After Li Yanyan and Li Zhujun performed the "Phoenix Welcoming Ritual" at the Palace Banquet and attracted a True Phoenix, the Empress Dowager graciously bestowed many valuable gifts upon them. This significantly enhanced the Li Family’s status and favor.
This brought unparalleled glory to the Li Family, and those bumpkins from the countryside, including that Li Yanyan, began to think they could turn things around and become masters.
Lately, she’s become quite disobedient towards me. I remember when she first came to the Li Family, if I told her to sit, she wouldn’t dare stand; if I told her to drink water, she wouldn’t dare drink tea. But now, she doesn’t even use honorifics when greeting me. In the past, when Yanyan practiced her Technique, she always liked to be with Li Zhujun and would occasionally teach Zhujun a move or two. But ever since that incident, that little wench’s eyes have practically grown to the top of her head.
Lady Li had personally overheard that young girl talking to her blind old mother.
"Grandma said I’m a Little Lucky Star, that I brought all the good fortune to the Great Han. I even summoned a phoenix! The Empress Dowager and the Emperor will surely hold me in high esteem in the future. The Li Family is currying favor with us now, wanting me to look after the Li Family once I achieve great success!
Humph! If they don’t take good care of us now, I won’t bother with them later!
Mother!
I heard the Li Family has many shops and many family members who are officials. All of that will be mine in the future! When the time comes, I’ll use it all to honor you and Grandma!"
Hearing this, Lady Li could barely maintain her composure, a cold sneer forming internally. Truly, one not of your own blood can never be truly tamed! What a pity. I heard that on the day the auspicious omen descended, two children were born into the Li Family, but one suddenly died. I also heard that child was an orphan! Just imagine, if an orphan had become our Li Family’s Little Lucky Star, how much easier they would be to control!
Li Zhujun said with a hint of sourness and resentment, "You’ve also realized that country bumpkin is untamable, haven’t you? Yet you still indulge her. The number of maids and servants in her Courtyard is even greater than in mine. You’ve put so much effort into her, and in the end, you get no appreciation!"
"What do you understand?" Lady Li retorted. "More people mean more eyes. We don’t understand them well, so naturally, we need people to keep an eye on them. Besides, if we don’t have people watching, what if they stir up trouble? Your father is an important minister in the imperial court. If they cause problems, wouldn’t it implicate your father?"
Li Zhujun said no more, acknowledging the truth in her mother’s words.
"You’re right," Li Zhujun conceded. "But this can’t go on like this. It’s a drain on manpower and resources, not a long-term solution. Let me think... I must devise a plan to resolve this permanently!"
While mother and daughter were engrossed in conversation, Li Yanyan and Granny Li were also conversing in a carriage.
"Grandma! I keep feeling that when Lady Li looks at me these past two days, her gaze is like a knife, as if it’s constantly scraping at my face!"
Li Yanyan, after all, had been taught by her parents since she was little and was often taken to play at the Fuman Building in town, so her perception was particularly keen.
She was unlike Li Suisui. Before her tribulation, Suisui had sealed off her perception of heavenly secrets, a perception that had already been obscured by her previous incarnation. Thus, she was just an extraordinarily ordinary left-behind child, without a father or mother. Her own Grandma had always kept her confined within the Li Family home, never allowing her to go out.
It was only when the Fourth Master Li was home that he would take her out, perhaps three to five times in total.
That was why she seemed to understand nothing. Later, after she underwent her tribulation and the Soul-Calling Bell appeared, she sought help from her maternal grandmother in the Dream Realm. Afterward, she left the Li Family for the Ji Family. She still appeared like a little fool—fearless due to her ignorance, understanding nothing, and simply acting as she pleased.