Xiao Yunying picked up Luo Xin, who was peeking from the wall, and went back into the house, closing the door behind her.

Luo Sheng frowned and asked, "Mother, is that Miss Zuo here to steal Father from you?"

Xiao Yunying put Luo Xin down: "You little brat, why are you always learning to eavesdrop from your third brother?"

Luo Xin understood; her mother didn't want to say more about it.

She climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed) herself, stepping on a stool: "Xin'er wasn't eavesdropping, it's just that you were all too loud."

Xiao Yunying was thinking about what she might have forgotten to do earlier, and she instructed, "You can't go around talking about this, understand?"

Luo Xin fiddled with the puzzle pieces: "I know, Xin'er won't go around telling everyone."

But telling my brothers doesn't count as gossiping, right?

As Xiao Yunying spoke, she felt her mouth was a little dry and then remembered that she had gone to the kitchen to get some water.

She waited for a while, and when she heard no more noise outside, she quickly went to the kitchen to pour some warm water.

The next morning, Xiao Shanhai and Mu Lianrong arrived early and discussed their marriage with Madam Luo in the reception room.

Compared to the original owner's wedding, this one was much more formal.

The process begins with exchanging birth charts, matching horoscopes, choosing an auspicious date, engaging in betrothal and exchanging betrothal gifts, and finally, selecting an auspicious day for the wedding.

Every little detail had to be discussed, and time had to be spent preparing the three letters and six rites, which gave Xiao Yunying a huge headache.

Xiao Yunying didn't understand any of this, and it went in one ear and out the other, until she heard that she was to be asked to embroider a wedding dress.

This won't do. I can't even sew socks, let alone embroider a wedding dress.

She couldn't help but say, "Um... I'm afraid I can't handle the wedding dress."

Madam Luo asked, puzzled, "Why? I remember you were quite good at needlework."

Speaking of this, Mu Lianrong wanted to say a few words to Luo Sheng, but now was not the time to bring up old grievances, so she could only suppress her anger and say, "Yunyun used to do embroidery day and night, which hurt her eyes and made her vision a little blurry, so I stopped her from doing embroidery for long periods of time."

Madam Luo then realized the reason: "We have failed Yunying in this matter."

Seeing her say that, Mu Lianrong's resentment towards the Luo family lessened considerably. She said politely, "Don't say that, in-law. Yunyun is the mother of the children now that she's married into your family. It's only right that she raises the children."

At least the Luo family still cares about their daughter, so her life will be better after she marries into the family.

Madam Luo added, "If Yunying doesn't mind, I remember you embroidered a wedding dress for yourself before. It's a bit too big for you now, so we can make it smaller."

Xiao Yunying's smile froze. She had already built a cenotaph for the original owner of that wedding dress; she couldn't very well dig it up again.

I don't mind this myself; the wedding dress has two layers of boxes so it won't get dirty or damaged. But isn't this too disrespectful to the original owner?

Madam Luo noticed the forced smile on Xiao Yunying's face and asked, "Is there a problem?"

Zuo Lanzhi, who was listening to the Luo and Xiao families discussing matters, suddenly spoke up: "Miss Xiao, you seem so reluctant. Do you feel that the material of that wedding dress is not good enough and does not match your status as the general's wife? Do you want a more luxurious one?"

Luo Sheng, who had remained silent, gave Zuo Lanzhi a cold look: "My wife naturally deserves the best. Miss Zuo need not trouble herself with the matters of marriage between the Luo family and the Xiao family."

Xiao Yunying was now too lazy to pay any attention to Zuo Lanzhi and didn't want to say a word to her. She said to Madam Luo and her parents:

"We've already been married once before, so even if it's an imperial decree this time, we don't need to go through the whole process again. I'm thinking that once the imperial decree arrives, I can just go to the county office with Luo Sheng to register. We don't need to go through all those complicated formalities."

Madam Luo thought Xiao Yunying was reluctant to spend money: "How can this be considered formalities? Marriage is a big deal, how can it be treated so lightly?"

Xiao Yunying knew that Madam Luo meant well. When she was discussing the specifics with her parents, she tried her best to think of herself, as if she was afraid that outsiders would think that she was not valued by the Luo family.

The problem is that she's too lazy to go through those procedures and doesn't want to attract too much attention.

Xiao Yunying didn't know how to persuade Madam Luo, so she turned to Luo Sheng for help.

Seeing her looking at him like that, Luo Yong's heart softened, and he said to Madam Luo, "Mother, Yun Ying doesn't like to be ostentatious. Anyway, this isn't the capital, so there's no need to put on a show for others. The people in the village already know that we're married. These formalities don't need to be so complicated. Keep everything simple."

Madam Luo gave her son a wink. How could this child not understand social etiquette? "The wedding day before... the setting was too simple. Now that our family has been exonerated and our status has been restored, we should naturally go through the ceremony properly again. From the betrothal ceremony onwards, no step can be omitted. If everything is simplified, it will only make people think that we are looking down on the Xiao family."

Xiao Yunying advised, "Although Luo Sheng has returned, no one in the village knows his true identity. The situation above is still undecided. We should keep a low profile to avoid being too high-profile and giving others a handle to use against us."

When this matter was brought up, Madam Luo became less insistent and hesitated before saying, "This matter..."

For the past two years, she has been hiding in the city guarded by Luo Sheng, so she naturally knows that her son's life is not as stable as it seems on the surface.

The person mentioned above doesn't have time to deal with the Luo family's affairs right now, but if they remember one day, they might cause all sorts of trouble for the Luo family.

Seeing that Madam Luo's tone had softened, Xiao Yunying continued, "I know that Madam Luo is doing this for my sake and for the good of the Xiao family, but now is indeed not the time to be ostentatious. Ultimately, this is a matter between our two families. Luo Sheng and I don't mind, so others naturally won't say anything more, and there's no need to care too much about other people's opinions."

Logically speaking, getting married is indeed a major event in life and should be celebrated in a grand and lively manner.

But now they're just living together out of necessity, and Xiao Yunying is too lazy to bother with anything else.

Madam Luo sighed softly, "Then Yunying will have to suffer for the time being."

Xiao Yunying then smiled genuinely: "I'm not wronged, I'm not wronged."

The Xiao family members were unaware of the affairs of officialdom, but they could roughly guess what was going on from the conversation between their daughter and Madam Luo.

Their thinking wasn't quite accurate; they guessed it might be that some high-ranking official had a grudge against the Luo family and wanted to find fault with their son-in-law.

If that's the case, they won't insist on holding any ceremony. According to Xiao Yunying, it's always better to keep a low profile, otherwise the more high-profile they are, the easier it will be for others to find fault with them.

Since their own daughter didn't mind, they didn't say anything more.