Ye Zhuo saw that there were only a few sets of ordinary clothes in the trunk, and only two sets of good clothes. In the jewelry box, apart from six styles of somewhat old-fashioned pearl and jade decorations, there were only a few pieces of silver jewelry and two gold hairpins. Just as she was about to ask again, Zheng Shi behind her said: "Zhuo'er, that's all. Your mother's dowry has been sold off. Originally, I wanted to leave those dowries for you, but your brother and sister-in-law are having a hard time, so I can only take care of them first... As for clothes and jewelry, the old master is very frugal, and everyone has a certain amount of clothing and jewelry made every year. He often says that merchant families don't need to be extravagant."

  Ye Zhuo was silent.

  No wonder Ye Yuzhang agreed so readily when it came to letting Zheng's family take away the dowry and clothes, jewelry. It turned out that they were worth very little money!

  Zheng took out the six pieces of jade jewelry and a gold hairpin from the jewelry box, stuffed them into Ye Zhuo's hands: "These are left for you by your mother, take good care of them."

  "Mother..." Ye Zhuo was about to make excuses, but Zheng Shi said straightforwardly: "Listen to me, your uncle's family, all these years, I've given them no less than three or four hundred taels of silver, which is enough to show my respect for them. This piece of jewelry is something Mother specially left for you. If you don't take it, Mother will be uneasy at heart. Besides, if your uncle truly treated Mother well, even if we didn't give them any money, it would still be fine; but if they have evil intentions, no matter how much we gave them, it would only increase their greed."

  Ye Zhuo took the jewelry and nodded: "Okay, I'll take it." She was worried that Zheng Shi would return to her parents' home and be deceived by her brother and sister-in-law, losing all her money, and then being married off to someone else. Now she had such a clear understanding, which truly comforted her heart. These pieces of jewelry could be kept safe. When Zheng Shi encountered difficulties in the future, she would naturally take them out to sell and help her get through the tough times.

  Although she thought so, Ye Zhuo was still worried and reminded her: "Mother, you should also keep the silver ticket in private. Just say that there is no money, only these clothes and jewelry were brought back. In times of trouble, one's true character is revealed. Take this opportunity to see clearly what kind of people your uncle and aunt are. If they treat you well, I will definitely repay them in the future."

  "Mother understands." Zheng stroked Ye Zhuo's face and sighed, "Mother's Zhuo, has grown up. These principles, are even clearer to you than they are to me."

  "Yes, Mother, your daughter is clever and will live a good life in the mansion. You don't have to worry. The two of us living our own lives well without worrying about each other is helping each other out."

  "Alright." Zheng stretched out his hand and tightly grasped Ye Zhuo's hand. Seeing Xia Qu put the trunk back on the carriage, he nodded at her and instructed the coachman, "Let's go." Then he closed his eyes wearily.

  The Zheng family's house was not far from the Ye family's, and the carriage only traveled for two tea cups' worth of time before it came to a stop. Ye Zhuang saw that Madame Zheng still had her eyes closed, with a pale face full of fatigue, and he couldn't bear to wake her up. Just then, someone outside the carriage called out in surprise, "Auntie, is Auntie back?" It was the voice of Liu Shi, his aunt from his maternal side.

  Zheng woke up with a start and opened her eyes to ask, "Have we arrived?" She struggled to get up. Ye Zhuo and Qiu Yue hurriedly helped her down from the carriage.

  Liu was three years older than Zheng, although the family was poor and had five children, her face did not show any signs of aging. She wore a light blue dress and came up with a smile on her face.

  She saw Zheng's family being supported by Ye Zhuo getting off the carriage, her face pale, with a wound on her neck, and the cloth wrapped around her still had blood stains. Qiuju was carrying a box behind them, but Zheng's personal maids, Xia Jin and Xia He, were nowhere to be seen. Her expression changed, and she asked: "What happened?"

  "Aunt." Ye Zhuo greeted and then supported Zheng Shi into the house, "Let's talk inside."

  Before Zheng's daughter married into the Ye family, they were a silk and satin merchant with wealth comparable to that of the Ye family. However, disaster struck in the winter of the year Ye Zhu was born, when a large fire burned down their store along with all their goods, and Zheng's father lost his life in the blaze. Zheng's mother had passed away early, but her brother, sister-in-law, and nephew survived because they lived in the old house. However, since the fire started from the Zheng household and affected the neighbors, the neighborhood head came to demand compensation on behalf of the neighbors, and Zheng Pengju was forced to sell the old house and land to compensate for others' losses, narrowly avoiding imprisonment. From then on, he could only peddle coarse cloth and miscellaneous goods, carrying them to the countryside every day to sell, earning some silver coins to support his family. The courtyard where the Zheng family currently resides was bought by Zheng's daughter with her dowry. Of course, the deed is in Zheng Pengju's name.

  Ye Zhuo supported Zheng Shi and entered the door, seeing that the courtyard was quite spacious, with two fruit trees planted on both sides, a few vegetable fields in the corner of the wall, and some flowers planted near the window. At this time, it was mid-autumn, and the bright yellow chrysanthemums were in full bloom, attracting several bees to fly around. Entering the hall, one could see that although the house did not have carved beams or painted rafters, it was still spacious and bright; the eight immortals' table and chairs placed in the hall were about 70-80% new, with fine carvings; on the table was a set of delicate porcelain tea sets, and on the desk was a pair of Qinghua porcelain large flower vases - from these scenes, Zheng's family didn't seem to be living a "difficult" life at all.

  Ye Zhuo supported Zheng Shi to sit on the chair, turned her head and saw Liu Shi standing at the door with a dazed expression, and couldn't help but frown slightly, saying: "Aunt, please make up a room for my mother to rest."

  "Oh, okay." Liu seemed to wake up from a dream, responding repeatedly, and turned around to head towards the inner room.

  "Sister-in-law." Zheng called out to her, and when Liu turned around, she raised her eyes and gazed at Liu, "I've been divorced and sent back home, from now on I'll be living here all the time."

  "What?" Liu's mouth opened wide in surprise as she stared at Zheng, disbelieving.

  Zheng smiled weakly: "Sister-in-law won't despise me, will she?"

  "Don't be embarrassed, don't be embarrassed." Liu's smile on his face was stiff, and he didn't know what he was thinking in his heart, standing there for half a day without moving.

  "Aunt, clean up your room first!" Ye Zhuo said.

  "Oh, okay." Mrs. Liu wiped her hands with a towel and walked back into the room, seemingly deep in thought. After a while, she loudly called out: "Xiaoping, come over and pack up your things."

  "Here." A seven or eight-year-old little girl ran out from behind. She entered the hall, saw that the hall was full of people, and curiously swept everyone with her eyes, without saying a word, and hastily entered the room.

  Before long, Mrs. Liu came out of the house and said apologetically: "Our home is small and there are many children, so I'm afraid we have to inconvenience you and Xiaoyi to share a room. As for Xiao Ping, I'll let her move to the house where I live with her father."

  Ye Chou glanced around the house and then looked at Zheng Shi without saying a word.

  "Sorry to trouble you, sister-in-law."

  "Mother, let's go inside and lie down." Seeing this, Ye Zhuo quickly helped up Zheng Shi. Autumn Moon hurried forward and together they supported Zheng Shi into the house.

  That room was Zheng Fangzi's boudoir, the eldest daughter of the Liu family. The room wasn't big, but it was still fully furnished. Only that carved wooden bed was just five or six feet long, barely enough for two people to sleep; a quilt was folded and placed at the corner of the bed, presumably the one Zheng Fangzi used every day.

  Ye Zhuo supported Zheng Shi to lie down on the bed, turned around and asked Liu Shi who was standing at the door: "Aunt, did Xiao Zhu cover this quilt? Are there any other quilts?"

  "Ah?" Mrs. Liu was clearly stunned, and after a moment's pause, she reacted with an apologetic smile, "In these times, even quilts are expensive, and we can't afford to have extra ones at home. Usually, Xiaozhi and Xiaoping share one quilt. If you don't mind, madam, please use this one for now. Tomorrow I'll borrow some money and buy a new one for you."

  Ye Zhuo looked at Liu deeply and smiled: "Thanks to Aunt."

  Liu had endured for half a day, and now seeing Zheng and Ye Zhuo seemingly not bringing up the matter of being divorced, she couldn't help but ask: "Auntie, did you just say that you were divorced and returned home?"

  Thank you to Xiaofuzi, Qin Muren, Yifenglan and stillia for the rewards. I'm so touched by stillia! This is Lingshui's fourth book, every time a new book comes out, stillia is always the first person to support and encourage Lingshui, thank you!