Chapter 216: Chapter 216

Guoguo immediately chimed in, crisply shouting, "Mom—"

Miss Chai was startled and stood there awkwardly.

The Princely Heir, "..." Can he spank his son’s bottom raw?

Doesn’t he know this is very impolite?

Li Yuzhu was also shocked; this little rascal dares to say such things!

The Princely Heir glared darkly at his son Li Jing, "No way!"

Li Jing blinked, "Why not?"

The Princely Heir’s brows tightened, "You have a mom."

Li Jing looked at his dad, "But mom left, she’s not coming back."

The Princely Heir pulled Li Jing out of the room, wanting to sew his son’s mouth shut, "Mom went to see the doctor, she’ll be back."

Li Jing shook his head, "That day, I heard Grandpa and Grandma talking to you, saying mom ran away, not coming back. Dad, what is a separation letter?"

The Princely Heir stood there awkwardly, "..."

Inside the room, Miss Chai widened her eyes in surprise.

Li Yuzhu glanced at her and walked outside to see the father and son.

The Princely Heir dragged his son far away.

"Dad, what is a separation letter? You told Grandma that you and mom wrote a separation letter and she’s not coming back, is that right? Dad?" Li Jing was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"Shut up!" The Princely Heir growled softly in anger.

Li Jing got a spank on his bottom.

The sound was loud enough to be heard from afar.

"Wow, Auntie help, help—, Aunt Chai help—, help—" Li Jing cried out, "Waa waa waa, ah ah—"

He wailed like a banshee.

The Princely Heir wished he could stuff his son into a hole.

Miss Chai and Li Yuzhu rushed out from the room at this cry. Fresh chapters posted on novel⦿fire.net

"Brother, why are you hitting Jingjing?" Li Yuzhu rescued Li Jing from his grasp.

Li Jing was crying heartbreakingly, and when he turned back, noticing Miss Chai was also there, he immediately rushed forward, hugged her leg, and cried even louder.

Guoguo, who Miss Chai held in her arms, instead giggled happily.

"There’s no harm in children’s words; Brother Li don’t take it to heart." Miss Chai smiled to defuse the situation.

The Princely Heir’s face became more awkward.

Li Yuzhu patted the Princely Heir’s arm, smiled slightly, "Brother, why argue with a child?"

"Come here!" The Princely Heir angrily pointed at Li Jing.

Li Jing simply hid behind Miss Chai, showing half of his little head as he looked at his dad, "I won’t! You hit me, humph! I don’t want to play with you! I’m playing with Aunt Chai!"

The Princely Heir gnashed his teeth, "Are you rebelling?" This kid had embarrassed him greatly today!

He regretted not carefully checking if Li Jing was really asleep when he spoke in his parents’ room.

As a result, this little rascal overheard and parroted what he heard thoughtlessly.

"He’s not even three years old; you can spank him all you want, but he won’t understand." Li Yuzhu nudged the Princely Heir forward, "You oppose hitting children, so why are you hitting him today?"

The Princely Heir froze at Li Yuzhu’s words.

"Alright, I’ll have a proper talk with Jingjing; you get busy with your things. The rain has stopped, too. Go check the fish and shrimp caught by Third Brother; I heard after a big rain there will be a lot of them." Li Yuzhu continued.

Arguing with a child less than three years old, he felt like a three-year-old himself; the Princely Heir realized how ridiculous it was, feeling even more embarrassed.

"Third Sister, you handle Jingjing; I’ll go see if Third Brother needs help." The Princely Heir nodded towards Li Yuzhu and strode toward the front courtyard.

Li Yuzhu turned around, pulled Li Jing, and went back inside with Miss Chai.

Li Jing, carefree, went back to playing with his wooden block toys.

Miss Chai placed Guoguo in a play chair, glanced at Li Jing, and quietly asked Li Yuzhu, "Yuzhu, did Jingjing’s mom... really leave? Didn’t you say she went to see the doctor?"

Li Yuzhu was at a loss on how to answer.

She sighed internally.

The family originally wanted to hide this from the children, but unexpectedly, Jingjing, the little rascal, found out anyway.

Moreover, even if the Xue Family ran away, they couldn’t leave Zhen An Prefecture; once everyone visits the county or the prefecture, they would still encounter the Xue Family.

Papers can’t wrap fire; Li Yuzhu decided not to hide it from Miss Chai anymore.

"They have indeed separated; the family originally wanted to keep it from the two kids, but didn’t expect that Jingjing overheard." Li Yuzhu said bitterly.

"Why divorce?" Miss Chai asked again, hesitating. She felt it was too impolite to ask, "I apologize for being intrusive. Yu Zhu, forget it, don’t say anything."

Li Yuzhu smiled and said, "There’s nothing that can’t be said. This Zhen An Prefecture isn’t large. Someday, if you go to the county or the prefecture for banquets, you might meet her."

The Xue Family person generally looks down on ordinary people. Anyone who can make her decide to follow either must be wealthy or noble.

Miss Chai was surprised, "She hasn’t left Zhen An Prefecture?"

Li Yuzhu thought to herself, of course, the Xue Family would stay in Zhen An Prefecture.

If the Li Family people leave Zhen An Prefecture, it would be defying the imperial command. Although the Xue Family has divorced, she still hasn’t received the Emperor’s permission, so the imperial edict is still effective for her.

Unless the Xue Family’s new suitor is a person of great ability who can directly appeal to the Emperor to plead on her behalf, removing her name from the Li Family Tree immediately, otherwise, in the Emperor’s eyes, the Xue Family remains the daughter-in-law of the Li Family.

These words she could not say to Miss Chai, she only said, "She has family in Zhen An Prefecture, she might be there."

Miss Chai relaxed a bit, her expression softened, "Alright, we won’t talk about her anymore. Come, let’s play with Jingjing and Guoguo."

On the fourth day of Miss Chai’s stay at the Li Family, the Eldest Young Master Chai came to find the Li Family.

Li Yuzhu, upon learning he had entered the manor, immediately instructed Miss Chai to pretend to be ill.

When she first met Miss Chai, she had already once assisted her in feigning illness, this time she was even more adept.

Eldest Young Master Chai was led by Li Xing’an to Miss Chai’s dwelling.

As soon as he entered the bedroom, he was blocked by Li Yuzhu, "E Ying’s old illness has flared up again, she is very weak now."

Eldest Young Master Chai frowned and said, "Miss Li, wasn’t she well a few days ago? Right, I remember, after you treated her illness, didn’t you say her ailment was completely cured? How could she fall ill again?"

Li Yuzhu said, "Yes, I did say that, but her body hasn’t fully recuperated. Her neck had a tumor removed, and after this root cause was taken care of, properly nursing her body would take at least half a year. But it’s only been a few days. Eldest Young Master Chai, illness strikes like a mountain falling, yet departs like silk being drawn, you must have heard this saying."

Eldest Young Master Chai’s thoughts were not something he could elaborate on to Li Yuzhu.

He said, "I’ll go see E Ying."

"She’s resting on the bed, having just taken some medicine, and is now closing her eyes to recuperate." Li Yuzhu stepped aside, allowing him to enter the room.

Eldest Young Master Chai entered the bedroom, and behind the coarse cloth curtain lay Miss Chai. Her nanny, Nanny Jiang, sat by the bedside keeping watch.

The room was filled with the scent of medicine, and on the tabletop sat a bowl of medicine that hadn’t been cleared away, containing remnants of it.

"Eldest Young Master is here?" Nanny Jiang stood up.

Miss Chai also opened her eyes, softly calling, "Brother."

Her voice was weak beyond belief.

"Since you’re unwell, why not recuperate at home? Why are you staying at the Li Family?" Eldest Young Master Chai gestured to Miss Chai to lie down properly.

With a pale face, Miss Chai forced a bitter smile, "Since you weren’t at home, living alone felt lonely, so I came to the Li Family for a visit. Unexpectedly, I got ill upon arriving at their house. Miss Li advised me to stay at her place, so she could attend to me, thus I moved in."

Eldest Young Master Chai surveyed the room; the walls were reinforced with bamboo and yellow clay.

The floor was flat earthen, not paved with stone slabs.

The roof was bamboo as well; although plain, there was a touch of elegance in its simplicity.

It was said that the Li Family was a literary family that fled from the Northern Land, Brother Li’s calligraphy even surpasses the county’s advisor, clearly the rumors weren’t unfounded.

This could be seen from the arrangement of the room.

The walls hung some paintings, not done by his sister, presumably drawn by some Li Family girl.

Though incomparable to a master’s creation, they had their unique charm.

On the bamboo-strip table stood a vase made from bamboo.

In the vase were common wildflowers from the mountains.

The window was moon-shaped, opening up to see a Chinese flowering crabapple tree and a few clumps of purple bamboo.

These must have been recently planted as the trees were still small. However, they would surely grow thick and leafy in the future.

The environment here was good, with a small doctor who could treat illnesses—suitable for residing.

Yet, how could his sister stay here permanently? She must soon marry.

Eldest Young Master Chai sat down on the chair beside the bed and said, "Little sister, I’ve already made arrangements with Lord County Magistrate; two days from now, I’ll take you to the county. The match made by the magistrate is certainly good.

I’ve seen the young man; his looks are no worse than the Luo Family boy. He is four years your senior, currently a disciple of the county magistrate. His family owns three big shops in the county, their situation is good, you won’t feel wronged after marrying."

Miss Chai let out a bitter laugh, "Brother, in my condition, can I go to the county the day after tomorrow? Although I wish to go, I lack the strength to walk."

Eldest Young Master Chai got anxious, "Then what should be done?"

Miss Chai looked at her brother, sighed, "Brother, I’ve fallen ill again. Even if I force myself to go for the meeting, and even if they agree to marry me, what if I get sick after marriage?

Would you just watch them discard me? Have you forgotten? My betrothal with the Luo Family was settled since childhood, but what was the outcome? When the Luo Family learned of my illness, they immediately turned to marry second sister. I’ve been humiliated once; do you wish for me to be humiliated again?"

Written above were the thoughts that left Eldest Young Master Chai stunned.

He sighed and said, "Little sister, that was not what I meant."