Seeing that the situation was not good, Chang Lili immediately took out a gold hairpin from her clothes. The vendor stared at it so wide that he forgot what he was saying. He could not afford this gold hairpin even if he set up his stall for a lifetime.
"Miss...are you alright?" Bai Mei first groaned a few times, then quickly went to help Xiao Shu'er.
She and the coachman fell to the ground. Xiao Shu'er fared worse, crashing into the carriage wall and landing in a pile of medicinal herbs. It took her quite a bit of effort to climb out, and her high-tied hair was now a bit disheveled.
As soon as she got out of the car, Xiao Shu'er started yelling, "How did you drive that car? Were you trying to kill me?"
The driver, who was inspecting the wheels, was so frightened that he knelt down on the ground: "Have mercy! This...this wheel has been tampered with; someone deliberately sawed it off."
"Deliberately sawed off? Who dares to saw off my wheel?" Xiao Shu'er was furious. When had she ever suffered such humiliation?
I glanced at the wheel, and it really did look like it had been sawed open.
Xiao Shu'er waved her wide sleeves and roared, "Investigate!"
Passersby avoided her when they saw her fierce appearance, and other vendors were unwilling to pay her any attention. But at the stall where Chang Lili was half-crouched and hiding, the vendor took back the gold hairpin and kept his mouth shut.
Xiao Shu'er's eyes darted around, as if she had thought of something, and she shouted at Bai Mei, "Tell those guards to come with me. I suspect that it was that little bitch Chang Lili who did this!"
"Wasn't she locked up? How could it be her?" Bai Mei said in surprise.
Xiao Shu'er remained silent, turning to Bai Mei with an unfriendly expression. Bai Mei immediately fell silent, called for the guards, and followed Xiao Shu'er back to the Mingyi Pavilion warehouse.
When they arrived at the door of the secret room, the place looked exactly the same as when they left, but Xiao Shu'er felt something was wrong no matter how she thought about it. She couldn't believe that anyone else would dare to oppose her like this.
"Open the door."
The guards obediently did as they were told. Just as they were about to unlock the door, the unassuming door began to shake. Once the lock was opened, the door slammed uncontrollably towards the guards.
"Fine! That little bitch really did run away! Chang Lili, no matter where you run, I will never let you go!" Xiao Shu'er said through gritted teeth, her face flushed red.
Outside Mingyi Pavilion, at a small stall across the street, Chang Lili was haggling: "I just gave you such a good thing, and you won't even give me a copper coin? Boss, that's not how business is done. How are you going to make a fortune like this?"
“You young lady…” The vendor was speechless. “You’re so young, yet you’re quite the smooth talker.”
He reluctantly handed some loose silver to Chang Lili, who beamed with joy: "I wish you a prosperous business and that you will soon become very wealthy."
She planned to sell the stolen jewelry and use the money to hire a new doctor for her mother-in-law; that quack doctor had to be replaced.
Now that Meng Yuxiu was treating them so well, she felt embarrassed to trouble him any further.
However, Xiao Shuer's jewelry looks quite unusual, and openly selling it might bring trouble.
Chang Lili went to a fabric shop, and when she came out again, she had transformed into a handsome young man.
Only then did she feel relieved enough to go to a pawnshop, pawn the jewelry, and hire a doctor to return to the general's mansion.
The doctor wasn't a famous one from a large clinic, but he looked very kind. Watching him frown as he took her pulse, and after the pulse diagnosis, he confirmed that what the previous doctor had said was exactly the same, Chang Lili finally felt much more at ease.
After the doctor wrote the prescription, Chang Lili looked at it and found that it was different from the previous prescriptions, as it contained mostly common medicinal materials.
Chang Lili saw the doctor off and then picked up some medicine. She thought to herself that the previous doctor was indeed unreliable and might actually be a shill for Mingyi Pavilion, colluding with them to swindle money.
After she returned, she decocted the medicine and gave it to her mother-in-law.
After a day of wits and battles, she was exhausted and collapsed onto the bed, sleeping soundly through the night.
The next morning, Chang Lili was fast asleep when the yard was in complete chaos.
"What are you doing? You dare to barge into the General's mansion while he's not here! Wait until the General returns..." A middle-aged woman's voice rang out. She recognized the voice; it belonged to the old woman from the next room.
The sound of hurried footsteps startled Chang Lili. She hurriedly dressed and peeked out through the crack in the door.
A group of men carrying knives and dressed as constables barged into the courtyard. Chang Lili was puzzled; these men were incredibly audacious to dare offend Meng Yuxiu.
She couldn't help but sigh, knowing these people were bound to meet a bad end, when she heard them shout, "Is Chang Lili in this courtyard? Go, arrest her!"
Chang Lili's hands trembled. Her first thought was to run, but upon closer inspection, she realized that these people had come prepared and had already surrounded the courtyard. She had no way to escape.
At this moment, the old woman came out of the house and asked anxiously, "Sir, what are you doing? Why are you arresting Lili? What wrong has she done?"
The mother-in-law was also flustered. She knew that Chang Lili had no money. She had asked the doctor to prescribe medicine again yesterday, and she assumed that it was a new arrangement by the general. But now she was panicking.
"She stole medicinal herbs from Mingyi Pavilion. We're here to arrest her. Get her out here right now!" the constable said bluntly.
“This is impossible. Lili is a good child. You must have made a mistake, sir. She would never do such a thing…” the old woman said earnestly.
Unfortunately, those people had ill intentions. They were quite annoyed by what they heard and threw the old woman aside, causing her to fall to the ground.
Chang Lili could no longer contain herself, so she pushed open the door and rushed over.
"You can arrest me if you want, but don't treat your mother-in-law like this. Don't you know how to respect the elderly and care for the young?" Chang Lili said angrily as she helped her mother-in-law up.
The mother-in-law wanted to protect Chang Lili and even wanted to say a few words in her defense.
The constables were unmoved by their words and immediately surrounded Chang Lili, pulling her away from her mother-in-law.
"So you're Chang Lili? Arrest her and take her away!" the head constable shouted.
Chang Lili surprisingly did not defend herself. If you want to find fault, you can always find a reason. They were deliberately trying to cause her trouble. As for who instructed them, it goes without saying.
"Don't worry, Mother-in-law. True gold fears no fire. I didn't do it, and that's it. I'll go and interrogate her, and she'll be released soon." To avoid worrying her mother-in-law, Chang Lili said stubbornly, though her heart was pounding.
She was puzzled; these people barged in so ostentatiously, yet Meng Yuxiu didn't react at all, which was unlike his usual style.
Little did they know that Meng Yuxiu had been summoned by the emperor and was attending the morning court session, a rare occurrence. These people only dared to act so arrogantly when he was not around.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
