The pregnant woman pressed down on the wife, and the cousin collapsed into the prince's arms.

Su Wanrou didn't see Pei Jingnian, so she leaned against Zhou's mother and cried again.

She was deeply in love with Pei Jingnian. Although Pei Jingnian had not been particularly tender or affectionate towards her, they had always treated each other with respect and harmony.

But now, her husband is treating her so coldly, how can Su Wanrou bear it?

She even began to hate her mother-in-law. If her mother-in-law hadn't insisted on having a royal physician examine her pulse, she could have kept her cold uterus a secret, taken her medicine properly, and might even have gotten pregnant. Everything would have been fine.

But then the imperial physician arrived and exposed the truth, and her husband's attitude towards her changed drastically.

"I hate it so much! Mother, why can't I have children? Will my husband never come to my room again?" She cried with tears streaming down her face, which broke Zhou's mother's heart. She patted Su Wanrou's back and comforted her, "How could that be, my dear lady? You are the young master's legal wife. He is just angry right now. Once he calms down, he will naturally make up with you as before."

Su Wanrou wiped away her tears with a handkerchief and said coquettishly, "Then how am I supposed to know when he'll calm down?"

Seeing her young mistress so engrossed in her romantic feelings, Zhou's mother sighed.

Since her daughter's accident (falling into the icy lake), Su Wanrou's mother has been much stricter in her upbringing, striving to raise her into a respectable young lady from a prominent family and a matriarch of the household.

However, when it comes to matters between men and women, Su Wanrou has to figure it out herself. After all, it's not something that can be taught.

Originally, Madam Zhou thought her young lady was extremely lucky to be able to marry the heir of the Marquis's family, after all, the son-in-law was handsome and treated her well.

But now, she wavered. After all, the young lady was so engrossed in love that she couldn't bear to see her husband take a concubine and only wanted him to stay with her.

But this is simply impossible in aristocratic families, especially since the young lady cannot have children…

The best course of action now is to secure her position by having a child in the inner quarters as soon as possible. However, the young lady is actually very reluctant to let Rouge into the mansion.

Mother Zhou sighed. You can't have your cake and eat it too. She wanted the reputation of being the mistress of the house, but she didn't want her husband to take a concubine. Where in the world could you find such a good deal?

Zhou's mother even felt that she had made a mistake in giving the concubine musk in the first place. After all, concubines were of lowly status, and how could they be elevated after giving birth to children?

Now, because of this incident, we've lost the favor of the young master and the old lady; it's truly a case of losing more than we gain.

She organized her thoughts and said to Su Wanrou, "Miss, the most important thing now is to win back the young master's heart. I think it's not enough to just let Yanzhi into the manor. Why don't we suggest to the young master that Linglan and Ruichu, who were once concubines, be promoted to concubines? It would be a way to compensate them."

Su Wanrou was very unhappy when she heard this. She was already upset enough about taking Yanzhi as a concubine.

However, Rouge was ultimately a member of the Su family, and she could never escape his control.

But she has always disliked Pei Jingnian's two concubines, so why is she now praising them?

Does that mean Pei Jingnian has three concubines now? He didn't have any before!

Su Wanrou wrung out the handkerchief in her hand until it was soaked with water, but she still wouldn't let go.

Madam Zhou knew perfectly well that Su Wanrou's jealousy had flared up again, so she quickly tried to reason with her: "Think about it carefully. Why is the young master neglecting you? It's all because of the contraceptive soup incident. You have to soften your stance and let the young master know that you truly know you were wrong before this matter can be put to rest, my dear lady!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wanrou's mind cleared up a bit. She had always treated those two concubines as playthings, and she hadn't thought she had done anything wrong by giving them musk.

However, Pei Jingnian was indeed very angry when he found out. He thought that Linglan and Ruichu had been serving him all along, so they must have some affection for each other.

Thinking of this, Su Wanrou swallowed her bitterness and muttered, "Me, give in to two concubines? What kind of logic is that!"

"Oh dear, you're not yielding to the concubines at all! You're yielding to the young master! Just treat those two hussies as decorations. They can't have children anyway, so how much can they jump around? They're just giving you a reputation for virtue."

Only after I explained it to her in such detail did Su Wanrou finally relent.

The next day, she went to see Pei Jingnian in person, told him about the incident, and tearfully admitted her mistake.

Pei Jingnian's mood finally calmed down a bit, and he was no longer so cold towards Su Wanrou.

Su Wanrou was both happy and sad. She was happy because her relationship with her husband had finally eased up a bit.

The painful part is that what Zhou's mother said is true. My husband is indeed troubled by the contraceptive soup. It's because he still has feelings for those two concubines and is extremely jealous.

In fact, Linglan and Ruichu did spend quite a while by Pei Jingnian's side, but their friendship wasn't particularly deep.

Pei Jingnian, with the arrogance of a noble family, would never have any feelings for a maid.

However, people are not plants or trees. Because of the contraceptive soup, Linglan contracted a gynecological disease, with prolonged menstrual bleeding. The imperial physician diagnosed that it was difficult to cure, and he felt a little guilty.

Su Wanrou's actions ultimately compensated the two concubines, which made Pei Jingnian feel much better.

_

On Shen Yunshuang's side, Xuezhi was telling her mistress everything she had found out.

The concubine that Su Wanrou found for Pei Jingnian was named Yanzhi. She was eighteen years old this year and was born into the Su family.

His father was a minor manager at a silk shop under the Su family.

My mother works in the kitchen, but she recently fell seriously ill and is currently recuperating at home.

Upon hearing the words "sudden illness," Shen Yunshuang couldn't help but feel a sense of sarcasm. Sure enough, it was the same old trick.

However, as Xuezhi spoke, she mentioned another person.

"Cousin?" Shen Yunshuang blinked.

"Yes, I've heard that Rouge has a childhood sweetheart cousin who isn't a slave and is actually a scholar. They were about to be engaged, but the Crown Princess went back to the Su residence and chose Rouge instead. Coincidentally, her mother is ill and needs very expensive medicine to prolong her life..."

Shen Yunshuang pondered for a moment. It seemed that Rouge might be like herself in her previous life, not willingly entering the Marquis's mansion. Cousin... is quite interesting.

Although Xuezhi didn't understand why her mistress wanted to inquire about the young master's concubines, she didn't ask any further questions.

Her keen intuition told her that the young lady seemed to... have a different feeling towards the young master...

_

Having learned what she wanted to know, Shen Yunshuang dismissed Xuezhi and patiently copied the Buddhist scriptures in her hands.

After lunch, she went to Fuxi Hall, where Wang was sighing over a pot of orchids.

It turns out that the exquisite orchids that Su Wanrou had sent earlier had, for some unknown reason, already shown signs of decay.

After all, the orchids were only delivered a few days ago.

Wang was a true flower lover, and seeing the withered orchids, she couldn't help but feel heartbroken.

"Quickly send someone to call the gardener to come and take a look." She was not happy, and the maid serving her patted her back to calm her down, saying, "Madam, don't worry, I've already sent Iris to invite him."

"Aunt?" Shen Yunshuang came in just as this scene unfolded.

Before she finished speaking, Madam Wang looked up and saw her niece arrive. Her expression brightened as she said, "Shuang'er is here."