After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

Lu Huai, still hungover, neither returned to the main courtyard to rest nor went to Fulin Courtyard to find Ji Wanwan. When the old lady's maid found him, he was hugging his quilt and muttering, "I, Lu Huai, will never let anyone look down on me."

Mammy shook her head.

She had watched Lu Huai grow up and knew his true worth. Aside from his handsome appearance, he was just an ordinary person. He was average in his studies and martial arts, and he was neither good at cultivating relationships nor at running a business. If he had even one skill, the old Marquis wouldn't have gone to the trouble of finding him a noblewoman who could elevate his status, and the old lady wouldn't have separated him from Ji Wanwan.

Unfortunately, arrogance and pride always go hand in hand. He relied on the Xie family while simultaneously wanting to break free from them. He needed his wife to manage the manor and maintain its prestige, yet he feared gossip that he owed everything to her.

He didn't necessarily like Ji Wanwan that much. If he really liked her, how could he bear to leave her, covered in wounds, at Fulin Courtyard to go out and indulge in debauchery? He couldn't understand why the old lady was sometimes confused and sometimes clear-headed. Only the servants in the entire mansion clearly realized that the madam no longer wanted the Marquis's mansion.

A man's thoughts may be able to fool everyone else, but they can't fool the person next to him in bed.

There was no hangover soup, only a bowl of plain white porridge. Lu Huai glanced at it and tossed it to the ground. The sound of the porcelain bowl shattering was accompanied by the old woman's sigh: "The Marquis is long past the age of being willful. He should know that if this porcelain bowl is broken, it must be replaced. This bowl will cost one tael of silver."

“It’s just a tael of silver. When has my Marquis’s mansion ever cared about a tael of silver?” Lu Huai picked up a cup and smashed it on the ground. “Still just a tael? Go to the steward and get ten taels of silver to buy ten identical ones.”

The old woman lowered her eyelids and said, "Has the Marquis forgotten? Before the Marquis receives his monthly salary next month, the manor doesn't have a single tael of silver, let alone a single coin."

Lu Huai stood up and looked at the old woman with disbelief: "How come you don't even have a single coin?"

The old woman kept her eyes lowered: "When the old lady bought medicine, she used the treasury's silver, and the remaining amount was covered by the madam. The young lady's brother also took money from her because he was in debt from gambling. Although the young lady was in charge of the household affairs, she was suspected of murdering her husband and was imprisoned in the Commandant's Mansion. When she came out of prison, she was penniless. If it weren't for the manor's physician and the medicines they had stored, the young lady's injuries wouldn't have been treated."

Where is Xie Chaoyun?

“My lord,” the old woman looked up, “the lady’s money is her own. Let alone the Marquis’s mansion, even ordinary men have no right to use their wives’ dowry. Unless…”

"Unless what?" Lu Huai stared intently at the old woman.

“Unless Madam willingly takes out the money as she has in the past.” The old nanny stepped aside. “The old lady is in a hurry to see the Marquis! Also, someone from the palace has come. It’s a nanny surnamed Jiang who is teaching Miss Jinyao etiquette at Fulin Courtyard. Logically, the Marquis should also go and see her. After all, she was personally appointed by the Empress.”

Lu Huai didn't delay any longer and followed the old woman to Fulin Courtyard. Before they even reached the gate, he overheard the old woman's scolding of Lu Jinyao over the courtyard wall.

“Miss Lu has truly broadened my horizons. How dare an adopted daughter bully the legitimate daughter with such vulgar behavior and foul language.”

"I come from the palace, and I cannot tolerate people as unruly as you, young lady."

She strode into the courtyard and saw Granny Jiang holding Lu Jinyao's wrist.

"what happened?"

Lu Huai frowned and asked, Liu Ying replied, "Granny Jiang taught Miss Jin Yao manners, but Miss Jin Yao not only ignored her but also called Granny Jiang an old hag. My young lady originally came to pay her respects to the old lady, and upon hearing Miss Jin Yao's words, she advised her to be careful with her words. As a result, Miss Jin Yao got angry and called my young lady a heartless, sickly little brat. Granny Jiang was furious, so she punished Miss Jin Yao."

"Lu Jinyao, did you really scold Granny Jiang?"

"Jin Yao didn't do it. They ganged up on Jin Yao and framed her." Lu Jin Yao shook her head, sometimes frowning, sometimes pursing her lips. With her reddened eyes and tears welling up, she looked wronged and pitiful no matter how you looked at her.

Granny Jiang had a cold face, while Lu Zhiyuan looked on as if she were watching a show and it was none of her business. Anyone who saw this scene would think that Lu Jinyao was the one being bullied.

She sobbed through the pain.

"My lord, my lord, please save Jin Yao! You watched Jin Yao grow up, and you know her best. If she hadn't been bullied so badly, how could she have spoken so rudely?"

Granny Jiang frowned and applied a little pressure with her fingertips. Lu Jinyao's face contorted in pain as she cried out in alarm.

“This Granny Jiang is a fake. She’s not from the palace at all, and she wasn’t sent by the Empress. Jin Yao has been to the palace and met the Empress. The Empress likes Jin Yao very much and would never send someone like this to torment her.”

Lu Jinyao seemed to have discovered the truth, and she became excited.

"She deliberately came here to make things difficult for Jin Yao! My sister is jealous of Jin Yao, jealous that His Highness Prince Yue has taken a liking to Jin Yao and not her."

Lu Zhiyuan was amused and pointed at herself: "Sister, are you alright? You say I'm jealous that Your Highness Prince Yue has taken a liking to you? It's not that Your Highness Prince Yue is bad, but I'm only eight years old. Did you think about getting married and climbing the social ladder when you were only eight? Then I'm really not as good as you. I was thinking about the candy in Liu Ying's hand."

It was rare to see such a clever and mischievous girl. She didn't argue or explain, but effortlessly deflected the attack with ease. Jiang Mama suppressed a laugh and took out the waist token given to her by the Empress.

That was the waist token of Fengzao Palace, and only the Empress's confidants could possess the gold-lettered ones.

"Granny Jiang, my daughter has been unruly. Please forgive her."

“My daughter? You’re not referring to the eldest daughter, are you, my lord?” Granny Jiang said with a half-smile. “You may not know about what’s happening in the palace, but I do. At the chrysanthemum appreciation banquet that day, Lu Jinyao, as a maid, should have followed behind her mistress. However, she went to Taiye Lake alone and happened to save Prince Yue, who had fallen into the water. Whether it was intentional or a coincidence, only she knows.”

"Her Majesty the Empress did not pursue the matter because of His Highness Prince Yue, but because Madam Lu pleaded for Lu Jinyao. Her Majesty the Empress let the matter drop out of consideration for Madam Lu." Granny Jiang sneered, "As for jealousy, I really don't know what there is to be jealous of in the status of Prince Yue's concubine? With Miss's background, she is more than qualified to be a principal wife when she comes of age."

What was said in jest was taken seriously by the listener. Jiang Mama's words were undoubtedly telling Lu Huai and Lu Jinyao that the Empress had taken a liking to Lu Zhiyuan and intended to betroth her to a certain prince as his wife.

Lu Jinyao gritted her teeth in resentment: "Even if the nanny comes from the palace, even if the nanny is the Empress's person, she can't break Jinyao's hand for no reason."

"Is the young lady's hand broken?" Granny Jiang let go of her hand and gestured for Lu Huai to come forward and check. "Framing someone will get you punished for this."