Instead of destroying the Zhao family yourself, why not let Zhao Huaiyu, a member of the Zhao family, be the most ruthless blade, causing unrest in the Zhao family and destroying them step by step?

Zhao Ye and the others' expressions will be priceless and fascinating at that time.

Lan was stunned: "Miss, why...why are you doing this?"

Cheng Nanzhi said calmly, "You've seen enough these past few days. Do you still not know what the young master has done, or who the young master and young lady are close to?"

Lan's pupils contracted slightly.

Cheng Nanzhi glanced at her.

Do I need to waste my breath reminding you again?

Seeing Lan's expression harden slightly, she said, "This servant understands!"

Cheng Nanzhi withdrew her gaze with satisfaction.

Back at Guantang Courtyard, Lianruo had already returned.

Cheng Nanzhi dismissed the others and then had Jian Lan stand guard at the door, asking, "Has the message reached Young Master Song?"

Lianruo nodded and said crisply, "This servant found someone to pretend to be a fortune teller, so that they won't suspect you and will avoid any potential entanglement with Young Master Song, a stranger. It's just..."

Her face was embarrassed, and she stammered, "It seems that Young Master Song hasn't sent a letter."

Cheng Nanzhi didn't expect that a few words would make Song Yanlan, who had studied hard for years, give up this imperial examination. She just wanted him to remember to be careful and take precautions.

If he really wanted to refer to it, he would inevitably be targeted, so she would find another way to save Song Yanlan's life and save this favor for later use.

In short, she couldn't let such a clever person fall into the hands of the Third Prince and become an asset in his ascension to the throne!

"It's alright, let's just drop this matter. You should also keep this to yourself and not mention it to anyone else," Cheng Nanzhi said.

Lianruo agreed, then scratched her head and said, "But Madam, why did you do this? As the saying goes, you can't hide fire with paper. If he finds out later that you reminded him, he might hold a grudge against you for cursing his exams, which would create a grudge and be bad for you."

Cheng Nanzhi calmly said, "There's no reason why. I'm just doing what I should do. If he really holds a grudge against me for this, it only means I misjudged him, not that I did anything wrong. As long as I have a clear conscience, that's enough."

Lianruo couldn't help but wonder if Cheng Nanzhi actually knew that Young Master Song.

But Cheng Nanzhi did not want to say more. She told her to leave and instructed that if Qingdai returned, she should have Qingdai come to see her immediately.

Lianruo suppressed her curiosity and went outside.

Cheng Nanzhi was quite tired from all the commotion, so she lay down on the soft couch to catch up on some sleep.

Unexpectedly, she slept until almost evening, when it was getting dark outside. She called out to the people outside, and Qingdai answered and came in.

Cheng Nanzhi sat up. "When did you get back?"

Qingdai quickly lit a few candlesticks, making the room much brighter. She said, "I returned an hour ago and saw that you were sleeping soundly, so I didn't disturb you."

“Miss, not long ago, the young master sent someone to say that he wanted to have dinner with you to discuss matters. I took the liberty of telling you that you were tired after a long day and were not feeling well, so you went to bed and didn’t know how long you would sleep. Then the young master went to Shou’an Hall for dinner,” Qingdai said.

Cheng Nanzhi knew without a doubt that Zhao Ye would either talk to her about the apprenticeship banquet or subtly boast about how much he had made through gambling. She would likely be speechless and have absolutely no appetite for it.

“You did a good job. I don’t want to have dinner with him at all.”

Qingdai called in servants to help Cheng Nanzhi with her washing and dressing, and then personally arranged dinner, preparing dishes that Cheng Nanzhi had recently enjoyed.

When she returned, Cheng Nanzhi had also come to her senses and dismissed the others, asking, "How did the matter I asked you to handle go?"

"I've taken care of it. I've also made sure that after the books are sorted out, your manuscript is burned to prevent others from recognizing it as yours by your handwriting. In a few days, those poems will circulate in a small circle, but not too ostentatiously," Qingdai said.

Cheng Nanzhi said with satisfaction: "I have always trusted you to get things done."

Qingdai seemed lost in thought, looking at Cheng Nanzhi as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

"What?" Cheng Nanzhi asked.

"...When I returned, the news of the poetry gathering at Xiangchun Pavilion had spread, and people were talking about how the young master had shone so brightly at the gathering. After listening to a few words, I heard about the poems that the young master had recited at the gathering."

Qingdai couldn't contain her astonishment as she said this, "But the young master's poem is actually from your manuscript!"

Qingdai was certain that her young mistress had never mentioned the manuscript to the young master before writing it, so there was no possibility that she had told the young master in advance so that he could use it at the poetry gathering. Moreover, it was obvious that her young mistress intended to use the manuscript to set a trap.

Where did the young master hear that? And why did he say that he did it himself?

Cheng Nanzhi couldn't explain this to Qingdai; she couldn't very well say that she knew it from a dream. That was too absurd.

After much thought, Cheng Nanzhi said, "The contents of that manuscript were something I stumbled upon before, but the first draft has been lost. I remembered it last night and felt it would be a great pity if it were lost, so I wrote it down. Besides—"

Qingdai suddenly realized, "Miss, you discovered that your first draft wasn't lost, but rather stolen and used by the young master and his family. You were furious that the young master and his family had used it as their own, so you wanted to use it to set a trap?"

Cheng Nanzhi paused, then nodded.

Qingdai was filled with righteous indignation: "Those son-in-law and his family are too shameless! Young Master is indeed worthy of being the son-in-law's own son, using him so matter-of-factly!"