Taking her into his tent, he incurred the wrath of a powerful and mad minister, from which he could

Madam Zong quickly stopped him, "I didn't say I was going to punish him!"

She's so old, what kind of nonsense is it for her to argue with a nine-year-old child?

Zong Xian said calmly, "Didn't Mother say that punishing only Yue-ge'er is unfair?"

"Mother just felt that you didn't treat everyone equally back then, and was afraid that your sister-in-law would overthink it," said Madam Zong sheepishly.

Zong Xian picked up his chopsticks again, picked up a piece of lotus root and put it into the old lady's bowl. "Sister-in-law is reasonable and not petty. Besides, it was Yue-ge who was the mastermind, and he still tried to blame others. If he is not taught a lesson now, he will inevitably grow up to be crooked. You should not spoil him too much."

Madam Zong had nothing more to say.

After a moment's hesitation, she finally couldn't help but ask, "Why are you so concerned about the Ji family siblings?"

Zong Xian paused, "Why do you say that, Mother?"

Madam Zong looked at him and said, "You are my son, don't I know you well? You have never liked to talk to outsiders, but last time you punished Hua Yan because of that Ji Mingyi."

The Ji siblings are not related to their clan, so aren't they outsiders?

Zong Xian smiled faintly: "Mother still remembers the matter of Hua Yan."

Hua Yan was someone she had specifically chosen to be his concubine, and it was hard for Old Madam Zong to accept that.

However, she did not resent Zong Xian, but she had a lot of opinions about Ji Mingyi.

"Hua Yan took some things from my room without my permission, and I found out," Zong Xian said.

Madam Zong's expression changed slightly: "Is that so? What did she steal from you?"

Zong Xian remained silent.

Seeing that he seemed unwilling to say more, Madam Zong did not press him further.

The maid she had personally trained was dishonest, and what's worse, she even went so far as to grope Zong Xian in his room. Feeling embarrassed, she didn't dwell on the matter.

It seems that it wasn't Ji Mingyi who caused the trouble, but rather Hua Yan herself who was incompetent, so there's nothing more to say about that.

However, Madam Zong eventually distanced herself from Mingyi.

On this day, Mingyi came to Yongshou Hall as usual to deliver medicinal meals.

Unfortunately, the weather turned against us, and a sudden downpour struck.

Mingyi patted the courtyard gate for a long time with the medicinal food, but no one paid any attention, even though there were clearly people inside.

The rain slanted in, soaking her clothes, and Mingyi shivered.

She instructed Yuegui to go out of the manor to run errands this morning, so she is alone here now.

Mingyi didn't want to dwell on whether the person inside was doing it on purpose, so she stopped knocking on the door and planned to wait until the rain subsided before going back.

Unexpectedly, the courtyard gate suddenly opened.

Chun Tao opened the door. When she saw Ming Yi still outside, a hint of surprise appeared in her eyes, and she raised an eyebrow.

She still thought Mingyi had already left.

Mingyi said calmly, "I'm delivering medicinal meals to the old lady. My clothes are wet, so I need to go back and change. I won't go in. You can take it to the old lady; it's still warm."

Just then, the rain stopped, and Mingyi handed the medicinal meal to Chuntao before leaving.

Inside Yongshou Hall, Madam Zong looked at the medicinal meal that Chun Tao had brought and asked, "Where is that girl?"

"Reporting to Madam, Miss Biao got caught in the rain and went back to change her clothes."

Madam Zong didn't say anything more.

-

On her way back, Mingyi ran into Madam Yu, who must have also come to see the old lady.

Mingyi had always disliked Yu's tendency to flatter the powerful and belittle the weak, and Yu was also petty and never treated her well.

If the other party saw her in this disheveled state, she would definitely be ridiculed and mocked.

So Mingyi took advantage of the fact that Yu had not yet discovered her and chose to turn around and go around, but unexpectedly she ran into Zongxian and two young strangers.

She was soaked in the rain and felt incredibly disheveled, but she couldn't just turn around and leave; that would be too impolite.

He had no choice but to bite the bullet and step forward, curtsy, "Second Uncle."

Zong Xian frowned when he saw that she was soaking wet.

Just as he was about to speak, Mingyi lowered her head and hurried past him.

Lin Han, the heir of the Rongguo Duke's Mansion, practically had his eyes glued to her the moment he saw her.

Even after Mingyi had walked quite a distance, the prince still couldn't bear to look away.

"Who is she? I've never seen her before when I came here," Lin Han asked.

The air was somewhat quiet.

Lin Han belatedly turned his head, only to be met with Zong Xian's chilling gaze. His scalp tingled, and he immediately composed himself.

It was just a casual question, why are you treating him like this?

Zong Xian didn't say a word and walked ahead.

The young man in blue beside him said softly, "Are you out of your mind? That's obviously a woman from the Zong family. You're staring at that girl with such a lecherous look right in front of the Second Master. No wonder he's not happy."

Lin Han was slightly annoyed and muttered, "I'm not even staring at his wife, so why is he so reckless..."

"Say less and hurry up, don't mess things up."

-

Frosty Garden.

"Madam is really going too far. You kindly brought her medicinal food, and she wouldn't even let you change your clothes and warm up before going back. What if you get sick?"

Yuegui was heartbroken and very dissatisfied with Madam Zong.

Mingyi, however, didn't take it seriously. While soaking in the hot water, she asked, "Is everything taken care of?"

Yuegui nodded. "I've already met with the manager of Baixianglou. She's got a new batch of goods. That's right, she said you should go and take a look when you have some free time these next few days, and then we can discuss the follow-up matters in detail."

After a moment's thought, Ming said, "Alright, I won't feel at ease until I've seen it with my own eyes."

"By the way, go and fetch a doctor for me first thing tomorrow morning. If anyone asks, just say I'm sick and can't see any guests."

Yuegui: "This servant understands."

Mingyi let out a soft sigh, resting her chin on the rim of the bucket. "It's been a long time since I've gone out. I'll take this opportunity tomorrow to buy Mingzhe some new clothes..."

I was going to pretend to be sick, but to my surprise, someone actually got sick.

However, it wasn't Mingyi, but Ji Mingzhe.

His health was not good to begin with. Before settling down in the Xie family in his early years, he and Mingyi were constantly on the run, sometimes not knowing where their next meal would come from, which made him sick. He would fall ill if he caught even a slight cold.

After the doctor examined him, Mingyi was worried about leaving him alone, so he didn't leave the mansion that day.

But the official explanation given was that Mingyi was also ill.

Madam Liu sent over some tonics, but there was no response from Old Madam Zong, and Mingyi didn't seem to care.

The reason she tried to please and be obedient to the old lady was simply to make her life in the Zong family more comfortable, but right now Zong Xian was a ticking time bomb.

Mingyi had already planned that once she received the first share of the profits from Baixianglou, she would take Mingzhe away from the Zongfu... It wouldn't be long.

As for Xie Huaiyu, she had already written to him, telling him her intention to leave the Zong family mansion; she couldn't care less about anything else.

If Xie Huaiyu still wanted to stay in the Zong family mansion, she would leave him alone.