"Pah! You're like a dog biting Lü Dongbin, not recognizing a kind heart! I'm kindly reminding you, but you little slut don't know how to appreciate it."
Wang Niangzi cursed vehemently, completely disregarding the Li family.
In the blink of an eye, a slap landed heavily on the prince's face, the sound clearly audible even amidst the noisy crowd.
"You barren hen, how dare you hit me! I'll fight you to the death!"
Lady Wang never expected that she would be slapped by Li Youran when she was showing off her power.
"Smack!"
Before Lady Wang could get close, Li Youran raised her hand and slapped her again.
"Pah! You're clearly just jealous that my Xiangyu got engaged to Lu Chuan and took your place." Wang Niangzi couldn't beat Li Youran in a fight, so she just kept up with her words.
“Lu Chuan and I are divorced. He can get engaged to whomever he wants, it has nothing to do with me.” Li Youran said coldly, “I only know that if anyone dares to lay a finger on my family, I will fight them to the death.”
Li Youran originally wanted to go home to discuss with her family about opening a bookstore next to the academy, but she didn't expect to encounter such a thing upon returning.
Li Youran was somewhat surprised to learn that Lu Chuan and Wang Xiangyu were together, because she knew that Lu Chuan was impotent. Under these circumstances, the fact that they were caught in bed together suggested something was amiss.
But what does this have to do with her? After all, it's all in the past, and besides, it's someone she despises.
"I'm not going to bother with a hen that can't lay eggs." Madam Wang found a way to back down, because if she continued to fight, she would be the one who suffered.
"What good is being beautiful if you can't have children? You'll still become a discarded woman!"
Although Madam Wang has gone far away, the cursing continues.
"This is outrageous!" Zhao Lanzhi clenched her fist and said, "Father, Mother, why don't you tell the truth and give my little sister justice!"
"What good would it do to say it?" Li Youran shrugged helplessly and laughed, "Not only would no one believe me, but they would also think I was deliberately trying to smear him. After all, he's a scholar with a high status."
"Thinking she's married to a good family, she's showing off here, but actually..." Wang Niangzi stopped mid-sentence and turned to look at Li Youran, saying, "Daughter, someone is jumping into that fire pit for you, that's a good thing, you mustn't do anything rash."
Lady Wang believed that Li Youran was only putting on a nonchalant act, pretending not to care. After all, they had been husband and wife before, and now that Lu Chuan had married someone else, how could she not feel sad?
“Mother, I finally escaped that hellhole, so why would I care about these things?” Li Youran said apologetically, “It’s all my fault, I’ve dragged my sister-in-law into this.”
“Little sister, what are you saying? I treat you like my own sister, and it’s only right that I stand up for you. There’s no question of dragging you down,” Zhao Lanzhi said straightforwardly.
Zhao Lanzhi was so kind to Li Youran not simply because she was a good person, but because she overheard a conversation between Li Tairan and Li Youran.
She had been married into the Li family for over a year but had not given birth to a child. Although Li Tairan did not say anything, he was inevitably a little anxious. At that time, Li Youran comforted Li Tairan and said many kind words on her behalf.
If her sister-in-law treats her well, she will naturally treat her sister-in-law with the same sincerity.
"Young Master Liu, what a coincidence!" Li Youran was talking to her family when she looked up and saw Liu Zhiyuan.
"Miss Li, you are so clever."
Liu Zhiyuan had clearly rushed here at breakneck speed to find Li Youran, but he pretended it was just a coincidence.
At noon today, Zhao Lanshan went to the academy to deliver a food box of steamed buns to Liu Zhiyuan. The buns tasted exactly the same as those from Li Youran's shop, which surprised Liu Zhiyuan.
A million guesses flashed through Liu Zhiyuan's mind in an instant. He didn't know how Zhao Lanshan went to Li Youran's steamed bun shop, whether she had said anything bad in front of Li Youran, or whether she had bullied Li Youran.
"Did Miss Zhao go to the steamed bun shop today?" Liu Zhiyuan asked casually. "Between her and me..."
"Is this Miss Zhao whom we met at the fabric shop that day?" Li Youran's eyes practically lit up with laughter when she mentioned Zhao Lanshan.
"This Miss Zhao is really rich. She likes to eat my steamed buns, so she casually took out 150 taels of silver to buy the recipe for the steamed buns, saying that she wanted to make them at home."
Upon hearing Li Youran's words, the Li family was stunned. Had their little sister really earned 150 taels of silver? That was equivalent to several years' worth of income for the family.
"Young Master Liu, what did you just say about you and Miss Zhao?" After Li Youran finished speaking, she realized that Liu Zhiyuan hadn't finished speaking.
Seeing that Li Youran didn't mention anything else, Liu Zhiyuan simply didn't continue the topic, since he didn't know how to talk to Li Youran about these things.
If their relationship develops to that point, Liu Zhiyuan will naturally speak frankly and express his feelings.
But in Li Youran's mind, he was just a familiar old customer...
Although bringing up this topic suddenly felt abrupt, what if Li Youran also had feelings for him and misunderstood him, causing them to miss their chance...?
Thinking this, Liu Zhiyuan hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.
"Does Young Master Liu have something to say?" Madam Li asked, seeing this. "We're all family, Young Master Liu, there's no need to make things difficult for us."
Li Niangzi had a good impression of Liu Zhiyuan and knew that Liu Zhiyuan took good care of Li Youran's business.
“Since Aunt Li has said so, then I won’t stand on ceremony.” Liu Zhiyuan said with a smile, “As the end of the year approaches, the weather is getting colder and colder, and the roads are covered with snow, making it very inconvenient for horse-drawn carriages to travel. Since the students’ families can’t deliver meals to them, getting them to eat has become a problem. I was thinking if we could order meals from here.”
"The meals don't have to be fixed. Today it can be steamed buns with vegetables, tomorrow it can be steamed buns. As long as they are hot, that's fine."
Upon hearing Liu Zhiyuan's words, Li Youran's family's eyes lit up; this was a big business opportunity!
"There are food stalls near the academy, why did Young Master Liu go to such lengths?"
Li Youran was not blinded by this large order; she felt that Liu Zhiyuan's actions were somewhat unreasonable.
"The students are very picky eaters, otherwise they wouldn't have their families bring them food. They're already tired of the food available at the academy gate, which is why they asked me to come up with a solution for them," Liu Zhiyuan lied.
"What are your thoughts, Miss Li?" Liu Zhiyuan looked at Li Youran expectantly and said, "Please accept my offer, even if it's just to do me a favor!"
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