General, you should rest now; the lady is even more ruthless.

The deal for 500,000 taels of silver was completed, and Shiliu was in a state of extreme excitement all night. He not only paid for the dinner, but also generously paid out of his own pocket to buy late-night snacks for everyone in the General's Mansion, including the two masters.

When the group returned carrying large and small bags and told the two masters who stayed behind that these were all Sixteen's doing, Jiang Qiqi was so surprised that her mouth could practically fit an egg.

However, she quickly adapted and began to ponder with a serious expression:

"Even the tightest person in China has been plucked out of his pocket, so in my opinion, even a sow climbing a tree won't become a persistent problem of our time."

Sixteen: "...If you don't eat, I'll feed it to the dog."

"Eat, eat, eat."

Jiang Qiqi's expression changed in an instant.

"Miss, we went all the way to the best pastry shop in the south of the city to buy this."

Xiang'er's mouth was stuffed full. "But it's okay, Sixteen was just teasing you. We don't keep dogs at home."

Sixteen glanced at Twelve, who was happily eating pastries with both hands, and remained silent.

During their late-night snack, Xiang'er recounted everything that had happened that afternoon to Jiang Qiqi and the other person.

"Miss, Sixteen has earned so much silver, wouldn't it be a waste not to take advantage of him?"

However, Jiang Qiqi had other ideas.

"You're saying that the restaurant was bought by Lü Jicai and given to Gong Ting?"

They've been plotting this for the past few days, targeting Lü Jicai. Now that they've heard that name, Jiang Qiqi is naturally paying even more attention. Besides, although she's only met Gong Ting a few times, she has a very good impression of this cheerful and chivalrous young princess.

"How could these two people who are completely unrelated be together?" she muttered to herself.

Thinking back to the incident a couple of days ago when Lü Jicai followed Gong Ting to the Fusheng Teahouse, Jiang Qiqi had a somewhat unbelievable thought.

"Shen Luo, what do you think Lü Jicai is up to?"

"Could it be that he wants to use Gong Ting to get close to Prince Gong Yuan? After all, Prince Zhong's influence is very large in the southwest region," Shen Luo speculated.

“No.” Jiang Qiqi slowly shook her head, disagreeing.

"It might be understandable for others, but someone as self-important as Lü Jicai would not choose such a roundabout way. Perhaps in his mind, given the power balance between Prime Minister Lü and Prince Zhong over the years, Gong Yuan should be trying to curry favor with him."

"What do you think might be the reason, Qiqi?"

"A man inexplicably becomes nice to a woman, pesters her, and showers her with money."

Jiang Qiqi stroked her chin, her face showing a knowing look.

"That impatient frog keeps touching your belly! Lü Ji just wants to establish a marriage alliance with the Prince Zhong's family!"

These words immediately caused an uproar in the room, with everyone raising their own questions.

"Don't rush, keep order." Jiang Qiqi waved her hand, mimicking the way a press conference is held on TV. "Ask one by one."

"Miss, are you saying that Lü Jicai is pursuing Princess Gongting?" Xiang'er, the number one onlooker, raised her hand to ask.

"Yes."

"Impossible, Princess Gongting is a princess, where does he get his confidence from?" asked the second onlooker, number nineteen.

"Maybe there's no mirror at home."

"I think it's impossible. Lü Jicai already has a legal wife," commented netizen number three.

"The concept of a proper husband and wife is like a revolving banquet; it can be canceled and replaced with a new batch," Jiang Qiqi replied readily.

"Madam, whose belly did you just say you wanted to touch?" asked netizen number 41.

"..."

"Qiqi, I don't want to be part of this endless stream of guests, don't remove me from the program."

"..."

"Shen Luo, be serious!"