The Liu family initially made their fortune in the raw silk business.
Raw silk was abundant in the Fujian region, and the Liu family transported the local raw silk to the capital city for sale.
As time went by, they gradually expanded into the cloth and silk businesses.
Today, the Liu family not only owns a raw silk warehouse in the capital city but also two cloth stores and a silk store.
Although their scale still pales in comparison to those commercial titans in the capital, they live a comfortable and prosperous life.
Li Wanming first went to the warehouse to look for Liu Yiyi.
Raw silk was the foundation of the Liu family, and Liu Yiyi spent most of her time there, learning book - keeping and goods management.
But today, the warehouse clerk said that Liu Yiyi hadn't come. "Miss should be at the silk store. She said she would wait for a Miss Guo there..."
Miss Guo?
That should be Guo Xinyue.
At the birthday banquet for Li's mother the other day, Liu Yiyi had snagged Guo Xinyue's dress and promised to compensate her at the Liu family's silk store.
Li Wanming, accompanied by Chuntao, then went to the Liu family's silk store.
As soon as they entered, they saw Liu Yiyi standing in a daze in front of a smoke - like purple embroidered Wangxian dress hanging on the rack.
"Isn't this the dress Guo Xinyue wore that day? Has she been here?"
"Yes!" Liu Yiyi pulled her over. "She came early this morning! But she was really strange. Not only did she not want the compensation money, but she also brought gifts and said a lot of weird things."
"What weird things?"
Liu Yiyi said, "She said that at that time, she didn't know I was your friend. When she saw her dress torn, she got carried away and said those unpleasant things. She asked me not to take it to heart."
"Humph, she must think I'm a fool! Maybe she really didn't recognize me at first, but after seeing you fight for me, how could she not know? "
She curled her lips. "It was really those last few words of hers that twisted the truth that were so infuriating, but she didn't mention them at all!"
"If Princess Chengping hadn't arrived in time, people would really have thought we were ill - bred and bullying others just for a trivial matter. If this got out, both our reputations would be ruined! It might even affect your Uncle Li's official career..."
Li Wanming asked, "So what was she doing here today? Coming specially to apologize?"
Liu Yiyi raised her eyebrows. "Apologize? She came here under the pretext of an apology to pry into information about you!"
"Me?" Li Wanming was confused.
Liu Yiyi said, "She kept beating around the bush, asking what your family used to do and what your husband's family did... Don't worry, I fobbed her off. I didn't tell her a single truth!"
She looked disdainful. "I think she saw Princess Chengping go to your house that day, so she came here specially to find out about you from me!"
Li Wanming fell into deep thought.
This Guo Xinyue had a devious mind.
If she wanted to know about the Li family, instead of coming to her, she used the matter of the dress to inquire from Liu Yiyi.
This woman had both means and the ability to adapt. One could even say she was flexible.
They had just had a falling - out, but today she could come with gifts and claim to want to make friends...
If Sun Miaoqing really managed to marry into the Sun family, she was in for a tough time...
"Why did she leave her dress here? Did she give it to you?"
"She's not that kind - hearted!" Liu Yiyi said. "I wanted to compensate her, but she refused and said such a trivial matter wasn't worth worrying about... How could I not give her the money? What if she turned against me later?"
"Finally, she said that since our family ran a silk store and there must be excellent embroiderers here, she would leave this Wangxian dress and ask me to see if I could mend it."
"I thought this dress was so precious that it would be a pity to throw it away, so I agreed. But I didn't dare to take advantage of her. I gave her a hibiscus - colored wide - sleeved dress with tiger - eye stone pendants, which was also very expensive!"
At this moment, two elegantly dressed young women walked into the silk store and immediately took a fancy to the Wangxian dress on the rack.
"This dress is so beautiful... But why is it torn?"
Liu Yiyi greeted them apologetically. "Ladies, please take a look at other dresses first. Over there, there are brocade dresses with auspicious cloud patterns and dresses with turquoise jade pendants... This dress has a snagged thread. I'm trying to fix it."
The woman looked regretful. "It's such a pity. I heard that Princess Chengping is going to hold a flower - viewing banquet next month. I was planning to wear this dress there..."
Her companion stared at the dress for a while and suddenly exclaimed in a low voice, "I heard that a few days ago, the daughter of Minister Guo had a fight with the daughter of General Li over a Wangxian dress. Could it be this one?"
...
The culprit, Liu Yiyi, forced a smile. "No way. How could someone fight over a dress..."
The companion asked, "Are you the embroiderer in this store? Do you know who brought this dress here? Was it a tall girl with an oval face?"
Liu Yiyi stammered, "I... I don't know... Ladies, even if it was, Miss Guo wouldn't have brought the dress here herself!"
"You're right... What about the carriage? Did the carriage have the Guo Mansion's plaque on it?"
"I don't know. I didn't see it." At this point, Liu Yiyi also became a bit curious. "It's just a dress. Why do you care so much?"
"You don't know!" The two women were full of excitement. "A few days ago, General Li's mother celebrated her birthday, and something big happened in the Li family!"
"What big thing?" Li Wanming also leaned in.
She had been busy brewing wine these days and hadn't had the time to find out how the story of that day was being spread in the capital.
The woman's eyes were shining with excitement. "Do you know that the third daughter of the Li family caught a husband right after he passed the imperial examination? It's said that the parents of the husband she caught used to be doormen at the Ning Princess's natal family's mansion when they were in Langya!"
"Princess Chengping heard about this relationship and specially went to visit the old servants on behalf of the princess!"
"The princess is also nostalgic. Not only did she send the princess to visit, but it's also said that she specially rewarded the old servant with a bracelet."
"The old servant, who is now the father - in - law of the third daughter of the Li family, gave the bracelet to her... Who would have thought that the daughter of Minister Guo happened to have an identical bracelet, which she had just lost at the Li Mansion. She thought the bracelet on the third daughter of the Li family was hers. The two of them got into a fight as soon as they disagreed!"
Liu Yiyi couldn't believe it. "No way? Just because of a bracelet?"
The woman glanced at her. "That bracelet was made of Xuanshan jade and was very precious! Miss Guo had just lost her bracelet and happened to see the third daughter of the Li family wearing it. Naturally, she had a misunderstanding."
"Later, they finally found the thief who stole the bracelet. It was a maid with sticky fingers! Princess Chengping immediately ordered that the maid be beaten twenty big boards and then driven out!"
...
Li Wanming was stunned.
What on earth was all this?
Her father - in - law was a doorman at the Ning Princess's natal family's mansion?
She had a fight with Guo Xinyue?
And someone stole a bracelet and was beaten twenty big boards?
She did have a fight yesterday, but it wasn't with Guo Xinyue. It was with Sun Miaoqing.
The person who got beaten wasn't a sticky - fingered maid. It was still Sun Miaoqing.
As for the bracelet... The person who lost the bracelet yesterday wasn't Guo Xinyue. It was her.
She had worn the bracelet that her mother - in - law gave her when they first met to the birthday banquet yesterday. She didn't realize it was lost until she got back. She rushed back to look for it but couldn't find it.
Later, her mother - in - law said it didn't matter, as it wasn't a precious thing, so she had to let it go.
She never expected that the story had spread like this...
Some parts of this story were true, but some were false.
Each event had happened, but the people involved were all wrong.
Li Wanming couldn't help but admire the gossip - spinning ability of the people in the capital city.
They could tie several unrelated things together and spin such a smooth - flowing story!
It was completely illogical, but they could spread it so convincingly, with a clear logic and a self - consistent story.
Truly worthy of the people in the capital city, who had grown up surrounded by court gossip. They were really something!