Chapter 237 Brother wants to completely ruin Luo'er? A counter-plan!

Liu Qingzhu was still wandering around the dilapidated temple, looking extremely angry, as if she was determined to find 'Green Firefly' today.

Zi Jin smiled upon hearing this: "Miss, I'm just burning my bridges. I'm thinking that if I don't succeed today, I'll die trying, so I'm going all out."

Li Qingluo: "So you deliberately revealed your identity to her?"

Zi Jin: "Yes, Miss. Miss doesn't know, Liu Qingzhu has regained some favor from the General's Mansion, so she has been acting very smugly in the back of Prince Yun's Mansion these past two days."

“Prince Yun has come to see her in her courtyard for three days in a row, which has made her extremely happy. She goes around to the other concubines’ courtyards, showing off triumphantly, saying that she is the daughter that the General’s Mansion can’t bear to part with, and wants everyone to be more polite to her in the future.”

"But which of the women who can enter Prince Yun's harem comes from a simple family? Only she is truly nothing outside the General's Mansion."

“The other concubines couldn’t stand her attitude. Some even laughed at her in public, saying that she must have seduced her former brother again, which was why the General’s Mansion, which had already expelled her from the family, still wanted her.”

"Liu Qingzhu had been holding back her anger these past few days, so she slapped that concubine and then went to Prince Yun to cry, pretending to be the villain."

"Liu Qingzhu said that in order to help Prince Yun solve his problems, she endured the shame and indignation and returned to the General's Mansion despite the rampant false rumors outside."

"Fortunately, she got it done. It is said that the master is now willing to do everything he can to suppress those 'untrue' rumors outside, and that the whole family will attend Prince Yun's birthday banquet in half a month to show goodwill."

"Prince Yun then punished the concubine who had offended Liu Qingzhu with her words."

"This made Liu Qingzhu extremely happy; she was even smiling in her dreams at night."

"She is recovering well at the Prince Yun's residence, so she won't leave the manor easily for such a trivial matter. Today, in order to lure her here, I lied and said that I heard there is a doctor in the west of the city who is a master at treating women's infertility. However, this doctor is not easily persuaded to come out of seclusion."

"Liu Qingzhu said, why don't we just find someone to bring this expert doctor to the Prince's mansion for her to treat?"

“I really had no other choice. I was afraid that if the lie was too far-fetched, it would arouse her suspicion. So I said that I should go out of the manor today to find out if this doctor is real or fake.”

"But how exactly do we lure her out?"

“This servant deliberately placed something belonging to my elder sister in my room. It was a jade pendant that Liu Qingzhu had personally given to my elder sister before.”

“I’ve kept it with me all this time; it’s a keepsake left to me by my elder sister. I had hoped that one day I could smash it on Liu Qingzhu myself and ask her if she still remembered a woman named Hongling who died tragically because of her.”

"But if this can help you succeed today, then it's worth it."

"After I left the Prince's mansion, I went straight to the west of the city and hid."

"Sure enough, before an hour had passed, I saw Liu Qingzhu come looking for me."

As for why Liu Qingzhu didn't wait for Zijin to return to the mansion before personally interrogating her,

That's because there were several pieces of paper deliberately placed under the purple brocade pillow, and on each piece of paper were a few words she had specially written yesterday: Die! Kill! Liu Qingzhu go to hell!

When the jade pendant was presented to Liu Qingzhu, she was already quite shocked.

Upon seeing several more pages filled with words of resentment towards her, Liu Qingzhu felt a chill in her heart.

"Green Firefly... what was her name before? Purple Brocade... Purple Brocade!!? Red Water Chestnut... Red Water Chestnut!!"

"I had no idea! She kept me in the dark for so long! Zijin, so you're Hongling's younger sister! That damned bitch lied to me!!"

"Guards, go and find Zi Jin for me right now! Today I'm going to skin this wretched woman alive!"

But the servant went out and quickly returned to report: "Madam, Zijin... Zijin went to the west side of the city, but we searched everywhere and couldn't find any trace of her. Also, we inquired and found that there is no gynecological expert there. Could she have run away?"

Liu Qingzhu slapped the servant across the face in anger: "A bunch of useless trash!"

"Green Firefly, which of your words are true and which are false?! If this 'Divine Hand' is also fake, what else have you done to me?!"

Overwhelmed with anxiety, Liu Qingzhu felt a metallic taste rise to her throat.

Green Firefly knows too many of my secrets.

Moreover, ever since she returned to the General's Mansion, it was Green Firefly who had been by her side all along, and Liu Qingzhu simply couldn't accept this fact.

She was so agitated that she couldn't control herself and immediately decided that she would personally capture that bitch Green Firefly, interrogate her, and then skin her alive, making her wish she were dead!

Zi Jin really knows Liu Qingzhu very well.

Therefore, he knew that as long as he disappeared, Liu Qingzhu would definitely not be able to sit still and would come looking for him in person.

Liu Qingzhu is now leading four or five people near the dilapidated temple entrance.

Li Qingluo immediately ordered Granny Deng to take action: "Go and quietly subdue her for me."

So Liu Qingzhu and her servants were put into sacks in broad daylight right next to the dilapidated temple by the men sent by Granny Deng.

A short while later, Granny Deng returned and said, "Miss, it's all done."

Li Qingluo: "Have Liu Er and Liu San arrived yet? Also, what's the latest news from Li Kechuan's side? Has the Qu family set off as well?"

Granny Deng: "Li Kechuan has already left. Liu Er and Liu San are waiting in the dilapidated temple as the young lady instructed."

"The fourth son of the Qu family should be arriving soon."

Li Qingluo only found out yesterday that Li Kechuan had also invited that short man from the Qu family out.

If Uncle De hadn't been alert enough to discover that Li Kechuan had sent two more letters to the Qu family in the past two days, Li Qingluo would have missed such important news.

Li Qingluo suddenly saw a group of beggars running past downstairs in a 'whoosh'.

"There are kind people distributing porridge over there, hurry, hurry, hurry—"

Granny Deng said, "These beggars usually occupy this dilapidated temple. I had to give them some silver to get rid of them today. I'm just afraid they might get in the way of your important business later."

Li Qinglu murmured, "Beggar..."

Li Kechuan wanted Liu Er and Liu San to invite him to the dilapidated temple.

However, Li Kechuan had not made any prior arrangements regarding these beggars.

It was only because Granny Deng found them annoying that she drove the beggars away.

So what exactly was Li Kechuan's initial plan?

A dilapidated temple, a young woman who has run away from home and is unmarried and whose whereabouts are unknown, Qu Silang, who is engaged to this young woman, and a group of beggars.

Li Qingluo had some unpleasant thoughts in her mind.

"He wanted to completely ruin my reputation so that he could cover up his scandals with Liu Qingzhu."

Li Qingluo's muttered words startled Que'er.

"Young lady, does Li Kechuan want to ruin your reputation? Is he really that vicious? You are his own sister!"

Li Qingluo: "To him, his own sister is less than one of Liu Qingzhu's fingers. What does that matter?"

After all, Li Kechuan had once tried to kill him in front of Liu Qingzhu's grave, sever his tendons, and make him kowtow a hundred times to Liu Qingzhu's fake grave.

In his previous life, he even managed to kill her.

Li Qingluo never forgot these hatreds.

Aside from his feelings for Liu Qingzhu, Li Kechuan never truly regretted his actions towards his own younger sister.

"Since you're going to resort to underhanded tactics, let's see which of us siblings has the better methods."

That's perfect, she wanted to destroy him too.

If he tries to use underhanded tactics, she will turn the tables on him and give him a taste of his own medicine!

After Li Qingluo finished speaking, she put on her veil and, along with Granny Deng and the others, dressed in simple clothes, went downstairs and quickly disappeared into the crowd.

Li Qingluo originally intended to ambush people at the dilapidated temple, but instead saw that there were indeed people setting up a soup kitchen and distributing soup at the end of the street.

Wu Quan, who was standing nearby, remarked, "Isn't that the eldest daughter of the Pan family?"

“She would never have done such a good deed before.”

"However, after she survived her near-death experience in the palace, I heard that she fell seriously ill after returning home, and her personality changed quite a bit after she woke up."

"Master Pan was afraid she was possessed by an evil spirit, so he heard that he invited a Taoist priest from Qingsong Temple to perform a ritual at the Pan residence."

"As a result, this Miss Pan sets up soup kitchens and does charity work every now and then. I heard that she also helps out at charitable institutions and charitable halls."

"Even the Pan family can't control her."

Li Qingluo stood at a distance, watching Pan Li.

Looking at her every move and her demeanor, she is truly a completely different person from the Pan Li of the past.

Li Qinglu thought of Pan Li's miraculous recovery by the pool that night, and what she was shouting at the time.

"Help—someone, someone's trying to kill me—!"

She wasn't saying that Princess Qinyu wanted to kill me.

There are people there.

Who exactly is this person?

Also, why did I see Pan Li's carriage outside the Pei residence the next day?

She saw herself at that time, didn't she?

Li Qingluo took two steps forward, but Granny Deng stopped her: "Miss, now is not the time to go find Miss Pan. Li Kechuan is almost here at the dilapidated temple."

Li Qingluo could only suppress her impulse to go forward. Just as she was about to turn away, she saw a carriage stop not far from Pan Li's porridge stall.

That was right at the entrance of the charity hall.

The charitable halls in Jinling City were places that took in orphans.

However, this street was a melting pot of people, with many beggars and orphans, so the carriages of high-ranking officials and nobles rarely appeared in this area on ordinary days.

But today, coincidentally, they're all crowding here one by one.

Li Qingluo saw a person get off the carriage. It was someone Li Qingluo also knew—Pei Nanjia's birth mother, Aunt Guan.

It had only been a little over a month since Nan Jia died, but Guan Shi had aged considerably.

Moreover, it is said that Madam Guan and Vice Minister Pei have already moved out of the Pei family, and have completely fallen out with the old lady of the second branch because of Nan Jia's death.

Pei Shilang was even impeached in court because of a quarrel with his mother.

I heard that His Majesty summoned Minister Pei to his side. He originally wanted to give him a good scolding, but seeing his pathetic state, as if he had lost his daughter and was completely distraught, he let him go.

His Majesty said, "I am deeply saddened by Minister Pei's misdeeds, so I will wait until later to reprimand him for his wrongdoings!"

Since the emperor had spoken, the Censorate, after grumbling and throwing down a few more memorials, could only hold back for the time being.

When Pan Li saw Aunt Guan, her eyes seemed to light up instantly.

She immediately handed the large iron ladle she was using to scoop porridge to the person next to her, and then quickly walked towards the Guan family.

"lady--"

Upon seeing her, Madam Guan turned and curtsied, saying, "So it's Miss Pan. Miss Pan, please don't call me 'Madam.' I am merely Master Pei's concubine, and I truly do not deserve such a title..."

Pan Li, however, seemed to really want to get close to Guan Shi.

"Then how about I call you Aunt Guan? Aunt Guan, please don't be so polite. Are you here at the charity hall to see these poor children again today...?"

Aunt Guan seemed to be in a difficult position, but Pan Li had already stepped forward and taken her arm in a friendly manner.

"Shall I go in with you? I haven't seen these children for several days anyway..."

After Guan and Pan Li entered the charity hall, Li Qingluo, without further delay, turned and headed towards the dilapidated temple.