After paying, Ye Wanmian picked up the clothes and left.
When she got home, even before opening the door, Ye Wanmian could faintly hear noises inside. Her brows furrowed slightly. Pushing the door open, she saw Qi Wen, Xiao Jingcheng, and Dahuang leaping around the well in the yard and the table.
The wounds on Qi Wen's face were still there, and his clothes were in a loose and tattered state, looking extremely embarrassed. As for Dahuang, a patch of hair was missing from its tail, making it bald in that area.
Xiao Jingcheng's clothes were also covered with a lot of dust. The only fortunate thing was that he no longer crawled on all fours like before. Instead, he used his long legs to chase after Dahuang and Qi Wen.
It could truly be described as "a scene of chaos."
"Ahem, ahem, ahem!" Ye Wanmian coughed loudly. Hearing the sound, the two humans and the dog on the other side stopped simultaneously and looked in her direction.
"Lady Jiang—"
"Woof!"
"Ah!"
The three of them rushed towards her at the same time. Xiao Jingcheng had the longest legs. Taking large strides, he darted behind her and grabbed the corner of her clothes, whining pitifully: "Ah, ah..."
Dahuang bit the hem of her skirt and tugged, whimpering from its throat.
Ye Wanmian looked at Qi Wen, who was a step slower, and said helplessly, "Tell me, what's going on?"
Qi Wen immediately filed a complaint: "Lady Jiang, please judge for me! I just opened the door to check on Taig... Gou Dan. Who would have thought that he would immediately jump up and chase me. He even tried to scratch my face!"
Ye Wanmian looked at Dahuang, which was still biting her skirt and refusing to let go, and asked, "What about Dahuang?"
Qi Wen answered on Dahuang's behalf: "Gou Dan snatched Dahuang's silver bowl!"
Dahuang barked in agreement, its voice full of accusation.
Ye Wanmian looked stunned. It was normal for Xiao Jingcheng not to recognize Qi Wen and be on guard against him, but why did he snatch the silver bowl from Dahuang? Could it be that he thought the bowl was extremely valuable and wanted to keep it for himself?
Ye Wanmian turned around, about to say something, when she met the man's pitiful face. He moved his lips and uttered two indistinct syllables: "Wu... Du."
Ye Wanmian put her hands on her hips and asked, "Where is the silver bowl?"
Qi Wen replied, "He hid it in the quilt!"
Ye Wanmian stuffed the food box in her hand into Qi Wen's hands and turned to enter the room. Since Xiao Jingcheng was holding onto her sleeve, he also followed closely behind her.
When he saw her find the shiny dog bowl from the quilt that was in a mess on the bed, he immediately became nervous and raised his hand to snatch the bowl back from Ye Wanmian. However, Ye Wanmian had anticipated his action and bent down to put the bowl into Dahuang's mouth, which had also followed them into the room.
Dahuang was extremely happy. It wagged its tail vigorously, gave Xiao Jingcheng a haughty look, and proudly ran away with the silver bowl in its mouth!
Xiao Jingcheng was extremely angry. He bared his teeth and instinctively wanted to chase after it, but the next moment, someone grabbed his hand.
The girl's soft and dry palm held his tightly: "Come on, let's go and have dinner together."
Xiao Jingcheng stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the girl behind him. Meeting her calm and clear eyes, he raised his hand and gently rubbed his chest.
...
Two lanterns were hanging on the persimmon tree in the yard, and their light illuminated the surroundings.
A tablecloth was spread on the stone table. Ye Wanmian took out the food from the food box one by one and placed it on the table. Seeing the dishes on the table, Qi Wen exclaimed in surprise:
"The meal is so sumptuous today?"
There were two meat dishes and two vegetarian dishes on the table. One was stewed chicken with mushrooms, and the other was squirrel mandarin fish. The vegetarian dishes were lotus root and mountain bamboo shoots. It was indeed very sumptuous.
Ye Wanmian cleared her throat and said, "It's to celebrate Gou Dan's waking up."
It was a good thing that the Crown Prince had woken up. Although what happened after he woke up was a bit unexpected, it was still worth celebrating.
Xiao Jingcheng was sitting on the other side of the table. He was a bit nervous at first, but when he smelled the aroma of the food on the table, he widened his beautiful eyes like jewels, lay on the table, and stared intently at the roast chicken on the plate, showing a greedy look.
Seeing him reach out his hand to grab the food, Ye Wanmian didn't even think and hit his hand with chopsticks. He let out a startled cry and withdrew his hand. Only then did she realize what she had done.
She had just slapped the Crown Prince's hand!
Ahem, ahem, ahem. She didn't mean to be disrespectful to the Crown Prince. It was just a reflex. He probably wouldn't blame her in the future, right?
Putting on a straight face, she said, "We have to wait for everyone to sit down before we can start eating."
Asking Qi Wen to keep an eye on him, Ye Wanmian picked up the food box and the clothes she had bought and walked through the small door to the front hall.
Li Zhao looked at her with a smile and said, "It was really lively back there just now."
"I didn't expect the commotion they made to even startle Uncle Li." Ye Wanmian felt a bit embarrassed. "I've made Uncle Li laugh."
Li Zhao couldn't eat overly greasy food yet, so Ye Wanmian brought a vegetarian meal for him separately.
However, what surprised Li Zhao the most was the clothes she brought.
"What is this..."
Ye Wanmian said, "I bought these casually. The styles aren't very new. Uncle Li, you can try them on when you have time to see if they fit."
Li Zhao couldn't help but touch his beard. He remembered that he hadn't taken care of himself for a long time. Not only was he dirty and smelly, but he had also been called a beggar by someone.
Thinking that she had been putting up with his strange smell all this time, he suddenly felt ashamed.
Fortunately, she had never disliked him...
"You must have bought clothes for more than just me," he said gently. "The most important one is for the person back there."
Ye Wanmian cleared her throat and nodded. Blinking her eyes, she said, "Actually, I also want to ask Uncle Li for a favor..."
She told Li Zhao about her plan, and Li Zhao agreed: "Don't worry. Leave it to me. By the way, Mu Jin, is the silver I gave you still enough? If not..."
"Enough, enough." Ye Wanmian quickly said, "The money Uncle Li gave is enough for you to stay here and live comfortably for several months."
"That's good." Li Zhao said, "Okay, don't worry about me. Go and do your business."
Seeing him start to eat calmly, Ye Wanmian then got up and left.
Walking through the small door and just stepping into the yard, she heard Qi Wen's wailing:
"Ah—Let go! Lady Jiang, Lady Jiang, come quickly!"
What happened this time?
Ye Wanmian quickened her steps and saw Xiao Jingcheng grabbing Qi Wen's wrist and bending his whole arm behind his back. His face looked solemn and cold, while Qi Wen was screaming in pain. Dahuang was biting the corner of Xiao Jingcheng's pants and tugging hard.
In just a short while, these three were at it again.
Ye Wanmian looked helpless. She quickly stepped forward, patted the hand that Xiao Jingcheng was using to hold Qi Wen, and said with a straight face, "Let go quickly."
When Xiao Jingcheng saw it was her, his cold expression immediately softened, and he let go of Qi Wen.
Qi Wen hugged his hand that was almost twisted into a chicken's claw and hid behind Ye Wanmian, crying: "Lady Jiang, you have to stand up for me!"
Ye Wanmian asked him what had happened this time. Qi Wen stammered and finally told her the reason.
After she left to deliver food to Li Zhao, Xiao Jingcheng sat there obediently without moving, staring at the dishes on the table with drooling eyes.
Qi Wen wasn't so particular. Besides, he had slept soundly for a long time today and was already hungry. He wanted to eat a piece of meat first to fill his stomach. Just as he picked up the chopsticks and was about to reach for the plate, he was grabbed by Xiao Jingcheng, who twisted his arm behind his back, making him cry out in pain.
After hearing this, Ye Wanmian held back her laughter, turned around, and gave him a sideways look: "You deserved it. I'm in the process of establishing rules for him. Who told you to try to steal food?"
After Ye Wanmian finished speaking, she gently patted Xiao Jingcheng on the forehead and said with a smile, "Gou Dan is really good."