In the main courtyard's side room, Song Ziyu sat at the table with a somber face.

Gu Yurong wiped away her tears and explained for a long time. Although he looked displeased, at least he wasn't as furious as when he first entered.

"So, you're not familiar with Bi Yuan?"

"My cousin is in Beijing to do business. What does that have to do with me?"

Gu Yurong said, feeling wronged.

“Ever since I married into the Song family, I have been devoted to the general. Even though the general does not love me as much as before, I have no complaints. The general likes the maidservant by my side, so I took her as a concubine without saying a word. I never expected to be wronged like this. It is more painful than being killed.”

Thinking of Zhu Qing and Lan You, two lovely people, Song Ziyu's expression softened considerably.

"Since you are innocent, why did you hide it from me?"

Mentioning this matter, Gu Yurong felt even more aggrieved: "At that time, the entire Gu family was imprisoned, and my grandmother forbade me from having any contact with my maternal family. What could I do? I could only send him away in private so as not to trouble my grandmother and the general."

She spoke eloquently, and Song Ziyu frowned.

Taking advantage of the situation, Gu Yurong said softly, "I only met with my cousin once as a host, and we haven't had any contact since. Why is the general so angry?"

Unexpectedly, Song Ziyu suddenly shouted angrily, "No more contact?"

"Then why is your maid with him?"

Gu Yurong looked up, puzzled, and asked, "What maid?"

Seeing that her puzzled look didn't seem fake, Song Ziyu wondered to himself, "Could I have been tricked?"

Looking back, the timing of his encounter with Zi Que was indeed too coincidental. It might have been a setup deliberately set up to lure him into overhearing those things...

Just then, someone came from outside to report that Zhu Qing and Lan You had arrived.

The two were naturally summoned by Gu Yurong.

Song Ziyu doted on the two young and beautiful maids. They coaxed him to have dinner and offered him some wine, which calmed his anger considerably. He then took Zhuqing back to his bedroom.

Gu Yurong finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Half-drunk with wine, Song Ziyu recalled Bi Yuan's humiliating words that day, and felt even more aroused. He pulled Zhu Qing into the bed and made love to her.

But since he stopped taking the medication, his physical strength has declined significantly, and he quickly lost his strength.

Enraged, he smashed things on the ground, assuming it was because his illness hadn't healed. He then summoned his servants and ordered them to search for the itinerant doctor that very night.

He firmly believed that as long as he took a few more doses of medicine, he would definitely get better.

Not long after, Butler Zhao entered the room.

"General, this old servant has discovered something of great importance, and I can only report it tonight."

Song Ziyu asked unhappily, "What's wrong?"

Butler Zhao placed several items on the table, including jade pendants and other ornaments.

“When the general wanted to reward that traveling doctor, this old servant personally selected them from the storeroom, and these were some of the items. But for some reason, they ended up in the trunk the general brought back at night.”

Song Ziyu was slightly taken aback: "You're not seeing things?"

"I've been a steward for decades, I'm sure I'm not mistaken," Steward Zhao said confidently.

Song Ziyu suddenly stood up and paced around the room.

Could that itinerant doctor be one of Bi Yuan's men?

Suddenly, as if struck by a sudden thought, his expression darkened, and he looked at the woman on the bed.

If he remembered correctly, Zhu Qing and Lan You appeared around the same time as the traveling doctor.

Song Ziyu trembled with rage and slammed the teacup to the ground: "They, they dare to do that!"

Steward Zhao hurriedly advised, "General, please don't be angry. There must be some misunderstanding. This old servant will invite Madam Gu over right away. You can ask her yourself, and the misunderstanding will be cleared up..."

"No!" Song Ziyu took a deep breath. "Keep your mouth shut and don't let her know a thing."

He then pulled out a waist token from his sleeve: "Send someone to guard the palace gate and invite the imperial physician to come first thing in the morning!"

The medicine had been discontinued for a long time, and the dregs were long gone, but if there was anything unusual about his body, the imperial physician might be able to diagnose it.

He will never tolerate anyone who tries to harm him!

Song Ziyu secretly summoned the imperial physician, but Gu Yurong was completely unaware. She thought she had escaped a calamity and relaxed.

The situation regarding money also took a turn for the better.

The Ordnance Bureau was in charge of arms manufacturing. Just then, bandits were rampant in the mountains, and Emperor Jingyuan transferred a batch of arms to the Song family army. The military treasury was short of supplies, so the Ministry of Revenue allocated a sum of money as usual to allow the Ordnance Bureau to manufacture a batch of weapons.

As the supervisor of the crossbow workshop, Song Lin was allocated a sum of money by his superiors for his use.

That day, Biluo reported that the owner of Tongda Inn had found Bi Yuan a new place to stay. Jiang Wan then realized that Song Lin had secretly taken government funds to help in an emergency.

With peace prevailing throughout the land, the military treasury of the Great Yong Dynasty had not been opened for a long time. A batch of military equipment was delivered a month or two late, which would normally go unnoticed.

Not everyone in the Ordnance Bureau was honest and upright.

But this time, Song Lin ran right into the line of fire.

Jiang Wan gave a cold laugh and lowered her eyes to look at the letter unfolding in her hand.

It was a reply from the Ji family. My aunt stated that my cousin's return date was set, and he would arrive in the capital in about seven days.

Around seven days...

It happened to be the day the people from Donglai entered the capital in my previous life.

If she remembered correctly, her cousin was on the emperor's orders to leave the city, accompanied by more than a hundred soldiers.

Jiang Wan picked up her pen and wrote a reply, then handed it to Biluo: "Give this to your aunt personally and tell her that I need my cousin's help."

Biluo agreed.

Jiang Wan then asked, "Has the item I asked Shi Xu to find arrived in the capital?"

Biluo: "It arrived two days ago and has been kept in Linglong Pavilion ever since."

Jiang Wan nodded and summoned Cai Die.

"Last time, Her Majesty the Empress said that His Majesty has been in a bad mood lately, which has caused her great concern. Go to the East Palace and find Princess Zhaohua. Tell her that I have found something to please His Majesty and that I plan to personally present it to him in seven days. Please inform Her Majesty."

Cai Die agreed and quickly went out the door.

Jiang Wan took a sip of tea and tapped her fingers lightly on the table: "How has Song Tingyue been lately?"

"Not good."

Biluo Road.

"After the general took all the cash from the mansion last time, the mansion's accounts were in short supply. Luhetang could not bear the injustice, and since Aunt Ru was about to give birth, the servants dared not be short of money. Gu Shi was privately well-off, but Song Tingyue's courtyard was really strapped for cash for a while."

"But she was very well-behaved and never made a fuss about it."

Jiang Wan narrowed her eyes.

In their previous life, the people of Donglai came with great force, intending to catch the capital off guard and cause the Great Yong Dynasty to lose face.

Although Song Tingyue had dealings with the people of Donglai, Jiang Wan guessed that the people of Donglai would not tell her important military intelligence.

She was largely unaware of the surprise attack that would take place five days later.

"Tell Steward Zhao to cut back on her food allowance, and also to stop sending ice to her courtyard starting today," Jiang Wan said.

Biluo blinked: "It's the height of summer right now, and without ice, life would be unbearable."

“Now Pei Jin is hiding in the palace and dares not make a move. She is the same, thinking that if she pretends to be honest for a few days, others will forget the sins she committed in the past.”

Jiang Wan smiled coldly.

Unfortunately, she was a vengeful person.

"I'm going to push her a little harder."