My wife wants a divorce; if she ruins my life, I'll leave.

Shen Yunlan cursed, "What purse?"

Enraged, Song Chen'an kicked Ying'er to the ground, saying, "Your mistress is pregnant, what nonsense are you spouting?"

Shen Yunlan got off the low couch, squatted down with difficulty, and personally helped Ying'er up.

"You know I'm pregnant, why did you kick Ying'er? If you hurt her, who will take care of me?" Shen Yunlan questioned repeatedly. "Don't try to change the subject. What purse? Take it out!"

Seeing that Song Chen'an didn't move, Shen Yunlan couldn't help but take two steps forward and reach into Song Chen'an's arms.

Seeing her pregnant belly in front of him, Song Chen'an didn't dare to push her, so he just twisted his body and hid behind her.

Shen Yunlan eventually found it. Holding the pale blue purse embroidered with pine trees and shimmering rocks, she angrily demanded, "Where did this purse come from?"

Without saying anything, the two started arguing.

Nowadays, there are many more people in the household, more than double the number of masters and servants as before, and you can run into one or two of them no matter where you go.

Despite their attempts to keep their voices down, news of their argument still got out, prompting Mrs. Ma to rush over with others to mediate.

After hearing what had happened, Madam Ma said impatiently, "It's just a purse, why make such a fuss? What man doesn't have his moments of pleasure, what man doesn't go out and about? Does he want to stay at home and do nothing?"

Shen Yunlan said angrily, "What has he been doing out and about? Has he accomplished anything in the past few months? He has no official position, no job, and no money. All he knows is going out to eat, drink, and have fun. Now he's even keeping a mistress!"

"What do you mean by keeping a mistress?" Song Chen'an shouted, "Don't talk nonsense if you don't know!"

Shen Yunlan sneered, "I don't know, then tell me, and I'll know."

The two argued back and forth, but in the end they still couldn't figure out who made the purse.

Song Chen'an stormed out of Qingfeng Courtyard. He was about to go to Hengxi Courtyard to sleep when he remembered that Hengxi Courtyard no longer belonged to him alone.

After returning to his residence, Song Wen'an had already occupied a room in Hengxi Courtyard as his study, so he couldn't sleep there anymore.

Standing outside Qingfeng Courtyard, after much deliberation, he could only go to Luoxia Pavilion.

This delighted Li Yuqin and Zhenzhu. Their enthusiasm pleased Song Chen'an, and one of them was charming and the other was beautiful, with better looks and figures than Shen Yunlan, and they were also several times more tender.

That night, Song Chen'an stayed in Pearl's room, which made Li Yuqin so angry that she wrung out two handkerchiefs.

Upon hearing the news, Shen Yunlan was so angry that she smashed an entire set of teacups. Later, after realizing what had happened, she felt sorry for them.

That scumbag doesn't deserve to be buried with such an exquisite teacup!

This matter will not be easily forgotten. Shen Yunlan and Song Chen'an argued all the way into the New Year. She was angry on her own, but she did not expect that she would encourage other people's thoughts.

Li Yuqin was the youngest and most charming, possessing an indescribable allure that won Song Chen'an's heart.

He had promised Shen Yunlan he wouldn't come to the concubines' quarters, and he had been abstaining for more than half a year. Once he was given the chance to eat again, how could he resist? He immediately forgot all those vows he had made.

Seeing this, Lü Ningshuang would occasionally come over to mock Li Yuqin with schadenfreude. Li Yuqin couldn't help but feel a bit more arrogant. After hearing Li Mama's gossip, she couldn't hold back any longer and became less respectful to Shen Yunlan than before.

There were even rumors that Shen Yunlan's pregnancy was not at the expected stage, and that she didn't look like she was five or six months pregnant at all!

Even the Ma family sent people to investigate secretly, but Shen Yunlan noticed it.

She clutched her stomach, feeling the little one's movements. This was her child, her only connection in the world. From the moment she decided to give birth, she vowed to protect him and never allow anyone to hurt her.

Shen Yunlan composed herself and began to deal with the people with an air of domineering authority.

As the second young mistress, she had five or six servants by her side. She summoned them all and stormed into Lianxiao Courtyard, ordering them to take away Xuan Ge'er and Yu Ge'er. After closing the door, she beat up Lü Ning Shuang.

Before Madam Ma could arrive, she ran to Luoxia Pavilion and punished Li Yuqin and Zhenzhu.

Afterwards, she was taken back to Qingfeng Courtyard and sat in the main room waiting for Song Chen'an to come and make a scene with her.

Who's afraid of who? She's already in this state, what does she need a reputation for!

When Ma and Song Chen'an saw Shen Yunlan's imposing manner, they were initially intimidated and ultimately did nothing to her. Instead, they ended up having to be extra careful.

They are truly spoiled and fearless.

In this struggle, Shen Yunlan seemed to have won, but her relationship with Song Chen'an became distant.

She sneered, "Ha, so this is the person he's been longing for all these years? He's nothing special."

Upon hearing this news, Meng Ruohua couldn't help but ask in surprise, "They really beat someone up?"

Seeing Yang Liu nod affirmatively, she asked doubtfully, "Your personality is still different from before."

Fang Ling led her people in and teased with a smile, "Your mother is preparing your dowry again, aren't you going to take a look?"

Meng Ruohua smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, are you feeling sorry for her?"

Fang Ling spat at her and said irritably, "It hurts, it hurts so much."

Despite her words, Meng Ruohua immediately got up and went to her mother's courtyard, stopping her from making any more preparations.

“Every time I get married, my mother prepares a dowry for me. Have you ever thought about what my sister-in-law would think?”

Mother Meng was slightly taken aback, then frowned and said, "What could she possibly be thinking? I'm still in charge of this family!"

Meng Ruohua waved for Haitang to lead her people away, warning, "If this gets out, you won't be staying in the manor anymore."

Haitang and the others quickly agreed, filed out, and closed the door behind them.

Meng Ruohua patiently said, "How could I not say it, sister-in-law? Even if you are the head of the household, these things should rightfully be left to my brother. My dowry was already quite generous, so why should I ask you to give me another share?"

Mencius' mother sighed, "How could I not know what you're saying? But with your situation, how can you manage without a generous dowry?"

"Don't worry, Mother. How could I possibly make myself suffer? You don't need to prepare anything; I'll take care of it myself." Meng Ruohua raised her chin in a gesture of respect. "I've also made some money in business."

"With your two shops, you only make three to five hundred taels of profit a month. After paying monthly wages and buying more goods, how much money can you possibly earn?"

"And Uncle Xu too, he made me a lot of money these last two times."

Mencius' mother was still worried, "Don't think I don't know that your grain was donated to the army. It's good enough that you didn't lose money."

Meng Ruohua had no choice but to tell her mother all the money she had, "Mother, don't worry, although I haven't earned a lot of money, I can still afford to prepare a dowry for myself."

"Nonsense, my parents, brothers and sisters-in-law are all alive, how could I let you prepare it yourself?"

In the end, Meng Ruohua had no choice but to take out 10,000 taels of silver and let her mother take it and buy whatever she wanted.

Knowing Meng Ruohua's stubborn nature, Meng's mother did not refuse, but secretly planned to put it at the bottom of her daughter's trunk when she got married.

The year is almost over, and the court is about to be sealed off, but at this critical moment, news came from Lanzhou: General Meng Xin was wounded on the battlefield!