“Mother...”
Li Wanming's voice turned a bit choked.
Madam Yuan let out a soft sigh and slowly moved her hand down - then firmly wiped away her tears.
“Someone who is about to become the crown prince's consort, how can you still be so fussy? In the future, you'll have to manage hundreds of people in the prince's mansion. Are you going to cry at every turn?”
“Ouch... It hurts!”
Li Wanming rubbed her eyes and murmured discontentedly in a low voice, “No wonder the people in the military garrison in Min back then secretly called mother the Rakshasa Woman...”
“Exactly!”
Wanmo kept nodding at one side. “At this age, still so fierce!”
Madam Yuan's eyebrows twitched slightly, and a cold smile appeared on her lips.
“Oh? The Rakshasa Woman, right?”
She shot out her hand like lightning and grabbed one ear of each of the sisters before they could even react.
“How old am I? Eh! You tell me, how old am I?”
Her lion's roar rang in Wanmo and Wanming's ears, making their heads buzz. They instantly let out wails.
“Ouch... It hurts!”
“Ouch... I won't dare again!”
But Madam Yuan didn't care. She dragged the two sisters towards the western drill ground, scolding as she walked:
“Li Wanmo, I told you to teach your younger sister a few sets of boxing and martial arts these days. Where did your teaching go? I see you've been having a great time on the drill ground every day. Why didn't you take her with you?”
“And you, Li Wanming! I told you to learn martial arts from your second elder sister. Did you learn it into a dog's stomach? You only know how to be idle and lazy every day and do no proper business!”
“Aaaaah, I was teaching...”
“Aaaaah, I was learning...”
“Teaching my foot! Learning my ass!”
Madam Yuan unceremoniously threw them onto the drill ground.
“From now on, stand in a horse stance for me. You're not allowed to eat until you've stood for a full hour!”
——————
During the days when Li Wanming was confined at home, Wanxin had been going out early and coming back late, extremely busy.
- She was preparing to open a new medical clinic.
The previous medical clinic was a half - room partitioned from the Li family's wine shop in Pingkangfang. Now it had been sealed up along with the wine shop.
If Wanxin wanted to continue running a medical clinic, she had to find another shop.
Fortunately, Li Wanming had saved quite a bit of money from running the wine shop before, which was enough for her to open another medical clinic.
“I think this house is great. Okay, this one it is!”
Wanmo looked around the spacious main hall and then made a decision. She readily paid the real - estate broker ten silver ingots.
Before Wanxin could even react, Wanmo had already signed and sealed the house purchase deed.
“Oh dear, why are you so quick?”
Wanxin watched the happy - looking broker walking away in the distance and stamped her foot with a sigh. “What should I do... This courtyard has three main halls! I'm just opening a medical clinic. I don't need such a big place!”
Wanmo rummaged through the remaining items in the house and said indifferently, “Little sister said that since you've decided to be a female doctor, you should have the heart to help the world. This house may seem big, but you'll need to grow herbs and recruit apprentices in the future. In fact, it's not too big... It's just enough.”
At this point, her eyes dimmed. She gently stroked the thin layer of dust on the table and continued, “Little sister said that you're the first female doctor in the great Shengjing City. In the future, you're bound to make a name for yourself. Maybe you can pave another way for all the women in the world. The things she couldn't do, you can do. It's the same...”
Li Wanming had been confined at home by Madam Yuan for the past few days to prepare for her marriage and couldn't go out. So she asked Wanmo to bring the silver and help the eldest sister choose a suitable shop.
And she repeatedly instructed that they must buy, not rent.
- This medical clinic would be the eldest sister's place to make a living in the future, and it must be her own property.
“Eldest sister, this is little sister's wish and her belief... You should accept it.”
Wanxin held the deed of the medical clinic, and her eyes instantly turned red with heat. “You... You can rest assured.”
“Since this blue - stone threshold has been entrusted to me, I will surely do well.”
“I... I will surely make it filled with the fragrance of medicine every day, with many plaques of praise for the medical profession hanging under the eaves, and angelica and astragalus drying in front of the porch. When the patients come to the door for consultation, I will surely stand behind the window lattice where the women in the world once tiptoed and looked out, and guard the lamp of saving lives and helping the world for you!”
“Ah... There's no need to say it so dramatically.”
Wanmo raised her eyebrows and curled her lips slightly. “You just do your job as a female doctor well in the future.”
“But second sister, what about you?”
As the twilight spread through the window lattice, Wanxin held a handkerchief embroidered with spring swallows and couldn't help but feel worried.
“The Zhaoyu Academy has been taken over by Zangshan. The wife of the Duke of Qing promised not to dismiss any of the teaching staff. You were originally the female martial arts instructor there. I know you don't want to go back to the He family. So how about...”
“No, I'm not going to Zangshan.”
Wanmo said indifferently, “I went to the academy originally for the reunion of our sisters. Now that little sister has left and you're not there either, what's the point of my going to the academy? Am I really going to be管束d by those female scholars and earn my tuition fees as a teacher?”
“Not going?” Wanxin asked worriedly, “Then what do you want to do?”
She always knew that her second sister was the most determined one, as fiery as a raging fire and unwilling to be disciplined. But for some reason, what she said now made her feel inexplicably flustered.
“As for me...”
Wanmo suddenly hooked the corner of her mouth, stretched a big yawn, and a strange light flashed in the corner of her eyes.
“Little sister is getting married, and you've also found your place. I'm now care - free and unburdened. I'm going to roam the world and right wrongs!”
“You... You're leaving?”
Wanxin's voice trembled a bit.
It was not easy for their sisters to reunite, and they had just managed to live a few comfortable days. But now...
Wanmo looked back and gave a carefree smile. “Yes, I'm running away from home!”
“Second sister...”
“Eldest sister, look at the clouds on the horizon. Aren't they beautiful?”
Wanmo pushed open the window and let the evening wind carry the early - spring plum blossoms blow onto her temples.
“Eldest sister, when we were little and listened to storytellers, we always heard that the jianghu was full of risks and heroes emerged in large numbers. But we've lived for more than twenty years, and we've never even seen what the jianghu looks like.”
“I've cowered in the inner courtyard of the He family for more than three years... I've endured enough and cowered enough.”
Wanmo raised her hand and tossed the red - coral - decorated tassel of her wind - leaf spear into the air. The silver chain traced an arc like a glowing sunset in the setting sun, just like her bright and carefree smile.
“Resting under the eaves of a tavern today, drifting towards the lonely smoke in the desert tomorrow! Eldest sister, isn't this kind of life of avenging wrongs and doing justice much more enjoyable than being nailed to the inner courtyard of some family?”
Wanmo leaned against the threshold, looked back and smiled. The backlight outlined a slender but straight figure.
“After little sister gets married and I've drunk this cup of wedding wine, I'll leave.”
“From then on, the vast world will be my home.”