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

"It's you! It really is you?"

Lu Huai heard nothing else but her acknowledging his identity and excitedly pulling her into her arms. Xie Chaoyun stiffened and pushed him away, but he ignored her and pounced on her again until Qingzhi stopped him with her spear.

"The Marquis has already divorced my young lady, so do not act recklessly in the General's mansion!"

Lu Huai ignored him, his eyes bloodshot, staring directly at Xie Chaoyun, "I can explain what happened back then!"

Xie Chaoyun said coldly, "No need, please leave, Lord Marquis!"

"I didn't know it was you!" Lu Huai said urgently. "I was sick and confused. I only remember someone saving me. I only remember that she was wearing a red and yellow dress with flower shapes on it."

Lu Huai gestured to the collar of the garment, where there was a pattern resembling plum blossoms. When Ji Wanwan alighted from the carriage in front of the Marquis's residence, she was wearing a red and yellow dress with plum blossoms embroidered on the collar. Otherwise, he wouldn't have mistaken her for his savior. He hurriedly explained, failing to notice the almost mocking smile on Xie Chaoyun's face.

“Plum blossoms? Yunniang and the Marquis have been married for ten years, and the Marquis has never noticed the embroidery on Yunniang’s collar. Even now, as the Marquis and Yunniang stand face to face, he has not noticed that the embroidery on Yunniang’s collar is peach blossoms.”

Peach blossom?

Lu Huai's eyes widened as he looked at Xie Chaoyun's collar. Her dress was red, and the collar was dark red, embroidered with peach blossoms in gold and silver thread. Peach blossoms and plum blossoms are distinct, especially the petals; a closer look reveals the difference. He could recognize the plum blossoms embroidered on Ji Wanwan's collar at a glance, but he failed to recognize the peach blossoms on hers.

Lu Huai grew increasingly panicked. "I recognized him, but I just didn't expect..."

Xie Chaoyun retorted, "Doesn't Your Excellency find these explanations rather weak?"

“Since Madam’s passing, the embroidery on Miss’s collar has only been the same,” Qingzhi said. “Miss was born in April, just when the peach blossoms in the border town were in full bloom. The old general picked some and placed them in Madam’s room. Strangely enough, Miss would smile especially happily whenever she saw peach blossoms. If Madam hadn’t strongly objected, the old general probably would have named Miss Xie Taohua (meaning 'Thankful Peach Blossom'). Xie means withering, and withered peach blossoms have a bad connotation.”

Qingzhi took a deep breath: "Madam fell ill in early February. She is a doctor and knew that her illness was difficult to cure, and she was afraid that she would not live to see the peach blossoms bloom in the border town. She made a promise with Miss that she would wait until the peach blossoms bloomed. Fearing that Miss would be disappointed, she embroidered a peach blossom on her dress. The last one was exceptionally bright because it was stained with Madam's blood."

Hearing Qingzhi recount the past, Xie Chaoyun felt a pang of sadness, but she did not interrupt her.

"After the lady left, Miss missed her deceased mother, so she embroidered peach blossoms on all the collars of her clothes. The collar is the part closest to the heart, signifying Miss's longing for her deceased mother. Lord Marquis, you spent every day with my Miss, yet you did not notice these things?"

"I--"

"His heart is only for Ji Wanwan, how could he notice these things?" Xie Chaoyun lowered her head and wiped the corner of her eye: "When we first met at the academy, my collar was embroidered with peach blossoms. When we met on the official road, my collar was also embroidered with peach blossoms. When you came to the General's Mansion to find me, I carried my father over the wall and fell into your arms, my collar was also embroidered with peach blossoms."

Xie Chaoyun turned around and looked into Lu Huai's eyes.

"On our wedding day, in the bridal chamber, the wedding robe was embroidered with peach blossoms. Ten years into our marriage, every day when you see me, the collar of your robe is also embroidered with peach blossoms. You say you've mistaken me for someone else, but that's not true. It's that you have no eyes for me, no heart for me. Lu Huai, we've been husband and wife, why make me feel so humiliated?"

Lu Huai shook his head, denying it repeatedly.

“Lord Marquis is not at fault, there’s no need to dwell on it.” Xie Chaoyun concealed her sadness: “Inside the academy, Yunniang and Father just happened to be passing by. No matter who fell into the water that day, Yunniang would have gone to save them.”

"Then you take care of me—"

“It’s not that Yunniang insists on taking care of the Marquis, it’s that the Marquis is pitiful and has no one by his side, so he insists on dragging Yunniang along to take care of him.”

"Then comfort me and feed me my medicine—"

“At that time, Yunniang was young and had never cared for anyone before. Everything she did was based on how her mother cared for the sick.” Xie Chaoyun lost his patience: “The past is the past, no matter what the truth is. Yunniang picked up the maple leaf, and she wrote the words on it. Yunniang was simply fulfilling her promise to the Marquis, to tell him her name when he recovered. Now that you know the answer, Marquis, go back! Qingzhi, see the guest out!”

"There's something else. When we first met on the official road, you recognized me, didn't you?"

“Yunniang has always recognized the young master of the Pingnan Marquis’s mansion, but the Marquis doesn’t recognize Yunniang.” Although they are divorced, the ten years of devotion were real, the past hurts were real, and the heart-wrenching pain was real: “The General’s Mansion and the Pingnan Marquis’s Mansion are both in the capital, but the Marquis was at the academy, while Yunniang was either doing business with her elder brother or stationed at the border with her father. Apart from those few days at the academy, Yunniang had never seen the Marquis again. When they met again on the official road, the Marquis looked very happy, and Yunniang thought that the Marquis… Never mind, I said I wouldn’t bring up the past.”

"It was wrong of me not to recognize you! Let's start over!" Lu Huai pushed the silver spear away from Qingzhi's hand: "Yunniang, please forgive me?"

"Lord Marquis, are you short of money? You're eyeing our young lady's dowry again." Qingzhi was furious. "Please leave, Lord Marquis. Our young lady has things to do! If you don't leave, don't blame Qingzhi for being violent."

Lu Huai was caught off guard and took a shot. He took two steps back and stood up awkwardly.

“I know you don’t believe me! I lied to you before, and it was indeed for the sake of the Marquis’s mansion and my own future. But Yunniang, I never intended to use your dowry. Yes, I did use your dowry, but that was because I didn’t think that much about it. Now I have thought about it, and I know the truth. I promise I will never use your dowry again.”

Seeing that Xie Chaoyun remained unmoved, Lu Huai continued.

“My mother was taken away by the Commandant’s men, Ji Wanwan is missing, and Lu Jinyao said she was killed by spies from Southern Chu. All the servants in the Marquis’s mansion, except for the steward and myself in Yuan’er’s courtyard, have been dismissed. I’m telling you this not because I have no one to rely on, nor because I’m too poor to spend money, but because…” Lu Huai was extremely anxious, feeling that the more he explained, the worse it got: “Yunniang, I really want to start over with you. I’m not going to be a Marquis anymore, and I’m not going to worry about my future.”

"What nonsense are you spouting, Lord Marquis!" Xie Chaoyun slapped him away, saying, "Yunniang and Lord Marquis have long since severed ties!"

"Yunniang, we still have Yuan'er from before. As long as you forgive me, as long as you forgive me for what happened..."

"Why should I forgive you, Lord Marquis? Why should I forgive you for what you did? Even if you've mistaken me for someone else, the ten years you spent with Ji Wanwan were real, and the ten years you spent with me were real too. Even if Lu Jinyao isn't your child, Lu Jingyuan is." Xie Chaoyun pressed his hand to his chest: "Our relationship can't be restarted with just a simple 'you were wrong.' Lord Marquis, please don't come back. Apart from Yuan'er, there's nothing more we can talk about."

Seeing Xie Chaoyun's distress, Qingzhi summoned people to forcibly drag Lu Huai out of the courtyard. Lu Huai tried to force his way in, but was stopped by Imperial Physician Jiang, who said that Xie Chaoyun did not want to see him and hoped that he would stop bothering her.

Lu Huai's eyes reddened as he confronted Imperial Physician Jiang: "You're not letting me bother you because you want to marry her! Don't forget, she's my wife. Even if we're divorced, she's still the woman I've shared a bed with for ten years. The Jiang family won't let you marry her, and neither will the Empress!"

Lu Huaixing went mad: "You couldn't marry her ten years ago, and you still can't marry her ten years later!"