She got pregnant after the swap marriage, and the scumbag's family regretted it so much they cr

Lu Chengde was furious!

He quickly suppressed his urge to explode and grinned menacingly: "That eight thousand taels of silver is owed to you by the Li family, you don't need to pay any attention to her!"

"I wasn't planning on returning it to her anyway!" Lu Huan said with a straight face.

Lu Chengde choked, but could only continue to escalate the situation: "I'll take one thousand taels of silver from Ruyi's dowry, and you can return these clothes to her!"

Lu Huan smiled sweetly: "Thank you, Dad! Dad is so good!"

Since Lu Chengde was so cooperative and took the initiative to show goodwill, Lu Huan decided to give him a little something in return.

"Dad, don't you think it's colder this year than in previous years?"

"Really?" Lu Chengde didn't understand. Why did the conversation suddenly turn to the weather?

"Yes! Even His Highness has noticed!"

Lu Chengde looked around and, seeing that no one else was around, asked in a low voice, "Huan'er, tell me honestly, did you hear some news at the Prince of Yan's residence?"

"Dad, I'm telling you, you absolutely mustn't tell anyone!"

"Father knows!"

Lu Huan repeated his guess: "Father, not to mention ordinary people, just considering the many garrison troops in the north, their needs for protection against the cold are indispensable."

I reckon the Prince's mansion will soon be buying up large quantities of grain, cloth, cotton, and furs. As long as the prices aren't outrageously high, our family will be safe and we can even make a small profit. Don't you think so?

"Absolutely!" Lu Chengde was so excited he almost trembled.

He slammed his fist into his fist, his voice urgent: "My dear daughter, I have to get back to work now. I'll have Lu Zheng bring you the money in a bit. You and your husband can have lunch in this courtyard, don't worry about me. If you need anything, just tell the head steward. I'll do whatever you want!"

After saying that, he quickly left with Lu Zheng.

Lu Huan watched him until he left the courtyard. His eager look almost made Lu Huan burst out laughing.

Leaning on a large broom, Shi Gu followed her gaze and asked curiously, "Master, why was your father in such a hurry?"

Lu Huan joked, "Of course! We'll earn less money if we're a little late!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Shi Gu looked confused, not understanding the connection between the two things.

Lu Huan patted him on the shoulder: "Stop thinking about it! Close the door, no one will be coming for a while!"

They tidied up for another hour or so before a knock came from outside the courtyard.

Shi Gu peeked through the crack in the door and jogged over to Lu Huan's side: "Master, it's the head steward, and there are several other people following behind him, all carrying food boxes!"

Lu Huan nodded: "Let them in."

Lu Zheng not only brought a thousand taels of silver notes, but also Lu Huan's lunch.

"Young Miss, this bag of clothes..."

Lu Huan snatched the silver note and waved it casually: "Take it! By the way, Lu Ruyi fainted just now, so I'll trouble the head steward to go and check on her."

How could she faint at such a young age? Could something be wrong with her health?

Lu Zheng bent down even lower. He felt as if his young lady had become a completely different person after getting married.

But on second thought, it's understandable that an ordinary person's personality would change after such a major upheaval.

With that thought in mind, Lu Zheng left with his men again.

Lu Huan stretched her stiff neck and announced loudly, "Let's not clean up now, we'll talk about it after we eat! You all come along!"

"No, no!" Shi Gu, Yuan'er and Bao'er said in unison.

"Just sit down when we tell you to. If you keep arguing, the food will get cold!"

After they finished lunch, maids came one after another to express their gratitude. Most of them planned to return to their parents and find other jobs.

Only two families wanted to relocate their household registration. They were all families who had purchased the goods together, and their original place of residence was not in the North.

Lu Huan couldn't help but ask, "What are your plans after you're released?"

One of them replied, "In response to your question, Miss, we were forced to sell ourselves back then because we couldn't make ends meet. Now that you have shown us mercy, we plan to return to our hometown, but we don't know if we still have any relatives there."

Lu Huan understood their longing to return home. She took out forty taels from the stack of silver notes and handed them to the two families respectively.

"Take it, consider it my gift to you for your travel expenses."

The two families naturally knelt down, deeply grateful. However, the other maids looked rather displeased.

Lu Huan glanced at them coldly: "What, do you also want to leave your hometown and return home?"

"No, no, no, we didn't mean that," they denied repeatedly.

"Alright, pack your things and go home. The head butler has noted your names. We'll assign you to suitable positions later."

This is just empty promises.

Even though a few people realized it, they left with relatively relaxed expressions. The atmosphere in the East Courtyard, however, was much more tense.

Li Shi never expected that Lu Chengde, who had always been indifferent to Lu Huan's affairs, would intervene this time, even taking a thousand taels of silver from the money prepared for Lu Ruyi's dowry and giving it to Lu Huan.

Adding the three thousand taels of silver notes that were publicly available, Lu Huanguang's dowry amounted to twelve thousand taels of silver, not to mention all the good things that Madam Cheng left her.

Because they had already planned to exchange wives, Li didn't touch the remaining dowry of Cheng's family; she simply put it all into the dowry list.

Her eyes were filled with resentment. The Cheng family no longer existed, so why should the daughter of the Cheng family be living so much better than her Ruyi?

Fortunately, she had already exchanged a significant portion of Cheng's dowry over the past decade. Otherwise, this would have backfired, leaving her with nothing.

Lu Zheng sensed that the atmosphere at Li's place was a bit unusual, so he put down his bag and took his leave under a pretext.

As soon as the outer courtyard gate closed, Lu Ruyi asked Li Shi with a sob in her voice, "Mother! Does Father not love Ruyi anymore?"

Li felt as if her heart was being torn apart. She gently patted Lu Ruyi's back, comforting her, "Don't worry, Ruyi, Mother will definitely make you happy!"

Lu Jinxiu sat silently to the side with her head down, and no one knew what she was thinking.

By the time Steward Lu finished processing the servants' contracts and sent them back to Lu Huan's courtyard, she had almost finished packing.

Lu Huan didn't take the rules for women, chess manuals, or musical scores from the study. Whether Madam Li wanted to keep them for her granddaughter or sell them, Lu Huan didn't care.

Then there's the interior furnishings. Everything that belonged to the Cheng family was packed up and boxed, leaving only an empty display shelf.

The large wooden chest that was once filled with clothes now only contains bedding.

There were three or four large wooden crates and several large bundles piled up in the middle of the yard, making it look like they were moving house and would never come back.

The head butler was startled by his own thoughts, but since the master had made it clear that everything was up to the young lady, he couldn't say anything more.

He could only step forward and ask, "Miss, would you like me to send these things back to the Gao family?"

Lu Huan patted himself a few times to brush off the dust: "No need, we came by mule cart today."

Moreover, she wouldn't bring these things back to the Gao family. There was no need to explain this to the head butler.