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

Is a noble family mansion really that shameful?

Her son seems to have forgotten what kind of life the Marquis's mansion lived before the marriage alliance with the Xie family!

Old Madam Lu sneered and looked at Lu Huai, saying, "If it weren't for the old man's painstaking efforts to make you marry Xie Chaoyun, who in the entire capital would think highly of our Marquis's Mansion? Not to mention anything else, don't you know how much bigger this Marquis's Mansion is compared to ten years ago?"

Lu Huai was stunned. He had never thought about these things before, but his memory brought back those distant scenes.

The Marquis's mansion was bestowed by the late emperor and was said to have been the residence of a minister who had committed a crime in the previous dynasty. The place was spacious, but it was nothing compared to the palaces and noble houses in the capital. When Lu Huai was born, the Marquis's mansion had improved considerably after the efforts of his grandfather and father, but the courtyards were still empty. The viewing tower, the Fangfei Courtyard, and even the courtyard where the dungeon was located were almost like abandoned gardens.

The Lu family had been running the business for two generations. By the time it came to Lu Huai's generation, his grandfather and father wanted him to have a career in government, so they sent him to the academy at a young age. He spent his childhood, adolescence, and the days before his marriage to Xie Chaoyun at the academy. He knew about the affairs of the Marquis's mansion but never cared about them.

Firstly, he had no need to worry about the affairs of the Marquis's residence.

Secondly, he really doesn't care.

Thinking about it carefully, not only was the Marquis's mansion much larger than before, but even the courtyard itself was renovated piece by piece by Xie Chaoyun. Her mother's Fulin Courtyard, the Chaoyun Courtyard where he and Xie Chaoyun lived, the Guanjing Tower, the Fangfei Courtyard, and the Xihua Courtyard were all renovated by her. The flowers, plants, and decorations in this courtyard were all bought with her own money.

Lu Huai had a headache. He pressed his temples hard and looked at his mother, saying, "This Fangfei Courtyard was renovated by Xie Chaoyun. If it was renovated, why didn't they discover these corpses hidden under the flowerbeds?"

Old Madam Lu did not answer; instead, the official standing to the side replied, "The former Madam did not touch a single thing in this courtyard. The old lady instructed that every plant, tree, and object in this courtyard had been inspected by a master at the beginning of the mansion's establishment. The former Madam was filial and did not care about such things, so she only repaired the houses. Whenever there was renovation in the mansion, the servants would keep an eye on it, but the former Madam never inquired about these details; she always paid according to the accounts."

Upon hearing the word "money," Lu Huai couldn't help but ask, "How much did it cost to renovate this Marquis's residence?"

The steward did a rough calculation: "From the month the former madam moved into the Marquis's mansion, the renovations have been going on for nearly ten years, costing at least 700,000 taels of silver. That doesn't even include the furniture and furnishings inside the house. If you include everything, it's estimated to be around 2 million taels of silver."

After saying that, he added, "Not including those in the main courtyard, those were all purchased by the former madam herself, and they are on her own account."

Lu Huai frowned: "Did those two million taels go through the government treasury's accounts?"

The butler shook his head: "It's a public account, but not a government treasury account. The money was paid by the former madam herself."

Lu Huai was momentarily dazed.

His mother had mentioned Xie Chaoyun's dowry money to him more than once. He knew that the Marquis's mansion was spending Xie Chaoyun's money. Knowing it was one thing, but calculating it carefully was another. He always felt that no matter how poor the Marquis's mansion was, it couldn't be so poor that it had to rely on a woman's dowry for everything. Moreover, Xie Chaoyun couldn't possibly be as capable as his mother said, taking on all the affairs of the Marquis's mansion.

He thought his mother said that because she was afraid he would divorce Xie Chaoyun, and that she coveted Xie Chaoyun's status as the legitimate daughter of the General's Mansion. He never expected that Xie Chaoyun would do so much more than his mother had said. On the contrary, Ji Wanwan, whom he had cherished and pampered for ten years, only ever took from him, lied to him, and deceived him.

So tired! I've never felt this tired before.

Fangfei Courtyard was not the main hall of the Commandant's Mansion, and it was a dark night. Although several lives had been lost, Commandant Ma and Li Shen did not interrupt the conversation between the mother and son.

Captain Ma remained silent because Lu Zhiyuan was silent, and judging from the girl's expression, it seemed that more clues could be gleaned from their conversation.

Everyone in the capital knew that Lu Huai had gone to Weinan after marrying Xie Chaoyun. Because of the trouble Lu Huai had caused when he proposed, everyone assumed that Lu Huai chose to be sent to a post outside the capital to be worthy of Xie Chaoyun, who came from a general's family, and they even envied her behind her back. Little did they know that she was living such a life in the Marquis's mansion.

Before their daughter was even born, her husband had already taken a mistress in Weinan.

The Marquis's mansion was in decline, and everything depended on her to manage it. A pampered young lady, spoiled by the old general and her two older brothers, entered the mansion and not only had to care for a sick child on her own, but also manage the household finances, using her own dowry to make ends meet. To keep the mansion afloat, she had no choice but to go out into business. Luckily, she was a daughter of the Xie family; if she were from another family, she would have been dragged down and killed by the mansion long ago.

But how did the Marquis's mansion treat her? Not only did they send her daughter to another residence, but they also gave her daughter the house where dead people were buried. Even her husband, the infatuated Marquis who was praised by everyone, disregarded the slightest bit of affection from the past and brazenly brought his mistress and two children back.

Commander Ma was a rough man and couldn't quite grasp the intricacies of the situation, but he understood the matter perfectly. He was immediately furious and finally understood why Madam Xie insisted on divorcing Marquis Lu, even going so far as to petition the Emperor for a decree. He also finally understood why Miss Lu was so cold towards the Lu family; aside from that tiny bloodline, she had no relation to the Lu family whatsoever, and even the Lu family genealogy only listed the name of that concubine's daughter.

Commander Ma cursed Lu Huai in his heart.

Li Shen stared at Old Madam Lu, his hatred growing stronger in his heart and eyes.

Tonight's events were not accidental. Several days ago, Miss sent someone to find him, telling him to be prepared to accuse Old Madam Lu at any time.

At first, he didn't believe that a child could cause trouble in the Marquis's mansion, until that person took him to see Xiao Liu.

Xiao Liu, and those maids who were sold by the old lady, were all rescued by the young lady; he doesn't have that kind of ability.

Lu Zhiyuan yawned and leaned against Liu Ying: "Witnesses, physical evidence, plaintiff, and the deceased are all here. I wonder what else Grandmother has to say?"

"What else is there to say?" Old Madam Lu looked up at the sky. In all her decades of marriage into the Marquis's mansion, she had never been pressured like this. Even when the old Marquis and her in-laws were alive, they had never treated her like this. She slowly took a breath, her gaze falling on Lu Zhiyuan's eyes, which were identical to her son's. She smiled: "Once they entered the Marquis's mansion, they became its slaves. You say they are innocent, I say they deserve to die. What evidence do you have to prove you are right and I am wrong?"

“Even if they were at fault, the matter should be handled by the authorities. The old lady's use of private torture, resulting in death, is highly inappropriate.” Commandant Ma coughed lightly, signaling his subordinates to take the body and all the witnesses to the Commandant's residence. This case involves the Marquis's family, and regardless of whether a severe sentence is handed down, it must be reported to the Emperor for his decision.

After the incident, Madam Lu calmed down and said composedly, "I only asked them to punish me, but I didn't know they would beat someone to death."