Eleventh Lady hurriedly took Fang's hand.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" She scolded, "This is a marriage matter, and the elders have the final say. How can you just 'divorce' or 'leave'? Since you are worried about your mother at home, you should not be so willful." She added, "You should leave first! I have something to say to your mother-in-law!"

Fang seemed to be hesitant to speak, and finally replied "yes" in a low voice, bowed and prepared to leave.

The Third Lady couldn't help herself and said to Eleventh Lady, "You don't have to say anything! The divorce letter is done!"

Fang walked to the door and paused slightly before lifting the curtain and walking out.

Eleventh Lady winked at Mother Song, signaling her to leave, and said, "Third sister-in-law, calm down. You should at least tell me what's going on so that I can have a clear idea."

"Didn't she just tell you everything?" The Third Lady sneered, "She is a jinx to her husband. The Fang family actually hid it from us and married her into our family." At this point, she became a little excited, "If it weren't for the marriage proposal for Jian'er, I would still be kept in the dark by the Fang family, and I would probably never understand it until I die..." As she spoke, she told Eleventh Lady what had happened.

It turned out that after the third wife returned to Shanyang, she began to help Xu Sijian find a second daughter-in-law who could compare with Fang. As a result, when others heard that her eldest daughter-in-law had a dowry of 20,000 taels of silver, they all said that they could not afford such a dowry. She had to tell the matchmaker that she would only choose the girl's character, not the girl's dowry, but those families still politely rejected the matchmaker's proposal. After a few times, she couldn't help but get a little anxious. Especially the youngest daughter of the Fengxiang prefect, who was more outstanding than Fang. She thought that although she was marrying up, she was not without a chance. She took the opportunity of a temple fair to meet the wife of the Fengxiang prefect. Only then did she know that Fang was a husband killer.

"…The Fang family is trying to deceive us into marriage. We cannot accept such a daughter-in-law no matter what!" The third wife said indignantly, "The wife of the Fengxiang prefect said that her daughter must not be a sister-in-law with such a person. If anything goes wrong, it will be too late to regret it."

Eleventh Lady was speechless. She could only ask, "Does Third Master know?"

The Third Madam's expression froze, and she said loudly with a guilty conscience, "How can I have the nerve to tell the Third Master about this. If Fang had any sense of shame, she should have asked to leave when the truth was revealed. She even had the nerve to call her brothers from her mother's family to talk to us about divorce? How could they take our Yongping Marquis Mansion seriously? If we don't teach them a lesson, I'm afraid the Fang family will bully us!"

In other words, the Third Master doesn’t know.

Could it be because she was the one who arranged this marriage, and now that something went wrong, she was too embarrassed to tell the Third Master?

Eleventh Lady pondered, took a sip of tea, and said calmly: "Since Third Sister-in-law has made up her mind, I won't say anything more. But whether it's a divorce or a divorce, you have to tell the Marquis and Third Master. And you should also go and say hello to the Madam."

The Third Madam felt a little uncomfortable and said hurriedly, "I don't know if I was confused by Fang's anger these past two days, or if I was tired from rushing back to Shanyang. My heart aches so much that I was afraid that the Madam would worry, so I didn't go to greet her. Go back and tell the Madam, I'll go to greet her early tomorrow morning."

"I will definitely convey Third Sister-in-law's words." Eleventh Lady smiled and said, "However, since Third Sister-in-law has made up her mind to divorce my wife, there are some things that need to be carefully considered. Which of the 'Seven Reasons for Divorce' did the eldest young lady violate?"

The third lady was startled.

Eleventh Lady pondered and said, "No children, the eldest young lady has been married for less than a year, which is not a reason in terms of emotion or reason; not serving her uncle and aunt, before the third sister-in-law passed away, she praised the eldest young lady for being filial and sensible. After the third sister-in-law passed away, the eldest young lady went to visit the old lady every morning and evening without interruption, which obviously does not meet the requirements; serious illness, the eldest young lady has not even had a headache or fever since she married into the Xu family; jealousy, Qin'er has no concubines, and the two concubines are now well and happy, which is not the case. Gossip, from the old lady to the children, everyone in the family is happy to see Fang; as for adultery and theft, it is even more impossible. Third sister-in-law, tell me, how do you divorce this wife?"

"This, this..." The third lady thought for a long time but still couldn't figure it out.

"Maybe I'm overthinking. Maybe when Third Sister-in-law goes to see the Madam, the Madam won't ask about these things at all." Eleventh Lady said, smiling and standing up, "It's getting late. If we go out any later, we'll run into curfew. As long as Fang is your daughter-in-law, she will be the eldest young lady of the Xu family. You should give her some back-up plans for some things. If you kill her with one blow like today, Qin Ge'er will lose face. I'll wait for Third Sister-in-law to come over tomorrow so that we can discuss a countermeasure."

The third lady responded "yes" repeatedly and personally saw her out.

Fang stood in the yard. When she saw the two of them coming out, she hesitated for a moment, but still went to greet them: "Fourth Aunt, let me see you out!"

The Third Lady didn't even glance at Fang, and walked straight out, talking to Eleventh Lady with a smile on her face: "...When I left, Brother Jin had just celebrated his first birthday. Children change every day, and now I'm afraid he can speak and dance!"

Eleventh Lady smiled and nodded to Fang while she was entertaining Third Lady: "He just started learning to speak a few days ago. He spoke four words at a time, loud and clear. These days I tried to teach him to say two more words, but it just wouldn't work! I don't know if he will be a dull person in the future!"

The Third Lady looked at her and became more intimate with Eleventh Lady: "There is no dull child in our family..."

While talking to Shiyi Niang, he walked towards the Chuihua Gate.

Fang knew that the Third Lady wanted to use this method to embarrass her and thus achieve her goal of ostracizing her.

She didn't say a word and followed the two of them silently to the Chuihua Gate.

A maid rushed over and said, "Madam, the Third Young Master said he has a stomachache!"

When the Third Lady heard this, she became anxious: "Why are you feeling uncomfortable? What's the point of telling me? Why don't you ask the people in the outer courtyard to get a carriage and invite a doctor for the Third Young Master?" As she spoke, she smiled apologetically at the Eleventh Lady and said, "I won't see you off. Please walk slowly."

The little maid didn't move and looked towards Fang.

Fang hurriedly took out a pair of cards from her sleeve and handed them to the little maid.

The little maid then ran away.

Eleventh Lady remained calm and said, "Since it's Jian who's sick, I'll go see him too!"

The Third Lady was worried about her son, so she didn't bother to be polite with Eleventh Lady, and the two of them went to Xu Sijian together.

Xu Sijian looked fine, but he was holding his stomach and saying it hurt. When he saw Shiyi Niang, he smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "I'm sorry that Fourth Aunt held me back."

"What are you talking about!" Just as Eleventh Lady was being polite to him, Third Lady had already pulled his hand and asked anxiously, "What have you eaten these days? When did the pain start? Do you have diarrhea?"

"I'm fine." Xu Sijian said, "I just have a stomachache."

The third wife couldn't get any information out of the matter. She looked up and saw Fang standing silently by her side. She immediately scolded her, "How do you manage the household? You actually let your brother-in-law get a stomachache..."

Fang stood there and let her scold her.

Xu Sijian pulled his mother's sleeve and said, "Mom, Fourth Aunt is still here?"

Eleventh Lady saw that Xu Sijian was in good spirits and did not want to stand there and listen to the Third Lady scolding Fang, so she said goodbye to the Third Lady again.

The third lady was worried about Xu Sijian, so she said a few polite words and asked Gan Laoquan's family to see her off.

Although Eleventh Lady was the brother's wife, she was the head of the Xu family and the wife of the Marquis of Yongping. It was a bit rude to let Gan Laoquan's family send her out.

Fang wanted to remind the Third Madam, but she yelled at her, "You just stand there stupidly. What did your mother teach you? This is how you serve your brother-in-law when he's not feeling well..."

She couldn't help but raise her eyebrows and said coldly: "Mother-in-law is right. My mother really didn't teach me that my brother-in-law, who is about the same age as me, was not feeling well, and she actually asked me to serve him."

The third lady was choked up and didn't say anything for a long time.

Eleventh Lady, who heard what happened outside the door, could not help but shook her head slightly and followed Gan Laoquan's family out of the Chuihua Gate.

A figure suddenly jumped out.

Eleventh Lady, Mother Song and the others were all so frightened that they took a few steps back. Some of the timid maids even screamed loudly.

"Aunt." The figure bowed respectfully to Eleventh Lady, "It's me, Xu Siqin."

"It's you!" Eleventh Lady took a long breath and patted her chest, "How could you be like this?" Then she said, "If you scare people, you will scare them to death!"

He hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Aunt, you're scared." His face was then revealed under the big red lantern hanging on the hanging flower door.

"Aunt, I have two words to say to you." Xu Siqin looked at her seriously, and his expression seemed a little serious.

"What's the matter?" Eleventh Lady guessed that what he was about to say was related to Fang.

Xu Siqin ordered Gan Laoquan's family: "You should leave first!"

Gan Laoquan's family looked at Xu Siqin hesitantly and slowly retreated.

Mother Song and others also stood cleverly on the corridor inside the hanging flower gate.

On an early summer night, the blue sky is dotted with colorful stars.

Xu Siqin was silent for a long time, then said softly, "Aunt Four, do you still remember my third cousin?"

Sister Yuan?

Eleventh Lady was stunned.

Before she could answer, Xu Siqin said, "I still remember why she married far away!"

His young face showed a vicissitude that was inconsistent with his actual age.

"Aunt," Xu Siqin's voice was low and slow, like a frozen river. He cupped his hands and bowed to Shiyi Niang, saying, "Please help me speak to Fourth Uncle. I, I will not divorce my wife."

Eleventh Lady looked at Xu Siqin who was bowing in front of her, and for some reason, she suddenly felt her eyes moist.

She thought for a moment and said softly, "Then do you know that your decision will make Fang's life very difficult in the future!"

"I know!" He straightened up, "I will treat her well."

"You must remember your words." Eleventh Lady said, and glanced towards the hanging flower gate out of the corner of her eye.

Fang stood quietly on the steps of the Chuihua Gate, the hem of her skirt blown by the night wind like a butterfly spreading its wings about to fly.

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PS: I’ll post this as a draft first and correct any typos tomorrow.

O(∩_∩)O~