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

Song Chen'an nodded. "I need to talk to my mother about something."

He had just come in and was still being polite and reserved, so the Second Madam didn't know what Song Chen'an wanted to say.

The eyes of everyone in the house immediately turned to him. He couldn't help but lower his head and touch the tip of his nose. "It's like this, I've noticed that the weather is getting colder and colder, and the food gets cold when we bring it back to the yard."

He glanced at the second wife, then at Meng Ruohua, and seeing that neither of them seemed to understand, he continued, "Why don't we set up a small kitchen in each courtyard, so that at least we can have hot meals in the winter?"

After he finished speaking, he looked at his mother expectantly, but she just lowered her head and drank her tea. The rising steam made her features appear blurry from a distance.

Meng Ruohua took in their expressions, smiled and asked, "Why did you think of this, husband? We've never had a small kitchen in our courtyards all these years, and we've still managed."

Setting up a small kitchen means spending money!

Building a stove, arranging a cook, purchasing ingredients, and procuring pots and pans—these are not things that can be done in a single sentence.

Everything costs money, so we can't just divide up all the food in the main kitchen. What if we host a banquet or invite guests and the main kitchen can't cook anything? Wouldn't that be incredibly embarrassing?

The second madam gave Song Chen'an a deep look and asked, "Yes, why did Chen'er think of this?"

She knew her son all too well; he wasn't the type to worry about such trivial matters!

Someone must have whispered something in his ear, urging him to bring it up with me.

Thinking this, the second wife's expression instantly sharpened.

She glanced at Meng Ruohua first, then immediately rejected her, knowing that given her son's relationship with her, he certainly wouldn't stand up for her.

That leaves only Lü Ningshuang.

She slowly stroked the rim of the teacup. "But what did Ning Shuang say?"

Song Chen'an was startled; her mother had guessed what she had said before she even said anything.

"Ning Shuang didn't say anything. It was when I went to Lianxiao Courtyard for dinner yesterday that I found the food there was always cold. I had to reheat it when I got back."

He glanced at his mother's expressionless face and felt a little guilty, but he couldn't take back what he had already said.

"But the small stove in Lianxiao Courtyard, used only for boiling tea, could only heat one dish at a time, which made Xuan Ge cry from hunger."

"Why is the food cold?" the second wife asked.

Her food was still hot when it was served. Besides, the food boxes in the mansion were all insulated, so you wouldn't get cold walking around the mansion.

Remembering Yunzhu's words, Song Chen'an replied, "The food in Ningshuang Courtyard gets colder than elsewhere if it's served later."

Later? Then why not just go get it earlier?

Perhaps realizing the ambiguity in his words, Song Chen'an added, "It's not that the girls arrived late, it's that their turn came late."

Meng Ruohua nodded, indicating that she understood his meaning. However, she didn't say a word. She couldn't very well offer to be taken advantage of, and besides, she was waiting to see what happened next.

The second madam's brows twitched slightly, and her gaze turned toward the direction of Lianxiao Courtyard.

Song Chen'an's words are correct; that's the truth. In any family, elders are given gifts before younger ones. We can't break the rules just because Lü Ningshuang has given birth to two children!

She looked at the silent Meng Ruohua and felt that she was unusually quiet today, and had become somewhat as sensible as before.

If she's being sensible, shouldn't she have offered a solution? Why not just have the food from Lianxiao Courtyard be taken before Qingfeng Courtyard's?

Since Meng Ruohua didn't say anything, and she didn't want to set up a small kitchen, she suddenly felt that Lü Ningshuang was becoming increasingly arrogant.

Her meals were different from those in the manor; at every meal, three or four dishes were prepared separately for her. Was that still not enough? Did she need a separate small kitchen?

"Brother Chen, you don't need to worry about these small things. You should focus on the outside affairs, do your job well, and strive for an excellent rating in the year-end assessment."

Meng Ruohua interjected, "Madam, you don't need to worry about that. Your husband will definitely do his job well, and he will also make further progress in the Wuyinglou selection."

"I haven't heard anything about the Shadowless Pavilion lately. In previous years, they would often hold poetry gatherings in the winter, didn't they?" the second madam asked, puzzled.

It's not that nothing happened, it's just that she didn't know.

The second wife didn't have many social interactions, nor did she have any close female friends. She only frequently contacted a few families.

Song Chen'an replied, "Yes, my son has been there three times."

Seeing that the topic had been changed, Song Chen'an knew what his mother meant. He wanted to ask a few more questions, but he was afraid of making his mother anxious.

The second wife was secretly relieved when she saw that her son didn't press the matter further; she didn't want to argue with her son in front of her daughter-in-law.

But Meng Ruohua came here to watch the excitement, and she was unwilling to have made this trip for nothing.

So she put on a worried expression and pulled Song Chen'an aside to ask, "Is the food cold, husband? You can't eat cold food, or you'll get a stomachache."

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Song Chen'an was momentarily stunned. "Oh, it's not cold."

“That’s quite strange. The food here isn’t cold, so why is Aunt Lü’s food cold? Could it be…” Meng Ruohua’s gaze swept over everyone present, her movements slow yet filled with a certain conviction, until everyone’s appetite was piqued before she guessed, “Could it be that the kitchen staff deliberately made things difficult for Aunt Lü?”

The tension that had been building up inside everyone finally eased. Madam Qi sighed inwardly, thinking that the second young mistress was even better at keeping people in suspense than a storyteller.

The second wife rolled her eyes at her, annoyed. "Don't make things up without solid evidence. Wang Gui's wife isn't that kind of person."

Meng Ruohua showed no embarrassment at being denied, and simply smiled and said, "I was just guessing. If it wasn't someone from the kitchen, then it must be someone from her yard who did it."

"Don't talk nonsense, what's going on with the people in her yard?" Song Chen'an denied.

This reminded him of Yunzhu's figure, and his heart couldn't help but feel a little warm.

“Oh, it’s neither this nor that. We might as well call them over and ask them properly, so as not to wrong Aunt Lü.” Meng Ruohua fiddled with her teacup. “After all, there are still two children in Lianxiao Courtyard, who are the only two grandchildren in our household.”

The second wife, unaware of the specifics, simply assumed that Aunt Lü was being too arrogant. It was only after Meng Ruohua's reminder that she remembered her two beloved grandchildren still residing in Lianxiao Courtyard.

It's fine for Lü Ningshuang to eat something cold, but her precious grandson can't afford to get sick from it.

She glanced at Meng Ruohua again, and finally swallowed the words that were about to come out.

I'll ask Lü Ningshuang privately tomorrow. If she's wrong, I'll teach her properly myself.

It wasn't hard to guess what the second wife was thinking. A mocking smile slowly appeared on Meng Ruohua's lips, but because of the angle, only Jixiang saw it.

"Second Master, let's send someone to Lianxiao to investigate first. The sooner we resolve this, the sooner the two children can have a hot meal."

Song Chen'an nodded. "Mother, send someone to ask. Didn't you see that Xuan-ge cried from hunger yesterday? We couldn't coax him no matter what we did?"