After all, at the palace banquet that day, the Empress and His Majesty had declared that Gu Qing was the most talented woman in the capital.

Compared with others, there is nothing special about me.

If anyone can outshine Gu Qing tomorrow, the title of the most talented woman in the capital will naturally fall on that person.

Gu Qing sat in the pavilion drinking tea, the corners of her smiling lips raised, and she couldn't help but pull up a curve -

"Young Madam, why are you not panicking at all? My heart is pounding non-stop right now." Cuiru said while stroking her heart with her hand. She looked up and down at her young madam with a look that was hard to describe.

Gu Qing gently tapped Cuiru's head with his hand, "Why are you so nervous? We're just holding a poetry gathering in our own house. What are you afraid of?"

Cui Ru shrugged her shoulders, her eyes darting around. Seeing that no one was around, she slowly murmured, "Of course I'm terrified. If I don't do something right, they'll find fault with me later."

It’s just that the food is simpler. When the country is in crisis, who can find fault with the Chen family?

Everyone was only focusing on the fact that the banquet was too simple, and no one cared about the most important thing—

"You better go to the kitchen and keep an eye on it tonight. No matter what happens tomorrow, you must carefully monitor the food and drink expenses at the singing party. Don't let anything go wrong. If someone in our Chen family eats something and something goes wrong, that would be real trouble." Gu Qing warned Cuiru with some concern.

Hearing that Pei'er's condition has improved a lot in the past few days, Gu Qing's heart sank.

Gu Miao will definitely come to the Chen family tomorrow, and it is possible that Aunt Liu will come too.

If they see Pei'er missing, they will definitely become suspicious. In this case, why not just go with the flow?

"Young Madam, did I hear you correctly just now? You said you wanted to release Pei'er?" Cui Ru widened her eyes in surprise, and stood there in shock, looking at Gu Qing and asked.

Gu Qing nodded and smiled. She placed the porcelain cup in her hand heavily on the table. After a pause, she said quietly, "Send someone to keep an eye on her. Report Pei'er's every move to me."

Cui Ru scratched her head in confusion, her face full of anguish. "Since you, Madam, don't trust her so much, why did you let her stir up trouble at the poetry gathering tomorrow?"

"You, where do you get so many whys from?" Gu Qing smiled, she gathered her sleeves and sat lazily leaning against the chair.

In desperation, Cui Ru had no choice but to agree to her young mistress's words and go down to do as she was told...

After all these days, even if Cui Ru was a bit dumb, she could tell that their young mistress was always on guard against Pei'er. But she couldn't understand why Pei'er was clearly the young mistress's maidservant and had served her for so long.

Even though Cuiru had millions of doubts in her heart, she had to obey the young lady's words and do the job well.

The first thing Pei'er did when she left the room was to find Gu Qing to express her gratitude.

"I thank the young lady for her kindness during this period. You even sent someone to find the best doctor to treat Pei'er. Young lady, you are such a kind person." Pei'er knelt on the ground, her face full of gratitude.

If it weren't for what he had experienced before, Gu Qing would have been moved by Pei'er's sincerity...

Seeing that she only smiled faintly and remained silent, Pei'er murmured, "This time, my illness has come at an unexpected time. I was worried that the servants of the Chen family wouldn't be able to serve the young lady, so I wanted to come out and serve you earlier. But then, Granny Liu said I wasn't fully recovered from my illness and was afraid that I might pass on my illness to you, so she forbade me from leaving the house. I don't know what her intentions were."

Everything Pei'er said was true, and Gu Qing knew all of this because she was the one who personally arranged this matter.

But facing Pei'er, she still raised her eyebrows and pretended to be puzzled and surprised: "Oh? There is such a thing?"

"Is the young lady doing well these days? When I was away, were the servants taking good care of her?" Pei'er also smiled, as if a long-planned plan was about to succeed.

Gu Qingqing shook his head and sighed: "It's nothing, there is nothing to complain about me, please stand up and speak."

Pei'er could vaguely sense that ever since the young lady married into the Chen family, she always felt an inexplicable sense of alienation...

But everything on weekdays was no different from usual at the mansion.

Pei'er was extremely anxious.

But when she thought about the singing competition tomorrow, she knew that her chance was coming soon.

As long as the lady keeps her by her side, how can she be afraid that it will be difficult to find an opportunity?

Pei'er stood beside Gu Qing, serving him diligently. In response to this, Gu Qing simply said to her, "You have just recovered from a serious illness. There is no shortage of people to serve you in this mansion. You still have to take care of yourself at all times. If you feel unwell, it won't hurt to rest for a few more days."

"Miss, what are you talking about? I have rested for a long time these days, and you even specially asked someone to invite a doctor for me. What's more, aren't you hosting a singing and poetry meeting tomorrow? If I can help out a little more, it will also save you some worries." Pei'er didn't notice anything wrong when she spoke.

Can--

It was Pei'er's words that made Gu Qing realize that something was wrong.

Pei'er had been recuperating in her bedroom for so many days, so how did she know that she was about to prepare a singing competition?

Gu Qing frowned slightly, and a wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows.

She wondered if she was overthinking it. After all, once bitten, one becomes afraid of the rope for ten years...

As night fell, Gu Qing was really worried.

All the memories of her previous life seemed to be deeply engraved in her mind. Every time she saw Pei'er and watched her words and actions, Gu Qing couldn't help but have a lot of thoughts.

The wind gently rustled the leaves outside the window.

Gu Qing glanced at the person standing beside her and subconsciously called out, "Pei'er?"

The room was silent and there was no response.

She slowly sat up, picked up her shoes, took two steps outside, and glanced out the window.

Seeing that it was almost midnight, she knew that since the court situation had been unstable in the past few days, Chen Zhizhou had been coming back later and later every day. She had long been accustomed to it.

only--

Pei'er should have been waiting by her bedside tonight, but when she woke up, Pei'er was nowhere to be found?

Strange!