Xu Lanyin joked, "Brother Li is getting more and more handsome." She didn't want to say that he had grown taller, so she just talked about his handsomeness.

Li Luo's face turned red.

Li Lanting smiled and said, "Not only is he handsome, but it seems that Big Brother Li has also grown taller."

Zhao Wu quickly denied it, "My cousin is already an adult, how could he possibly grow taller? Before, his legs were inconvenient and he couldn't stand straight, but now that he can stand straight, he looks taller."

Li Luo was also very happy that he could still grow taller at such an old age. The Wen family was a martial arts family, and everyone in the family was tall. He was tall before, but he didn't grow much after being injured at the age of fourteen.

Zhao Wu and Xu Lanzhou rode horses, while the others took carriages to the Qin Mansion.

Qin was laughing as she sat in the carriage. She had never dared to think of returning to her parents' home with her children and son-in-law in a dignified manner before.

They went straight to the main courtyard of the Qin Mansion. Xu Lanyin and her four siblings, including the Zhao Wu brothers, kowtowed to Old Master Qin and paid their respects to the elders. Each received a large red envelope. Li Luo also received one, which embarrassed him, but also made him happy. In the Wen family, he had not left the small courtyard since he was fourteen, nor had he received a red envelope from the elders.

Brother Xiaoxiang also kowtowed to Qin, paid respects to Xu Lanyin and several elders, and received a thick stack of red envelopes, which made him smile so much that his teeth were exposed.

The Qin family was kind and treated all the children born to Xu Lanyue and Qin equally, which made the little girl very happy.

Except for Minhu, who was a relative and very familiar with them, the men didn't go to the front yard, but played in the main courtyard. Qin Che, Minhu, and Li Luo played mahjong with Old Man Qin. Qin Ru and Zhao Wu played chess, while Xu Lanzhou watched. Xu Lanyin, Qin Hongyu, and the younger children played military chess or checkers, while Mrs. Qin, Madam Qin, and Grandmother Qin entertained little Xiang'er.

The room was filled with laughter.

Xu Lanyin thought about mahjong in her previous life and wondered when she would finally get it. This thing certainly wasn't suitable for playing in the elegant Xinyun Teahouse, so she decided to open a teahouse and promote it.

Li Luo told Qin Che about his plan to work as a minor official in the prefectural government office.

His long-term goal was to find out the cause of his parents' death, avenge them, and take back what belonged to him and Zhao Wu. However, these things had to be done slowly, and they mainly relied on Zhao Wu, so he could only provide advice from behind.

He felt that he should find a job and not stay home and be supported by his younger brother. He needed to earn some money while honing his skills through practical experience, so that he could go further once he regained his status. His legs had healed, and he had grown taller and fatter. Even the Wen family wouldn't recognize him easily, let alone those old friends he hadn't seen in over a decade.

Now, he and Zhao Wu were no longer afraid of the Wen family. Although Zhao Wu held a lowly position, he had connections with the Emperor, the Crown Prince, the Zhou family, and the Princess of Nanyang. Xu Qingyan was also highly valued within the Imperial Guards, and his future siblings' grandmother was the Princess. They were afraid of the Pu family behind the scenes, wondering why they were trying to kill them.

Li Luo was familiar with the Fujian households, but Zhao Wu was already in the Censorate, so it was not convenient for him to go there again. He wanted to work as a minor official in the prefectural government office.

Qin Che smiled and said, "Mr. Li is a student of the Imperial Academy. He is an excellent student and full of talent. I would like to ask you to temporarily serve as my advisor along with Yang Mu."

Li Luo has always admired Qin Che for his strong ability, good reputation as an official, his dedication to serving the people, and his ability to get along with everyone. He believes that he can learn more by following him.

He put down the cards in his hand, stood up and bowed to Qin Che.

Zhao Wu was also happy and went over to Qin Che to express his gratitude.

Everyone had fun at Qin's house for the whole day and went home only after dinner.

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Xu Lanzhou took Lu and his servant Huashan back to his hometown. The reason he brought Lu with him was to ask her to take care of Xu Lanzhou on the way, and Xu Lanyin also assigned her an important task.

The next afternoon, Xu Lanzhou and his companions arrived at Xiaozao Village. Old Xu and his wife were deeply disappointed to see that their second son and the rest of the family hadn't returned to see them. The old woman even cried.

Old Man Xu gritted his teeth in anger, but he didn't dare to curse anymore. He just said, "I've already returned to the countryside. What else do they want?"

Although Xu Lanzhou kowtowed to the old man, he didn't look happy, and he wasn't as close to them as before. Instead, he said, "Grandpa, you're my grandpa, and I can't do anything about it. Our family is about to break up. My mother has bought a house and said she'll move there after she divorces my father."

Hearing that Qin was really going to divorce Xu Qingyan, Old Man Xu's hands began to tremble again. He thought sadly, is it really true that I can no longer be a member of the royal family?

Old Mrs. Xu was so angry that she started to curse again. "Now you've finally separated your son and his wife. How pitiful it is for the grandchildren to be without a mother, and Lanting is still so young. Didn't you always say that Zhou was better than Qin? If you have the guts, go and ask Zhou to come out of her grave."

Mrs. Lu said from the side, "Although Concubine Zhou has made contributions to the court and holds the same rank as our wife, the two really can't be compared. Our wife is the daughter of a wealthy family, while Concubine Zhou is just a maid. Our wife is the principal wife, but Concubine Zhou... is a concubine, not a co-wife. We can only call her Concubine."

The old man wanted to ask which noble family it was, but Mrs. Lu had already gone to pack up her things.

This time, Xu Lanzhou didn't give them a big gift, but only ten taels of silver, two pieces of brocade, and two packages of pea yellow. He said the silver was his filial piety, and the other two items were New Year gifts from the Princess's Mansion.

The son didn't give any extra gifts, so the old couple didn't dare to complain. The eldest wife got nothing, so she didn't dare to say anything.

Xu Lanzhou stayed in his hometown for only three days. The next day, Old Lady Xu invited Xu Zhiniang and Xu Daya's families to dinner. Mrs. Lu sent Xu Lanyin's gifts to the village chief's and third grandfather's homes. Whenever she saw women or children in the village, she gave them some fructose from Beijing, claiming it was from the Princess's mansion.

The gifts given to the other two families were even more exquisite, two pieces of brocade each, six palace flowers each, and a bag of pea yellow made by the imperial kitchen each.

When the two families heard that the palace flowers were worn by the empresses and princesses, and that the pea yellow was eaten by the emperor's family, they excitedly placed the items on the table, kowtowed several times, and then stood up. The family took turns to look around, each breaking off a little to taste. They didn't dare to eat too much, as they had to entertain guests or give gifts.

Mrs. Lu also explained that Qin came from a noble family. Due to the unkindness of some of her elders, she encountered a villain while searching for her relatives in her early years, only to be rescued by Xu Qingyan. To express her gratitude for Xu Qingyan's life-saving grace, she pledged her life to him and married him. Her family was an old acquaintance of the Princess of Nanyang and her husband, Prince Chai, and she had been favored by the Princess since childhood. The Princess only learned of her survival at the end of last year and immediately adopted her as her adopted daughter, with plans to formally adopt her in the future...

But Old Man Xu had no idea what he was talking about. He constantly followed the gossipmongers, fabricating stories about Qin's lowly background. Two months ago, in the provincial capital, he had scolded her so much that she almost hanged herself. Fortunately, the eldest daughter found her and rescued her. Last month, he was slamming her again, saying that Qin's background was inferior and that she couldn't compare to Zhou's. Qin was nearly pissed off. Qin had no choice but to offer to step down and leave the family...