After Xiao Jingnan heard the whole story from Qing Lan, he knew this matter was thorny.
The Guo family must have had ill intentions in summoning Li Wanming at this critical moment.
He galloped all the way to the Guo residence but was told that Li Wanming had already left.
Left?
Where to?
Li Wanming's carriage had not returned to Zhaoyu Academy.
In fact, both the carriage and the people in it had disappeared without a trace, as if they had vanished from the world.
Xiao Jingnan was anxious inside, but his mind became even calmer.
He carefully pondered the ins and outs of the whole thing and the stakes involved, trying to find a way to break the deadlock.
First, this matter should not be made public.
This matter concerned the face of the Grand Princess and the privacy of the Guo family's inner chambers. It was not suitable to make it known to everyone. He couldn't alert his father, the princess consort, and Princess Chengping to search for her.
Second, although this matter was thorny, the number of families involved was not large.
It was nothing more than the Li family, the Guo family, the Sun family, and... the Grand Princess of Danyang.
...
After a brief thought, Xiao Jingnan had already deduced Li Wanming's whereabouts and headed straight for the Grand Princess's mansion.
From afar, through the layers of rain curtains, he saw Li Wanming.
Xiao Jingnan rushed forward and grabbed Li Wanming's hand.
Her hand was as cold as ice, and she looked extremely haggard. She was so thin that she seemed like a wisp of green smoke at night, ready to drift away at any moment.
Li Wanming looked up blankly and said, "Sun Miaoqing is dead."
Back at the academy, Li Wanming changed her clothes and sat on the couch, letting Xiao Jingnan dry her hair.
She still looked blank, her eyes lifeless, not moving at all.
Wan Xin and Wan Mo came to check on her twice, but were persuaded to go back by Xiao Jingnan on the grounds that Li Wanming had caught a cold from the rain and needed to rest.
He dried her hair, picked up the fire tongs to make the fire in the charcoal brazier burn more vigorously, then picked up a cup of ginger tea and stuffed it into Li Wanming's hand before sitting down opposite her.
"It's not your fault," were his first words.
Li Wanming's throat moved, but she still didn't say a word.
Xiao Jingnan hesitated for a moment and then said, "The Sun family has received the news of the death... The Guo family told them that it was a sudden and incurable illness... The funeral is scheduled for the day after tomorrow."
Li Wanming looked up and stared blankly at him, as if trying to digest the meaning of these words.
Xiao Jingnan continued, "Sun Pingchang came to the Li family to pick up Auntie Grandma. When she heard the news, she almost fainted. She kept muttering that Sun Miaoqing was fine when the Guo family sent someone to pick her up in the afternoon. How could she suddenly be gone? There must be something fishy going on... In the end, Sun Pingchang covered her mouth and dragged her home, half persuading her all the way."
"Sun Pingchang also said that his mother and daughter had troubled the Li family a lot in the past few years. He asked the old lady of the Li family to rest assured that they would not bother them anymore in the future."
Li Wanming was in a daze for a long time before asking, "Does he know how his daughter died?"
Xiao Jingnan looked at her. Her small face, no bigger than a palm, was as pale as paper, without a trace of blood. Her eyes were lifeless, just two dark holes, as if all her strength had been sucked away.
He felt pity in his heart, but after hesitating for a moment, he still whispered, "Wanming, Sun Pingchang serves under Guo Wei..."
She understood...
Li Wanming closed her eyes painfully.
Since Sun Pingchang served under Guo Wei, he couldn't afford to offend him.
Since he went to the Li family to pick up Mrs. He, he must have received the instruction from the Guo family.
Sun Miaoqing's death was suspicious, but he couldn't ask.
Not only couldn't he ask, but he also couldn't let Mrs. He spread the matter.
All the doubts had to be buried deep in his heart.
Li Wanming could imagine that in the future, Mrs. He probably wouldn't have the freedom to come and go as she pleased anymore - the Guo family wouldn't allow her to go out. The risk was too great.
...
For so many years, she had always hated Sun Miaoqing and Mrs. He, thinking they were stupid, bad, greedy, and even occupied someone else's nest without realizing it...
But now, seeing one of them dead and the other in a difficult situation, she felt infinitely desolate in her heart.
The fox mourns the death of the rabbit.
In the hands of the powerful and noble, they were probably all like ants, with no difference.
Xiao Jingnan observed her expression, sighed softly, silently took away the ginger tea from her hand, and replaced it with a pot of hot wine.
When in a bad mood, wine was a good remedy.
After taking two sips of the hot wine, a little color finally returned to Li Wanming's face.
Xiao Jingnan felt a little relieved and began to try to ask, "What did Guo Wei and the Grand Princess say to you?"
Although Sun Miaoqing was dead, it didn't necessarily mean that this matter was over. He had to clearly know what Guo Wei and the Grand Princess were thinking in order to make the next move.
Li Wanming's head was in a daze, but she still summoned up her spirit and told Xiao Jingnan exactly what Guo Wei and the Grand Princess had said to her.
After finishing, she lowered her head and said hoarsely, "I actually don't understand why Guo Wei insisted on letting me go to the Grand Princess's mansion."
"I guess he probably wanted the Li family to take the brunt and attract the Grand Princess's anger. But he must not have expected that after I met the Grand Princess, I hardly said a few words before things developed to this point..."
Li Wanming closed her eyes, and a clear tear slid down.
Guo Wei had deliberately forced her to go to the Grand Princess's mansion precisely because he didn't want to see the situation of divorcing his wife and thus had to break with the Li family.
It was a pity that no matter how well he calculated, he didn't expect that the powerful and noble would act so quickly and brutally. With one move, they took Sun Miaoqing's life and blocked all his retreats.
There was a bit of self - blame and a bit of shame in Li Wanming's voice: "Lord Guo overestimated me. He thought I alone could deal with the Grand Princess..."
"No, my lady, you're wrong,"
Xiao Jingnan looked at her quietly. "Guo Wei's intentions are even more sinister than you think. You don't need to feel guilty about him at all."
"What?" Li Wanming looked up in confusion.
Xiao Jingnan stood up and seemed to be thinking about how to tell her.
He frowned slightly, paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back for a few steps, and then slowly said, "My lady, do you remember last year on the Qixi Festival when we saw the Grand Princess outside the Moon - Old Man Temple?"
Li Wanming nodded. "I remember. She was riding in a flower carriage with a pattern of all birds paying homage to the phoenix. It was extremely luxurious and delicate."
How could she not remember?
That night, she had witnessed a vulgar scene and almost died at the hands of the Grand Princess.
Xiao Jingnan asked again, "My lady, do you know why she was riding in such a high - profile carriage?"
Li Wanming opened her eyes slightly.
Was there a reason for her high - profile behavior?
Judging from the few times she had met the Grand Princess, when wasn't she high - profile?
Xiao Jingnan knew what she was thinking, smiled slightly, and shook his head. "In the past, although the Grand Princess of Danyang was also arrogant, she wasn't so extravagant."
"The former emperor advocated frugality. If she had been so ostentatious at that time, she would probably have had her princess title revoked and been sent back to her fief in Yunzhou."
"The reason why she became extremely extravagant later, especially loving fresh flowers..." Xiao Jingnan blinked gently and said, "is because of Princess Chengping."