The Grand Secretary has no heir? His concubine gives birth to triplets.

Jiang Guo'er returned to the side room, leaned against the couch, and opened the travelogue she had borrowed from the study.

But his mind wasn't on the book at all.

My mind is completely occupied with that painting, "Picking Lotus Flowers".

The weight of that scroll was really strange; there was definitely something hidden inside!

Even if it's not a secret related to the wrongful conviction of his father and brother, it could be something else entirely...

But that was Pei Yan's study, heavily guarded, with Afu watching over it every day.

How can I take the painting out without anyone noticing and then disassemble the scroll?

Jiang Guo'er rubbed her temples, mentally calculating a solution.

The book in my hand suddenly went empty.

Jiang Guo'er looked up in surprise and saw Pei Yan standing beside her, having entered the room at some point.

He was extremely tall, blocking most of the light and shadow, which made her heart skip a beat.

Pei Yan turned around, walked to the desk, picked up his brush, and began to write.

"Do you recognize all the words in this book?"

Jiang Guo'er's heart skipped a beat.

I almost forgot, she is now just a concubine from the countryside.

She quickly stood up, walked to the desk, and pointed to the pages of the travelogue.

"This is heaven, earth, and humanity."

"Books, flowers, paintings, words, you, me, him... I recognize all these simple words!"

To make the performance more realistic, Jiang Guo'er grabbed a calligraphy brush.

He gripped the middle of the pen tightly with all five fingers, his thumb and forefinger pinched together, his posture extremely clumsy.

She wrote the three characters "Jiang Guo'er" crookedly in the blank space of the rice paper.

The handwriting was uneven in thickness, and the ink had bled into a large black spot on the paper.

If her father saw her writing such obscene words, he would probably jump out of the ancestral graves and beat her.

On the surface, she looked up expectantly, her bright, watery eyes sparkling, with a look of eager anticipation for praise.

"Your Excellency, look, I can even write my own name! But I really can't recognize those complicated or obscure ones."

"However, the travelogue has many illustrations, which are quite beautiful."

Pei Yan looked down at the three extremely ugly characters on the paper.

Far from finding it vulgar, he felt a soft spot sinking into his heart.

This girl is completely illiterate, yet she still insists on going to the study to borrow travelogues to read.

She was pretending to read; her real intention was probably to find some excuse to please him.

What a silly girl.

In an attempt to bridge the vast chasm between them, they resorted to such a clumsy method.

Pei Yan walked around behind her, his broad chest pressed against her back.

Jiang Guo'er's body stiffened instantly, and she dared not move.

Pei Yan's large hand covered her small hand, his warm palm pressed against the back of her hand.

I forcibly pried open her clenched fingers and readjusted her grip on the pen.

Then, he guided her wrist and slowly moved it across the white paper.

A man's strength is steady and his pen strokes are vigorous.

Jiang Guo'er thought he was going to teach her to write.

But as she followed the strokes of the paper and saw what was written on it, her breath caught in her throat.

Lotus... confesses...

Sweet potatoes... are poisonous... a drug to make you mute...

Jiang Guo'er almost blurted it out.

The sweet potato that Lotus gave her that night was poisonous!

She broke out in a cold sweat, her mind racing.

She found those sweet potatoes too sweet and felt nauseous after eating them, so she only took one bite.

Since she didn't eat it, then the poison...

wrong!

Jiang Guo'er turned her head and looked at Pei Yan with a look of astonishment.

The image of the next morning, with only one and a half sweet potatoes left on the table, is vividly clear in my mind!

Jiang Guo'er's eyes widened.

What happened to the missing sweet potato?

Could it be... that the Prime Minister ate it?!

Pei Yan was unaware that she had completely understood the contents of the paper.

He remained calm and composed.

But perhaps thinking of something, a blush quickly rose to the base of her fair ears.

The Grand Secretary, a high-ranking official, was returning home after work with his stomach growling with hunger.

He actually went and stole the half-eaten sweet potato left by the maid!

He even ate himself into silence!

Jiang Guo'er almost burst out laughing.

She quickly pinched herself and forced the corners of her lips down.

The Prime Minister, usually so aloof and arrogant, actually has a moment like this?!

If it weren't for her status, she would have loved to mock him.

Pei Yan vaguely sensed the intense emotional fluctuations of the person in front of him.

He raised his hand and patted the top of her head, reminding her to be serious.

Being unable to speak is still too inconvenient.

Jiang Guo'er knew only a limited number of characters and could only communicate with him in daily life.

It's inconvenient to talk about anything else.

Jiang Guo'er quickly suppressed her interest in watching the show, put on a meticulous appearance, and frowned as she wrote.

Just then, the sound of a report came from outside.

"Your Excellency, Granny Li has returned to the manor! Accompanied by an old Taoist priest, she says she's here to visit the Old Madam!"

Jiang Guo'er's heart pounded wildly.

Master Longchuan!

The old Taoist priest who makes silk dolls has finally arrived!

Pei Yan concealed the tenderness in his eyes and reverted to his usual aloofness.

He crumpled the papers on the table into a ball, threw them into the brazier to burn to ashes, straightened his robes, and strode out of the side room.

Songhe Garden.

The doors and windows of the main hall were tightly closed, the charcoal fire burned extremely brightly, and even the air felt stuffy.

The old lady sat upright in a rosewood armchair, her sandalwood prayer beads moving rapidly in her hands.

Master Longchuan had white hair and beard and wore a gray-blue Taoist robe.

He sat down slowly on the round stool and placed three withered fingers on Pei Yan's radial artery pulse.

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, with only the occasional crackling sound of the charcoal fire.

Pei Yan leaned back in his chair, his face ashen, and let the old Taoist priest do as he pleased.

Time passes little by little.

A thin layer of sweat appeared on the old lady's forehead, and the veins on the back of her hands stood out.

After the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea.

Master Longchuan slowly withdrew his hand, shook the wide sleeves of his Taoist robe, and showed no emotion on his face.

He stood up and flicked the whisk in his hand.

"Sir, please dismiss everyone else."

The old lady's hand trembled, and the sandalwood prayer beads almost fell to the ground.

Master Longchuan's gaze swept over Granny Qin and Granny Li inside the room.

"Only you and Prime Minister Pei remain here."

Qin Mama understood immediately, turned around, and pulled Li Mama, who had something to say, out of the room.

The heavy wooden door creaked, completely isolating the main hall from the outside world.

The old lady could no longer maintain her composure and eagerly leaned over.

"Master, what kind of poison has afflicted my grandson's throat? Is there any cure?"

Master Longchuan did not answer immediately.

Instead, he turned around and walked up to Pei Yan, scrutinizing him carefully from head to toe.

He let out a long sigh.

"Sir, this poison... I'm afraid it might cause some trouble."

"I just examined your pulse and found that the residual poison in Prime Minister Pei's body has already penetrated deep into his bone marrow along with his blood vessels."

"If we force him to take the acupuncture to detoxify, it is very likely to trigger his original life-threatening calamity. I'm afraid... the Prime Minister will not live to see the child born... and will die."