Since the visitor was a man, he was received in the outer courtyard, and the women in the inner court knew nothing of it. Qi Yue woke up very early.

Chang Yuncheng had a habit of morning exercises, and although he was careful, he still startled her, and besides, it was because she had surgery today. Sitting at her desk reviewing the surgical plan one last time, A'ru hurried in.

"...Young Mistress, Hu San was just here," she reported. "What about him?" Qi Yue felt a knot of tension, why would he come so early?

Could something have gone wrong with the surgery? "He said, that Old Doctor An from Shanning..." A'ru began.

Hearing this, Qi Yue let out a breath of relief. "He's here to cause trouble, is he?" she picked up the thread, smiling faintly, "Let him.

I'm exploiting my position; I'm not afraid." "No," A'ru laughed. "Hu San said that man wants to take you as his master." "What?" Qi Yue's eyes widened in surprise.

"Be my apprentice?" "Yes. Doctor Liu didn't know how to persuade him, so he sent Hu San to give you a heads-up, to prepare the Young Mistress," A'ru explained, unable to hide her own astonishment.

"Young Mistress, what is Doctor An trying to pull?" "The secret formula," Qi Yue stated, setting aside the blueprints in her hand. "It’s about the child’s illness of the Old Madam's side..." A'ru understood immediately.

"Exactly. See?

Honestly, no one believes me," Qi Yue chuckled. "I told him I don't have a secret formula; this was the result of the doctors' combined effort.

He just won't believe it. To get the formula, he only has one choice: become my disciple.

He really overthinks things." "Then what will the Young Mistress do?" A'ru asked. "Accept him as a disciple?" As they were speaking, a maid entered to relay a message from the steward.

"Someone from the Eldest Miss's husband's family is here?" Qi Yue remarked, clicking her tongue twice. "They certainly picked a convenient time to arrive today." "I hope this doesn't affect the Little Miss's surgery," A'ru worried.

"He wouldn't dare!" Qi Yue snorted, then waved her hand decisively. "Change clothes!" When Qi Yue arrived at the reception hall in the outer courtyard, Marquis Dingxi was throwing a tantrum.

"Let them eat! Make them eat!" he roared.

"But... we don't have that stuff," the steward said hesitantly.

"Father, what's wrong?" Qi Yue inquired. "Yue Niang, you're here.

Wait a moment. The Liu father and son are still eating.

Wait until they finish, and then you can explain things to them," Marquis Dingxi said to his daughter-in-law with a pleasant expression. As he spoke, Chang Chunlan also approached, but she didn't dare enter the room, standing just outside, pale with apprehension.

"What do they want to eat? Can't the kitchen make it?" Qi Yue asked.

"They want to eat flatbread and pickled vegetables," the steward reported. What?

"...What is this all about?" Qi Yue laughed. "They claim that's all their family eats.

They are accustomed to coarse tea and simple fare and cannot enjoy the richness of our household. It's easier to go from frugality to luxury than the reverse; if they taste our delicacies today, they will crave them at home and won't be able to contentedly embrace their simple life," the steward whispered.

Qi Yue burst into laughter. "Did Father say that Eldest Sister was wronged in their household?" she asked with a smile.

Marquis Dingxi let out a grunt from the side. "That old fool is doing this on purpose!

He eats coarse food! Saying he eats vegetarian is more believable than that!" he glared and shouted.

Turning to Chang Chunlan outside, he roared, "You, come in! Does your father-in-law at home eat only flatbread and pickles?" Addressing her father-in-law with such a title, Chang Chunlan was filled with panic.

Naturally, she dared not confirm or deny it. Ever since hearing that her father-in-law and husband had arrived, she had been completely flustered, and with her already fearful father present, it was a miracle she could remain standing.

This kind of argument between a father-in-law and a father was not something a woman should interject in. Qi Yue quickly took over the conversation.

"Regardless of what he eats at home, they are our guests today. Let the guest have their way," she said with a smile.

"Father, please don't be angry." "I'm not angry, I just can't stand that old man's pretense!" Marquis Dingxi huffed and sat down, shaking his sleeve dismissively. Qi Yue gestured to the steward.

"We don't have any in the household?" she asked quietly. "No, even the lowest-ranking servants don't have that," the steward whispered.

"Then the lowest-ranking servants' homes should have it," Qi Yue stated. The steward slapped his forehead—what a simple solution!

Without another word, he turned and hurried out. Qi Yue pulled Chang Chunlan inside to talk, hoping to calm her down, but Chang Chunlan was utterly inconsolable.

"Look at your pathetic state! What is there to fear!

You are the one who was wronged, not the Liu family!" Marquis Dingxi said irritably. Chang Chunlan trembled slightly even as she stood.

A light cough sounded from outside—Old Master Liu had arrived. Marquis Dingxi turned away, falling silent.

"Father," Chang Chunlan immediately performed the required courtesies. Liu Chengyang followed behind.

Seeing his wife, Chang Chunlan called out 'Husband,' but under Liu Chengyang's furious gaze, she lowered her head, and tears dropped onto the floor. "I won't say much else," Old Master Liu sat down and pulled a sheet of paper from his sleeve.

"This is the letter of divorce." The moment he spoke, everyone in the room was stunned. Chang Chunlan, especially, covered her face and wept, kneeling on the ground and crying out, "Father!" Marquis Dingxi nearly jumped with rage.

The old fool, pulling out a divorce decree at a time like this! If he had produced it earlier, he wouldn't have gotten to taste even the flatbread and pickles!

"A divorce decree? I ask you, what transgression has she committed?" he demanded, glaring.

"Too many words," Old Master Liu replied calmly. Marquis Dingxi spat.

"Too many words! If she talked too much!

Your father and son wouldn't have dared set foot inside my Marquis Dingxi Mansion years ago!" he boomed. "She talked too much?

What did she say? You go tell the officials yourself: if her own flesh and blood was about to be forcibly separated, was she not allowed to speak?

If she was about to be sent off by her own relatives to die, was she not allowed to speak? If she hadn't spoken up about all that, you surnamed Liu, I wouldn't need to divorce her—I would personally tie her up and drown her myself.

Even vicious beasts don't eat their young. What use is a thing worse than a beast to me?" The words Marquis Dingxi uttered caused everyone in the room to stare, even the usually composed Old Master Liu’s expression shifted slightly.

Liu Chengyang, whose self-control was decades less refined than his father's, stared wide-eyed, losing all composure. Although he had visited his in-laws' home only a handful of times, he had never felt that the father-in-law before him was so utterly unfamiliar.

Good! Well said!

The steward, standing outside the room, breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at the other young servants. "Go on, scatter.

It's over now," he said casually. With the Young Mistress in command, even a cat could roar like a tiger.

Chang Chunlan, still crying, crawled a few steps and kowtowed to Old Master Liu. "Father, Father, Yan'er is truly too young!

I beg you, Father, let me go to the temple with Yan'er..." she pleaded through her sobs. Before Old Master Liu could speak, Marquis Dingxi, who had not yet finished his tirade, interrupted.

"He wouldn't dare! You surnamed Liu, I am not dead yet!

You dare send my daughter to a temple, and I swear I'll smash your Liu family before I change my surname from Chang!" Marquis Dingxi’s voice resonated with conviction. In such a tragic and infuriating situation, Qi Yue inexplicably felt the urge to laugh.

She pursed her lips and smiled. "Father, your words are incorrect," Chang Yuncheng's voice drifted in from outside.

Qi Yue watched her husband step in, his face and body still bearing the sweat of his morning exercises. The damp fabric clung to his strong muscles, making them vaguely visible—he looked handsome no matter how she viewed him.

Although many people were present, Chang Yuncheng didn't deliberately conceal his awareness, but he immediately sensed Qi Yue's gaze, especially the unashamed delight and heat in her eyes... Really, this woman...

she should learn to restrain herself in public... Looking at a man like that...

it's quite embarrassing... "...It should be said that unless everyone in our Marquis Dingxi Household is dead, even if only one child remains, we will never allow the bloodline of the Chang family to suffer such humiliation," Chang Yuncheng continued.

Though Chu has but three families left, it is Chu that will overthrow Qin—this meaning certainly wasn't meant to be applied here! What with talk of death and living—have these father and son gone mad?

Why say such things! It truly sullies refined literature!

What utter nonsense! Liu Chengyang instinctively moved closer to his father, maintaining his angry stare.

Old Master Liu had calmed down from his brief surprise. He slowly and gently stroked his still-immobile beard.

"So the Marquis and the Heir Apparent think the same way. That reassures me," he stated calmly.

Marquis Dingxi, who had been feeling self-righteous and excited, was momentarily stunned by those words. What was this old man about to say now?

"As the saying goes, if the foul refuse is not purged, the household will never be peaceful." Old Master Liu looked toward Marquis Dingxi's residence with stern composure and authoritative eyes. "For the health and smooth future of the Liu family descendants, I would rather endure the pain of a severed limb than allow this foulness to remain.

May I ask, Marquis, in doing this—am I not also protecting my children, and protecting more children, by personally sacrificing my own offspring? If in your eyes this makes me worse than a beast, then I accept that label." Marquis Dingxi instantly felt like a child standing before his childhood tutor, forced to judge right or wrong.

He simply couldn't grasp why this old man always presented himself with the air of a sage scholar. He wondered when this unchanging façade would finally crack!

A woman's voice broke the silence in the room. "So, Old Master Liu's intention was this," Qi Yue said with a smile.

Hearing the woman's voice, Old Master Liu didn't spare her a glance. His father didn't look, so the son, Liu Chengyang, naturally didn't either.

"Yan'er, Yan'er, come in," Qi Yue beckoned towards the door. Everyone was startled and looked towards the doorway.

It turned out that A'ru was standing just outside, holding Yan'er. Liu Chengyang's expression grew complicated upon seeing his daughter.

His daughter was following the maid as if accustomed to it, covering her nose and mouth. Come in.

How could he not know his own daughter? She rarely saw so many people, let alone dared to approach them.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he saw his daughter let go of the maid's hand and run inside with quick steps. Qi Yue opened her arms, and Yan'er seemed familiar with her, instantly throwing herself into her embrace.

"Oh, good, you weigh a little more than yesterday!" Qi Yue lifted her, smiling. "I didn't eat this morning, or I'd weigh even more," Yan'er replied.

This... Liu Chengyang could no longer maintain his stern composure.

His eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at his daughter, and then in disbelief at the woman holding her. Is...

is she not afraid? Qi Yue gently set Yan'er down and smiled again at Old Master Liu.

"Actually, Yan'er's condition is a sickness," she stated. "It has been recorded throughout history; it is not some evil spirit." Old Master Liu still didn't look at her, instead directing his gaze towards Marquis Dingxi.

"I haven't visited for years, so I was unaware the Mistress of the Marquis's estate had changed," he said coolly. What?!