Xiao Jingnan gave her an appreciative look and said, "Wife, you understand this principle, but Guo Wei doesn't. Or rather, it's not that he doesn't understand. He was just so conceited when he was riding high on success. He thought that with his political acumen, he could maneuver among different factions in the capital..."
"No, it's not like that."
Li Wanming shook her head.
She closed her eyes, and the look on Guo Wei's face when he said, "To put it bluntly, we court officials are just the dogs of the powerful and wealthy" flashed before her eyes.
At that moment, Guo Wei didn't have the pride and self - restraint of a third - rank court official. Instead, his face was filled with helplessness, pain, and a hint of impotent anger.
Li Wanming believed that the emotions Guo Wei showed at that moment were genuine.
"He wasn't unaware that he couldn't break free from the Princess Dowager. It's just that he had to give it a try."
He wrapped his cloak tightly and muttered, "If one can be a human, who would want to be a dog?"
However, it's easy to put on the dog collar, but it's hard to take it off.
Over the past two years, Guo Wei had been scheming and planning step by step. On the one hand, he asked Guo Ziyan to continue to keep the Princess Dowager in check. On the other hand, he carefully selected the most suitable wife for him...
But in the end, all the Princess Dowager had to do was wiggle her finger, and his efforts ended in failure.
Li Wanming was angry at Guo Wei for deceiving and scheming against her. But at the same time, she felt a tightness in her chest.
If she were in Guo Wei's shoes, would she have a better way to break the deadlock?
No.
Not at all.
In the face of overwhelming power, they were all like ants struggling to survive in the mud. Their lives and deaths were in the hands of others.
Xiao Jingnan understood what she meant. He was silent for a moment and finally let out a soft sigh. "Wife, go to bed early. You've been on the go all day and must be tired."
He helped Li Wanming lie down on the bed and covered her with the quilt. "Don't think about anything. Just have a good sleep."
Li Wanming didn't say a word. She just looked at him and nodded gently.
Xiao Jingnan waited until she closed her eyes before quietly leaving.
...
Li Wanming slept restlessly that night.
The faces of Guo Wei, the Princess Dowager, and Guo Ziyan kept flashing before her eyes, some hideous and vicious, some mysterious. Finally, a huge white mourning banner fell from the sky like a mountain collapsing, burying them all...
The next day, before Li Wanming got up, she heard Qinglan report from outside the door, "Cousin - in - law, the Li family sent someone to say that Mrs. He, the grandmother of the Sun family, is homesick and is going back to her hometown in Huaiyang."
Huaiyang hometown?
Both the He and Sun families had been in the capital for several generations and had long lost touch with their hometown in Huaiyang. But Mrs. He suddenly wanted to go back, saying she was homesick...
Homesick?
Mrs. He grew up on a farm on the outskirts of the capital. The capital was her home. Where was this so - called hometown?
This was just an excuse Sun Pingchang came up with to send Mrs. He out of the capital.
Li Wanming sat up and said, "I see."
Sun Pingchang usually seemed quiet and honest. Unexpectedly, he was so decisive and straightforward when it came to the crucial moment.
His daughter died of a so - called "sudden illness" during the day, and that very night, he sent his mother, who knew the truth, thousands of miles away...
His means and determination were truly admirable.
Li Wanming suddenly felt that she had been living like a fool for the first twenty years of her life. She couldn't even see the people around her clearly.
Mrs. He was old. Once she left, she might never return to the capital in her lifetime.
She had schemed for half a lifetime, only to end up dying in a foreign land. Li wondered what Mrs. He would feel if she knew the truth...
Li Wanming had a silent breakfast that morning.
She felt a tightness in her chest and had no appetite.
Xiao Jingnan asked for leave for her from the academy and told her to rest in the backyard for a few days.
He also called Chuntao back from the old Li family wine shop and asked her to keep Li Wanming company.
After all, they had grown up together. With Chuntao around, Li Wanming would feel more at ease.
Wanxin and Wanmo were very considerate. They didn't come to bother her too much. They just sat in the room for a while and then left.
The news of the Sun family's mourning had reached the Li mansion. They also knew about Sun Miaoqing's death and Mrs. He's return to her hometown.
Both of them were very smart. They guessed that this must be related to the urgent message from Li's mother asking Li Wanming to go back that day. So they were very tacit and didn't ask any questions.
Overnight, the situation had changed suddenly.
Even though they were not happy in the Chen and He families, they had married into noble families and knew that the secrets in these high - class mansions were not to be inquired about.
Some things were better left unknown.
Only Chuntao was still smiling and lively every day, bouncing around in front of Li Wanming.
She was very happy that Mrs. He had been sent back to Huaiyang.
"Auntie Old Madam used to say bad things about our girl in front of Old Madam every day. She not only took all the good things from our Li family to her own home but also always put on the airs of a master and ordered us around... Now that she's been sent back to Huaiyang, it's really a case of evil people getting their just deserts. She deserves it!"
Chuntao stood outside the window, gesturing and spitting as she talked to Qiuying and Xiahe.
"Exactly!"
Qiuying very much agreed with her. She clenched her fists and looked indignant:
"She even encouraged Old Madam to ask our eldest girl to take things from her husband's family back to her natal family. Eldest girl already had a hard time in the Chen family. How could she take things from her husband's family to her natal family? If the master of the Chen family saw it, how could our eldest girl hold her head up? When eldest girl refused, Auntie Old Madam said that eldest girl was unfilial and made her cry several times..."
Xiahe said softly, "She didn't dare to say such things to our second girl..."
"Ha!" Chuntao laughed. "How dare she? With our second girl's temper, she would probably give her a good beating and knock her teeth out on the spot!"
Xiahe said discontentedly, "Why do you make our second girl sound like a shrew?"
After saying that, she rolled her eyes slightly, as if suddenly remembering something, and said with a smile, pursing her lips, "She wouldn't give her a beating. I remember once when our second girl hadn't gotten married yet, Auntie Old Madam came to give the festival gifts..."
Qiuying interrupted her, "Asking for things is asking for things. What festival gifts? " She said discontentedly, "Every time she came, didn't she go back with big and small packages?"
Xiahe gently patted her and said, "Oh, let me finish first. That time when she came to give the festival gifts, our second girl happened to see her. Second girl asked, 'Auntie Grandmother, what are you doing here so early in the morning? Don't tell me you're here again with the rotten vegetables no one wants in the fields to exchange for silk and satin?' "
"Auntie Old Madam's face looked a bit unpleasant at that time and said that of course not. The things she brought this time were all good. As a result, after our second girl heard that, she directly stuck her spear on the ground, snatched the package from her hand, and sure enough, there were only some rotten radish tops inside..."
Xiazhu said while laughing, shaking with laughter, "Auntie Old Madam argued that these were all things our old lady liked to eat and that she had brought them specially... Our second girl didn't indulge her. She directly used the tip of the spear to pick up the package and threw it out. She also shouted loudly at the street corner for everyone to see what kind of festival gifts these were. Auntie Old Madam was so embarrassed that her face turned as red as a monkey's butt."
Chuntao laughed loudly. "No wonder Auntie Old Madam came in empty - handed that time and looked so unhappy. It was our second girl who did it."
Xiazhu said proudly, "Of course! Besides our second girl, who else in our family could do such a neat thing?"