People in the Qin Dynasty, entertained during the Warring States period

Nongyu asked in surprise, "What's so good about it?"

Hongyu pointed at the scroll and chuckled, "Of course, Xiren is the best choice. She's just as charming and beautiful as I am, with a pure heart..."

"Stop!" Nongyu interrupted, "Don't praise yourself."

Distracted by Hongyu, she lost much of her shame at peeping at lovers' lovemaking.

Hongyu seemed to realize something, "That's right! I should follow Xiren's example!"

Nongyu asked in confusion, "Imitate Xiren? Imitate what?"

“Of course…” Hongyu seemed a little shy and lowered her voice, “I plan to take the initiative and find an opportunity with Caidie to sneak into Mr. Cao Ze’s room…”

"What are you going to do in his room?" Nongyu asked, somewhat bewildered.

But the next moment he realized that this was Xiren and Baoyu.

"What you want to do is..."

Nongyu lowered her voice, as if this was a very private matter.

Hongyu's eyes shone with longing. "Of course, it's about having a romantic encounter with you, sir. We don't expect to stay with you forever, but if we can leave behind a child thanks to the opportunity arranged by Sister Zinu, who knows, we might even give birth to a dragon or phoenix as talented as you in the future."

Nongyu looked silently at Hongyu, who shared a room with her, and said helplessly, "How could you do this..."

Hongyu remained silent for a long time before saying softly, "Nongyu, I am not as good-looking as you, nor as talented, and my cultivation is not as good as yours... I always felt that you and Mr. are a match made in heaven."

Nongyu remained silent, gently stroking the strings of her zither, and sighed, "What can I do? I'm just a zither player, and besides, Sister Zinu..."

Hongyu pursed her red lips and hesitated before saying, "Sister Zinu probably doesn't have those kinds of thoughts, otherwise she wouldn't have asked Caidie and me to serve you, sir."

At this point, Hongyu said with some longing, "If Sister Zinu could marry Mr., we could live with him for the rest of our lives."

"That's true..."

For some reason, Nongyu couldn't feel happy. She couldn't explain why. She stared blankly at the dark night sky outside the window, seemingly ignoring Hongyu's chattering about her dreams of the future.

……

The next day.

With the help of Xiao Hongyu and Caidie, Cao Ze dressed, ate, and left Zilan Pavilion.

He felt that Hongyu and Caidie were looking at him strangely today, as if they were lusting after his body, but it didn't seem like that. It gave him the feeling that "I want to have your babies".

That's strange, really strange.

After Cao Ze left, Hong Yu and Cai Die whispered excitedly in the backyard, discussing how to implement the plan.

Hongyu said, "I think that prescription might work. I heard it can make it easier for us to get pregnant."

Cai Die said, "Let's find Sister Zi Nu. She knows some medicine and it would be better if she could prescribe a medicine for us."

Hongyu hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Okay."

They still trusted Sister Zi Nu.

Zi Nu had just finished dressing and was practicing her morning breathing exercises cross-legged when she saw Hong Yu and Cai Die enter. She opened her purple eyes and asked, "What is it?"

Hongyu winked at Caidie, and Caidie winked at Hongyu, neither of them wanting to speak.

Seeing the stalemate, Zi Nu said sternly, "Speak quickly!"

Cai Die was the first to give in and honestly said, "Um... Sister Zi Nu, we'd like to... um, do you have that kind of medicine?"

Zi Nu asked, puzzled, "What medicine?"

"Oh, it's just, it's about having children, like the fertility pills and the soup for conceiving a child..." As she finished speaking, Xiao Hongyu lowered her face, feeling as if she had caught a fever.

Cai Die wasn't much better off; she also had a flushed face and her head down.

Zi Nu's mind went blank for a moment before she gradually came to her senses, staring at Hong Yu and Cai Die with some astonishment.

This……

Zi Nu took a deep breath, somewhat exasperated, and said, "I had you serve him so that you could get closer to him and Zi Lan Xuan, so that you could get more information from him, not so that you could..."

Hongyu stuck out her little tongue and muttered, "There's no conflict between them..."

Cai Die quickly said, "Sister Zi Nu, look how outstanding Mr. is, his future children will definitely be outstanding too. As the saying goes, dragons beget dragons and phoenixes beget phoenixes. We are also thinking of Zi Lan Xuan."

Zi Nu laughed angrily, "Dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes? You're all so stupid, why are you having children? Aren't you afraid of becoming even more foolish?"

"I'm not afraid..." Hongyu protested softly, but she immediately shut up under the glare of her sister Zi Nu.

Zi Nu thought for a moment and said, "You are still virgins, so most fertility tonics are not suitable for you. I will first brew you some tonics to replenish your qi and blood, nourish your kidneys and yin. As for whether you can have a child, that depends on your abilities."

Hongyu and Caidie each held Zinu's arm on either side and said in unison, "Sister Zinu is the best."

Zi Nu smiled helplessly, "You guys..."

She could hardly tell whether she was the older sister of her sisters or their mother.

Hongyu seized the opportunity and said, "Sister Zinu, why don't you and your husband give it a try? If you can form a marriage alliance, we sisters can also benefit!"

"That's right," said the butterfly.

Zi Nu's heart raced as Hong Yu and Cai Die spoke, and she pretended to scold them, "You've all grown up, daring to interfere in your sister's affairs? Get out!"

Hongyu and Caidie dared not continue speaking, fearing that Sister Zinu would be angry and refuse to brew them the fertility-enhancing medicine, so they quickly went out.

Zi Nu rubbed her temples, feeling a bit of a headache.

She hasn't decided yet whether or not to take her relationship with Cao Ze further.

She knew that Cao Ze had a lover in Handan, who was a student of Princess Yafei of Feixue Pavilion.

Although Cao Ze was forced out of Zhao by Guo Kai before, now that the King of Zhao has changed, even if Guo Kai doesn't die, he will still end up in a miserable state. Cao Ze might go back and reconcile with that naturally beautiful Snow Maiden.

Zi Nu sighed and decided to stop thinking about it and let things take their course.

Not far from the Han King's Palace, Cao Ze rubbed his hands together.

This awful weather! It's already cold when it snows, but as soon as the weather warms up a little, wow, it gets even colder.

Based on his limited geographical knowledge, this was a cold snap after the snow melted, commonly known as a late spring cold snap.

If all goes well, the snow will have melted by the end of this month or the beginning of next month, and he will be able to take Han Fei and Zhang Liang to Mount Shizu to see if they can find any treasure.

Shortly afterward, a low-key yet luxurious carriage slowly drove out of the palace.

Cao Ze knew immediately that Consort Hu had left the palace.

He had arranged to visit his sister-in-law, which was why he was waiting here.

As the carriage passed by Cao Ze, Hu Meiren lifted the curtain, her foxy eyes quite beautiful. She said coquettishly, "Sir, you've kept us waiting. Please get in the carriage."

Cao Ze looked around, saw no one, and got into the carriage.

Aside from the eunuch driving the carriage, only Consort Hu and her personal maid were inside; there were few guards accompanying them.

Hu Meiren leaned lazily against the carriage and said in a magnetic voice, "My sister's birthday is the day after tomorrow. Is everything ready, sir?"

"Your Majesty, rest assured, everything is ready."

After hearing this, Hu Meiren fell silent, her beautiful eyes seemingly closed, and the car fell into silence.

Seeing that Hu Meiren was unwilling to say more, Cao Ze knew very well what Hu Meiren was worried about.

Hu Meiren invited him to her sister-in-law's place to discuss how to kill Liu Yi. Obviously, such a matter could not be known to outsiders.

So he closed his eyes as well, calming his mind and having no other thoughts.

He already had a plan for how to kill Liu Yi. The discussion he had with Hu Meiren was just to keep her hanging on and prevent her from causing trouble for him, unless... he became the troublemaker first.

Liu Yi stood outside the mansion and saw the palace carriage arrive, so he hurried over.

Just as he was about to speak, Cao Ze came downstairs.

"...Brother Cao Ze?"

Liu Yi was a little confused. Where was Hu Meiren?

Cao Ze coughed lightly, "Your Majesty, please alight from the carriage."

The coachman quickly put down the horse stool.

Hu Meiren lifted the carriage curtain, revealing her beautiful face. She gracefully stepped off the carriage with her long, alluring legs.

"Liu Yi, I have only come to visit my sister, you do not need to come with me."

Liu Yi was already used to it and nodded in agreement.

After Hu Meiren went inside, he whispered to Cao Ze, "Why are you with the Empress, brother?"

Cao Ze smiled and said, "The Empress said that the day after tomorrow is my sister-in-law's birthday, and asked me to come and show her the script."

Liu Yi suddenly realized that Cao Ze had mentioned that Hu Meiren had booked the entire theater for her sister's birthday celebration. He rubbed his hands together and said, "Hey, little brother, could I go and take a look too?"

"Dude, your hat's askew again."

Liu Yi quickly straightened the green hat.

"Tsk, all those girls are plotting how to kill you, and you're rushing to deliver yourself..." Cao Ze shook his head.

"Brother..."

Liu Yi remained calm and lowered his voice, saying, "Brother, I've already made arrangements. The General will be hosting a banquet for you at his residence tomorrow."

Cao Ze paused slightly: "Brother, please put in a good word for me. Whether it works out or not depends on the Empress's mood."

Liu Yilian replied, "Of course, of course."

Cao Ze walked in, thinking to himself, "What a load of rubbish about helping you."

He pondered for a moment whether he should ask Hu Meiren to help spread the word and have a friendly exchange with his sister-in-law.

Yes, there's great potential.

……

Chapter 262 When You Need to Be Firm, You Can't Be Soft

The small hall in the West Garden.

Hu Meiren was whispering to her sister, Madam Hu.