The cousin's family is extremely wealthy; she deserves to be a concubine.

Madam Shen gave He Zhizhang a meaningful look. "Now that Rong'er has had this incident, I'm planning to find her a suitable husband as soon as possible. What do you think?"

He Zhizhang stroked the jade pendant at his waist, regaining his usual gentle demeanor, but the smile on his face did not reach his eyes. "Mother, you can decide what to do."

Madam Shen couldn't discern her son's true thoughts. She figured that since the new bride had just entered the family, it was impossible for the couple to have no harmony for the first month or two.

Then she asked about the theft, "Do you know how your father plans to handle the missing books from the study?"

He Zhizhang frowned slightly, feeling a bit of a headache. "I don't know. Let's see what Father and Grandmother think. That book clearly belongs to my second sister. Why is Mother going to all this trouble?"

Madam Shen also felt annoyed. "You are the heir of our Marquis's mansion. She is just a concubine's daughter, bringing her own dowry. How dare she!"

I did all this for you and Zhuzhu, but who knew that that brat Xiangcao had ulterior motives and secretly sent out the original as a copy.

"If I had known that the book in the inner study was genuine, would I have let a thief steal it? Didn't you look through that book that day? Didn't you notice anything amiss then?"

He Zhizhang also felt deeply regretful, "At the time, I only thought the book was good, and I didn't think much about it in other aspects."

Shen waved wearily at He Zhizhang, "Never mind, it's all too distressing to talk about."

Go back and explain things to your wife. You're newlyweds; don't let anything go wrong.

Seeing that it was getting late, He Zhizhang decided not to linger and went straight back to the bridal chamber.

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night. Although Madam Shen left He Zhizhu's courtyard, Wenqin was kept behind by He Zhizhu.

He Zhizhu stared at Wenqin and chuckled, but Wenqin felt a sense of oppression. This was no longer the innocent and lovely Seventh Sister from before.

"Have you cleaned up the mess regarding my second sister's drowning? Don't give anything away. You need to understand that if you're exposed by the investigation, I will absolutely not save you."

Wenqin quickly knelt down, "This servant dares not, this matter has nothing to do with Seventh Miss, it was all done by this servant alone."

He Zhizhu admired her manicured nails and chuckled, "Sister Wenqin, get up quickly, don't let my mother see. If others see you kneeling before me, they might accuse me of bullying you."

Wenqin remained silent, almost prostrate on the ground.

Seeing that Wenqin was frightened by her, He Zhizhu changed the subject, "It's not impossible for you to become my brother's concubine. I said before that if you do your best to serve me, I will do you a favor."

A blush crept onto Wenqin's cheeks, and she was secretly pleased. Although she had taken a great risk today, it was wonderful to have received the promise from the Seventh Sister.

He Zhizhu continued, "You are my mother's head maid. In two or three months, I will whisper in her ear and ask her to give my elder brother one or two maids to share with him. I think I am very confident that I can accomplish this small matter."

Wenqin was so excited that her hands trembled. "Thank you so much, Seventh Miss."

He Zhizhu's eyes flashed with disdain, "As long as you do your job well for me, I will definitely not treat you unfairly."

Wenqin's voice rose two decibels in response, "Yes, this servant is at Seventh Miss's beck and call at any time."

Today, I deliberately diverted the kitchen staff from Miss Biao's side, so that the head housekeeper would have a reason to ask Miss Biao for people.

Everything was going according to plan. I had been sending people to keep an eye on the door to the side hall. Since Miss Biao hadn't stepped out of the room, I assumed she had been inside the room the whole time.

Later, Young Master Zeng and Sanhao arrived. I personally watched Young Master Zeng enter the room from a distance. Everything was going extremely smoothly until Young Master Zeng turned out to be a fool; he couldn't even recognize his own cousin.

Speaking of this, Wenqin was also very angry.

With all the right timing, location, and people, Zeng Ke, that idiot, still managed to mess things up. He's hopeless and deserves to be poor his whole life.

Seeing that He Zhizhu did not stop her, Wenqin continued to complain, "After a while, Sanhao also sneaked into the room. The three of them were together, and I didn't even realize that Sanhao had such thoughts."

But Sanhao and the Third Master have an ambiguous relationship. I really don't understand why she would be interested in Young Master Zeng.

And then there's that young master Zeng. Although his family isn't well-off, he hasn't lived too badly these past years thanks to our Third Madam. I really don't understand how he could have taken a fancy to Sanhao, who has lost her virginity.

Many of the maids in the third master's courtyard have been harmed by him, but many are also innocent. If Young Master Zeng wants to curry favor with the third mistress, he should choose one who is on her side.

He Zhizhu listened with great interest to Wenqin's gossip, thinking to herself that she hadn't expected there to be such scheming among the young girls. She would have to dig deeper and make good use of it.

Wenqin then said, "I figured the situation inside was about right, so I turned a corner and prepared to lure people over to catch the adulterers in the act."

The original plan was to lure the Third Miss with her people, but the Third Miss had a rather impatient temper, couldn't keep things to herself, and loved to watch others have a good time.

She and several noble ladies were originally coming this way when a scream came from the side room. I thought that what followed would be a natural progression.

Who knew that a cousin would suddenly appear out of nowhere? When I saw the cousin standing there so beautifully, I was completely stunned.

If the young lady is here, then who is the one being called out to from inside the house?

"This servant fears it might be one of the noble ladies who came to our manor today for the wedding banquet. If something were to happen to a noble lady from the capital here, even if we could completely absolve ourselves of responsibility, the Old Madam and our mistress would not let this servant off the hook afterward."

Of course, the mastermind, Seventh Sister, is probably in dire straits herself.

Wenqin was a little scared. "Just when I was at a loss, the noble ladies that the Third Miss brought actually went to play in the pavilion. I breathed a huge sigh of relief at that time."

Later, when Granny Zhang and Granny Wang went to deal with the matters in the side hall, I stopped many curious ladies and young ladies who wanted to peek from the other side of the corridor.

Wenqin's words could be seen as a way of exonerating herself. At least, although the matter would be subject to speculation from the outside world, she had managed to cover it up in general.

He Zhizhu also felt regretful. Who would have thought that her gentle and kind cousin Rong would do something as outrageous as climbing through a window?

Looking at Wenqin's equally disappointed face, she couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing. "What? My cousin is right there, and you're disappointed?"

Wenqin quickly composed herself, "This servant wouldn't dare."

He Zhizhu: "Whether you dare or not is none of my business. Anyway, I want to hear rumors about the young lady of the Muqing Marquis's mansion being unlucky all over the capital tomorrow, and have them made into rhymes and sung by the little kids on the street. I think that would be great."

Wenqin perked up as well, "Don't worry, Miss, I guarantee I'll handle this perfectly."

He Zhizhu smiled and nodded.

After asking the questions, Wenqin was about to take her leave, but she hesitated.

He Zhizhu frowned and said unhappily, "Just say what you have to say, why are you beating around the bush?"

Wenqin had no choice but to voice her doubts, "I find the matter of the Second Miss falling into the water rather suspicious."

Upon hearing this, He Zhizhu immediately perked up. "Oh? What makes you say that?"