50: He's a pretty smart guy, but he's been fooled into becoming a fool.

Returning to the Princesss Residence, Mo Yingqi had just entered through the side gate when the door behind him was shut by two... robust Matrons.

"Imperial Son-in-Law, please slow down; a maid will come over to hold a lantern for you shortly," one of the Matrons said, her face wreathed in smiles. "Imperial Son-in-Law, just wait a moment."

Mo Yingqi couldn't help but swallow. These two Matrons were not tall, but they looked extremely sturdy. Just by looking at their posture and their hands, Mo Yingqi had some guesses, and he curiously asked, "Did you two... use to be disciplinary Matrons in the Department of Internal Punishment in the Imperial Palace?"

When concubines or palace servants in the inner palace made mistakes, they would be handed over to the Department of Internal Punishment in the Imperial Palace for handling. It was fine for concubines; in most cases, The Emperor or the Empress would just scold them a few times or dock their salary, and that would be the end of it, unless it was an act of extreme disobedience or lese-majeste.

The Daxing Dynasty was relatively lenient towards palace servants, but if they were strictly punished, it could truly cost them their lives. Although the Department of Internal Punishment in the Imperial Palace was not as cruel as the Imperial Prison, its methods were still vicious and fierce. Especially these disciplinary Matrons; sometimes when Imperial Relatives committed crimes, it was they who went to oversee the wailing female family members.

Over the past year, Mo Yingqi had occasionally dealt with these people. They were all women who looked like they were full of strength, each one fierce, and sometimes their methods of tormenting people made even the Flying Fish Guard ashamed.

"Imperial Son-in-Law truly has a discerning eye; we servants did indeed work in the Department of Internal Punishment in the Imperial Palace in the past," that Matron smiled. "Thanks to the kindness of The Two Highnesses, we were allowed to come over to work as service Matrons, looking after the gardens, handling purchases, and cooking in our daily routine, which is much more comfortable than working in the Department of Internal Punishment in the Imperial Palace."

Mo Yingqi understood, for after all, no one wanted to stay in that kind of place forever. Serving in the Imperial Palace involved too many rules, and now that they had left with Luo Yongan and Luo Yongning, things were relatively freer and much more relaxed.

Before long, two maids came over carrying lanterns, keeping their heads down, not daring to look at Mo Yingqi, and said respectfully, "Imperial Son-in-Law, we will take you back to rest."

Not until Mo Yingqi had left did the two Matrons let out a huge sigh of relief. The one who had just spoken to Mo Yingqi said with lingering fear, "You scared me to death; did I act inappropriately just now? The Highnesses are fine in every other way, but their rules are just too strict. They don't allow eunuchs to serve in the residence, and they don't allow women to look at the Imperial Son-in-Law too much..."

"As if! Those rules are set for those young and pretty girls; you're worried about nothing!" The other Matron rolled her eyes at her. "Just look at the Imperial Son-in-Law, a figure like a celestial being; would he even look at an old fire-poker like you?"

"Sigh, I know my place, but I'm just scared, aren't I?" That Matron waved her hand. "You don't know how much The Two Highnesses care about the Imperial Son-in-Law. I even feel that if someone were to send a plate of beef, The Two Highnesses would have to worry about whether the cow was male or female!"

"You say that, but is it really that extreme?" The other one just found it funny. "The Highnesses are just a bit jealous, how could it be as exaggerated as you say? If it were really like that, wouldn't it be better to just replace them with eunuchs to serve the Imperial Son-in-Law?"

"What do you know? Since The Two Highnesses returned to the palace, everyone serving them has been a maid. Except for The Emperor and the two princes, any male is forbidden from getting close to them. Even at some gatherings, those wealthy young masters and officials' sons would break their heads trying to get their attention, but The Two Highnesses wouldn't even deign to look at them!"

"Fine, so this just means it's our suffering, right?"

"Sigh, you and I are just two rough-service Matrons, what does this have to do with us? The ones who are truly suffering are those personal maids of the Highnesses; that is true suffering!"

Indeed, those two maids carrying lanterns actually didn't want to come, but as luck would have it, Aunt Ying Hong happened to see them and casually ordered, "Calculate the time, the Imperial Son-in-Law should be back soon; you two go to the side gate and lead the way for the Imperial Son-in-Law."

Not come? That was impossible. Setting aside their status as palace servants, they were also secret guards of Partridge Sky, the kind who would even die for Luo Yongan and Luo Yongning.

The problem was that death could be heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather. Dying while protecting The Two Highnesses was one's duty, but if one were killed because The Two Highnesses mistakenly thought one had designs on the Imperial Son-in-Law... that wouldn't be as light as a feather; it would be a frustrating death!

They finally managed to send Mo Yingqi back to his sleeping quarters... As for why they didn't go to the main hall, don't ask; the main hall was just for show in this Princesss Residence anyway.

"You're back?"

Just as he stepped into the courtyard, Luo Yongan and Luo Yongning came up to greet him. The two sisters had only simply washed up and were not dressed up, wearing no jewelry or hairpins on their heads or bodies.

The reason... perhaps it was for convenience?

"What's wrong, Yingqi? Are you injured or something? Why does your complexion look so bad?" Seeing Mo Yingqi's somewhat unpleasant complexion, Luo Yongan hurriedly took his hand to check. "Aunt, go and have the female physician come over. Fortunately, we have all kinds of medicinal materials in our residence, and a female physician with superb medical skills..."

"No, I'm not injured..." Mo Yingqi smiled somewhat reluctantly. "So, Sister Yongan, Sister Yongning, from the moment I left the Princesss Residence, did you know, and have you been sending people to follow me?"

"That's right, Yingqi. It's a good thing we sent people to follow you. You don't know how scared my sister and I were when Steward Zheng sent people back to report!" Luo Yongning was full of concern. "Don't worry, Yingqi, Steward Zheng has already caught that person and sent them into the Imperial Palace overnight to let Eunuch Fang handle it. Don't worry!"

"No, I mean, you all..." Mo Yingqi looked at the two sisters with their burning gazes, and instead, he started to feel a bit guilty. "This, this... isn't this inappropriate?"

"I understand, I understand, Yingqi. Do you feel in your heart that this is a bit excessive?" Luo Yongan touched his face. "Luo Yongning and I don't want to be like this, but we are just too worried about you... Look, because we did this, weren't we able to help you the first moment you got into trouble?"

Mo Yingqi thought about it, and it seemed that was indeed the case... but no matter how he thought about it, he felt a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't that he was tired of the sisters, and he could understand that they meant well, but he still felt something was not quite right.

"Yingqi, we have been separated for so long; there hasn't been a day that Luo Yongning and I haven't missed you..." Luo Yongan looked at Mo Yingqi, her eyes misting over. "If you want to go out, just say so; it's not like Luo Yongning and I wouldn't let you. When we knew you had gone out, we thought it was because you were tired of us..."

"We had no choice, so we had Aunt Ying Hong tell Steward Zheng, and fearing you might get into trouble, we had him take the token and mobilize private soldiers to protect you in secret. I even specifically ordered not to disturb you, just to protect you in secret, but I didn't expect that something would really happen..."

Mo Yingqi scratched his head, then smiled somewhat awkwardly and said, "Sorry, I was overthinking it."

Thinking about it, it was true; how could he have thought they wanted to monitor him? Mo Yingqi hurriedly grabbed Luo Yongan's hand and said softly, "Sister Yongan, I'm sorry, it's my fault. I didn't mean anything else, it's just that when this kind of thing happened suddenly, I didn't react in time..."

"It's okay, Yingqi, I don't blame you, I don't blame you!" Luo Yongan said, forcing a smile while shedding tears. "Yingqi, Luo Yongan and I just care about you too much, we really didn't mean anything else..."

Aunt Ying Hong on the side couldn't help but raise her eyebrows slightly. She looked at these sisters who were better at acting than those who sang Nanqu, and then looked at Mo Yingqi's expression of deep conviction and guilt...

Forget it, quite a smart person, but sooner or later he's going to be coaxed into being a big silly boy by these two sisters!