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

"What should we do, young master? We... can't make up for it."

"What good are you! You better go and think of a solution for me! Didn't you say that Chen Er has a solution? Go find him now."

"But Miss found out..."

"If you do it in time, she won't notice. Hurry up!"

The dead of night is the perfect time to do shady things. After everyone below had left, Ning Er, who was squatting on a tree nearby, quickly slipped away.

"Miss, things over there seem to be getting out of control. Is there anything I can do?"

Although it was late at night, Gu Qingwan had not yet gone to sleep; she was playing chess with the Prince of Chu who had come to visit.

"This porridge distribution will only last for three days. If nothing unexpected happens, wouldn't these three days be wasted?" King Chu placed a black chess piece down.

"Of course it won't be that easy."

"Since this scheme was set up so early, once it's exposed, our Prime Minister will definitely investigate. We should warn the people at the gambling den to be careful."

"Don't worry, Miss, we've already cleaned up the mess over there," Ning Er replied dutifully. The people they had bribed had already taken care of things, so even if they were caught, it wouldn't matter. The person who caught them wouldn't know who had ordered them to do all this.

Gu Qingwan nodded. She had already arranged for someone to wait outside for the frustrated Gu Changfeng.

How could a proud young master like Gu Changfeng be so easily discouraged by a single setback? His personality would only lead him to give up on himself, especially since Gu Qingwan arranged for Gu Changqing to frequently appear in front of him to make his presence known, which only further irritated Gu Changfeng.

So he completely ignored Dr. Zheng and Wang Ruyan's advice and secretly ran away to seek pleasure, even going to Boss Yin's brothel.

What a joke! If a man doesn't feel ashamed when he's on top of another man, then he's truly unworthy of being called a man.

However, reality was not so kind. Gu Changfeng always failed at crucial moments in bed, which made him very angry. Sometimes he even dared to beat Hua Niang.

So Gu Qingwan asked Boss Yin to arrange for someone to secretly lead Gu Changfeng to gamble in order to vent her resentment. However, the person Boss Yin found was also a clever one. He not only led Gu Changfeng to the gambling house, but also took him to Qingfeng Garden.

What kind of place is Qingfeng Garden? It's a gathering place for all sorts of male prostitutes in the capital, which opened up a whole new world for Gu Changfeng. However, his going there was ultimately different from other people's.

Sitting opposite Gu Qingwan, Xiao Jingchen saw her enigmatic smile and immediately guessed what she was thinking. He threw the black piece in his hand into the box, somewhat displeased.

"Don't do things like that again. I've told you many times that you're not suited to go to that kind of place."

"Why are you meddling in so much? Win against me first." Gu Qingwan didn't care about Xiao Jingchen's annoyance. She knew he always wanted to help her, but some things were more fulfilling to do personally.

The next day, before dawn, Gu Hanjiao was woken up. Rather than being woken up, it was more accurate to say that Gu Hanjiao was frightened awake by a nightmare.

Her right eyelid kept twitching, and her heart was pounding like a drum.

"Miss, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Should we skip today?" Qiu Shuang asked with slight concern, because she noticed that Gu Hanjiao's condition today was far worse than yesterday.

"It's alright, hurry up and get ready. Keep it simple. I'm feeling a little uneasy. Let's go there as soon as possible."

"Miss, Miss!" Chunlu ran in happily from outside. She said, "Miss, look, this was sent by the Third Prince through the side door. He said it was for you."

Gu Hanjiao opened the box and saw a peach blossom hairpin inside, with traces of hand-carving.

"It's so beautiful, it must have been carved by the Third Prince himself, right? Didn't Miss say she wanted something simpler? Why don't you wear this peach blossom hairpin today?"

Gu Hanjiao felt as sweet as if she had drunk honey. When a man gives a gift, it's not important what he gives, but rather the sentiment behind it.

The Third Prince was of noble birth and had always been waited on hand and foot. It was already quite rare for him to personally make a gift for her. Gu Hanjiao put aside her unpleasant feelings for a moment, put on the peach blossom hairpin, and set off.

Early in the morning, the porridge stall was surrounded by people. Gu Hanjiao went to check on the porridge making process according to the procedure. However, the cook who was making the porridge frowned and seemed to have something to say, but did not know where to start.

Gu Hanjiao didn't notice this. She put on an apron, tied her sleeves, and began to serve the porridge with a spoon.

“Miss…” the cook couldn’t help but speak up.

"what happened?"

"It's nothing, Miss, the porridge looks a little off today... and it's not as sweet as yesterday's..."

"It's probably because of the heat, and it's not the same batch of rice. With the Third Prince overseeing things, what could possibly go wrong? Hurry up and get started. Go and cook the next pot of porridge."

The porridge was pretty good at first, white and tender, and it looked quite appetizing when paired with the big white steamed buns next to it.

However, the porridge gradually turned yellow. The reason why the yellowing was noticed was because there were steamed buns next to it for comparison. The contrast between the white and yellow porridge made the old disaster victims start to question it.

"Everyone, take a look! Why has this porridge turned yellow?"

"Huh? I didn't realize I took a big gulp."

"As expected, they've all turned yellow. Look, everyone, this bowl of porridge is the one I made earlier, and this is the porridge this gentleman made earlier. The colors are just different."

"Not only that, but why does it smell musty?"

"Could it be that Miss Gu gave us moldy, stale rice?!"

"No! No! We have to get an explanation. Moldy rice can kill people!"

The people began to voice their opinions, and their voices grew louder and louder, causing the problem to spread faster and faster. By the time Gu Hanjiao and Yu Xinqiu realized what was happening, the disaster victims had already surrounded the soup kitchen.

Yu Xinqiu nervously moved closer to Gu Hanjiao, "Sister Gu, what... what should we do?"

Gu Hanjiao pretended to be calm, but her heart was pounding and she wasn't very calm. However, she couldn't lose face: "What's wrong with everyone? Let's talk it out. Do you think there's not enough porridge? It's okay, we can have more when we finish it."

"What are you drinking? Why aren't you drinking it? This is obviously moldy, stale rice. Are you trying to kill us by giving it to us?"

Chunlu stood in front and shouted, "Stop talking nonsense! Yesterday, my young lady ate the same porridge and steamed buns as everyone else, and nothing happened yesterday, so how could something happen today!"

"Miss, you make it sound nice. The porridge is right in front of you, and its color and taste are clearly different. So, Miss, do you dare to drink a bowl in front of us?"

"That's right, that's right, have a bowl! Have a bowl!"

Gu Hanjiao was startled. Only after being reminded by this person did she have time to look down at the porridge in her hand. So early in the morning, she had only been thinking about the Third Prince and hadn't paid any attention to these things.

Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the porridge was indeed slightly yellow, with specks of black substance on top, and it also had a faint musty smell.

"Yu Xinqiu! Explain this to me properly! This is grain sent by your Yu family!" Gu Hanjiao grabbed Yu Xinqiu's sleeve tightly and whispered a reprimand in her ear.

"I...I don't know, this..."

Gu Hanjiao was no ordinary lady from a prominent family. She quickly realized what was going on and hurriedly smiled to comfort them, saying, "Everyone, please calm down. The granary is right behind us. I'll go and see if it's old rice. It's so early in the morning, and everyone is hungry. If you're worried about the porridge, you can eat some steamed buns first. There's plenty of steamed buns to fill you up."

The leader, seeing that the two young ladies were easy to talk to and good-looking, didn't want to make things difficult for such young girls and decided to listen to their opinions for the time being.

Taking this opportunity, Gu Hanjiao pulled Yu Xinqiu to the back lounge and asked, "Give me a proper explanation, what's going on with this Chen Mi!"

After being startled, Yu Xinqiu clearly came to her senses. She straightened her back and stopped being obsequious. She said, "What are you saying, Sister Gu? When our Yu family and the Prime Minister's Mansion handed over the grain here, you checked it and there were no problems. Moreover, it was the servants of the Third Prince's Mansion who helped with the transportation. Even if there were any problems, what does it have to do with me or our Yu family?"

"What a sharp tongue! I'll go and check it out. If there really is moldy old rice, it must be the work of your Yu family!"

As she spoke, Gu Hanjiao sent someone to check the rice in the back warehouse.

Yu Xinqiu sensed something was wrong and quickly sent someone home to tell her family what had happened.

A moment later, Qiu Shuang stumbled out with an old woman.

"What's wrong? Why are you in such a panic?"

"Miss, something terrible has happened! Half of the rice stored in that warehouse was new rice, and the other half was moldy old rice!"

"What!" Gu Hanjiao was so shocked that she couldn't express herself in words. She hurriedly ran to the warehouse to take a look, only to find that the grain that was originally neatly stacked inside had become a mess. Some of the old rice had been opened, and there was new rice next to it. The two were mixed together. It seemed that the pot from before was a mixed porridge.

"Oh no, oh no, what are we going to do?"

"Miss..." Chunlu was also a little scared at this moment.

"It's alright, it's alright. Fortunately, it was discovered early, and no one got sick from the food. There's still room for recovery."

Gu Hanjiao didn't know if she was comforting Chunlu or herself, but as soon as she finished speaking, the thing she had just worried about happened.

"Miss, something terrible has happened! Someone outside has fainted and is foaming at the mouth. They say it's because they drank our poisoned porridge!"

Gu Hanjiao glared fiercely at Yu Xinqiu: "I will never let you get away with this!"

"You're not letting anyone off the hook! What does this have to do with me? It wasn't me who gave you the stale rice. Maybe it's because your family's dirty deeds have been exposed!"

"you!"

"Oh dear, my lady, let's go out and take a look. This is not the time to argue." This old woman was Wang Ruyan's capable servant, a good housekeeper, and quite experienced. Surprisingly, she was the one who remained relatively calm at this moment.