Cowardly Stepmother Dressed As the Hero

In the happy atmosphere of the three children, on the other hand, the investigation of Xia Lin has also made some new progress.

At night, after Cao Mi returned to the courtyard, Nanxi handed her a few ledger books.

In Xia Lin's original job, in addition to giving ideas to the original body, it was to help the original body deal with various documents and accounts that she didn't want to bother with.

And these books that Nanxi brought had nothing to do with the Beian Palace, they belonged to the dowry shop under the original name.

Speaking of which, the original sister actually knew the original body's temperament, so when the dowry was prepared for the original body, she didn't add anything that needed to be managed.

But after her own death, all the shops under her name belonged to the original body.

Over the years, the original body has only heard about the profit and loss of the shop every month, and the rest has been handed over to the old people when my sister was there.

Therefore, when he saw the ledger that Nanxi brought up, Cao Mi, who had been guessing for a long time, was not too surprised—

Xia Lin and the others knew how powerful the King of Bei'an was, and did not dare to put their crooked thoughts on the palace. Then, if they want to do things, they must start from the weak original body.

But in fact, even if they noticed the strangeness in the ledger, Cao Mi and others did not find any substantial evidence.

"The slave maid is actually not sure." Nanxi gritted his teeth and reported: "The shops under the princess' name are still profitable in general, but compared with two years ago, the profit is greatly reduced. But the slave maid spent a few days. , I did a comparison of all the books in the five years, but found no difference."

"Oh?" Cao Mi raised his eyebrows, "You didn't find any flaws?"

Nanxi nodded in embarrassment, "Yes. The purchase price and bid price of the goods in each store are the same as a few years ago. Even if there are occasional small fluctuations, it is still within the normal range. It seems that somehow, it started two years ago. , the shops began to slowly sell nothing."

After Cao Mi heard this, he nodded to indicate that he knew.

"Since there is no problem in the ledger, then we need to find someone to do a field investigation." She thought for a while, and then directly instructed Dong Li, who was beside her, "Find a reason to transfer the North Temple to the purchasing side. , let him take advantage of the convenience of access and go to several shops under my name to check the situation."

Dong Li saluted, "Yes."

"That's right." Cao Mi remembered something again, "Xiling has been working with Chunlin recently? Did Chunlin find anything wrong?"

Dong Li shook his head, "No. From the current point of view, the director of Chunlin is different from the director of Xia Lin. He has always fulfilled his duties and has never overstepped."

"Is that so?" Cao Mi nodded thoughtfully, "Then you will pass on my order tomorrow to release Chen Kang, who is still being held in the backyard. Then, find two smart people to watch him secretly. If there is anything unusual, please let me know.”

Dong Li respectfully replied, "This servant understands."

The undercurrent in the backyard was surging silently, but on the bright side, nothing seemed to change at all. Two days later, Liu Ge finished the basketball and basketball hoop, and Cao Mi even took a few days to play with the three children.

She asked people to clear a small open space in Jingmingyuan, and Liu Ge instructed people to stand the basketball stand firmly on the open space. In order to match the current size of the three children, this basketball hoop is only over one meter high. The oldest Qi Rui jumped so hard that he could probably touch the strip of cloth under the basket.

And the protagonist basketball, naturally made a reduced version.

Cao Mi knew that Liu Ge couldn't restore the real basketball, so he simply put forward two requirements. First, it must be light, to ensure that even if the children accidentally hit each other, there will be no danger. The second is to increase its bounciness as much as possible.

In the end, Liu Ge used bamboo strips to weave the shape of a ball, and then used animal skins and animal tendons to make the surface layer.

Due to the limitations of props, this reduced version of basketball is naturally not as playable as modern basketball, and the whole game is more like a variant of ancient pitching——

The core of the gameplay is to throw the props in the hand into the target location. However, the arrows used in the pitching pot were replaced with animal skin balls, and the pot was replaced with a basket.

But even so, the new contraption was well-received by the kids.

After the basketball hoop was set up, Cao Mi carefully armed the three children.

She had already instructed Xiu Niang to make a batch of knee pads, elbow pads and gloves according to the size of the three. The embroidered lady in the palace was very skilled, and was quicker than Liu Ge to hand over a batch of finished products that took into account both warmth and flexibility. Cao Mi was very satisfied, and turned around to give a reward.

So, on this rare sunny day in winter, while carefully tying the wristband under the glove for the third child, she warned the three not to push and shove in the snow.

Qi An, who is already fully armed, has been looking at the novel gloves on his hands. He couldn't be idle, he touched the wooden table for a while, and even came over to pinch Qi Ran's chubby face, feeling the novelty of touching the world through gloves.

Qi Ran was provoked by his actions, and as soon as he put on his gloves, he pulled four-year-old Qi Rui to help him seek revenge.

Cao Mi sat leisurely under the porch and watched them playfully scramble for the ball.

Chen Shi and a few maids spread their hands around, like a few old hens eager to protect their cubs. As soon as I saw the three children touching each other, I could not wait to step forward and hug them away.

"Ma'am, the weather is so cold, the young masters can't stand the cold!" The anxiety on Mrs. Chen's face was not disguised, "You better order them to come back."

When it comes to having fun, she can't hold the twins, so she can only hope that Cao Mi agrees to call the children back in a tough way.

Cao Mi, but the old **** is there, doesn't take it seriously.

"It's alright, how long have you been bored in the house, it's alright to come out and take a run in the sun."

She grew up in the countryside since she was a child, and her parents were also big-hearted and would never restrict her from running out. Taking care of several children these days, Cao Mi was even worried that the three of them were being protected too well.

Seeing that the persuasion was fruitless, Mrs. Chen frowned and went to "protect" the child again.

Liu Ge hasn't left yet, he has to stay to make sure that there will be no problem with the basketball and the rack.

Cao Mi accidentally discovered the envious feelings in the eyes he looked at the three children.

"Liu Jiang, haven't you thought about making a prosthesis for yourself?" Cao Mi suddenly asked.

"Prosthetic limbs?" Liu Ge was taken aback.

Cao Mi nodded, "You can think of it as a crutch tied to a leg. Make a leg out of wood or fine iron, wrap the upper part with cloth, and fasten it to the thigh. In this way, once you are familiar with it, you don't need to repeat it. Relying on crutches to walk."

Liu Ge paused, and immediately found the difficulty, "It's not difficult to imitate a leg, it's just the two joints of the knee and the ankle..."

Cao Mi smiled, "There is nothing difficult in this world, I'm only afraid of those who have a heart. I just think this method is feasible, you might as well try it."

Liu Ge suppressed the excitement in his heart and nodded.

Knowing that he had an idea in his heart, Cao Mi no longer kept him, and let him go back to test earlier.

Liu Ge's craftsmanship exceeded her original expectations, and she wanted to cultivate his initiative and creativity.

After a while, the three tired children gathered in the direction of Cao Mi.

The third child was the most affectionate, and as soon as he came back, he threw himself into Cao Mi's arms and rejoiced.

Cao Mi saw that he was panting so badly, and he didn't dislike him being covered in sweat, so he quietly fed him two sips of salt water.

She turned around and was about to take care of Qi Rui and Qi An, but found that Qi An's condition was similar to that of Qi Ran, and she was breathing heavily. But Qi Rui, who had always eaten less, was breathing almost flat.

She had to sigh in her heart, the protagonist just opened the golden finger, and this cardiopulmonary ability is far beyond ordinary people.

When the heartbeats of all three were normal, Cao Mi ordered someone to take them down.

A heater and hot water were prepared in the house, and they were waiting for the three little ancestors to take a bath and change their clothes after they slowed down.

After the three left, Cao Mi suddenly sighed to an old servant in Jingming Courtyard, "Rui'er's health is really good. Although she is still ill, she looks healthy."

The old servant smiled and echoed her words, "What Madam said is, hey, if it wasn't for this year that Young Master Rui had lost his appetite for some reason, Young Master Rui's body has always been the strongest."

"Oh? Really?" Cao Mi smiled, "I also remember that Rui Er was a sturdy child since childhood."

The old servant nodded, "No, the eldest son weighed nearly seven pounds when he was born!"

"Seven pounds?" Cao Mi was a little surprised.

This kind of thing is really not known to the original body.

"Yeah, when Princess Jing was pregnant, she was always very healthy, but... um, it's just a pity." Halfway through her words, she seemed to suddenly realize that something was wrong, and turned her mouth halfway through.

The original sister's name is Cao Jing, which is Princess Jing in the mouth of the old servant. Although the old servant turned around in time, Cao Mi was keenly aware of the problem.

She was just a little skeptical at first, and felt that Qi Rui was not healthy enough to be a child with dystocia, but now she is almost certain that there was some inside story that the original body did not know about the dystocia that year.

So she deliberately led the topic, "If it wasn't for the unfortunate miscarriage of my sister that year, Rui'er might not suffer this kind of crime now. Before the birth, my sister was in excellent condition, how could it be..."

Hearing her question like this, the old servant did not dare to return, only perfunctory: "Hey, the villain doesn't know either."

After that, no matter how much Cao Mi attacked, the old servant refused to say anything.

Cao Mi boldly guessed that it might not have been a difficult birth at the time, and this old servant should be out of some orders or taboos, so he didn't dare to talk about it.

She took this matter to heart, thinking that she must find time to investigate.

That evening, Qi You, the king of Bei'an, who had not appeared for a long time, actually returned to his residence.

He appeared in the Jingming Courtyard in a dusty manner, apparently rushing here as soon as he came back. Cao Mi and his three children bowed carefully to him, thinking that this cold-faced King of Bei'an actually has a warm side about loving his sons.

But the three children were clearly not close to him.

Qi Rui is okay to say that at the age of four, he already knew the etiquette. But Qi An and Qi Ran, two children who were only about two years old, hadn't seen their father for more than a year. There was only strangeness and some fear in the eyes of this man who suddenly appeared.

The author has something to say: Happy New Year's Eve~ I wish you all a happy New Year, I wish the little angels a happy New Year, everything goes well, the family is safe, and the wealth is rolling~