Chapter 120: Li Longling is Very Worried
The palace pavilion was quiet.
In a side pavilion of Chi Long Mansion, Li Longling sat alone at a desk, her fingers gently gliding over the pages of the account book on the table. She read the contents of the ledger by the different textures of the ink and paper.
She had been managing the finances of Chi Long Mansion since she was nine years old.
—This included the expenses for the daily meals of the mansion guards, the monthly stipends for the servants, and the funds needed for repairs within Chi Long Mansion…
In ordinary noble families, these matters would typically be handled by the head of the family’s wife.
However, her mother had passed away at her birth, and Li Feng had never remarried. Therefore, these responsibilities had fallen upon Li Feng himself.
When Li Longling learned of this at the age of nine, she voluntarily took over the task to help her father.
Initially, Li Feng, considering her blindness, had assigned a maidservant to read the account books to her and to act as a scribe for her written decrees.
But one day, Li Longling noticed discrepancies between the account book and some of her memories. After questioning the maidservant who read to her, she discovered that the maid had accepted bribes from certain individuals within Chi Long Mansion. She had occasionally underreported transactions, thus enabling the wrongdoers to embezzle funds.
It was from that incident that Li Longling gradually learned to use her fingers as her eyes.
For any matter involving documents, she handled it personally.
However, her fingers could never completely replace her eyes.
What ordinary people could read in the time it took for one incense stick to burn, she needed a quarter of an hour or even longer.
Now, just managing the finances of Chi Long Mansion consumed most of her time. If her father were to pass on the position of Mansion Lord of Chi Long Mansion to her in the future, what would she do?
Li Longling pondered this question almost every day.
She had come up with only two possible solutions.
—The first solution was to have her father remarry and have a brother or sister, who would then inherit the position of Young Master of Chi Long Mansion.
She had mentioned this to her father before.
However, upon hearing this, her father had become furious with her and even made her kneel before her mother’s memorial tablet for three days and three nights.
As for the second solution…
—She would marry out, and then manage Chi Long Mansion together with the person who married her.
This was indeed a good plan.
But who could guarantee that the person she married in the future would always be good to her and to Chi Long Mansion?
Perhaps, like the maidservant who had reported false accounts, she would be exceptionally considerate to her normally, calling her “Miss” repeatedly, yet would still deceive her because she could not see.
Anyone could easily deceive a blind person like her who had lost her sight…
Thinking of this, Li Longling bit her lip, intending to reach for her teacup and wash away her worries with a sip of tea.
However, as she reached out in the direction where the teacup should be…
*Crash!*
The sound of shattering porcelain echoed.
Li Longling knew she had broken another teacup. She pursed her lips in frustration and called out:
“Ling’er.”
No one responded.
“Ling’er…”
Still no response.
Li Longling bit her lip, hesitated for a moment, then pushed herself up from the armrest of her chair, intending to go out and call for someone. However, the moment she took a step, she felt her foot land on porcelain shards, and a sharp pain shot up from her sole.
“Hiss—”
Her instinctive evasion caused her to lose her balance, and she fell backward.
“Ah!”
Li Longling gritted her teeth and quickly raised her hands to protect the back of her head.
However, in the next moment, she felt herself falling into someone’s embrace. The person held her waist with one hand and rested the other on her shoulder.
Li Longling froze for a moment, then softly called out, “…Ling’er?”
She slowly reached out to touch the hand holding her and realized that the person’s hand was smooth as silk. She then understood that it was not Ling’er holding her.
Ling’er, as a maidservant, performed many menial tasks daily. Her hands were rough, both palms and the backs, and she had no time for any skincare.
“Who are you?”
Feng Yu Die looked at Li Longling with a playful smile. She had intended to let Li Longling guess, but then felt it wasn’t very polite, so she answered honestly:
“It’s me.”
“Feng… Senior Sister Feng?”
“That’s right, hehe.”
Feng Yu Die grinned, helped her back to her seat, then crouched down to clean up the broken teacup. She asked, “Junior Sister Li, why are you alone without even a servant to accompany you? It’s so dangerous. If I hadn’t arrived, you might have fallen hard.”
Li Longling turned her face towards Feng Yu Die’s voice and said with a wry smile, “Ling’er should be here. I wonder where she went? Oh, right, Senior Sister Feng, why have you come?”
Feng Yu Die grinned, brought a stool over, sat down, and replied, “I came to visit Junior Sister Li, who is as ethereal as an immortal. Is that not allowed?”
“…Senior Sister Feng is joking.” Li Longling forced an awkward smile and, after thinking for a moment, asked, “Does Senior Sister Feng need to borrow something like the Spirit Gathering Array? You didn’t need to come specifically to tell me, you could have just found…”
“I came to relay a message. Those two Xuan Xing Sect disciples who found the demonic cultivator in Chi Long Mansion said they will meet you in the woods outside Du Chun City the day after tomorrow.”
Li Longling looked slightly surprised. “The day after tomorrow? Then why didn’t Senior Sister Feng bring them to Chi Long Mansion?”
“It’s definitely because Chi Long Mansion isn’t safe.”
Li Longling frowned and nodded, thinking Feng Yu Die was complaining. She pursed her lips and quickly apologized, “Senior Sister Feng, please rest assured, with my father in charge of Chi Long Mansion, no matter how presumptuous those demonic cultivators are, they will never enter the inner mansion. Chi Long Mansion will surely protect you and Senior Sister Xiao’s safety.”
“Ah?” Feng Yu Die waved her hands quickly. “I’m not complaining. This is not your fault.”
“It is Chi Long Mansion’s responsibility if demonic cultivators infiltrate the premises. Senior Sister Feng, please just say it directly.”
“I truly am not blaming you. There’s nothing you can do about this.”
“There’s nothing I can do?” Li Longling frowned slightly and tilted her head. “Could it be that Senior Sister Feng already knows how those demonic cultivators infiltrated Chi Long Mansion?”
“I do know…”
Li Longling quickly cupped her hands and bowed her head, interrupting her. “Please, Senior Sister Feng, speak directly.”
“You’ll find out when you meet my junior brother and junior sister the day after tomorrow. Let’s leave it at that for now.”
“Why?”
“No reason.”
Feng Yu Die looked at Li Longling with a helpless expression. Although Ye Anping hadn’t told her whether she could tell Li Longling in advance, she really couldn’t bring herself to repeat Ye Anping’s words to Li Longling right now.
“Junior Sister Li, there’s only one thing I need to tell you.”
“Yes, Senior Sister Feng, please speak.”
Feng Yu Die paused for a moment, then, with a serious expression, clasped Li Longling’s hands and said, “We will always stand by your side.”
Li Longling was startled and flinched back. “Senior Sister Feng, what do you mean by that?”
“I’ll come to pick you up to meet my junior brother the day after tomorrow. I’m leaving now.”
“…”
After leaving those words, Feng Yu Die lightly pinched Li Longling’s cheek, turned, and ran out. Li Longling sat on the chair, stunned for a long while, then reached up to touch her cheek.
“What does that mean?”
It was at this moment that several footsteps entered the room.
Wu Yue brushed past Feng Yu Die at the doorway. Seeing Feng Yu Die running so fast, she looked a little puzzled and walked into the room, asking, “Miss, Senior Sister Feng just came over. Did something happen?”
“Senior Sister Feng said she found the two Xuan Xing Sect disciples who captured that demonic cultivator and says she’ll take me to meet them the day after tomorrow.”
Upon hearing this, Wu Yue’s eyes widened slightly, and a hint of a smile touched her lips. However, she quickly took a deep breath, suppressing her excitement, and replied as calmly as possible, “I see. Then I will accompany Miss tomorrow.”
“That won’t do. I have received the Mansion Lord’s orders to protect you, Miss. What if this is a trap?”
A trap… Li Longling’s brow furrowed. She suddenly recalled Feng Yu Die’s words from earlier: “We will always stand by your side.”
She felt as if Feng Yu Die’s words were a reminder of something.
But…
She couldn’t figure out what Feng Yu Die was implying, no matter how hard she tried…
“Hmm…”
