Just an hour after Yu Wantang left the Generals Mansion, teahouses and taverns all over the capital were buzzing with the news.

"Have you heard? General Pei and his wife have divorced, and every single piece of her dowry was moved away without missing a single item."

"That is true. General Pei brazenly brought a woman back, even a clay figurine would have some temper."

"General Zhenyuan is really something. He doesn't want such a good wife, but insists on taking a life-saver as a concubine. Now that his wife has left with the money, what is he going to use to support the new wife?"

The waiter poured tea for them and couldn't help chiming in, "Support what new wife? I heard that Miss Liu has already left. Using the title of a concubine to repay a life-saving grace is just laughable."

"You only know one part, not the second." In the corner, a middle-aged man with a goatee put down his teacup, looked around, and only spoke slowly after everyone's gazes gathered on him.

"I heard that the reason General Pei was saved by that Miss Liu in the first place was simply because he was greedy for merit and advanced rashly, leading to him being ambushed by the enemy."

"If he hadn't been courting death himself, would he have needed anyone to save him?"

The teahouse buzzed and erupted into a commotion.

The news seemed to have grown legs as it spread through every street and alley of the entire capital.

As soon as the words fell, another burst of laughter came from downstairs.

"If you put it that way, the former General's wife getting a divorce was actually a good thing."

Imperial Study.

The dragon saliva incense in the gilded suanmi censer was burning intensely, yet it could not suppress the suffocatingly stagnant atmosphere inside the hall.

Pei Xiao knelt on the cold floor tiles, his knees already growing somewhat numb.

"Pei Xiao, look at the good deeds you've done!"

As soon as the voice fell, a stack of memorials smashed straight towards his face.

Pei Xiao instinctively turned his head, the memorials flying past his temple and scattering all over the floor. He did not dare to get up to pick them up, only reaching out to grab the nearest one and open it.

After reading just two lines, the color drained completely from his face, and his back grew cold.

There was a buzzing sound in his mind.

He never expected that a matter from so long ago would be dug up by someone again.

"Your Majesty, this minister..." He opened his mouth, his throat feeling as if it were stuffed with a ball of cotton.

"I do not want to listen to your explanation."

The Emperor finally raised his eyes, his gaze like ice-quenched knives.

"I will only ask you this: those three thousand lives, can you sleep at night?"

"This minister knows his crime."

Fine beads of sweat oozed from Pei Xiao's forehead, trickling down his brow bone.

"Internally, you cannot regulate your family; externally, you cannot fend off the enemy. I dare not entrust my empire to someone like you."

The Emperor's voice was not loud, but every single word hammered into Pei Xiao's heart: "General Zhenyuan Pei Xiao, strip away your title and take back your military power. Considering that you did indeed have military merits in the past, your death sentence is spared. You are banished to the northern border military camp to start over as an ordinary soldier. Without military orders, you are not allowed to leave the camp without authorization. If you make a mistake again, I will show no mercy."

Pei Xiao prostrated himself on the ground, his helmet knocking against the brick surface with a dull sound.

The things he was most proud of in his life were gone.

Two guards stepped forward and hoisted him up from left and right.

When walking out of the Imperial Study, he looked up at the setting sun on the palace walls.

An hour ago, he was still General Zhenyuan, the youngest military general in the capital.

He thought that Yu Wantang's departure only meant he had lost an easily manipulated moneybag.

He did not know that what she took away went far beyond her dowry.

Unfortunately, it was too late to regret now.

Yu Wantang did not personally submit those pieces of evidence. She merely entrusted people to smooth over the connections between the Ministry of War and the Censorate, and naturally, people rushed forward to impeach him.

...

In the private room of Huichun Pavilion, it was very lively at the moment.

Shen Rong held a teacup. Sitting beside her were several noble young ladies of the capital, eating pastries while listening to the gossip drifting up from downstairs.

"The Pei family totally deserved it. They couldn't even manage to live off a woman properly."

Lin Yu sat opposite her, wiping the tea stains from the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief and nodding repeatedly.

Someone said, "Sister Yu is such a good person, pretty, gentle, and generous with her money. She was even willing to give money to a sister-in-law like Pei Rou to spend. If only she were my sister-in-law."

Shen Rong glanced sideways at her: "You wish."

Another young lady's shoulders trembled with laughter: "Stop arguing, you two. A girl like Sister Yu is someone no one is worthy of. However she wants to live, she can live; why bother entering someone else's household again?"

Hearing this, the corners of Shen Rong's lips finally curved upward.

She put down her teacup, her tone soft yet tinged with certainty: "Sister Yu is not someone nobody wants; she is just someone who doesn't need to rely on anyone."

The private room fell silent for an instant.

Lin Yu looked at her and suddenly slammed the table: "Well said! It should be like this. Why shouldn't a woman be able to live her life after leaving a man? Sister Yu left wonderfully and brilliantly today."

The few of them looked at each other and smiled.

...

The large mansion in the east of the city.

Xiaocui stood beside her, recounting it with glowing enthusiasm.

"Miss, son-in-law—no, that's wrong, Pei Xiao has been severely punished by the Emperor. His military power is gone, and he's being sent to the frontier to start as an ordinary soldier. The servants in the mansion have all left and scattered."

"Look, I only let go of my hand, and they fell down by themselves."

Xiaocui suddenly remembered something, and pulled out an object shaped like a palm from the wooden box behind her, glittering golden in the sunlight. "Miss, what is this thing you had people make?"

She turned it over and over to look at it for a long time, becoming more and more confused the more she looked.

Yu Wantang smiled meaningfully.

"This, ah, is your Miss's secret weapon. It is called 'hearing a bang'."

【Ding, congratulations to the host for completing this world's task.】

The system's voice rang out punctually.

Back in the familiar system space, Yu Wantang stretched lazily.

"Host, face-slapping feels great, doesn't it?"

"It's alright. I just hope that screenwriters in short dramas won't write those lousy plots of offering oneself in marriage to repay a debt anymore."

"There are thousands of ways to repay a kindness. Whether giving gold and silver treasures or a brilliant future, both are better than offering oneself in marriage."

【Completion Evaluation: SS Grade.】

【Obtained Speedrun Points: 30,000 points.】

【Current Ten Billion Assets Progress: 17%কারীর.】

Yu Wantang stared at that number on the panel for a long time.

She took a deep breath.

"System, can't it increase a bit more? I reasonably suspect you did this on purpose!"

"This system does not have intentional behavior; the progress is objectively calculated based on task completion..."

"Alright, alright, this time I have a few boxes to bring into the space."

"Understood, 1% of the speedrun points will be deducted as usual."

"Alright, got it."

Deduct if you must, I can always earn it back.

It's just that the progress value is back to 16% now.

Yu Wantang silently muttered in her heart: black-hearted capitalist.

Ever since she discovered that jewelry and jade could upgrade the space, she had intentionally collected these items. Visually estimating, the space area was already several tens of cubic meters, and she needed to keep up the good work and strive harder.

The panel played what happened after she left.

On the side of the Generals Mansion, before the imperial edict even arrived, the two concubines got the news and packed up their valuables, one running south and the other running north, running faster than rabbits.

Pei Rou locked herself in her room and didn't step outside for three days.

Those young ladies who used to send invitations to her door asking her to appreciate flowers and listen to music seemed to have agreed beforehand, as one by one they lost all trace.

On the day Pei Xiao was escorted out of the capital, the Pei family's last bit of decency also completely dissipated.

In the end, Pei Rou took the two old folks back to the countryside, making a living by selling embroidery.

In Jiangnan, inside a certain three-courtyard mansion.

Liu Ruyan was lying on a rocking chair, and a handsome young man in black was holding a grape between his fingers and bringing it to her lips.

"Sister Liu, taste this, freshly picked this morning."

Liu Ruyan took a bite from his hand, juice splashing out. She pressed the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief and waved her hand lazily.

"It's sweet, but just not as big as the ones bought outside."

Another young man in white came out of the room, waving a cattail leaf fan in his hand, fanning her neither too heavily nor too lightly.

"Look, Sister Liu still likes me best."

Liu Ruyan was amused to laughter by the banter between these two people.

She looked up at the sky; this life was truly wonderful.