He slowly turned around and saw a woman with a frail body and worried expression slowly walking toward him.

“Husband, what’s wrong?”

This was… Yaoyao?

She was still so gentle, her eyes full of tenderness, as if saying: “Husband, don’t worry, everything will be alright.”

Her figure was thin and weak, yet her shoulders seemed capable of bearing burdens a thousand times heavier than her body, never complaining or crying out from exhaustion.

She was always so calm and peaceful, gentle and virtuous.

“Yaoyao…”

The woman before him stopped and looked at Lu Changxuan with confusion.

“Yaoyao!”

The woman stood still, her face blooming with a pleasing smile. “Husband, what did you say? I didn’t hear clearly…”

Lu Changxuan shook his head, and the woman’s face before him changed – this was Qin Feifei, not Qin Yaoyao.

“What are you doing here?!”

Lu Changxuan forcefully pushed, sending Qin Feifei stumbling backward.

Qin Feifei had rested for several days and seen a physician, finally improving a bit. If someone spoke loudly enough, she could hear.

With Lu Changxuan’s sudden push, she was unprepared and staggered backward several steps before stopping.

“Husband…”

Lu Changxuan pointed at Qin Feifei’s nose: “You disaster! Anyone who gets involved with you meets misfortune! You mortgaged the house – what did you do with the money? Tell me, tell me…”

Qin Feifei looked blankly at Lu Changxuan’s fierce expression, at Lu Changsong who stood aloof watching the drama unfold, and at Lu Changju who had come out to watch with disdain. Combined with Lu Changxuan’s vague words, she understood what had happened.

“Husband, listen to me. During this time the family had no money. If I hadn’t mortgaged it, where would the money for your expenses come from…”

Lu Changju spat contemptuously: “It’s all because you can’t make money! If you had your second sister’s capabilities, how much silver would such expenses need?”

Lu Changju said this several times before Qin Feifei finally understood. She looked desperately at Lu Changju, then at Lu Changxuan who was thoroughly disgusted with her. “Husband, it’s not…”

Lu Changxuan swept his sleeves and left.

The next day, the Lu family sold the house. The mortgage holder indeed demanded an exorbitant price, and the Lu family only got back two hundred taels of silver before slinking away from Chongde Ward.

The Miao family also canceled Lu Changju’s engagement.

Also sold were the last three contracted servants and Nanny Wu from Qin Feifei’s side.

How could Nanny Wu be willing to be sold? Besides, she wasn’t part of the Lu family – she was part of Qin Feifei’s dowry, and her family was still at the Qin mansion.

Old Madam Lu gave Nanny Wu no chance to speak. She stuffed the woman’s mouth with a broken cloth and boldly sold her far away.

Qin Feifei cried until she nearly fainted, but no one paid her any attention.

Old Madam Lu thought it over and rented a house in the most run-down part of Gaode Alley, not much better than the Che family’s previous dwelling.

Having managed a household before, she knew the cost of oil and rice. Two hundred taels of silver, with the Lu family living off their savings, had to be spent frugally.

Lu Changxuan’s family of five, plus Lu Changsong’s wife and child making four more – two hundred taels of silver wouldn’t be nearly enough.

Qin Feifei followed them into the low, cramped house and was immediately stunned. When had she ever suffered such hardship?

“I won’t live here…”

Lu Changxuan roared: “If you won’t live here, you can go back to the Qin mansion!”

Qin Feifei felt so wronged that tears streamed down her face. Last time she returned to the Lu family, she had been driven away by Madam Dong. Besides, if she went back, wouldn’t Lu Changxuan’s two concubines be delighted?

Although Lu Changxuan couldn’t enter government service, he was still clever. Finding work with a merchant family or serving as a secretary for a wealthy household would be easy.

Moreover, with her current condition – half deaf – who would want her?

Old Madam Lu took control of the finances and arranged for the two daughters-in-law to take turns cooking. The first meal was coarse grain porridge with pickled vegetables.

Qin Feifei was forced into the kitchen. After cooking a pot of porridge, her face was covered in smoke and soot, her eyes swollen from crying.

Old Madam Lu shouted: “Who are you crying for? Your second sister suffered worse than this back then, yet she still cooked, earned money, took care of children, and served me! Worthless!”

When the Lu family encountered this disaster, she had also gone to the Qin mansion to beg, but the Qin mansion’s gates never even opened.

Old Madam Lu held this grudge, speculating that Madam Xu had been confined, that Qin Yongtao was angry at Qin Feifei for causing trouble, and that no one in the Qin mansion cared about Qin Feifei. So she tormented Qin Feifei without mercy.

Qin Feifei looked toward Lu Changxuan, hoping he would say something, but his face was gloomy and he remained silent.

After eating porridge for several meals, everyone in the Lu family became listless and haggard.

After several days like this, Old Madam Lu went to check her money pouch and discovered one ingot of silver was missing. Immediately her eyes bulged – which damned person dared steal her silver!

That ingot was a full five taels!

She hadn’t had time to exchange it for smaller pieces and had kept it under her pillow. In this small courtyard with only Lu family members coming and going, it couldn’t have been stolen by an outsider.

Old Madam Lu angrily called all the Lu family members out. “Whoever stole my silver, hand it over immediately, or don’t blame me for being rude!”

No one spoke.

Old Madam Lu scolded vigorously for a long time, but no one spoke or admitted anything.

Old Madam Lu pointed her finger in the air for a while, finally pointing at Qin Feifei: “It must be you who stole it! We’ve all lived through hard times and can endure this kind of life. Only you complain about hardship and exhaustion every day, refusing to drink porridge or eat pickled vegetables. Tell me, did you steal it to buy food?”

Lu Changsong’s wife had married into the family quite early, already five or six years ago when the Lu family wasn’t yet prosperous, so Old Madam Lu’s words had some basis.

Qin Feifei hastily denied it: “Mother, I didn’t, I didn’t.”

“You didn’t? You worthless woman only knows how to steal! You stole your cousin’s jewelry, stole your third aunt’s things, making me lose face throughout Chongde Ward! You not only steal things but steal people – you even stole your own brother-in-law, and not only stole him but set fire that burned your second sister’s uncle’s family to death, and burned your second sister and Feng’er too. You worthless woman, I’ll beat you to death!”

Instantly, everyone except Lu Changxuan was stunned.

Although they had all suspected that Qin Feifei’s marriage to Lu Changxuan wasn’t entirely honorable and that Qin Yaoyao’s death was connected to Qin Feifei, they never imagined it would be like this.

Burned Qin Yaoyao and Feng’er to death?

They had always thought the fire at home was started by Qin Yaoyao herself.

And burned Qin Yaoyao’s uncle’s family to death too?

What was this about? How did the Zhou family get involved?

Old Madam Lu reached out to grab Qin Feifei’s hair and hit her several times. Qin Feifei instinctively dodged.

With one hitting and one dodging in the small room, Lu Changxuan was jostled by them and swayed, something falling from his body – it was unmistakably the missing ingot of silver.

Everyone was stunned again.

Lu Changxuan – why would he steal from his own family?

Lu Changxuan paid no attention to everyone’s shocked stares. He yawned, tears and snot flowing, bent down to pick up the silver, but lacking strength in his legs, he staggered before standing steady. He said lazily: “Mother, she stole this and hid it on me. I was too embarrassed to admit it earlier. Take it back, I’ll discipline her.”

Old Madam Lu snatched the silver and struck Qin Feifei’s head hard with it twice.

Qin Feifei was completely dazed, not even feeling the pain from Old Madam Lu’s blows – when had she stolen this silver for Lu Changxuan?

Old Madam Lu cursed and swore, letting loose every foul word without restraint, and punished Qin Feifei by forbidding her dinner that night.