"Lady Li the Third! The Crown Prince's Consort! Sister... Grandma... Ancestress!"
Shopkeeper Chang was so scared out of his wits that he chased after her to the door and coaxed her back with all sorts of pleas.
"Ancestress... Oh, Ancestress, can you please stop saying you're going to the Jingzhao Prefecture at every turn? You're from an official and noble family, a relative of the royal family. You may not be afraid... but we are!"
He cried with a long face and kept wiping the sweat off his face. His shoulders drooped, making his already short and hunched body look even more stooped.
Li Wanming slightly raised her eyebrows: "I actually wanted to give Shopkeeper Chang a way out, but you just refused to take it! What a serious crime it is to attempt to harm the Crown Prince's Consort! I know you can't bear the consequences, but you just want to protect the real culprit behind this!"
"I... How dare I protect..."
Shopkeeper Chang's face wrinkled like a bitter melon as he murmured in a low voice, "It's really... really impossible to offend..."
"Oh? So you can afford to offend me?"
Li Wanming withdrew the smile from her face, and her voice turned three degrees colder.
Shopkeeper Chang stammered and dared not say a word. He just stood there with a pale face, constantly wiping the sweat off with his sleeve.
Suddenly, Li Wanming's expression changed. She opened the bag and suddenly poured out the decapitated snake onto the table. Then she grabbed his collar and pressed his head hard onto the snake's head!
"Shopkeeper Chang, can you see the poisonous fangs? If it weren't for my second sister today, I might be dead by now!"
"I'll tell you the truth. I will never let this matter rest easily!"
"Even if I have to take it to the Emperor, I will skin that person alive! By then, I don't know whether that playboy will be in trouble or whether I will be in trouble... But your head, Shopkeeper Chang, will definitely not be spared!"
The cold and shiny fangs of the poisonous snake glistened with a greenish-black light. Shopkeeper Chang was so frightened that his guts turned to jelly, and he let out a shrill scream: "It wasn't me! It wasn't me! It was the Fourth Young Master of the Zhongyi Earl's Mansion!"
Li Wanming tilted her head and thought for a while, then confirmed: "A chubby little boy? He looks eleven or twelve years old and is not very tall?"
"Yes, yes, yes! That's him..."
"Oh..."
Li Wanming let go of his collar and clapped her hands: "You should have said so earlier. Then we wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble."
She had already guessed that those kids around Xiao Jingbai must have come from prominent families. Otherwise, Shopkeeper Chang wouldn't have been so hard to persuade, no matter if it was soft words or threats.
However, for this matter, she needed solid evidence.
She hadn't even married into the family yet, but she had beaten her future nephew. If Mrs. Kang were to make a fuss about this, she might not have a very strong case. Therefore, she must investigate all the relevant witnesses and evidence thoroughly so as to deal with the possible difficulties that Mrs. Kang might cause.
Even if Mrs. Kang didn't come to her because of this matter, she still had to keep this evidence in her hands for future needs.
Shopkeeper Chang's face turned bright red from holding back. He rubbed his neck and took a few steps back, then leaned against the wall and coughed loudly.
Li Wanming, however, turned around and picked up a pen and paper from a nearby table. She motioned to him and said, "Come on, write down what happened."
"Ah? I still have to write...?"
Shopkeeper Chang rubbed his neck and stared at her with wide eyes.
Li Wanming smiled slightly and handed the writing brush dipped in ink in front of him.
"Write it down, or go to the Jingzhao Prefecture with me. You choose."
After saying that, she flattened the rice paper on the table and patiently comforted him, "Don't worry. After you write this document, you'll be one of my people. I'll protect you from now on."
Shopkeeper Chang was pressed by her to sit in front of the table, but he still hesitated and didn't dare to write.
Li Wanming sat beside him and sneered: "My husband is the only son of the Prince of Ning and will surely inherit the title in the future. By then, he will be second only to the Emperor! Shopkeeper Chang, do you still want to oppose me because of that bastard from the Zhongyi Earl's Mansion?"
Although there was a smile on her face, her voice was as cold as a knife, exuding a chilling air. Shopkeeper Chang vaguely felt that the executioner's big knife was already hanging over his neck...
He let out a sigh and finally started writing the confession.
After he finished writing, Li Wanming read it once and felt quite satisfied. She said, "You just do your business well. If I need you in the future, I'll come to you again," and then left gracefully.
...
The thing that Li Wanming was worried about didn't happen.
Mrs. Kang didn't come to her because of this matter.
For three consecutive days, everything was calm.
It was easy to understand. The imperial marriage was the order of the Empress Dowager. Xiao Jingbai throwing the snake and starting a fire in an attempt to disrupt this marriage could, to put it seriously, be regarded as deliberately defying the imperial order...
Xiao Jingbai might be stupid, but Mrs. Kang wasn't.
It was Xiao Jingbai who caused the trouble first. If this matter really got out of hand and the Empress Dowager blamed them, Mrs. Kang would only end up in a difficult situation.
Thinking of this, Li Wanming let out a long sigh in her heart and felt a bit disappointed.
She had wasted so much effort at the Sifang Warehouse, but Mrs. Kang didn't even dare to come to her to seek justice for her son.
But thinking deeper, a hint of coldness emerged in her heart.
Xiao Jingbai was the apple of Mrs. Kang's eye. She had done so much just to help him become the Crown Prince. But the day before yesterday, Xiao Jingbai's buttocks had been beaten black and blue, yet Mrs. Kang could still hold back and do nothing...
This ability to endure and be patient was much stronger than hers.
Li Wanming's eyebrows frowned slightly.
Up to now, Li Wanming and Mrs. Kang hadn't met each other, but they had already had two confrontations.
Li Wanming had one loss and one draw. Her record was far from satisfactory.
Coupled with the stories told by Princess Chengping about the past, she became more and more interested in this opponent she had never met.
Madam Kang...
Li Wanming folded the confession written by Shopkeeper Chang and gently pressed it inside the dressing box.
This confession might not be useful this time, but it would surely come in handy in the future.
She thought of that chubby little boy again, and the corners of her eyebrows suddenly relaxed.
The Fourth Son of the Zhongyi Earl...
It sounded like a very useful identity.
Maybe one day in the future, he would be of great help to her.
The corners of Li Wanming's mouth slowly lifted. The setting sun shone in her eyes, reflecting a touch of cold brilliance, like a calm lake hiding a deep meaning.
At night, the night wind of the late spring blew down the pear blossoms in the corner of the wall.
Li Wanming suddenly heard what seemed to be small stones gently tapping on the western wall eave. She looked up and saw a slender wooden stick sticking out from under the pear blossom branches. There was a roughly-made moon-white hand rope hanging on it.
There were two beads hanging at the end of the hand rope, swaying in the blooming pear blossoms. Against the bright moonlight, they were like fragments of stars that had fallen into the mortal world.
Li Wanming pursed her lips and smiled. She told Chuntao to guard the Tingxue Pavilion well, then picked up a glazed lantern and quietly walked through the corridor. She opened the western side door and saw a familiar figure under the wall.