The sickly son died young? After the marriage exchange, I will bring prosperity to his entire clan f

"No, I will never do that again unless I die."

The thought of her husband being given away to another man was enough to make her feel ashamed and want to die, but she dared not die. She still had her father to serve, and how could she dare to die before him?

Her father only had her as his daughter. If she were to pass away, how would he live?

After returning home, Madam Liu's condition changed, and she had another argument with Master Liu. The old woman beside her noticed this and asked if something had happened.

Madam Liu just cried and didn't say a word.

She thought that once she saw through his deception, he wouldn't come back, but to her surprise, he did, on the very next night after she found out.

First, Master Liu came in and said to the old woman and other servants around him, "You may all leave. You don't need to serve me today."

The old woman was very worried and didn't leave. Madam Liu gripped the old woman's arm tightly and questioned Master Liu, "What do you want to do?"

Master Liu sneered, "What can I do? I'm just here to rest in your courtyard. Do you think I, a master, can't order the people in your courtyard around?" After saying that, he said sternly to the old woman, "Get out."

The old woman still hadn't left.

"Guards! The old woman serving the lady is unruly. Take her away and give her a good beating. She can be brought back when she learns to behave." At Master Liu's command, two servants rushed in and grabbed the old woman's hands, ready to take her away.

Seeing this, Madam Liu knew she had lost. "Let go, you can all leave now."

The servants on both sides only obeyed their masters and not the other side's orders.

Madam Liu looked up at Master Liu and said, "Send your men down, and I'll send my men down too."

"Good, good, good, wouldn't it have been better if we had done this earlier?" Master Liu gestured to the two servants, who then left.

The old woman was very worried. "Madam."

"Go downstairs." Madam Liu gave her a reassuring look, and the old woman had no choice but to leave, turning back every few steps.

Madam Liu looked at Master Liu warily. "What are you planning to do? Aren't you afraid of being discovered doing such a despicable thing?"

"What am I afraid of? My dear wife, it took me a lot of effort to get in touch with the magistrate. He has a taste for this kind of thing, and I had no choice. You should serve him well, and once he's comfortable, our lives will be better, won't they?"

“But I am your legal wife, and you have concubines. Why don’t you let your concubines go?”

"There's no other way. The magistrate looks down on you, so we have no choice but to let you go."

Madam Liu stared at Master Liu with eyes that seemed capable of freezing a person to death, but Master Liu's eyes were filled with determination, showing no fear whatsoever. In the end, Madam Liu compromised, "Alright, but... I'll still go to your courtyard."

"Okay, no problem."

Master Liu led his wife to his courtyard, where they met the county magistrate openly. The magistrate smiled at Madam Liu and said to Master Liu, "You really know how to handle things."

"Please enjoy your time, sir. I'll serve you from outside."

"Go."

When Madam Liu looked at the county magistrate under the lamplight for the first time, she felt resistant inside, but she didn't show it on her face at all; in fact, she even tried to ingratiate herself.

Over time, the county magistrate grew very fond of Madam Liu. He used to visit her only at night, but later he would sometimes go to the Liu family home during the day, always accompanied by Madam Liu.

No secrets stay hidden forever. Before long, some crazy rumors started circulating in the mansion.

Previously, the county magistrate would sneak in at night, but later he started coming openly during the day. Sometimes, Madam Liu and Master Liu would accompany him, and then Master Liu would leave.

This situation, where a man and a woman are alone together, is bound to cause trouble.

Rumors spread throughout the mansion, but Liu Yuanwai stepped in to stop them and severely punished the two most gossipy servants. After that, the servants dared not speak of it anymore.

However, Madam Liu was also reluctant, so in the end the two of them changed their meeting place from the Liu family home to outside.

Thinking of this, Madam Liu gave a self-deprecating smile, "What goes around comes around. If you do too many bad things, you will eventually be punished. Liu Cheng deserves to be childless in this life."

He had previously planned to take Liu Cheng's only son to hell with him when he was about to die, so that Liu Cheng would be childless. Now, he didn't have to do it himself.

The old woman was also very happy. "Madam, this news came from a very strange place. It seems that someone deliberately passed it on to us. When I received the news, I was a little hesitant to believe it. Later, I went to check and found that it was true."

"It doesn't matter what other people's motives are. As long as it benefits us, they are our friends."

"But what are they after?"

Madam Liu waved her hand, "No matter what their purpose is, they will appear eventually, don't worry."

The old woman stopped talking.

Because the two were in a good mood that evening, the old woman even drank a little wine with Madam Liu before going to sleep.

Du Mingxian didn't care about the Liu family's affairs. She gave the orders, and someone was keeping an eye on them. At this moment, she and Ling Silang had already left the city.

Since it was an inspection trip, I only brought a groom with me, and we traveled in civilian clothes.

They had drawn up a map in advance, planning to circle around Ping County, which has five towns and twenty-three villages. It's not a big county, but it's not small either.

On the first night, they went directly to the town closest to Ping County and checked into an inn.

Du Mingxian was quite curious about this way of traveling. After settling in, she went for a walk around the town. Perhaps because it was a small town, there weren't many people. Since it was getting late, there were even fewer people walking around on the street, and there were hardly any stalls.

With nothing to her name, she lost interest.

Seeing her like this, Ling Silang asked, "Didn't you enjoy the game?"

"No, I just feel a bit listless. People here go to bed early, and there are hardly any people on the streets early in the morning."

"The common people are like this. If they want the night to be more lively, they can only do so in some big cities, such as the prefectural city, where the nights are very lively."

"Although we have other purposes for coming here, you are now the magistrate of Ping County, and you can make some changes for Ping County so that the people here can live better lives."

"Yes, this is my wish and my goal."

The two returned to the inn while talking, but did not eat there. Instead, they went straight to their room and entered the space. Du Mingxian cooked a good meal, and the two sat together, eating and talking.

After eating, I took a walk to digest, then picked some fruit, tidied up the space, and by the time I went to bed it was already past nine o'clock.

After a good night's sleep, Du Mingxian stretched when she woke up in the morning. Before she even got out of bed, she heard a noise outside, so she hurriedly slipped on her shoes and went outside.

The second floor of the inn is a passageway; you can only see what's downstairs by walking out of the passageway.

There are only three people now.

There was a waiter, two customers, one adult and one child, and a woman with a child, who were arguing with the waiter.