The sickly son died young? After the marriage exchange, I will bring prosperity to his entire clan f

Liu Ya answered honestly, "I'm quite surprised, but... how did you know?"

They were both in the capital to accompany their children to the exams, yet this person was quite well-informed; she even knew about such a private matter.

Lin Guixiang smiled mysteriously, "I was lucky. I met her when I went out to look for work. An older woman I was chatting with knew our neighbor, and I found out by gossiping about her a bit."

"She redeemed herself, but I don't know anything else."

Du Mingxian was quite surprised. Generally speaking, people from this industry would have a certain air of worldliness about them, but the woman opposite Guo Chen did not. She seemed to come from a respectable family.

"It's impressive that she was able to redeem herself," Liu Ya said with admiration.

Lin Guixiang said, "Don't you all mind? Someone like that lives in the same courtyard as us, and all the people in our courtyard are test takers."

"Does this have anything to do with someone's background?" Liu Ya asked, puzzled.

Du Mingxian did have some ideas, but... even if it gets out later, it doesn't matter. After all, they are now living in the same courtyard with others. Many officials who were penniless before becoming officials eventually become powerful ministers.

"How can this be the same? How can it be unrelated? It's a huge connection. People from her background are the best at seducing men. If she wants to, she could easily seduce any of our husbands, and we'd all be crying our eyes out."

Lin Guixiang was very careful about this matter. "I'm keeping a close eye on things. You two should also be careful. I'm only willing to tell you this because we live in the same courtyard."

Liu Ya hesitated about the matter, but finally whispered, "If it's a man in the family, taking him home as... as a concubine wouldn't be a problem, just someone to warm the bed."

Du Mingxian didn't know what to say. The two people who were truly concerned didn't care, but they were quite concerned about things that shouldn't be their concern.

"Don't worry, I don't think she's interested in our courtyard. She usually just goes about her own business, doesn't talk to us, and we only nod to each other. She's usually very low-profile, so it's not a big problem."

Lin Guixiang disagreed with her, "You can't say that. No matter what, we still have to be careful. That person is not an ordinary person."

Liu Ya didn't say anything.

The group had already reached the courtyard gate and entered the courtyard together.

Liu Ya said, "We've been out for long enough, let's hurry back."

Du Mingxian replied, "Okay."

"Then I'll go inside first. If you're looking for work again tomorrow, remember to call me," Lin Guixiang said from the side.

Du Mingxian didn't reply. She went straight to her room. The whole afternoon had been a waste of time, so she might as well stay in her room and do some work.

However, let Chunfeng and the others handle the job finding. If that doesn't work... we can arrange a job for Liu Ya.

Lost in thought, she pushed open the door to her room. The room was warm, and Ling Silang was cooking. "You're back just in time. I was just about to start cooking. I figured you should be back soon."

"Make less, I also bought some ready-made ones, so we can take them out and eat them right away."

"it is good."

As the two were talking, Ling Silang changed the noodles he was going to make into dumpling soup. Du Mingxian bought some ready-made stuffed pancakes, which were just right to go with the soup.

"Put these noodles away and we'll eat them tomorrow."

"Okay." Du Mingxian said, putting the noodles directly into her spatial storage. Actually, it would have been fine to leave them outside, since the room wasn't very warm and they could have been left for a couple of days.

But I'm still used to keeping it in the storage space. Leaving it outside doesn't provide enough space to keep it fresh, and the taste will be worse in the end.

During dinner, Du Mingxian recounted what had happened that afternoon: "I didn't find anything, I just wandered around aimlessly and came back."

Seeing her bored look, Ling Silang comforted her, "Just think of it as going out for a stroll."

“I saw that Lin Guixiang across the street was a good gossip. She found out that the woman next door used to be a prostitute, and she told us to keep a close eye on our men.”

Du Mingxian looked at Ling Silang with a half-smile, and Ling Silang chuckled, "Don't worry, I will always be loyal to you."

She smiled but didn't say anything.

After finishing their meal and cleaning up, the two stayed outside for a while longer. It was already completely dark outside, so they didn't linger and blew out the lamp before going into the space.

Lin Guixiang had been keeping an eye on things, and was puzzled to see that they had gone to bed so early again.

"Du Mingxian smells quite nice, she doesn't seem like someone who doesn't shower. But she went to bed so early, what time is it? She must have just had dinner."

Sun Tao listened to her muttering, a hint of impatience in his eyes, but he still spoke up to remind her, "Don't stare at her so closely."

"I'm just curious. Look at them, Liu Ya and the others are quite hardworking, they're still not asleep at this hour. But look at Du Mingxian's room, the lights were turned off a long time ago."

“I see Ling Zimo coming out to fetch water every morning.”

Lin Guixiang was a woman, and a very meticulous one at that. “It’s true that he came out to fetch water, but… this is too strange. I feel like something is not right.”

"We usually shower before going to sleep, right? Don't they shower at all? They just go straight to sleep?"

Judging from the way Du Mingxian and Ling Silang looked, they didn't seem like they would go to sleep without washing up.

Sun Tao, being a man, doesn't pay as much attention to details. "You know, people have their own lives. Don't always keep an eye on them. Whether they wash it or not is probably their own business."

"I'll find an excuse to go to Du Mingxian's house tomorrow and ask around."

"It's up to you. It's good if you can become friends with her."

"Don't worry, I'll definitely get this sorted out by tomorrow."

The next day, Du Mingxian got up and sat in her room. She didn't go out today. She lit a charcoal brazier, which burned very brightly and made the room warm. She wouldn't treat herself badly.

A moment later, Liu Ya knocked on the door first, "Mingxian, Mingxian."

Du Mingxian opened the door and saw Liu Ya standing outside. She told her to come in first, saying, "What do you want to say? Come in and talk. It's too cold outside."

As soon as Liu Ya entered, she felt the warmth of the room. "Your room is so warm."

"Yes, we're not usually home much, so now that we are, we'll burn more charcoal. We can't let anyone suffer any injustice."

"I came to find you..."

"Bang bang bang..."

Before Liu Ya could finish speaking, Lin Guixiang knocked on the door. Du Mingxian went to open it and, having already invited Liu Ya in, couldn't very well leave Lin Guixiang out as well, so she had to let her in as well.

After Liu Ya came in, she only took one step and stood at the door talking without looking around. Lin Guixiang, on the other hand, kept looking around.

Du Mingxian didn't even bother to talk to Liu Ya, and was quite dissatisfied with Lin Guixiang's probing gaze.