Early the next morning, not long after Qiao Jinniang woke up, Qiao Ruofeng came to see her.

  ee

  This time when Qiao Ruofeng saw the furnishings in Qiao Jinniang’s room, she had no envy at all.

  Qiao Ruofeng said slowly, “Second Sister, I almost died last time. Only after Prince Mediocre got the punishment he deserved did I realize how stupid I was.”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “I’m glad you figured it out. You are still young, less than sixteen years old, and you still have your whole life ahead of you as long as you can correct mistakes and make change.”


  Qiao Ruofeng suddenly knelt in front of Qiao Jinniang. Qiao Jinniang frowned slightly, only to hear Qiao Ruofeng say,

  “After going through so many things, I finally understand that there are not many reliable men in this world.

  “I grew up in the Duke Mansion, and even though my family has moved out of the Duke Mansion, I am still the daughter of a high-ranking official. I don’t want my mother to grovel to others, trying to find me a good husband for me, let alone trying to snatch someone else’s son.

  “If Third Uncle is willing to let my parents adopt his son, he would have agreed to it long ago. Besides, Sixth Cousin is not yet a year old. Let me be honest, even if Third Uncle is willing to give Sixth Cousin to my mother, he will be more of a burden than a help to Ruowan and I.”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “What you said makes sense. Sixth Cousin is still a baby. When he becomes an official, I’m afraid that you will be middle-aged.”


  Qiao Ruofeng said, “Yeah, instead of letting my parents forcibly take someone else’s son, I would like to find a husband to marry into my family.”


  “I told my parents about this, but they both thought I was messing around. Second Sister, please help me!”


  Qiao Jinniang said to Qiao Ruofeng, “Finding a husband to marry into your family is not as easy as you think. If it weren’t for the fact that Lu Chen lost his memory and had nowhere to go, and that I had saved his life he would not have been willing to marry into my family.

  “Which decent man in the world would be willing to abandon his family and marry into his wife’s family? Among the men who married into their wives’ families, eighty or even ninety percent of them are not desirable husbands. It will be very difficult for a woman to find a man to marry into her family…”


  Qiao Ruofeng said, “I know. I don’t expect to find a man as good as the Crown Prince. I just want to have a child. When I get a child, I won’t care about him anymore!”


  Qiao Jinniang smiled. “Get up. I’ll talk with Second Aunt and Grandmother about this matter, but I can’t guarantee that they will agree.” Qiao Ruofeng smiled happily. “Thank you very much, Second Sister.” Qiao Jinniang went to Old Madam Qiao’s courtyard in the afternoon, called over Second Madam and Second Master, and mentioned this matter.

  Old Madam Qiao said, “Ruofeng is my favorite granddaughter. I’m worried that if she doesn’t find a proper man, it would be like inviting a wolf into the house.”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “Grandmother, you can rest assured. With our Qiao family behind Ruofeng, if her husband dares to bully her, Brother Lu will definitely come out to defend her.”


  Second Madam didn’t dare to offend Qiao Jinniang again, and Second Master desperately wanted an heir.

  He didn’t mind who would become his heir, whether it was his third brother’s son or Qiao Ruofeng’s son. He just wanted an heir.

  With Qiao Jinniang’s guarantee, Second Master and Second Madam wouldn’t be afraid that Qiao Ruofeng’s husband would bully her.

  Compared with forcibly adopting Third Master’s son and falling out with Third Master, this was a good choice.

  But Second Madam still said in a small voice, “But which decent man is willing to marry into his wife’s family?”


  Old Madam Qiao sighed. “Alas.” Qiao Jinniang joked, “Ruofeng, if you find an unmarried man you like, you can just knock him out, make him lose his memory, then tell him you saved his life, and force him to marry into your family.

  “The results of the Imperial Examination this spring are going to be released. You can pick one as your husband from the examinees who pass the Imperial Examination.”


  Old Madam Qiao’s eyes widened.

  Second Madam said in a trembling voice, “Jin, Jinniang, you didn’t do this to the Crown Prince, did you?”


  Qiao Jinniang laughed. “No, he lost his memory himself and I really saved him, but what I said is an option you can consider.”


  Aunt Liu tried every possible means and even forced Huaishan’s mother to persuade Huaishan, and finally persuaded Huaishan to agree to give her son to Second Madam.

  Aunt Liu went to see Second Madam full of joy, while guessing how much money Second Madam would pay her.

  Besides, if Huaishan’s son became Second Master’s heir, her status in the Duke Mansion could be improved too.

  However, a maid of Second Madam said,

  “Aunt Liu, this is the reward our madam gave you, but our master doesn’t need to adopt a son anymore.”


  Aunt Liu asked in shock, “Does Second Master have a concubine pregnant?”


  The maid said, “No. Today, the Crown Princess persuaded our master and madam to agree to find Miss Ruofeng a husband to marry into our family and Miss Ruofeng’s child will be our master’s heir…”


  Hearing this, Aunt Liu was disappointed and angry. Her plans were completely ruined!

  Second Madam only gave her a penny as a reward! If she adopted Huaishan’s son, how could she possibly give her such a small amount of money?

  The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. After returning to the Duke Mansion, she spat in the direction of the Jin Garden.

  “Yuniang, you b*tch, you seduced my man back then, and now your f*cking daughter made me lose money, bah!

  “Crown princess? Bah, she is just a b*tch who has good luck! She committed adultery in her yard even when she is going to marry the Crown Prince!”


  “Mammy, what are you muttering about?”


  A young woman in a light-yellow skirt asked Aunt Liu.

  Aunt Liu trembled with fright when she saw the girl in front of her who was obviously an imperial maid.

  How could she just blurt out that?!

  If what she said was known by Qiao Jinniang, her whole family, including all her children, would be finished!

  The young imperial maid took out two taels of silver and said, “Don’t be afraid, Mammy. This is for you. You just need to tell me what happened in the Jin Garden last night.”


  Greedy for money and having an old grudge with Qiao Jinniang’s adoptive mother, Aunt Liu immediately said,

  as

  “Well, Qiao Jinniang was comitting adultery in the Jin Garden last night… There was such a great uproar last night in the Jin Garden because Old Madam and the Duke went to catch her adulterer.”


  The imperial maid gasped. How dare the Crown Princess do this?! She said to Aunt Liu, “Mammy, don’t tell anyone that you told me about this. After all, it’s a scandal. If it is spread, you may lose your head.”


  Aunt Liu hurriedly nodded. “Yes, yes, don’t say that I told you.”


  After the imperial maid got the news, she immediately passed it to her master.

  In the Imperial Palace.

  Standing beside the Empress Dowager, Li Lingling said when she heard the news, “Is it true? Qiao Jinning is stupid enough to commit adultery in the Duke Mansion, which was even known by a mammy in the Duke Mansion?!”


  Her wedding was only about half a month away, and now the envoys of foreign countries had all come to Chang’an.

  If this scandal was spread, the entire Duke Anyuan Mansion would be doomed!

  This was an unacceptable disgrace for the Crown Prince of Datang!

  Qiao Jinniang would have to die, and even the Crown Prince would be implicated. God was helping her!

  The Empress Dowager chuckled and ordered an imperial maid beside her, “Find some people to spread the news as widely as possible. Whether it’s true or not, since it was true that the Jin Garden’s gate was blocked last night, and a mammy of the Duke Mansion can testify to it, it’ll be enough to ruin Qiao Jinniang’s reputation.

  “If the crown prince is still willing to marry Qiao Jinniang, he will be laughed at by the entire world.

  “But if he cancels the marriage, Duke Anyuan will inevitably break ties with him.”