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

Next, as long as Wu Daniu doesn't discover that the restaurant belongs to the Ling family, everything will be fine.

Those who can dine at the restaurant with Wu Daniu must have some dealings with him, and over time, they can reveal some things about each other.

After finishing these tasks, Du Mingxian went home early, only to find Lin Guixiang washing clothes in the yard.

"Why didn't you go to work today?" She hadn't seen Lin Guixiang much since she introduced her to the job.

Lin Guixiang stopped what she was doing and said, "You're back."

"Ah."

"I'm off today, so I need to wash these clothes."

Du Mingxian didn't say much. Sun Tao wasn't coming back, and Lin Guixiang lived here alone. She rarely showed up and lived like a ghost.

"You go ahead and wash, I'm going inside first."

"Are you busy later?"

"what happened?"

"Let's go shopping together. I haven't been shopping in quite a few days."

Du Mingxian instinctively refused, "I need to prepare some things for my husband this afternoon. He has an exam soon, and some things need to be prepared in advance."

Upon hearing this, Lin Guixiang's eyes flashed with unease, and in the end, she could only nod awkwardly, "Okay, then you go ahead and get busy."

Du Mingxian went straight back to her room. Ling Silang was reading. With the exams approaching, he hadn't gone out much and had been studying in his room the whole time. Although he now had a photographic memory, he still read some books repeatedly, and his understanding was different each time.

When Ling Silang saw her return, he pointed to the things on the table, "These were sent by Lin Guixiang."

Du Mingxian frowned subconsciously, "Why did they send something over?"

"She said she was thanking you for introducing her to the job, but you weren't there when she came, so she just left these things and left."

Du Mingxian stepped forward and opened it, finding some pastries and women's rouge inside.

She didn't take the food, but she took the rouge and left it in the courtyard. Lin Guixiang was still washing clothes with her head down. She went up to her and handed her the things, saying, "You can keep this. I'll leave the food."

"This is just a small token of my appreciation." Lin Guixiang didn't accept it. "You should keep it. I don't know what I would do without you introducing me to work."

"This rouge comes from the largest rouge shop in the capital. Judging by the quality, just one box must cost at least three taels of silver. The job I introduced to you only pays a few taels of silver a month. I can't accept you buying such good stuff for me."

Lin Guixiang was startled herself. This thing... was given to her by that person. She really didn't know it was so expensive. "It's all from my heart."

"Take these; they're enough for you to express your gratitude."

Lin Guixiang accepted the gift after only a slight hesitation, saying, "Alright then, I'll take it."

"Yes, accepting it was the right thing to do."

Du Mingxian returned to her room and whispered to Ling Silang, "I was just thinking about returning it to her and forgot about the value of the rouge. I even suspect there's something in it."

"You mean you were poisoned?"

"It's hard to say, but we've given it back to her now. If she uses it herself and something goes wrong, we'll definitely find out. But we don't have any major grudges between us. I even introduced her to work. She shouldn't repay kindness with enmity. That's something I can't understand."

Ling Silang also felt that they shouldn't have bought such expensive things to harm others. "Maybe we're overthinking it. Let's take another look."

"Well, whatever, it's already been sent back anyway." Du Mingxian stopped thinking about it. "I've arranged things at the restaurant. I'll have Chen Ming keep an eye on things there and see if there's any news."

Ling Silang felt this arrangement was quite good. "These past few days I haven't gone out. Have you noticed how the Crown Prince has handled things at the workshop?"

"The rumor is that the workshop owner made a mistake, but nothing else has been said. They're trying to downplay the matter, but there's probably an investigation going on behind the scenes. We haven't been to the Crown Prince's residence recently, so we don't know anything about it."

Ling Silang was still somewhat worried. "They must have had a reason for targeting the candidates' families. Be extra careful during the exam."

"Hmm." Du Mingxian was also someone who had infiltrated the inner courtyard. Even if something went wrong on the day of the exam, she would definitely be dragged into it.

Time flies.

Seven days after Du Mingxian dug the hole in the restaurant, Chen Ming delivered something to her.

Wu Daniu hosted banquets quite frequently, sometimes with women and sometimes with men. Today's situation was rather serious, so Chen Ming dared not delay. After writing down his thoughts, he gathered all the information together and then quietly went to the courtyard where Du Mingxian lived.

"Is there any water? Can I have some water to drink?"

Chen Ming's voice rang out in the courtyard. Du Mingxian heard it immediately and went out to see Chen Ming standing in the courtyard, dressed in tattered clothes.

"I have water here, wait for me to bring it to you."

Du Mingxian was also extremely anxious, so she first brought Chen Ming a bowl of water.

After Chen Ming finished drinking the water, he was about to leave when Ling Silang stepped forward and said, "Wait a moment, have something to eat before you go."

"Thank you, thank you," Chen Ming said, looking very grateful.

"Come in and wait a while, it's too cold outside."

Chen Ming was waiting for these words: "Thank you, kind sir, thank you."

After Chen Ming came in, Du Mingxian asked in a low voice, "What happened?"

Chen Ming hurriedly handed the papers in his arms to Du Mingxian, "He comes frequently. There wasn't anything important the past few days, and my sister hasn't been there, so I didn't deliver them. But today's matter seems a bit urgent, so I quickly delivered them."

Du Mingxian didn't know what else to say. "Okay, wait a moment, grab some food and leave."

"it is good."

Ling Silang gave Chen Ming some pastries, saying, "Take these and eat them as you walk. Don't go back yet. Wander around outside and see if anyone is following you. Don't come here by yourself again. Try to get Chunfeng and the others to contact us."

"Yes." Chen Ming then remembered that there were other people at home, and he had forgotten about it in his haste.

Du Mingxian was already looking at what Chen Ming had recorded. There hadn't been anything important in the past few days; it was just some friends, and the conversations were rather mundane.

One record states that Wu Daniu took a woman out to eat and showed her great concern; she was likely Wu Daniu's mistress.

The last one is from today.

Wu Daniu brought a man over, and the two chatted as follows.

Wu Daniu: "We must be careful in everything we do. We absolutely cannot afford to make any mistakes this time."

Man: "Don't worry, although this is our first time doing something like this, we have enough manpower. They are just ordinary women, so it's very simple for us."

Wu Daniu: "It's always good to be careful. You did a good job this time, and the higher-ups will give you credit."

Man: "Of course, we're cooperating, so we'll do our best. It's a good thing for you and for us."

The two didn't talk much about other things, except for one key point: they had set the date for their operation as the day of the scientific expedition.