Ling Hua received the signal and fell to his knees in front of Su Mu with a thud, pulling at her skirt: “Young Mistress, how can you be so heartless? You know how much criticism a man faces after divorce. Can you bear to see the young master being pointed at and cursed?”

Su Mu pulled her skirt back unmoved and said: “Don’t make it sound like I’m being heartless. You don’t need to persuade me. Yan Jiyue is even more eager about the divorce than I am.”

Ling Hua secretly exchanged glances with Yan Zhujun, and after confirming that Su Mu was determined, Ling Hua gritted his teeth and said: “The Young Mistress can use the excuse of marital discord to heartlessly abandon the young master, but have you forgotten the great kindness the Lord showed you when you were destitute? If it weren’t for the Lord, you—”

“Ling Hua, that’s enough, don’t say anymore.” Yan Zhujun turned his prayer beads, his eyes filled with sorrow and forbearance.

Ling Hua refused to shut up and said loudly: “In the three months of severe winter, with bone-chilling cold, if it weren’t for the Lord back then, Young Mistress, how could you be alive and kicking like this now? But you repay kindness with enmity.”

“Ling Hua.” Yan Zhujun scolded angrily.

Ling Hua’s eyes were filled with tears, resentment in his eyes: “Lord, this slave just feels aggrieved for you. Now that the words pent up in my heart have finally been said, this slave feels relieved. You can beat or punish this slave without complaint.”

Su Mu leisurely drank her tea.

In her previous life, she had too little real-life experience. How did she not see that this was all an act?

“Su Mu, ah, Ling Hua, he… don’t take it to heart.” Yan Zhujun said earnestly.

Su Mu smiled slowly: “Of course I won’t. What Ling Hua said is all true. Back then, I indeed received your kindness.”

Hearing Su Mu voluntarily admit it, a flash of joy crossed Yan Zhujun’s eyes, thinking she would compromise like before.

But unexpectedly, Su Mu changed her tone: “So when you asked me to marry in as repayment for your kindness, even though I knew I would be pointed at and ridiculed by the whole city, looked down upon by all women, I accepted it. I endured the mockery from everyone in the Yan family. Isn’t this enough to repay your kindness?”

“The principle of repaying a droplet of kindness with a gushing spring is something even a three-year-old child understands,” Ling Hua refuted.

So in her previous life, her marriage, her ten years of time, and even her life had to be used to repay his kindness.

It was too tiring. She carried the kindness like a thousand-pound burden, pressing her so that she couldn’t breathe for ten years. So much so that later when she was dying from poison, what she felt was not fear of death, but relief.

But it’s good now, she has seen through it. People can’t be too soft-hearted, the bottom line that should be held must not be compromised even a step.

Yan Zhujun indeed showed her kindness, and she was willing to repay it, but she didn’t want to walk the old path of her previous life again. She could take the imperial examinations, or start a business again, or even provide financial support to Yan Zhujun when he needed it. She could accept all these, but she didn’t want to fall into the quagmire of marriage again.

Su Mu smiled and nodded: “Yes, your kindness to me is as vast as the sky, I can never repay it in my lifetime. Lord, please rest assured, in the future I will certainly be as filial as a daughter to you.”

To sum it up in one sentence, repaying kindness is possible, remarriage is impossible.

Yan Zhujun didn’t expect that Su Mu, who had always been easy to talk to in front of him, would be so adamant today, refusing to agree to remarriage no matter what. It seemed his well-laid plans were going to fall through.

Even though he was so angry he wanted to hit someone, there was nothing he could do. Who told Yan Jiyue to sign the divorce papers?

Having no choice, Yan Zhujun had to take a step back to move forward. His tone became gentle and even carried a hint of pleading: “If you don’t want to remarry, I won’t force you. But can you not announce this matter to others? You know, if those collateral branches know that you and Jiyue have divorced, we orphaned father and son won’t be able to keep the Yan family’s property.”

“Not announce it?” Su Mu smiled, leaning back lazily in her chair: “If it’s not announced, what’s the difference between signing these divorce papers and not signing them?”

Outsiders would still think she was the Yan family’s married-in husband, still to be pointed at behind her back.

More importantly, she was now preparing for the imperial examinations. If she didn’t announce her divorce before the exam, and only announced it after passing the scholar exam, it would give people something to talk about.

In the eyes of the people of Juancheng, Su Mu would be a white-eyed wolf who kicked away her humble husband after becoming successful, forever bearing a bad name.

If her reputation became bad, she might not even be able to take the imperial examinations in the future, equivalent to a high school senior permanently losing the qualification for the college entrance examination. This was almost no different from ruining her own future.

So this request was absolutely unacceptable to Su Mu.

“Su Mu, ah, you’ve always been a good child. Why have you suddenly changed your attitude, not even willing to agree to this small request of mine? You, you really make one’s heart cold.” Yan Zhujun’s hand gripping the cane slammed on the ground twice. At this moment, he could no longer pretend to smile kindly, his eyes full of intense unwillingness and resentment.

Su Mu remained silent, with a ‘as long as I have no morals, you can’t morally bind me’ look.

Yan Zhujun was so angry that he was puffing and glaring, nearly fainting.

Thinking that appearing in person to handle Su Mu was a sure thing, he didn’t expect her to be so adamant and uncooperative. Even when he pulled out his trump card of ‘kindness’, it couldn’t move her an inch. He could only grit his teeth and leave to think of another way.

Although Xie Yi didn’t understand much of the Central Plains language, he could guess seven or eight tenths of the commotion outside the room. It should be that the old man and Su Mu had a conflict, Su Mu was unwilling, so the old man turned hostile.

He didn’t expect that Su Mu also had troubles. He wondered what exactly that old man did to make Su Mu unhappy.

Even though he didn’t understand the argument between the two, Xie Yi still instinctively put Su Mu on the good side.

How could such a gentle person be bad?

Xie Yi swayed the bag of honey seeds candy, the plump orange-yellow transparent candies making slight collision sounds.

He swallowed, his throat that used to dislike sweet candies the most now seemed to grow dense fuzz, making him uncomfortably itchy.

He picked up a candy and ate it. The fruit fragrance mixed with sweetness spread, and the sour itch in his throat finally stopped completely.

Suddenly there was movement at the door, and Su Mu pushed it open and entered.