Su Ruojin remembered that Yun Hao had said that Tianning Temple was within the First Prince's sphere of influence. Could it be that Zhao Tingsong wanted to curry favor with the First Prince?

But his sister married the Third Prince, so wasn't he already tied to the Third Prince?

Could it be that Zhao Tingsong wants to play both sides, so that no matter who ascends the throne, he won't suffer any losses?

Zhao Guangtao shook his head after listening to Su Ruojin's analysis, "If he had that ability, he wouldn't be Zhao Tingsong."

If Zhao Tingsong can really be so calculating, Zhao Guangtao wouldn't mind handing the Zhao family over to him.

"Grand Uncle, I have a plan, but I don't know if it's feasible," Su Ruojin said after thinking for a moment.

She doesn't like being passive all the time; she prefers to force people to come out directly.

"Oh, tell me about it."

*

He Ningxuan.

A maidservant came to report: "Consort, the eldest young lady and the cousin have returned from fulfilling their vows at Tianning Temple. The master invites you to dine at Xiangtao Courtyard tonight."

"I understand." Zhao Jingyi looked at Butler Lu kneeling in front of her. "Butler Lu, are you sure you put the snake in the flowerpot?"

"Your Highness, I wouldn't dare lie to you even if I had ten lives. I did this myself. I don't know where those snakes went. Could it be that they crawled out at night but didn't bite anyone and then slithered away?"

Butler Lu felt something was off, and he felt a little apprehensive about this cousin.

Zhao Jingyi asked them to release the snake, and after a whole night, Su Ruojin was perfectly fine. She even went to Tianning Temple with Zhao Jingning to fulfill a vow.

They went to Tianning Temple, but surprisingly didn't invite her.

Of course, even if she were invited, she wouldn't go. Tianning Temple is so far away, and she's not going to do something like fulfilling a vow for some old fogey.

But if you don't ask her out, it's like you're looking down on her.

Zhao Jingyi became angrier the more she thought about it.

"Try it again tonight!" Zhao Jingyi ordered Butler Lu.

If it weren't for the Third Prince saying that Zhao Jingning couldn't be touched for the time being, she really wanted the steward to get rid of Zhao Jingning along with him.

“My lady, it’s not that I’m unwilling, but these bloodfang ring snakes aren’t easy to find. Last time I only found three, and I put them all in flowerpots.”

"You good-for-nothing! If you don't have a Bloodfang Ring Snake, can't you get something else? Butler Lu, your son had a fever yesterday, and I even kindly had someone fetch a doctor for him. Whether your son gets better or not depends entirely on you."

Steward Lu's face changed drastically, and he hurriedly kowtowed and begged for mercy, "Please calm down, Consort. I will do it right away. Please spare my son."

"Go ahead, once the matter is settled, your son will be reunited with you soon."

"Thank you, Consort." Butler Lu rose to take his leave.

Green Willow massaged Zhao Jingyi's shoulders and asked, "Consort, can Steward Lu be trusted?"

After all, Steward Lu was a veteran of the Zhao family, having served the master since childhood and had been utterly loyal to the Zhao family.

Zhao Jingyi gave a slight smirk, "His son's life is still in my hands, would he dare disobey me?"

Steward Lu has five children. The first four are all girls, and the last one is a son who is only five years old. He is a son born late in life and is the apple of his eye. He cherishes him and his heart is completely devoted to him.

Now that her son was in her hands, how could Butler Lu dare to disobey her?

Everyone else had arrived by dinner time, but Zhao Jingyi was late.

"Steward Lu, go and see what's going on. If the concubine is unable to come, we won't wait for her." Zhao Guangtao was getting impatient.

"The concubine has arrived."

At that moment, the sound of someone from Consort Zhao's side announcing something could be heard.