Gu Nanjiao naturally saw through Bai Lian'er's thoughts, and she glared fiercely at Lu Yanzhao. Then she pushed him away from her embrace and looked down at Bai Lian'er.

"What, didn't your previous master tell you? I am the Princess Protector of the Nation, personally appointed by the Emperor. What's wrong with saying 'Rise' to me?"

The Princess Protector of the Nation? Is she the one who created the incredibly powerful firearm and vigorously developed the agricultural economy and textile industry?

Bai Lian'er's face turned pale, and she knelt down with a thud: "This servant greets Your Highness. This servant was blind and did not recognize Your Highness. Please forgive me, Your Highness."

"Ignorance is no excuse. Rise!"

After saying that, Gu Nanjiao turned and left, with Lu Yanzhao following closely behind.

Lu Yanzhao summoned Cui'er and Guo'er and instructed them, "A new maid has arrived in the manor. You two take care of training her."

After dinner, Lu Yanzhao kneaded Gu Nanjiao's calf attentively, explaining repeatedly, "Chu Luoxun openly tried to seduce me, firstly to monitor me, and secondly to win my heart with a beautiful woman. But my heart only belongs to Jiaojiao, and there is no room for anyone else. I will only love Jiaojiao in this life, and I will never change my mind."

Gu Nanjiao snorted and pulled her leg back, saying irritably, "A man's mouth is a lying devil, don't give me sweet talk."

"Heaven and earth bear witness!" Lu Yanzhao quickly raised his hand and swore, "My heart is as clear as the heavens. If I change my mind, may I be struck by lightning."

"If oaths were effective, everyone in the world would be dead."

Seeing that Gu Nanjiao was unmoved by his words, Lu Yanzhao felt a surge of joy, but fearing that she would get jealous and harm her health, he quickly said, "Then I'll sell her off now. Anyway, the indenture is in my hands."

"Come back!" Gu Nanjiao called out to him, "You've already sold one, who knows what kind of person you'll try to seduce next time? This one looks so gentle and weak, but I wonder what her character is like?"

"Don't worry, I will have someone keep an eye on her at all times and occasionally spread false information to her to pass on to Chu Luoxun."

"Let's do it this way!" Gu Nanjiao said, then lay down on her side on the bed.

Now that I'm further along in my pregnancy, I have difficulty breathing when lying flat. The doctor said that sleeping on my right side is good for the fetus.

Lu Yanzhao kicked off his shoes, climbed into bed, lifted the covers, and pulled Gu Nanjiao into his arms, but she pulled away in disgust: "You smell of rouge, stay away from me."

Lu Yanzhao froze. He had washed himself several times, and his body was red from rubbing. Where did the smell of rouge come from?

"Stay away from me, go sleep on the soft couch." Gu Nanjiao pulled the blanket over herself and wrapped herself up tightly.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Lu Yanzhao obediently lay down on the soft couch, hugging his pillow. The room was quiet, and neither of them spoke.

Gu Nanjiao knew that he brought Bai Lian'er back to the manor mostly to use her, but being pregnant, she was unusually sensitive, always afraid of misplaced feelings and losing her. Lu Yanzhao hadn't even considered this, which made her very angry.

Thinking of the baby in her womb, Gu Nanjiao sighed softly, constantly telling herself that getting angry was bad for the fetus, and that she should not get angry.

As night deepened, the sound of even breathing filled his ears. Lu Yanzhao stared at the dark roof with his eyes open, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

Now is a critical time, and Chu Luoxun has actually brought the headmaster over. Given the headmaster's temperament, if he finds out that the crown prince is not born to the empress, he will definitely make a scene before the emperor.

Moreover, the Emperor already dislikes Zheng Shanzhang, and his situation is extremely dangerous until his power is completely wiped out.

I'll meet with Bai Luochen tomorrow to discuss this and ask him to come up with some countermeasures to get Zheng Shanzhang away as soon as possible.

After a sleepless night, Gu Nanjiao opened her eyes as the first rays of sunlight streamed in through the windowpane.

There was a knock at the door. Upon hearing "Come in," Bai Lian'er slowly walked in carrying a basin of water.

"Madam." Bai Lian'er bowed slightly and half-squatted in front of Gu Nanjiao: "This servant will help Madam wash up." After saying that, she wrung out the handkerchief and handed it to Gu Nanjiao.

Gu Nanjiao was not used to being served by others. Even though Cui'er and Guo'er were there, she asked them to put the water aside and wash herself.

As a modern person, she didn't have anything to be waited on, but Bai Lian'er was so enthusiastic, how could she refuse his kindness?

She glanced at Lu Yanzhao and saw that he was calmly tidying his clothes, without even raising his eyes.

Gu Nanjiao frowned as her fair, jade-like fingers touched the water. Bai Lian'er quickly handed her a handkerchief and said cautiously, "Madam, is the water too cold? I'll go change it right away."

"Okay, go ahead!"

Bai Lian'er froze, biting her lip as she glanced at Lu Yanzhao. She noticed that he hadn't even looked up, and she couldn't help but feel a little wronged.

"Weren't we going to change the water?" Gu Nanjiao's voice rang in my ears: "Why are you looking at him?"

"Yes!" Bai Lian'er lowered her eyes, looking like she wanted to say something but was about to cry, which made her look pitiful.

"Tch!" Gu Nanjiao rolled her eyes. She thought the person Chu Luoxun sent was someone of a higher level, but it turned out to be a low-level green tea b*tch.

His little scheme was obvious at a glance, but Lu Yanzhao's performance was not bad, and Gu Nanjiao beckoned to him.

Lu Yanzhao lay down in front of Gu Nanjiao like a lapdog, nuzzled her hand, and said happily, "Madam is finally paying attention to me?"

"What do you plan to do with her?"

Gu Nanjiao pried his fingers apart, her tone somewhat impatient. She was currently pregnant and in a bad mood, so she didn't have time to deal with the trivial matters of those scheming women.

"Since she is a servant in this household, it is entirely up to Madam to decide how to deal with her." Lu Yanzhao handed Bai Lian'er's indenture to Gu Nanjiao.

After washing up, Bai Lian'er respectfully left the inner room. This time, she didn't dart around or bite her lip as if she was about to cry.

Gu Nanjiao called over Cui'er and Guo'er, instructed them to keep an eye on Bai Lian'er, and then went out.

Seeing Gu Nanjiao about to get into the carriage, Bai Lian'er quickly followed: "Madam, where are you going?"

"I'm going to take a look around the shop, you don't need to follow me." Since morning, this scheming woman had been hovering around her, knowing that Lu Yanzhao disliked her and trying to get to her through her.

"Yes." Bai Lian'er bowed and watched Gu Nanjiao leave.

Bai Lian'er originally wanted to take a stroll around the mansion, but she didn't expect that Cui'er and Guo'er would follow her closely.

After court, Lu Yanzhao hurriedly went to find Bai Luochen, only to find that the fellow was not at the Bai residence.

Bai Luochen has been extremely busy these past few days, and he's been having a huge headache over Zhou Yu's matter.

The Bai family of Yuzhou received two letters at the same time. One was from the head of the Bai family, and the other was from Bai Luochen.

Bai Luochen didn't say anything else, but wrote down the details of the matter in the letter, adding at the end, "Since ancient times, marriage has been a major event decided by parents."

In his letter, the Bai family patriarch said that Master Liu, as the president of the Beijing Chamber of Commerce, monopolized most of the city's economic lifeline. The Bai family must now act cautiously, and he suggested that Bai Luochen marry Zhou Yu as his principal wife.

Bai Luochen's parents agreed with the Bai family head's opinion, and also believed that, "It's just a woman, isn't it? If you can marry her, you can also divorce her!"

When the head of the Bai family presented the betrothal gifts on behalf of Bai Luochen's parents, Zhou Yu refused on the spot, vowing never to marry.

This greatly worried a group of people, who never expected that Zhou Yu would disregard his reputation and refuse the marriage proposal.