In order to save on travel expenses, Yunniang endured the pain all over her body and walked from the east to the west of the city yesterday. She originally planned to go home and stay for a few days even if she was stabbed, and then slowly ask someone to find her a job.

It took her about an hour to reach Maoerduo Lane. Before she even reached her home, she heard her mother cursing in a shrill voice, making the whole place in chaos.

Her mother liked to gamble with the neighbors for a small amount of money. Whenever she lost, she would go home and find trouble with her sister and her daughter. All they did was scold her, but it was all about a small amount of money.

Fearing that her mother would take away her jewelry, Yunniang took advantage of the darkness when no one could see her return and turned around to find a cheap inn nearby, planning to stay there for the night until her mother recovered and then go home early the next morning.

Ever since Yunniang entered the Taifu Mansion as a maid and then followed Huo Jincheng, she had not tasted simple meals for many years. She ate a few mouthfuls to fill her stomach, washed up and went to bed, but she couldn't fall asleep.

Although she was a concubine in the Huo family, she lived a wealthy life without having to work. How could she be willing to be reduced to this state?

The more she thought about it, the more she hated Jian Ning. She was convinced that it was Jian Ning who instigated Huo Jincheng and his daughter to become estranged from her. As she hated him, her eyelids became heavy. When she opened her eyes again, she was shocked to find that she had been robbed.

For a moment, he felt as if the sky was falling and the earth was collapsing. He started crying and shouting that he wanted to arrest the shop owner and take him to see the authorities. He pointed at the shop owner's nose and cursed him for running a black shop.

The shop owner's wife was not someone to be trifled with. She jumped up and pointed at her, cursing her as a thief who had run away from some wealthy family and stolen all the gold, silver and treasures.

As the two were arguing, someone shouted that Yunniang seemed to be the daughter of a family in Maoerduo Lane downstairs. Frightened, Yunniang quickly abandoned the innkeeper and fled cursing.

If her mother knew that she had stayed in an inn near her home and had her jewelry taken away, her mother would probably want to kill her with a knife.

Yunniang, who had nowhere to go after escaping from the inn, had no choice but to walk to the east of the city, hoping that Huo Jincheng would help her recover her stolen property after seeing her miserable condition.

As a result, before she arrived at the Huo Mansion, she ran into Meixiang who was out buying groceries.

Ever since Meixiang knew that she might be Pei Xiyuan's niece, she didn't want to stay in that poor alley for a moment. She stayed there under the pretext that her father asked her to come and help Pei Xiyuan and the others with cooking.

At this moment, she came across the distraught Yunniang and hurriedly pulled her aside. "This is terrible. You don't know yet, but that vicious woman is actually the legitimate daughter of the Prince of Pingnan who went missing when she was young."

"What kind of world is this? How come she gets all the good things?"

"If you ask me, she is truly the scourge that has endured for a thousand years. Even the Thunder God can't kill her..."

She chattered away happily, completely oblivious to Yunniang's strange expression. Yunniang knew Huo Jincheng and Miss Duan from the Pingnan Palace had been engaged since childhood. She said she and Jian Ning had no past or present grudges, so why would she want to harm her? It turned out she was the eldest daughter of the Pingnan Palace.

Why? Her arrival had caused her to be driven away, and now she had no place to stay. The more she thought about it, the more resentful she became, her eyes almost spitting fire.

"Sister Yun?" Meixiang finally noticed the monologue she had been performing for half a day. "What are you thinking about? Did you come back from home?"

Meixiang saw that the bag she had packed yesterday was gone, and guessed that she had gone back home. It seemed that she still didn't give up and wanted to ask the master for help.

She curled her lips and said, "I'm leaving now. You can go and ask me for help yourself, but I don't think it will work."

"My dear sister, wait a moment." Yunniang held her back. "I didn't understand what you just said. Isn't she from the countryside? How did she suddenly become the eldest daughter of the Prince of Pingnan's mansion?"

"Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Meixiang rolled her eyes. "How could it be wrong? I heard it all. My uncle and Xiong Er said it. I even asked Xiong Er specifically, and he said he was lost when he was four or five years old."

Yunniang's eyelids twitched, and she murmured, "Lost since childhood?"

Meixiang looked her up and down and said, "If you're okay, I'll leave."

It was not until she had walked a long way away that Yunniang realized she was gone. She patted her chest and walked silently towards the Huo Mansion. A terrible idea was growing in her mind, and she was frightened herself.

Yunniang tried desperately to suppress the evil thoughts in her heart. She kept telling herself not to do that, but then she felt that it was Jian Ning's retribution and she deserved it!

There was a conflict in her mind, like a conflict between her conscience and her desires, which made her feel uneasy.

After Yunniang followed Huo Jincheng, she drank too much contraceptive soup and ended up having no children. She wanted to have children herself, and she was afraid that Huo Jincheng would not be so cruel as to drive her away for the sake of the child.

When she arrived at the gate of the Huo Mansion, she looked up at the plaque on the door and felt a pang of sadness in her heart.

She once had the final say inside that door, and she never thought that one day she would be blocked outside by this door.

Please, Master, please, I don't believe that after all these years of companionship, there is really no place for her in your heart! She must not have been able to impress you yet. No matter, there is still a chance. Considering that she drank so much contraceptive soup in the past few years, as long as she mentions this to you, you should forgive her.

Yunniang inexplicably gained confidence. She found a place outside and waited for Huo Jincheng while enduring hunger.

Because the Crown Prince had told him he wouldn't have to go to the palace for the next few days, Huo Jincheng had been drinking with Ding Youtian until late last night, and had just woken up. After washing up and having breakfast, he took the house deed to the other courtyard, ready to call Ding Youtian to the government office.

"What are you looking at?" He saw them from outside the hall through the window, standing head to head at the table, looking at something. When he entered the room, Ding Youtian waved to him, "Come, come and take a look."

On the table, on a piece of rice paper, held down by a ruler, was a diagram of the structure of a wooden bicycle. Ding Youtian had traced it from the charcoal drawing Ma Fuquan had sent him. Huo Jincheng tilted his head to examine it. "What's this drawing of?"

"My wife and I named this a bicycle. You step on the two pedals to move the front and rear wooden wheels, and it can replace a carriage." Ding Youtian glanced at him. "How about this? Do you want to do this lucrative business together?"

Huo Jincheng pushed him aside, and Jian Ning also stepped aside. He looked at the diagram carefully and asked, "Can these two wooden wheels be stabilized?"

He expressed doubts.

Jian Ning tilted his chin towards the painting and said, "When I have a carpenter make it, you'll see if I can ride it all over the street. If you want to partner with me in this business then, you won't have a chance to do it."

"Boss, put the painting away and let's go find a carpenter."

Huo Jincheng hurriedly stopped Ding Youtian and asked, "When did I ever say I didn't want to be a partner? You should at least let me ask you something."

From hybridizing crops to making lamps and glass, even though Huo Jincheng never said it out loud, he was already impressed by their brilliant ideas. How could he miss out on any opportunity to make money?

Ding Youtian said with a smile, "Since we're working together, let's make a deal. We'll provide the blueprints and make it perfect. You'll be responsible for everything else. We'll split the profits in half, how about that?"