After the milk ball arrived, the father who had no heirs had a string of good luck.

As Rong Momo watched her fiddling with those jars, her brow twitched violently, and she gave Da Ge and Er Ge a wink.

The two understood immediately and came to Tang Rui's side, standing on either side like two guardian deities.

Four eyes were fixed on Tang Rui's jar, their bodies tense, ready to rescue her at any moment.

Erge even picked up a stone and held it up against the jar, as if he was about to smash it at any moment.

The moon, hidden in the shadows, narrowed its eyes and plucked a leaf, poised to strike.

Tang Rui ignored the large and small compartments, took out a packet of powder with one hand, quickly opened the lid with the other, sprinkled the powder in, and immediately closed the lid again.

After a while, the lid was opened again.

At this point, nothing inside was moving.

Tang Rui nodded in satisfaction, picked up the dagger, and intended to cut her finger and let blood drip into it.

But Da Ge snatched the dagger from her with lightning speed. Rong Momo was a step too slow and exclaimed in shock, "Little Princess, what are you doing?"

"Don't make a fuss. You have to feed the Gu with your own blood to raise them, otherwise the Gu worms you create won't obey you."

Tang Rui tiptoed and took the dagger back from Da Ge's hand to continue her work.

Rong Momo wanted to offer advice, but she didn't understand anything about Gu worms and couldn't help at all: "Princess, won't other people's blood work?"

"No, the Gu that's raised on whose blood it's fed will obey whose commands it takes."

"Then...can you really concoct Gu worms?"

Even now, she still finds it hard to believe.

However, Tang Rui's technique seemed quite skilled, clearly indicating that this wasn't the first time she had done it.

She had noticed a few slight scratches on Tang Rui's fingers before, but thought it was just her imagination.

So that's how the scratches came about.

"Definitely!" Tang Rui declared confidently, then gave a sinister laugh, which sounded...very sinister: "If Situ Qiang and Situ Jin ever ruin my food again, I'll use a curse to kill them!"

Granny Rong's face stiffened, and she forced a smile, saying, "There's no need to be so cruel... It's just food, not something particularly precious to the Prince Li's residence..."

Killing someone for food, especially a prince or a grandson of a powerful emperor—that's going too far!

Who knew…

Tang Rui suddenly said in a serious tone, "Granny Rong, God gave this world spring, summer, autumn and winter, climates suitable for planting, and land suitable for planting. Wasting food will be punished by God."

Rong Momo was taken aback when she heard this. What she said... didn't seem to make any sense.

"I can't control what others do, but I'll try my best not to waste food."

Her maternal grandfather in her previous life was an expert in organic agriculture, and she was influenced by him from a young age.

She knows better than anyone how hard it is for farmers to grow crops.

But this was in ancient times, a time of strict class divisions. How could nobles possibly empathize with the hardships of peasants?

Asking someone from ancient times who lived in a privileged circle to respect and understand farmers is just asking for trouble; it's better to rephrase it differently.

"The young princess is right. From now on, this old servant will work with the young princess to try our best not to waste food."

People in ancient times were mostly superstitious, and Rong Momo did indeed take it to heart.

Seeing that Tang Rui was doing the same thing, dripping blood into each pottery jar, Rong Momo quickly told Da Ge to fetch some ointment.

Tang Rui: "..."

No need for that, it will probably be healed in a while.

After dealing with her precious Gu worms, Tang Rui went back to her room to sleep.

At times like these, she misses her master very much.

The master must miss her very much.

Yeah, I want to beat her to death.

After all, she had secretly taken so much of her master's poison powder...

...

noon the next day.

Tang Rui finally woke up naturally.

Ah, that feels so good...

Just after lunch, Princess Li sent someone to tell her that Situ Wei had arrived.

"Situ Wei? Who?" Tang Rui had no recollection of the name.

Rong Momo explained to her, "She is the Crown Prince's third daughter, but also an illegitimate daughter. Little Princess, the Princess Consort means that if you don't want to see her, you don't have to force yourself."

"Let's go take a look!"

You can't hit someone who's smiling, right? They've already come all this way.

She was also quite curious about why Situ Wei wanted to see her.

Tang Rui let Rong Momo do her hair and makeup before slowly going to the hall.

Situ Wei had been waiting for a long time, but she showed no impatience whatsoever.

She even curtsied to her and gave her a cute smile: "Cousin, I'm sorry to bother you."

"Don't bother me." Tang Rui climbed onto the chair and sat down, and Rong Mama handed her a baby bottle at the right time.

Situ Wei observed her discreetly.

With her hair tied in two buns and wispy strands framing her face, Tuanzi looked milky white, and her big, dark, bright eyes were very cute.

Situ Wei, however, didn't like it at all, and her gaze fell on Tang Rui's headdress.

It was a butterfly beaded flower inlaid with small pink pearls.

Pink pearls are rare and expensive, let alone pearls with such a beautiful color.

She's just an illegitimate child...

Not to mention Situ Qiang, even she was a little jealous.

Situ Wei lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes casting long shadows that concealed the emotions in her eyes: "Cousin, I'm here to apologize on behalf of my sister. I hope you won't hold a grudge against her."

Before Tang Rui could speak, a voice rang out: "I heard someone from the Crown Prince's Palace has arrived. Where is it? Let's see who it is..."

When Consort Zhu arrived and saw Situ Wei, she frowned and swallowed back what she was about to say.

Tang Rui turned around and saw that Consort Zhu, Consort Zhang, and Consort Li had all arrived: "Consort Zhu, Consort Zhang, Consort Li, what brings you here?"

"Didn't someone from the Crown Prince's Palace come? It's almost the end of the month, and the Princess Consort is busy checking the accounts. She was worried about you, so she sent us to keep an eye on things!"

After speaking, Zhang Ji looked at Situ Wei speechlessly: "Why send such a little kid to apologize?"

Li Ji said coldly, "It's obvious that you look down on our Li Prince's Mansion."

"Say no more!" Consort Zhu interrupted the two, her brows furrowed with annoyance.

It would be fine if an adult came, but if a child is sent, they won't be able to bully her.

Situ Wei nodded politely to the three of them, then took out ten one-hundred-tael silver notes and handed them to Tang Rui with both hands: "Cousin, these are an apology. My father has already disciplined my sister, and she will never bully you again."

"Tch..." Li Ji lazily adjusted her hair and silently rolled her eyes. "Just a thousand taels of silver? Who do you think you are? I spend more than that on a single meal!"

Interrupted time and time again, Situ Wei, with her good temper, finally lost her temper and her face darkened.

The maid beside her frowned and said, "Don't push your luck, Prince Li's mansion. My mistress is, after all, the daughter of the Crown Prince. The three of you are just Prince Li's concubines. How dare you speak to my mistress like that?"

"And who are you? Do you even have the right to speak here?"

Tang Rui immediately protected her stepmothers, coldly looking at the maid: "My stepmothers, no matter how bad they are, are still my father's women. Who gives you, a mere servant, the right to speak ill of them?"

The maid choked for a moment, then said indignantly, "I may not be qualified, but I am acting on behalf of my young master."