On the way back to the academy, Li Wanming kept frowning, her heart heavy.
Guo Wei had given her too many surprises.
Before going to the Guo Mansion, she was quite confident in herself. She thought that with her intelligence, if not pulling the Guo family to the front as a shield, she could at least force the Guo family to advance and retreat with them.
But only now did she realize how naive she was.
She was simply naive to the point of stupidity!
When it came to being ruthless, compared with those old foxes who had experienced many battles in the court, she was like the sky and the earth.
Deluding herself into thinking that she could defeat Guo Wei by being unreasonable... she was really incredibly childish.
The more Li Wanming thought about it, the heavier her heart became, and there was also a trace of confusion.
Although she had agreed to meet the eldest princess, she had no idea when to meet, how to meet, or what to say after meeting...
At this moment, Li Wanming missed Xiao Jingnan terribly.
That person who always wore a nonchalant smile and seemed lazy, as if not caring about anything in the world, but was more reliable than anyone else at critical moments and had saved her from danger many times.
Li Wanming remembered again the rainy night on Half Stone Mountain.
The cold tip of the sword stabbed straight at her, making her think she was going to die, scaring her out of her wits... But the next second, his sleeve arrow shot through the air and pierced the chest of the villain.
He was always like this.
Unexpected.
Mysterious.
But when everything was told from his mouth, it seemed so reasonable.
Li Wanming's heart gradually calmed down.
Fortunately, she had already sent Qinglan to look for Xiao Jingnan before.
Now, maybe he had already returned to the academy and was waiting for her.
She would tell him everything later, including every word and every expression of Guo Wei... Xiao Jingnan must have an idea. He must have a way to pull her and the Li family out of this matter.
Yes, with Xiao Jingnan around, she and the Li family would surely be safe.
...
The carriage had just turned the corner when it suddenly stopped without warning.
Li Wanming was a bit puzzled and called out, "What's going on? Why don't we move forward?"
According to the journey, they should have just entered the alley and there was still a distance to the academy.
But it was very quiet outside the carriage. The coachman didn't answer her.
A sense of foreboding flashed through Li Wanming's mind. She lifted the curtain and saw a bright steel knife on the coachman's neck.
The coachman looked terrified, with his hands curled up in front of his chest, too scared to move.
The style of the steel knife was very familiar. It was exactly the same as the one that the eldest princess's guard had held across Fang Zhi's neck outside the Changxing Inn a few months ago.
There was also a carriage parked directly in front.
A beautiful-looking maid stood in front of the carriage. Her clothes were of good quality. She was smiling politely at Li Wanming.
She walked over, curtsied slightly, and said, "Miss Cheng, the eldest princess requests your presence."
Li Wanming's scalp went numb, and all the blood in her body rushed to her head.
The eldest princess wanted to see her...
Then, she must already know that she had gone to the Guo Mansion and also know the role she had played in it.
Maybe, she even knew every word that Li's mother, Lady He, and Guo Wei had said...
It was all over!
If the eldest princess knew that Lady He had called her a "whore", "slut", "despicable bitch", and "shameless fox spirit", how could the eldest princess spare her?
The eldest princess had specially sent someone to wait for her at the alley entrance. Maybe she was going to drag her to be beheaded!
This trip to the princess mansion was like going through the gates of hell!
Li Wanming's face suddenly turned pale. She swallowed hard and hesitated, "Um... Can I go back to the academy first? I haven't had lunch yet..."
If she was going to be a ghost, she might as well be a well-fed one.
The beautiful maid was slightly stunned for a moment, then shook her head and smiled, "I'm afraid not. The eldest princess has told me to invite Miss Cheng back immediately. I'm not allowed to delay."
Well...
As expected, it was not possible.
Li Wanming sighed helplessly and got out of the carriage.
The eldest princess had specially sent someone to wait for her here, probably because she was afraid that she would go back to the academy to send a message.
Moreover, as soon as they came up, they put the long knife on her coachman's neck. The meaning was even more obvious: Be honest with me and don't try to play any tricks!
Li Wanming walked over slowly and got on the carriage behind the maid.
"My coachman doesn't know anything. Can you let him go?"
"Miss Cheng, please rest assured. We haven't received any orders to kill this time." The good-tempered maid replied with a smile.
Li Wanming nodded slightly, but the next second she realized something was wrong.
This time...?
That meant that they had received orders to go out and kill before!
Li Wanming's heart was like a thousand-jin boulder filled with cold lead, slowly sinking into the bottomless valley.
This time when she went, her life or death was hard to predict.
The carriage started moving. She lifted the curtain and watched as the gate of the Zhaoyu Academy in the distance turned into a tiny, unreachable dot behind her. Her heart was filled with boundless desolation.
She didn't know if Qinglan had seen Xiao Jingnan and told him what had happened to the Li family.
Maybe he was on his way back?
Maybe he had already returned to the academy and was waiting for her in the main hall...
But it was useless.
Whether he had come back or not, it was all useless.
She had been hijacked by the eldest princess's people on the way, and even the coachman had been controlled. He had lost all track of her.
Li Wanming sat quietly in the carriage, unconsciously pinching her fingers until crescent-shaped white marks appeared on her knuckles. She didn't move at all, as if she was unconscious.
She was just a little bit away from seeing him.
But now, although they were so close, it seemed as far as the ends of the earth.
This time, he couldn't save her.
She could only rely on herself.
Suddenly, some fragments from her time in Min area flashed through Li Wanming's mind.
In her memory, she seemed to have once encountered a situation as isolated and dangerous as this one.
That time, she not only managed to turn the danger into safety but also helped her father and mother wipe out the largest bandit stronghold in Min area... Although it was all a bit muddled, and she didn't even know how it had happened.
But didn't that also prove her ability?
That's right!
She also had the ability!
Not only was she capable, but she was also very intelligent. Not only was she intelligent, but she was also very brave. Not only was she brave, but she also had some strange luck...
Li Wanming closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and suddenly a boundless courage rose in her heart.
If you don't enter the tiger's den, you can't get the tiger's cubs.
Let her charge into this dragon's den and tiger's lair alone this time!
After thinking this through, her heart became calm again.
Slowly loosening her fingers, Li Wanming felt a sharp pain in the虎口.
"Ah??!?"
The maid sitting in front of the carriage heard the scream from inside and couldn't help but turn her head, "Miss Cheng, what's the matter?"
"Nothing..."
After a moment of embarrassing silence, Li Wanming replied with a slight cry in her voice, "It's just... I pinched my hand and it's swollen..."
...