The handkerchief in her hand was twisted into a ball. Bai Weiwei closed her eyes, her face showing a deep and vicious expression that was not typical of a child.
After a long while, Bai Weiwei loosened her handkerchief and calmed herself down: "Heh, so much time has passed, maybe Gu Zian has already forgotten. Gu Zian is probably too busy taking care of himself to care about anything else. Besides, even if he did tell others, how many people would believe him?"
As for what they don't believe... naturally they don't believe that Fu Li's affair was caused by her.
A cold laugh escaped his throat, gradually fading into the clamor of horses' hooves.
*
The next day, Bai Yu was about to return to the capital with several people, and the Qin family saw them off with their wives and daughters.
Bai Yu was still a little reluctant to part with Li Li; the more she looked at Li Li, the more she liked her.
The two parted hastily back then, and now, after only two days together, they have to separate again.
"Lili, come here." Bai Yu called Lili over in a gentle voice.
Lili took Baiyu's hand, and Baiyu stroked Lili's hand, looking at her deeply. She originally wanted to say goodbye and catch up one last time, but as she looked at Lili's little face, she felt a strange sense of familiarity.
Bai Yu smiled and said, "Lili, you are a thoughtful child. I believe that we will definitely meet again in the future."
Lili smiled but did not answer, only asking, "Do you still have the sachet you gave to Madam back then?"
"Of course it is."
"Oriole".
Pear attracted a yellow oriole, who immediately presented her with a brand new sachet.
"That sachet isn't with Madam anymore, is it? Then Lili can give Madam a new one."
Bai Yu was taken aback. The sachet from before was indeed not with her. She didn't know why, but Gu Ziqi really liked that sachet and always held it tightly. It had been placed by Gu Ziqi's bedside three years ago.
Thinking of this, Bai Yu suddenly realized why Zi Qi took a liking to Li Li at first sight.
Bai Yu smiled and accepted the new sachet.
Gu Ziqi pleaded longingly, "Mother, I want it!"
"Want more? Mother won't give you any this time," Bai Yu teased.
Bai Weiwei sat in the carriage, listening to the joyful laughter outside, her expression unchanged, leaning back on the cushions with a faint smile as she flipped through a few books.
Yu Siting, however, didn't have such leisure time. She idly played with the trinkets she had found at the market. Seeing her so calm, I couldn't help but feel strange.
They were clearly angry yesterday, how come they're fine overnight?
She had already resolved the minor disagreement between the two last night, and now Yu Siting wouldn't go out of her way to stir up trouble.
Bai Yu comforted Gu Ziqi, then took Lili's hand and whispered, "Actually, I originally wanted a girl, but it turned out to be a boy. Luckily, Ziqi is easy to manage and not mischievous. But I still want a daughter. How about I adopt you as my goddaughter when you come to the capital?"
Lili chuckled: "Madam is joking."
"You're not joking, I'm serious." Bai Yu said, then turned to seek Yang's opinion, "A-Wan, what do you think?"
In just two days, the two have become so intimate that they call each other by nicknames. I wonder what they talked about last night.
Yang naturally agreed. Although the other party was a prominent family, they shouldn't have caused any trouble, but Bai Yu was a very good person, and Yang could clearly distinguish between them.
Besides, they said they'd talk about it when they got to the capital.
They have one thing in common: they believe that Lili will forge her own path in the future.
The two looked at each other and smiled.
Xia Ning wasn't reluctant to part this time. Having known Li Li for so long, the two had developed a little tacit understanding.
"Lili, I'll be waiting for you in the capital."
Lili chuckled and nodded earnestly, "Yes. I'll leave the matters in the capital to Sister Xia Ning."
"It's nothing."
Zuo Pang is already on his way back to the capital. As one of the parties involved, Bai Yu and Xia Ning cannot stay any longer and must rush back to meet the emperor.
After a few brief words, Bai Yu led everyone onto the carriage.
Gu Ziyi stood in the teahouse opposite the prefectural government office, watching without showing himself.
Before getting into the carriage, Bai Yu looked up and glanced in this direction, meeting Gu Ziyi's gaze.
Bai Yu nodded gently and got into the carriage.
Zhui Feng and Han Xi looked refreshed and smug.
Han Xi: "We finally managed to bring down the eldest prince. If it weren't for him, our prince wouldn't have been able to leave the Crown Prince's Palace so comfortably and instead wasted so much time here."
Zhui Feng nodded: "Yes, to be honest, we didn't expect that what we originally planned for ten years would be resolved in just six years."
The two remarked on each and every event, sometimes praising how smoothly it had gone to bring down Gu Zi'an, and sometimes mentioning the many other unexpected surprises they had received.
Gu Ziyi smiled, her eyes gently fixed on the figure who kept looking at the back of the carriage, and murmured, "So there really is a god of fortune in this world."
The carriage, escorted by a small squad of Red Eagle Army soldiers, departed from the prefectural government office and turned a corner on the main street.
Just as the carriage finished turning the corner, a little dumpling suddenly jumped down from the middle carriage.
Xia Ning was so frightened that she immediately leaned out to grab him. The height of the fall was higher than Gu Ziqi's height. If he fell, it would be no joke!
"Ziqi!"
Xia Ning lunged forward but missed, and immediately shouted, "Stop the young master!"
The Red Eagle Army immediately stopped, and the entire convoy also came to a halt.
Gu Ziqi landed smoothly to an unexpected degree, something he hadn't anticipated. He had prepared himself to roll on the ground and had even mentally rehearsed how to land after jumping off the carriage so he could get up and run away as quickly as possible.
Gu Ziqi landed steadily, ignoring Xia Ning's shouts behind him. Holding something in his hand, he ducked to avoid the Red Eagle Army soldiers who came to grab him and nimbly ran around the pillar.
Those Red Eagle Army soldiers were highly skilled, but Gu Ziqi was so small that they dared not use force to capture him, which allowed him to slip through their fingers.
Upon hearing the shouts, Bai Yu immediately lifted the curtains to look outside. What she saw almost made her faint with anger.
Gu Ziqi grabbed a sachet and ran back, waving as she went: "Goodbye, Mother, Ziqi is going on a long voyage!"
Bai Yu pinched her philtrum hard and ordered Cui Hong, "That wretched child! I just praised him for being well-behaved, and now he wants to slap his mother's face? Go and bring the young master back!"
"yes!"
Cuihong hurriedly led people to chase after them, and Xia Ning came over with a look of anxiety and self-reproach: "Young Master's wife, I failed to keep an eye on Ziqi."
Bai Yu waved her hand and sighed, "How can you blame yourself for this?"
Last night, Gu Ziqi begged her for a long time, asking if she could bring Lili back to the capital with her.
Bai Yu knew that Gu Ziqi liked his older sister Lili, so she smiled and pinched his nose: "Sister Lili's home is here, how can she come back to the capital with us?"
Gu Ziqi said "Oh" and then said nothing more.
She thought Gu Ziqi was just reluctant to part ways for the time being, and Gu Ziqi remained well-behaved as usual afterward, without mentioning the matter again.
Who would have thought that she would be holding back such a huge thing today!
Bai Yu pinched his eyebrows, helplessly moved the carriage caravan to the side of the road, and walked towards the direction Gu Ziqi had run.
Bai Weiwei noticed that the carriage hadn't moved forward for a long time, and asked through the curtain, "What happened?"
Ao Xue said, "Miss, the young master suddenly jumped out of the carriage and ran away."
"What?"
Yu Siting flung open the curtain and saw that most of the Red Eagle Army had gone back the way they came. Bai Yu and Xia Ning also rushed over.
"What's going on?"
Bai Weiwei tilted her head slightly to one side to look out, her face full of confusion.
“Cousin, should we go and take a look?” Yu Siting asked.
"Um."
Bai Weiwei frowned and carefully got off the carriage with Ao Xue's help.
After seeing the group off, Madam Yang led everyone to take their leave. Since the group hadn't returned home last night, Old Man Shen was worried and sent someone over.
Shen Ye drove the carriage over, and after informing Qin Renjie and Madam Qin, Yang Shi also got into the carriage.
Shen Jiahao rode his horse, and the already tall young man looked even more spirited.
Gu Ziqi's short legs are really fast. Just as Lili lifted her foot onto the ladder, she heard a commotion on her right.
Turning around, he saw Gu Ziqi running over, yelling and waving his hands, and the Red Eagle Army behind him was about to catch him.
For some reason, Lili seemed to sense Gu Ziqi's anxiety, and her heart tightened. She blurted out, "Big brother!"
Shen Jiahao reacted immediately, squeezed the horse's flanks with his legs, and the horse galloped up, nimbly weaving through the streets.
Gu Ziqi stumbled and tried to run towards Lili, but Shen Jiahao grabbed him with a big hand and lifted him up while he was struggling. When he saw that the person who came was the one Lili called "big brother", he calmed down again.
Shen Jiahao picked him up and looked him over, then grinned and said, "Little brat, you can run pretty fast!"
Gu Ziqi blinked, then swung forward with all her might, clinging tightly to Shen Jiahao's arm like an unshakeable leech.
Shen Jiahao was delighted, while the pursuing Red Eagle Army grew anxious.
"Young Master Shen, thank you for helping us capture the young master. Please put him down and hand him over to us."
Shen Jiahao glanced back at Lili, then raised an eyebrow at the Red Eagle Army: "You think you can just give it to me like that? Don't I have any pride?"
After saying that, Shen Jiahao spurred his horse back.
Gu Ziqi: It's stable, I feel very at ease.
"Here you are, Lili, your brother has brought it back for you."
Shen Jiahao, as if seeking credit, placed the little devil in his hand next to Lili, and Gu Ziqi, who had just touched the ground, immediately hugged Lili like a koala.
Lili didn't know what had gotten into her just now. When she saw Gu Ziqi rushing towards her, she inexplicably felt anxious as well, as if it were a telepathic connection.
Now that things have calmed down, Lili is actually troubled.
He was already being carried over, so Lili could only hug him back reassuringly and ask, "Ziqi, what's wrong? Why did you suddenly run over here?"
Gu Ziqi hugged her tightly: "Ziqi wants to stay with her sister!"
Lili was stunned.
Yang poked her head out blankly: "This isn't... what's going on?"
Lili was also somewhat bewildered.
Qin Renjie and his family were completely stunned.
Gu Ziyi frowned slightly, her gaze falling on the little brat who was clinging tightly to Lili and wouldn't let go, and said out of the blue, "Kids are just noisy."
Then he flicked his sleeves and went downstairs.
Zhui Feng and Han Xi, standing nearby, were speechless.
Is it the children making a fuss, or is it the children other than Miss Lili who are making a fuss?
Lili was holding Gu Ziqi helplessly, considering whether to send him back to his mother, but looking at the little boy's wet eyes, she couldn't say anything.
Oh my, this little dumpling with rosy lips and white teeth, how is she any different from a toddler version of His Highness the Crown Prince?
How could she possibly say no?
Just as they were struggling with this decision, Bai Yu arrived with her people, her face full of helplessness.
The Red Eagle Army dared not use excessive force to arrest people, for fear of hurting the children, and even less dared to snatch the children from Lili's hands.
Although they were ordered to escort the Crown Prince's wife back to the capital, they all worked under Han Xi and naturally knew who was more important to His Highness.
The leader of this small Red Eagle Army squad had no choice but to say to Bai Yu, "Young Master is agile, and I dare not act rashly for fear of hurting him."
Bai Yu didn't blame them, and smiled apologetically at the people around her: "I'm sorry to have troubled you all."
Gu Ziqi pouted and snuggled closer to Lili.
Lili was somewhat conflicted and asked, "What's wrong with Ziqi?"
"This child threw a tantrum last night, saying he wanted Sister Lili to come back to the capital with him. I didn't agree, and he stopped making a fuss. I didn't expect him to be waiting for me here today."
“Ah…” Lili looked down at Gu Ziqi.
There was no way she would go to the capital with him. Gu Ziqi's trip didn't seem like he was trying to persuade her to go to the capital; it seemed more like he wanted to stay and follow her.
Gu Ziqi gently tugged at Lili's sleeve, her strength small, and tugged at it, pleading with her, "Sister, Ziqi wants sister."
Lili:! !
Who can withstand this?
She now understands how her brothers felt when she acted spoiled towards them at her age.
This is just too, too, too cute! Who could resist it?
Helpless, Bai Yu earnestly reasoned with him: "Ziqi, what did Mother say last night? Sister's home is here, so it's impossible for her to return to the capital with us. How about we go back to the capital and wait for her to come? Maybe in a few years, we'll be able to see her again."
Gu Ziqi shook his head.
Bai Yu's expression turned serious as he said, "Ziqi!"
"Ziqi wants to stay here, he wants his sister, he wants his sister!"
This was the first time Gu Ziqi had ever talked back.
Everyone was stunned.
Bai Weiwei, who had been silently watching from behind, was so engrossed in the task that she almost shredded the handkerchief in her hand.
Yu Siting was also very puzzled, looking surprised: "What kind of bewitching potion did Shen Lili give your cousin to make him act so unruly and shameless?"
Bai Weiwei stopped abruptly, and said fiercely, "You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?!"
Yu Siting was startled: "Get angry? Why are you angry? It's so strange. I didn't say anything."
This was the first time Bai Yu had ever seen her son so assertive. Just as she was about to pick up Gu Ziqi, Gu Ziyi walked over slowly.
"Wait a minute."
When everyone saw him, they all bowed to him.
Gu Ziyi casually answered, ruffled Gu Ziqi's hair, and asked him, "Want to stay in Nanlin County?"
Gu Ziqi's eyes lit up: "Mmm!"
"Hmm, then come over and try to please me."
Gu Ziqi was shrewd; knowing that Gu Ziyi held the highest rank, he immediately scurried into his arms, repeatedly calling out, "Crown Prince Brother, Crown Prince Brother!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com