Chapter 36: Husband, you are suspecting me

At the Pei Mansion, the servants were hanging lanterns and decorating, preparing for the child's full-month banquet. "You all must work hard!" The Old Madam leaned on her cane and acted as a supervisor, "This is the full-month banquet for the Prime Minister's own grandson! If anyone is negligent, be careful, I will sell you all off!"

"Yes! Old Madam!" The servants had bitter faces. Under the Old Madam's personal guidance, they changed the interior and exterior decorations again and again, moving things back and forth, suffering unspeakably.

Pei Aosong, however, had a different attitude from the Old Madam's solemnity in receiving guests. He sat in the Jinxiu Garden, watching Su Wanqiu tease the infant Yang Ge'er with a rattle.

He was writing invitations. As he wrote, he looked up and said, "For the child's full-month banquet, I plan to invite General Lu. I will have someone send the invitation over tomorrow."

Su Wanqiu responded gently while teasing the cute infant, "Everything is up to Husband's decision."

Ever since Lin Jiaojiao was no longer in the mansion, she felt that life was much more comfortable.

"Lin Jiaojiao and the child are now at General Lu's Mansion. I will invite General Lu to bring them along." Pei Aosong's words were like a basin of cold water poured over Su Wanqiu's heart.

She was stunned for a moment, stopped the hand shaking the rattle, and showed a look of doubt, "Concubine Lin is at the General's Mansion? I thought she was at the Dali Temple..."

"The Dali Temple is not safe," Pei Aosong said, looking at Su Wanqiu with a slightly scrutinizing gaze, "I heard that they encountered assassins last night, and even Lord Song was injured."

"It just so happened that General Lu was at the Dali Temple, so he took Lord Song and Jiaojiao to the General's Mansion together."

"Ah!?" Su Wanqiu exclaimed softly, "Who would dare to go to the Dali Temple to assassinate...?"

"It is currently unknown. This matter should still be under investigation. I heard that the assassins might have been targeting Lin Jiaojiao."

"I also heard that the food we sent to the Dali Temple from our Pei Mansion yesterday was poisoned." Pei Aosong looked straight at Su Wanqiu, wanting to find some clues from the changes in her facial expression.

In his view, no matter how much his mother disliked Lin Jiaojiao, she wouldn't go so far as to take action so blatantly.

Then who else could be trying to kill Lin Jiaojiao?

It could only be Su Wanqiu, the legal wife. He and Su Wanqiu were cousins and childhood sweethearts who grew up together.

Originally, Pei Aosong always thought she would be a good lover and a good wife, but in the end, one day, these expectations became shadows.

When did it start?

Pei Aosong couldn't say clearly. Perhaps it was one day when he caught Su Wanqiu talking to another noble lady who liked him, deliberately falling into the lake, and after being rescued, pretending to be innocent on the surface, but actually pinning all the blame on that noble lady.

That noble lady's reputation was ruined, and in the end, she could only marry an unknown minor official in a remote area.

Perhaps it was once when she and Lin Jiaojiao were both pregnant, Su Wanqiu accidentally ate safflower that promotes blood circulation and almost saw blood, nearly miscarrying, but she kept telling him to forgive Lin Jiaojiao, saying Lin Jiaojiao didn't deliberately serve the wrong pregnancy-protecting medicine, which made him lose his temper at the pregnant Lin Jiaojiao...

Or maybe it was other things, but in any case, he slowly stopped liking her.

"Husband, you are suspecting me." Su Wanqiu saw Pei Aosong looking at her like this. She put down the rattle in her hand, her face miserable, and wiped her tears repeatedly.

"Husband, it is Wanqiu's fault. Wanqiu didn't take good care of Concubine Lin at the time, which led to her being arrested and framed at the Dali Temple."

Su Wanqiu said very sorrowfully, "But since I married into the Pei Mansion, I have never had the real power to manage the household. Otherwise, I would definitely have called all the servants over and questioned them carefully to see who sent the poisoned food yesterday, wanting to persecute Concubine Lin."

"Forget it." Pei Aosong saw her appearance and vaguely felt that Su Wanqiu was pushing the problem onto his mother. He had no desire to pursue it further, so he waved his hand and took the child from the wet nurse to hold for a while.

Now, every time he came to Jinxiu Garden, it was to see the child.

Pei Shaoyang was almost a full month old, and his chubby face looked increasingly cute.

Especially those watery apricot eyes, which actually looked seven or eight parts like Lin Jiaojiao, so much so that the more he looked, the more he missed Lin Jiaojiao.

Suddenly, Pei Aosong seemed to remember something: On the day of the birth, just after he came from the morning court, he heard Qingyin Nanny from his mother's side say that Lin Jiaojiao had offended the Old Madam, given birth to a monster, and tried to swap the child...

At that time, he was so angry that he went up and slapped Lin Jiaojiao several times, but who knew she would bite his hand in return...

Thinking of this, he felt a bitter smile in his heart, and he regretted the slaps he gave her very much.

She must have been heartbroken by him, otherwise she wouldn't be so stubborn and even say she wanted to marry Song Shijie.

And right now, Pei Shaoyang's child looked so clever and cute, not like one born to Su Wanqiu, but rather like Lin Jiaojiao's.

Could it be... could it be that Lin Jiaojiao really had her child swapped that day?

He planted the seeds of suspicion in his heart, and even when he returned to his room, he was still thinking about this matter.

Now, the only one who knew the truth was Bai Zhi!

But Bai Zhi had now been taken to General Lu's Mansion...

On the other side, Bai Zhi woke up in General Lu's Mansion at dawn.

She found herself in an unfamiliar environment. Just as she thought she had been sold to the Zuihua Pavilion, a tall woman with a cold appearance brought in breakfast, "You're awake."

"Are you... are you the top courtesan here?" Bai Zhi asked in a low voice.

The woman laughed out loud, "Do I look like a top courtesan?"

"Then where is this...?" Bai Zhi looked around. This room didn't have the smell of rouge and powder, and it didn't look like the Zuihua Pavilion.

The woman explained patiently, "This is General Lu's Mansion. My name is Clove, and I am the head maid here."

"Yesterday, Zhang Jiao explained the situation to me, and the General also gave your deed of sale to me, telling me to return it to you. If you want to leave the General's Mansion and find your own way, the General is also willing to give you three taels of silver to help you leave the mansion. If you want to stay in the General's Mansion, you will be paid five hundred coins per month."

Bai Zhi understood a little, got off the bed directly, and kowtowed to thank them, "Thank you, benefactor, for saving me. I am willing to stay in General Lu's Mansion! I will go through fire and water for the benefactor!"

"That's good. The kitchen is short of a maid to burn the fire. After breakfast, go to the back kitchen and find Nanny Rong to arrange your work." Clove said, "I have other things to do, Miss, please feel free."

Bai Zhi nodded repeatedly. She quickly finished breakfast and was about to go to the back kitchen to receive orders, but on the way, she ran into a familiar figure, "Concubine Lin!"

Lin Jiaojiao had just woken up and was stretching toward the sun. Hearing someone calling her, she turned her head and saw Bai Zhi. She called out in surprise, "Bai Zhi! It's really you! How are you here!"

The mistress and servant held hands, and Bai Zhi was so happy that tears were about to fall, "Concubine, you are still fine, that's really great!"

At this time, Guo Shi hugged Pei Tiezhu and entered the room. As soon as Bai Zhi saw them, she shouted excitedly, "The young master and the wet nurse are also here!"

"Bai Zhi!?" Guo Shi was equally surprised, "Why are you here?"

Bai Zhi told the reason for the matter. Lin Jiaojiao was so angry that she was filled with righteous indignation, "That old hag actually told you to harm me! It's one thing that you didn't succeed in harming me, but she also wanted to sell you to the Zuihua Pavilion! It's really too much!"

Just as they were talking, Clove came to call Lin Jiaojiao and Guo Shi to go to Nian'en Hall to have breakfast with the General and the Old Madam. Lin Jiaojiao could only say goodbye to Bai Zhi for the time being.

But before they even entered Nian'en Hall, they saw Lu Zhenting standing outside the door, frowning tightly at a red invitation in his hand.

Seeing Lin Jiaojiao coming, Lu Zhenting's heart moved, wanting to hide the red invitation in his hand, but in the end, it was seen by Lin Jiaojiao, "An invitation sent from the Pei Mansion?"

"Yes," Lu Zhenting said briefly, "Pei Aosong and Su Wanqiu's child is having a full-month banquet, and they invited me to go to the Pei Mansion for the banquet in three days."

He paused, looked at Lin Jiaojiao, and said seriously, "It also said that I should bring you and the child along, saying it is to celebrate the full month for your child." ===== CHAPTER 37 =====