Mr. Jiang has officially settled in. No one is happier than the scholars living in this residence. The reputation of Mr. Jiang is well-known among them. Now that Mr. Jiang is residing here, they feel lucky. Just a few words of guidance from him would be enormously fortunate. Because of this, these scholars are even more grateful to Zhao Dahe. The scholars living here all have excellent character, interacting with each other without any psychological burden, and usually benefit greatly from exchanging academic ideas. Now, it’s beyond words to describe how beneficial it is. Updates are released by 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⟡𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚⟡𝘯𝘦𝘵 Unfortunately, Zhao Dahe is recovering, so they find it inconvenient to disturb him, thus transferring their gratitude to Meng Yao. Every scholar treats Meng Yao with the respect one would show to an elder, and they are quite enthusiastic. "I don’t know why those simpletons are so enthusiastic about you," Mr. Jiang said sourly. "How about I tell them to find Mr. Jiang instead?" Mr. Jiang glared at Meng Yao, "I’m just an old bag of bones; what are you planning by telling them to bother me?" "I hear jealousy in your voice!" Meng Yao always spoke frankly with Mr. Jiang, often leaving him speechless. "Indeed, it is said that women and petty individuals are hard to deal with. You, woman, are really, truly..." Even with all his knowledge, Mr. Jiang couldn’t find the words to describe Meng Yao. At any rate, she was wholly different from his understanding of women. Of course, Mr. Jiang, being engrossed in academia all his life, hadn’t met many women. How to say, this old man is usually very proud and aloof. In reality, he’s just a fussy little old man. Though he complains about these scholars being simpletons, in reality, he lets Qin Zheng take annotations for them to read, but of course, without telling them that he provided the annotations. After staying home for two days, Meng Yao resumed her daily routine of going to the Hundred Herbs Hall. Mr. Jiang, with nothing else to do, insisted on going with her once. He was surprised to see Meng Yao teaching them. After that, he seldom bantered with Meng Yao. Meng Yao found it a bit unusual and asked him why. Mr. Jiang awkwardly replied, "If the Hundred Herbs Hall can have you teach medical skills to the Lu Family’s juniors, it shows your medical skills are indeed excellent. People who eat grains are bound to get sick, and I’m afraid you’ll hold a grudge against me." Something major happened in Qingzhou Prefecture: Magistrate Li Tanyun was injured. The person who injured him was none other than his wife. Not only was he injured, but a beautiful woman was disfigured at the same time. Moreover, a pair of seven-year-old siblings were taken by the Magistrate’s wife and sent to human traffickers. It turned out that Magistrate Li was secretly keeping a mistress apart from his official wife. The mistress was none other than his wife’s concubine sister who had died suddenly years ago. Wow, the amount of information in this is not something that can be explained in a word or two. Meng Yao listened to Lu Luoxing gossip about these events, keeping a calm exterior while feeling quite happy inside. This incident was, after all, partly orchestrated by her. On that day, she had just sat down for a short while at Xiong Er’s house when Xiong Er returned, mysteriously mentioning that the Magistrate had gone to his mistress’s house. Xiong Er’s mistress is a beautiful woman who usually lives with two children. The outward explanation was that her husband was away on business and often not at home. Meng Yao, combining this with Xiong Er’s talk of a routine, concluded that Li Tanyun’s appearing at the mistress’s house wasn’t coincidental. Ultimately, the facts showed that Li Tanyun’s presence was indeed necessary. Because Xiong Er’s mistress was Li Tanyun’s mistress. Logically speaking, for someone in Li Tanyun’s position, taking concubines was nothing unusual. Although his wife was jealous, the Prefect’s Mansion didn’t have only the official wife. With sons and daughters fostered outside, there must have been compelling reasons. After all, the status of a mistress is even lower than that of a concubine. Out of kindness, Meng Yao passed this information to Yun Ying. In return, Yun Ying quickly sent back the identity information of Li Tanyun’s mistress to Meng Yao. This truly shocked Meng Yao. Sisterly rivalry for the same man, what dramatic storyline is this? Upon digging deeper, she found out, oh my, it was the younger sister who first pledged love to Li Tanyun. The elder sister then fell for him at first sight. The elder sister was the legitimate daughter, while the younger sister was a concubine’s daughter, and not a favored one at that. Once the elder sister wished to marry Li Tanyun, the younger sister couldn’t cause trouble for her. Also, marrying the elder sister was indeed more beneficial for one’s career than marrying the younger sister. After the elder sister married, the concubine sister also hurriedly married. Then, Li Tanyun rose through the ranks smoothly. The concubine sister’s husband died of illness, and she also died suddenly soon after. Li Tanyun gained a beautiful mistress. The mistress also bore him a pair of children. Even scriptwriters wouldn’t dare to write something ! It’s certainly more dramatic than any soap opera she had ever watched. As it turns out, reality often surpasses fiction in drama. After knowing all this, the Magistrate’s wife didn’t hesitate and directly brought people to confront her good sister. Which led to the scene mentioned above, where the Prefect was injured and the beautiful mistress disfigured. "Master, there’s something even more unexpected." Lu Luoxing lowered her voice, "The Prefect’s wife’s family has some ties with the Lu Family, so I went to the Prefect’s Mansion just now." "How was it?" Meng Yao asked. "The Prefect’s wife was damaged by medication, making it difficult for her to conceive in the future," Lu Luoxing said. "To be honest, although the Prefect’s wife is somewhat domineering, she’s not unreasonable. It’s quite miserable for her." "So, was it Li Tanyun’s secret doing?" This was hardly surprising. The fact that after many years of marriage, the Prefect’s wife remained childless was suspicious in itself. "Yes, taking advantage of the Prefect’s wife’s desire for a child, a lot of home remedies were sought. Li Tanyun, being the Magistrate, always personally prepared and served the medication to the Prefect’s wife," Lu Luoxing explained. "Those in the know praised him as a rare loving husband, not realizing he feared she wouldn’t drink it." It’s said that women have the most venomous hearts. When a man is fierce, it’s even more shocking. He would not only use her, but also harm her. "It seems Li Tanyun’s time as Magistrate is about to end," Lu Luoxing remarked. "Why do you say that?" Meng Yao asked. "The Prefect’s wife is the sister of the current Minister of the Ministry of Personnel; the former Minister was her father, who died from severe injuries sustained while saving the Emperor," Lu Luoxing explained. Meng Yao understood; with such connections, as long as the Minister’s family didn’t make a terrible mistake, Li Tanyun’s position would remain secure. This also explained why Li Tanyun rose so smoothly. Meng Yao pondered why such a good hand was played so poorly. Is it really so hard to forget one’s first love? What on earth goes on in a man’s mind?