After transmigrating, I became a stepmother.

That's just how people are. When you're engrossed in something, it's often hard to break free. But once you try to step out of it, you'll find that those feelings of separation and longing can't occupy your entire mind.

Not only Lin Hao, but the old lady was also like this. After a few days of feeling down, when business got busy and there were many things to do in the first month of the lunar year, she really didn't have much free time to feel sad.

The Gu family returned to its former peace, except that one person was missing.

Beneath this calm surface, a whirlpool lurks in the shadows, waiting to devour everything at any moment.

"Madam, Lady Xue requests an audience!"

The Lady Xue that Liu Dan mentioned is actually Miss Yin Xue. Since deciding to establish a girls' school, she changed her name to Lady Xue, dressed as a married woman, and told Lin Hao that she did not intend to remarry.

Lin Hao didn't know if her decision was right or wrong, but considering her experiences, she could understand it.

However, out of concern, she still asked the other party if they were aware of the difficulties of establishing a female household, and the answer was yes!

That makes sense. If an outsider like her knows this, there's no reason why a native like her wouldn't!

In response to Lin Hao's reminder, Yin Xue said that even so, she was willing. She had seen too many men in her life. She dared not say that all men were bad people, but in her life, there were none.

Her once devoted suitors vanished without a trace after she was imprisoned; her childhood sweetheart, with whom she shared a deep bond, abandoned her for fear of bringing disaster upon his family; and even her closest relatives turned against her for the sake of a bright future…

The ugliness of human nature was fully revealed to her from the day her family fell into ruin. For the rest of her life, she only hoped to do what she loved and find a way out for women who were also women!

Since the other party had already thought it through, Lin Hao couldn't say anything more. As a friend, she could only express her support.

Yes, in Lin Hao's mind, Yin Xue was already considered her friend. And what's the point of friendship if not to share similar interests?

"What brings you here today?" Lin Hao asked with a smile as he saw the person enter.

As for the girls' school, after she had introduced the county magistrate's wife and Yinxue, she had rarely been involved in the affairs of the girls' school. She mainly provided financial support, as she was already very busy.

"There's something I need to discuss with you," Yin Xue said with a serious expression.

It turned out that since their school started enrolling students, although they received some criticism, with the support of the county magistrate's wife, things gradually stabilized. After all, they hadn't really had any negative impact yet.

Recently, many students at the school have been taking leave or even requesting to drop out. After making inquiries, it was discovered that they did this because they heard that the school was founded to train them to provide entertainment for high-ranking officials and nobles in the future.

As a result, families with upright morals would naturally not allow their innocent daughters to suffer such a thing, which led to the situation mentioned earlier.

Lin Hao also realized the sinister intentions of the person behind it all and asked with concern, "Have you been able to find out where the rumors came from?"

Yin Xue shook her head: "Not yet, it's like it suddenly appeared overnight, there's no way to find out anything about it."

What she didn't say was that young girls are naturally ashamed to talk about such matters between men and women, making the investigation even more difficult.