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

The plot seemed familiar.

Lu Zhiyuan handed over a handkerchief and said softly, "If you don't like him, you don't like him. We have different paths, so we can't work together. There are other men in the world besides him."

Afu's mother looked at Lu Zhiyuan in surprise, as if this was the first time she had heard such words.

"If it were Madam, what would she do?"

"Me?" Lu Zhiyuan pondered for a moment. "That depends on my age and whether I have the ability to go out and make a living independently. If I do, I'll be frank and leave the Guo family. They'll be burdened with the debt of two lives owed to my parents, and also with the debt of their son betraying me. With both gratitude and debt, if they still have even a shred of conscience, they'll help me when I need them in the future. If not, I'll take advantage of the unfinished marriage to recognize them as my adoptive parents and marry as the Guo family's adopted daughter. They feel indebted to me, so it's reasonable for them to prepare a dowry for me, right?"

"Isn't Madam afraid that breaking off the engagement will cause her trouble?"

"Compared to the decades to come, what does breaking off the engagement matter? Besides, it's not you who broke off the engagement, but the Guo family who wronged you."

"Gossip can be a real fearsome thing." Afu's mother lowered her head. "We can't just ignore what people are saying, can we?"

"Why care about what others say? Are they your father or mother, or the manager who gives you money? They are nothing, just outsiders watching the show. Is it worth sacrificing your entire life for a few outsiders? Even if you do, they will still have something to say." Lu Zhiyuan rested her chin on her hand: "Apart from your own parents, no one wants you to live a good life. Instead of caring about others, care about yourself."

A single word awakened the dreamer, but unfortunately, the realization came a little too late.

"Is Madam regretting it? Regretting why she didn't hear these words before her marriage?" Lu Zhiyuan blinked. "Instead of regretting, it's better to cherish the present. If it weren't for this terrible experience, where would such a thoughtful child like Xiao Afu come from?"

Afu's mother felt relieved.

She wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and smiled, "Afu is God's precious gift to me! Madam is right, without that terrible experience, there would be no little Afu. Even if she hadn't married Guo Kuan, she might not have met someone better than Guo Kuan."

"That man just now..."

“He was sent by Guo Kuan.” Afu’s mother wiped her eyes again. “Only Guo Kuan’s parents knew about my engagement to him. Knowing that he didn’t like me, I went to his parents to talk to them. I don’t have Madam’s mind, nor am I as calm as Madam. I just said that Guo Kuan disliked that I was an orphan, and that the marriage should be called off. My intention was to cancel the engagement, but they misunderstood it as me complaining, and hurriedly made preparations for my marriage to Guo Kuan. The more anxious I was to explain, the less they believed me, and they even used my parents’ death to demand that Guo Kuan treat me well.”

Afu's mother smiled, but her smile was full of bitterness.

“Guo Kuan hates me, thinking that I am taking advantage of his kindness and forcing his parents to make him marry me. I thought about explaining to him and going with him to his parents to clarify things. If he has a woman he likes, he can marry her. I was too naive. Not only did he not listen to my explanation, but he also became angry and resentful towards me and refused to see me.”

“It’s not all your fault!” Lu Zhiyuan held her hand: “What you didn’t consider, Guo Kuan’s parents should have considered. And Guo Kuan, he’s a man. If he really didn’t want to go, there were many ways to refuse this marriage, instead of being resentful, angry with you, and making a fuss. You certainly have your faults, but the most fundamental reason for arranging this marriage is that the Guo family and Guo Kuan care about their reputation and don’t want to bear the guilt of betraying their benefactors.”

“What you say is true, Madam. They are unwilling to bear this burden.” Afu’s mother lowered her head. “The day before my wedding, I returned to the post station and left from here to get married. As you can see, Madam, this post station is very dilapidated and shows many signs of repair. The post station was left to me by my parents. After I went back to the Guo family with Guo Kuan’s parents, the post station was abandoned. It was only before my marriage to Guo Kuan that it was simply repaired.”

The auspicious hour had passed, but the wedding procession had not yet arrived. Just as Afu's mother was feeling anxious, she heard the sound of gongs and drums approaching from afar.

The wedding procession arrived, but it wasn't the groom; it was the Guo family's steward. The steward said Guo Kuan was ill and unable to personally escort the bride. She knew in her heart that Guo Kuan wasn't ill, but rather unwilling to marry her.

If she had a temper, she should have refused to get into the bridal sedan chair. But she had no temper, and even felt guilty towards Guo Kuan. She thought that if she hadn't been so clumsy with words and hadn't explained things clearly, Guo Kuan wouldn't have been pressured by his parents to marry her.

The moment she sat in the bridal sedan chair, she thought of her childhood. Her parents had discussed her marriage and imagined what she would look like on her wedding day, but they never expected that she would be married alone, without even a groom to come and fetch her.

During the wedding ceremony, Guo Kuan still didn't appear, leaving her standing there alone to listen to all sorts of speculations and endure the strange looks. For two quarters of an hour, just two quarters of an hour, she felt as if she were being slowly tortured, each cut piercing her bone.

Having finally entered the bridal chamber, she hadn't even settled in when Guo Kuan, reeking of alcohol, burst in. She reached out to help him, but he pushed her aside. Just as she was at a loss, Guo Kuan suddenly proposed that they drink a nuptial cup together.

Guo Kuan was drunk and reeked of alcohol.

Looking at the wine glass Guo Kuan handed her, her mind was in turmoil. Should she drink it? This wasn't the wedding night she had envisioned, nor the nuptial wine she desired. If she didn't, Guo Kuan would continue his antics, and she and the Guo family would become the next laughingstock.

Lu Zhiyuan: "Did Madam drink the nuptial wine or not?"

Afu's mother: "I drank it, but it wasn't the one Guo Kuan prepared for me. He took the wrong glass and handed me the one without the drug."

Lu Zhiyuan: "And then?"

Afu's mother said, "I helped him to bed to rest, and that person barged in. That's when I found out that Guo Kuan had made a deal with him, trying to ruin my innocence on our wedding night and then kick me out of the Guo family on the grounds of being unfaithful."

Lu Zhiyuan: "That person did not succeed."

Afu's mother: "He wouldn't dare to act recklessly in front of Guo Kuan, and I had the candlestick. If he bullied me, I would have died with him. Guo Kuan was still not fully conscious; he only wanted to ruin me. He didn't want to get involved in a murder case; he still wanted to continue taking the imperial examinations and become the top scholar. On our wedding night, my wife suddenly died. How could he continue his studies and his career? I wanted to talk to Guo's parents to clear things up, but the effects of his drugs kicked in. I resisted, but my strength was nothing compared to his. The night passed, and we had sex. I thought that even if things went badly, we could at least be a couple in name only, but he had no intention of letting me go."

The man who consummated her marriage was clearly Guo Kuan, but Guo Kuan denied it and even brought the rogue who had tried to take advantage of her. In front of Guo's parents, the rogue produced a red undergarment and claimed it was hers. The undergarment was clearly not her size, but Guo's parents believed him. They locked her in a side courtyard of the Guo family home, saying that her parents had saved their lives, and they would not pursue the matter out of consideration for her parents.