Watching her parents hurry her eldest sister into the inner chamber in a rush, Wanmo stood in the middle of the main hall and stretched contentedly.
"I've been so busy all day. I'm starving. Is there anything to eat?"
Xiahe smiled and said, "Yes. I've been to the kitchen earlier. There's newly served chicken - marrow bamboo shoots. Shall I serve some for you, miss?"
"Chicken - marrow bamboo shoots?" Wanmo's eyes lit up. She pushed Xiahe towards the kitchen and said, "Come on, let's have some to fill our stomachs first! Little sister, are you coming?"
She loved chicken - marrow bamboo shoots the most. Just hearing these three words made her mouth water.
Moreover, today she had first saved her little sister's academy and then helped her eldest sister get a divorce. Having accomplished two major things in a row, Wanmo was in a great mood, and her appetite also improved significantly.
Li Wanming smiled and said, "I won't go for now. I need to find Su Xiaozhu. I have something to ask her."
Su Xiaozhu was now living in the Li family's residence.
This was also the reason why Li Wanming had rushed back in a hurry.
The inn closed early this year. It had already closed for business on the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month. Since Su Xiaozhu was not from the capital and had nowhere to go, Li Wanming had brought her back to Pingkangfang.
But who would have known that on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Wanming was arrested, and Pingkangfang was emptied overnight.
Frightened, Su Xiaozhu rushed to the Li family's residence to report the news. After that, she never left and had been waiting for news at the Li family's.
Right now, she was living in the former Listening - to - Snow Pavilion where Li Wanming used to live.
Li Wanming led Chuntao towards the Falling - Snow Pavilion. As soon as she entered the courtyard gate, she saw several potted landscapes of maple leaves and bamboo branches placed in the corner.
These potted landscapes were not any rare and precious flowers. They were just a few dead branches picked up from the ground, combined with a few grass stems.
However, each pot had been trimmed according to the growth trend of the branches. Some were graceful and upright, while others were flying and slanting. With a few plum blossom stamens dotted in the middle, they were arranged in an orderly and extremely elegant way.
Li Wanming had never been an elegant person. There was only a pear tree and a few thin bamboos casually planted in her yard.
It was the depth of winter now. The leaves and flowers of the pear tree had already withered, leaving only dead branches and leaves all over the yard.
But Su Xiaozhu had managed to find beauty in this desolation!
No matter how withered the branches were, after being trimmed by her skillful hands, they had a sense of gauntness.
There was also a stone table beside the potted landscapes. There was a wide - mouthed black pottery vase on it, with a few thin grasses inserted in it, accompanied by several thorns. They complemented each other so well that it gave a sense of being aloof from the world.
It should be noted that Su Xiaozhu had only lived here for two days.
In just these two days, with a casual arrangement of these potted landscapes and dead branches, she had transformed the ordinary Listening - to - Snow Pavilion into a place full of elegance and charm.
Li Wanming couldn't help but let out a long sigh in her heart.
Was such an interesting woman really going to enter the palace?
She always felt that Su Xiaozhu was like a cold plum blossom, exuding a kind of intense coldness all over her body.
Could a cold plum blossom survive in the deep and towering - walled imperial palace?
Ruer heard the noise outside. She lifted the curtain and looked out. Immediately, she turned her head and shouted into the room, "Miss, the amazing Teacher Cheng is back!"
"Don't call me Teacher Cheng anymore. I won't be a teacher from now on..."
Before Li Wanming could finish her words, she saw Su Xiaozhu running out. Su Xiaozhu was overjoyed and said, "You're back? You're finally back! I was so scared..."
She grabbed Li Wanming's shoulders and looked at her from side to side. "Are you okay? Did the people from the Ministry of Revenue give you a hard time? Did they torture you?"
Su Xiaozhu didn't know that Li Wanming had been arrested by the Ministry of Revenue until the evening of the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month.
At that time, there was chaos in Pingkangfang. The Prince Ning and his princess had disappeared. Only Uncle Zhong, Nanny Yu and Zifu were in a hurry to pack up their things.
Su Xiaozhu was extremely frightened. She wanted to hold Zifu and ask some questions, but Zifu just kept packing cheerfully and impatiently said, "What does it matter to you? Don't get in the way!"
Su Xiaozhu had no choice but to rush back to the Li family's residence overnight to report the news, hoping that the Li family could send someone out to find out what was going on.
But unexpectedly, after Mrs. Li heard that Li Wanming was in trouble, there was actually a look of joy on her face. Then she gritted her teeth and cursed, "It's retribution! It's all retribution! I've always said that she shouldn't run around, but no one listened!"
The expressions of secret joy and gritted - teeth hatred kept changing on Mrs. Li's face, making her look like a yaksha in the temple, eerie and unpredictable. It almost scared Su Xiaozhu out of her wits.
Su Xiaozhu had no other way. She could only live nervously in the Listening - to - Snow Pavilion with Ruer, waiting for Li Rusong and Yuan Jinqiu to come back from the military camp in the suburbs for the New Year, and then figure out another way...
During the next two days, there was chaos in the Li family.
Li Rusong and Yuan Jinqiu went to Pingkangfang to support their daughter. But they came back with extremely strange expressions on their faces, followed by Mrs. Li lying on a stretcher...
There was a bloodstain on Mrs. Li from her buttocks down. But even so, the old lady still propped herself up stubbornly on the stretcher and scolded loudly, "Shameless whore! Vile and despicable thing! Bastard!"
When An Fuhai was reading out the imperial edict, she was being punished in the corner, so she didn't hear the sound over there and didn't know that Li Wanming had been named the Crown Prince's Consort.
In Mrs. Li's walnut - sized brain, there was only one thought: she had been beaten, but her son and daughter - in - law had been submissive to the person who beat her and didn't even dare to say a word!
Li Rusong looked helpless and said, "Mother, if Jinqiu and I had really said something in that situation, our nine generations of relatives might have been in danger..."
Mrs. Li clenched her fists and pounded him. "It's all because you're so useless..."
This movement pulled the wound on her buttocks, and she cried out in pain.
The room was in a complete mess.
With the Li family in such a mess, although Su Xiaozhu was full of doubts, she didn't dare to ask too many questions.
She could only go back to the Listening - to - Snow Pavilion and casually arrange some potted landscapes with dead branches and leaves to relieve her inner anxiety.
So when she heard Li Wanming's voice today, she immediately rushed out of the room. She felt as if a huge stone had finally fallen from her heart, and she felt completely at ease.
After hearing about her experiences in the past two days, there was a look of pity in Li Wanming's eyes.
This girl was so cold, stubborn, full of knowledge, and kind - hearted.
It was a pity that her fate was not good.
Her biological mother had passed away early, and her father only regarded her as a pawn to make friends with the powerful.
She had finally come to the Changxing Inn and had lived a few days of easy and self - reliant life, but then she had been taken a fancy to by the unreliable Zhao Yanke...
Xiao Jingnan had told her that night that the imperial edict to confer Su Xiaozhu as a noble lady would be issued in the next few days. Counting the days, it should be tomorrow.
Li Wanming didn't want this girl to enter the palace blindly. She wanted to tell her the truth and let her have a chance to make her own choice.
"Chuntao, I'm a bit hungry too. You and Ruer go to the kitchen and prepare some food for us. Bring it over later."