The Crown Princess is dead, the Imperial Grandson is dead, and Guan Yingying is secretly delighted. The Crown Prince is no good, but once she sleeps with him, he's hers.

He is powerful; any woman who touches the Crown Prince deserves to die, and the child she bears should also die!

However, this distorted mentality can never be explained to outsiders.

Why does she hate Xie Zhaozhao so much? It's because Xie Zhaozhao is more beautiful, richer, and has a higher status than her. Not only was she betrothed to Gu Chengyan since childhood, but she also married the even better Gu Shaoyu.

She's feeling unwell!

She's jealous, but she won't admit it, at least not verbally.

"Yingying, is this panacea really that powerful? Could there be any danger?"

That year, Guan Yingying caused too many distressing things, and Gu Chengyan developed psychological trauma.

"Eating too much at once is dangerous, but eating too little is perfectly fine. It will only make him addicted. Don't worry, I will make sure my man has a bright future."

"My man" pleased Gu Chengyan, and the two of them snuggled together, devising several plans to lure the Crown Prince into their trap. They were determined to ensnare the Crown Prince.

Seeing that she was in a good mood, Gu Chengyan immediately brought up another matter: "How about we hold Yuebai's adoption ceremony during the New Year? He is the eldest grandson of the family and should return to the family to inherit the marquis title."

Guan Yingying had to focus on her business and didn't have the energy to take care of the children, so there was no safer option than entrusting them to the Marquis's mansion.

"Yingying, let Xie raise Yuebai. We'll go all out for our future. When the time comes, I'll bring you home in a grand sedan chair. I'll divorce Xie or abandon her, and our family of three, four, or five will be reunited."

"Who's going to talk to you about four or five bites?" Guan Yingying said reproachfully. "One month of white hair is enough of a headache."

“Yingying, although the Grand Canal project has been suspended, I still made a considerable profit from the 20,000 taels of silver from the Xie family. Besides the 20,000 taels you took to Nanzhao, we still have 10,000 taels left,” Gu Chengyan said. “That’s enough for us to live on. Yingying, how about having another child?”

"Then give me ten thousand taels, and I'll go to the East City and rent a teahouse..."

Cats and dogs were fighting fiercely in broad daylight in the No. 3 courtyard of Tianhou Lane!

The man from courtyard number one brought a ladder and leaned over the wall of courtyard number three, listening greedily and clicking his tongue enviously: "That's really wild! Even the prostitutes in the building aren't this exciting!"

Nianke and Yanke were returning from grocery shopping when they heard this melodious and sweet voice at the gate, and they turned around and ran away!

Guan Yingying and Gu Chengyan were making love in the room, while Aunt Wang and Gu Yuebai dared not go home in the heavy snow.

Nianke and Yanke hid away from home, and the three adults and one child spent their time in the general store.

Yan Ke asked Aunt Wang, "Aunt Wang, where did you used to live?"

Aunt Wang said that they used to live in this courtyard, but when the young master grew up and wanted to go out to find a teacher, he moved to the Marquis's mansion.

Nianke and Yanke were filled with longing for the Marquis's mansion and said enviously, "Isn't the Marquis's mansion much bigger than this place?"

Before Aunt Wang could say anything, Gu Yuebai said, "Yes, it's much, much bigger than here..." He stretched out his arms wide to show how big it was.

Yan Ke said enviously, "I've heard that wealthy families have a lot of rules, and they don't even dare to speak loudly while eating?"

"Of course!" Gu Yuebai immediately pictured Xie Zhaozhao and Gu Shaoyu and said proudly, "When we ate at the Marquis's residence, there were six people serving us. Some served tea, some carried bowls, some were responsible for serving dishes, some were responsible for serving soup, and some were responsible for bringing warm towels to wipe our hands."

Yan Ke and Nian Ke's eyes widened in astonishment: "My goodness, how incredibly wealthy is this? How much silver does a single meal cost?"

"Then..." Gu Yuebai really didn't know how much silver it would cost, but the largest number he knew was nine hundred, and the largest number was ten hundred.

"Ten hundred! Ten hundred taels of silver," Gu Yuebai said arrogantly. "They eat very little; they only eat one bite and then stop."

"Just one bite?"

"Mmm, just one bite."

"What about all that leftover food?"

"Throw it away! Give the good stuff to the servants, and the bad stuff to the dogs, to Big Stupid."

"Big Dumb?"

"A very, very fat cat!"

Thus, Nianke and Yanke developed a new concept of high society: a large table of delicious food, the nobles only eat one bite, and the rest is fed to servants or dogs!

Yan Ke thought to herself, this is how my life is going to be. In my next life, I want to be reborn as a dog in a marquis's mansion and eat meat until I'm stuffed every day.

Nianke and Yanke kept pestering Gu Yuebai with questions, and Gu Yuebai derived great satisfaction from their envious gazes.

Gu Yuebai wanted to return to the Marquis's mansion after staying in Nancheng for two days.

While taking a bath, he complained, "It's freezing! In the Marquis's mansion, there's underfloor heating, so we don't need to wear thick clothes and shoes. We can run around in just socks."

During the meal, he complained, "I want ten dishes, I want three soups, I want bird's nest, I want to eat..."

While sleeping, he complained: "I want a beautiful, poetic scene to accompany me to sleep, and for someone to sing me a song."

Guan Yingying was busy planning her business, and seeing how much he complained, she beat him up a few times.

Gu Chengyan felt sorry for him and said, "Why did you hit him? Who doesn't yearn for comfort? Send him back to the Marquis's mansion. With children around to take care of things, Xie Shi won't cause trouble for no reason."

Seeing her reluctance, Gu Chengyan said, "Adoption is only in name. He is still your son, and no one can stop him. My third uncle went to study in another place when he was five years old and did not return until he was sixteen. He became the top scholar in the imperial examination and is still filial to my grandmother."

When Guan Yingying thought of Gu Shaoyu, a handsome and noble man suddenly appeared in her mind's eye. She really wanted to rush over to him. If only Xie Zhaozhao weren't there!

No, the most beautiful one is Yin Jin'an, it's just a pity that the person is too cruel!

I'll definitely give him the panacea; I don't believe I can't tame him...

On the nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Gu Chengyan returned to the Marquis's residence and went with his mother, Madam Tu, to the old lady's Ci'en Courtyard.

“Grandmother, I want to take advantage of the free time during the New Year to adopt Yuebai under the Xie family name.”

The old lady frowned and said, "Can't it be a little later? Your haste to adopt is arousing suspicion. Will the Xie family interfere? Have you thought about how you're going to explain this to Lord Xie?"

Gu Chengyan said, "Xie Xiangxiang has broken ties with the Xie family."

"A complete break? What do you mean?"

Not to mention the old lady, even Madam Tu was greatly surprised.

"Explain yourself. What do you mean? How did she break ties with the Xie family?"

Gu Chengyan said, "Some things happened at the Xie family home when we returned to our parents' home, but I didn't know the specifics at the time. When the witchcraft doll incident happened, I interrogated Xiangxing and Biyou separately and told them that if they told me what happened on the day of the return visit, I would let them go. Xiangxing refused to talk, but Biyou did."

Xie Xiangxiang and Xie Tingting conspired to poison their half-brother, Xie Zhaozhao, but their attempt failed, and they were expelled from the mansion by Xie Anfeng.

"She's actually an abandoned daughter of the Xie family who was expelled!" Madam Tu gritted her teeth in anger.

"In addition, because of this incident, Madam Xie, Madam Xu, and the Third Miss were sent to the family temple and were not allowed to return to the mansion."

"No wonder we haven't seen anyone for so long. Damn it! This is outrageous!"

Tu was furious.

No wonder she refused to marry into the Prince Jing's mansion and insisted on marrying into a Marquis's family instead; she was a discarded son of a family!