Chu Yi brought the two children back to the manor.

The children were led away by the nannies while he still had official business to handle.

When looking at those memorials, he always couldn’t settle his mind. For some reason, Yun Chu’s smile kept floating before his eyes.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen her smile before, but this time was exceptionally profound.

Just like when he first saw her as a child—that smile she gave him had smoothed over all the wounds in his heart and remained unforgettable to this day…

He loved the way she looked at him. He loved how her eyes held only him. How he wanted to touch her…

Thinking of this.

Chu Yi’s brow furrowed.

A woman whose husband had died was called a widow. Although this dynasty was relatively lenient regarding rules for women, a widow remarrying would still invite criticism.

Common women who remarried basically married far away, distancing themselves from people they knew, which meant less gossip.

As for women from prominent families remarrying… He recalled everything he had seen and heard since childhood, and even asked his aunt. In the vast capital, after women from those great families became widows, they all kept vigil for their husbands for life… Even women who were merely engaged, if their fiancés died, would be required by their families to remain chaste widows.

Keeping vigil was a woman’s honor and also a family’s reputation.

He wanted to marry her as his wife.

But he feared she would face criticism.

Thinking of this, Chu Yi’s brow furrowed even more deeply.

He and she had nothing between them yet—how had his thoughts jumped to marriage?

He couldn’t focus on the memorials covering the table. He picked up his sword, walked to the courtyard, and began practicing swordwork.

“Your Highness!”

At this moment, Chengxu hurried in from outside.

The sword in Chu Yi’s hand didn’t stop. With a sword flourish, he neatly trimmed the excess leaves from the tree before stopping and turning around: “What is it?”

“Marquis Xuanwu wishes to see Your Highness, saying he has important matters to report.” Chengxu reported. “He says it concerns the Young Lord and Young Princess.”

Chu Yi’s expression darkened: “He knows I care about this matter, so he’s using it as leverage to make demands. Lock him up for a few more days first. After exhausting his spirit, then interrogate him properly.”

Chengxu bowed: “Yes!”

Right now, Marquis Xuanwu was in the prince’s hands. Whether he lived or died depended on a single word from the prince—there was indeed no need to rush.

He was about to go handle the matter when he heard Chu Yi say: “Which officials in court have loving marriages? Send them invitations in this prince’s name and have them come to Prince Pingxi’s manor tomorrow.”

Chengxu’s face filled with shock: “Your Highness, you intend to…”

Chu Yi said coldly: “Discuss the court situation, of course.”

Chengxu: “…”

Their prince was just stubborn.

Clearly he wanted to know how to win a beauty’s smile—he was seeking advice from court officials.

Alas, unfortunately Madam Xie was a widow… Even if the prince won Madam Xie’s heart, the imperial family would never allow a widow to become Princess Pingxi…

Moreover, Madam Xie was the eldest daughter of the Yun family, representing the Yun family. Marrying a general’s daughter would definitely make the Empress and Crown Prince suspect the prince harbored ambitions for the throne. To balance the situation, the Emperor would never allow a Yun family daughter to marry the prince either…

Of all people the prince could fancy, why did he have to choose a Yun family daughter?

This path was destined to be difficult.

Night deepened.

Yun Chu still hadn’t gone to sleep.

Whenever she thought of the two children, her whole body filled with energy and she simply couldn’t sleep.

In her mind were the children’s faces, in her ears were the children’s laughter, before her eyes were scenes of the three of them—mother and children—together.

These were scenes she wouldn’t dare imagine even in dreams.

Heaven had truly been too generous to her.

How much virtue had she accumulated to earn this lifetime’s mother-child reunion?

Yun Chu kept her eyes open almost until dawn, yet didn’t feel tired at all. After washing up and finishing her meal, she summoned Chen Defu and instructed: “Here are five thousand taels of silver. Take them to Qing’an Temple to gild a layer of gold on the Buddha statue. No need to leave my name.”

Being able to be reborn back to this twentieth year.

Being able to find the two children.

These were all blessings Heaven had bestowed upon her.

“Also—” She paused. “I want to establish a shelter specifically to house homeless children.”

Her children were extremely fortunate to have survived and grown this big.

But in this world, there were still many children without homes.

They had either been separated from their families, or become orphans after their parents died, or been abandoned due to physical ailments, or arrived as refugees fleeing famine…

She wanted to help these pitiful children.

She also wanted to accumulate blessings for Yu’er and Changsheng, so the two children could grow up healthy…

Chen Defu wouldn’t ask why. He spoke: “How much silver does Madam plan to use for the shelter?”

“However much is needed.” Yun Chu said slowly. “Buy some lower-priced land in the suburbs. I’ll personally draw the shelter’s blueprints. You arrange for people to manage the shelter—they must be trustworthy people.”

As soon as Chen Defu heard this, he knew Madam intended to seriously pursue this matter.

Buying land to build structures, then hiring people to manage it, finally sheltering those homeless children—every single day going forward would cost streams of silver.

Fortunately, Madam had earned quite a bit of silver, otherwise she absolutely couldn’t withstand this kind of expenditure.

At the same time, he was also thinking.

If the Xie family had treated Madam better, if Madam had taken the money donated to the temple and the money for building the shelter to help the Xie family instead, how could the Xie family have reached this point today…

The Xie family brought this upon themselves.

He just didn’t know how much longer Madam planned to remain with the Xie family.

Chen Defu went to handle the matter.

Yun Chu took out the courtyard blueprints, planning to review them again to see if there were any areas needing improvement.

Just as she was looking at them, she suddenly heard Tingfeng’s flustered voice: “Madam, Madam…”

Tingfeng used to be impetuous, but since Tingshuang married, she had gradually matured. Yun Chu hadn’t seen her this flustered in a long time.

She set down the blueprints: “What happened?”

“The, the eldest young master…” Tingfeng caught her breath. “The eldest young master has returned!”

Yun Chu looked up incredulously: “What did you say?”

Before Tingfeng could answer, Yun Chu saw a figure at the courtyard entrance drawing closer and closer.

Even though he wore tattered clothing, even though he was thoroughly disheveled, even though his face was covered in grime and scars, even though one of his eyes was gone, she could still see the unyielding backbone that belonged uniquely to Xie Shi’an.

She abruptly stood up.

“Mother.”

Xie Shi’an walked in step by difficult step, arriving before Yun Chu and performing a respectful bow.

Drawing closer, Yun Chu saw his left eye—the eyeball was no longer visible, replaced by a pitch-black cavity. His entire face bore whip scars and brand marks.

Yun Chu couldn’t believe someone could return alive from death row, and return openly at that.

But thinking about it, she could understand. This was Xie Shi’an, who would reach the pinnacle of power in the future—how could he die so easily…

Her face showed appropriately measured distress: “An’er, you’ve finally returned. I arranged for people to visit the dungeon many times, but they wouldn’t let me see you. How did you escape?”

“I wrote a blood letter and gave it to the Second Prince, Prince Gongxi, who happened to visit the death row. Prince Gongxi saved me.” From the corner of his remaining eye, Xie Shi’an saw a residence blueprint on the table. He spoke: “Mother need not search for a residence for the Xie family. I devised strategies for Prince Gongxi, and Prince Gongxi allowed the Xie family to keep this courtyard.”

Yun Chu’s heart shook.

In her previous life, Xie Shi’an had worked for Prince Gongxi.

In this lifetime, so many things had happened, yet he still boarded Prince Gongxi’s ship.