Ever since Qian San went back that day, Gu Han has been locking himself in his room every day, drinking and wasting his time.

Gu Shao and his maid-fiancée lived a secluded life due to the insults and abuse from the outside world.

Madam Gu adopted a "whatever" attitude, as if she was ready to give up and quit.

Li Jiaojiao was terrified and hid in her room every day.

The entire Ningguo Marquis's residence was deathly still.

At this moment, a maid entered Li Jiaojiao's room: "Madam, the Duchess of Pingguo has arrived..."

Li Jiaojiao was leaning against the daybed in a daze when she turned around and asked, "What's she doing here?"

The maid said, "We've come to seek refuge with you."

"Seek refuge? What does 'seek refuge' mean?"

The maid pursed her lips: "The eldest mistress of the Pingguo Duke's mansion also knows about this. Now even the mansion has become a money exchange for profit. The Pingguo Duke has already divorced his wife and then left the capital with his entire family."

"The Duchess has nowhere to go, and since the eldest daughter-in-law is her adopted daughter, she naturally came to seek refuge with you."

Li Jiaojiao's face turned extremely ugly. With a crash, she swept everything off the kang table and onto the floor.

"What kind of tone is that? Are you on her side or mine? You're such a traitor! And doesn't she have a biological daughter? Why would she need to rely on my adopted daughter?"

The maid's face turned ashen, and she dared not utter a sound.

She despised Li Jiaojiao to the extreme, and not only her, but everyone in the entire mansion despised her.

In fact, everyone in the capital knows perfectly well whether Li Jiaojiao was behind the incident at the Duke of Pingguo's mansion.

They couldn't find any fault with her because they lacked evidence.

The maid pursed her lips and said, "Then... is the eldest mistress not going to deal with it? Then this servant will go and report to the old lady."

"No!" Li Jiaojiao was startled and jumped up. "What are you talking about, Madam? Don't you have any manners?"

"She's no longer the Duchess of Pingguo. She's just a divorced woman. What business is it of yours? We're the Marquis of Ningguo's mansion. Who can just see the master whenever they want?"

The maid's face nearly split open in anger: "Then now..."

Li Jiaojiao kept a low face. If she were to kick the Duchess out now, she would make a fool of herself again. After thinking for a moment, she asked, "What's your name?"

The maidservant said, "This servant is Xuehua."

"Snowflake, you've been assigned to my courtyard, so you're now one of my people. I won't treat you badly."

Saying this, he went back into the room, reluctantly took out twenty taels of silver, and stuffed it into her hand:

"Give her twenty taels of silver. Tell her to leave the capital first, find an inn in the suburbs to stay in, and not to look for me yet. I will go to find her in a few days."

Snowflake nodded and turned to leave.

A hint of annoyance flashed in Li Jiaojiao's eyes.

She's barely able to take care of herself right now, so she has no time to worry about her.

Although she's been good to herself, well... she can't do anything about it now.

She never wanted to stay in this wretched place, the capital, again!

After thinking for a moment, she headed towards the old lady's courtyard.

The old lady leaned back on the couch, looking at her coldly: "What do you want?"

Li Jiaojiao stammered, "Grandmother... there's been so much going on at home lately, everyone's laughing at us. Maybe... we should leave Beijing for a while. Let's go back to our hometown for a few years, and come back later."

Madam Gu was taken aback. She had thought that Madam Gu would come to talk about taking in the wife of the Duke of Pingguo, but she never expected that Madam Gu would say that she wanted to leave the capital.

Old Madam Gu's eyes drooped: "Besides that, is there anything else?"

Seeing that she didn't agree, Li Jiaojiao said anxiously, "No, Grandmother... let's go back to our hometown!"

"Let me think about it some more, you should go back first!"

Li Jiaojiao turned and left.

After she left, Old Madam Gu sighed bitterly, "What a tragedy!"

She understood perfectly well that Li Jiaojiao was merely fooling the Duchess of Pingguo so she could escape. The poor Duchess of Pingguo was still helping Li Jiaojiao until the very last moment.

At this moment, Xuehua came out from behind the screen: "Madam, how should I report to the Lady of Pingguo?"

Madam Gu said, "Just explain this to her directly!"

Xuehua turned and left. Old Madam Gu closed her eyes and shed two lines of tears.

Since we've already lost face, let's go all the way and lose it completely! Maybe we can wake Gu Han up with a slap.

......

In the small hall of the outer courtyard, the Duchess of Pingguo had been waiting for almost half an hour.

It's just a message, why does it take so long?

Having been a matriarch for decades, she naturally knew the reason.

One possibility is that the master is genuinely busy, and another is that the master doesn't want to see her.

What could possibly happen to Jiaojiao...?

Just then, Xuehua came running in.

When the Duchess of Pingguo realized it wasn't Li Jiaojiao, her heart sank: "Where's Jiaojiao?"

Xuehua stuffed twenty taels into her hand: "The eldest madam said that there are many things to do recently, so she asked Madam to go to the outskirts of the capital to find an inn to stay in first, and she will come to see Madam again in a few days."

Lady Pingguo stared blankly at the twenty taels in her hand. That's all?

Moreover, why the outskirts of Beijing?

Lady Pingguo felt uneasy: "What is Jiaojiao busy with?"

Snowflake frowned: "Hmm... I'm not busy, so I'll just lie on the tatami and daydream!"

The Duchess of Pingguo's mind went blank, as if it had exploded.

Xuehua continued, "Also... Madam Wan, you shouldn't wait for her anymore. She has already suggested to the Old Madam that she wants to leave the capital and return to her hometown. The Old Madam is considering it."

Lady Pingguo's heart sank: "I want to see her! Tell her to come here, I want to see her!"

Snowflake frowned: "Madam, don't waste your energy. The eldest mistress doesn't want to see you."

Lady Pingguo's heart grew even colder.

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!