The Eldest Daughter Returns: Imperial Uncle, I'm Pregnant!

As soon as Ba Quan took action, someone ran to report to Gu Qingwan.

"Miss, Master has sent someone out to find a doctor."

"Just as Miss predicted," Baoqin said.

Gu Qingwan looked knowing and instructed Ning Yi, who had come to deliver the message, "Thank you for your trouble. Baoqin, give Ning Yi some loose silver."

“Miss, I don’t need any money,” Ning Yi quickly waved his hand.

"It's not for you. Take it and give it as a reward to the messenger, so that he can continue to keep an eye on things for us and give you all a break."

Upon hearing that it was for a reward, Ning Yi said, "Then I definitely don't need it. Miss has already given me a lot of money, and I have already given you a reward."

"There will be plenty of places to spend money in the future. If you are generous with your money, you won't be short of cash when you need it. Remember to ask if you need anything. Your young lady may lack many things, but she is never short of money."

Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing Gu Qingwan's words, and the atmosphere in the room became exceptionally relaxed and pleasant.

Baoqin came over with several money bags and handed them to Ningyi. "Brother Ningyi, take these quickly. We're lucky to have such a wealthy customer. These two bags are for you to use as tips. You can do whatever you want with them."

Ning Yi knew that her young lady was not stingy, so she stopped refusing and prepared to take these things and do her job even more diligently.

"Give the order to proceed according to plan, and make sure there are no mistakes. Remind our men that our master is very suspicious, so only tell them half of what you mean."

"Don't worry, Miss."

After the Third Prince's residence saw off the Gu sisters and the Yu family's young lady, the place became much quieter. As the saying goes, three women make a drama. Even though Gu Qingwan remained aloof and silent, it was enough for the other two women to stir up trouble.

Xiao Yuheng sat in the study, rubbing his head with a headache. His raised arm was still aching slightly, especially since too much ice had been added. Not only were his legs unbearably itchy, but the joints in his arm were also sore.

Actually, this isn't even the worst of it. If it's cloudy and rainy, it'll be even more unbearable. I wonder if he's just not in harmony with rain. Whenever it's related to rain, he's bound to be the unlucky one. He should at least find a Taoist priest to tell his fortune and fix his bad luck.

Speaking of Taoist priests, Xiao Yuheng remembered the Taoist priest in the capital who had predicted that he would be in trouble. Moreover, it was this Taoist priest's words that caused his achievements outside to go to waste, and now the Crown Prince had benefited from it.

"How's the Taoist priest's inquiry going?"

At this moment, a guard appeared and said, "Reporting to Master, that Taoist priest is the very famous Taoist priest Huang from Qingquan Temple. Many families in the capital seek him out to perform fortune telling."

"Where is he? I ordered you to bring him back, where did you take him?"

“Your subordinates have failed in their duties. That Taoist priest Huang has been in seclusion since he finished approving the plaques. Your subordinates sent people to keep watch nearby, but we have not seen him for many days. We have also not seen anyone bringing food inside, so we suspected that no one was inside. That’s why we grabbed the boy and asked him. It turns out that this so-called seclusion was just Taoist priest Huang going on a pilgrimage.”

"It took you so many days to realize this? What are you even good for?!"

"I have failed in my duty, please punish me, Master!" The guard immediately knelt down to beg for forgiveness.

"Heh, after doing such a big thing, you actually have the leisure to go on a journey?" Xiao Yuheng didn't believe it. He always felt that this Taoist priest Huang was being manipulated by his descendants.

"It is said that he was punished by heaven for revealing the secrets of heaven, and he has to go out and do more good deeds to make up for his moral deficiency."

"Hmph, so he knows he's immoral? Have you investigated who's behind him?"

"Reporting to Master, we have been searching day and night and found that there is no one behind Master Huang. Master Huang's identity and life story are pretty much as rumored. The only difference is that Master Huang is not always accurate in his divination. In his early years, he was kicked out of other places because his divination was inaccurate."

"Ha, a self-serving charlatan. How dare he target me, the prince, if no one is pulling the strings behind the scenes?"

"Furthermore, we have discovered that it is not only us who are searching, but also the Crown Prince's side and the Prime Minister's residence. Other noble ladies have also sent people to inquire."

"The Crown Prince's and the Prime Minister's residences?"

"My subordinates investigated at the Prime Minister's residence and found out that it was the Prime Minister's wife's idea."

"It's nothing to worry about, it's just that the Crown Prince is also searching for him. That's intriguing. If he really is on the Crown Prince's side, the Crown Prince wouldn't need to go through all that trouble to search for him. What is this charlatan running for?"

Hongxiu finished grinding the inkstone, put away the brush the Third Prince needed, straightened her sleeves, and whispered, "Master, could it be that the Taoist priest deliberately tried to attract your attention but didn't want to be taken away by the Crown Prince, so he did that..."

Xiao Yuheng's eyes flickered. It wasn't impossible. "You mean, this Taoist priest Huang wants to join my ranks, but because of his lowly status, he chose to present such a sensational matter to me as a way of testing the waters?"

"This servant is short-sighted and cannot figure out why this Taoist priest Huang, who has no background, would do this. I think our secret guards should not have misinformed us."

Xiao Yuheng nodded, his finger lightly tapping on some information about Master Huang that his bodyguards had presented to him on the table. He was quite confident in his bodyguards, who were always reliable in their intelligence gathering abilities.

"Then why did he run away?"

Hongxiu touched the bowl of the Third Prince's medicine, felt that the temperature was about right, and brought it over, saying, "He must be scared, after all, he provoked you in this way. What if you don't appreciate him but want to kill him instead? If he doesn't run away, his life might be in danger."

Xiao Yuheng thought about it and realized it made sense. This Taoist priest Huang was quite capable, but not very bold. If he could get such a person to work for him, he would definitely be a great help in the future.

If he could use his methods to eventually turn the people in the Imperial Observatory into his own, wouldn't the winds of change be entirely his to dictate?

“Hmm, Hongxiu makes a good point, but I’m still a little uneasy. Order the search to continue until you’re absolutely sure and find the Taoist priest Huang and bring him to me. Remember, if there are really no problems, treat him with the utmost courtesy and invite him back to me.”

The guard bowed in response to the order and vanished in a flash, as if he had never been there at all.

Seeing that the guards had all left, Hongxiu, carrying the medicine, said, "Master, would you like to drink your medicine?"

Looking at the bowl of bitter medicine, Xiao Yuheng couldn't help but feel a bitter taste rising in his stomach. He had been pampered since childhood, and even when he was sick, the Imperial Concubine would find ways to make the medicine less bitter.

But now that he's an adult, we can't expect the imperial physicians to cater to his tastes like they did when he was a child; it would be laughable if word got out.

"Give it to me." Xiao Yuheng gritted his teeth and poured the bowl of black soup down his throat.

Seeing this, Hongxiu quickly took out the plums she had prepared and put them to his lips, which made Xiao Yuheng feel a little better.

"I don't know when I can stop drinking this herbal soup."

"Please bear with it for a few more days, my lord. Fortunately, your leg is fine."

Hongxiu lifted his leg, and Xiao Yuheng couldn't help but feel a dark cloud in his eyes. It takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone, and it would be very good if he, Xiao Yuheng, could recover in a hundred days. However, he and his advisors discussed that he absolutely could not recover so quickly.

Before things had settled down, the Emperor, out of consideration for his injuries, couldn't bear to make things difficult for him. Even if he were to recover, he would only be able to fully recover after the Crown Prince returned to the capital.

"By the way, did you get a clear look at Gu Qingwan's situation?"

Hongxiu shook her head. "It's not like what the Third Prince described."

"Did you see it clearly?" Xiao Yuheng asked, frowning.

"Your Majesty, I did look at it carefully, but I couldn't look too openly. Perhaps the position was a little wrong, who knows?"

"We still need to find an opportunity to verify that."

"Will..."

"Probably not. By the way, did Miss Biao say anything more to her?"

"The young lady didn't say much, she just inquired about the second young lady's habits and such."

"Of course, Qiu'er is a perceptive person. She wants to find out more so that she can get along well with Jiao'er when she gets back."

"Your Majesty, the Princess Consort... really wants to..."

"what happened?"

"This servant just feels that it's a bit... a bit unfair to Master that someone like you is paired with Miss Gu."

Xiao Yuheng remained silent for a while. In the past, he would not have felt wronged.

Gu Hanjiao is the legitimate daughter of the Prime Minister's mansion. She was raised by Prime Minister Gu and has the support of Gu Ziming. Half of the civil officials in the court will be more inclined to support him, and this will continue even if he marries Gu Hanjiao.

However, with Gu Qingwan by his side, Xiao Yuheng's mind started to wander. If he married Gu Qingwan, not only would the Prime Minister's Mansion and the Duke of Ningguo's Mansion become his support. But the problem was that Gu Ziming didn't seem to care about Gu Qingwan, his eldest daughter, and he was unwilling to offend Gu Ziming for the sake of a woman.

Xiao Yuheng regretted not following his mother's arrangements and insisting that Gu Hanjiao was a good person.

"Let's not talk about that now. She's the best choice for now." As he spoke, Xiao Yuheng stared at a certain spot and asked, "Has anyone else been to the study today?"

"What's wrong, Master? No one has approached the courtyard of the study today. Is there something amiss?"

"It's nothing. Maybe I'm just overthinking it. I just feel like something's not right."

Upon hearing this, Hongxiu quickly went behind Xiao Yuheng to massage his shoulders. "Master is probably too tired. Please rest. I will arrange for dinner to be served in the flower hall when it is ready. It is cooler there and your appetite will be better."

"You are the most considerate one. I will definitely not mistreat you if you follow me." Xiao Yuheng patted the jade hand on his shoulder.

Hongxiu smiled but didn't say anything. She and Tianxiang were the head maids by their master's side. Tianxiang was in charge of the Third Prince's daily life, while she was in charge of things in the study.

The two of them have long been the Third Prince's women, so there's no question of them being mistreated. As long as they're treated well, they'll likely have a bright future ahead of them.

The unlucky fellow Gu Qingwan mentioned, under her guidance, successfully sneaked into Xiao Yuheng's study and easily found the entrance to the secret room, from which he obtained the list he wanted.

Inside the Chu King's study, Xiao Yi confidently reported, "Your Highness, I didn't expect the Third Prince's study to be so well hidden. If it weren't for the Princess Consort, I would have had to stake it out for a few more days."