Gu Tingye was a clever person indeed . Rong’s mother was missing . She was not a legal daughter, not a first born nor a favored child . Therefore, she was no threat to her legal mother, Minglan . As long as Minglan had a clear mind and a good heart, she would do Rong no harm . After Rong reached an adult age, Minglan only needed to present her a dowry and marry her to a man . At last, Minglan would gain a good reputation without any trouble .

If Gu Tingye defended and cared for Rong the whole time, Minglan might be displeased . Most of the time, a man was not able to protect his child if his wife wanted to hurt the child on purpose-- Gu Tingye was well aware of that .

Qiuniang was a first-cla.s.s maid in the First Family in Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion . Therefore, her personal ability could be guaranteed . As a matter of fact, she might even be more capable than the ladies in the normal families . If Rong could learn Qiuniang’s skills and the n.o.ble manners, she would become a graceful lady .

What’s more, it might not be a good thing that she learned too much and had a wide field of vision .

However, all of those things must be under one condition . Minglan squinted at the man in front of her, thinking, ‘How can you be so sure that I have a clear mind and a good heart? What if I’m a vicious person?’

Minglan gritted her teeth and suddenly had an evil idea . She really wanted to be a mean step-mother for once, just to surprise him .

“ . . . In this way, Qiuniang would have someone to rely on,” Gu Tingye added . He never mentioned Gong Hongxiao during his whole speech .

Did he want Qiuniang to accept Rong as her daughter? Then why hadn’t he promoted Qiuniang to be a concubine? Also, what about Hongxiao? Minglan thought about it for a long while . Then she realized that Gu Tingye’s words might have other meanings . While she was ruminating his words, she was suddenly inspired and felt a bit happy . Then she lowered her head to check the account in a good mood .

Gu Tingye sensed vaguely that Minglan was joyful now . He glared at her fiercely and pinched her face while trying his best to put on a straight face to scold her, “Why so complacent?! Tell me, you don’t want Qiuniang to live with us, right?”

Minglan covered her face right away and dodged him, saying frankly in bold terms, “That’s right . I am not willing to let someone whom I have only met for a few times see me naked . ” There were so many things Tong Fang could do .

“That’s the only reason?” Gu Tingye raised his eyebrows in displeasure .

“Of course . ” Minglan spoke with confidence . She even pointed at Gu Tingye’s nose and teased him smilingly, “Your naked body was seen by her from your childhood . Mine hasn’t . ”

Gu Tingye’s face was visibly reddening but he couldn’t even fly to a rage right now, given that he didn’t know if he should be angry at the fact that his naked body had been seen or at his wicked wife . As a result, he could only turn his back to Minglan . Seeing that he really was p.i.s.sed off, Minglan didn’t dare to tease him anymore . Then she began to coax him by messaging his back flexibly . After a long while, Gu Tingye finally turned around and lay on the bed with a cold face .

Minglan tried to get him to talk right away, “Have you already discussed with Sir Gongsun about the things happened in the court?”

“Hmm . ” The man hummed perfunctorily .

“I hope there’s nothing troublesome . ”

Gu Tingye hesitated for a while and then said slowly, “ . . . Today, someone accused General Geng of a.s.sociating the n.o.bles so frequently, claiming that Geng has violated the social order and law to seek personal gains . His Majesty warned General Geng on the spot at that time . ” He paused for a second before continuing, “Last year, Geng took the lead in the army in the border of the northern area . His injuries haven’t been fully recovered yet . ” As saying that, Gu Tingye couldn’t help but sigh with emotion . “I understood His Majesty’s good intention . I knew that he only wanted to let Geng be more cautious . . . Gosh, why did Geng do that!”

“Eh-huh . ” Minglan replied him slowly .

She had heard of that too .

It was not a rare thing . General Geng’s mistake was very common in the founding period of this country . He had been diligent and loyal to the country during the hard times . However, he couldn’t resist the temptation of the sugar-coated bullets when his life got better . Gu Tingye was from a prestigious family, so there was no way that he could simply ignore all his n.o.ble relatives . Even so, he still had to try his best to keep a low key and avoid lots of invitations every day . However, as a general from the border of State Shu, General Geng had lots of visitors in his house all the time, which gave a perfect material for those imperial censors to criticize .

“It’s not all Geng’s fault . ” Gu Tingye couldn’t help defending his poor colleague, “He didn’t intend to make friends with those n.o.bles . But most of his visitors are the relatives of his friends in army . How was he able to turn them down?” Unluckily, most of the n.o.bles in the capital had relatives serving in the army .

“What do you think?” Gu Tingye asked Minglan’s opinion as usual after having defended his friend .

Minglan didn’t pity General Geng, but she couldn’t say it out .

Having glimpsed at the look on Gu Tingye’s face, she swung the booklet in her hand and weighed her words, “Steward Hao takes charge of the affairs in the outer yard . Liao Yong’s wife, w.a.n.g Gui’s wife, a few Mama in charge and other servants are in charge of the affairs in the inner yard . ”

Gu Tingye frowned lightly, not understanding what she was trying to say . Then Minglan smiled and continued, “I feel that, if all the people I have just mentioned love each other so much,” Minglan exhaled and said, “-- Then I, as their madam, will be so displeased . ”

Every leader in this world favored pure loyalty and didn’t want their subordinates to be too close to each other . Gu Tingye also understood that . However, right now he sometimes would still a.s.sume the emperor as the former Eighth Prince .

Gu Tingye couldn’t keep his long face anymore and burst into laughter . After that, he dragged Minglan toward him like he was dragging a little pig and pressed her into him arms . Then he rubbed her body and laughed loudly .

His laughter came through to the door of the yard . After Qiuniang had heard of that, her face turned pale immediately . Danju, with a polite and fake smile on her face, said smilingly, “Miss Qiu, if you have something urgent, I’ll report it for you . ”

“No, no, nothing serious . I’ll go back now . ” Qiuniang waved her hand and staggered out of the House of Auspiciousness .

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