May this scumbag husband, who favored his concubine over his wife, rest in peace.

"I'm worried about you."

Upon hearing this, Wen Yuanshu couldn't help but chuckle: "Is it really necessary?"

Of course.

Since the secret guards were not allowed to enter the palace, what should have been the safest palace in the world, in Lu Chengyuan's eyes, became dangerous.

Lu Chengyuan looked up and saw two groups of palace maids following him out. He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and say, "The Empress Dowager is quite generous."

"Let's go."

Those boxes looked quite heavy, but the palace maids looked so frail and delicate that they probably wouldn't last long.

Lu Chengyuan nodded and, as usual, took Wen Yuanshu's forearm and left.

-

On the way back to the General's Mansion, Chunhua gave each of the palace maids who had come with her some silver to thank them for their hard work along the way, and then saw them off properly.

Wen Yuanshu then opened the box.

Besides gold and silver, there were also many precious objects, including jewelry and some exquisite ornaments, showing that the Empress Dowager had put a lot of thought into this gift.

Among them, a phoenix hairpin was particularly eye-catching.

Its striking feature is not the dazzling brilliance created by piling up the finest gemstones, but rather that it is a phoenix hairpin holding a pearl in its beak.

It was a phoenix hairpin with a pearl in its beak, a gift from the Empress Dowager.

Wen Yuanshu's gaze fell on it, and she said thoughtfully, "I didn't expect there would be such a pleasant surprise."

If in the past the Empress Dowager only regarded her as someone who could get things done, from now on the Empress Dowager will probably regard her as a confidante.

A close confidant of the Empress Dowager—that's quite an impressive position.

As soon as she finished speaking, Lu Chengyuan poked her with a finger.

"What are you doing?" Wen Yuanshu covered the spot where she had been poked, and looked up at him blankly.

Lu Chengyuan's gaze was very complicated. He stared at Wen Yuanshu for a long time but said nothing. He just sighed deeply and looked away.

Even if he didn't say it, Wen Yuanshu understood.

"I was just saying it offhand," Wen Yuanshu said. "I won't do anything so dangerous next time."

Lu Chengyuan hummed in agreement and said nothing more, pulling the person back into his arms.

Only in this way can he feel at ease.

Unfortunately, he wasn't free, and had to leave after only a short time.

Chunhua then came in and put away all the boxes one by one.

"The results of the girls' school assessment should be out by now, right?"

Chunhua nodded, knowing what Wen Yuanshu wanted to ask, and said directly, "Seven people from Baitong's group went, and six people stayed behind."

Upon hearing this, Wen Yuanshu nodded: "That's already quite impressive."

After all, the assessment was conducted by palace ladies-in-waiting, and being selected by them was a testament to their excellence.

However, Chunhua's expression turned somewhat strange.

Wen Yuanshu was taken aback: "What's wrong?"

“It’s nothing, it’s just…” Chunhua hesitated for a moment, “…that girl who wasn’t chosen came to the manor once, saying she wanted to see you and wanted you to give her another chance or something, but you were recuperating at the time, and the old lady said not to let outsiders disturb you, so we didn’t let her in.”

Wen Yuanshu was taken aback upon hearing this.

She seemed to have made things very clear when she last saw Bai Tong.

The people in charge of the assessment were from the palace, so her words had no effect.

At the time, Bai Tong and his group were all nearby, so it was impossible for the girl not to have heard it.

“However, it’s not entirely incomprehensible,” Chunhua said. “After all, everyone who went together was selected except for me… that girl was probably just feeling down for a moment.”

Wen Yuanshu nodded: "That's certainly possible."

So the master and servant stopped worrying and began packing their luggage.

The end of the year is just around the corner.

This year, everyone in the General's Mansion is planning to spend the holiday at a hot spring resort.

Going to the hot spring resort was a piece of cake for them, since Wen Yuanshu owned one.

That was obtained from the Pei family.

Now, all of the Pei family's properties have been reclaimed after the entire family was executed, but this hot spring resort has been preserved because it was already registered under Wen Yuanshu's name, becoming a cash cow for Wen Yuanshu.

Since it's his own business, he naturally wants to make things convenient for his family.