Hearing Qin Miao's words, the Princess Royal turned to look at her.
"Mother, think about it. If word gets out about Sister like this, how can she get married?" Qin Miao put on an act of being concerned for Qin Qian.
The Princess Royal thought it made sense. "Call the doctor in the mansion first. No one is allowed to leak this matter."
"Mother, it hurts." Qin Qian cried and acted coquettishly.
When she was usually charming and cute, acting coquettishly could still please the Princess Royal. But now, with her in such a state, it was kind of creepy.
Qin Miao gloated secretly. With Qin Qian in this state, she definitely couldn't get married. Then the marriage would surely fall to her.
The secret guard reported the result. Yi Qing smiled faintly, showing no concern. She had full confidence in what she had made.
She was now thinking about who was threatening Lord Yian from behind. She had originally planned to test Bai Yutang when attending the Princess Royal's banquet, but her own actions had disrupted it. It seemed that this way was not suitable for her.
"Madam, the old madam is here," Sang Sang bowed.
Yi Qing stood up lazily. "Is Bai Yutang here?"
"Yes," Sang Sang could tell that her madam didn't like Bai Yutang.
Yi Qing felt a headache just thinking about Bai Yutang. Things involving feelings were really troublesome.
Madam Di came while Xiao Jinghan was away. Seeing Yi Qing coming, she rushed over and took Yi Qing's hand. "I heard that the Empress Dowager summoned you to the palace. Did she punish you?"
"No," Yi Qing was not used to Madam Di's enthusiasm. She thought it was her own fault.
"Aunt was so worried about you that she didn't sleep a wink all night," Bai Yutang said with a worried look.
"I'm really guilty then," Yi Qing helped Madam Di to sit in the secondary seat imperceptibly and sat in the lower seat herself. "The Empress Dowager is kind. Mother doesn't need to worry about this."
"That's good," Madam Di hesitated for a moment. "Regarding the marriage between the Princess Royal's second daughter and General Xiao, you should be more open-minded."
Yi Qing showed that she couldn't be open-minded. "Mother, have you forgotten about Madam Wen? Do you want your daughter to follow in her footsteps? Even if your daughter doesn't think about herself, she will think about Baozi. Once there is a first time for some things, it will give others a chance."
Madam Di looked embarrassed. She knew that her daughter was still angry with her.
"That's all in the past. If Lady Xiao always brings it up, won't it hurt Aunt's feelings?" Bai Yutang said with a kind look of persuasion.
Yi Qing stared at Bai Yutang. "People can't have a bad memory. They can't forget the pain before the wound heals. After going through so much hard work by themselves, can everything be let go just because others say lightly that it's all in the past?"
Bai Yutang lowered her head aggrievedly. "Lady Xiao is right."
Yi Qing really didn't know how to get along with someone like Bai Yutang. She couldn't play such tricks, and it would seem to others that she was bullying others.
Madam Di felt a bit ashamed and didn't notice the verbal sparring between them. "Actually, there's another thing I came for today."
"Tell me," Yi Qing thought this was the key point.
"Mother thinks the Yuan family is good. The Yuan family has two sons who are at the age of discussing marriage. What do you think?" Madam Di said and glanced at Bai Yutang.
Bai Yutang lowered her head shyly.
Yi Qing felt like laughing when she saw this scene. "I don't know anything about them. What's the use of asking me?"
She only learned about the Yuan family yesterday. Asking her was a waste of time.
"I was thinking that since Yutang's father is no longer alive, if Yutang marries into the Yuan family, she needs someone to support her. I want to adopt Yutang as my goddaughter so that you can have a companion," Madam Di discussed with Yi Qing.
Yi Qing almost jumped up. "It's Mother's business who she wants to adopt. It has nothing to do with me."
Seeing that Yi Qing was angry, Madam Di said, "Yutang is all alone now..."
"Do you still remember how I got through those days?" Yi Qing looked at Madam Di with a smiling face. "Mother is really kind-hearted."
Madam Di immediately fell silent.
"Lady Xiao's words like this are hurting Aunt's heart," Bai Yutang said and stood up and walked to Madam Di's side.
"Is stating the facts hurting someone's heart? Then does it mean that as long as one can talk beautifully but actually do nothing, that's filial piety?" Yi Qing asked.
"Let's talk about this another day," Madam Di said and stood up. "I'm a bit tired today."
"I'll see you off, Mother," Yi Qing said and helped her mother. She also took her mother's pulse imperceptibly.
She originally just thought Madam Di looked a bit absent-minded. After taking her pulse, she really found something wrong. Her pulse was slightly unstable and very strange.
Alarm bells rang in her heart, but she still sent Madam Di out imperceptibly.
"Go and find out about the two young masters of the Yuan family," Yi Qing immediately gave an order after seeing Madam Di off.
She asked the secret guards arranged by Xiao Jinghan to handle this matter. She was a bit restless and somehow went to find Xu Maozhi.
Xu Maozhi used to stay in the yamen all day, but now he would disappear as soon as it was time.
When Yi Qing arrived, it was almost noon. Xu Maozhi was stretching his neck and looking outside.
"You're looking forward to someone so much," Yi Qing joked and picked up a document on his desk and glanced at it.
"No, no..." Xu Maozhi was embarrassed. "Is Lady Xiao okay? It's almost noon. You should go back for lunch."
Yi Qing looked outside. She guessed that the only person who could make this shrewd Xu Maozhi lose his composure was Ran Ran. "You're so eager to get rid of me. Who are you waiting for?"
Xu Maozhi didn't say a word. If he said the wrong thing, Ran Ran would surely settle the score with him later.
"Okay, I'm here to ask about the matter of Lord Yian. Haven't you found anyone?" Yi Qing stopped joking with him.
When it came to this matter, Xu Maozhi's expression immediately became solemn. "There must be something wrong with this matter, but the only person who could be investigated should be the deceased Madam Sima. But she's dead, and all the clues are broken."
Yi Qing knew it would be like this. "Don't you think this matter is very strange?"
"Of course it's strange. Deng Xiao has already started investigating the spies in the capital."
"You suspect this matter is related to the spies?"
"It's just a possibility. The spies have been under investigation to see if there's any connection."
Yi Qing thought this was a bit hopeless. "Do you know the two young masters of the Yuan family?"
"The Yuan family of the Duke Yuan?" Xu Maozhi was surprised.
"Yes."
"I know. The eldest young master, Yuan Hetong, is in the Hanlin Academy, and the second young master, Yuan Hecong, is in the Ministry of Personnel. They are both promising young men," Xu Maozhi looked at Yi Qing, thinking that Yi Qing wouldn't ask about other men casually. "Does General Xiao know that you're inquiring about these two people?"
"What? If he doesn't know, are you going to tell him?" Yi Qing said and felt a shadow behind her.
"I don't need to tell him," Xu Maozhi said and fled with his clothes in hand.
Yi Qing turned around embarrassedly. "I'm just here to ask about something."
"Looking for one man to ask about two other men?" Xiao Jinghan crossed his arms and looked at Yi Qing.
"Are you so free?" Yi Qing suddenly realized that it wasn't a good thing to be watched by Xiao Jinghan's secret guards. Xiao Jinghan knew her whereabouts all the time.
"I just happened to have something to do in the Supreme Court."
Yi Qing thought she was being upright, but being stared at by Xiao Jinghan like this, she felt as if she had done something wrong to Xiao Jinghan. "Then you go ahead. I'll leave first." With that, she ran outside.