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

"Aunt Feng is a concubine. Her grandmother passed away, and she went back to her family home for the funeral. Her family home is in Huizhou Prefecture, which is quite far away. She left the mansion two days before your wedding to the young master," Aunt Miao explained.

"I see." Rong Yingluo nodded. "So, the Duke's harem currently only has three women?"

"Yes. The Duke is not fond of pleasure. If it weren't for the Duke's mansion needing a mistress, he wouldn't have planned to marry after his first wife passed away. It was the old lady who forced him to marry." Aunt Miao herself knew this all too well.

The former wife promoted her to the rank of concubine, but the Duke never came to her courtyard. If Su hadn't been pregnant at the time and unable to serve the Duke, Su wouldn't have thought of using her as an antidote for the Duke.

"Forced?" Rong Yingluo seized on this word.

"Back then, the old lady invited some noble ladies to the mansion to enjoy the flowers and be guests. Her purpose was to find a suitable noble lady for the Duke to marry."

Unexpectedly, on that very day, through some unknown means, Madam Su managed to seduce the Duke, and the two became intimate. The old lady then had no choice but to force the Duke to marry Madam Su.

"Mrs. Su was very fertile and got pregnant that time, later giving birth to the second son." Aunt Miao briefly recounted the events of that year.

"Wait a minute," something seemed to flash through Rong Yingluo's mind, "You mean Mother got pregnant during that time with the Duke at the banquet?"

"That's right." Aunt Miao nodded.

"Was the second young master born prematurely?" Rong Yingluo thought of a possibility.

"How did you know?" Aunt Miao asked in surprise.

"How much earlier?" Rong Yingluo's face broke into a playful smile.

"According to normal time, she was due to give birth in about a month and a half. On that day, the Duchess accidentally slipped and fell, which caused premature labor. She also suffered severe bleeding during childbirth, but fortunately, the imperial physician was there to assist her, and she escaped danger without serious injury."

The Duchess spent two months in confinement before leaving her room, and the baby was also raised in the room for two months. That was the first time I saw the Second Young Master. He was fair-skinned and chubby, and you couldn't tell at all that he was born prematurely." Aunt Miao thought of what the Second Young Master looked like when he was a child and sighed that Madam Su had raised the child so well.

My own daughter was born looking like a kitten, thin and small. She didn't gain much weight even after four months of raising her.

Rong Yingluo already knew what was going on.

The second young master is probably not the Duke's son. No wonder Madam Su raised him to be a spoiled brat, and the Duke didn't care. This suggests that the Duke probably knew about this as well.

Rong Yingluo then thought of Gu Xi's face, which looked somewhat similar to her second uncle Gu Jingcheng. Could he really be her second uncle's child?

Su arranged for someone to steal her silver, but they failed. That night, her second uncle sent someone to steal it.

No wonder the two of them, one in charge of the household affairs and the other in charge of the household's businesses, worked together so well.

Gu Ce became a thorn in their side.

Madam Su wanted her son to be the heir apparent, and her second uncle wanted his son to be the heir apparent even more. However, Gu Xi was born out of wedlock, and he didn't care if he grew up to be a spoiled brat.

If Gu Xi is incapable of fulfilling his duties, then cripple or kill him.

If the Duke has no sons by then, the legitimate son of the second wife will be the rightful heir to the Duke's title.

Having figured all this out, Rong Yingluo was in a wonderful mood. She was just waiting to find evidence, and if she couldn't find any, she would create evidence.

"Aunt, do you know what the relationship is like between the Duchess and Second Uncle and Second Aunt?" Rong Yingluo asked, able to deduce a lot from even the smallest things in daily life.

"On the surface, it doesn't seem like anything, but if the Duchess and the Second Madam have a disagreement, the Second Master will usually side with the Duchess and make the Second Madam respect her elder sister-in-law." Aunt Miao felt that this didn't seem like a big deal, so she told the truth.

"Thank you for telling me all this today, Auntie." Rong Yingluo never expected that just one conversation would allow her to guess such an important matter.

"Madam, could I ask you for another favor?" Aunt Miao asked, a little embarrassed.

She only talked about some everyday matters in the manor and didn't dare to ask for more, for fear that Rong Yingluo would say that she and her mother were greedy.

The only person in the manor who showed kindness to the mother and daughter was the Crown Prince's wife; they could only beg her.

"What kind of help is it? I'll do my best to help you as long as it's within my power." Rong Yingluo was generous.

If her guess comes true today, Aunt Miao will have done a great service.

Aunt Miao had to make a living under Madam Su's tutelage, and the fact that she could say so much today already showed that she was under a lot of pressure.

"Regarding Yin'er and Young Master Zhou, I wonder if you could ask the Crown Prince's wife to grant them their wish?" Aunt Miao pleaded in her eyes.

She only had this one daughter, who was her only hope and her only concern.

She hopes her daughter will marry a good man who will be devoted to her and not waste her life like she did.

"Don't worry, Aunt, I'll keep this in mind. I get along well with my second sister. As long as you're not afraid of Mother causing trouble, you can let her come to Silver Willow Courtyard to talk to me from time to time."

"However, I still need to have someone investigate that Young Master Zhou thoroughly. If he is truly a worthy man to whom one can entrust one's life, the Crown Prince and I will naturally help. If not, then we will have to persuade my second sister." Rong Yingluo had a very good impression of Gu Qingyin.

"Thank you very much, Madam Heir." Aunt Miao said sincerely.

"In addition, I have heard some news." Aunt Miao lowered her voice.

"What news?" Rong Yingluo's eyes lit up.

"Once, the Duchess and Granny Zhao were strolling in the garden when they happened to pass by the rockery. Not wanting to run into them, I hid and overheard them saying, 'The matter His Highness the Crown Prince has entrusted to us must be carried out flawlessly.'"

"I suspect that the Duchess may have sided with the Crown Prince, otherwise she wouldn't have wanted to marry Yin'er into the Gao family. Madam Gao is Consort Cao's younger sister." Aunt Miao had long suspected the reason, but she couldn't resist.

Rong Yingluo's gaze sharpened.

What exactly does the Crown Prince want to do?

Now that the emperor only has one heir, wouldn't it be easy to ascend the throne if we just wait for the emperor to ascend to the highest heaven?

Why engage in forming cliques and pursuing personal gain?

Is someone trying to steal his throne?

Rong Yingluo frowned.

If someone else were to try and seize the crown prince's throne, who would it be?

Yuwen Zhang?

But in the eyes of the Crown Prince and the Emperor, he was already a useless person and had no chance of seizing the throne.

evening.

Gu Ce returned after being dismissed from his post.

Rong Yingluo noticed his tired expression and her brows furrowed.

"What's wrong?" Rong Yingluo asked with concern.

"It's nothing, Madam. Just help me relax." Gu Ce took off his official robes, changed into casual clothes, and sat down in a chair, his tone revealing exhaustion.

Rong Yingluo pouted. They really treated her like a virtuous wife, ordering her around to massage his shoulders and back.

But thinking about what he has been through over the years, I can't bring myself to be cruel.

Rong Yingluo put down her needlework and began to massage Gu Ce's shoulders, then massaged his temples and various acupoints on his head.

While pressing the massage, he talked about the things he had discussed with Aunt Miao earlier that day.

Gu Ceben had his eyes slightly closed, enjoying the service from his wife, but the more he listened, the more alarmed he became.

He was able to pass the imperial examination with top honors, so he must have been very intelligent; he immediately realized something unusual.

Aunt Miao was just an illiterate maid, so it's normal that she couldn't think of anything after all these years.

When Rong Yingluo saw that his eyes were wide open, she knew that he and she had the same idea.

"Husband, what do you think of this?" Rong Yingluo wanted to hear his opinion.