Li Wanming's mind raced.
From the very beginning today, Guo Wei had placed himself in a very humble position, constantly instilling in her that the Guo family was in a difficult situation and could only survive with the protection of others.
Li Wanming gradually sorted out her thoughts. Guo Wei was... playing the victim.
He wanted to arouse her sympathy while downplaying the political and terrifying aspects of this incident, reducing it to an ordinary emotional dispute within the inner chambers.
The young master had fallen in love with someone, but his parents had separated the loving couple. He was forced to marry another woman, but couldn't forget his old love after marriage and got entangled with her.
Eventually, the affair was exposed, and he was caught red - handed by his innocent wife.
In order to protect his lover, in a moment of desperation, the young master... well, pushed his wife instead of hitting her.
Now the wife's family had come to the door, and the young master's elderly father had to step forward to plead for his son's forgiveness from the wife's family...
Wasn't this the story Guo Wei wanted her to believe?
In this story, Guo Ziyan was infinitely affectionate, the Guo family doted on their son, Sun Miaoqing was innocent and pitiful, and the Eldest Princess had become an unreachable white moonlight...
The only one who seemed odious was her, the persistent family member who had come to the door.
However, unfortunately, due to some omissions in information, Guo Wei's judgment of the situation was greatly off - mark.
First of all, he didn't know that Li Wanming had met the Eldest Princess and had almost died at her hands. So the story of the ill - fated lovers couldn't move her.
Secondly, he didn't know that Li Wanming and Sun Miaoqing had a really bad relationship - not feigned, but truly abysmal. They had even fought violently and wished to kill each other.
Therefore, Guo Wei's words sounded rather discordant to Li Wanming.
But there was still one thing she couldn't figure out. What on earth was the ultimate purpose of Guo Wei's impassioned performance?
Could arousing her sympathy really appease the Eldest Princess's anger?
Li Wanming thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out. She couldn't help sighing and admitting that this kind of convoluted way of speaking didn't suit her.
She decided to be more straightforward and get to the point: "Lord Guo, what exactly do you want me to do by inviting me here today?"
Guo Wei smiled slightly and said, "Nothing much. I just hope Miss Cheng can persuade my daughter - in - law."
...
Persuade who?
Persuade Sun Miaoqing?
Li Wanming was a bit slow to react.
What was she supposed to persuade Sun Miaoqing to do?
Seeing her expression, Guo Wei continued, "My wife and I are getting old. All we hope for in our lives is that our children can get married, start their own businesses, and live in harmony."
"So I hope Miss Cheng can go and persuade her. Ask Miaoqing not to be angry anymore and come back home."
Li Wanming opened her mouth and said blankly, "Then why don't you go and pick her up directly?"
Guo Wei seemed to have anticipated this question. He calmly replied, "Miaoqing is very angry right now. If I send someone to pick her up rashly, I'm afraid it will make her even angrier."
"Also, Ziyan hasn't come home since this incident. If the servant who followed him hadn't come back to tell me, I wouldn't even have known such a thing had happened. So I still have to deal with Ziyan's heartache. I'll have to trouble Miss Cheng with Miaoqing."
"After all, this incident involves the reputation of the Eldest Princess. If it drags on for too long, it won't be good for anyone. That's why I asked my daughter to rush to find Miss Cheng."
His words were reasonable and flawless, perfectly explaining all the doubts and silencing Li Wanming.
Guo Wei lowered his eyelids and added, "Miss Cheng is Miaoqing's cousin. With such deep sisterly affection, you must also hope for your cousin's marital harmony. This matter is just a piece of cake for Miss Cheng. You shouldn't refuse, right?"
Here it comes again, here it comes...
That familiar feeling.
Li Wanming couldn't help but stand up.
She felt that since she entered this mansion today, she seemed to have been led by the nose by Guo Wei.
First, he made it hard for her to mind that the Guo family had played tricks and schemed against the Li family in Guo Ziyan's marriage. Now he made it seem as if she was heartless and sinful if she didn't go to persuade Sun Miaoqing...
What was this called?
This was called moral coercion!
Li Wanming didn't like this feeling at all.
What made her even more uncomfortable was that she still hadn't figured out Guo Wei's true intention.
So, she said, "I won't go."
Since she couldn't figure it out, she wouldn't bother trying.
Anyway, she just shouldn't follow his lead. If he said east, she'd say west; if he asked about the ground, she'd answer about the sky!
"What...?"
Guo Wei seemed not to have heard clearly.
Li Wanming walked back to the table and sat down again. "I said, I won't go."
"Lord Guo may not be aware of the situation in my family. Sun Miaoqing and I just don't get along. Whenever we meet, we quarrel like cat and dog. So I'm overjoyed to see her in trouble. There's no way I'm going to persuade her."
A rare look of surprise flashed across Guo Wei's face. "You..."
"If Lord Guo really wants Sun Miaoqing to come back, you can just send someone to shout at the gate of the Li Mansion. I guarantee that Sun Miaoqing will come running out happily and follow you back."
"Oh, you don't even need you or Young Master Guo to go and pick her up in person. Just send a servant to yell a few words at the gate."
Guo Wei stared wide - eyed, hardly believing his ears.
Yell a few words?
And Sun Miaoqing would... would... come out?
As a scholar, he couldn't repeat Li Wanming's vulgar words.
He couldn't even understand how such words could come out of the mouth of a general's daughter and a young lady from a noble family.
Guo Wei was stunned for a long time before he said, "Miss Cheng is joking. It's just a little squabble between young girls. How could it be so..."
"I'm not joking." Li Wanming said seriously, "Her grandmother has always wanted to adopt her grandson into my family. She stole my bracelet and tried to make me commit the crime of overstepping my rank. If my grandmother wasn't so muddle - headed, I would have driven her out of the Li family and never had anything to do with her again."
Then, she rambled on for a long time, exposing all of Sun Miaoqing's despicable deeds over the years!
"Now, Lord Guo, do you believe that I really want to see her in trouble?"
Li Wanming stared at Guo Wei with big, innocent eyes, looking even more sincere than him.
Guo Wei was so shocked that he couldn't say a word for a long time.
When he had asked for Sun Miaoqing's hand in marriage for Guo Ziyan, he had only valued the vague background of the Princess Chengping. He had never expected that the Sun family was so vulgar and only resorted to such despicable tricks.
Moreover, now he was told that the connection he had schemed so hard to form had already been in a complete mess because of Sun Miaoqing and was completely unreliable?
Then why had he married her into the family?
The position of the young mistress of the Guo family was something that many families yearned for, but it had ended up being given to such a fool!
No, this wouldn't do.
He would never allow himself to make such a mistake.
Whether Li Wanming wanted to or not, she had to form a connection with the Princess Chengping.