It was almost dark when she got home. Today was the first day of business. There were many customers in the store and they made a lot of money.

Bao Ning watched the clerk send off the last customer, clean the house, put up the shutters, and lock the door. Everything was ready. She walked out with the five pounds of bones she bought in the afternoon. Pei Yuan was waiting for her at the door.

"It's only a quarter of an hour to go home. Don't take the carriage. Let's take you for a ride on horseback."

Bao Ning stood on the steps and looked at Sai Feng curiously. She had known this horse for quite some time, but she had never ridden one before and was a little scared.

Pei Yuan slapped his thighs and hooked his finger at her: "Why are you standing there? Come up quickly, or the officers will fine you again."

Bao Ning glared at him when he mentioned the fine again.

After Yuanzi left in the afternoon, Bao Ning was sad for a long time. She was distracted and didn't pay attention to the guests in the hotel. Someone tied a horse to the porch column. The officer saw it and fined her three silver coins. Bao Ning was in a bad mood after a series of bad things. Pei Yuan insisted on mentioning it, which made her even more upset.

Bao Ning looked down at the plump pork leg bone in the cloth bag in her hand, thinking about the delicious bone soup she would make in the evening, and she felt better.

"Should I sit in the front or the back?"

"Come to the front." Pei Yuan reached out and pulled her, "Do you still want to sit in the back? You have that little strength, if you can't hold my waist tightly and fall down, I won't be able to save you."

Bao Ning lowered her head and muttered, "Can't you speak nicely? Why can't you learn to speak sweetly?"

"What are you mumbling about?" Pei Yuan glanced at her, put his arm around Bao Ning's waist and asked her to sit down.

It was a cool night. He took out the cape from his arm, shook it and put it on her shoulders: "Are you scolding me?"

Baoning looked forward: "I'm scolding pigs."

"Oh." Pei Yuan responded, he urged the horse to let Saifeng run, took two steps, lowered his head and said to Baoning, "I have been thinking about a problem just now, and I can't figure it out, so I ask you."

Baoning sat sideways, holding the cloth bag in her arms, feeling the novelty of riding a horse for the first time, and said casually: "What?"

"There was a farmer who raised a pig and a donkey for half a year. When the Chinese New Year came, the farmer was worried. His family was poor and couldn't afford to buy meat, but his children wanted to eat it. The pig and the donkey were not fully grown yet, so he had to kill one. The farmer looked at the pig and the donkey in the pen, and didn't know whether to eat braised pork or grilled donkey." Pei Yuan asked, "Which one do you think should be killed? "

Baoning frowned and thought deeply. After a while, he said, "It's better to eat pork. Pigs have grown big after half a year, while donkeys are still small. Donkeys can pull mills and plow the land. They can earn more money than pigs if they stay."

Pei Yuan nodded in agreement, "Yes, that's what Donkey thinks."

Baoning was stunned. Only then did she realize that she was fooled. It was so childish to ridicule her as a donkey.

Pei Yuan laughed loudly. Baoning hummed twice. Seeing him laughing happily, she laughed too. This joke really didn't make much sense, but after such a joke, the feeling of loss that Yuanzi left brought to her actually dissipated a lot.

The manor is on the outskirts of the city. After leaving the gate of Lihu, you have to walk along a mountain path. The evening breeze blows on your face, cool and pleasant. There were many wild pomegranate trees planted on the hills nearby, and the flowers were fluffy and beautiful in orange-red. The horses ran very fast, and the shadows of the pomegranate flowers overlapped, like a red light.

Baoning looked all the way and thought to himself, this is the real "seeing the flowers in a hurry"!

When he was about to reach the gate of the manor, Baoning suddenly thought of Su Mingyou and asked Pei Yuan: "When did the eldest sister-in-law go back?"

At noon, they quarreled on the second floor, and when they came back, Su Mingyou was gone. Baoning was thinking about other things and forgot to ask.

Pei Yuan said, "I don't know. Maybe she went back because she was tired. There are people in the manor who take care of her. Maybe they just bought a maid named Xi'er."

He tightened the reins and stopped the horse. He got off first and then helped Bao Ning down. Only then did he see the bulging cloth bag in her arms. It was quite heavy when she picked it up.

Bao Ning stood beside the horse and patted her skirt. She thought to herself, is it enough for Su Mingyu to have only Xi'er by her side? She was born in a noble family and had servants and concubines serving her. Now she only has one maid. It's really a bit shabby. She will tell Aunt Liu to buy another one for Su Mingyu tomorrow.

Pei Yuan untied the bag and looked inside: "What is in here that I made you carry all the way."

He sniffed out the smell of raw pork, which was fishy and unpleasant. Pei Yuan tied it up again with disgust: "Why are you carrying such a big bone? It's troublesome, why don't you give it to Chen Jia?"

"What's the point of letting Chen Jia carry it." Bao Ning leaned on Pei Yuan's arm and said with a smile, "I'll carry the bone and you ride the horse, and we'll go home together. Don't you think this is what makes us look like a sweet and loving couple?"

Pei Yuan thought she made some sense and raised his eyebrows without saying anything.

He walked to the door with his hands behind his back and bowed, "We are home, Madam, you go in first."

Baoning cooperated with him, bowed and said softly, "My husband goes in first."

"Madam goes in first." Pei Yuan shook his sleeves, "We should hold the case in harmony, this is how we show our love."

Ah Huang and Jixiang were running and making a fuss in the yard. When they heard their voices, they rushed over, circled around the cloth bag, jumped and wanted to lick it.

Baoning didn't want to play with him anymore, and said anxiously, "Protect my bones, don't let them be eaten by dogs!"

"Aren't they two good dogs you raised!" Pei Yuan kicked Jixiang away with a hiss, "Watch your dogs!"

...

Su Mingyu held the note that Bai Changxi handed to her in her hand, and the sweat in her palm soaked the words. She stood in a hidden corner, watching Baoning and Pei Yuan playing at the door, feeling envious and bitter in her mouth.

How could their relationship be so good, so real, so simple, and full of fireworks.

Unlike her and Pei Che, they smiled, cared about each other, and knew each other's feelings. They acted like role models to the outside world, but only they knew the hypocrisy inside. They were just acting according to the situation.

Even when eating, they had to keep a straight face, not daring to speak loudly, not daring to drop rice grains, and maintaining their noble appearance. I felt tired when I saw him.

Su Mingyu thought of Zhao Qianlai again. Zhao Qian was a thin and fair young man. When she first met him, he was about fifteen or sixteen years old, working as an ordinary guard in the prince's mansion. Su Mingyu fell in love with him at first sight. She was bold enough to seduce Zhao Qian to be her "concubine".

She was afraid at first, but Zhao Qian took the initiative to send her flowers and write letters. She was also a woman. How could she not be moved when facing her cold husband every day and looking at the considerate Zhao Qian?

Su Mingyu felt that she was not stupid. She knew what Zhao Qian wanted. He wanted money and power, and she wanted his body.

Men can have concubines, Pei Che can have an ugly maid he likes, why can't she? Why must she keep her innocence?

After a night of passionate lovemaking, she got pregnant. Su Mingyou didn't know whether the child was Pei Che's or Zhao Qian's.

It's rare to be confused in life, and she didn't care whose child it was. She was just afraid that someone would recognize her and know that she had such a heart under her dignified appearance. Su Mingyou was really scared. She mustered up the courage to tell her parents about it, but her father actually drove her out. Even her parents were like this, who else would truly accept her? Only Zhao Qian.

Pei Che would definitely blame her. Su Mingyou was glad that the poisoning case happened, causing Pei Che and the ugly maid to disappear together. It's better for them to never come back!

In fact, during the time she lived in Lihu, she vaguely thought it through. After giving birth to the child, she spent the rest of her life in peace and quiet. It was a little lonely, but not too bad.

If I hadn't received Zhao Qian's letter today...

Zhao Qian's letter was sent by the eunuch next to Pei Xiao. Su Mingyou certainly understood what it meant.

Su Mingyou knew that she might have done something wrong, but people are selfish. Some people love money, some people love power, and some people love the country. She loves herself the most. People who love the country can sacrifice the lives of tens of millions of people just for their own safety. Why can't she sacrifice the interests of others for herself?

Besides, she is not too bad. Su Mingyou thought that if Pei Xiao wanted to harm Pei Yuan or Baoning, she would not agree, but if it was something harmless, it was not impossible.

She decided to go to the appointment!

...

In a secret wood not far from the manor, Pei Xiao looked at the handsome young man in front of him. Or should it be a girl?

Zhao Qian was dressed up as a maid. He had a superior bone structure and looked beautiful whether he was dressed as a man or a woman. He wore a light yellow cloth skirt and looked as delicate as a flower bud with dew in the morning.

Chang Xi secretly clicked his tongue. No wonder the former Crown Princess favored him so much. He was really stunning.

Pei Xiao looked at him for a long time and said, "I know your ambition."

Zhao Qian raised his head.

"You want to be rich, right?" Pei Xiao curled his lips, "You really have no conscience. Su Mingyou treated you so sincerely, but after she lost power, you abandoned her in a blink of an eye. You come to me and regard the relationship you once had with her as your grand experience, hoping that I will look up to you because of it."

Zhao Qian lowered his eyes and said, "I have no conscience and no shame. If Your Highness gives me what I want, I will be the gun in Your Highness's hand, and I will point it at whoever you tell me to point at. Zhao Qian does not have the ability to speak eloquently, nor can he practice good martial arts, but he has a good body that can win the hearts of women. Men may look down on me, but I believe that such skills as mine will always be useful."

Chang Xi could not bear to listen to his big talk, and wondered why this man was like this... He is very self-aware, but too shameless!

Pei Xiao smiled and clapped his hands, saying, "Very good. I like smart people, and you are very smart."

Zhao Qian asked, "Your Highness asked me to enter the manor to serve the former Crown Princess?"

"What use is she, she is just a useless person." Pei Xiao stopped laughing, "What I want you to capture is the heart of another woman. First, hook her and let her leave the Fourth Prince. Second, with her help, I want to know all of Pei Yuan's latest movements. Do you understand?"