A small courtyard in the east of the city.

When Su Yujiao returned, the two little ones were playing house in the yard.

"Mother!" A cheerful voice rang out.

Immediately afterwards, a soft, sweet voice called out, "Mommy, hug me."

Su Yujiao smiled and naturally squatted down, letting the two toddlers who were running towards her jump into her arms.

Su Yujiao held one child in her left arm and another in her right, kissing and hugging them from both sides; the scene of maternal love and filial piety couldn't be more touching.

"Jiaojiao!"

"Let your mother see you quickly. I heard you were seriously injured. Have you recovered?"

"Does the wound hurt a lot?"

“My poor child, if anything happens to you, how will your mother live?”

As Chen spoke, tears streamed down her face.

Su Yujiao hurried to comfort her mother, knowing that her mother was a thoughtful person who couldn't keep things to herself.

"Mother, I'm fine. I'm back safe and sound, aren't I?"

"Look at him, he's lively and energetic, perfectly fine."

As Su Yujiao spoke, she circled around in front of Chen Shi.

Hearing the noise, the others also rushed out, and the whole family exchanged pleasantries and inquiries.

"Have my mother-in-law, Weiwei, and Mudan all gone back?"

Upon hearing her mention Zhou Shi, everyone's eyes flickered, and then they quickly said, "Yes, they've all gone back."

"After the crisis was over, they all went back to their own homes."

“Your brother also bought back our old house, but it has been abandoned for a long time and needs to be properly renovated before it can be lived in.”

The implication was that if the yard hadn't been left unattended, we wouldn't have stayed at our daughter's house so long.

"Father, mother, brother, and sister-in-law, you can stay here in peace. There's no rush to move."

"Anyway, the yard is big enough, and it will be more lively with more people."

"Brother, you've bought a house in the capital. Are you not planning to return to your hometown?"

Su Yujing nodded: "Returning to my hometown was a last resort; I'm more used to living in the capital."

"Moreover, with a new emperor on the throne and everything in need of rebuilding, I, your brother, have studied the classics for so many years and do not wish to live a life of mediocrity."

Su Yujiao could tell that her brother was about to enter officialdom again.

But this is good, her brother is a capable man, and he should shine in the court.

Country life is not suitable for him!

More importantly, the crisis was over, and everyone's fate changed.

The new emperor is a wise and sensible ruler, so my brother's future career will likely be very smooth.

The family chatted in the courtyard for a while, and then Mrs. Chen told her daughter-in-law to prepare dinner.

My daughter has escaped death, so naturally I should give her a proper welcome-back party to help her calm her nerves.

"Mother, you and sister-in-law get ready first. I'll go and call my mother-in-law and sister-in-law over so we can all have some fun together."

Chen's expression changed, and she immediately spoke up to stop her.

"Jiaojiao, don't go."

Su Yujiao looked at her mother with confusion, as her mother and mother-in-law had always had a harmonious relationship.

During the time they lived together, the two got along like sisters and even joined forces to deal with Zhang.

The reason was that Lu Ziwei had not conceived a child after two years of marriage to Gu Heng, so Zhang Shi began to have objections.

Although she was wary of the General's Mansion's status and dared not openly harass them, the old woman from the countryside had plenty of disgusting tricks up her sleeve.

She wasn't particularly malicious, nor was she very harmful, but her daily sarcastic and disgusting remarks were unbearable.

Lu Ziwei developed feelings for Gu Heng over time and wanted to live a good life with him, so naturally she also wanted to have a child with him.

However, she had been drugged by her ex-husband for a long time and had several abortions.

She hasn't been able to pay it back in two years, and she suspects that her body has been fundamentally damaged.

Lu Ziwei, who was determined to have a child, put a lot of pressure on herself even when Zhang was not around and was being sarcastic.

The inability to have children seemed to have become a source of great distress for her.

She often lamented why having children was so difficult for her; other women had it so easy, but it was so hard for her.

Seeing that her daughter was unhappy in her husband's family, Zhou naturally wanted to stand up for her.

Chen also disapproved of Zhang's bullying and domineering behavior towards her daughter-in-law, so she naturally sided with Zhou to put her down.

But I digress. To get back to the point, her mother's behavior today was very strange.

"Mother, did something happen at home while I was away?"

"Did you have a fight with my mother-in-law?"

Mrs. Chen smiled awkwardly and scolded, "What nonsense are you talking about, child? What could we possibly be having a disagreement about?"

"It's just... a bit inconvenient."

"Where is it inconvenient?" Su Yujiao stared at her with a puzzled look.

Seeing that her mother-in-law was having some trouble dealing with the situation, the eldest sister-in-law, Madam He, quickly said, "When our family is reunited, it's uncomfortable for everyone if you invite outsiders over."

Su Yujiao frowned, looking at her sister-in-law with displeasure, but did not say anything in rebuttal.

To her own family, her mother-in-law, Zhou, was indeed an outsider.

To the eldest sister-in-law, she was even more of an outsider.

Moreover, she had already divorced Lu Ziqian, so Zhou Shi could only be considered her former mother-in-law.

Calling her an outsider is actually not a problem.

She felt somewhat uncomfortable listening to it.

Fine, since my parents feel uncomfortable eating with my in-laws, then we won't invite them.

Actually, she hadn't thought much about it; she just thought it would be more lively with more people.

Moreover, her mother-in-law had always treated her very well, and she never treated her mother-in-law and sister-in-law as outsiders, but she neglected her own family members who were not very familiar with her husband's family.

She decided to visit them first thing tomorrow morning, mainly because she wanted to ask Lu Ziqian if he had sent any messages back.

"Xiao Tao, go to the General's Mansion."

"Tell the old lady that I have returned safely and that she should not worry. I will visit her first thing tomorrow morning."

After Old Madam Zhu died, Madam Zhou became the rightful matriarch of the General's Mansion.

The eldest and second sisters-in-law also went from being young mistresses to becoming the eldest and second mistresses.

Mrs. Chen and her daughter-in-law exchanged a glance, and both of them breathed a sigh of relief.

They didn't feel uncomfortable around Zhou because she was an outsider.

Instead, they knew that the Zhou family wasn't in the mood to come over for food and drinks, or to be happy.

In the middle of the night, Su Yujiao suddenly woke up, touching the empty half of the bed, feeling inexplicably uneasy.

She couldn't remember what she dreamed about, but she was woken up in a fright.

They sat there until dawn, not even bothering to eat breakfast, and went straight to the general's mansion.

"Princess, please wait a moment. This old servant will go and inform the old lady."

"She is still chanting sutras in the Buddhist hall."

Su Yujiao frowned. Zhou Shi didn't have the habit of eating vegetarian food and chanting Buddhist scriptures. Why did she suddenly start building a Buddhist hall and chanting scriptures?

I feel like everything is strange since I came back this time.

"Please come this way, Your Highness. The old lady is chanting scriptures and it is inconvenient for her to get up. She would like Your Highness to move to the Buddhist hall."

"Um."

As soon as Su Yujiao approached, she was choked by the smoky smell of incense and candles.

She coughed lightly twice, staring at Zhou's retreating figure as she chanted sutras, feeling inexplicably uneasy.

Zhou was dressed in a dark gray plain gown, her hair was neatly combed and styled into a simple bun, like a Taoist nun, without any hairpins or ornaments.