Li Shiyue wanted to laugh, but seeing the indignation on Yang Hui's face, she held back.
"Who told you that? Was it also your Sister Fu?"
Yang Hui looked at her suspiciously, then nodded.
"Xu Lingwan left the capital to return to her hometown of Fengxi, where other members of the Xu family will naturally take care of her and Liu Shi. As for why she left the capital, it is all thanks to the He family. Everyone in the capital knows that Xu Lingwan was previously detained by the matriarch of the He family, which is not good for her."
Before she could finish speaking, Yang Hui retorted, "How could that be? Sister Fu said that Xu Lingwan is already doing well for the He family. It's one thing for her not to cherish it, but the Xu family even sent her back to her hometown."
"There must be something you're doing to stop her, otherwise why would Xu Lingwan insist on leaving the capital when she was doing well in the capital?"
"The 'good' you speak of, do you mean Xu Lingwan, a young woman who hasn't even reached marriageable age, married a sickly man who won't live long?" Li Shiyue retorted, the smile on her lips gradually fading.
Yang Hui stammered and couldn't say anything, so she simply turned her head away.
Li Shiyue refused to let the matter pass easily: "The He family forcibly kept their young daughter, who was not yet of marriageable age, to marry their own son, which in itself is contrary to the law."
"Do you know that the young master of the He family is bedridden and unable to get up? Even so, he is violent and has even left marks on Xu Lingwan's body."
Seeing Yang Hui looking over, Li Shiyue was not surprised: "You are surprised that I know, because I was there when she found her cousin."
“You’re right. It was my suggestion to send her to Fengxi’s hometown. Because in the eyes of these people in the capital, no matter how good or bad the young master of the He family is, Xu Lingwan has already been married.”
"And those things about her father and brothers, it was the Emperor's mercy that prevented the innocent woman and her daughter from being implicated in the young master's mistakes, and the Rongguo Duke's Mansion also risked being punished by the Emperor to help the mother and daughter."
“Returning to Fengxi, far from the capital, will mean far less gossip. Whether it’s the capital or Fengxi, at least Xu Lingwan will have some peace and quiet, unlike in the capital where she would be pointed at and gossiped about as soon as she appeared.”
Moreover, since the second branch of the family had previously participated in the struggle for the throne, the Rongguo Duke's Mansion had taken the risk of getting the Emperor's approval and was not punished by Liu and her daughter, which was already the best outcome.
Only by staying away from the capital and never appearing before the emperor can they have a peaceful life.
“If I really wanted to target Xu Lingwan, I shouldn’t have made such a suggestion. I should have kept her in the capital, remembering the wrong things her father and brothers had done, suffering from gossip every day, and having to wander around under the emperor’s nose. Forget about sending her to her hometown of Fengxi, she would probably have to reunite with her father and brothers by then.”
Yang Hui lowered her head, clearly having taken these words to heart, and there was some struggle in her eyes.
"I'm curious, the Sister Fu you mentioned seems to have a shallow understanding of things, making many conclusions based on what she's heard. She doesn't know the details of the events, nor does she know anyone's character. It's as if, in her eyes, there are no good people besides herself."
She was curious about the relationship between the "Sister Fu" that Yang Hui mentioned and the person she knew.
"Alright, it's time to go back." Li Shiyue got up and, without waiting for Yang Hui to follow, slowly walked back with Lian Dong.
Today's trip was quite fruitful.
"Isn't the county princess angry?" Lian Dong was a little surprised. She didn't expect Li Shiyue to be so good-natured. Instead of getting angry when faced with provocation, she rationally threw the question back at Li Shiyue.
“Getting angry is useless. These kinds of people just want to see you get furious. The angrier you get, the happier they are.”
Li Shiyue paid attention to the stone steps under her feet. After the heavy snow, the stone steps were covered with a layer of smooth frost, making her shoes slippery when she stepped on them.
"Compared to the eleventh daughter of the Yang family, I am more curious about who this Sister Fu she mentioned is. I am very curious about what kind of person this Sister Fu must be to be able to say such things."
When they returned to the main hall, they ran into Yang Yan and Xu Lingqing, who were also returning together, as they walked down the corridor.
When the two saw Li Shiyue, they both awkwardly avoided each other. Xu Lingqing, in particular, rarely saw her show any shyness.
Li Shiyue pretended not to see them and waited for the two to approach before going inside together. Returning to Yang's side, she patted the frost off her sleeves, which she hadn't noticed before.
"Where did you go? You didn't get lost, did you?" Madam Yang smiled and glanced in the direction Yang Yan and Xu Lingqing were heading.
Li Shiyue smiled and spoke first: "I was so captivated by the snowy scenery on the lake at the manor that I couldn't be with my cousin and Mr. Yang. They were probably by the lake, and the frost that fell from the trees got on them."
Lady Song, the wife of the Duke of Cheng'en, glanced sideways, and a maid brought up a cup of hot tea, placed it in front of the three of them, and then withdrew.
"It's freezing outside, have some hot tea to warm up," Madam Song said with a smile, pushing the tea and snacks on the table towards her.
A maid walked in from outside. Li Shiyue looked up and recognized her as the maid who had been following Yang Hui earlier.
Madam Song noticed this as well, and looked outside with some confusion before asking, "Where is the young lady? Why did you come here alone?"
"The young lady said she had been admiring the scenery by the lake for too long and was feeling tired, so she went back to her courtyard first." The maid glanced at Song Shi's expression and, seeing the displeasure in Song Shi's eyes, quickly lowered her head.
The expression on Song's face could only be described as extremely unpleasant. If it weren't for the presence of the Xu family, it seemed as if she would rush out to arrest someone at any moment.
"Cough cough."
Li Shiyue coughed lightly twice. The sound wasn't loud, but it was particularly captivating when everyone in the main hall was silent.
Seeing that everyone was looking at her, she said somewhat embarrassedly, "I'm sorry, I was rude. I must have been outside for too long and caught a chill."
Madam Zhou's eyes darted around, and she understood what she meant: "Madam Cheng'en, you may not know, but Yan Yan is a bit sensitive to the cold. My elder sister-in-law has been asking the imperial physician to prescribe medicine and take good care of her. As for my young lady, her body is not as robust as her husband's, and she can easily catch a cold in this freezing weather."
Li Shiyue lowered her head, meeting Yang's gaze. Her lips, hidden behind a handkerchief, were turned away from Yang, and she coughed again.
Yang withdrew her gaze and picked up where Zhou left off: "This child hasn't been with me for long, and now that she has this relationship with Erlang, I need to take good care of her."
Madam Song nodded, not particularly suspicious. Concealing the displeasure in her eyes, she smiled and said, "The county princess will have a bright future; the good days are yet to come."
She looked apologetically at Madam Yang: "Eleventh Sister is the youngest daughter of my husband and me. She has been spoiled by the Duke since childhood and has become somewhat arrogant. I will teach her a lesson later for her lack of manners."
"If I could have even half the goodness of the county princess and the eighth young lady, I would be content."
Madam Yang smiled slightly: "Once a girl gets married, she becomes someone else's new wife. It's better for her to stay at home. The girls are used to being at home."
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