Xu Wan clenched the vial of poison, her eyes shut in anguish.
In the empty house, she heard her own trembling voice: "No. Even if no one holds me accountable, I must hold myself accountable."
Some could emerge victorious in the battles of the inner household, while others could never discard their moral compass to do evil.
She surrendered.
She could never step on others' lives to pave her own way.
"Someone—call the eldest young master back. I want a divorce."
Chen Yunyu refused, thinking this was just another quarrel tactic—she had threatened this before.
Xu Wan lifted a vase and smashed it to the ground. Shedding all pretense of grace, she raged like a madwoman: "Divorce me, or I’ll kill every one of your mistresses and their bastards the moment they step into this house!"
"You—vicious woman!" Chen Yunyu was livid. "Try it! These are lives! Do you think I won’t drag you to the magistrate?!"
Xu Wan snapped entirely: "Then do it. I’ll make sure Duke Jin's Manor becomes the laughingstock of the capital, forever!"
Chen Yunyu roared: "Shameless!!!"
Xu Wan stood firm this time. The Chen family even summoned Minister Xu, but no persuasion could sway her. She was resolved to end the marriage.
Chen Yunyu, eyes bloodshot from the standoff, spat: "Divorce is rare among noble families. If you insist on humiliating me, forget it! The only way you leave Duke Jin's Manor is if I divorce you. Otherwise, I’ll have you watched day and night, locked up like the madwoman you are!"
She wouldn’t dare.
He gambled she’d never accept the disgrace of being cast off.
Xu Wan coldly retorted: "You, the heir of Duke Jin's Manor, with a deranged wife hidden away—how does that honor you? Chen Yunyu, let’s part cleanly. I’ll stop tormenting you; you release me."
"Never!" Chen Yunyu seethed. Two years of marriage, yet he’d never possessed her—neither her heart nor her body.
The stalemate dragged on, familial pressures mounting, until Chen Yunyu’s pregnant mistress was brought into the manor.
Xu Wan broke.
She accepted the divorce, branded as barren after two childless years. Ruined in reputation, disowned by the Xu family, she left.
Before her departure, Chen Yunyu sneered: "Every coin you own came from Duke Jin's Manor. With your father’s abandonment, how will a pampered lady survive alone? Xu Wan, I’ll wait for you to crawl back, begging to be my concubine!"
She smiled. "Farewell."
Chen Yunyu: "!"
Penniless and alone, Xu Wan found strange freedom. Like in her modern past, she could fight solo.
Yet job-hunting proved brutal. Few hired women, and Chen Yunyu sabotaged every respectable opportunity.
Stranded without shelter, she took refuge in a derelict temple—already claimed by a band of wild children.
"I’m Gou Dan. He’s Lv Dan, that’s Niu Dan, and… Yang Dan."
Xu Wan burst out laughing: "What kind of names are these?"
Gou Dan jutted his chin: "Crude names keep us alive. You wouldn’t understand."
Nodding, she grasped their logic. Dropping her bundle, she announced: "From today, I’ll teach you to read. First, new names: Gou Dan, you’re now Gao Zhongbang. Lv Dan—Bi Dengke. Niu Dan…"
The children blinked. "But you’re starving. How can you afford our schooling?"
Her reply echoed what she’d once told orphans in another life: "I’ll fight tooth and nail to take you to the Imperial Examinations Hall."
Menial jobs became her lifeline. Chen Yunyu’s reach didn’t extend to nameless shops. By day, she copied texts for a dingy bookstore; by night, she taught her ragtag pupils. Life inched toward stability.
Until one day.
In an alley near the temple, she found an exquisite purse—elegant bamboo embroidery, bulging with silver. Clearly, nobility had dropped it.
Gao Zhongbang dashed out, ecstatic: "Teacher Xu! So much money! Can we rent a real house now?"
"And thick blankets! Winter’s coming—we won’t freeze!"
"Treats too! I’ve never tasted pastries. Can we buy some?"
The children chattered excitedly about how to spend the bag of silver they had found. To them, it was a gift from the heavens, destined to bring them a better life!
However, Xu Wan said, "Such a large sum must have been lost by someone. We should turn it over to the authorities."
"Aww…" The children's faces fell instantly.
"The person who lost this must be frantic. We can't keep what isn't ours. Poverty doesn’t justify dishonesty—we must hold onto our principles," Xu Wan said, holding the pouch. "I’ll buy you blankets and pastries when I return, and renting a proper house won’t take much longer. I just need to save a bit more."
At the mention of treats, the children brightened and nodded eagerly. "Okay!"
Xu Wan handed the pouch over to the magistrate’s office.
But it seemed this incident had opened the floodgates. Soon, they discovered more money pouches appearing one after another at the entrance of the abandoned temple.
No longer plain bamboo designs, these pouches varied—sometimes solid-colored, sometimes embroidered—but all were equally bulging with coins.
Xu Wan grew suspicious.
She even wondered if someone was deliberately leaving them there. But that couldn’t be—nearly everyone she knew despised her. Who would lavish her with such generosity, pouch after pouch?
Gao Zhongbang declared confidently, "This is heaven’s blessing!"
Bi Dengke agreed, "I think so too! Teacher Xu, the heavens must have taken pity on your kindness and sent help. Look, even those two thugs who used to harass us at the temple haven’t shown up in ages."
Xu Wan frowned deeply.
But after much deliberation, she resolved to keep turning the money over to the authorities. Unexplained wealth brought her no peace of mind.
