Exile with Storage Space: Family Fortunes in the Barren Lands-Chapter 528 - 493: Not Indulging the Lou Family (2)
To prevent Guoguo from being viewed as an unusual child, Li Yuzhu suggested that they should not mention this matter to more people, and gradually let those around her know as she grows older.
Li Xingmao nodded, "Third Sister has thought this through; she’s still a child. If bad people find out about her ability, they might exploit her."
Li Yuzhu smiled and said, "That’s exactly what I was thinking."
Mu Yuanxiu glanced at the leopard and said, "The leopard has a big appetite, I’ll go hunt some wild game to feed it."
Li Xingmao patted Mu Yuanxiu on the shoulder, "Thank you for your hard work, Yuanxiu."
"I’m just keeping myself occupied," Mu Yuanxiu waved his hand with a smile, then took his bow and arrows and left.
Li Yuzhu and Li Xingmao arrived at the North Courtyard Main House, where Guoguo and Li Jing were happily playing with a little puppy.
Li Xingmao went over and picked up Guoguo, "Guoguo."
"Dad," Guoguo said, smiling and patting Li Xingmao’s face.
Li Xingmao didn’t smile at her, taking her hand away, he looked at her sternly, "Next time, no matter what you do or where you go, you must tell the adults at home, and never leave alone, do you hear me? It makes us worry."
The Princess Consort Luling walked out from the house, "I just gave her a good talking-to. This child is even bolder than Yu Wen was at her age, disappearing without a word."
She approached Guoguo with a stern face, giving her a hard stare.
"Guoguo, you have to be obedient, or your aunt won’t like you anymore," Li Yuzhu also looked at her with a stern face.
The three of them stared at Guoguo, their expressions serious.
Guoguo looked from one to another, not daring to smile.
She blinked her big eyes, serious as she nodded, "Yes, Guoguo will be obedient."
"Being obedient is likable." Li Xingmao put her down, patting her leopard-head hat, "Go play."
Guoguo was pulled away by Li Jing to play.
The Princess Consort Luling shook her head, "Children love to play, she says she won’t do it again, but that’s not certain. Xingmao, Yuzhu, you need to keep a close watch on this child."
"Got it, Mother," Li Xingmao quickly responded.
.
Although the leopard came suddenly and listened to Guoguo, Li Xingmao still didn’t feel at ease about it.
What if the leopard roams around at night and scares others away?
He moved Guoguo’s sheep and several chickens and ducks into the yard, placing them by the haystack where the leopard used to crouch, and let the leopard stay in the sheep pen.
To take care of the sheep that saved Guoguo’s life, Li Xingmao took great care of it, building a very sturdy pen with a thick thatch roof, and the shed was covered with piles of dry straw.
Li Xingmao dropped the three wild chickens and four doves Mu Yuanxiu had hunted in front of the leopard.
The leopard ate contentedly.
Seeing the leopard was driven outside, Guoguo sadly said, "Dad, the big cat won’t bite people, it will be cold outside."
Li Xingmao hugged her, comforting her, "Guoguo, but others are afraid of the big cat. After some time, when the family gets used to it, Dad will let it live inside, okay?"
Guoguo blinked, "Okay."
Li Xingmao looked at the shed again and said, "Don’t worry, Guoguo, Daddy won’t let it freeze, I’ll stack a lot of straw for it to use as a blanket."
Guoguo also glanced at the leopard, "Okay."
.
By afternoon, the whole family knew about the new leopard.
Chai Eying was startled and couldn’t believe the leopard would listen to Guoguo, repeatedly telling Guoguo to be obedient and not run outside to play casually.
Everyone else was similarly surprised.
But having seen Guoguo command the leopard, Li Xing’an was not too surprised.
Li Xing’an’s cold had come on suddenly, his fever gradually subsiding, but his head felt heavy, his nose was blocked, and his body ached, rendering him bedridden.
The Princess Consort Luling ordered him to stay home and not go up the mountain.
Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu remained living on the mountain.
They came down at noon to have lunch with the family, and the rest of the time, they cooked for themselves.
They lived close by, so Prince Luling and his wife weren’t worried about them.
The window on the west side had been blown away by the wind, and Mu Yuanxiu and Li Yuzhu were busy fixing it.
The two had no time to run back and forth from the mountain.
Only the two of them ate together, so cooking was simple.
Mu Yuanxiu cleaned and salted the wild hare he caught, and he and Li Yuzhu roasted it by the fire as they warmed themselves.
.
On the 23rd, Li Yuwen and Pei Shenyan couldn’t make it back.
However, Pei Shenyan’s little servant did come on horseback, bringing some New Year’s goods and fish and meat, saying they were presents for the Prince and Princess Consort Luling.
The couple wasn’t coming back today, but would join the Li Family for New Year’s Eve dinner tomorrow.
In addition to fish and meat, the New Year’s gifts included wine.
Prince Luling was overjoyed, smiling as he told Pei Fusheng, "Tomorrow the family will prepare a small New Year’s feast, ask them to come back early."
The Princess Consort Luling handed a handful of money to Pei Fusheng, telling him to buy himself some candy.
It was quite a bit of money, and Pei Fusheng happily said, "Mr. Li, Mrs. Li, I’ll definitely pass on your message."
.
Just as the Li Family was preparing for the Small New Year’s feast, the Second Princess Li Yu En and Lou Chengye’s group had already arrived at Zhen An Prefecture.
In fact, back when they were still at the Li Family, Mr. Lou had already dispatched someone to return home early and deliver a message to the family.
He personally wrote a letter, asking his attendant to deliver it to his father, Prefect Lou, informing him of the true identity of the Li Family.
Prefect Lou was quite astonished upon reading the letter.
That country schoolmaster was actually Prince Luling?
The girl that his fifth son fancied was actually the second daughter of Prince Luling?
Prefect Lou began to feel restless.
The proposal had been made, the wedding invitation had been sent; whether they wanted to marry or not, the marriage had to proceed.
Although Prince Luling had been stripped of his title, he hadn’t been expelled from the family. It was uncertain whether he might return to the capital one day.
He could not afford to offend him.
Since Prince Luling claimed the identity of a schoolmaster, he presumably didn’t want others to know his true identity.
Thus, the Lou Family couldn’t spread word of Prince Luling’s affairs outside.
This daughter-in-law, once brought into the family, must be treated well.
Prefect Lou burned the letter.
After much deliberation, he personally came to inquire about the marriage arrangements for his fifth son.
Lady Lou feared that Prefect Lou valued the country daughter-in-law of his fifth son too much, which would embarrass the other daughters-in-law, but she didn’t want to anger Prefect Lou either, so she lied, saying, "Everything is arranged, the new room is ready, and the servants are in place."
She also brought the prepared servants for Prefect Lou to see.
Two clever maids and two competent older servant women.
Prefect Lou was satisfied.
He personally inspected the newlyweds’ room.
Prefect Lou seldom visited this part of the rear residence, so he didn’t know it was unsuitable for living.
He only checked if the furniture in the room was new and if the courtyard had been thoroughly cleaned inside and out.
Seeing that the windows were free of dust and the red plum blossoms in the courtyard were blossoming festively, Prefect Lou finally felt at ease.
And Lady Lou also felt more at ease.
She smiled lightly, thinking, a rural girl, does she really deserve the master’s personal attention?
It’s a bit too much.
.
By the time Mr. Lou’s group arrived at the Lou Family, it was already late in the evening.
Both families didn’t want to delay and agreed to conduct the wedding ceremony that very day.
Therefore, the Lou Family was bustling with joy both inside and out.
The gate of the residence was wide open, and after a burst of firecrackers, several wedding maids and the housekeeper approached Li Yu En’s carriage singing joyous songs.
Li Yu En, having sat in the carriage all the way, was tired and hungry, and paid no interest to the singing outside.
The accompanying Second Lady Liu lifted the curtain and glanced outside, then whispered, "Second Miss, let’s not hurry to get off the carriage."
Li Yu En wanted to get off quickly to sleep. She yawned, "Why?"
"Only the wedding maids and the housekeeper have come, and the daughters-in-law of the Lou Family aren’t here, that’s quite improper." Second Lady Liu didn’t know the daughters-in-law of the Lou Family, but she remembered the customs taught by the Princess Consort Luling.
The women coming were adorned in red with flowers, which were the wedding maids. Those not wearing red but dressed decently without hair ornaments were merely housekeeper wives from the residence.
A housekeeper, no matter how wealthy, could only wear a couple of thick golden hairpins; they were not entitled to wear hairpins with dangling ornaments.
Only the noblewomen wore such hairpins.
These rich women’s garments were all made of silk and satin, yet they wore no hairpins with dangling ornaments, with simple headpieces. Thus, they were merely the housekeeper wives of the residence.
Bringing in a new wife with only the housekeepers to welcome her showed that the Lou Family clearly didn’t regard Li Yu En highly.
Li Yu En, with sleepy eyes, listened to Second Lady Liu’s analysis and nodded emphatically.
"They look down on me, and I look down on them too. I won’t indulge them. I’m not getting out of the carriage. I’ll have a nap here, let me know when I should get off." Li Yu En stretched and tossed aside the head covering, then dropped onto the soft cushion to continue sleeping.
Liu Er Niu pulled a woolen blanket over her.
Liu San Niu quietly opened the curtain to peek outside. The women outside came again, speaking, "Please, the bride, get off the carriage." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
Liu San Niu dropped the curtain, ignoring them.
Second Lady Liu also dropped the other side of the curtain, ignoring them.
Yet the women outside kept chatting incessantly, standing beside the carriage, saying, "Please, the bride, get off the carriage."
Second Lady Liu glanced at Li Yu En, who was covering her ears, and smiled at the women outside, "Dear Lou young mistresses, sorry, our young lady has fallen asleep. I’ll wake her up shortly."
The housekeeper wives of the Lou Family exchanged looks, and one said, "Mrs. Li has mistaken us, we are the housekeeper wives of the Lou Family, not the young mistresses."
The group thought to themselves that country folks surely have poor eyesight, unable to identify people.
Second Lady Liu made a puzzled sound, "Huh, is this the custom of the prefecture? The ones welcoming the bride aren’t the mistresses, but the servants? Are you implying we should have our young lady marry a servant?"
The housekeeper wives’ faces immediately turned pale with fright.
