Chapter 303 Not Worthy of Her

Li Man'er's eyes were filled with surging anger, the veins on her forehead throbbing. "You are the Ninth Prince, second only to His Majesty, so whatever you say goes. Even if the Xiao family came to find me and send me to the Moluo Mountains, I would have to agree without question. Your illnesses, your injuries, I must treat. If your subordinates are in danger, I must help. Even my own hard work, you took it away without a second thought. But in the end, I was kept in the dark the entire time. I don't even have the right to know the truth."

Li Man'er was deeply angered. Her emotions were usually contained, and she could brush off most things with a laugh. But this time, she was truly furious. If she had known that the man named Qi would go back on his word and be so heartless, she shouldn't have cared about the lives of the people in Mobei. She should have let the blueprints for those war chariots gather dust in her space, anything was better than letting that Qi man benefit from them.

The angrier Li Man'er became, the more she thought about it, and she turned to leave.

Without a second thought, Qi Yihan reached out and grabbed Li Man'er's arm, pulling her into his embrace.

Li Man'er was no delicate flower. She noticed that in their last two meetings, Qi Yihan had become somewhat familiar with her, his attitude no longer as distant, and he even liked to be physically affectionate.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Her mind was stuck in a rut, convinced that the man named Qi had no good intentions. She held her hands defensively in front of her. As she got closer to Qi Yihan, she suddenly struck out, using one hand to grab his chin and the other to poke his ribs.

Qi Yihan was naturally aware of her tendency to act out. This girl seemed unable to tolerate even the slightest grievance. If Gong Xiao so much as mocked her a little, she would kill him afterward, doing so cleanly and leaving no trace. He knew she was not one to suffer losses.

Qi Yihan quickly leaned back, his body slanting to dodge Li Man'er's attack.

Li Man'er did not press her advantage. Instead, she stopped her attack. "Your Highness, be careful next time. I'm not always this easy to deal with."

The main reason was that time was running out. She feared being discovered by the Xiao family's servants. Otherwise, she would have torn this room apart and made sure the man named Qi didn't have an easy time.

This young lady was clearly upset. If she were allowed to leave like this, who knew when she would vent her anger or how much interest it would accrue.

"Miss Man'er, it's not that I intentionally hid it from you, but the matter was of great importance and I truly couldn't tell you the whole truth."

Li Man'er glanced at Qi Yihan, hesitating whether to use hypnosis on him, but she said, "Your Highness said the same thing last time. You were just pacifying me like a child!"

"If possible, I hope you will return to the capital. Mobei is truly not a good place."

Li Man'er merely glanced at him and said nothing more, turning to leave.

She kicked open the door and saw Ah Qi. Without a word, she hurried forward.

Ah Qi cautiously entered the room. "Your Highness, how did you provoke your subordinate's savior?" Miss Li usually had a good temper. Why did she seem on the verge of exploding every time she was around Your Highness?

"Get lost!"

"Understood." Ah Qi immediately scurried away, then shook his head and muttered, "It's Your Highness's foul temper. Who could stand it?"

He only dared to grumble in a low voice, never daring to say it in front of Qi Yihan.

Meanwhile, Li Man'er sprinted all the way up to the second floor of the teahouse. She ran stealthily on the rooftop, not wanting to attract any attention.

Fortunately, it was cold, and everyone was out on the streets picking out New Year's goods, so no one paid much attention to her.

Li Man'er successfully returned to the private room and then released Xiao Qiniang from her space.

Li Man'er calmed herself down and closed her eyes as if dozing. Outside the door, Zhu Yu and the others were growing impatient. They wanted to come in but were afraid Xiao Qiniang would lose her temper, so they could only discuss in hushed tones.

Li Man'er opened her eyes, took out a small porcelain bottle from her embrace, removed the stopper, and held it under Xiao Qiniang's nose to let her smell it.

After doing so, she sat back down, leaning to the side as if she had fallen asleep.

Not long after, Xiao Qiniang's eyes fluttered open. She felt as if she had only rested for a moment, but her spirits were much better, and her mood seemed to have improved considerably.

Li Man'er also feigned waking up, rubbing her eyes.

"You can come in now!"

Hearing Xiao Qiniang's voice, Zhu Yu was both surprised and overjoyed. She hurried in. Seeing Xiao Qiniang safe and sound, and Li Man'er also present, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Miss, shall we go back?"

"Let's go back!" Xiao Qiniang said, "Have someone park the carriage at the entrance, and we'll head back directly."

"Yes!" Zhu Yu sent the older women to make arrangements while she attended to Xiao Qiniang, helping her put on her cloak.

Li Man'er stood up, directly took out a large gold ingot, and threw it to the waiter as payment and a tip.

The waiter was so overjoyed by the generous tip that his face almost split into a grin. With the New Year approaching, this tip was almost equivalent to half a year's wages. Anyone would be happy.

He could see the envy in the eyes of the nearby employees, who were practically red with jealousy.

The waiter escorted Li Man'er and her party to the carriage, showering them with compliments. After the carriage departed, he flicked his towel and turned back inside to attend to other customers.

After a day of shopping, Xiao Qiniang felt exhausted. She was too tired to even exchange pleasantries with Li Man'er and just wanted to go back and rest.

Li Man'er was quite generous. She truly stuffed all the things she had bought into Zhu Yu's hands. "Take these for your young lady. This is my New Year's gift, don't damage them."

Zhu Yu looked at Li Man'er with new admiration. This Miss Li was foolish and rich, truly a polite person.

"Thank you, Miss Li."

"What thanks are due? I've been troubling your young lady for so long at the yamen, causing her quite a bit of inconvenience. This is only right." Li Man'er said to Xiao Qiniang, "If I return to the capital in the future, Miss Qi, don't miss me too much. If you can spare the time, you should visit the capital. I'll take you to taste the flavors of the capital."

Xiao Qiniang nodded. "It's a deal."

Li Man'er turned and walked towards her own courtyard, her back looking both capable and carefree.

"No wonder Young Master fell for Miss Li. With her straightforward nature, others can't possibly learn it," Zhu Yu said. "I observe that Miss Li treats you quite well. Look at this fabric, and these powders and rouge. None of them are cheap items."

In the past, their young lady had also experienced many hardships. If she hadn't been good at managing things, who knew what their situation would be like now!

Xiao Qiniang merely said, "I'm tired, let's go back!"

"Yes. Miss, I will help you register the items and put them in the storeroom."

"Mm." Xiao Qiniang thought that Xiao Si was not worthy of Li Man'er.

When Li Man'er returned, Liu Ya was also overjoyed. "Miss, you're finally back! I've been waiting all day."

"Is something wrong?"

Liu Ya's expression was not very good. "Um, the Marquis asked to see you as soon as you returned."