After leaving the Buddhist hall, she strictly forbade the old women from secretly bringing Liu any good food. They could only follow the instructions given by the Marquis of Zhongyong at the manor: vegetables and white porridge.

But this wasn't the village, and Liu had the old lady as her backer, so she made a lot of noise in the Buddhist hall.

Chaolu was a little worried. "Miss, what if the old lady and the Marquis find out? Will they blame you?"

She now privately refers to Ye Zhen along with Wanxing, considering herself one of Ye Zhen's people.

Ye Zhen smiled, "No."

Marquis Zhongyong knew how Lady Liu had treated Ye Zhen in the past, and it was only natural for Ye Zhen to take the opportunity to retaliate.

If she does nothing, the Marquis of Zhongyong will suspect that she is hypocritical and pretending to be magnanimous.

In the old lady's opinion, she was really impatient to go and cause trouble for Liu Shi so quickly, and with such methods.

With this conclusion, the old lady would look down on her.

Chaolu seemed to understand but not quite, and she waited anxiously until Marquis Zhongyong returned home after his shift.

As a result, instead of reprimanding Ye Zhen, Marquis Zhongyong ordered the old women guarding the Buddhist hall to do everything according to Ye Zhen's wishes, and stipulated that Liu Shi had to copy a certain amount of paper money each day in order to get food.

Chaolu realized how amazing Ye Zhen was and became even more convinced of her abilities.

The old lady didn't send anything to Liu Shi, but warned the servants not to reveal these matters to Xie Lanzhou.

He only told him that Liu was practicing meditation in the Buddhist hall.

Xie Lanzhou had seen his mother during the day and knew she was in the mansion, so he stopped making a fuss about wanting his mother and went to play with the servants.

However, the old lady used the excuse of visiting a friend to ask Ye Zhen for Liu's carriage.

After returning home, he took possession of Liu's carriage, claiming it was comfortable.

With the old lady's name attached, no one else in the household dared to use the carriage anymore.

That way, the secret of the carriage would remain undiscovered.

Ye Zhen and Xie Tingzhou both understood the old lady's intention in doing this; she was covering for Liu Shi.

"But why didn't she remove the hidden compartment in time?"

At night, while making human skin masks at the Ink Academy, Ye Zhen asked Xie Tingzhou this question.

Xie Tingzhou, who was handling official business next to her, put down the file upon hearing this, saying, "Perhaps this hidden compartment still has a use, or perhaps they are certain that we will not discover it."

Ye Zhen paused.

Is it still of use?

Could it be that now that Lady Liu has entered the Buddhist temple, she still wants to secretly meet with men?

Since the old lady helped her cover up the secret of the carriage, does that mean the old lady also helped her bring the person into the mansion?

She thought the old lady must have gone mad, so she asked, "Is the old lady the Marquis's biological mother?"

When Xie Tingzhou learned that Ye Zhen had sent people to keep an eye on Xie Jinyao, he sensed something was wrong. Logically speaking, Xie Jinyao had already been reduced to raising horses, and with He Ming supervising her, there was no need for Ye Zhen to keep an eye on her anymore.

He then inquired about recent events in the manor and on the estate, and already had a guess in his mind.

Ye Zhen's words revealed a great deal of information to him.

Liu was having an affair. The hidden compartment in the carriage was where she hid her man, and the old lady knew all this but helped cover it up.

That's why Ye Zhen asked that question.

Xie Tingzhou was also shocked. After thinking about it carefully, he replied, "As far as I know, they are mother and son."

But in his heart, he was inquiring about the matter and decided to investigate the old stories thoroughly.

Just as he was about to say something more, Fu Guang came to report, "It's bad, Master, the Marquis is here, and he's already heading towards the study."