After being forced into a marriage with a wealthy family, the virtuous wife caused a huge uproar.

"You want to consummate our marriage?" Rong Yingluo's eyes widened. "Are you trying to take advantage of me?"

"How can you call that pushing your luck? We're husband and wife, isn't it only natural that we consummate our marriage?" Gu Ce wanted to take things further with his wife, to make her feel for him, and not just continue their lukewarm relationship.

He was truly afraid that one day his wife would leave him.

"I don't want to consummate our marriage. Consummating our marriage will result in a child, and I don't want to have a child with you. I have so many things to do." Rong Yingluo shuddered; this was terrifying.

If she, a Taoist priest, were to become pregnant, it would be a terrible situation; Laozi (the Supreme Lord Lao) would surely come to her in his dreams to kill her.

Absolutely not.

"You don't want to have children?" Gu Ce grasped the key point: it wasn't that he didn't want to consummate the marriage, but that he didn't want to have children.

"I don't want to consummate our marriage," Rong Yingluo emphasized.

If you don't consummate the marriage, you won't have children. Isn't that the same thing?

The couple discussed whether or not to consummate their marriage without batting an eye, leaving Gu Ce helplessly rubbing his forehead.

Why doesn't the lady show any of the shyness that other women feel when talking about such things?

She still hasn't figured it out. Oh well, if she doesn't want to, I won't force her.

Let's wait until she understands before making a decision.

He still has poison in his body, and if he really gets pregnant, it would be bad if the poison in his body were passed on to the child.

We must not rush things.

"Can I do this?" Gu Ce lightly pecked her lips again.

Rong Yingluo was stunned for a moment before realizing that she was still sitting on Gu Ce's lap, and immediately got up and sat down next to him.

"This won't do either." Rong Yingluo touched her lips as if she had been burned.

"Then we'll consummate our marriage. You must choose one of the two; it's your duty as my wife." Gu Ce once again adopted the airs of a husband.

"But I felt like I couldn't breathe just now." Rong Yingluo felt shy at this moment.

That's something only married couples can do.

She didn't want to be his wife for the long term, but they were husband and wife now, even if it was a marriage of convenience. It didn't seem wrong for him to ask her to fulfill the duties of a husband and wife.

Gu Ce pulled the person into his arms again: "That's because it's our first time, we have no experience, but we'll get it with more practice."

After he finished speaking, he once again captured Rong Yingluo's lips with his own.

Once you've had your fill of sex, it's incredibly difficult to control yourself.

Having learned from his previous experience, Gu Ce was much more skilled this time, guiding Rong Yingluo to dance with him gently and seductively.

Rong Yingluo froze again; he was still going on and on. She tried to push him away, but for some reason, she couldn't muster any strength in her hands.

Was she poisoned?

In the end, Rong Yingluo still couldn't breathe, struggled to push the person away, and gasped for air.

"I don't want to," she refused.

"Then let's consummate our marriage tonight," Gu Ce threatened.

Even if it means cheating, I'll still get a perk today.

"No." Rong Yingluo still refused.

"Then allow me to kiss you."

Rong Yingluo hesitated between the two options before finally nodding in agreement.

As long as she doesn't consummate the marriage and have children, she can still be free and independent, since she's not getting married anyway.

No one would care whether she had been intimate with a man.

When Gu Ce saw her nod, a gentle and tender smile appeared on his face that he had never shown before, though he himself was unaware of it.

Rong Yingluo kept her head down the whole time, not daring to look at him.

Back at the mansion, Gu Ce stayed in the outer courtyard to keep busy.

Rong Yingluo returned to the inner courtyard, and when Granny Zhu saw her lips, she was delighted.

"Miss, why are your lips a little swollen?" Granny Zhu, an experienced woman, asked jokingly.

"The food I had for lunch was a bit spicy." Rong Yingluo blushed with embarrassment. Yinghong had already asked her earlier. "Granny Zhu, Yinghong, bring out those dozen or so silver platters that are steeping in strong tea. I think they're almost ready, and it's time to move on to the next step."

She could only change the subject.

The gilded silver plates with double fish design that she bought a few days ago, a total of eighteen, have been soaking for several days.

She plans to repair it and give it to her eldest sister as a wedding gift.

Granny Zhu had two maids bring the jar out of the side room.

The master and servants began to get busy.

Later, Aunt Feng brought Gu Qingyu over for a visit and helped with the cleaning.

This is physically demanding work.

The gilding on the washed silver plate is definitely gone, but the Pisces fish are still there. After careful polishing, the luster is restored.

"Granny Zhu, have you bought the jewelry-making tools I asked you to?" Rong Yingluo planned to try repairing one today to see the results.

"It's back. I'll have someone move it out right away."

When Granny Zhu asked her husband to buy this set of items, he was quite surprised. "How come Miss knows how to make jewelry?" he wondered. It turned out it was for repairing these gilded silver plates with double fish designs.

Two maids carried the tools out and placed them in the courtyard.

Even the necessary charcoal has been prepared.

Even various molds are available. This set of tools clearly shows it was used by an experienced master.

"Granny Zhu, where did you buy this set of tools?" Rong Yingluo asked curiously, as these things were supposed to be passed down from their ancestors.

The skills must be passed down to future generations; they are the family's livelihood and are generally not sold.

"I heard from the master that it was sold to him by a woman."

I heard that the woman took in a son-in-law who moved in with her family. That son-in-law was lazy and good-for-nothing, and his father-in-law wanted to teach him his skills, but he only worked sporadically.

Instead of mastering the craft, he secretly stole the customers' materials and was arrested by the authorities.

This woman sold this set of tools to try and save her husband. What a tragedy.

When Granny Zhu recounted the origin of this set of tools, she sighed with emotion.

In this world, if men don't strive for success, it's women who suffer and toil.

Once the charcoal fire was lit, Rong Yingluo first melted some silver to fill in the pitted areas, then polished it smooth, and finally gilded it. After the two fish were gilded, they shone brightly, and the entire plate immediately came to life.

"Wow, it's so beautiful!" Gu Qingyu was amazed as she witnessed the whole process for the first time. "Sister-in-law, your craftsmanship is comparable to that of a master jeweler."

This is a delicate task.

"Don't praise me. It's because of the silver plate as a base. I only need to gild it according to its original shape."

As for filling in, it's even simpler. Just fill in wherever you see a spot that needs filling with silver putty.

Actually, the most crucial part is the cleaning process you just went through. If you hadn't cleaned away that dark layer on the surface of the silver plate, it wouldn't have been easy to restore it to its original state." Rong Yingluo learned this skill from watching her master restore antiques.

"Sister-in-law knows so much." Gu Qingyu looked envious.

"Qingyu, learn from your sister-in-law from now on. She knows a lot." Aunt Feng was glad she had made the choice.

The eldest daughter-in-law is far more capable than the Duchess. It won't be long before she's able to break free from the Duchess's control.

The Crown Prince is now the Prime Minister, a position even higher than that of the Duke, who only holds a noble title.

In one afternoon, Rong Yingluo only managed to make one silver plate.

When Gu Ce returned from the outer courtyard and saw the restored silver plate, his eyes lit up: "I didn't expect my wife to have such skills. She is truly multi-talented. I am ashamed of my own inferiority."

Gu Ce spent the afternoon reminiscing about their first kiss, and before he had finished tidying up many folding papers, he returned to Silver Willow Courtyard.

Rong Yingluo's face also flushed. She thought of the absurd things the two of them had done in the carriage, and a blush instantly spread across her face: "These are all unorthodox methods, completely incomparable to what you have learned."

An ambiguous atmosphere filled the two of them, lasting until they washed up and went to bed. That night, Gu Ce successfully held Rong Yingluo as they fell asleep.

Rong Yingluo wanted to resist, but Gu Ce proposed to consummate their marriage that night, so she dared not make any further moves.

Just as the two were drifting off to sleep, someone knocked on the window.