Lanyin led Ting Yun and Shan Xi into the Ministry of Revenue’s main gate. After being directed by the clerks, they proceeded to the household registration department responsible for handling divorce documents.
Perhaps because it was still early, the household registration department was unexpectedly not crowded at this hour. Many government officers and clerks sat on the side, drinking morning tea and eating breakfast while gossiping about various recent events in the city.
The household registration department had always been the place where gossip thrived the most. For instance, just yesterday, a certain man had been caught cheating outside by his fierce legitimate wife, who insisted on taking the matter to court and demanding a divorce. But in the end, for various reasons, they did not go through with it, only to become a laughingstock.
There was also talk about a certain young master, known for his refined appearance and widely praised as a gentleman, who unexpectedly already had illegitimate children outside—more than one, in fact. Now that his fiancée had found out, she was demanding to break off the engagement. What was once a reputable match between two prominent families had now turned into a citywide joke.
…
After such stories, naturally, someone brought up the most widely spread rumor from the previous day.
“Speaking of which, the Chengbo Residence has been in turmoil for over half a month. Yesterday, they finally retrieved that divorce document.”
“His Majesty had already issued a decree. Did the residence think they could disobey the imperial edict? But I heard that when Lord Li went over yesterday, that Young Master Xiao still refused to hand over the divorce document. It was only after much commotion that his household guards finally took it out.”
“Why go through all that? Now everyone knows about it, and he was even demoted by His Majesty.”
“I really wonder just what kind of devastating beauty those Gu sisters possess to make that Young Master Xiao act like this…”
Ting Yun happened to hear this sentence just as she entered with Lanyin. Seeing them talk more and more outrageously, her expression immediately turned cold. Years of experience as a senior maid had made her fearless even when facing a room full of officials.
She stood at the doorway, looked inside, and sternly rebuked, “How impudent!”
Those officials had clearly not expected to be scolded so abruptly. The group who had been gossiping was momentarily stunned. They turned toward the voice, but due to the backlight, they could not immediately make out the newcomers’ faces. They could only see the silhouettes of two women.
Being rebuked by a woman in their own domain was something these pampered officials could not tolerate. Just as they were about to retort, they saw a young man dressed as a servant hurriedly running over.
The master and servants entered the room.
Without the light from outside, their appearances became clear. The officials in the household registration department were still momentarily dazed by Lanyin’s beauty, but when their eyes caught sight of Shan Xi, their expressions immediately changed.
They did not recognize Lanyin and her servants, but there was no way they would not recognize this little servant who had visited multiple times. And upon hearing him address the woman in yellow as “Master”…
The group, who had just been brimming with arrogance, instantly fell silent. Some even looked embarrassed. Being caught gossiping about the very person they were discussing, and by such a beautiful woman at that, made them wish they could find a hole to crawl into.
The room fell into silence.
Ting Yun’s face remained cold, while the officials opposite her also did not speak. Eventually, Lanyin broke the silence.
“Apologies for the disturbance. I am here to collect the divorce receipt. Has it been processed?”
Her face carried the same gentle smile as always, and her tone was mild. This made the officials in the room involuntarily breathe a sigh of relief.
“It’s ready, it’s ready.”
A blue-robed official, who was clearly of higher rank, quickly responded politely to Lanyin. While instructing someone to fetch the document, he continued, “We were originally planning to send it over to you later, but we didn’t expect you to come in person.”
“Since I was passing by, I thought it would save the esteemed officials of the Ministry of Revenue the trouble of making another trip.” Lanyin said with a smile.
A clerk brought over the receipt.
Without needing Lanyin to say anything, Shan Xi immediately stepped forward, took the document, and respectfully presented it to Lanyin.
This was Lanyin’s first time encountering such a document.
In her previous life, she had been abandoned by Xiao Ye, but no one from the Ministry of Revenue had sought her out. At that time, she had been too busy investigating who had schemed against her to spare any thought for this matter. Later, when the truth was uncovered, she perished in a fire and never knew whether the Ministry of Revenue had come looking for her afterward. Even if they had, she would not have been able to see it.
Now, holding the divorce receipt in her hand, Lanyin could not help but stare at it for a long while.
The blue-robed official who had spoken earlier thought she was worried about the authenticity of the receipt and couldn’t help but smile as he said to her, “Rest assured, this document bears the official seal of our Ministry of Revenue. It cannot be forged.”
Naturally, Lanyin did not doubt the authenticity of this receipt.
Now that even the emperor had spoken, no matter how bold the people of the Ministry of Revenue were, they would not dare to deceive the Son of Heaven. Moreover, Xiao Ye did not have the ability to make the entire Ministry of Revenue cover for him and deceive the emperor together.
She just felt somewhat dazed…
Although she had long proposed the divorce to Xiao Ye and had already left the Chengbo Residence, it was only at the moment she truly received the receipt that she felt that from now on, she was truly only Gu Lanyin, no longer the heir consort of the Chengbo Residence, no longer anyone’s wife.
She remained silent for a long while.
Then, she slowly and gently put away the receipt, bit by bit. Only after handing it to Ting Yun did she lift her head to look at the officials opposite her and smile warmly, saying, “Thank you, my lord.”
“No need, no need, this is what we should do.”
To be honest, they should be thanking Miss Gu instead—it was because of her good temper that she had not made a big scene; otherwise, this matter would not have been so easily resolved. Thinking about how they had repeatedly delayed handing over the receipt for Xiao Ye’s sake in the past, the blue-robed official unconsciously softened his tone when speaking to Lanyin again. “By the way, there is one more matter. We originally planned to send someone to ask you, but since you are here, we may as well ask directly.”
“Please, go ahead.” Lanyin looked at him.
“Your household registration was originally moved to the Chengbo Residence. Now, of course, it needs to be transferred out. Would you like to move it back to Lin’an, or…” Before he could finish speaking, Lanyin asked, “I heard that a divorced woman can establish her own household if she owns a residence?”
She had never been well-versed in the law, but recently, she had idly flipped through books on the subject and had looked into this matter.
“Ah, yes…” The official was momentarily stunned before asking her, “Do you want to establish your own household?” Without waiting for Lanyin’s response, he added, “Actually, moving it back to Lin’an isn’t a problem either. It may be a little troublesome, but it’s not a big deal.”
He assumed Lanyin was worried about troubling them.
If it were anyone else, he naturally would not have said so much. To them, since they received the same salary regardless, it was best to do as little work as possible. However, facing Lanyin’s gentle demeanor and feeling guilty about having been caught gossiping about her earlier, the official suddenly felt that a little extra trouble was not a problem.
Lanyin, of course, was not afraid of trouble.
She knew that even if she established her own household, she could never sever the blood ties that ran in her veins. At present, blood relations were regarded with great importance. No matter how deep the grievances between them, in the eyes of the world, they were still a family. But… she smiled and looked at the official, saying, “No need for the trouble, I will establish my own household.”
The official said no more.
He asked Lanyin to sit and wait for a moment while he instructed the clerks to handle the matter. After about two quarters of an hour, someone brought her a household registration certificate.
Looking at the certificate, Lanyin did not stare at it for as long as she had the receipt earlier. She only glanced at it once before rising to nod at the officials, once again thanking them, “Many thanks, my lord.”
Then, she nodded slightly to the other officials before leading Ting Yun and Shan Xi out.
Watching her leave, the previously silent office finally erupted in hushed conversations again.
“This Heir Cons—” Someone almost habitually called her ‘Heir Consort’ but stopped at the last moment, clicked his tongue, and corrected himself, “This Miss Gu is truly both beautiful and gentle. That Young Master Xiao must be blind to let go of such a treasure.”
“Still, it’s understandable why that Young Master Xiao refused to divorce her even at the cost of being demoted. With a wife like that, who would be willing to part with her?”
“Good thing they separated. That Young Master Xiao can fool around with anyone, yet he had to play with his own wife’s younger sister. But that Miss Gu’s younger sister is no saint either—she’s still a widow, yet she followed her brother-in-law back to his home. Now that things have blown up like this, she hasn’t even offered a single explanation. I think this whole mess is exactly what she wanted!”
“But now that things have escalated so much, does that Young Master Xiao really think he can still marry her?”
“Who knows?”
“But speaking of which, now that Miss Gu has already taken the receipt, why hasn’t anyone from the Chengbo Residence come yet? Could it be that they don’t dare to?”
“Heh, you’ve got that right. You all don’t know what’s happening at the Chengbo Residence right now—there are quite a lot of onlookers gathered outside. I heard that yesterday, someone, not sure who started it, began throwing rotten vegetables and spoiled eggs at their gate, making the people inside furious. And there were even some scholars outside cursing that Young Master Xiao for keeping a mistress in a golden house and abandoning…”
The person had originally intended to say “abandoning his first wife,” but upon recalling Lanyin’s beauty and grace, they found the words too harsh to utter and vaguely glossed over it.
This was indeed fresh news.
Hearing this, the others couldn’t help but grow interested. “Those people are really daring. Aren’t they afraid of the Chengbo Residence retaliating?”
“What’s there to be afraid of? Given the Chengbo Residence’s current state, they’re like a clay Bodhisattva crossing a river—barely able to protect themselves. Besides, if it were just a few people, maybe they’d have to be careful. But with so many, who could possibly keep track? But speaking of which, the old madam of the Chengbo Residence isn’t exactly a virtuous person either.”
“How so?” someone asked curiously. “I remember that old madam as someone who was rather charitable and kind.”
“Yesterday, the scolding outside got too intense, so the old madam had to come out and speak. She claimed that Young Master Xiao took in Lady Fang because she had suffered mistreatment in her husband’s family, and he couldn’t bear to see it, so he brought her to Bianjing. Now, he won’t let her leave because she is unwell and cannot afford to worry too much. She even had a few physicians testify to it…”
“And what was the result?”
“The result…” That person laughed and shook his head. “The old madam herself nearly got hit with rotten vegetables.”
“She must have thought others were ignorant. But setting aside the matters of the Chengbo Residence itself, Lady Fang is a married woman—she has a family of her own, doesn’t she? So why didn’t she return home and instead followed her brother-in-law all the way to Bianjing? The Fang family and the Changxing Marquis Residence are both in Lin’an, yet she ignored her home right nearby and insisted on coming to Bianjing. Not only that, but she drove her own elder sister to divorce. If someone were to say that there’s nothing improper between her and Young Master Xiao, who would believe it?”
After hearing this, the group clicked their tongues in dismay. “The reputation of the Chengbo Residence is completely ruined now. I wonder if Young Master Xiao regrets his actions…”
…
The room was filled with chatter—some scolding Xiao Ye and Gu Qing for being shameless, others lamenting Lanyin’s hardships.
Lanyin, however, was unaware of all this. She was still walking within the Ministry of Revenue’s offices. By now, the place was bustling with more people, and naturally, many turned to look at her. Some were astonished by her beauty, while others speculated about her purpose for coming here…
Ting Yun and Shan Xi frowned as they watched, wanting to step in front of Lanyin to shield her from those prying eyes.
Lanyin, however, did not mind.
From the moment she left the Chengbo Residence, she knew she would be subjected to scrutiny in the future.
Besides, when she opened her business later, she would inevitably be watched and talked about. She allowed them to look as they pleased and even reassured Ting Yun and Shan Xi, saying, “It’s fine.” Then, under the public’s gaze, she continued walking toward the exit.
Before she reached the outside, she saw Lu Boting entering, surrounded by a crowd.