Jixiang has been barking all the time. It has grown very strong now, and its hair has grown a new crop. It looks ugly and fierce.

If Aunt Liu hadn't jumped over to stop it in time, Su Mingyu had no doubt that this ugly dog, which was taller than her knees, would have jumped over and torn her apart immediately. She was afraid of this dog and didn't want to come to Baoning's yard, but... she had to come.

She glanced at Zhao Qian and saw that his face was stiff. Thinking that he was also scared, she reached down and shook his palm.

Zhao Qian's face relaxed a little and he gave her a gentle smile in return.

Bao Ning looked at them strangely, paused, and whispered to Chen Jia beside him: "Do you think it's strange that Madam Su and this new little maid have such a deep affection for each other in just one night?"

Chen Jia lowered his head to pick rapeseed. Now, apart from practicing martial arts, he was ordered to do work by Bao Ning every day. Picking rapeseed, sprouting beans, plowing the land, watering, all the skills he learned in his hometown in the countryside are now put to use.

Life is pretty good, very relaxed and comfortable, and I feel that I have gained a lot of weight.

People who live with Bao Ning always seem to gain weight, just like Aunt Liu, who was originally a plump middle-aged woman, but now is a fat old lady with two grooves on her cheeks when she smiles.

Chen Jia thought again that the Fourth Prince was strong-willed. He was not fat and ate a lot, but he was getting stronger and stronger without much fat.

Speaking of fat, Chen Jia thought again that he seemed to be a little craving for pork belly. How should he bring it up to Bao Ning in a subtle way?

Just ask her to make some and give him a couple of bites at dinner.

Over there, Nanny Liu welcomed Su Mingyou and Zhao Qian into the house. Chen Jia seemed to be stunned, holding a handful of coriander seeds and not saying a word.

Baoning called him twice and asked him, "Chen Jia, do you think there is something wrong with the new maid?"

Chen Jia finally reacted. He thought seriously for a while and replied, "I don't know, but I heard when I was a child that widowed women who are lonely for a long time will also have some other ideas. My neighbor in my hometown was a young widow. Her original husband's family was powerful and did not allow her to remarry. Later, she couldn't stand it anymore, so she found another widow in her natal village, and they lived together as sisters."

Baoning asked, "Then what happened?"

Chen Jia said, "Later one day they were found sleeping in the same bed without clothes. I don't know what they were doing."

Baoning's face gradually turned red. She looked back at the position where Su Mingyu and the new maid were sitting, and couldn't help but imagine.

What is the purpose of sleeping in a bed without clothes?

She learned something new from Chen Jia.

Bao Ning changed his face to a serious one and ordered: "Chen Jia, you should pay attention to that maid in the future. She doesn't know the details. I'm afraid she will do something bad. If she has any movement, or if she has an affair with Madam Su... you must tell me in time!"

Chen Jia said: "Yes!"

...

Bao Ning stepped into the room with a heavy heart. Su Mingyu was drinking tea at the table. When she saw her come in, she looked strange for a moment, but quickly straightened her face.

She ordered: "Qian'er, go and greet the madam."

Zhao Qian knelt down in front of Bao Ning with a thump, and said with red eyes: "I, Qian'er, beg the madam to take me in."

The floor was made of marble. He knelt hard just now to win Bao Ning's sympathy. The order that Zhao Qian received from Pei Xiao was to approach Bao Ning by pretending to be a daughter, to gain her trust and favor, and to become her personal maid in the future, so as to facilitate future actions.

The easiest way to gain a woman's trust is to act pitiful and make her sympathize with you.

Bao Ning was indeed a little soft-hearted. She hurriedly asked Madam Liu to help her up and said with a smile: "It was not me who bought you, but Madam Su. It is enough that she is willing to take you in. There is no need to beg me."

Zhao Qian looked at Bao Ning with tears in his eyes and thanked her softly.

The beauty's eyes should be a beautiful sight, but the uncomfortable feeling in Bao Ning's heart surged up again. She was very sober. It was understandable that people at the bottom would play some tricks and pretend to be pitiful if they wanted to climb up. But this girl called Qian'er, she was a little too pretentious.

If she were a man, he might feel pity for her, but since she is not a man, she felt very hypocritical.

Zhao Qian was also looking at her.

She looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old, slender and beautiful, with a pale face, willow-shaped eyebrows, and lips that were rosy and tempting. She looked like a young girl, with a sense of innocence and elegance, and a bit of the coquettishness of a married woman.

To put it bluntly, she was just a girl who was naive to the world, had no scheming, was beautiful in appearance, and was innocent and deceitful. You could tell from her eyes.

But, she was quite lovable.

Zhao Qian went forward earnestly to pour tea for Baoning, filling the cup to 70%, and tested the temperature of the cup with his fingertips, saying, "Madam, please have some. It's a little hot, so please drink slowly."

Baoning glanced at Su Mingyou and caught a flash of displeasure in her eyes, like jealousy.

She was more certain of what Chen Jia had just said. Su Mingyou bought Qianer because of her beauty, and got close to her to relieve the loneliness of her girlfriend. Otherwise, how could one explain the two of them holding hands intimately when they met the next day?

Baoning was not sure how to deal with such a thing. She was waiting for Pei Yuan to come back. This was his sister-in-law. Whether it was good or not depended on Pei Yuan's intention.

But now, Baoning didn't want to see them. It was really an eyesore!

She drank tea in silence and stopped talking, hoping that Su Mingyou would leave on her own.

But she refused to leave.

Baoning reluctantly asked Su Mingyou to stay and have lunch together.

After lunch, Su Mingyou still refused to leave. She sat on the couch by herself and wanted to discuss embroidery with Baoning. Baoning didn't want to discuss with her. Any discussion required talking. She didn't want to talk too much with Su Mingyou, so she called Ah Mian and took out the embroidery ball. They tossed the embroidery ball with the lamb.

The lamb had grown into a big sheep. When it stood up, it was taller than Su Mingyou's waist, and its head was touching her belly.

Zhao Qian was stunned.

He had seen many girls and mistresses from officials and nobles, but he had never seen one who kept so many strange animals at home. What's wrong with this Fourth Prince's wife? Does she think it's hard for the Fourth Prince to make a comeback, so she's just giving up at home?

But, she's cute. Very different. Very interesting.

Zhao Qian raised his eyebrows.

Su Mingyu was thinking about business. She was thinking about how to sow discord between Baoning and Pei Yuan without making a sound. But Baoning hardly talked to her. He made a bunch of snacks and tea for her to eat and drink. He went to the toilet three times, but didn't say anything useful. Su Mingyu was anxious and panicked.

Ah Mian was tired from balancing the embroidery ball on her head, so she lay down at Baoning's feet to rest. Baoning called Aunt Liu to bring a plate of small shrimps, which were caught from the Bohai Sea. The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue got more than ten kilograms of fresh shrimps from somewhere and sent someone to give them to Pei Yuan as a gift. The small shrimps were only half the length of a little finger, but the meat was thick, and the taste was fresh and sweet, very delicious.

Baoning thought to herself, Pei Yuan has made it, and people are giving him gifts.

She washed her hands, peeled a shrimp herself and put it on the small plate in front of Su Mingyou, and said with a smile: "Sister-in-law, have some shrimps to whet your appetite."

"Thank you, sister-in-law, I'm full, so I won't eat anymore." Su Mingyou didn't look very happy. She stayed here for half a day, doing nothing else but working up an appetite.

She glanced at Zhao Qian and saw that he was staring at Baoning's hand. Su Mingyu's heart skipped a beat, and she remembered the time when Zhao Qian poured tea for Baoning, and she felt jealous.

Baoning saw that she didn't want to eat shrimps, and asked her, "Sister-in-law, do you want to eat anything else?"

"Nothing!" Su Mingyu stood up excitedly. She couldn't stay here any longer. Her waist was sore and her stomach was uncomfortable. Zhao Qian made her even more uncomfortable. She wanted to go back to her own yard, "Baoning, I'll go first..."

She walked out and was saying goodbye to Baoning when her toes slipped and touched the embroidery ball on the ground. The embroidery ball rolled under the cabinet not far away. The lamb rushed over to chase it, but it didn't brake and crashed into the cabinet with a bang. Several small vases fell and broke, and the small box on the top layer was knocked to the ground.

The exquisite small box was surrounded by a circle of dark purple patterns.

Su Mingyu's eyes lit up: "What is that?"

Baoning chased the troublesome lamb away, and ordered someone to come in and clean up the things. He picked up the small box, patted the dirt on it, and recognized it: "It belongs to the Fourth Prince. I don't know how it was put here. Just put it back."

Su Mingyu asked: "Aren't you curious?"

Baoning turned around unexpectedly: "Curious about what?"

Su Mingyu looked at her meaningfully: "What is in this box? The Fourth Prince won't tell you, so you don't want to know?"

Baoning thought about it. Pei Yuan used to take out this box and play with it. There was an exquisite golden lock on it. He poked it with the key, but it didn't open. But recently, he hasn't touched it for a long time.

The box was placed on the cabinet and covered with dust.

She was curious about what was inside. She had a feeling that it was something very important to Pei Yuan, and he was unwilling to face it.

Originally, they were not that close, so she was embarrassed to ask. Later, she forgot about it. Now she remembered it.

Su Mingyu showed an expression of difficulty in speaking, and said, "Forget it, you'd better not be curious. What's inside is..." She stopped talking.

Bao Ning took the box and made a clicking sound with his fingers, but she couldn't hear it.

She smiled and asked, "Does sister-in-law know what's inside?"

Su Mingyu frowned, "I know something..."

She had heard of this box. At that time, the body of Pei Yuan's mother had just been found. A pile of bones had already moldy in the cave of the rockery in the imperial palace. Pei Yuan saw it with her own eyes. He was unstable for a long time and a little crazy. He walked around the rockery every day holding the box and dragging a long knife with a steel ring in his hand. The

emperor couldn't stand it anymore and sent someone to steal the box to see what was inside. Pei Yuan found out and chopped off the man's hand.

From then on, Pei Yuan's already bad reputation got worse. Few people approached him.

Su Mingyu said to Bao Ning, "There is something inside that will make you sad."

Bao Ning looked at her in confusion.

"She is a very important woman to my fourth brother. She is so important that no one dares to mention her in front of him." Su Mingyu said half-truthfully, coaxing him, "So Baoning, you must not ask her." Baoning

asked, "Why not?"

Su Mingyu said, "Baoning, I am an experienced person, so I advise you. We women always make a mistake, that is, we are too self-reliant and think we are so important. In fact, we don't know when we will be replaced by new people. I advise you to be more open-minded and live your own life. No matter if my fourth brother has an old love, So if you have a new love in the future, don't be anxious or sad."

She looked at Baoning's increasingly surprised expression and showed a sad look: "What I said is just speculation, for your own good. I don't know about the past of the fourth brother, you just listen to it and forget it, don't let it affect your relationship!"

Baoning looked at the box in his hand, then looked at Su Mingyu's face, and after a while, he smiled and said: "I know."

Su Mingyu just wanted to slightly provoke the relationship between Baoning and Pei Yuan. They were originally in love, and if they wanted to make them turn against each other, they couldn't just rely on a temporary effort, but had to proceed step by step. If Baoning had doubts about Pei Yuan today, her goal would be achieved.

Su Mingyu thought, their relationship was not stable to begin with, men are lustful, Baoning saved Pei Yuan from danger, and it was reasonable for him to be nice to her. But how deep could their relationship be after just over half a year?

She didn't believe it.

Su Mingyu smiled and pointed outside the door: "It's getting late, I'm a little sleepy, I'll go back first."

Baoning saw her off.

Back in the room, Baoning sat cross-legged on the couch, fiddling with the box in his hand, and thinking about what Su Mingyu said.