The Zhao Family’s residence was in the city center.

A round trip would take over an hour.

’Why go to all that trouble? It’s not like the Zhao Family doesn’t have any spare rooms.’

Beside them, Aunt Zhao quickly added:

"That’s right, sister. What are you doing? We’ve already prepared a room for you at home."

Aunt Zhao hadn’t said much today.

Mainly because she was feeling rather embarrassed.

Just think, before the New Year, the two of them were about to become in-laws...

And now, look at the situation...

She had become her prospective son-in-law’s second wife, and had even shamelessly gotten pregnant...

Speaking of which, there wasn’t much of an age difference between the two of them.

Lu Yuan’s mother-in-law was only a year or two older than Aunt Zhao.

That’s why Aunt Zhao felt too awkward to speak today.

But when she saw that Lu Yuan’s mother-in-law was insisting on staying elsewhere instead of at their home,

Aunt Zhao started to get a little anxious.

’What does this mean? Is she angry with us?’

Seeing Aunt Zhao’s expression, Lu Yuan’s mother-in-law seemed to realize something.

Then, she quickly looked at Aunt Zhao and said:

"Oh, my dear sister, please don’t overthink things.

The reason we’re not staying at your home is really..."

With that, Lu Yuan’s mother-in-law nudged his father-in-law, who was sitting beside her.

The father-in-law, who had been silent the whole time, snapped out of it and quickly added:

"Yes, yes, we were thinking of staying at Second Uncle’s place for a few days..."

Lu Yuan’s father-in-law wasn’t very eloquent; he was a bit clumsy with his words.

He couldn’t really explain why, but it was clear he didn’t want to stay at Lu Yuan’s home either.

Seeing this, Second Uncle and Third Uncle, who were nearby, didn’t quite understand the situation either.

But they all chimed in to support Su Liyan’s mother.

’Maybe they just don’t want to be a bother?’

Besides, Second Uncle’s house was huge, with plenty of room for them to stay.

Lu Yuan wore a strange expression. He wanted to ask about it.

But seeing that his mother-in-law clearly didn’t want to talk, he knew it wouldn’t be good to press the issue.

Lu Yuan’s mother-in-law came back to her senses and quickly said to Aunt Zhao again:

"Sister, you’re the one who shouldn’t overthink.

We support you and Yuan’Er a million percent.

We read about your situation in the papers, sister. We came from a hard background too, so our hearts truly ache for you.

For things to turn out like this now, it’s truly a blessing from the heavens."

’Well, I’ll be. So the newspaper managed to fool my mother-in-law too.’

’Hmm...’

’Then again, you couldn’t really call it fooling her.’

’After all, seventy to eighty percent of what the newspaper said was true.’

Aunt Zhao’s past was indeed tragic.

The Liu Family had destroyed her family and left her with nothing.

Of course, Aunt Zhao didn’t let the Liu Family off easy, either. She brought ruin to their family in return.

Her methods were especially cruel, but it helped her vent her anger.

But that part just wasn’t written in the newspapers.

Hearing Lu Yuan’s mother-in-law speak with such sincerity and earnestness, Aunt Zhao finally let out a huge sigh of relief.

A smile finally appeared on her face.

Just moments ago, she had been on pins and needles, constantly glancing over to see her expression.

This was so much better.

Around nine o’clock at night,

the family banquet came to an end.

Before everyone left, Lu Yuan’s mother-in-law called Su Liyan outside to talk for a while.

He didn’t know what they talked about, but when his wife came back, she didn’t look very happy.

Lu Yuan didn’t press for details.

At the entrance of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, after seeing Second Uncle, Third Uncle, his father-in-law, and his mother-in-law off in their carriage,

Lu Yuan’s own family prepared to head home.

The Drunken Immortal Pavilion wasn’t too far from the Zhao Family residence.

Having just finished their meal, they decided to take a leisurely stroll back.

They weren’t in a hurry, after all.

On the way back, Lu Yuan turned to look at Su Liyan, who was holding his arm with her head down, lost in thought. He asked curiously:

"What’s really going on with your mother?

Why is she so insistent on not staying with us and going to Second Uncle’s place instead?"

Snapping back to reality, Su Liyan looked up at Lu Yuan and quickly explained:

"The Empress is unwell. My mother has to chant every night...

She was afraid it would be improper at our house and that she’d disturb everyone, so she decided not to stay."

Huh?

Lu Yuan was taken aback by her words.

’Oh.’

’That’s right.’

’Empress Ma’s health really has started to decline.’

Pretty much the whole country knew about it by now.

As for Lu Yuan, he had known for a long time, of course.

Not only did he know about her illness, he even knew when Empress Ma would pass away.

After all, the Divine Ling Empire was almost identical to Earth’s Great Ming, right down to the year.

It was currently the 15th year of Hongwu in the Divine Ling Empire.

It was April.

Under normal circumstances, Empress Ma would be gone by August.

She should already be at the point where she could barely get out of bed, and Old Zhu would soon begin a nationwide search for physicians.

But what made the Divine Ling Empire different from Earth’s Great Ming was the existence of a special group of people here.

You could call them a minority group.

People like his wife.

And this Half-demon Race had received the greatest favor from Empress Ma.

Without Empress Ma, they probably wouldn’t have survived.

Their feelings for Empress Ma ran incredibly deep.

Basically, they didn’t worship anyone or anything except Empress Ma.

For instance, when Lu Yuan and Su Liyan got married, his wife first had to go with her mother to pay respects to Empress Ma.

In their eyes, Empress Ma was the most revered person in their family.

It was a respect that came from the bottom of their hearts, as if for their own parents.

With Empress Ma’s current condition, the ones who were likely suffering the most were her close relatives and the Half-demon Race.

’But... chanting?’

Lu Yuan asked with a strange look on his face:

"Does that stuff... does chanting actually work?"

Lu Yuan knew that his mother-in-law was the village witch.