No matter how excited she was, Fuquxuan was not a place for male guests, so Wei Shuwan still ordered the gatekeeper to invite the man to the front hall, and then hurriedly took Ziqiao and Miaoxiang there.

Just as she had guessed, the moment she entered, the seemingly middle-aged man rose to greet her and then said with a forced smile, "Madam Wei, I have come here specifically to inform you of something. Today, your maid came to reserve a trip to the hunting grounds three days from now, but someone had already made a reservation, so we couldn't agree. However, as luck would have it, just after your maid left, the family that had originally reserved the place came to inform us that something had come up and they had to cancel their reservation for three days from now."

"So I came here to ask you if you still want to place the order?"

After listening, Wei Shuwan didn't hesitate and immediately decided, "Of course it's a must!"

"Very well, I will await your arrival at the hunting grounds. I will not disturb you any longer today. Farewell." The owner of the hunting grounds cupped his hands and made to leave.

Wei Shuwan suddenly remembered that she hadn't paid the deposit yet, so she quickly instructed Miaoxiang: "Quickly, give the deposit to the owner."

Miao Xiang quickly took out a silver pouch and handed it over with both hands. The owner accepted it with a smile and left.

"Unexpectedly, despite all the twists and turns, we still managed to secure it," Wei Shuwan said with a hint of delight.

Zi Qiao frowned, feeling that something was wrong. "Miss, you didn't see this person's face at the hunting grounds. How come he's a completely different person now that he's at the Wei family? Even his tone of voice is different."

Wei Shuwan didn't take it to heart, focusing only on how she would bring the two together in three days. She casually remarked, "After all, it's business. Who would hate money? If that company cancels, they'll naturally come to us to make up the difference. When others come to us, they'll be very different from when we're eager to please them."

Thinking that this made sense, Zi Qiao stopped thinking about it and began to help Wei Shuwan come up with ideas for various arrangements three days later.

...

As night fell, the lights in the Wei residence were gradually extinguished, and the entire mansion was enveloped in the boundless darkness.

After a while, a small lamp emerged from one of the rooms. Using the dim, hazy light, the woman walked straight towards the back door, glancing around cautiously as she went, afraid of being caught by the night patrol guards.

There was no guard on duty at the back gate, so the woman removed the cloth covering the lantern, instantly making the light much brighter. Using the light, she took out her key to open the door and then slipped out.

About half an hour later, the woman returned through the back door, her face glowing, seemingly in a very good mood. She locked the door again, picked up a lantern, and prepared to go back inside. But as soon as she turned around, she was startled by a figure that had appeared in front of her from nowhere, letting out a scream and nearly losing her soul!

Fortunately, she was still on high alert, so her exclamation was restrained and suppressed, and did not disturb the people on night duty in the outer courtyard.

The woman raised the lamp higher, illuminating the forehead of the person in front of her, who turned out to be Wei Ping!

"Auntie..." the woman called out in a panic.

Wei Ping wore a strange smile, which looked somewhat eerie in the dim candlelight.

When he spoke, his voice was sarcastic: "Xiao Ke, where have you been in the middle of the night?"

"This servant...this servant wanted to go to the latrine..." Although the reason was lame, Xiao Ke really couldn't think of any other excuse for the time being.

As expected, Wei Ping didn't believe it at all, and smiled broadly: "Outhouse? There's an outhouse outside this door?"

Everyone knew this was the back gate of the Wei residence, leading directly to the streets outside. Xiao Ke had no choice but to bite the bullet and explain, "This servant went to the outhouse and wanted to check if the back gate was locked..."

"Is it locked?" Wei Ping wasn't in a hurry to expose her, and just teased her like she was playing with a cat or dog.

"No... that's why I opened the door to take a look outside, and when I saw that there was no one suspicious, I quickly locked the door again."

"Tsk tsk tsk, Xiao Ke, your lying skills are truly remarkable. If I'm not mistaken, your little lover who came for a rendezvous in the middle of the night hasn't even left the alley yet, has he? Otherwise, shall we open it and take a look, and then call all the masters and servants of the mansion over to help you take a look, shall we?"

Ever since the incident with the colorful butterfly, Xiao Ke has been avoiding Wei Ping, afraid that she would cause trouble for her. Tonight, Brother A Niu came to see her and was caught red-handed by Wei Ping, so Wei Ping has now got her caught red-handed.

You must understand that she was a maid who had signed a red contract, which is commonly known as a death contract. Once a red contract is signed, one is a slave for life. Unlike Ziqiao and Miaoxiang, she couldn't redeem herself and get married later, and her master would even give her some dowry.

She was forbidden from having romantic relationships or making secret commitments to anyone; if her master found out, he would sell her off. No other family would want a slave who had committed a crime; ultimately, she would only end up in a brothel.

Thinking of all this, Xiao Ke was so frightened that she knelt on the ground and begged, "Auntie, please have mercy and don't expose my shameful secret. I don't want to be sold off..."

"Oh, you don't want to be sold off? Then why did you get my daughter imprisoned in the first place?"

"This servant...this servant knows she was wrong..."

"What's the use of knowing you're wrong? Even if you go and beat the drum to plead your case now and say that Cai Die is innocent, the official won't listen to you. You've already made a grave mistake, how can I forgive you?!" As she spoke, Wei Ping lost her previous composure, and her hatred surged up again.

Xiao Ke knew that pleading would be useless, and Wei Ping would definitely not let her go, so she just slumped to the ground and silently shed tears.

Seeing that she had stopped pleading, Wei Ping let out a long sigh and said, "Alright, I don't necessarily want to kill you, but there is one condition."

Upon hearing that there was room for maneuver, Xiao Ke immediately stopped crying and looked up at Wei Ping. Her tearful eyes, which had been filled with tears, suddenly became full of hope: "Aunt, please say so. I will do my best to help you if it is something I can do!"

"Alright, since you said that, I'll let you go for now. But remember, you owe me a life. From now on, you'll be officially a member of the second branch of the family, but you must know in your heart that I am your master! You must secretly report any movements from the second branch to me in a timely manner. And you must not refuse any of the things I need you to do in the future."

Does this mean she's being asked to be a spy? But Xiao Ke had no other choice at the moment, so she nodded and said, "This servant understands."

Wei Ping suddenly remembered something else, and took the opportunity to test her by asking, "By the way, after I stormed out of the dining hall today, did she say anything to Mother?"

Xiao Ke was in charge of serving the dishes today, so she had been serving in the dining hall. After thinking for a moment, she said, "The second madam's third daughter didn't pay much attention to your matter, but she did mention the master's marriage."

"Sun Xingjian's marriage? What did they say?" Wei Ping suddenly became interested, leaned forward, and asked eagerly.

"The Third Miss said that Madam Pan admires her uncle and wants to bring the two of them together. The Second Madam also thinks highly of this matter and encourages the Third Miss to do it."

"They still haven't given up!" Wei Ping thought to herself that the three koi fish that died today had died for nothing, failing to label Pan Wenjun as a jinx. After a moment of resentment, she pressed on, "How does that third girl plan to bring the two of them together?"

"They said they'd be going to the northern hunting grounds for a winter hunt in three days, and both Uncle and Madam Pan would be there."

"The North Suburb Hunting Grounds?" Wei Ping muttered to herself, and began to think about how to deal with the matter.