Chapter 1: The Woman Who Blocked the Marriage

  Tian Shifu is the one in charge of this kitchen, and whatever he says goes. Lin Damao is his wife, and they are always on the same page, often trying to curry favor with their masters. When Shen Guiyan spoke up, everyone present had a number in mind.

  Mostly these two people in order to curry favor with the young mistress, gave the fourth young mistress special treatment, and the fourth young mistress in order not to offend anyone, asked them to treat her normally.

  The silver coins in her sleeves were heavy, and both Lin Dama and Tian Shifu hastily agreed. Shen Guiyan didn't say much, handed over the silver coins and left, leaving these two servants with doubts in their hearts.

  Others are eager to send more silver to the mansion, but the Fourth Young Mistress is doing the opposite.

  Returning to Beiyuan, Shuang'er happened to be carrying out the swallow's nest and saw her, somewhat embarrassedly greeting: "Fourth Young Master's wife."

  Shen Guiyan smiled and nodded, somewhat curiously saying: "By the way, who is your master?"

  "My family's master is Madame Xu, she is the aunt of the Southern Palace." Er'er replied with a bow.

  The second young master's aunt was only one, who seemed to be pregnant, with the name Meng Die. Shen Guiyan nodded and let her go, thinking that it was good that she had gone to the kitchen today, if not, she would have been misunderstood and remembered wrongly, which wouldn't be a good thing.

  In the room, she did some needlework and waited until it was completely dark before Gu Zhaobei finally returned with a strong scent of makeup. Shen Guiyan frowned and turned to instruct Bao Shan to fetch water.

  Gu Zhaobei sat at the edge of the table, picked up the embroidered pouch she had made and looked at it, with a smile in her eyes, saying: "Is this for me?"

  The cyan silk fabric, embroidered with green bamboo, can only be given to him at a glance. Shen Guiyan, however, pouted and said: "I'll hang it on the head of the bed, fill it with some fragrances, and smell it too."

  Gu Zhaobei raised an eyebrow: "Not even a thought for me? At least on our wedding day, shouldn't my wife give me some token of affection?"

  What's the point of talking about love when there's no love? Shen Guiyan said irritably, "You also know it's a new marriage, have you ever considered me? Even if you don't always accompany me, at least give me some face and don't bring this flirtatious attitude back."

  Her eyes sparkled, and Gu Zhaobei couldn't help but poke Shen Guiyan's face: "Are you angry?"

  Shen Guiyan nodded: "If her own husband ran out to fool around right after their wedding, who wouldn't be angry?"

  Gu Zhongbei lost his smile and wanted to explain himself to her, but he thought it wasn't the right time yet, so he gave up.

  Shen Guiyan was a gentle and soft-hearted person, and he indeed shouldn't have left her alone in the mansion. What if she got bullied again? It's really somewhat shameful.

  Thinking so, Gu Zhaobei couldn't help but pinch Shen Guiyan's chin to take a closer look. Nothing should have happened today, right? Jiang also said that the mistress didn't react much to those maids.

  Her eyes were clear and bright, with a hint of confusion, making people almost want to fall in. Gu Zhaobei hastily lowered his gaze to look at her lips, but this glance made him uncontrollably want to kiss her.

  Shen Guiyan held her breath tightly, the person in front of her getting closer and closer. The things they didn't do on their wedding night, could it be that they would make up for it tonight?

  The atmosphere suddenly became ambiguous, Gu Zhaobei's Adam's apple moved slightly, and his eyes were about to kiss those tempting lips, but suddenly heard a commotion outside.

  "What's going on?" Shen Guiyan was startled and couldn't help but turn her head to look.

  Gu Zhāo Běi discontentedly pinched her chin back and muttered: "What business is it of yours, anyway, it's none of your concern."

  Said that and was about to continue kissing.

  "Master!" Gu Zhaobei's attendant, Chui Yun, burst in through the door: "Something's happened..."

  The two people who were almost face-to-face suddenly sprang apart. Gu Zhaobei's face turned completely black, and he turned his head to ask gruffly: "What happened?"

  Shen Guiyan took two deep breaths, calmed down her heartbeat, and with a slightly flushed face, followed Chui Yun's gaze.

  "Clouds are gathering, the nose is observing the heart. Lowering his head, he said: 'The one in the South Wing has made a ruckus, it seems that Madame Xu has encountered some trouble and is now in severe pain. The mistress has already gone over.'"

  Gu Zhao Bei raised an eyebrow: "Xu Meng Die?"

  "Yes." Chui Yun said: "With such a big commotion, it should be that something has happened to the child."

  Shen Guiyan's heart skipped a beat. Could it be such a coincidence? Her swallow nest had just been mistakenly moved to the North Courtyard that afternoon, and now something was happening at night?

  Muttering a couple of "Amitabha", this matter must not be dragged into her affairs. Shen Guiyan hastily pulled Gu Zhaobei up to go out and take a look: "Let's also go and see!"

  Gu Zhaobei nodded, his face didn't show any tension, but rather a slight smile.

  In the Fu household, this generation only has Xu Mengdie's body and the one in Shen Guiya's belly, no matter which one is treasured. Now that one of them has a problem, it will certainly be entertaining to watch.

  Shen Guiyan felt extremely uneasy in her heart, and she grasped Gu Zhaobei's arm with great force. However, there was no expression on her face. As soon as they entered the South Wing, everyone saw them and thought that the Fourth Young Master and the Fourth Young Mistress had a very good relationship.

  Shen Guiya looked at them, but only raised the corner of her mouth and followed with a tense expression to look around the house.

  "Will Dream Butterfly's child be all right?"

  Mrs. Gu stood to one side, shaking her head and saying, "Nothing should happen, it's just that she ate the wrong thing. But as for the maids in this courtyard, they clearly know that their master is pregnant, so why are they still being so careless?"

  Shuang Er was kneeling in the courtyard, crying uncontrollably. Gu Zhaonan stood beside her, his face also losing its smile for the first time.

  The doctor came out after a long time, wiping the cold sweat on his head and said: "I've done my best, prepare for delivery."

  The courtyard fell silent for a moment, and Mrs. Liu from the south wing turned pale as she rushed forward to grab the doctor's sleeve: "Induce labor? How can that be? Dream Butterfly's child has always been fine, didn't she just eat something wrong today and have stomach pain? How could it...

  "Calm down, madam..." The doctor said helplessly: "The lady inside ate bird's nest with aloe vera, it was too late when we found out. Now there is internal bleeding, if we don't induce labor, neither of them may survive."

  Mrs. Liu hadn't caught her breath yet and was supported by the maid beside her, unable to speak. Gu Zhaonan closed his eyes and said, "Then arrange for an induced labor, losing the child is secondary, don't lose Mengdie as well."

  Everyone was shocked and speechless, Shen Guiya looked at Gu Zhaonan with great surprise, this man is really good, not like other men who only care about their concubines, he actually cares about his side room, truly not bad.

  Shen Guiyan was already stunned, and upon hearing the two words "Yan Wo", her hand tightened.

  "What's wrong?" Gu Zhaobei finally turned his head to look at her: "You're using too much force, my arm is going to turn purple."

  Shen Guiyan shook her head, unsure of what to say about today's events. For now, everyone in the South Wing was busy rescuing Xu Mengdie and no one had time to investigate the matter of Yanwo.

  It's possible that once the matter is pursued, it will inevitably involve her. Thinking of the consequences, Shen Guiyan took a deep breath and turned to order Bao Shan: "Ask everyone in the kitchen to go to the main hall, just say I ordered it."

  Bao Shan nodded and quickly turned around to take care of it.

  Shen Guiyan glanced at Shen Guiya beside her, who was covering her stomach with a worried expression, staring in the direction of the house, without any other emotions on her face.

  Could it be her? Shen Guiyan lowered her eyes, and indeed, she didn't look like it.

  Some crying sounds came from the house, some of which were heart-wrenching and unbearable to listen to. When the news came that the fetus had been aborted and Madam Xu was safe, Madame Gu finally frowned and said: "Everyone go to the front hall, this matter must be investigated clearly!"

  A perfectly good child has gone missing, and no matter what, it's impossible to just let it go. So in the middle of the night, everyone gathered in the hall, even with sleepy eyes, they all put on a serious face.

  The maidservant beside Madam Xū knelt down.

  "The swallow's nest was made in the kitchen, and when I went to get it, the people in the kitchen said that it had been taken away by the Northern Courtyard." Er Ni sobbed: "Just then Fourth Young Master's wife came, and told me to go and retrieve the wrongly taken swallow's nest. I followed Bao Shan sister to get the swallow's nest, and afterwards brought it back for Master to use."

  As soon as these words came out, everyone's eyes fell on Shen Guiyan. Madame Gu's gaze was particularly sharp: "Bei Yuan?"

  Gu Zhaobei slightly furrowed his brow.

  Shen Guiyan took a deep breath and came out to kneel down, saying: "Guiyan has just entered the mansion and doesn't understand the rules of meals in the mansion. Today's lunch and dinner were both sent by the kitchen staff. Dinner had an extra dish of swiftlet nest, which Guiyan thought was inappropriate, so she personally went to the kitchen to ask, but it turned out that the kitchen had made a mistake, so she asked Er'er to take Bao Shan back to retrieve it."

  "When dinner arrived, Jiang was serving Gui Yan's meal. Gui Yan didn't even touch the swallow nest and left directly with her treasure fan, which she can testify to."

  Fortunately, she had just anticipated being implicated, so she had already prepared a draft, and it was very fluent when she spoke, not nervous at all.

  Mrs. Gu frowned: "The meals of each house and courtyard are all regular, how can the kitchen send them wrong? Where is the person in the kitchen?"

  Bao Shan just brought all the people from the kitchen to the hall, a few sleepy kitchen slaves went in, knelt down and kowtowed: "Madam is well."

  Mrs. Gu glanced at them and asked in a low voice, "Who brought lunch and dinner to the North Courtyard?"

  An unassuming house servant raised his hand: "It was me."

  "What's for lunch and what's for dinner?" asked Mrs. Gu.

  " Lunch is duck soup with several meat dishes, specially ordered by Mrs. Lin to take care of the Fourth Young Master's wife. Dinner is three-tiered meat dish with a bowl of swallow nest, also instructed by Mrs. Lin to be taken away..."

  As soon as he finished speaking, he was kicked by Lin Damao, who was kneeling in front of him.

  "Oh? This is quite a good meal." Mrs. Gu frowned and looked at Shen Guiya: "Sisterly love, also taken care of to this extent?"

  Shen Guiya felt a bit annoyed, these things were done secretly and there was nothing wrong with that, everyone thought she was just taking care of her own sister. But coincidentally, the matter was brought up by Xu Mengdie, how could she explain it?

  Just as he was about to clear the relationship, that head turned north and smiled: "I heard from my sister-in-law this morning that you have a deep relationship with Yan'er, I didn't believe it at first, now I do, thank you for taking care of Yan'er, but this care seems not quite proper."