On a drizzly autumn day, a cyan carriage appeared at the gate of the Qin family's mansion in Hangzhou. Outside the mansion's entrance, white paper lanterns had been hung up, making them particularly eye-catching.

  "Grandma!" Qin Miao's hair was disheveled, clearly worn out from traveling by boat and carriage, covered in dust. Originally somewhat weak-spirited, she could see Old Lady Qin lying on the bed, gasping for breath, and she rushed over to her side in three strides, throwing herself down beside the bed.

  The old man's eye sockets were sunken, his temples were white-haired, and when he saw Qin Miao, the already dull eyes flashed a hint of brightness. Old Lady Qin's withered arm struggled to grab her granddaughter's hand, but she was as weak as a thread, without any strength at all. Her dry lips moved hard, but ultimately couldn't make a sound.

  "Grandma!" Seeing the old lady struggling and suffering so much, Qin Miao's heart was suddenly pinched with pain. "Grandma, An Nuan is back, An Nuan is here..." She tightly held Qin Lao Tai Tai's withered hand in her own hands and rubbed it, tears falling like broken pearls, pattering down.

  The next evening, Mrs. Qin finally succumbed to the cruelty of heaven and passed away. The Qin family's mansion was once again shrouded in mourning after a grand funeral. In Hangzhou City, all those who knew the Qin family couldn't help but sigh and lament the impermanence of life and the unpredictability of fate.

  In the Pingyang Duke's mansion, a nameless person arrived. His surname and given name were unimportant. What was important was that he brought news that nearly caused Old Lady Xie to faint on the spot.

  Inside the Nurturing Harmony Courtyard, Old Lady Xie looked pale as she stared at the letter in her hand, speechless for a moment. Xie Wei and Sun-shi Liu-shi came to pay their respects to the old lady, but upon seeing her frightened appearance, they were both startled.

  After a long time, the old lady finally shouted anxiously: "Where's Juege? Where's Juege!!! Quickly find this rebellious son for me, go quickly!"

  The maid guarding the gate heard the order and rushed to the front yard without daring to breathe.

  "Ancestor, what's wrong with you?!" Xie Wei was puzzled and quickly took over the tea to give to Old Lady Xie to calm her down.

  "Oh, the guilt! Oh, the guilt!" The old lady beat her chest and stamped her feet in self-reproach and grief, causing all the servants to become flustered. In an instant, the Nurturing Peace Institute was thrown into chaos, with all the daughters-in-law rushing forward to offer comfort, but the old lady continued to weep uncontrollably, overcome with sorrow.

  It just so happened that Xie Yan was off-duty today. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he hastily arrived from the front yard.

  As soon as they entered the gate, they saw the old lady leaning against Xie's mother and wiping away tears. Xie Wei on the side also had red eyes, and the handkerchief in her hand was clenched to the point of being torn apart. While Sun Shi, who sat at the lower end, held a paper that looked like a letter in her hand, with an astonished face.

  "What's wrong with you all?" Xie Yan felt a chill in her heart as soon as she entered the door and saw everyone acting so strangely.

  The old lady saw her grandson coming and was eager to scold him. But the more she got angry, the less clear and reasonable her words became, leaving only the old lady sitting there with a huff, speechless and asking the heavens.

  "Give it to her and let her take a good look!" The old lady flicked the letter paper in her hand and threw it at Xie Wei.

  Xie Yun took the letter paper handed over by Xie Wei, and looked at it one by one. The room was eerily quiet, with only the sound of Xie Yun flipping through the pages. When he opened a folded piece of paper with four folds, his wife's name was written in the lower left corner, along with a small red seal.

  What a thunderclap, it struck his forehead with a loud crash, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. Xie Lin could hardly believe it as he read the letter again from start to finish, not missing a single word, but in the end he had no choice but to acknowledge that there was no mistake, no hallucination, just a clear and unmistakable divorce.

  "Big brother!" Xie Wei stared at the person in front of her, shaking her head foolishly, and then ran out wildly. She had wanted to question him about why he would let his sister-in-law have such desperate thoughts. After all, her sister-in-law cherished her big brother so much. But at this moment, even if she had some questions, she couldn't bear to ask them. Because although she was used to seeing her big brother's calm face in the past, she had never seen him look so lost and disheartened before.

  The servants in Tingyu Zhai were also frightened by Xie Yun's sudden outburst, and even the usually arrogant Po Feng didn't dare to sneak under his eyelids, fearing that he would be affected. Having followed their master for decades, they had never seen him so lacking in dignity and decorum.

  Xie Yun locked himself in the house for a whole day, without drinking a drop of water or eating a single meal. Nobody knew what had happened to him, perhaps not even he himself was clear about it. He put that stack of letters far away on the desk, forcing himself not to think wildly, and gradually felt sleepy.

  He saw the woman and a strange man in his dream again. The air was filled with a suffocating smell that made people vomit. But then, a streak of fresh blood splashed out from the woman's neck, and the absurd scene suddenly stopped. The man fell down, and the woman's white back was stained with a striking red color. His father held a dagger, silently staring at the couple, let out a long scream towards the sky, and finally fell to the ground with a loud thud.

  "Don't... Father... don't!"

  He suddenly sat up, cold sweat dripping from his forehead. He had another nightmare...

  The darkness outside has already gone, and the body that had been lying down for a day felt somewhat numb. Suddenly, I caught sight of the stack of letter paper on my desk again, and my sanity was slowly being pulled back.

  "Come on in!"

  The long guard standing at the gate trembled with fear and slipped in from the gate, bowing his head to await orders.

  "Send someone to Fahua Temple immediately, no matter what method is used, I must have the lady brought back to me. No, escorted back."

  The candlelight in Tingyu's study had been burning all night and didn't go out until the sky was about to dawn, when Po Feng came in with a chill to report.

  "Master, something's happened!"

  Xie Xun, who had been awake all night, looked a bit haggard and was leaning against the chair waiting for news. As soon as he heard the words "something's happened", he suddenly sprang up from the back of the chair. "What? She...won't come back! I'll go get her!" After saying that, he wanted to stand up and rush out the door.

  Po Feng grabbed him and said with a mouthful of cold sweat: "The monk from Fahua Temple said that in the past few days, no one from Weiyuan Hou's mansion has come. And he hasn't seen Madame and her entourage at all!"

  "What!" Ben was still angry about Qin Miao's proposal to divorce, and he had a bad feeling in his heart. So he didn't go to pick her up himself, but instead sent someone from the mansion with a horse carriage. He thought that the last time she got into trouble would have made her uncomfortable, and he also expected that she wouldn't want to come back like this. If so, then he would personally go and coax her well, and the matter would be settled. But who could have imagined that the result would actually...

  It's impossible not to think of the worst now. Clearly, they had left the city and said they were going to Fahua Temple, but in fact, no one has ever appeared at the temple. This is bad! It's likely that they encountered some evil people along the way... As soon as Xie Lin thought of this possibility, he couldn't sit still anymore and quickly ordered his subordinates to send people out to search for them. There weren't enough hands in the mansion, but they also didn't want to make a big move and damage Qin Miao's reputation, so early that morning, Xie Lin went to the Wucheng Military Command to ask an acquaintance to lend him some troops to help.