Jiyue's greatest strength was her tongue. When she told stories, it was like a professional storyteller, always making Lu Wanning burst into laughter.
"There was no fun in the mansion. When the people from the Yu Prince's Mansion came this morning, the prince asked to keep it from the princess. But the young master and his wife knew about it. The young mistress was so shocked that she almost fainted."
Lu Wanning nodded. Her sister - in - law had a gentle nature and doted on her the most. It was natural for her to be anxious upon hearing that she was in trouble. Judging from Jiyue's happy expression, it seemed that her sister - in - law was fine.
"As a result, the doctor examined her and found that the young mistress was actually pregnant, just over a month. If she hadn't been shocked today, they wouldn't have found out."
Lu Wanning's heart skipped a beat. Her elder sister - in - law was pregnant. In the book, her nephew Lu Cheng died a tragic death, and the one - year - old baby girl also died horribly, burned alive in a fire.
In the book, this was also to show Shi Aohan's gentleness. When she learned that there were still children in the fire, regardless of her pregnancy, she rushed in to try to save them, but unfortunately, she couldn't rescue the baby.
And that fire was set by Lu Wanning in the book. When she learned that her father, elder brother, and nephew had all died, in grief and indignation, she set fire to her own yard. Her niece was just taking a nap on her couch.
Lu Wanning didn't remember the details clearly. She only felt that the author of the original book was so cruel. To design that the entire Lu family would die miserably and to show Shi Aohan's gentleness and kindness, they shouldn't have used such a young child.
Previously, when she learned that her second sister - in - law was pregnant, she wondered if that child was her second sister - in - law's. But in the original book, after her second sister - in - law returned to Luocheng this time, she never returned to the capital. Even if the baby in her second sister - in - law's belly was a baby girl, it shouldn't be that child. Now that her elder sister - in - law was also pregnant, it was obvious that the child must be her elder sister - in - law's.
Jiyue saw Lu Wanning in a daze and asked in surprise, "The young mistress is pregnant. Aren't you happy, princess?"
Only then did Lu Wanning come to her senses. She forced a smile and said, "How could I not be? I'm just... just too happy... Jiyue, I'm so happy."
Tears welled up in her eyes. Thinking of the scenes in the book, she felt heart - broken. But it didn't matter. Now that little niece was hers. She wouldn't be as stupid as the original owner and let those villains manipulate her. She would surely protect them all.
Jiyue stared blankly at her princess. It seemed that the princess was really overjoyed and even shed tears.
"Princess, don't be so excited. You'll see the young mistress when you go to pay respects tonight."
Lu Wanning sat in front of the table and let two maids dry her hair.
Jiyue added, "There was something going on in the He family today. The Duke of the He family took the third young master to the Jiang family. He said that he remembered the late duke's last wish and wanted to marry the eldest daughter of the Jiang family into the He family. He said that the second young master couldn't be a good match for the eldest lady, but the third young master was still unmarried and had known the eldest lady since childhood, so they were a perfect match."
Lu Wanning curled her lips and said, "The Jiang family didn't agree, did they?"
Jiyue clapped her hands and laughed, "Of course they didn't. I heard that the old master of the Jiang family was very angry. He ordered his servants to drive out the Duke of the He family and also said that the He family was ungrateful and all were shameless people."
Lu Wanning laughed so hard that she bent forward and backward. It seemed that this matter was well within her expectations. The more fiercely Jiang Hanlin reacted, the more the Duke of the He family would force He Nanfeng to finalize this marriage in order to clear his family's name of shame.
The rest would depend on He Nanfeng's ability.
Lu Wanning happily went to the dining hall. As soon as she entered, she saw the whole family sitting together, just waiting for her.
Lu Cheng ran over and took Lu Wanning's hand. "Auntie, why are you so late? Haven't you rested enough?"
Lu Wanning picked him up. "Our Chengcheng is going to have a younger brother or sister. Are you happy?"
Lu Cheng was tickled with laughter. "Happy."
Lu Hanchi got up and took his son from Lu Wanning. "All right, Ning'er. You haven't had a good rest. Chengcheng is growing up. If you keep holding him like this, you might hurt your back."
Lu Wanning grinned and ran to Lady Wei's side. She curiously sized up Lady Wei's belly and then turned to look at Lady Shao, also staring at her belly.
Lady Wei blushed a little and gave her a reproachful look. "Stop being naughty. Sit down quickly and have dinner."
Lu Wanning walked over and sat down beside the princess. She asked curiously, "Second sister - in - law, you're more than four months pregnant now, right? Why don't you show at all?"
Lady Shao explained, "I'm almost five months pregnant. But I'm active and practice martial arts every day. I wear a lot of clothes in winter, so it's not obvious."
Lu Wanning rolled her eyes. "That's great. I'll practice martial arts hard from now on. When I'm pregnant, I won't get fat."
The princess was shocked and quickly covered her mouth. "Nonsense. How old are you? You talk so recklessly."
The whole room was filled with happy laughter.
At the court session the next day, Lord Fang, the right deputy minister of the Supreme Court, stepped forward and reported that the Prince Xiao was lax in his management and indulged his relatives - in - law to cause trouble in the countryside, making the common people there panic. He also presented the case files of the disappearance of dozens of young girls and children and asked the emperor to make a decision.
The Prince Xiao was extremely angry and naturally refused to admit it. He quarreled with Lord Fang in the court.
However, this was a matter in the court and had nothing to do with the women in the inner courtyard. Lu Wanning didn't think much about it. She just waited to rest well and then continued to go to the Supreme Court for duty every day.
There was nothing much for her to do in the Supreme Court, so she was asked to follow some clerks to look through the case files of unsolved cases over the years.
The case files were dull and boring, and they were all major unsolved cases. Lu Wanning thought that she was not smart enough and didn't have much experience. How could she solve these cases? Moreover, working here, she couldn't get close to any powerful people. The Prince Yu was as elusive as a dragon, and it was impossible for him to come to such a place.
The clerk who was leading Lu Wanning saw her like this and couldn't help laughing. "Do you find it very boring, princess?"
Lu Wanning propped her head up and asked, "You clerks just organize these case files every day, over and over again. You don't go to investigate. What's the use? You can't solve the cases."
The clerk replied, "The main purpose of organizing these files is not to solve the cases, but to clean them up regularly. They will be of reference value for similar cases in the future. This is very important. These case files cover all the cases in the past nearly a hundred years since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, as well as some important cases from the previous dynasty."
Lu Wanning curiously sized them up. "So, all of these are unsolved? What about the ones next door?"
The clerk shook his head. "The case files in the next room are of major cases that have been solved. In the past, these cases were all sealed up. We just took time to organize them and rewrite the lists every year. Two years ago, when the Prince Yu was handling cases, he ordered people to sort out all these case files and organize them according to different lists."
Lu Wanning picked up those lists and found that the Prince Yu had not only made a list according to the chronological order but also specially rewritten one according to the similarity of the cases. If one wanted to find cases of the same category, it was very clear at a glance.
She reached out and touched the list. The handwriting on it was very strong. She guessed that it was written by someone similar to Lu Hongxi.
The clerk carefully took the list from Lu Wanning's hand. "Princess, if you want to read, there are rewritten and organized ones over there. This one was written by the Prince Yu himself. It can't be flipped through casually."