030 Return home

Li Yang slept soundly in her room under the covers, only waking up when she broke out in a sweat.

There was a knock on the door. Li Yang responded, and the door was pushed open. Liu Mama, the maid of the mansion, came in. Seeing that Li Yang was awake, she said, "Miss, the Yuan family's in-laws, the lady of the house and the young master, have arrived. They are in the main hall now. The lady of the house asked me to ask for your opinion."

Li Yang's hair was soaked with sweat, lying limply on her forehead. Liu's mother sat by the bedside with concern, stroking her hair and saying, "Why are you sweating so much, Miss? Should we go see a doctor?"

Li Yang shook her head: "No need, I feel much better after a nap. Go tell Mom that I'll come over after I've washed up."

“Alright. Miss, don’t worry,” Liu Mama said in a low voice. “I can tell from Madam’s words that you should do whatever makes you comfortable. We’re in the Li family now, so there’s no need to worry about so much.”

Knowing that Li's mother wanted to stand up for her, Li Yang smiled and said, "Aunt Liu, you go and keep an eye on my mother. If she really gets angry, I'm afraid even Dad won't be able to control her."

Madam Liu nodded: "Alright. Don't worry, Miss, Madam knows what she's doing."

After seeing Liu Mama off, Li Yang had a maid bring some hot water to wash herself. After marrying Yuan Chongjing, she went to Chenzhou alone with him, and the maids who had grown up with her in the household were also married off by her mother. Now, the maids in the Li family were all unfamiliar to her, and Li Yang felt embarrassed to ask them to help, so she simply sent them all out and washed herself alone in the room.

In the year or so since she returned to Kyoto, she had come back many times with Xiao Taozi, and the room was always well-stocked with clothes. After changing her underwear, Li Yang opened the closet to find a new set of clothes to change into.

She rarely opened her wardrobe. Usually, she would only look for clean clothes when she came back to stay with Xiao Taozi and needed to change clothes overnight. After leaving, Li's mother would usually have someone tidy up the wardrobe.

But when Li Yang opened the wardrobe, the clothes inside were fairly neat, but in the corner of the wardrobe, she saw a blue bundle that was clearly not the color of her clothes.

Li Yang took out the bundle and noticed its heavy weight, unlike what one would expect from a bundle containing clothes. Intrigued, she placed the bundle on the table, opened it, and found only three ordinary books inside, with no writing on the covers.

She thought it was a storybook hidden by some maid, so she casually opened it and flipped through it, only to be instantly stunned.

That was Yuan Chongjing's handwriting.

The paper did not contain the story she had imagined, but rather a list of officials' names and their connections.

Li Yang's heart suddenly pounded violently, as if it were about to leap out of her chest.

She suddenly realized what this thing was.

Li Yang just couldn't understand why Yuan Chongjing would hide something so important in her bedroom wardrobe.

At the same time, there was a knock on the door, and Liu Mama returned: "Miss, are you ready? Madam wants you to go out."

"Okay, okay. I'll be right there." Li Yang answered, only to realize her throat was a little hoarse. After dealing with Liu Mama, she looked at the three booklets in front of her, unsure what to do. Yuan Chongjing had placed them here, which meant he considered this a relatively safe place. Li Yang thought for a moment, then carefully wrapped the bundle and put it back in its original place.

After doing all this, her hands were still trembling slightly, and she didn't even stop while putting on the hairpin, causing it to be slightly crooked. Li Yang didn't care about that anymore, and hurriedly left after tidying up the room.

Inside the hall, Madam Yuan and Mother Li were talking, while Yuan Chongjing stood to one side, head down, seemingly lost in thought.

"Yang'er, come quickly!" Madam Yuan waved to her eagerly. "I heard you were bitten by a poisonous insect, and it broke my heart. Let me see where that wretched insect bit you?"

Li Yang tilted her head to show her. She had taken off the gauze on her neck to wash up earlier, and hadn't had time to bandage it again yet. A swollen bump with a small blood clot came into Madam Yuan's view.

"Oh my goodness, how could it be so serious? Jing'er, quick, take Yang'er to see Doctor Tao!" Madam Yuan patted her chest in alarm and said to Yuan Chongjing.

This is an excuse to take her back to the Yuan residence. Upon hearing this, Li's mother wanted to stop her, but Li Yang gave her a reassuring look and smiled, "I was just thinking of seeing Doctor Tao, Brother Jing, let's go then."

While inwardly cursing her daughter's lack of ambition, Li's mother maintained a nonchalant demeanor and remained silent in the face of Madam Yuan's flattery and obsequiousness.

Knowing she was in the wrong, Madam Yuan didn't care about her cold treatment. Instead, she got up, pulled Yuan Chongjing aside, and warned him, "Go back and talk to Yang'er properly, you know? If there's a next time, I won't let you off the hook."

Yuan Chongjing was still thinking about the wound on Li Yang's neck that he had just seen. He nodded absentmindedly, his gaze following Li Yang's figure.

Li Yang didn't put on airs; after exchanging a few words with his mother, he left the mansion.

She originally wanted to take Madam Yuan back with her, but Madam Yuan wanted her and Yuan Chongjing to be alone so that she could clear up the misunderstanding and cultivate their relationship. She didn't want to disturb them, so she made an excuse to catch up with Li's mother and let them leave in the carriage first.

Li Yang was preoccupied with the bundle and didn't notice Yuan Chongjing's eyes fixed on her neck. When she came to her senses, she was startled by his intense gaze and unconsciously touched her neck: "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Yuan Chongjing immediately stopped her hand: "Don't touch it, it will cause infection if you touch the wound."

"Huh? Oh." Li Yang twisted her wrist to break free from his grasp and placed her hands on her legs.

Yuan Chongjing's hand paused in mid-air, then silently withdrew. He continued to stare at her neck, and after a long while, he asked blankly, "Does it still hurt?"

Li Yang knew what he was asking: "It doesn't hurt anymore, it just looks scary."

Yuan Chongjing didn't believe her. How could it not hurt? The skin on her neck was so delicate, except for that one spot that was severely swollen and red, with a tiny hole in the center of the swelling, like it had been pricked by a silver needle, and blood was still oozing out. Wasn't Song Xi a miracle doctor? How come after a day, the wound hadn't improved at all?

He gritted his teeth inwardly, but the movement pulled on the still swollen muscles in his cheek. Yuan Chongjing hissed, which finally drew Li Yang's question: "Why is your face swollen?" There was a huge handprint on his face, as if he had been slapped.

Yuan Chongjing said, "My mother hit me. She heard some rumors and thought that I had some involvement with Biyun... Madam Luo. In a fit of anger, she hit me and made me kneel in the ancestral hall."

He felt a little wronged as he spoke. Seeing that Li Yang ignored his words, as if her question had just been casually asked, Yuan Chongjing reluctantly withdrew his gaze. After thinking for a moment, he explained, "There's really nothing between her and me. It's just idle gossip from those idle people outside. You are my wife now, I know that."

This finally elicited a response from Li Yang. She looked at him and said, "Don't deny it. Right now, in your memory, you admire Xu Biyun and hate me, don't you?"

Yuan Chongjing quickly replied, "The past is the past. I don't know what happened in the past five years. Li Yang, don't worry, I will definitely not disrupt the current harmonious situation until I regain my memory."

Seeing that he didn't deny his words, Li Yang spat out, "How shameless! You've been with her all night, and you still say you won't break the bond."

“I didn’t!” Yuan Chongjing instinctively retorted loudly, which drew the attention of Bei Hai, who was driving the carriage. He then explained in a low voice, “I didn’t stay with her last night; I went somewhere else.”

"Then where did you go?!" Li Yang pressed directly.

Yuan Chongjing was speechless. Where had he gone? Of course, he had gone to Xishan to look for her. But after searching for most of the day without finding her, Song Xi had beaten him to it.

He couldn't bring himself to say such a thing. Yuan Chongjing awkwardly looked to the side and insisted in a low voice, "Anyway, I just didn't go to be with her."

"Then why did you kick down the gate of the Duke's mansion for her sake, and even take her child out in front of so many people?" Li Yang asked.

Yuan Chongqing blushed, making the swollen area on his cheek look even more gruesome. He lowered his head and reflected, "I saw her crying so pitifully, and in a moment of impulse, I went there. I never imagined the Duke's mansion would be so shameless as to actually lock us out." He was forced into that situation; he had no choice but to break in.

"And what about Luo Song? Such a large Duke's mansion, and you just openly brought out his grandson without anyone stopping you?"

"No. They were all just watching from the sidelines, and no one stopped them." Yuan Chongjing realized something was wrong as he said this. Logically speaking, even if Luo Minzhi had taken the position of heir that should have belonged to his nephew Luo Song, Luo Minzhi would not have allowed him to barge in alone and then leave with his men for the sake of the Duke's mansion's reputation.

In other words, Law Man-chi did it on purpose!

“He…he…he…” Yuan Chongjing said in surprise.

The carriage stopped outside the Yuan residence. Li Yang stood up and walked out, saying, "Think about it yourself."

After she finished speaking, she jumped off the carriage without waiting for his reaction.

There was no one at the gate. She had just reached the steps when she heard Xiao Taozi crying from inside. Then, wiping away her tears, carrying a bundle on her back and clutching her favorite cloth bag in her hand, she walked out from inside, sobbing.

The bag was full of things and very heavy. It got stuck inside when it reached the threshold, and Little Peach tried to pull it off several times but couldn't.

Seeing that she was about to burst into tears again, Li Yang quickly went over and squatted down in front of her: "Little Peach, what are you doing? Stop crying, your mother is here."

Hearing her gentle coaxing, Little Peach pouted, wanting to burst into tears. But she held back, puffed out her little chest, and said firmly, "I want to go wander outside!"

Li Yang was amused by her words, reached out to wipe away the tears on Xiao Taozi's face, picked her up and sat her on the threshold, and asked with a smile, "Then tell your mother, Xiao Taozi, why did you go to wander?"

Little Peach sat on her lap and tugged at the cloth bag with a wronged expression: "They said that Daddy and Mother are going to separate, and Little Peach will become a troublesome little brat without parents, and will be thrown out and homeless sooner or later."

Li Yang hugged her and coaxed her softly, "How could that be? Father and Mother will always love Little Peach the most. She won't be without a home."

Upon hearing this, Little Peach blinked her big, tear-filled eyes and asked for confirmation, "Really? Mother, you promise?"

Li Yang nodded: "Mother guarantees it."

Little Peach was relieved and snuggled into her mother's arms, then started crying again in fear, "Mama~~ Little Peach is so scared~~ Mama, don't go~"

"Sweetie, Mommy's here. Mommy won't leave." Li Yang hugged her and gently rocked her, patting her back to comfort her.

Yu Guangzhong noticed a glimpse of a peach-pink skirt peeking out from behind the door, and Li Yang's gaze turned cold. It seemed that Xiao Taozi's actions were likely instigated by someone behind the scenes.