Thinking of the conflict between her and Zhou Qinghe, Qiao Jinniang said to the Empress, “Mother, just now Aunt said something rude to me, so my imperial maid helped me teach her a lesson…”

The Empress said, “She has always been unruly and unconstrained. Just treat her according to the rules. Don’t have to treat her specially for the sake of me.”

Qiao Jinniang smiled and said, “Thank you, Mother.”

Qiao Jinniang got the title deeds for the shops and wrote to Nuomi, Huixiang and the others.

She wanted to hand over the restaurant in Luoyang to Huixiang to manage, who was about to get married now. Plus, he was already a competent shop manager now.

Therefore, Qiao Jinniang planned to let Huixiang manage Myriad Taste, which would be opened soon in Luoyang.

…

On the day when the Qin family was exiled, Zhou Siming came to visit Qin Miaomiao.

The misunderstanding between them had just been cleared up, but now he could only watch her be exiled to the frontier and could do nothing about it.

Qin Miaomiao supported Mrs. Qin and said, “Mother, don’t be sad. I will take good care of you in the frontier, and I will definitely not let you suffer any grievances.”

Mrs. Qin took Qin Miaomiao’s hand and said in tears, “My poor daughter, it’s your brother who ruined you!”

Qin Shu, who had been imprisoned for many days, was released from prison by the Ministry of Penalty because he didn’t kill Qiao Ruoyun himself. As soon as he got out of the prison, he went to the Duke Anyuan Mansion.

He was knocking hard on the door of the Duke Anyuan Mansion. “Qiao Ruoyun, come out! You’ve already avenged yourself. Why are you still hiding?!”

“Ruoyun, Ruoyun… I was wrong. Can you forgive me for the sake of our affections?”

Qiao Lu opened the gate of the Duke Mansion, looked at Qin Shu coldly and said, “It’s too late to admit your mistake now! My sister is dead!”

Qin Shu said loudly, “No, she is not dead. I know she is still alive! I saw her alive with my own eyes!”

The two officials of the Ministry of Penalty who were responsible for sending the Qin family to the frontier stepped forward and said to Qin Shu, “Qin Shu, it’s time for you to set off. Stop making trouble.”

Qin Shu knelt on the ground and begged, “Ah Lu, let me see your sister, okay?”

“Please, I beg you.”

A maid walked up to Qiao Lu. Qiao Lu frowned slightly and said to the officials of the Ministry of Penalty. “Please wait a moment.”

“Okay, Young Master Qiao.”

Qin Shu hurried into the Duke Mansion, rolling and crawling. When he saw Qiao Ruoyun on a small bridge, looking thinner and haggard, he rushed over and said, “Ruoyun, I know I was wrong. You don’t know how much I love you. I couldn’t sleep every night after I thought you died!”

“Please, give me a chance, okay? Let’s live together happily, okay? I’ll never mind your bloodline anymore!”

“Ruoyun, think about how happy we were…”

Qiao Ruoyun closed her eyes and handed him the paper in her hand. “Qin Shu, this is our divorce letter. Sign it!”

Qin Shu held the divorce letter and kept shaking his head. “No, don’t even think about it. I won’t divorce you. Ruoyun, how can you be so cruel to me? Did you forget how much I loved you in the past?”

Qiao Ruoyun said with difficulty, “Loved me? If you really loved me, why did you despise my bloodline so much? I am weak, but I am not stupid!”

Qin Shu tore the divorce letter into pieces and threw them to the sky. “Don’t even think about dumping me. Since you are alive, you are my wife. Now that the Qin family is to be exiled to the frontier, you’ll have to go with us!”

“Otherwise, you can only hide for the rest of your life in case others find out that you are still alive.”

Qiao Ruoyun was deeply disgusted at Qin Shu’s words. Her love for him was completely gone at this moment.

Qiao Lu was also angry. “Qin Shu, how can you be so shameless?”

Qin Shu laughed crazily. “For the sake of Qiao Ruoyun, the Crown Princess and the Qiao family ruined our Qin family! How can I let her off?!””

“Even if I am exiled to the frontier, I have Qiao Ruoyun with me. The Crown Princess will definitely not let Qiao Ruoyun suffer, right?”

Qiao Ruoyun’s face turned black with anger. “You’re really shameless! Your Qin family wanted to murder me, and now you still want to make use of me?!”

Qin Shu said, “Ruoyun, you are my wife. Unless you are willing to be a dead person and conceal your identity for the rest of your life, you can only go to the frontier with me!”

Qiao Ruoyun frowned.

Qiao Lu was so angry that he punched Qin Shu in the face. “B*stard!”

Qiao Lu was good at martial arts, so the punch made Qin Shu spit out a tooth, but he still laughed crazily. “Ruoyun, don’t even think about leaving me in this life. You belong to me, and will always belong to me this life!”

Blue veins protruded on the back of Qiao Lu’s hand, and he grabbed Qin Shu’s neck.

Qiao Ruoyun hurriedly persuaded Qiao Lu to let go.

Qiao Lu shouted at Qiao Ruoyun, “Sister, do you still want to protect this shameless b*stard?!”

Qiao Ruoyun choked with tears and said, “Ah Lu, this grudge is between us. It has nothing to do with you. You’re still young. It’s not worth it.”

Qiao Lu looked at Qiao Ruoyun and slowly let go.

Qin Shu sneered at Qiao Ruoyun and said, “My dear wife, I will be waiting for you at the frontier.”

…

Qiao Jinniang secretly went to the shops with Lu Chen.

Qiao Jinniang drew the drawings and planned to go back to think about how to decorate the shops.

When it was dark, she went back to the Duke Anyuan Mansion to visit Qiao Ruoyun, but as soon as she entered the Duke Mansion, she heard Qiao Ruoyun’s sad cries and Duke Anyuan’s angry scolding.

Everyone got up and saluted Lu Chen and Qiao Jinniang when they saw the two of them.

Qiao Jinniang said, “Arise. Sister, what happened? Why are you crying? Haven’t the Qin family been exiled today?”

Qiao Lu briefly told Qiao Jinniang what Qin Shu had done today. “Qin Shu still wanted to make use of Eldest Sister, and refused to sign the divorce letter.”

Qiao Jinniang asked Qiao Ruoyun, “Why do you need him to give you a divorce letter?

“The law of Datang has the rule of ‘Yijue’ that if one of the spouses wants to harm the other, the harmed can directly divorce the other without gaining his or her permission. The Qin family wanted to murder you. You can apply to the government for ‘Yijue’!”

“According to the law of Datang, there are three types of divorces, the first type is the husband divorcing the wife by giving her a divorce letter, another is a negotiated divorce between the husband and wife.

“The third is “Yijue”. If one of the spouses was abused or tried to murder the other, the victim could apply for “Yijue”.

Qiao Ruoyun covered her eyes with her handkerchief and said, “I’m afraid it won’t work. Yijue is the privilege of men. Only when the wife abuses or tries to murder her husband, her husband can apply for Yijue, but when the husband wants to kill his wife, Yijue doesn’t apply.”

Qiao Jinniang looked at Lu Chen and asked, “Really?”

Lu Chen nodded. “Yes.”

Qiao Jinniang pursed her lips. “The law is so biased in favor of men. No wonder Qin Shu is so unscrupulous.

“I think the law of Yijue should be changed! Otherwise, if a woman is in Sister Ruoyun’s situation, she will have no choice but to die!”

Lu Chen nodded and said, “But even if the law can be revised, it can’t be done overnight. It will take at least a year. The most important thing now is to get Qin Shu to sign the divorce letter.”

Qiao Jinniang asked Lu Chen, “Do you have any ways to get him to sign the divorce letter?”

Lu Chen smiled and said, “Yes, and we don’t need to do anything. Gu Ming, go to Prince Wu and tell him what happened today.”

“Yes, Your Royal Highness.”