In late spring, the roses in the back garden of the general's mansion were in full bloom, and their pink and white petals fell all over the ground, setting off the winding gravel road. It should have been a pleasing sight.
Shen Weiwan was leading her maid, Chuntao, leisurely toward the lotus pond. She wore a moon-white skirt, a smoky-colored gauze gown, and her dark hair was loosely tied in a bun, pinned with a simple white jade hairpin. She looked even more innocent and naive than usual.
Chun Tao followed behind, muttering quietly, "Miss, why is there no news about Liu? You tricked her with the 'Wu Gu Qing Shou' the other day, and her hands were rubbed raw. She hasn't dared to leave her room for the past few days."
Shen Weiwan paused, turned around and winked at Chuntao, lowering her voice: "Shh - Auntie is just gathering her strength. Think about it, her precious daughter Shen Ruoruo, who was tickled in public by me at the last Spring Festival Banquet and lost so much face, how could she let it go? She might be planning with her mother how to set me up again."
As soon as she finished speaking, a figure suddenly appeared at the corner of the rockery in front. It was Li Xiu with a lame leg.
Li Xiu was wearing a royal blue brocade robe today, with a jade belt tied around his waist and his hair combed meticulously. However, his face was not handsome to begin with, and when he tried to put on an affectionate look, it made him look a little greasy. He was still waving a folding fan in his hand. When he saw Shen Weiwan, he immediately put the fan away and limped towards her, putting on a self-proclaimed gentle smile.
"Sister Weiwan," he began, his voice deliberately low and full of self-righteous magnetism, "What a coincidence! I was just looking for a few words with you."
Chun Tao subconsciously took a step forward, blocking Shen Weiwan, and looked at Li Xiu warily: "Mr. Li, please respect yourself! My young lady is taking a walk in the mansion and is not entertaining guests."
Li Xiu, however, seemed not to have heard Chun Tao's words. His eyes fell directly on Shen Weiwan's face, and he put on a melancholy and heartbroken expression: "Miss Chun Tao, please leave. What I said to your young lady was a private matter."
He paused, took a half step forward, and spoke in a more affectionate tone, "Weiwan, I know it's not easy for you in the mansion. Your aunt... well, she's not your biological mother after all, so I'm afraid she's been very harsh on you."
Shen Weiwan raised her eyebrows, said nothing, but blinked her clear and innocent big eyes, like a frightened deer, looking at him quietly.
Seeing her like this, Li Xiu took it as her tacit agreement and felt even more pleased, thinking that this "silly" legitimate daughter was indeed easy to control. He continued, his tone filled with pity, "Don't be afraid. In the future... I'll be there for you. Although my family may not be as well off as before, I will never let you suffer even the slightest injustice."
As he spoke, he wanted to reach out and touch Shen Weiwan's arm. His posture looked like a clumsy actor preparing to play the role of a hero saving a beautiful girl.
"Wait!" Shen Weiwan suddenly jumped back and dodged his hand, with a confused and bewildered expression on her face, "Who are you?"
Li Xiu's outstretched hand froze in mid-air, and the "deep affection" on his face instantly cracked. "Sister Weiwan, you...what's wrong with you? I'm Li Xiu. We talked at the last Spring Banquet."
"Li Xiu?" Shen Weiwan tilted her head, looked at him carefully, and suddenly clapped her hands as if she had suddenly realized something. "Oh - you are the Mr. Li who has a little difficulty walking?"
She spoke the words "It's a bit inconvenient to walk" very clearly, and even glanced at his lame leg.
Li Xiu's face flushed instantly, not out of shyness, but out of anger. He hated it most when others mentioned his leg disease, but Shen Weiwan said it so bluntly, and in front of the maid!
"Sister Weiwan," he gritted his teeth, suppressing his anger, "please don't make fun of my leg disease. I came here today because I really care about you."
"Care about me?" Shen Weiwan blinked, looking "innocent", "But we don't seem to be familiar with each other, right? Mr. Li, if you stop me like this, if others see us and say that you and I are having a secret meeting in the garden, then I will lose my reputation. "
As she spoke, she deliberately glanced around, her voice rising a little: "Oh, luckily there aren't any people around. Otherwise, if my aunt heard about it, she would accuse me of being disrespectful and might even punish me!"
Li Xiu was speechless after hearing her string of words. He had intended to play the role of "deeply protecting" to win Shen Weiwan's favor and, at the same time, test her attitude to see if this "silly" daughter of the emperor had truly become smarter after her rebirth. Unexpectedly, Shen Weiwan not only ignored his words, but also steered each sentence towards the "great distinction between men and women," as if he was deliberately flirting with her.
"Weiwan, you misunderstood. That's not what I meant..." Li Xiu hurriedly explained, sweat oozing from his forehead. "I just heard that your aunt wants to seize the family fortune left by your father and wants to arrange a bad marriage for you... I'm worried about you!"
"Worried about me?" Shen Weiwan seemed to have heard a huge joke, "Mr. Li, you are joking. The family property left by my father is under the control of me, the legitimate daughter, and it is not the turn of others to interfere. As for the marriage..."
She drew out her words, looking Li Xiu up and down, a hint of a smile on her lips: "Mr. Li, could it be that... you want to introduce me to a marriage? But I heard that Mr. Li himself hasn't found a marriage yet."
Li Xiu's expression turned even uglier. His leg disease and his family's decline had indeed hindered his marriage prospects, which was one of the reasons he'd set his sights on Shen Weiwan. While the General's Mansion was temporarily weak, its foundation remained, and Shen Weiwan was a legitimate daughter. Marrying her would not only net him a generous dowry, but also allow him to leverage the reputation of the General's Mansion to maintain his status.
"Weiwan, how could you say that?" Li Xiu pretended to be calm. "The heavens and the earth can bear witness to my feelings for you! Look, this is a South China Sea pearl I found especially for you. I heard it can calm your mind..."
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