The Daily Life of a Female Esper in Ancient Times - Chapter 232

After seeing off the visitors, Li Hui went to the study. Li Xia and Li Xin were already there. Li Xin was sipping tea with her head down, while Li Xia was examining her nails.

Today, Li Xia had noticed many women with dyed nails. Lu Liucheng had asked her why she hadn’t dyed hers. Perhaps she should go back and dye them green. But could nails even be dyed green? Li Xia tried to recall the ladies and girls she had seen, but none had green nails.

“Xia Xia, what are you thinking about?” Li Hui broke the silence in the room.

“Would green nails look good?” Li Xia’s question made Li Xin choke a little.

Li Hui was a bit speechless. Thinking about dyeing nails at a time like this? “Nonsense, who would dye their nails green?”

“I would,” Li Xia said with a straight face. Green, how unique it would be.

“There’s no way to dye nails green in the Capital City,” Li Xin couldn’t help but interject.

“Most ladies in the Capital City use red balsam flowers to dye their nails. Balsam flowers also come in purple. You could ask someone to try it; maybe you could get blue nails.” As for green, that would be quite difficult.

“That’s a great idea, thank you, sister,” Li Xia planned to have Qiu Ling try it when she got back. If it worked, it would be groundbreaking.

Li Xia’s thanks reminded Li Xin of their previous interactions as sisters, and a “I’m sorry” slipped out.

“What?” Li Xia was still thinking about nail dyeing and hadn’t paid much attention to Li Xin’s words.

After the first sentence, Li Xin found it hard to continue, “Xia Xia, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. I shouldn’t have been jealous of you. I was wrong about everything.” Li Xin became increasingly emotional.

Li Xia looked at the crying Li Xin and then turned her gaze to Li Hui. “Big brother, sister is crying. Comfort her.”

Li Hui gestured for Li Xia to do it herself. “You go.”

Li Xia was terrible at comforting people. Her eyes pleaded, “Big brother.”

Seeing the silent communication between the two, Li Xin wiped her tears and laughed, “Enough, you two. I’m still sitting right here.”

“Sister, I never thought my situation would affect you so much,” Li Xia hadn’t anticipated this.

“Those were all just excuses, really. The true reason is that I found out Cao Fugui has someone else outside.” Li Xin finally revealed the secret buried deep in her heart.

Li Xia and Li Hui exchanged glances; neither of them knew about this. Especially Li Hui, who had the Tian Yi Pavilion at his disposal and knew all the big and small news in the Capital City. Yet, Li Hui had no idea that Cao Fugui had someone else.

“Xin’er, are you sure Fugui has someone else?”

“I’m certain,” Li Xin said as she took out a handkerchief from her bosom. The handkerchief had a beautiful woman embroidered on it, along with a love poem. It was very romantic.

Li Xia looked at it and passed it to Li Hui. Li Hui examined the handkerchief and then looked at Li Xin with an expression that suggested he didn’t know how to explain.

“Big brother, is there something we don’t know?” Seeing Li Hui’s expression, Li Xia sensed there was more to the story.

“I gave this handkerchief to Cao Fugui,” Li Hui’s revelation made both Li Xin and Li Xia turn to him.

“Big brother, you and Cao Fugui, are you two…?” Li Xia’s face was full of surprise. This was too dramatic.

“Brother, you…” Li Xin didn’t know what to think. That woman turned out to be her brother.

“It’s not what you think.” Seeing their expressions, Li Hui knew they had misunderstood. He went back to his desk and took out a letter to show them.

Li Xin read it first, then passed it to Li Xia. Li Xia read the contents of the letter, which turned out to be the suicide note of Liu Jie, the former Minister of Works.

The letter explained that he had taken his own life because his only son had been killed by Li Hui. He knew that Li Hui was able to investigate this with the help of Lu XuanNing. Filled with resentment, he had arranged for a batch of defective weapons that should have been destroyed to be sent to the border instead of the proper military supplies.

The reason for Lord Lu’s defeat in that battle was due to the faulty weapons. At the time, with both internal and external troubles, if this matter came to light, it could have affected the stability of the court.

The Emperor initially suppressed this matter and secretly ordered Cao Fugui and Li Hui to investigate.

Cao Fugui and Li Hui’s investigation was very difficult, but after extensive inquiries, they finally found a clue through the Tian Yi Pavilion six months ago. The replaced military supplies might have been transported out through the theater.

Eighty percent of the theaters in the Capital City were under the control of the Third Prince. Whether this could be related to the Third Prince was something both Cao Fugui and Li Hui were very cautious about.

The Emperor now only had two sons left. He valued both of them greatly, and if things went wrong, it would be the Cao and Li families who would suffer.

Most of the theaters were managed by Mei Saniang, who was close to the Third Prince.

Cao Fugui used to be a playboy, so he pretended to return to his old ways and feigned interest in Mei Saniang. The handkerchief was prepared by Li Hui for Cao Fugui to carry, to show his supposed affection for Mei Saniang.

“So the assassination attempt on us after we watched the play last time was actually aimed at Da Bao,” Li Xia’s words startled Li Xin.

“You were targeted for assassination? When did this happen? Why didn’t I know about this?” Li Xin anxiously inquired. She hadn’t heard anything about this from Da Bao.

“Those people were dealt with quickly. Da Fu was sound asleep and didn’t even know,” Li Xia explained, trying to reassure Li Xin.

“You should have told me anyway,” Li Xin’s tone couldn’t hide her concern.

“At the time, we thought they were after the Lu family, so we didn’t mention it to you.” The Lu family had many enemies, so they hadn’t considered it might be about Cao Da Bao.

“Mei Saniang may look delicate on the outside, but she’s ruthless inside. Xin’er, you need to be careful when you go out,” Mei Saniang was no simple woman. Cao Fugui had been interacting with her for a long time but hadn’t obtained much useful information.

Knowing that Cao Fugui hadn’t betrayed her, Li Xin’s previous jealousy disappeared, but it was replaced by deep worry.

“Yes, I’ll be more careful. I’ll bring more people with me when I go out,” Li Xin rarely left the house anyway, as she needed to take care of Er Bao, who was still young. Now that she knew the truth, she would go out even less.

“Xia Xia, you need to be careful too,” Li Xin said with genuine concern.

“I will be careful,” Li Xia said, but in her heart, she was actually hoping for them to come.

Having resolved her inner conflict, Li Xin also reflected on how she had changed over the past few days, unknowingly hurting many of her loved ones. She stood up to go and apologize to Mrs. Lu.

Only Li Hui and Li Xia were left in the study. Li Xia sat up straight and looked at Li Hui, “Big brother, it’s not good for sister to have her emotions so tied to Cao Fugui.”

This time it was for the investigation, but what if he really changed his heart next time? Li Xia could imagine what Li Xin would become. Li Xia somewhat regretted the things she had said to Li Xin before. Perhaps letting Li Xin live like Mrs. Lu wouldn’t have been so bad.

“I understand what you mean. Don’t worry about it, leave this to me.” Li Hui hadn’t noticed before, but now he was aware. He didn’t want his sister to reach a point of no return.

“Big brother, if there’s anything you need me to do, just say the word.” There wasn’t much she could do about this situation, but she could help Li Hui in other ways.

“You taking care of your health is the biggest help you can give me,” Li Xia’s health was Li Hui’s greatest concern.

“Well, if there’s anything to be done, you can ask Lu XuanNing to do it,” Li Xia suggested, pushing Lu XuanNing forward.