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

Xie Chaoyun gave a soft snort, ignoring Lu Huai's pain, and dragged him to the desk. Grabbing his arm, she pried open his fingers and shoved a pen into his hand: "Please, Lord Marquis, write down the letter of divorce as soon as possible. Don't just talk the talk, like before."

"Xie Chaoyun, you're something else!" Lu Huai struggled a few times but couldn't break free. His face was full of the pain of being humiliated: "I was even thinking of our marital relationship and didn't want to listen to my mother's suggestion to divorce you. I never expected you to be so ungrateful."

He snapped the pen in half and threw it on the table: "Xie Chaoyun, I'm giving you one last chance. If you sincerely admit your mistakes, I will let bygones be bygones. If you insist on going your own way, I will divorce you tomorrow at noon, in the presence of the Lu clan."

After saying that, he left in a sorry state.

A breeze picked up in the courtyard, making clothes rustle.

Qingzhi rushed in, and as she closed the door, she glanced at Lu Huai's back and stamped her foot, saying, "The Marquis and the Marquis's mansion are truly shameless. They say they want a divorce, but they keep delaying signing the papers. Now they're making a scene about divorcing their wives. All their scheming is for Miss's dowry."

Who can argue with that? Anyone with eyes can see that the Lu family isn't reluctant to part with Xie Chaoyun, but rather with the things she brought into the Lu family. Fine, let's just bear with it for now, and sever all ties with this Marquis's mansion by noon tomorrow.

The rain came suddenly, and in no time it was pouring down. Old Madam Lu closed the door and discussed divorcing his wife with Lu Huai, who had returned in a huff. Ji Wanwan quietly went to the backyard and knocked three times on the side gate. A moment later, a hand clutching a medicine packet reached through the crack in the door.

It was a man's hand, with a bright red mole on his wrist.

He tucked the medicine packet into his waistband and pressed himself against the door, asking, "How is my daughter? Have the prince's men found her?"

A charming, slightly eerie voice came from outside the door: "Don't worry, Madam, Miss is safe and sound and will be able to return to the manor to reunite with you soon."

Ji Wanwan breathed a sigh of relief: "Lu Huai wants to divorce Xie Chaoyun. Please tell the Prince that Wanwan will do her best to complete the task he has assigned."

The person outside the door smiled, his voice soft and alluring: "It's good that you've done your best, Madam. The Prince said that you must take good care of yourself."

After waiting a while, and figuring out that the person outside had left, Ji Wanwan peeked through the crack in the door. At first, she only saw a wall, but when she looked again, she suddenly saw an eye through the crack.

His eyes were light gray, and he just stared at her without moving.

Ji Wanwan screamed and fell to the ground. She heard that person's voice in her ear: "Curiosity killed the cat! Madam is timid, so it's best not to be curious."

Ji Wanwan touched her chest and closed her eyes.

She had seen those eyes before, in Weinan, on the night Zhu Guozhi was killed. Her heart pounded, terrified that person would burst in. Only when the sounds outside the side gate faded did she dare to open her eyes.

Unable to bear looking any longer, I picked up the umbrella that had fallen to the ground and hurriedly returned to my room.

"where have you been?"

"Brother Huai, are you trying to scare Wanwan to death?" She patted her chest and turned to walk up to Lu Huai. "Jin Yao is missing. Wanwan wanted to go out and look for her, but the gatekeeper wouldn't let her, so she had to come back. My sister told me that you saw Jin Yao, Brother Huai. What exactly happened?"

Lu Huai grabbed her hand and looked at her with a probing gaze: "What is your relationship with the people of Southern Chu?"

Thinking of the person outside the door, Ji Wanwan felt a pang of guilt: "What are you saying, Brother Huai? How could Wanwan possibly have any connection with the people of Southern Chu?"

"It's okay, why are you hiding?" Lu Huai's hand clenched even tighter.

"Ji Wanwan, you'd better tell me the truth, how did Jin Yao get to know the people from Southern Chu?"

Ji Wanwan looked at him blankly: "Jin Yao and the people of Nan Chu? No, that's impossible! Brother Huai, you watched her grow up. If she had any dealings with the people of Nan Chu, how could you not know? And Wanwan, Wanwan is inseparable from Brother Huai. How could she be involved with those people of Nan Chu behind your back? Colluding with Nan Chu is tantamount to treason. Brother Huai, please don't talk nonsense."

Lu Huai released his grip, looking exhausted: "I let those strange people in. Jin Yao tricked me into letting them in."

Ji Wanwan was terrified: "Brother Huai, what are you saying? You let those strange people in!"

Lu Huai covered his face: "It was Jin Yao. She lied to me, saying she had done something great. I went to the city gate with her and found that all the soldiers at the gate had disappeared. Before I could figure it out, she urged me to open the city gate. I never expected that those strange people would rush into the city."

Ji Wanwan's fingertips were icy cold as she squatted down in front of Lu Huai: "If you're such a strange person, why didn't you bite Brother Huai?"

Lu Huai rubbed his face: "The city gate is huge. In the past, it would take two or three people to open it at the same time. Jin Yao and I used all our strength to open half of it. When those strange people entered the city, Jin Yao and I were still at the gate, and they didn't notice us."

In the dim moonlight, those strange figures, like ghosts, walked unsteadily into the city with their heads down. Only after they had gone some distance did a group of Southern Chu people enter the city. Dressed in black clothes and black trousers, wearing black face masks, their hair, earrings, and accents revealed them to be from Southern Chu, not Southern Chu spies lurking in Northern Liang territory.

Lu Huai couldn't understand the Southern Chu dialect, nor did he know what they were saying. He only knew that he and Lu Jinyao had been discovered. They split into three groups: one group followed the strange man, one group took Lu Huai to Grain Shop No. 8, and the other group took Lu Jinyao away.

There were Xie's employees in the grain shop. They fought with the people of Southern Chu, and that's when he got his wound.

"The imperial physician said that Brother Huai's injury was caused by a dog bite."

“There were dogs in the grain shop, dogs kept by the Xie family, just as fierce as the Xie family.” Lu Huai glanced at his wound: “The Xie family’s shop assistant and the Xie family’s dogs are all dead. I was locked in that room by the Southern Chu people, and the Southern Chu people have disappeared.”

"Then how did Sister find you, Brother Huai? Could it be that she's the one colluding with the Southern Chu people?" Ji Wanwan leaned close to Lu Huai. "Sister is cunning, and Jin Yao is young and naive. She must have been used by Sister. Brother Huai, think about it, if Jin Yao really knew those Southern Chu people, why would they take her away? They were afraid that Jin Yao would reveal something. Brother Huai, you must help Wanwan find Jin Yao."

After hearing what Ji Wanwan said, Lu Huai's resolve wavered somewhat.

"Brother Huai—" Ji Wanwan snuggled up to him, hooking her arms around his neck: "Are you really going to divorce my sister?"

Lu Huai pushed Ji Wanwan away in frustration: "It's not a divorce, it's a separation! This Xie Chaoyun is increasingly disrespectful to me."

"What about the dowry?"

"Don't even think about taking a single penny."

Ji Wanwan was secretly delighted and pinched Lu Huai's leg.

It wasn't that she coveted Xie Chaoyun's dowry; it was simply that her methods were despicable and she was arrogant. Knowing full well that the Marquis's treasury was empty, she still insisted on taking the entire dowry with her, unwilling to part with even 100,000 taels of silver. If it weren't for her incompetent management and reckless spending, how could the Marquis's mansion have fallen to such a state? Her dowry should be returned to the Marquis's mansion; it's a debt she owes and must repay.