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

When Lu Huai left Fangfei Courtyard, it was already dawn. Looking at the vast Marquis's mansion, he felt a sense of desolation. He wandered aimlessly until he stopped at Chaoyun Courtyard. Chaoyun Courtyard was the courtyard where the two of them got married. The name Chaoyun was given by him to please Xie Chaoyun. The people in the mansion called it the main courtyard, meaning the courtyard where the master lived.

Stepping into the courtyard, everything was as it had always been, except for the absence of the servants who used to dart about. In a daze, he seemed to hear Xie Chaoyun's voice. Looking up, he saw her dressed in her wedding gown, smiling radiantly as she rushed towards him: "Your Excellency is back? I'll have them prepare tea?"

I reached out to hug it, but the image faded, leaving only the cool air.

While I was still in a daze, a voice came from behind me: "Does the Marquis dislike me so much?"

Turning around abruptly, she saw Xie Chaoyun holding a child. Her face was haggard, and her eyes were full of grievance.

"What wrong have I done to deserve such cold treatment from the Marquis? Even if I have committed a thousand faults, Yuan'er is innocent. The Marquis has finally returned, yet he won't even see his own daughter?"

A slight pain shot through my chest. I wanted to take the child from her arms, but the image shattered again.

"My lord, Yuan'er is ill. I beg you, please take me to the other courtyard to see her."

Lu Huai had a headache, so he covered his ears. When he opened his eyes again, Xie Chaoyun had disappeared, and only the butler stood in the morning light with a concerned expression.

"What's wrong, my lord? Should this old servant try to fetch a doctor for you?"

"It's nothing, I just remembered some old things and felt a little uneasy." He waved his hand, gesturing for the steward to come forward: "How many years have you been with the household, steward?"

"Reporting to Your Excellency, it has been exactly twenty years."

"Twenty years, you're considered an old-timer in this household." He grasped his hand, looking into his eyes: "Tell me, when the Madam was alive, was I particularly unkind to her?"

The steward was taken aback, and said insincerely, "The Marquis treats the Madam quite well."

Lu Huai laughed: "Your eyes tell me you're lying."

The butler was about to defend himself when Lu Huai began to speak on his own. Before their marriage, he had promised Xie Chaoyun a flower hairpin. The year after their marriage, he found a pair of plum blossom hairpins, but gave them to Ji Wanwan in front of her. Years later, he still remembered the look in her eyes at that time, full of surprise and disappointment.

“This old servant remembers that hairpin.” The steward sighed. “The Marquis’s study is cleaned by the Madam, because she’s afraid we’ll be clumsy and break his things. The Madam found that hairpin a long time ago. She thought it was a birthday gift from the Marquis. She waited and waited, and finally her birthday arrived, but the Marquis forgot. He even said that it was Madam Ji’s birthday soon and told us to hurry up and deliver the hairpin to Madam Ji as a birthday gift.”

Lu Huai narrowed his eyes: "Was that her birthday?"

The steward looked at Lu Huai and sighed again: "The Marquis doesn't remember the Madam's birthday? No wonder the Madam was so sad. The Marquis doesn't remember her but remembers Madam Ji? The Marquis didn't prepare a birthday gift for the Madam, but he prepared one for Madam Ji early on. He prepared one, but he made the Madam mistakenly think that the hairpin was a gift from the Marquis to her."

Lu Huai closed his eyes, recalling what happened next.

He said Ji Wanwan was his sister, who had married far away in Weinan and was all alone. He said Xie Chaoyun, the legitimate daughter of a general, was petty and narrow-minded, even fussing over a hairpin.

After that, Xie Chaoyun never mentioned the hairpin to him again.

Lu Huai asked the steward if he had ever given Xie Chaoyun a birthday gift in their ten years of marriage. He hadn't, but the Old Madam should have. Even if the Old Madam hadn't, the servants in the manor should have prepared something. She was the mistress of the Marquis's mansion; she deserved a birthday banquet.

The steward shook his head, saying that the household had never prepared a birthday gift for the madam, nor had it ever held a birthday banquet. Not only the madam, but the young lady hadn't either.

Lu Huai persisted, "Not even once?"

The steward said, "Not even once. On the contrary, Madam prepares for the Old Madam, the Marquis, and Madam Ji every year. Miss also receives one, which is sent to the villa every year. The Old Madam forbids Madam from visiting Miss, but Madam goes every year, waiting outside without entering the courtyard. Marquis, Madam has had a hard time these past years."

Lu Huai's heart clenched.

The steward continued, "The Marquis has a stomach ailment, which he developed while studying at the academy. This stomach ailment is different from other illnesses; it requires constant care. However, since the Marquis is in Weinan, the Madam is too far away to help. She could only consult Physician Jiang to prepare medicinal meals to soothe the Marquis's stomach. The medicinal meals are quite complex, and the ingredients vary depending on the season. The Madam never delegates the task to anyone else; she prepares everything herself, one by one. The medicinal meals sent to Weinan are all packaged in pre-packaged form. Even so, the Madam is still not at ease and has written the cooking time and whether red dates need to be added into each package."

Seeing the doubt in Lu Huai's eyes, the steward explained, "The Marquis dislikes bitterness and doesn't like food that's too sweet or greasy. Every medicinal dish the Marquis eats is personally prepared by the Madam, who knows exactly how to cook it by the degree of sweetness. If the medicinal dish is just the right amount of sweetness, there's no need to add red dates. If the medicinal dish is bland and slightly bitter, a few more dates will be added. We all see how good the Madam is to the Marquis."

"You mean, all the medicinal meals I ate in Weinan were prepared by my wife?"

"It was prepared by the madam, Your Highness, you didn't know?" The steward frowned. "Impossible! Ever since I started as a servant, I have personally accompanied the delivery of the medicinal meals to Weinan every year. It was because I did this job well that the madam discussed with Your Highness about promoting me to steward of the Marquis's mansion."

“You have never said these things to me.”

“This old servant spoke with the steward of the mansion over there, and Madam Ji knows as well. This old servant specifically instructed him to do so.”

The steward understood; the matter of the medicinal cuisine had likely been kept secret by Madam Ji. Not only had she kept it a secret, but she had also implicated him. No wonder the Marquis always had that expression whenever Madam asked about his stomach ailment upon his return home. It was as if Madam was deliberately trying to curry favor with the Marquis by using someone else's merit.

The steward grew anxious and pointed to the study, saying, "When Madam left, she didn't take those medical books with her. The medicinal meals that the Marquis eats are all from those medical books and ancient texts that Madam found. Although this old servant doesn't know many words, I can see that they all have Madam's annotations. There are also those prescriptions that Madam copied down, filling a whole box. For the Marquis's stomach ailment, Madam and Physician Jiang went through prescription after prescription. After selecting a prescription, she collected the herbs according to the prescription, brewed the herbs into medicinal meals, and tested each bowl one by one. She was clearly thinking of the Marquis's health, but she was scolded by the Old Madam, who said that she didn't know the cost of firewood and rice when she was in charge of the household, and that she was acting recklessly after taking charge of the household."

“I believe you, it was Ji Wanwan who deceived me.” Lu Huai chuckled. “I was stupid to believe Ji Wanwan’s words. I pay for all her food, clothing and shelter. Where would she get the spare money to prepare medicinal meals for me? Besides, some of the ingredients in those medicinal meals are extremely precious. Yuan’er is right, I am blind and foolish.”

The steward quickly said, "No wonder, Your Highness. It was Madam Ji who had ill intentions and deliberately deceived you. Although Madam Ji and Your Highness are divorced, the General's Mansion is not far from Your Highness's Mansion. Once the Emperor orders the lifting of the lockdown, Your Highness can go to the General's Mansion to explain to Madam Ji."

Lu Huai's heart stirred slightly, but what welled up inside was bitterness.