Countermeasure

  He Shuang'er went under the pretext of visiting Ming Yu, and brought Ming Lan and Xiao He Shuang'er along.

  Mingfei was still sitting on the couch, Abao sat quietly beside her and didn't urge Mingfei to take him out, but curiously stared at Minglan who was also very young. Minglan politely greeted Mingfei and Abao, Mingfei smiled and had someone bring Minglan over: "Just a few days apart, our Minglan looks even more beautiful."

  Xiao Minglan covered her mouth and laughed, saying "Guisister is also beautiful."

  Ming Fei covered her mouth and smiled lightly: "My mouth has also become sweeter!"

  He Sheng felt a bit better seeing Ming Yu's decent expression, and patted Ming Lan: "Because she is still young and not expected to achieve anything in the future, she was spoiled and dared to say whatever she wanted, without knowing fear. She will suffer for it sooner or later."

  Mingfei disapprovingly pulled Minglan into his arms: "The young lady's family can enjoy leisure for a while, and it's good to spend some good days at home. Besides, our family doesn't expect her to do anything, so spoiling her is justified, I'll take care of everything."

  Minglan leaned into Mingfei's arms, and Abao finally reacted: "No!"

  A Bao is the future hope of the Tong family, and also the grandson of He Shi Li. No matter how He Shi Li looks at A Bao, he thinks A Bao is lovely and cute, his smile is so wide that his eyebrows are hidden: "Ah, Fourth Brother doesn't want to, afraid that Little Aunt will snatch away his mother!"

  Mingfei held Minglan tighter in his arms and gently patted her as he said to Abao, "What's wrong?"

  Ah Bao has a strong sense of possession towards Ming Fei, her eyes wide and staring at Ming Lan. Ming Lan's temper also flared up, hugging Ming Fei's arm loudly and saying: "My sister!"

  Ming Fei was teased by two little kids until she couldn't help but laugh.

  He Sheng glared at Ming Lan: "How dare you speak to Fourth Brother like that?"

  Mingfei immediately stopped him: "It's all right, it doesn't matter." With Mingfei's support, Xiaominglan's waist straightened a few points.

  But Ah Bao seemed to have discovered something and pulled He Shuangli's sleeve, pointing at Ming Lan.

  Mingfei smiled with a pout, this kid actually knew how to find external help.

  Under He Xieri's gaze, Minglan finally reluctantly slipped out of Mingfei's arms, and Abao, who had won, looked at Minglan with a somewhat disdainful glance.

  Minglan sat aside with a pout on her face, looking indignant.

  Mingfei looked at her with a small and happy expression, letting people bring her food and take out jewelry to play with. Because the two children were in a relaxed atmosphere, Mingfei had someone take Minglan and Abao down after chatting for a while.

  It wasn't until then that several people brought up Mingfei's situation.

  "Mother-in-law hasn't left yet, and Mingzhu has already entered our home."

  "What did you say?"

  "It's definitely not Hui Bin who did this thing, someone wants the Tong family to be at odds with him, and the person behind will reap the benefits."

  "What else did you say?"

  "They say it's two families joining forces to give those people in the back some color to see."

  Mingfei hesitated for a moment: "What did Ama say?"

  "What your mom means is to take a look first and don't rush to express an opinion."

  Mingfei nodded: "In any case, we can't get too close to Mingzhu. The biggest threat to the crown prince is first Yinzhen and then Da A Ge. It's hard to say that Mingzhu doesn't have any ideas. Even if the emperor isn't suspicious, I don't think this thing was done by Hui Bin, but there's no need to join forces with Mingzhu either. Not only will we be suspected by the emperor, but we might also be turned against by Mingzhu."

  "What does the imperial concubine think is who did this thing?"

  Mingfei shook her head: "The person who did it was very clean, obviously not an ordinary person. I haven't found out who it is yet, but there are some clues. Liu Xiang, the maid in front of Huisheng, had seen the little palace girl in front of the crown prince a few times recently, and someone happened to see them."

  He Xieri murmured: "Could it be that it's actually the Crown Prince?"

  Mingfei smiled: "The prince is so young, how could it be him? It's just the person in front of him."

  Xiao Hesheli said: "Is it possible that the Empress's intention is someone from Suo Ertu's side?"

  Ming Fei nodded.

  He Xiang'er took a sip of tea and said after a while, "When the previous emperor passed away, he must have left behind trusted people. If they are connected with Suo Ertu, it's also understandable."

  Mingfei tapped her fingers on the small table: "Mother's words have reminded me." She turned to order Peihuan: "Go and investigate, see who was left by the previous emperor to serve the crown prince."

  Ming Fei paused for a moment, then said to He Shi'er: "Tell your mother to go back and tell Ama to carefully search the willow fragrance in Hui Bin Palace. The one who poisoned is definitely her. Who else could it be?"

  He Xiang replied, "Yes", and then brought up the matter of Abao's first birthday: "The Emperor is willing to hold a grand celebration, it can be seen that he still holds Fourth Prince in high regard."

  Mingfei sighed and said: "Only after Yinxiang's death was the Tong family this one, the emperor also regarded him as important."

  He Xieri patted her hand: "You've worked hard."

  Mingfei smiled lightly and shook her head, saying: "Mother, you're wrong again. If it weren't for the backing of our Tong family, how could I have this position in the palace, and enjoy such honor?"

  Xiao Hesheli said: "This should also be considered as the Empress Dowager's own achievement, if only the Tong family was involved, it is unlikely that the Empress Dowager would have her current status."

  Ming Fei teased, looking at Xiao He Sheli: "Don't mention that matter, just talk about when you will bring joy to the Tong family too? If you give birth to a boy in your first pregnancy, it would be our family's eldest grandson."

  Ming Fei saw that both He Xieri and Xiao He Xieri had a subtle expression.

  "But what's wrong?"

  It's not proper to talk too much about Long Kodo in front of Ming Fei, either emotionally or rationally. It was He Sheduli who spoke up: "These days, Long Kodo has been busy with some trivial matters and his temper hasn't been great, they..."

  She doesn't remember much about Longkodo, only that he was a notorious favorite of the emperor who had his wife killed, and also a high-ranking minister in the Yongzheng court, although with an unhappy ending.

  He Xieri had only spoken half a sentence when Ming Fei basically understood everything.

  She said solemnly: "The Tong family does not allow a man who favors concubines and kills his wife!"

  Seeing Mingfei seemingly upset, He Sheli hastily defended Long Keduo: "He doesn't have any concubines, and even if he did, he wouldn't abandon his wife for them. The imperial consort can rest assured."

  Xiao Heshi said softly: "The second master is still good to me, the noble concubine doesn't need to worry."

  Mingfei's expression softened as she said, "Qingfu doesn't want to be the head of the household, and I don't want to make things difficult for him. Long Keduo is indeed a worthy candidate for the next head of the household. If he can't even control himself when it comes to women, then I will be the first to disagree. Since ancient times, how many people have been ruined by their desires? Mother told him that without rules and regulations, nothing can be accomplished, and she warned him not to disrupt the order."

  Ming Fei glanced at Xiao He Sheli and saw that her face was expressionless, seemingly without any emotional fluctuations.

  Mingfei sighed inwardly, these two were also a pair of ill-fated couples, but in ancient times divorce was not popular, once married it was for life, and the Tong family couldn't afford to lose face over this person.

  Just as they were talking, Minglan's crying voice was heard from outside.

  Mingfei got up and said: "Go out and take a look at these two little ancestors. How did they make Minglan cry again?"

  A small palace maid walked in and said, "Third Miss wants to play with Fourth Master's building blocks, but Fourth Master is unwilling. Nanny can't go against Fourth Master's wishes, so Third Miss tried to take them by force and was slapped by Fourth Master, which made her cry."

  Ming Fei was both amused and exasperated: "This kid is so young yet already likes eating alone."

  He Shuang said: "It's your mother who didn't take good care of Minglan."

  Outside, Ah Bao sat on the couch, like a protective calf, tightly guarding his building blocks behind him, vigilantly watching the crying and pitiful Minglan. When Minglan saw Mingfei go out, she cried even louder.

  Ah Bao saw Ming Fei and thought Ming Fei would take charge, so he smiled and hastily stretched out his hand to Ming Fei, wanting Ming Fei to hug him. However, Ming Fei didn't even glance at him and instead gently comforted Ming Lan while wiping away her tears: "Don't cry, it's Fourth Brother's fault. You like Fourth Brother's building blocks, don't you? Sister will have someone make a new set for you. What color and style do you like? Sister will have them made just that way, okay?"

  Minglan looked at Mingfei with tears in her eyes: "Sister Guifei wouldn't deceive people, would she?"

  Mingfei smiled and said: "Sister won't lie to you."

  Xiao Minglan couldn't help but burst into laughter, hugging Mingfei's arm and giving Abao a provocative glance before squeezing herself further into Mingfei's embrace.

  The forgotten fourth brother stared blankly at Ming Fei, his mouth agape, calling out "Liang".

  Mingfei gave him a glance: "Because you didn't let your third aunt play with the blocks, your mother took them away. You can't touch them for a month. Because you hit people at random, your mother decided not to hug you for three days. If you still behave like this in the future, your mother will definitely discipline you!"

  He Xieri couldn't help but laugh at her serious tone with a child who was less than a year old: "How can he understand what you're saying? He's still too young."

  Minyi hinted to Pei Yu to take Minglan down to wash her face, and said to He Shuangshuang: "Don't look at him being small, he's actually very clever and can understand everything. It's said that children should be taught well from a young age, if I don't discipline him strictly, next time he'll still recklessly hit people. Boys need to be raised roughly, girls need to be raised delicately."

  Ah Bao said "want want" several times, but Mingfei didn't even look at him. He probably realized that he had done something to upset Mingfei and quietly shut his mouth.

  He Xieri looked at his small appearance and pitied him, saying: "Fourth brother is the imperial prince, precious, Empress doesn't have to..."

  Mingfei sat down beside him and said: "It's precisely because he is the imperial prince that we must be even stricter with him."

  Ah Bao crawled towards Ming Fei with his butt in the air several times, and each time he got close to Ming Fei, Ming Fei would move a little to one side. Ah Bao kept crawling as Ming Fei moved away, and Little Ah Bao's chubby face turned bright red from anxiety. He Xi Li watched for a while before finally figuring out what was going on, covering her mouth with a light laugh: "You this... really are..."

  Ming Fei didn't think she had done anything wrong and laughed along with them: "It's most fun to tease at this little point."

  The author has something to say: I also couldn't think of what the Qing dynasty children as small as Abao should play with, so I wrote it as building blocks. If anyone knows, please tell me in the group, I'll revise it~~~~~