Mu Chenshuang paused, not continuing her story, but suddenly looked up and asked Honghua, "Honghua, I always tell you to pay attention to the movements of everyone in the mansion, to chat with the maids, servants and young men, and to find out as much information as possible, right?"
Honghua nodded blankly, "Yes, I have been doing as Miss instructed."
Mu Chenshuang looked at her and said, "Then those maids and servants must occasionally talk about other things in the mansions of other officials, right?"
Honghua suddenly smiled happily, feeling as if she could finally be of great use this time, and quickly walked up to Mu Chenshuang and nodded.
"Yes, they usually talk about the domestic affairs of those ministers in their backyards," Honghua recalled and categorized carefully, "like, which family has taken in a few more concubines..."
"Which adult has secretly fathered an illegitimate child, or which adult is greedy and betroths their daughter to a rich playboy..."
Honghua was talking incessantly when Mu Chenshuang asked expectantly, "Have you ever heard about what happened in the backyard of the Zhu family mansion under Zhu Qin of the Chengtian Bureau?"
Mu Chenshuang's words seemed to stump Honghua, who paused for a moment and then carefully recalled what she had said.
Just as Mu Chenshuang thought that Zhu Qin, being a member of the Chengtianjian, would probably not allow these things in her backyard to be revealed to others, Honghua suddenly spoke up in surprise.
"Oh my! I remember now! I've actually heard of it before!" Honghua successfully retrieved this memory from her mind and was about to tell Mu Chenshuang with great excitement.
Mu Chenshuang was still a little confused when she heard Honghua explain, "That was before I came to serve Miss."
"Miss, have you forgotten? I used to serve in Consort Lu's courtyard. Although Consort Lu didn't treat me as one of her own, she trusted me because I was quiet, dutiful, and willing to accept punishment."
"That's why I wanted to place this servant by Miss's side as an informant," Honghua recalled. "In Aunt Lu's eyes, these matters of the adults' inner quarters were all trivial matters, so when Aunt Lu talked to the Third Miss about them, she didn't shy away from telling me."
Mu Chenshuang nodded in satisfaction. It seemed that she had learned something about this matter from Honghua. This way, if she were to meet Zhuyue in the future, she would at least not offend her out of ignorance.
"In that case, do you know that Zhu Qin has a daughter? Have you heard anything about her?" Mu Chenshuang asked quickly.
Honghua quickly replied, "I have heard that. Aunt Lu said that Lord Zhu's son is good-for-nothing, but he has a decent daughter, which is quite surprising and regrettable."
"What does this mean?" Mu Chenshuang asked subconsciously, but the image of Zhu Yue's daughter quickly flashed through her mind, and she roughly guessed what it meant.
What Honghua heard was indeed very similar to what Mu Chenshuang thought.
"I heard that Lord Zhu originally wanted to arrange a marriage for Miss Zhu, but Miss Zhu refused and instead married a young master from a prominent family on her own. This made Lord Zhu very embarrassed at the time."
"I heard that the young master came from a noble family, but unfortunately his parents died early, and shortly after Miss Zhu became pregnant, he went to the army and became a deputy general." Honghua tried hard to recall all the details. "Which border did he go to?"
"Anyway, it wasn't the northern border that the Marquis and Miss were guarding back then." Honghua couldn't remember, so she simply gave up. In her opinion, it was an unimportant detail.
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