Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

Chapter 203 The Naive Chu Yuqin

After Lu Chen left, Chu Yuqin quickly went into Chu Qingli's room and closed the door.

As soon as she entered the room, she smelled a strong, strange odor. She had smelled this odor many times before, especially in Lu Chen's study, but she still couldn't figure out what it was.

Chu Yuqin didn't think much of it; her gaze fell on Chu Qingli on the bed.

At this moment, Chu Qingli was lying in bed, covered with a quilt, her face was rosy, and she looked like she was fine.

Chu Qingli turned to look at Chu Yuqin and said, "Sister, I'm alright now."

Chu Yuqin then sat down by the bed. She tidied Chu Qingli's messy hair and said as she did so, "Qingli, I know you are somewhat dissatisfied with Chen'er and don't want him to treat you, but you are now the commander of the guards in the inner courtyard of the Prince's Mansion. If you get injured, how will you protect the Prince's Mansion?"

"When you lose all your skills and can no longer serve as the guard commander of the Prince's Mansion, what value will you have in the Northern Prince's Mansion? You don't want to be kicked out of the Northern Prince's Mansion by the Prince, do you?"

Chu Qingli said weakly, "Sister, I understand. You don't need to say anything more. I was wrong this time."

Chu Qingli quickly backed down, hoping that Chu Yuqin would leave her room after she had finished bothering her. If Chu Yuqin stayed in her room, she might discover something.

Hearing Chu Qingli's perfunctory words, Chu Yuqin sighed, then continued, "Qingli, Chen'er has probably only healed your injuries. Your meridians are probably not fully unblocked yet. Let me take another look."

Chu Qingli quickly said, "Sister, it's alright, I'm fine now."

Ignoring Chu Qingli's objections, Chu Yuqin directly pulled back the blanket, causing Chu Qingli's face to turn deathly pale.

When the blanket was lifted, Chu Yuqin discovered that Chu Qingli's sheets were wet and had a very strange smell.

Chu Yuqin didn't think much of it and continued, "Qingli, you've expelled quite a lot of impurities. Why don't you change the sheets, take a shower, and then rest?"

Chu Yuqin thought that the stuff on Chu Qingli's bed sheet was all bodily impurities that Chu Qingli expelled while practicing martial arts.

Seeing that Chu Yuqin seemed completely oblivious, Chu Qingli breathed a sigh of relief.

At the same time, an idea came to Chu Qingli's mind.

My sister doesn't even know this? Could it be that my sister and Lu Chen didn't do that kind of thing?

Thinking of this, Chu Qingli felt a little happy. She guessed that Lu Chen had at most been tugging and hugging her sister, but probably hadn't actually had sex with her. Otherwise, how could her sister not even be able to smell that kind of scent?

Chu Qingli said, "I understand, I'll get up and take a bath now."

Just as Chu Qingli was about to get up, Chu Yuqin suddenly said, "Wait a minute."

Upon hearing this, Chu Qingli was startled, and her heart pounded wildly.

Has this been discovered?

Probably not.

Didn't her sister just think that these were impurities expelled during her practice?

Chu Qingli asked cautiously, "Sister, what's wrong?"

Chu Yuqin gazed at Chu Qingli's snow-white neck, sighed, and said, "Your qi deviation this time was too severe; it has left scars all over your body."

Chu Qingli's snow-white neck had many red scars, which led Chu Yuqin to believe that Chu Qingli had suffered a qi deviation during her practice last night.

Hearing this, Chu Qingli was stunned.

Chu Yuqin then said, "Qingli, take off your clothes and let your sister see how many of these scars you have. I'll go talk to Chen'er later and see if his medical skills can remove the scars on your body."

Chu Qingli quickly said, "Sister, no need."

Chu Qingli breathed a sigh of relief again. She thought Chu Yuqin had discovered nothing, but it turned out that Chu Yuqin had only noticed the red marks on her neck.

Chu Yuqin said, "Qingli, don't think these scars are nothing. You're not married yet, so it doesn't matter if you have these scars. But what will your husband think when he sees these scars when you get married in the future? These scars must be removed."

At this point, Chu Yuqin took matters into her own hands and peeled Chu Qingli's outer garment off her shoulders.

Upon hearing Chu Yuqin's words, Chu Qingli felt a little emotional. Of course, she wasn't dissatisfied with Chu Yuqin, but rather harbored resentment towards a certain bad man.

These scars weren't left by that guy. He left so many scars on my body, but he didn't use magic to heal me. I really don't know what that bad man's intentions are.

Lu Chen could even heal her injuries without her feeling any pain, so how could he not be able to deal with this little scar? He was doing it on purpose, deliberately leaving the scar.

After Chu Yuqin peeled off some of Chu Qingli's clothes, she discovered that Chu Qingli had many scars on her body; her fair skin was almost entirely covered with red scars.

Chu Yuqin frowned and said, "Qingli, if you ever suffer from qi deviation again, you must not try to endure it. Look at these scars on your body."

Chu Qingli said, "Sister, these scars will fade on their own, it's nothing."

Chu Yuqin sighed again, "I'll tell Chen'er later and ask him to help you get rid of these scars."

"Alright, go take a bath first. I'll have the maid change your sheets."

At this point, Chu Yuqin got up and walked directly to the door.

Seeing that Chu Yuqin didn't seem to suspect anything at all, Chu Qingli finally felt completely relieved. Fortunately, her sister hadn't discovered anything, otherwise she wouldn't know how to face her in the future.

The thought of that devil made Chu Qingli clench her fists involuntarily.

She was originally a decent person, but because of that devil's hypnosis, she became the way she was yesterday. Now, whenever she thinks of him, her body experiences strange sensations.

Perhaps she would never be able to get rid of this man for the rest of her life. Chu Qingli gritted her teeth and comforted herself. As long as her sister could regain her freedom, everything would be worth it. It was nothing for her to suffer a little.

That's already happened twice, so there are only ninety-eight left...

The thought of ninety-eight times made Chu Qingli's body tremble.

Lu Chen has already broken through to the Grandmaster level, and there are still ninety-eight attempts left. How am I supposed to cope with that...?

at the same time.

The courtyard in Chuxiong.

Chu Xiong sat in the courtyard, looking at the corpses on the ground and sighing.

The corpse on the ground is the assassin sent by the Chu family to kill Lu Chen. Last night, Xuan Yuan Chen brought the corpse here and told Chu Xiong what happened yesterday. Chu Xiong sat in the courtyard all night without sleeping.

He never imagined that after he left the Chu family, they would send someone to assassinate him, their grandson.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. His grandson has crossed the line of the aristocratic families, and the Chu family is one of the aristocratic families in Jiangnan. They cannot tolerate Lu Chen, even if Lu Chen is the grandson of the former head of the Chu family.

He has now lost his position as head of the family, and the Chu family is completely out of control.

Chu Xiong understood why Lu Chen had brought the corpse here. It was to remind his grandfather that the Chu family was now hostile to him, and that the Northern Prince's Mansion and the Chu family would inevitably become enemies in the future. This was a choice that had to be made for his grandfather.

Choose either the Northern Prince's Mansion or the Chu Family.

Of course, he had another option: to leave Great Xia with the Chu family who supported him and head to the Dayue Dynasty or the Daqian Dynasty.

After thinking about it all night in the courtyard, Chu Xiong finally made a decision.

He had been staying in the Northern Kingdom for some time and had become very familiar with Lu Chen's Northern Kingdom. Although the Northern Kingdom was still very poor, he had discovered that if Lu Chen's policies continued to develop, the Northern Kingdom would definitely become the most powerful vassal state within the Great Xia Dynasty within ten years.

The reason why other vassal states failed to develop was largely because there were powerful families and local influential groups in the vassal territories, and the vassal kings were subject to the constraints of these families in everything they did.

However, the situation in the North is different. Currently, the Northern Prince's Mansion holds absolute power in the North, and whatever the Northern Prince's Mansion does, those below must obey its orders.

This has its downsides. If the Northern King's policies go wrong, it could cause problems with the development of the Northern Kingdom. However, it also has a great advantage: the Northern King's orders can reach the common people directly. As long as the Northern King continues to be wise, the Northern Kingdom will quickly grow into a powerful vassal state, or even the wealthiest one.

If the Chu family were to move to the Northern Kingdom, they would face a major problem: they would have no land there. Traditional aristocratic families rely on land; without land, they would become like fish out of water.

However, during his time in the north, Chuxiong witnessed a different development model.

If the Chu family wants to submit to the Northern King and avoid annihilation, they can take the path of commerce. It's not impossible for them to transform from a landowning family to a business family. Moreover, there is a lot of wasteland in the Northern Kingdom now, and if they come now, they can contract a large amount of land in the Northern Kingdom.

Although they do not own the land, they have the right to use it. According to the Northern King's regulations, their families can use the land during the contract period.

Most importantly, the Northern Prince's Mansion took the lead in engaging in commerce, which changed the status of merchants. From then on, merchants were no longer ranked last among scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants.

The business environment in the North is currently very good, and caravans from various countries are constantly coming and going from Yancheng.

If the Chu family can seize this opportunity, they will surely become a great family again in less than fifty years.

Of course, Chu Xiong was also aware that aristocratic families would inevitably be suppressed in the North, and his grandson would never allow the Chu family to become the kind of family that could control the economic lifeline again.

At this moment, Chu Xiong got up from the stone bench and said directly to the servants in the courtyard, "Prepare the carriage, I am going to the Northern Prince's Mansion."

……

At this moment, Lu Chen was drinking the porridge that Mu Zixuan had personally cooked for him, and he had a smile on his face as he ate.

Seeing Lu Chen in such a good mood, Mu Zixuan smiled and asked, "Your Highness, which lady served you so well last night?"

Lu Chen smiled and said, "My dear consort, take a guess."

Mu Zixuan said, "Could it be Sister Nanyan?"

Lu Chen took a sip of porridge and said, "No."

Mu Zixuan continued, "Isn't it from Chun Sheng Academy?"

Lu Chen said, "No, keep guessing."

Mu Zixuan thought for a moment. There were only two people in Chunsheng Courtyard, Yelü Nanyan and Xiao Wenyao. Since they weren't from Chunsheng Courtyard, they must be from Beiyuan Courtyard. However, both Da Zhou and Xiao Zhou from Beiyuan Courtyard were already pregnant.

That leaves only Wang Qingci and Bai Qingqing.

Mu Zixuan smiled and said, "I guess it's either Sister Wang or Xiaobai."

Hearing this, Lu Chen raised his hand and gently stroked Mu Zixuan's nose, then said, "How can you guess like that? I only have a few women."

"Unfortunately, you still didn't guess correctly."

Mu Zixuan was taken aback by Lu Chen's answer.

If she's not a woman Lu Chen already knows, could it be Chu Yuqin?

However, Chu Yuqin only came to the main courtyard to find Lu Chen this morning, so Lu Chen was definitely not with Chu Yuqin last night. That leaves only Chu Qingli and the two women from Xuan Yue Palace.

The two from Xuan Yue Palace shouldn't be that fast yet, so by process of elimination, only Chu Qingli remains.

But didn't Chu Qingli harbor some resentment towards Lu Chen?

Seeing Mu Zixuan deep in thought, Lu Chen chuckled and said, "Alright, my dear consort, stop overthinking. You'll find out who it is in time."

Mu Zixuan snapped out of her daze and said with a smile, "Even if Your Highness hadn't said anything, I would have guessed it. Congratulations to Your Highness on gaining another beauty."

Just then, a maid entered the hall and said, "Your Highness, there is an old man outside looking for you."

Upon hearing the maid's words, Lu Chen instantly guessed who it was; he had anticipated last night that Chu Xiong would come looking for him.

Lu Chen then put down the bowl in his hand and said, "Take him to the study."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Some readers say I always like to write about trivial matters between men and women. I'd like to respond to that. According to our backend data, the chapters about how men and women develop feelings for each other are read three times more often than the regular chapters.

(End of this chapter)