The next morning, sunlight shone on the bed. Qi Yu turned Li Xiaoxiao over and dressed her. She opened her eyes, still confused.
"Husband, what is it?" Qi Yu struggled to get up, her face heavy. She could hear a dense sound of footsteps coming from afar.
Li Xiaoxiao immediately woke up, washed up, and opened the door to see her great-aunt sitting in the yard with a serious expression, eating snacks with several bags of packaged food next to her.
Seeing Li Xiaoxiao come out, she said kindly, "Xiaoxiao, why are you up so early today? You usually don't wake up until after 7 a.m." Today, her aunt was different from usual, dressed quite elegantly. This was the same outfit she wore when she first came to the door.
“Grandma, it was my husband who shook it today.” Li Xiaoxiao suddenly realized something. Her grandma was probably about to leave. She clearly recalled the scenes from the book she had read before.
The Empress Dowager fled to a peasant woman's house, but was refused entry. Her husband came out, and the Empress Dowager gave her a token before leaving. Not long after, the Empress Dowager died of tuberculosis at the age of fifty-eight.
Originally, there were only one or two sentences, but she didn't pay much attention at the time and couldn't remember this part of the plot at all. When she thought of the original book, the sadness in Li Xiaoxin's heart began to magnify infinitely. The Empress Dowager's tuberculosis was cured, but once she left, unless they had a chance to enter the palace, the Empress Dowager would never have a chance to come out again.
The Empress Dowager smiled kindly, then took the mutton-fat jade bracelet from her hand and placed it in Li Xiaoxiao's palm.
"Xiaoxiao, I'm leaving now. I've always admired your wisdom and integrity. You didn't kneel to treacherous officials, but you knelt to the imperial power. Once I'm gone, I'll bestow upon you the title of County Princess. You'll have to walk your own path in the future."
She talked on and on for a long time, and soon hundreds of soldiers arrived at the Li family in neat rows. The Empress Dowager stood up and instantly exuded her aura, becoming the powerful woman she once was. The rumor that the Empress Dowager was ruling from behind the curtain had been circulating for two years.
Hundreds of people knelt down at the same time. Li Xiaoxiao, Qi Yu, and the steward who came out of the room all knelt on the ground and shouted in unison, "Welcome back to court, Empress Dowager!" The women who had not yet gotten up in the backyard opened their doors, stood at the door, and knelt down in the direction of the Empress Dowager.
In a high-pitched voice, Eunuch Zhang said, "Welcome back to the palace, Empress Dowager! Long live the Empress Dowager!"
When the Empress Dowager passed by the eunuch, she said a few words to him. A short while later, the eunuch went over and took all the food and medicine on the table away.
The procession departed in a grand procession. The Empress Dowager's entourage was so large that even the surrounding villagers heard the news. As the procession passed by, no commoner was allowed to look up.
After the Empress Dowager left, Qi Yu looked in that direction, his eyes filled with deep emotion.
The news that an empress dowager had lived in the Li family home spread throughout the county, shocking everyone in Xinghua Village.
At the same time, Li Xiaoxiao's reputation was also ruined. The Empress Dowager did not have a good reputation among the people. Rumors circulated that the Empress Dowager kept a young lover, that she increased taxes, and that the emperor was a puppet emperor. Under these circumstances, the people who had suffered from poverty for many years thought that the Empress Dowager was particularly hateful. However, Li Xiaoxiao rose to prominence because of the Empress Dowager, which instantly aroused the dissatisfaction of the villagers.
After all, beggars are not jealous of the emperor; they believe that the emperor should enjoy such rights. However, if another beggar becomes successful, the beggar who has always been poor cannot accept it and may even hate him and want to destroy him.
Various rumors about Li Xiaoxiao spread like wildfire.
Rumors of Li Xiaoxiao's wickedness began to circulate in the storytelling halls of Mingjian.
After the Empress Dowager left, Li Xiaoxiao always felt as if a piece of her heart was empty. At first, the Empress Dowager was just someone she didn't want to get into trouble with, but after spending more time with her, she began to regard the Empress Dowager as family.
That day, Li Xiaoxiao unusually did not practice martial arts or manage household affairs; she simply sat alone in the courtyard, lost in thought.
Although Qi Yu really wanted to stay with her, he had to go to school these next few days, and it was getting late, so he had to leave.
"My wife, I'm going to school. Please don't worry about it." Qi Yu said and left. At this moment, new buds were sprouting on the big tree outside the courtyard, and the sunlight was bright and warm.
Her sisters comforted her, and Li Xiaoxiao reluctantly agreed. After a while, she went back to her room alone, lay on the bed, and secretly shed tears. Although she hadn't seemed to have much interaction with the Empress Dowager these past few days, she always felt warmth from her.
The Empress Dowager always gave her a sense of having family by her side to rely on, and Li Xiaoxiao enjoyed the harmonious atmosphere of her family.
In her past life, her parents divorced and left her alone in a room. The emptiness she felt was like the lingering chill of winter.
She never wants to go through that again.
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