The Exiled Life of the Noble Girl

Chapter 171

Li Yi had not seen Li Mingwei for some time, so Li Mingwei was in a great mood and told him about her experiences away from home at length. She told Li Yi almost everything about the people she had met and the things she had done, except for some rather private matters.

"In a town with only two or three hundred households, there are only a dozen or so households with children attending school, and a few others are sent from nearby villages."

Li Yi sighed, "It seems that what I did back then was still not enough."

He had only achieved halfway through before the border wars broke out, and the court urgently needed military resources, so he had no choice but to stop. Now, it was even more impossible to bring it up again. Not to mention that he had already resigned from his official post, and the relationship between the current Emperor and the previous Emperor and himself was vastly different.

"Alas..."

Li Mingwei looked up at him, "Grandfather, do you think he doesn't want Li Mingwei to have descendants, or he doesn't want the Prince Jian's Consort to have descendants?"

"Silly child," Li Yi gently stroked her hair. "He doesn't want the Prince Jian's Consort to have descendants."

After she sent word back for him to be wary of Imperial Physician Liu, he had already investigated. Imperial Physician Liu had no dealings with Murong Yu, so he naturally wouldn't cover for him.

He asked himself, who could make physicians from different factions give a unified account? The answer was only one person - the man who held their lives and the honor of their families in his hands.

Initially, Li Mingwei had also suspected Murong Yu, but then she thought, wouldn't Murong Yu also want a child of their own to solidify his relationship with the Li family?

If it wasn't him, then it had to be the other one.

"How is Murong Yu doing now?"

"Much worse than before. After you left the capital, there have been many rumors among the people, accusing him of sabotaging you to marry a daughter from the Cheng family. The Emperor has reprimanded him several times and also used people on our side to suppress him."

"Shortly after ascending the throne, the Emperor had already cleared out his people, and now with this latest incident, he hardly has any capable people left by his side."

However, a skinny camel is still bigger than a horse. He is still a prince, so as long as those matters are not brought to the surface, the Emperor cannot do anything to him. Moreover, he still has some tricks up his sleeve, and the court still needs him for now.

Li Mingwei was a bit worried, "Actually, me marrying Liu Yizhu would affect him, wouldn't it?"

"Yes."

The Emperor had only been on the throne for six or seven years, and the transition of power between the new and old factions in the court was still ongoing. This was precisely the time for him to nurture his own forces. When Liu Yizhu won the imperial examination and was appointed as the top scholar over Zeng Kang, his advantage lay in his clean family background.

Zeng Kang was sent by Shu Hua, their man. There was no need to mention the entanglements involved. The Zeng family was also a powerful clan, and Zeng Kang's achievements were due in part to his family's grooming, so it was impossible for him to have no personal interests and be completely aligned with the Emperor.

Liu Yizhu, on the other hand, had no influential forces behind him, which made it easier for the Emperor to cultivate him wholeheartedly for his own purposes.

However, now that Liu Yizhu was tied to the Li family, once the news spread, many doors might open for him, but the Emperor's door, given his attitude towards obstructing Li Mingwei, might close.

"How has his attitude towards Liu Yizhu been this past year?"

Li Yi had been keeping an eye on Liu Yizhu, and he nodded, "He seems to regard him highly."

"Having gained the Emperor's favor, he has risen quite rapidly in the capital this past year. You have no idea how many families are waiting to see his..." Li Yi paused, unsure of how to put it, "Well, they're all waiting to see you."

"To see me, to see how uncultured and clumsy this village woman is, so they can mock me and wait for him to become disenchanted with me, giving them a chance." She had read more romance novels in this past year than they had eaten rice.

Li Mingwei pursed her lips, "So what do we do now? If his future prospects are affected because of me, I..."

"You don't need to worry about that."

How could she not worry? He had just started out.

"Don't worry, you have me and your father."

Li Mingwei nodded helplessly. After having dinner with her grandfather at the Li residence, she said she wanted to return home.

"I only arrived in the capital yesterday evening, and I haven't unpacked my things yet. I'll take a day or two to rest, and then I'll come back in a couple of days."

"Alright."

As she was already at the door of her home, and there would be opportunities to see each other again soon, Li Yi didn't insist that she stay.

Following her maid, she went to the rear courtyard to greet Xiao Bing, only to find him squatting in her little flower garden under Li Langyue's guidance, plucking and trampling the flowers. She took a deep breath, watching the scattered flower stems on the ground, and clenched her fists.

These flowers were all planted by her own hands, and they were her favorites!

Xiao Bing!

Her dear son!

Li Mingwei had suffered some internal injuries, but she slowly approached and gently said, "Xiao Bing, what are you doing?"

Xiao Bing smiled at her, happily plucking a rose from the vines and stumbling over to her, handing it to her and saying sweetly, "Mother, flower!"

Li Langyue laughed, "Look at Xiao Bing, so filial, not at all like his mother."

Ha!

How filial, destroying his mother's years of hard work in just one afternoon. So filial indeed.

Li Mingwei suppressed the urge to cough up blood, accepted the flower from his hand, clapped for him, and agreed, "You're right, Mother."

She bent down, "Xiao Bing, let's go home now, and come back to play another day, okay?"

Xiao Bing reluctantly looked at the few remaining flower buds on the stems, then silently nodded and hugged her legs.

Li Mingwei picked him up and looked around, not seeing Ah Xiu anywhere.

"No need to look for her, she went to move our things."

"Move what things?" Weren't they just told to bring some money? Did they have so much money that they needed to move it all?

Heavens!

Could it be that Ah Xiu was a business genius?

In just three years, had she expanded their assets to such an extent? She had truly wasted her talents before. She should have sent her to do business in Jiangnan earlier.

"Miss, are you leaving now?"

"Ah Xiu!" Li Mingwei rushed over, eyeing the large bundles behind her, and asked politely, "Why are you carrying so much?"

It must be money, right? It must be money!

"My clothes. I'm going to live with you now, so I have to move all my things over."

Li Mingwei felt a bit disappointed. Oh well, she was just dreaming.

"Let's go."

Seeing the disappointed look on her young mistress, Ah Xiu scratched her head, puzzled at what was wrong.

As Li Mingwei reached the back gate, she saw the bulging carriage and the helpless coachman from the Tang family. She turned and stared at Ah Xiu, "You have so much stuff?"

Ah Xiu looked perplexed, "Too much?"

It was definitely too much, more than Li Mingwei had brought with her when she went to the capital.

Li Mingwei tugged at the corner of her mouth, "Could you leave some behind? We can't sit on the roof of the carriage, can we?"

"Alright." Li Langyue glanced at the other carriage waiting nearby, turned and walked back, "She's always so slow in doing things."

"Mother, I'm leaving now. I'll be back in a couple of days."

Li Langyue turned back and gave her a warning look, "Don't forget what I told you."

"I know."

Li Mingwei watched her mother go back inside, then got into the carriage, took the child from the maid, while Ah Xiu loaded her belongings onto the Tang family's carriage. She then grabbed a small box and joined Li Mingwei in the carriage.

After traveling some distance, Ah Xiu gave Li Mingwei a meaningful look, opened the box, and Li Mingwei leaned over and asked in a low voice, "What's this?"

"The keys to the storehouses, the deeds to the estates outside the city, and the shop deeds," Ah Xiu showed them to her one by one, then counted the silver notes in her hand, "This is all the cash we have now, but it's enough to make you some new clothes. I'll have the people from Jinxiu Pavilion come over tomorrow."

"I've also brought your jewelry, but the styles are a bit outdated. Take a look later and we can exchange the ones you don't like for new ones."

Ah Xiu disdainfully pulled out the silver hairpin from Li Mingwei's hair, "This is so ugly, you'd be better off not wearing it."

Li Mingwei...

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