Chapter 3: Deductions

The Great Princess’s mansion.

“Where’s your wife?” The Great Princess’s face fell when she saw that Xu Weibei hadn’t brought Gu Wanning.

Xu Weibei said calmly, “She’s not feeling well.”

The third concubine stood behind Xu Weibei, she lowered her head and said nothing.

The Great Princess glanced at her, she seemed to take a deep breath, her tone softened slightly, “This child is strong-willed, she’s not feeling well, and she didn’t say anything. Someone, go find Doctor Zhang, ask her to go to the Marquis’s mansion and take a good look at Madam.”

“Grandmother, there’s no need.” Xu Weibei said.

“What do you mean by that?” The Great Princess’s anger surged, she slapped the small table, “How did I tell you before? Wanning is a child who has suffered, you must treat her well…”

“There are too many people in the world who have suffered, why does Grandmother only pity her?” Xu Weibei’s tone was cold.

Grandmother clearly valued Gu Yuan Shi, the Chief Minister, hoping that he would assist the Emperor well and ensure the Liu family’s dynasty for generations to come.

Gu Wanning was Gu Yuan Shi’s “problem child.”

Who in their right mind would marry a woman who grew up on a farm, someone shallow and uncouth, as their wife?

But Grandmother, she had pleaded for him, making him the laughingstock of the capital.

“Weibei, what do you mean by that?”

“It means that I don’t like Gu Wanning!” Xu Weibei said word by word, “If Grandmother is going to persuade me to have children, then there’s no need to speak.”

“You, you…” The Great Princess clutched her chest, her face flushed red, and her breathing became rapid.

“Grandmother!” Xu Weibei rushed forward when he saw this, kneeling before her, repeatedly calling for a doctor.

“Marquis, let this servant help the Princess first.” The third concubine spoke softly, calmly and steadily.

Xu Weibei then remembered that she had been able to serve the Great Princess because she was a female doctor.

He brought the third concubine today because she was the Great Princess’s person.

Xu Weibei stepped aside, and the third concubine stepped forward to help the Great Princess calm down.

“Someone, help the Princess lie down first. Sui’er, bring my silver needles.” The third concubine gave instructions in an orderly manner.

“How is Grandmother?”

“This servant will do my best, please rest assured, Marquis.”

Xu Weibei was worried, so he asked Gao Lan to go and invite Doctor Zhang.

“Get out, get out!” The Great Princess lashed out at Xu Weibei.

Xu Weibei didn’t dare to provoke her at this critical moment, so he could only retreat outside and wait.

The third concubine instructed the maids to close the doors and windows, and then asked everyone to leave, saying that she needed to concentrate and use her needles to help the Great Princess, and no one was allowed to disturb her.

Seeing this, Xu Weibei felt even more anxious, and he also regretted why, when things had already been decided, he had to go and provoke his grandmother, who had a heart condition.

But inside the room, the Great Princess’s breathing had already calmed down, her face was peaceful, where was there any sign of illness?

“Did he go back to the mansion and cause trouble?” The Great Princess’s voice was very low.

The third concubine nodded.

The Great Princess furrowed her brow, “Why won’t he listen to me! Would I harm him?”

After a pause, she continued to ask, “Was it a big commotion?”

The third concubine nodded again, “Madam was very angry.”

“Why didn’t you help mediate? How did I tell you before? You go, don’t compete for favor, you are to help them both live a good life!”

“Yes, this servant is wrong.”

The Great Princess sighed after scolding the third concubine, “Forget it, what does it have to do with you? He just came back, he was never satisfied with this marriage…”

The third concubine lowered her head and said nothing.

To be honest, not to mention the Marquis, even she, who had been by the Great Princess’s side for many years, as an outsider, didn’t understand why the Great Princess had arranged such a marriage.

“No, I’ll go and see for myself.” The Great Princess said worriedly, “That child needs a way out, otherwise the knot between the two of them will become increasingly difficult to untie.”

“But your health…”

Although she was fine, she was pretending to be ill.

The Great Princess said that she was stubborn.

She said what she said.

Xu Weibei naturally didn’t want her to make a fuss at this time, but the Great Princess said that she hadn’t seen her granddaughter-in-law for a long time, especially since her granddaughter-in-law was unwell now, she had to go and see if anyone in the mansion had bullied her granddaughter-in-law.

She was going to go and support her granddaughter-in-law.

Xu Weibei: “…”

Grandmother just wanted to warn him, to tell him to treat Gu Wanning well.

But Gu Wanning’s arrogant attitude, and her troublesome father, how could he bear it!

“Madam, the Marquis doesn’t take you seriously.”

At this time, in the Marquis’s mansion, Er’ya heard that the third concubine had gone to the Great Princess’s mansion with Xu Weibei, and she was so angry that she paced back and forth in the room, filled with righteous indignation.

The honor of seeing the Princess, the first was the Marquis, shouldn’t the second be the Madam?

Gu Wanning had already returned to her room at this time, she was flipping through the account books while saying casually, “The Marquis is happy, that’s all that matters.”

If Xu Weibei could allocate all his affairs to the concubines in the future, and forget about her, she would be able to laugh in her sleep.

If she could have a better dream, it would be that Xu Weibei would put her in the “cold palace” and give her the small courtyard.

The reason why Gu Wanning asked to see the account books was because the fourth concubine had complained to Xu Weibei just now, saying that she had deducted her monthly allowance.

Heaven knows, she had never done such a thing.

She couldn’t take the blame, so she asked the steward to bring the account books for her to look at.

She couldn’t give Xu Weibei an excuse to attack her, so she had to find the loopholes herself.

As a result, Gu Wanning frowned more and more as she looked.

Because she discovered that the four concubines had indeed been deducted.

Not only their monthly allowance, but also other money, such as the money for repairing the houses, which should have been “specifically allocated,” but for example, last month, fifty taels of silver were allocated, and twelve taels were directly drawn out, without any record of their use, but were simply circled in red ink.

The account books were black and red.

It was clearly done very darkly, but it was also done openly, any unexplained parts were circled in red ink.

“Give me an explanation!” Gu Wanning directly spread out the account books and threw them at the steward’s feet.

The steward was in his forties, he looked honest and pedantic, but he was unexpectedly dishonest!