He truly never imagined that one day they would sit at the same table and chat peacefully because of Ah Chen.

Yun Qingluo nodded, "Before Achen went to war, he said he could ask you for help with anything. He trusts you, so I trust you too."

Upon hearing this, Han Yixuan stiffened, then sighed and said in a seemingly relaxed manner, "I must have owed you guys something in my past life. One of them enslaved me, and now another one has come along."

Yun Qinglu smiled slightly, but didn't say anything.

Han Yixuan shook his sleeves. "Okay, I understand. I'll handle this personally. There will be results tonight, and I'll have someone deliver them to you then."

Yun Qingluo nodded, glanced at Yun Xin, and Yun Xin turned and went out for a moment before coming back in, carrying a small box.

Han Yixuan was taken aback. "You want to bribe me?"

After saying that, she realized she hadn't said it properly and exclaimed, "Yun Qingluo, do you think I'm that kind of vulgar person? Who are you looking down on?"

When Yun Qingluo heard this, she felt a sense of familiarity. In her previous life, he always called her by her full name, and even when he was beaten by Mo Beichen, he refused to call her Princess.

Now, hearing that address again feels somewhat warm and familiar.

But how could he be so stupid?

Yun Qinglu rolled her eyes at Han Yixuan, "The handwriting on your pen is too new. This is a pen I developed myself. We'll use it when registering their household registration."

Upon hearing this, Han Yixuan blinked awkwardly, "Haha, well, I misunderstood. Um, if there's nothing else, I'll be going."

After saying that, he picked up the box and quickly walked outside.

Looking at Han Yixuan's carefree figure, Yun Qingluo couldn't help but feel a little envious.

She's the same age as A-Chen, but her A-Chen lives such a hard life.

Thinking about it, I really feel unbalanced.

The palace maid brought in a bowl of nourishing soup. "Your Highness, you've been working too hard these days. You've suffered for the sake of the Prince."

Yun Qinglu smiled slightly as she watched Granny Gong serve her nourishing soup. She said with a smile, "What are you saying, Granny? Achen and I are husband and wife. Husband and wife are one, so why should we distinguish between you and me? Besides, I have to thank Granny for taking such good care of me. The nourishing soup you make every day is different. Otherwise, I wouldn't have such good energy."

The palace maid served the soup to Yun Qingluo with a smile, saying, "I'm so happy that the princess likes the tonic soup I made. Please don't thank me, that would be too much for me."

After Yun Qingluo finished drinking the tonic soup, the nanny took the bowl away.

Seeing the weariness between Yun Qingluo's brows, Yun Tao felt sorry for her and told her to ask Granny Gong to make her a bowl of sweet soup tomorrow, because life was too hard and she needed to drink something sweet.

Yun Qingluo lowered her eyes and looked at her fingers. Was it bitter? She didn't feel it at all. Now that Achen was fighting a war outside, she was guarding the rear for him in the capital. That was fighting side by side with him, wasn't it?

That evening, Yun Qingluo called the group back, asked about their progress, and gave them some instructions.

She also wanted to keep her promise to Steward Wang, so she and Xiao Yi spent the night making the antidote.

"If you ask me, you don't need to care whether they live or die. They brought this on themselves," Xiao Yi said dismissively.

As Yun Qingluo listened to Xiao Yi's increasingly vivid words, she smiled and said, "Good Xiao Yi, the first thing you said to me on the first day we were bound together was that innocent people are always innocent, and we can't let our emotions affect innocent people, especially as a doctor."

Xiao Yi was indignant, "They deserved it..." but his voice clearly trailed off.

Yun Qingluo laughed and said, "Apart from the person in charge, those old people, women and children are all innocent. They did not live a good life because of their husbands' greed. This is already a punishment. Why should we go to such lengths to kill them all?"

Xiao Ban didn't say a word for half a day.

Suddenly, Xiao Yi seemed to have discovered something terrible, and said angrily, "Hmph, look at the amount of antidote yourself. You clearly wanted to let the person in charge go as well."

Yun Qingluo chuckled and spent a long time coaxing her.

Actually, she was also conflicted. She wasn't a saint, but the thought of parents burying their children, of young and innocent children losing their fathers because of her punishment, and of women who always revered their husbands losing their husbands was too painful.

Whether the lives of the twenty-three families would be fulfilled or destroyed rested on her decision, and she did hesitate.

They certainly deserved to die these past years, but they didn't live a good life either. On the contrary, they suffered from poison and lived a miserable life just like the tenant farmers. Perhaps this is the result of their own actions.

Moreover, these people are not heinous criminals. Judging from their willingness to sacrifice themselves to protect their families, they still have some conscience, albeit not much.

Therefore, she really didn't need to go to such lengths to eliminate them.

Yun Qingluo brainwashed herself for a while, then said, "Fine, call her a saint if you want."

The rumors outside intensified and even reached the palace. People in the palace summoned Yun Qingluo for questioning, but Yun Qingluo refused, citing the instability of her pregnancy.

For half a month, Yun Qingluo stayed in her small courtyard, never going out.

The new houses outside have all been built. Yun Qingluo sighed, "Many hands make light work!" All the staff had been settled. Yun Qingluo specially asked the steward to bring a manor manager to take care of everything in the manor. Everything was on track.

That day, Yun Qingluo was reading a storybook when Yun Tao stormed in.

Yun Tao was a little anxious, "Your Highness, with all this talk outside, how can you still be in the mood to read storybooks?"

Yun Qingluo closed the book and glanced at Yun Tao with amusement. "Alright, stop shaking it. It's giving me a headache."

I got up and went out into the yard to look at the sun. My heart sank.

They acted quite quickly, probably because their recent assassination attempts had failed.

Ever since Yunli heard that she was pregnant, she specially sent a team of assassins from the Divine Doctor Valley to protect her. Those assassins didn't even get close to her courtyard.

At first, An Jiu was startled, but when she learned that it was a helper she had hired, An Jiu was quite happy.

"Yun Tao, go and get ready, the guests are coming." Yun Qingluo heard the faint sound of horses' hooves and turned to instruct Yun Tao.

Yun Tao turned around and went downstairs to prepare.

Yunxin asked curiously, "Your Highness, do you have any friends coming to the estate?"

Yun Qingluo glanced at Yun Xin, "Yun Tao is stupid. You've become stupid too if you spend too much time with her?"

Yunxin lowered her head and remained silent for a long while before exclaiming in surprise, "They're so fast?"

Just as Yun Qingluo was about to speak, she heard a series of hurried footsteps approaching.

"His Majesty has arrived!"

Yun Qingluo turned around and slowly walked out to greet the emperor.

"Greetings, Your Majesty. Are you also interested in the hot springs at my estate and have come to take a look?" Yun Qingluo asked innocently, looking up.

The emperor's face darkened. What the hell was he interested in? A lousy hot spring wasn't worth him leaving the palace in person.

The Emperor walked to the main seat and sat down, getting straight to the point, "Shouldn't the Princess Consort explain the rumors circulating outside?"