"Back then, the rumor spread like wildfire that you had successively caused the deaths of several fiancées, and they even described in detail how they died... Even if there were reasons and you intended to keep those girls' secrets, it's unlikely that the whole capital would believe it, right?"
Li Wanming frowned and thought to herself, "Moreover, these are secrets of the noble families. They should be kept well - hidden. How could they spread everywhere every time? Unless someone did it on purpose..."
She suddenly looked up and met Xiao Jingnan's bottomless eyes. His expression remained calm, but the bitterness in his eyes welled up again and couldn't be hidden.
"It's the Second Branch..."
She understood.
Her voice suddenly turned shrill, "It's the Second Branch, isn't it?"
Li Wanming's fingers tightly grasped Xiao Jingnan's sleeve, and her fingernails were almost embedded in the fabric.
"In order to make her own son the heir apparent, she didn't hesitate to ruin your reputation and make you the infamous wife - killer and bad - luck star in the capital, right?!"
"She deliberately spread the news of those girls' deaths and turned you into a terrifying monster. She just wanted you to remain unmarried and childless for life!"
The more Li Wanming thought about it, the more frightened and angry she became. "Maybe, even that wandering Taoist priest was found by her..."
"That's not the case. When that Taoist priest made the prophecy, I was not even sixteen years old." Xiao Jingnan lowered his eyes slightly and said softly, "I guess the Second Aunt didn't realize she could do this until the Shen family broke off the engagement."
His voice became a bit hoarse.
"At that time, Mother had stopped managing family affairs for many years. Naturally, my marriage was entirely in the hands of the Second Aunt. The Shen family, the Jing State Duke's family, the Subei Marquis's family... All were arranged by her."
Li Wanming clenched her fists in her sleeves, and her back teeth gritted. "So, she already knew that the daughter of the Jing State Duke had an affair with her cousin?"
Xiao Jingnan gently poked the charcoal in the stove with the fire tongs. "Otherwise? If the daughter of the Jing State Duke wanted to elope, she should have asked someone close to her. Why did she travel thousands of miles to ask me, a complete stranger and her fiancé?"
"Then... Then you still agreed?!"
Li Wanming caught her breath and suddenly stood up. "Are you stupid?"
"What if I didn't agree?" Xiao Jingnan didn't look up and just gave a bitter smile. "She didn't want to marry me. I couldn't force her to marry me by taking advantage of my power. Instead, I might as well do her a favor and set her free..."
"She's free, but what about you!" Li Wanming shouted, holding up her skirt. "You're so good. You've carried the reputation of a wife - killer for so many years and become the person everyone in the capital avoids!"
She was like an enraged lioness, pacing back and forth in the yard with her skirt fluttering, and her hair was almost standing on end.
"You're so stupid. Why are the Prince and Princess so stupid too?"
"For so many years, they didn't even stop it! They let the Second Branch spread rumors outside and ruin your reputation! Even if they wanted to repay a favor, they couldn't use their son's marriage as a bargaining chip..."
She suddenly stopped and stared fixedly at Xiao Jingnan, slowly squeezing out a sentence through her teeth. "The Prince and Princess didn't know at all, right?"
"They really thought you had caused the deaths of those girls, didn't they?!"
After a long silence, Xiao Jingnan said softly, "After all, I owe her..."
...
Li Wanming was completely enraged!
She never thought that her husband was not only stupid but also a bleeding - heart!
"You owe her..." She grabbed Xiao Jingnan's lapel and forced him to look into her eyes. The anger in her eyes was burning. "How do you want to repay? Tell me how you want to repay!"
"Is it not enough to sacrifice the entire Ning Prince's Mansion and your whole life?"
"Do you have to sacrifice the lives of your father, mother, and mine to repay her great kindness?!"
The pain in Xiao Jingnan's eyes deepened. "Wanming, I never meant to involve you..."
"Come on!" Li Wanming suddenly threw him away. "Since the day I married you, I've been a thorn in her side! She wants the eldest branch to have no descendants. How could she let me go?"
"Wanming..."
"Shut up!" Li Wanming's voice was extremely cold. "Sacrificing your own reputation and life is the stupidest thing in the world! Do you think you're sacrificing for the greater good and being patient, and feeling good about yourself?"
"Pah! I tell you, you're being an accomplice to evil. What kind of favor - repaying is this?"
"Don't interfere in this matter! Get out of here! I'll handle the rest!"
Without waiting for Xiao Jingnan's response, Li Wanming grabbed his arm and pulled him up, then pushed him out of the door without hesitation.
"Don't come back these days! Just stay in the yamen! Wait until I've sorted this out, and then you can go back and be your great kind - hearted person!"
The courtyard door slammed shut, isolating Xiao Jingnan outside.
Looking at the closed door, he could only shake his head and smile bitterly.
In fact, he had wanted to solve the matter of Kang back when he got married to Li Wanming. But he was forced to go on a military expedition on their wedding night, and when he came back, he had to deal with the father and son of the Kang family... So it had been delayed until now.
Now that Wanming already knew... Let her handle it!
He was too deeply involved in this matter. Maybe it would be better for Li Wanming to take action.
The night was deep, and the moon was slanting to the west, stretching his lonely shadow very long until it gradually disappeared into the dim night.
...
"What did you say?!"
Kang stood up, grabbing the carved armrest. Her face was full of panic. "The abbot of the Chunyang Taoist Temple has been arrested?"
Nanny Chen stamped her feet anxiously. "That's right! That old Taoist has been doing this for at least twenty or thirty years, and everything has always gone smoothly. Who would have thought that his temple was raided the other day! I heard that he's now in the prison of the Censorate, waiting for trial!"
"The Censorate?" Kang's face turned ashen, and fine beads of sweat oozed from her forehead. "The Chunyang Taoist Temple is in Dingzhou. Why was he arrested and brought to the Censorate..."
"I heard that it involves many powerful and noble people in the capital, so the Censorate was alerted..." Nanny Chen's face was as white as paper, and her voice kept trembling. "Madam, do you think... Do you think they'll expose what we did back then?"
"Shut up!" Kang shouted sharply. "We've never been to Dingzhou, and we don't know anything about the Chunyang Taoist Temple!"
"Yes, yes, yes... This old servant is stupid..." Nanny Chen hurriedly slapped her own face. "This old servant remembered wrongly..."
...
In the Shiyong Studio, the autumn sun was just right.
Li Wanming was washing pottery jars in the yard with Chuntao. There were all kinds of dried fruits on the bamboo grate beside, and the faint sweet fragrance filled the whole courtyard.
"Princess Consort," Qinglan came to report softly. "As you expected, there's chaos in the Western Courtyard."
"Really?" Li Wanming smiled faintly and shook the water off her hands. "After Pei Yanqi was promoted to the Assistant Censor of the Censorate, he's really quick. I asked him to investigate a sorcerer, and he brought the person to the capital in just two days."
"Lord Pei said that he's very busy now and has no time to deal with a small Taoist temple. So he simply brought the person to the capital and left it to the Princess Consort to handle." Qinglan pursed her lips and smiled.
"In that case," Li Wanming slowly wiped the water on her hands with a handkerchief, with a cold glint in her eyes. "Let's fan this fire and make it burn even more vigorously!"