Chapter 120: Li Longling is very worried
The palace was silent.
In the side cabinet of Chilong Mansion, Li Longling sat alone in front of the desk. She gently slid her fingers on the pages of the account book on the table, reading the contents of the book through the different touches of ink and paper. Since she was nine years old, she had been managing the Chilong Mansion. ——Like recording the daily expenses of food and drinks for the palace guards, monthly stipends for the servants, and funds needed for repairs in Chilong Mansion…
If it were an ordinary noble family, these matters would usually be delegated to the wife of the family head. However, Li Longling’s mother passed away when she was born, and Li Feng never remarried. Consequently, these responsibilities fell on Li Feng himself.
At the age of nine, upon learning about this, Li Longling, to help her father, voluntarily took over these responsibilities.
Considering her blindness, Li Feng arranged for a maid to assist her, reciting the contents of the account book and writing edicts on her behalf. However, one day, Li Longling noticed discrepancies between the account book and her memory. After investigating, she discovered that the maid had accepted bribes from specific individuals in Chilong Mansion. Occasionally, the maid would omit some entries to help the wrongdoers embezzle funds.
From that incident onward, Li Longling gradually learned to manage using her fingertips. For everyday paperwork and affairs, she took charge. However, fingers could never replace eyes. What an ordinary person could read in the time it took for an incense stick to burn, she required fifteen minutes or even more.
Now, just handling the affairs of Chilong Mansion’s subordinates consumed most of her time. If her father intended to pass on the position of Chilong Mansion’s head to her in the future, what would she do?
Li Longling pondered over this question nearly every day.
The solutions she considered boiled down to two options. ——The first option was for her father to remarry and have another child, preferably a younger brother or sister, who could then succeed as the young master or mistress of Chilong Mansion.
She had brought up this idea to her father before. However, when her father heard her suggestion, he flew into a rage, even making her kneel for three days and three nights in front of her mother’s memorial hall.
As for the second option: She marries and jointly manages Chilong Mansion with her husband.
This was a good idea. However, who could guarantee that the person she married would always treat her and Chilong Mansion kindly? Just like the maid who had falsified accounts, acting considerate in everyday life, addressing her as “Miss” with respect, yet deceiving her due to her blindness.
Any person could easily deceive a blind person like her…
Thinking about this, Li Longling lightly bit her lip, intending to pick up her teacup and wash away her concerns with a sip of tea. However, as she reached out toward the imagined teacup…
Crash— the sound of breaking porcelain echoed.
Li Longling knew she had broken the teacup again. Feeling helpless, she pursed her lips and said, “Ling’er.”
No response.
“Ling’er…”
Still waiting for a response.
Li Longling bit her lip lightly, hesitated momentarily, then stood up, supporting herself with the chair’s armrest. She wanted to go outside and call for someone. However, as soon as she took a step, she felt she had stepped on a piece of porcelain, causing a sudden pain in the sole of her foot.
“Hiss—”
The dodge instinct caused by stress prevented her from standing firmly, and she threw her head back and fell.
“Ah!”
Li Longling gritted her teeth and quickly raised her hands to protect the back of her head. However, the next moment, she felt herself falling into the arms of someone. The person had one arm around her waist and the other hand on her shoulder.
Li Longling was stunned momentarily and called softly: “…Ling’er?”
She slowly reached out to touch the hand of the person hugging her and found that the back of the person’s hand was as smooth as silk, and she realized that it was not Ling’er who was hugging her.
“Who are you?”
Feng Yudie bared her teeth and smiled, looking at Li Longling with a playful expression. Initially, she wanted Li Longling to guess, but suddenly she felt it might not be too polite, so she answered honestly:
“It’s me.”
“Feng… Senior Sister Feng?”
“Yes, hehe.”
Feng Yudie grinned, helped her sit back down, then knelt to clean up the broken tea cup. She asked:
“Junior sister Li, why didn’t you ask a servant to accompany you? It’s dangerous. If I hadn’t come, you might have fallen badly.”
Li Longling, facing Feng Yudie’s direction, gave an awkward smile:
“Ling’er should be here. I don’t know where she went. By the way, Senior Sister Feng, why are you here?”
Feng Yudie bared her teeth and smiled, brought a stool, and sat down. She replied:
“I came to visit you, my ethereal Junior Sister. Is that not allowed?”
Li Longling showed an embarrassed smile, thought momentarily, and asked, “Senior Sister Feng, do you need to borrow something like the Spirit Gathering Array? You don’t need to come over to tell me. You can find…”
“I came to convey it to you. The two Xuanxing Sect disciples who found the demon cultivator in Chilong Mansion said they would meet you in the woods outside Duchun City the day after tomorrow.”
“The day after tomorrow? Why didn’t Senior Sister Feng bring them to Chilong Mansion?”
“Because Chilong Mansion is not safe.”
Li Longling nodded, thinking Feng Yudie was complaining, and said, “If demons infiltrated the mansion, it is Chilong Mansion’s responsibility. Senior Sister Feng, please feel free to speak.”
“I’m not blaming you. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
“You go see my junior brother and junior sister the day after tomorrow, and they will tell you. Forget it now.”
“Why?”
“No reason.”
Feng Yudie looked at Li Longling with a helpless expression. Although Ye Anping didn’t tell her whether she could talk to Li Longling first, repeating Ye Anping’s words to Li Longling was challenging.
“Junior sister Li, there is only one thing I want to say.”
“Well, please speak, Senior Sister Feng.”
Feng Yudie was silent for a while, then grabbed Li Longling’s hand with a serious face and said, “We will always be on your side.”
Li Longling was startled and shrank her neck:
“Senior Sister Feng, what do you mean by this?”
“I will pick you up tomorrow to meet my junior brother. I will go back first.”
After leaving a sentence, Feng Yudie reached out and gently pinched Li Longling’s cheek, turned around, and ran out.
Li Longling sat in the chair, froze for a while, then raised her hand to touch her cheek.
“What’s the meaning?”
At this moment, several footsteps entered the room. Wu Yue passed by Feng Yudie at the door. Seeing Feng Yudie running so fast, she was momentarily confused, so she walked into the house and asked, “Miss, Miss Feng came here just now. Did something happen?”
“Senior Sister Feng said that she found the two Xuanxing Sect disciples who captured the demon cultivator and said that she would take me to see them the day after tomorrow.”
Upon hearing this, Wu Yue’s eyes widened slightly, and the corners of her mouth curled up a little. However, she quickly took a deep breath, suppressed the excitement in her heart, and answered as calmly as possible:
“I see. I will accompany you the next day.”
“No need, Senior Sister Feng will take me there.”
“This is not possible. The master of the palace orders me to protect you, young lady. What should I do if this is a trap?”
Trap… Li Longling frowned slightly and suddenly remembered what Feng Yudie said just now – “We will always stand by your side.”
She felt as if Feng Yudie’s words were reminding her of something.
But…
No matter what, she couldn’t understand what Feng Yudie meant.
“Um…”
