At the end of the afternoon, Pu Manfang and several servants were finally sent away. Not only did the Min government send a return gift, but Xu Lanyin also sent two boxes of homemade snacks.

As soon as they left, Min Jia pouted and said, "Mother, Aunt Xu, I don't like Miss Pu. She's not nice to Aunt Yue."

Li smiled and said, "Since you don't like her, just spend less time with her in the future. That child is indeed flawed in some ways."

Min Jia is the eldest daughter of the Min family, so there is no need for her to suppress her emotions and make friends with a concubine's daughter.

Xu Lanyue knew that Min Jia was standing up for her, and was very moved. She smiled and said, "Jia Jia, Second Brother, I, we are the Three Heroes of Peach Garden."

Min Jia couldn't control her emotions as well as Xu Lanyue, but she knew far more from books. With a smile, she corrected him, "Aunt Yue is wrong. Liu, Guan, and Zhang are three brothers with different surnames, while you and Uncle Ting are siblings, and you're not of the same generation as me. Let's not be the Three Brothers of Peach Garden, but the Three Gentlemen of Plum Garden... Oh, and with Little Star in the mix, let's be the Four Gentlemen of Plum Garden."

Xu Lanyue immediately agreed, "Okay, okay, quickly write a letter to my second brother and Little Star to make them happy."

The two little girls went to the side room hand in hand to discuss writing a letter.

Min Hu and Zhao Wu did not leave the yamen on time, and Zhao Wu even sent someone to deliver a letter, asking Xu Lanyin to wait for him at Min Mansion.

Xu Lanyin and Li took their two children to eat first.

At the beginning of the Xu hour, someone came to the front yard and told Xu Lanyin that Master Zhao was waiting for her there.

Xu Lanyin asked Xu Lanyue to live in Min Mansion, and she led the maid to the front yard.

Zhao Wu's face didn't look good. Seeing Xu Lanyin coming, he personally helped her into the car and got in himself.

Xu Lanyin asked, "What's wrong?"

Zhao Wudao said, "In the past six months, Hebei has seen four rape and murder cases. The first three occurred in the countryside of different counties, and yesterday's case was on the outskirts of Ningzhou Prefecture. We hadn't previously linked these cases together, but now that we've compared them, it seems they share some similarities, suggesting they were committed by the same person. From now on, tell those girls not to go out at night. Also, remind the people at the teahouse that the girls there need someone to escort them home at night." Seeing Xu Lanyin's intense interest, he added, "Forget it, it's not a good time for you to hear this."

Originally, Xu Lanyin wanted to listen carefully and help analyze the situation herself, but after hearing Zhao Wu's last sentence and touching her big belly, she gave up her curiosity.

After returning home, Xu Lanyin secretly told Zhao Wu about Nanny Yu.

Zhao Wudao, "I'll have someone find a way to investigate her."

The heinous nature of the serial rape and murder cases caused widespread panic, and both the Ministry of Justice and the Provincial Governor Yu urged a quick solution. Zhao Wu often took his men out to stake out the crimes, sometimes not being able to return home for days at a time.

Xu Lanyin rested at home, resting and nurturing her pregnancy. By early October, her belly was already quite large. Her due date was in the first half of the winter month, a little over a year away. The family had already found a midwife, and Qin Shi would be arriving from the capital at the end of the month.

Originally, Zhao Wu and Lu Shi advised her to find a wet nurse, but Xu Lanyin insisted on feeding the baby herself.

In ancient times, wealthy grandmothers would not breastfeed their children themselves, partly because they felt it was beneath their dignity and partly because it would not look good. Xu Lanyin felt that she was the wife of a minor official, and her status was not high to begin with. As for the unsightly appearance, breastfeeding was not for others to see, so as long as she and Zhao Wu did not find it ugly, it was fine.

During this period, not much progress was made in either public cases or personal cases.

On the sixth day of the tenth lunar month, Xu Lanyin took Xu Lanyue and Min Jia to go with Hu Yi to get her dowry, and also invited Qin Hongyu and Min Nan to go with them. Hu Yi was getting married on the ninth day of the first lunar month, and Xu Lanyin, who was pregnant, couldn't attend her wedding that day.

It just so happened that today the Hu family went to Fan Zhong's house to set up the bed, and they watched as the Hu family's furniture was carried over to the Fan family. These furniture had been made several years ago, carved with patterns and inlaid with jade, extremely luxurious, and several times better than Xu Lanyin's furniture.

That Phoenix man, Fan Zhong, is truly blessed. He's found a good wife who can support his family for generations. Ancient times weren't like modern times. A modern woman's family would definitely be reluctant to support a Phoenix man, but ancient times were different. Looking at the Hu family, they believe supporting the Fan family for generations isn't a problem, as long as they treat their daughters well.

Look at the two pretty maids in the room, Xu Lanyin replaced Hu Yikui.

Xu Lanyin's dowry consisted of a pair of jade ruyi (ruyi) ornaments, gifted by the Princess of Nanyang, made by the Imperial Household Department. These items symbolized honor, and even with money, there was no other place to buy them. Even though the Xu family was a royal merchant, her family, as a illegitimate branch of the family, only had a few items made by the Imperial Household Department. Her dowry included two items, both of which she treasured immensely.

Mrs. Hu and Mrs. Xu smiled when they saw Yu Ruyi.

Qin Hongyu added a Suzhou embroidery table screen, and Min Nan added a golden lotus hairpin.

Minjia added a set of blue and white porcelain bowls to replace Li's. The two little girls added hand-embroidered silk scarves. "Hand-embroidered" means the maids were in charge, and they only added a few stitches.

Hu Yi sat on the bed with a shy look on her face, saying "thank you". Xu Lanyin could still see the confusion and fear in her eyes.

After chatting and laughing for a while, Mrs. Hu gave Xu Lanyin a wink, and together with Mrs. Xu, invited all the guests except Xu Lanyin to the living room.

The bedroom immediately fell silent, leaving only Hu Yi and Xu Lanyin.

Hu Yicai whispered, "Sister Xu, I'm scared."

She was really scared, and her voice was trembling.

Xu Lanyin smiled and said, "What's there to be afraid of? Your new home is only half a block away from here. If you miss your parents and brother, just come back to see them." She then took her hand and said, "It's a happy event for a woman to get married. Only after getting married can she become a mother. Look at me, I'm going to give birth to a baby next month. How wonderful."

Hu Yi also liked children. A hint of surprise flashed in her eyes, and then she pouted and said, "But, my mother said that doing that would be painful and would cause bleeding. I'm afraid of the pain."

Xu Lanyin laughed out loud and coaxed her like a child, "You bleed more during menstruation, but you're not afraid. It's painful, but you can just bear with it." Then she asked, "Is the bitter medicine soup bitter?"

Hu Yi said, "It's bitter." Then he said like a good child, "Good medicine tastes bitter. Only by taking it can the disease be cured."

Xu Lanyin praised, "You are right to think so. If you can endure the bitter medicine, you can endure that pain. Only after you have experienced the pain, your husband will like it, and you will be able to have a child..." Then, she told her some physiological and health knowledge, or premarital education.

Hu Yi didn't listen to her mother and sister-in-law, but she definitely listened to Xu Lanyin. The two of them talked in whispers for more than half an hour, and she no longer felt so afraid of getting married.

Several people had lunch at Hu's house before going home.

In the evening, He Dong came home and said that another rape and murder case had occurred in Ningzhou City last night, and this time the victim was not dead. Zhao Wu was busy with this matter and would be back later.

Xu Lanyin took Xu Lanyue and Min Jia to have dinner.