Princess, she is the one who facilitated the extradition.

Du Shao stood by the window for a long time before leaving.

Xiao Huaijin also pulled Gui Yao away a bit, until the male servant came out of Madam Du's courtyard with his trousers up. The two waited for a while before returning to Madam Du's room.

Madam Du had already washed up and changed into a white dress.

Two servants were there; one was making the bed with his head down, while the other was doing her makeup with his lips pursed.

The room was eerily quiet.

After combing her hair, Madam Du placed a white flower in her hair bun.

The servant carefully stopped her, "Madam, you are going to pay your respects to the Old Madam later. Wearing this might displease her."

Upon closer inspection after returning to the clear sky, the white flowers turned out to be those used for mourning.

Madam Du glanced at her indifferently, "I'm not feeling well, so I won't be going to pay my respects anymore."

"But you haven't been paying your respects to your mother morning and evening for a long time, and the old lady is already unhappy."

The servant was in a dilemma, "What if she sends someone to invite her..."

"Then let Third Master go and talk to her."

Madam Du made the final decision, walked to the table, and frowned when she saw the meat dishes on it.

"Didn't we say we don't need to send meat anymore?"

The servant hurriedly knelt down, "Third Master said that you have lost a lot of weight recently, and eating only vegetables is not good for your health..."

"Take it."

Before the servants could speak, Madam Du interrupted them coldly.

She turned and sat on the couch by the window. Seeing this, the servants worried that she would skip breakfast and quickly removed the meat dishes.

"Madam, we only have vegetarian buns and rice porridge available now. Please have some. Miss will be worried if she sees how thin you are."

Looking out the window in a daze, Madam Du slowly turned around, reached for a steamed bun, and started eating it.

Looking at her expression as she ate, Xiao Huaijin thought of Gui Yao eating when she had no senses.

It tastes the same as jue wax.

It's as if eating is just for the sake of eating.

After finishing one steamed bun, Madam Du refused to eat any more.

The servant then brought over a bowl of dark, murky medicine.

"Take it away."

Madam Du looked at it too.

Gui Yao smelled the air; it smelled like contraceptive soup.

Then they saw the servant who had always been obedient kneeling beside Madam Du with medicine in his hands.

"Madam, Third Master said that having Miss as a child is enough, and he can't bear to see you suffer the pain of childbirth again. Please drink this medicine."

Madam Du did not accept it, a hint of hatred appearing on her face.

The servant continued to urge, "Madam, if you don't drink, I will die."

"Tell him that from today onwards, I will not drink contraceptive soup, but only abortifacients."

She glanced at her servants and sneered, "If he wants to kill you, then kill him. You are all his people anyway, why threaten me with your lives?"

After that, no matter how much the servants pleaded, Madam Du refused to take the bowl of medicine.

He didn't say another word.

Later, a servant from the Lady of Ningguo came over and asked Lady Du to go to her mother-in-law for a lecture.

But the old woman was stopped by Du Shao's servant before she could even enter the courtyard.

"The Third Madam has recently caught a cold, and the Third Master is afraid that she will pass it on to the Old Madam, so he won't let her leave the courtyard."

"The old lady's maidservant should not enter the room, lest she catch the infection and then be unable to serve her anymore."

The old woman knew this was Du Shao's idea, so she couldn't insist and had to go back to report.

Upon hearing this, Lady Ningguo slammed her teacup heavily onto the tea table.

"Enough. This place has become a den of dragons and tigers. He's just afraid his wife will suffer any injustice while she's with me."

Since he doesn't like me meddling in his affairs, I'm too lazy to bother anymore.

If they caught a cold, why didn't the third wife even call a doctor?

They really think they can fool her like she's senile.

But this youngest son is good at everything, except when it comes to love. Back then, he brought back an orphan girl from out of town and insisted on marrying her.

She couldn't argue with the Duke, so she had no choice but to give in.

Fortunately, the third daughter-in-law's background was unclear, and she had no family to rely on.

But she is a good person, dignified and virtuous, filial to her parents-in-law, and has a harmonious marriage. Although she only has one daughter, there is nothing else to complain about.

She thought the couple would continue to live harmoniously, and she could finally relax.

Unexpectedly, a few days ago, her third daughter-in-law suddenly stopped coming out of the hospital. Fearing something had happened, she sent someone to inquire about her.

If the youngest son had come back himself, his face would have been covered in scratches, clearly from being scratched by a woman's fingernails.

Ever since he met his third daughter-in-law, he has avoided even the maids in his household and never touched other women. So this injury could only have been caused by his third daughter-in-law.

However, the third daughter-in-law had never raised her voice in the more than ten years since she married into the family. The old lady of the Ningguo Duke really didn't know what had happened between the two of them, so she asked the third daughter-in-law to take action.

The youngest son knelt down and begged her not to interfere in their affairs, saying that the two of them had just had a small argument, but they loved each other and couldn't live without each other, and that they would make up in a few days.

But more than a month has passed and there's still no improvement.

Moreover, since her third daughter-in-law, who had always doted on her daughter, had stopped caring about her daughter, the Duchess of Ningguo couldn't sit still any longer and wanted to call her daughter-in-law over to ask her personally.

But her son stopped her. The Duchess of Ningguo, trying to calm herself and avoid dwelling on the troublesome matter, asked a servant, "Where's Lingxi? Why hasn't he come today?"

If you can't manage your son and daughter-in-law's affairs, then take good care of your granddaughter and make sure she doesn't suffer any more grievances.

She had barely finished speaking when Du Lingxi's voice rang out, "Grandmother, I'm here!"

The third daughter-in-law gave birth to two sons and a daughter. Both of her grandsons died before they were ten years old.

With only this granddaughter left, and given that Du Lingxi was clever and well-behaved, the Duchess of Ningguo doted on this granddaughter very much.

He pulled her closer and looked her over. "Why do you look so tired? Didn't you sleep well, or are you feeling unwell?"

As he spoke, he touched his granddaughter's forehead.

Thankfully, it's not hot.

Du Lingxi snuggled into her arms, "Grandmother, I'm not feeling unwell, I just had a nightmare last night."

"Oh, what did you dream about? It scared our little demon like that?"

My granddaughter recently changed her name to Yaksha, saying it would make her seem less likely to be bullied.

She was worried that her granddaughter had been wronged, so she had someone investigate privately.

Only then did they realize that it was the change in the third daughter-in-law's attitude towards the child that made the child suspect that his mother was possessed by a ghost, and he wanted to ward off the evil spirit for his mother.

The Duke of Ningguo felt heartbroken whenever he thought about it, and his love for his granddaughter grew even stronger.

"My granddaughter dreamed of a kitten. She had lost her mother, and the other cats bullied her because she was a motherless child. Grandmother, she was so pitiful."

Hearing this, the Duke of Ningguo patted her back tenderly, "It was just a dream, don't be upset, Ximo."

"Lingxi is afraid that she will end up like that cat, without a mother."

She raised her face and said, "Grandmother, if Mother has done anything wrong, please don't be angry with her, okay? Lingxi apologizes to you on Mother's behalf."

After hearing this, what did Lady Ningguo not understand?

This child probably arrived a while ago, knowing that her mother didn't come to pay her respects, and worried that she would be punished, so she pleaded for her mother's sake.

Looking at her granddaughter, who was much thinner than before, the Duchess of Ningguo sighed, "Alright, for Lingxi's sake, Grandmother won't be angry with your parents, those two fools."

"Grandma, you are so kind."

Du Lingxi snuggled in the arms of the Duchess of Ningguo for a while, and massaged her legs and shoulders to make her happy before making an excuse to go for a stroll in the street.

He shook off the servants and went to Xuanji Tower.

"how?"

Upon seeing Gui Yao, she asked, "Can you deal with that monster?"

Gui Yao returned a little earlier than her. She took a sip of tea and looked at Du Lingxi with a rather solemn expression. "There are no monsters."

She omitted what the child shouldn't hear and told Du Lingxi everything she had seen last night and this morning.

"impossible."

Du Lingxi was incredulous. "How could my father have known and even condoned it?"

"That's the strange thing."

Gui Yao said, "Your grandparents were not blind or deaf. Your mother was able to get close to other men in the mansion without being discovered because your father covered for her."

Why would he do this? And for whom is your mother observing a vegetarian diet and wearing mourning clothes?

"As far back as I can remember, my father doted on my mother. He loved her so much that he would get jealous if she even glanced at someone else."

Du Lingxi murmured, "How can I accept that Mother did those things..."

But she knew Gui Yao had no reason to lie to her, and soon she found a reason: "It must be that Father loves Mother too much and can't bear to separate from her, so he endures it."

Gui Yao disagrees.

But she understood the child's feelings. After the child calmed down for a moment, she asked, "Do you know your mother's background, and how she met your father?"

Gui Yao felt that Du Shao's actions were likely due to guilt or helplessness.

Perhaps knowing Madam Du's past will reveal the truth behind this.