Li Qingrou's life was not as glamorous as Liu Yixuan saw it. As soon as she returned home, the accountant approached her with difficulty.
Li Qingrou said with a headache, "Cut staff, save expenses."
"But the master has inquired several times why the living expenses have been getting worse recently, and why he can't even withdraw money from the accounting office. If expenses are further reduced, it may be difficult to explain."
Seeing the accountant's worried look, Li Qingrou said irritably, "We can barely afford to eat, and you're talking about being particular. If the master asks again, tell him that there will only be fewer people serving him from now on, and the food will get worse. If you're not comfortable staying here, go wherever you are comfortable. By reducing their numbers, I've also saved expenses."
The accountant nodded submissively. Looking at the increasingly desolate courtyard, he thought he should start looking for another way out.
"Miss, Master requests your presence." As soon as Li Qingrou returned to her courtyard and before she could sit down, a maid from Master Li's courtyard came to report.
"Tell Father I'm busy and he should rest well." Li Qingrou knew without going what her father wanted to say – money, money, money. They all asked her for money. She was also short of money and wanted to ask others for money, but who could she ask?
Looking at the jewelry on her dressing table that hadn't been replaced for a long time, the clothes in her wardrobe that were all half-worn, and the dwindling number of maids by her side, Li Qingrou, who had been hesitant, made a secret decision.
Master Li actually knew that his daughter had no money, but he was accustomed to a luxurious life. At every meal, only two plates of vegetarian dishes were placed on the table, and he had no appetite to even pick up his chopsticks. Hearing the maid's reply, he understood what was going on, and a sense of loss arose in his heart.
A few nights later, a pink sedan chair was carried out from the side gate of the Li mansion.
Li Qingxuan, with tears streaming down her face, sat in the sedan chair.
She truly never expected that Li Qingrou would drug her and make her a concubine.
Her whole body was weak and unable to move, and she couldn't even speak. No one discovered her disappearance, and no one would come to save her. The more she understood the reality, the more despair she felt.
Li Qingxuan's disappearance was discovered the next day. Madam Li made a huge scene and even slapped Li Qingrou a few times, but everything was already settled. In a fit of anger, she took her son and returned to her maiden home.
From then on, Li Qingrou had money again, and with three unappetizing people gone from the mansion, expenses were greatly reduced, and living conditions improved.
Li Qingrou happily got into a carriage after a date with Young Master Huang, smiling as she thought about Young Master Huang saying he would marry her soon.
However, as the carriage moved, she felt something was wrong. She remembered the road home being quite smooth, so why was it so bumpy? She quickly lifted the curtain, and her eyes fell on dense green trees. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
"Stop quickly, where are you taking us..." Her personal maid, Lü He, shouted incessantly, but no one answered.
She pulled out the hairpin from her head and, when the coachman was not paying attention, stabbed him fiercely in the neck, kicked him out, and jumped into the driver's seat to control the horse.
After a brief discussion, the two of them turned back the way they came. Fortunately, the coachman had signed a contract for life servitude when he entered the Li mansion, so even if the authorities investigated, there wouldn't be much of a problem.
On the way, they discussed reducing outings and increasing safety awareness in the future.
As they were talking animatedly, a tripwire blocked their path.
The maid quickly stopped the carriage and was about to get out to inspect when, at that very moment, four or five masked men rushed out from the bushes. One of them kicked her far away and quickly cut the tripwire with a saber, then drove the carriage away rapidly.
The maid was unwilling to give up. She got up from the ground, but no matter how hard she tried, the carriage gradually disappeared from her sight. She was left alone on the road, beating the ground with her hands, heartbroken.
Li Qingrou was terrified. Seeing the burly men looking at her with ill intentions, she felt despair.
She was taken to a small, dilapidated wooden house in the bushes. When she saw Liu Yixuan waiting there, her eyes widened in disbelief.
Watching him bow and scrape to the lecherous men, she could no longer deny that her current predicament was inseparable from him.
"Liu Yixuan, you coward! Hiring outsiders to get revenge on me, aren't you afraid of going to jail? Aren't you afraid of me reporting you to the authorities?" Li Qingrou had never known that hating someone felt like this, wishing to devour their flesh and drink their blood.
"Report to the authorities? When you taught me a lesson, weren't you afraid of me reporting you? As long as you, Miss Li, aren't afraid of being pointed at when you go out, aren't you afraid of the whole city knowing you're promiscuous? What do I, a grown man, have to fear? Besides, do I have any reputation now? My reputation has long been ruined by you." Liu Yixuan sneered, finding her enraged look extremely satisfying. She should experience what it felt like to have a grudge but be unable to avenge it.
"Liu Yixuan, you are a truly ungrateful wretch. If you hadn't seduced me back then, how would our Li family have fallen to this point? Now you're harming me again, may you die a terrible death!" Li Qingrou gritted her teeth and said.
"You ruined me, and I can't even live anymore. How can you be living so freely? Wouldn't it be better if we went to hell together?" Liu Yixuan revealed a perverse smile.
Ignoring Li Qingrou's curses from behind, he walked away, muttering to himself, "Why? Why..."
Li Qingrou didn't know how she managed to walk out of the small wooden hut. The belief in revenge fueled her return to the city.
When Li Qingxuan heard the news that Li Qingrou had returned from outside in disheveled clothes, she deliberately went to the Li mansion to humiliate her.
Li Qingrou seemed to have taken the wrong medicine. No matter how much Li Qingxuan insulted her, she endured it silently without retorting. This made Li Qingxuan uneasy. She thought that abnormality indicated something unusual. Considering Li Qingrou's ruthless nature since childhood, the more she cursed, the more guilty she felt, and the lower her voice became. Finally, unable to bear the eerie silence, she fled in a hurry.
As soon as she left, a matchmaker arrived. Apparently, her fiancé, Young Master Huang, had heard the rumors in the city and specifically asked the matchmaker to break off the engagement.
This Young Master Huang was someone Li Qingrou had chosen after a long time and used many schemes, including sacrificing Li Qingxuan, to get him to propose.
The maids and servants around Li Qingrou walked with exceptionally light steps that day, acting with extreme caution. They found the young lady, who was indifferent to the broken engagement, exceptionally terrifying, like the prelude to a volcanic eruption.
That night, she took a fruit knife from the kitchen and went out.
When Wu Caiwei heard that Mother Liu was searching everywhere for Liu Yixuan, she was very surprised. So, she also mobilized her network of contacts to search the entire city.
What surprised Wu Caiwei even more was that despite so many people searching, Liu Yixuan's whereabouts remained unknown. This was highly unusual.
So she reported Liu Yixuan missing to the authorities. With Wu Caiwei's generous reward and the efforts of the officials, there was finally a clue about Liu Yixuan. However, upon seeing the dismembered corpse dug out from the bushes by the soldiers, Wu Caiwei couldn't help but vomit.
Facing such a scene, she felt a sense of relief, and even a hint of pleasure. It seemed the original owner was very satisfied with this outcome. As long as she was satisfied, Wu Caiwei was satisfied.
Soon, Li Qingrou was apprehended. She confessed to her crimes without reservation and was sentenced to death.
On the day of the execution, Wu Caiwei found a good spot to watch. She wanted Liu Feixue to witness the final end of her enemy.
With the problems in the prefecture solved, she didn't know how things were going in the capital.