NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 13
Auntie Mei, upon hearing Li Xin's words, naturally fully agreed. "Young Miss, I'll leave this little girl Xia to you. If she doesn't study properly, feel free to punish and scold her."
Auntie Mei's words made Li Xin laugh. "My younger sister is very smart."
"She's not stupid but she's not diligent in her studies." Auntie Mei said helplessly. Why does Auntie Mei hold onto the monthly allowance given to the young ladies instead of giving it to Li Xia? It's because when Li Xia turned three, Auntie Mei thought that Li Xia could now remember things, and gave her the monthly allowance to teach her how to manage money herself. But who would have thought that Li Xia would spend all the money in one day. When confronted by Auntie Mei, she righteously said money is for spending. This angered Auntie Mei so much that she didn't dare give all the monthly allowance to her again.
Upon hearing Auntie Mei recount the things Li Xia had done for food ever since she was little, Li Xin couldn't help but smile. Even when having dinner with Mrs. Lu, she was still smiling.
"Why are you so happy?" Mrs. Lu saw her daughter being so gleeful and curiously asked after dinner.
Li Xin told her about Li Xia's affairs, "I really didn't expect my younger sister to be this kind of person."
Mrs. Lu followed on Li Xin's words, "A person with such strong desires for food."
"Yes, but it's also quite good this way." Li Xin smiled and nodded. With such a simple-minded younger sister, it would be easier for her as the older sister.
"Xin'er, you can't just look at the surface when looking at a person," Mrs. Lu's words made Li Xin contemplate. As a young lady raised deeply in the inner chambers, how did Li Xia determine those were human traffickers?
"How did younger sister find out? Mother, do you know?"
"I don't know," Mrs. Lu's words surprised Li Xin. "Mother, you didn't investigate?"
After the incident, Mrs. Lu had asked Qiu Ju in detail. Qiu Ju only said that Li Xia discovered the human trafficker wore coarse cloth and hemp clothes, but the child he held wore brocade clothes, and the shoes were also made of brocade fabric.
"Then maybe the human trafficker was the child's servant?" Li Xin was puzzled.
"Yes, how did she determine they were human traffickers and dare to follow them?" Mrs. Lu also didn't understand.
"Mother, what did father and elder brother say about this?"
"Nothing. They didn't find anything else." It was precisely because they couldn't find out anything and linking it to Li Xia's birth that Mrs. Lu had set this matter aside for now, and agreed to let Li Ming keep a close eye on Li Xia.
"Mother, my younger sister she..." Li Xin was a little worried.
No matter what, this matter was beneficial to the Li family. Mrs. Lu urged Li Xin not to just look at the surface when dealing with Li Xia, and not to underestimate her.
"Mother, don't worry. Your daughter knows what to do," Li Xin understood the implication behind Mrs. Lu's words.
While Mrs. Lu was teaching her daughter, Auntie Mei was also urging Li Xia to diligently follow Li Xin to learn chess, and be sure to achieve some mastery before they arrive at Liuzhou. Li Xia only felt a headache. Chess was too difficult. She wondered if she could learn something else instead.
"What do you want to learn then?"
Auntie Mei's words made Li Xia think carefully and say, "Why don't I learn how to cook? I can eat after I'm done cooking, that would be great."
Upon hearing this, Auntie Mei's expression changed drastically. "You're not allowed in the kitchen!"
Seeing Auntie Mei's expression, Li Xia knew she was recalling something. When Li Xia was 7 years old, on a whim she wanted to learn cooking. It was good for a young lady to have some culinary skills. For this, Auntie Mei specially asked Mrs. Lu to allow Li Xia to go to the kitchen to learn cooking skills.
Mrs. Lu agreed and even specially arranged for the kitchen's Chef Bai to teach Li Xia how to make snacks. The young lady of a county magistrate's house didn't need to go to the kitchen to cook and be covered in oil fumes. Learning to make some presentable snacks was sufficient.
It just so happened to be the Dragon Boat Festival then. The kitchen was preparing to make mung bean cakes. Chef Bai took on the teaching duty, and brought Li Xia to learn making mung bean cakes. She carefully instructed Li Xia on soaking mung beans, steaming mung beans, crushing them into a paste, step-by-step.
Everything went well in the beginning. But when it came to stir-frying the mung bean paste, for some reason, as soon as Li Xia touched the wok, she poked a hole in it. The kitchen ended up with 6 damaged woks. Chef Bai didn't let Li Xia stir fry the bean paste anymore, and let her watch the fire and pay attention to the heat instead. As a result, she blew up the kitchen directly.
After that, Li Xia said she still wanted to go, stubbornly trying several more times with the same result. After that, Mrs. Lu decreed that Li Xia was banned from the kitchen.
"Auntie, that was really an accident that year." Li Xia swore as she said this, but Auntie Mei didn't believe her words.
"The kitchen, you're not allowed to go in," Auntie Mei could still recall Chef Bai's incredulous expression at that time, as well as Mrs. Lu's speechless expression. She really didn't want to experience that again.
Li Xia returned to her room somewhat depressed.
"Qiu Shui, Qiu Kui, can you help me think of what I can learn?" Li Xia's words made the two busy maidservants stop their work. They looked at each other. They also knew what Auntie Mei had instructed.
Qiu Kui walked over, "Young Miss, isn't learning chess good?"
"No good," Li Xia only wanted to live a carefree life of leisure, eating, drinking and lying down. Chess required thinking and was too troublesome.
"Then Young Miss should hurry up and learn it," once she learned it, she wouldn't need to learn anymore.
Knowing she couldn't escape learning chess, Li Xia didn't resist either. She diligently followed Li Xin to learn.
Recalling Mrs. Lu's words, while playing chess, Li Xin also covertly observed Li Xia. There didn't seem to be anything different. Li Xia noticed Li Xin's glances, but since Li Xin didn't say anything, she didn't mind. She continued staring at the chessboard. Chess was so difficult. After pondering for a long time, she placed a chess piece down.
"Are you sure you want to place it here?" Li Xin looked at Li Xia for confirmation.
Li Xia looked at Li Xin, then lowered her head to look at the chessboard again. She reached out her hand to pick up the chess piece. "Let me think about it again, think about it again."
Qiu Shui and Qiu Kui beside them glanced speechlessly at Li Xia. In this chess game, Li Xia had ruined the game at least ten times since they started.
"I've decided, I'll place it here, no more ruining the game," Li Xia heavily put down the white chess piece.
Li Xin glanced at where Li Xia had placed the white chess piece. Then she delicately picked up a black piece and placed it at the side, blocking all the white pieces.
Lost again. Li Xia leaned back, "Sis, we've played two games, can I take a break now?" This stuff was too troublesome and tiring. It was more tiring than her killing zombies day and night in her past life.
Seeing Li Xia's completely listless look, Li Xin smiled. "Let's play one more game, then we'll take a break."
Qiu Kui and Dan Mo quickly cleared up the chess pieces on the chessboard. Li Xia sat up straight and picked up the chess pieces. This time Li Xia played black, and Li Xin played white. In the middle of the game, Li Shan's voice sounded from outside the carriage window.
"Eldest sister, second sister."
Hearing Li Shan's voice, Li Xia was very happy. Someone had come, so she could take a break from chess. Seeing Li Xia's expression, Li Xin smiled and lifted the carriage curtain to see Li Shan in the carriage parallel to theirs.
"Sisters, are you playing chess? Can I join in?" There was anticipation in Li Shan's tone.
Li Xin readily agreed, "You can."
Upon hearing that, Li Shan quickly turned her head and told Aunt Wang, "Auntie, let the carriage stop. I'm going over to eldest sister's carriage."
The two carriages stopped, and Li Shan got on Li Xin's carriage. Seeing the soft cushions, fixed small stove, snacks etc inside, a trace of envy flashed in her eyes. Despite being daughters of the Li household, Li Xin's carriage had all these, while theirs had nothing. Mother really was biased.