Wu Saozi returned to the side room, and Wu Ying and the others crowded around her, asking, "How is it, what's this Miss Li like?"
Wu Saozi smiled shyly, "She seems very amiable when she speaks, not at all like someone who's unreasonable and bossy."
"Amiable? How so?"
Wu Saozi, blushing, thought for a moment, "Her voice was very gentle, not like our rushed tones. And Miss Li is so beautiful, I've never seen such a beautiful person in my life. She said she'd have time and asked us to visit her, to liven things up."
"Is that all? Nothing else?" Wu Ying frowned, clearly not satisfied with the result.
It turned out that Wu Saozi's visit to pay respects to Li Man'er with a reward was just a pretense. She was pushed out by Wu Ying and the others to probe Li Man'er's true intentions.
"I said she shouldn't have gone," said a woman named Gao Yujuan, pursing her lips. "She's as timid as a quail, can't even speak clearly, what could she have found out?"
This woman had a shrewish appearance, with thin cheeks and vacant eyes. When she spoke, one side of her mouth drooped, giving her a look of indifference and lack of fortune.
"Gao Yujuan, are you stupid? It's precisely because Wu Saozi looks soft and malleable like dough that we sent her to sound things out. If not her, then you? Haven't you looked in the mirror lately? Look at yourself, you don't look like a decent person at all, would a young lady even let you in?"
Wu Ying was furious. This woman named Gao was always meddling. Not only was she lazy and slippery on a daily basis, but at crucial moments, she always liked to make sarcastic remarks and be a backseat driver. Wu Ying found her utterly infuriating.
Wu Ying was the leader of these women, and her words were quite reasonable.
Just as Gao Yujuan was about to retort, Wu Ying quickly added, "Besides, sending Wu Saozi was what we agreed on beforehand, everyone agreed. You had no objections then, what's with the sudden outburst now?"
Gao Yujuan immediately flew into a rage, "Wu Ying, what do you mean? Don't think you're so great just because you're a minor leader. In my eyes, you're nothing!"
Wu Ying sneered, "I might not be great, but with a single word from me, you'll be kicked out of our group. And then, whether you have a place to stay in this old city will be another matter entirely."
"You..." Gao Yujuan's face turned red with anger, but she couldn't utter a word.
She had been a widow for only half a year. Her husband was executed for desertion on the battlefield. By rights, people like her shouldn't have been allowed to stay in the old city or work in the military. Their families would have been implicated to some extent; it was already an act of mercy that they weren't executed together.
Gao Yujuan had wanted to leave, but she was a weak woman with two children. If she left the old city, the three of them would likely starve to death in no time.
She had wanted to go to the new city, but her husband's death was dishonorable, so going to the new city was a futile wish.
"You just bully us, widows and orphans, aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning from heaven!"
Wu Ying let out two cold laughs, "Don't you think widows are a rarity in the old city? It's only been in the last few years that our lives have gotten a little better. Back in the seventh year of Chenghua, the northern deserts were full of widows!"
Everyone nodded in agreement; that was true.
Gao Yujuan had also calmed down by now. If she were driven away, it would truly be a dead end. How could she afford to offend anyone when her life was at stake?
"I, I'm just used to it. My mouth is foul, don't take it to heart."
Wu Ying snorted. If it weren't for the fact that this Gao woman was strong and could do a lot of work, she would have kicked her out long ago.
"Alright, everyone, rest! We still have a long way to go! With the New Year approaching, everyone be alert, and also keep an eye on those few. If they cause any trouble, none of us will escape," Wu Ying said. "Normally, I can turn a blind eye to your minor sloppiness, but during the New Year, any incident could be a matter of losing one's head."
Everyone naturally understood this principle and nodded in agreement.
Only Gao Yujuan seemed vaguely displeased.
"If any of you dare to stir up trouble at this time, I'll skin you alive!" she said, giving Gao Yujuan a meaningful glance.
Gao Yujuan, like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, pretended not to see.
Wu Ying, utterly annoyed, simply said, "Everyone disperse!"
Only then did everyone go their separate ways.
No one noticed that Wu Saozi, who had seemed so flustered and unable to speak clearly moments before, now had a faint smile on her face.
Li Man'er, meanwhile, was also lying in her bed, sighing.
"A'si..." Qi Yihan was truly omnipresent!
That man seemed to have eight hundred hearts, permeating the northern deserts like a sieve. How many people had he planted?
A'si...
On the way to the northern deserts, Li Man'er had casually rescued A'qi. That man was a chatterbox and loved to talk to people when he had nothing else to do.
A'qi might be reserved when talking to others, but towards Li Man'er, he always showed a subtle hint of closeness.
Firstly, Li Man'er was his savior and also Qi Yihan's attending physician.
Secondly, he felt that their prince had a special something for Li Man'er, so he opened up more during their conversations.
A'qi had said that the people around Qi Yihan had strange names, so simple they were infuriating, like A'si, A'wu, A'qi, A'jiu. They didn't sound imposing at all, making him doubt his prince's cultural level.
When Li Man'er heard Wu Saozi deliberately emphasize calling her A'si, she instantly understood. Someone had been sent to her side again.
Well, having an inside informant wasn't bad. At least before doing anything, she would have a guide who was familiar with the environment and could help conceal her actions.
After Li Man'er figured this out, she closed her eyes and prepared to sleep.
However, before she could fall asleep, the window was pried open.
Li Man'er's eyes snapped open, and she immediately looked at the figure leaping in. My goodness, this was too exciting! On her first day in the old city, she encountered a thief?
But she soon realized she was mistaken.
No thief could climb through a window as smoothly as this person, and the figure was also very familiar.
Li Man'er sat up abruptly, wrapped herself tightly in the quilt, and said to the figure, "Uninvited guest, is this how the general entertains?"
Practically a hooligan!
A certain person chuckled softly, not coming towards the bed curtains, but sitting at the table. "If I don't come now, I won't have time to see you."
Although this person's face was covered with a mask, his features were incredibly familiar. And his voice hadn't been deliberately disguised.
"You're a busy man, why do you need to see me?"
"Naturally, I want to know your true intentions," Qi Yihan sighed softly. "This is not a game anymore. Before you act, you must think it through."
Li Man'er smiled, "Look at what you're saying. I'm merely going with the flow."