"Peony's face turned red with rage, and she scowled as she backed away, sneering in a low voice: 'You're right, I'm relying on my brothers and family's wealth, so what? Did I steal or rob someone? Must I pretend to be poor and act like a weakling just because I have money and brothers? On the other hand, you're such a good-for-nothing, yet you still insist on pursuing something that's not wanted. Is it just to prove that you're actually a good person? If you really respect yourself, don't take out your temper on me. If you want me to acknowledge you as a man, then stop being like a leech and let go of this nonsense. It's all useless to try to please or reason with someone, so I might as well just vent my anger and say what I want.'"

  Her words, though not loud, pierced Liu Chuan's ears like a steel needle. How humiliating and painful it was! When did he sink to this level? For a moment, Liu Chuan felt that everyone around him was staring at him with contempt, and his face turned red with rage. He clenched his teeth, glared at Peony, and wanted to retort with some harsh words to save face, but what came out of his mouth was: "Don't think I don't know who you're thinking of in your heart!"

  Peony was taken aback, knowing that he had inexplicably suspected Li Wei. She immediately sneered: "Don't think everyone else is as despicable as you." It's really ridiculous, if others are good to her and willing to stand up for her, does it have to be that kind of relationship? Is this pouring dirty water on her?

  What a coincidence? Liu Chuan's eyes turned red with blood, pointing at the group of people rushing over from afar, he croaked: "How did you say that? Would there be such a coincidence?"

  The peony turned its head to take a look, and saw six or seven sturdy men wrapped in fine cloth, wearing coarse linen short shirts with their arms exposed outside, hurrying over with two people sandwiched between them. One of them wore a gray round-necked robe with a missing hem, revealing a fierce glint in his eyes, and puffed out his belly - it was He Si Lang. The other person wore a snow-green round-necked arrow-sleeved shirt, and as he moved, the two ends of his headscarf fluttered up and down, his expression serious, his lips tightly pursed - it was Li Yi.

  Li Wei helped, that's all, how could he drag him down? Peony suppressed the anger in her heart and looked at Liu Cheng with a serious expression: "I've only seen him twice since I came to your house. Pouring dirty water on my head, you can't see where it goes either. Two failures together, what's the point of this? We're not even on the same path, is it worth spending our whole lives exhausting each other for a breath?"

  She didn't need to say a word about her intention to protect Li Wei. Liu Cheng didn't have the mind to think carefully about Peony's words, but instead glared at Li Wei with hatred, old and new grievances surging up in his heart, murderous intent bursting forth, his hand slowly grasping the sword at his waist, his knuckles turning white.

  A good man doesn't suffer losses in front of his eyes, and judging from Liu Chuan's expression, it seems like something big is about to happen. Pan Rong, who was watching the commotion on the side, saw that things were taking a turn for the worse and hastily rushed over to hug Liu Chuan, signaling to Xi Xia and the people following her to come forward and help. She kept advising Liu Chuan: "Zi Shu, don't be foolish! It's not worth it! I was wrong, I shouldn't have spoken too much."

  He Siliu also saw that something was amiss, and with a wave of his hand, he had the others disperse the onlookers, blocking Li Wei. He himself stood with his hands clasped behind his back, puffing out his chest as he slowly walked over, furrowing his brow to look at Liu Chuan: "County Magistrate Liu, where are you from? It just so happens that my father will be taking me and my brother to your place in a few days to discuss the matter of Dan Niang. Since we've run into each other today, why don't we go have a cup of wine? I have some excellent Persian liquor at home."

  Liu Chang was tightly hugged by Pan Rong, and after a moment of bitter persuasion, he saw Peony's slightly furrowed eyebrows and her obviously impatient expression. Suddenly, his heart felt cold, and he thought it was all pointless. It wasn't worth it, naturally not worth it, but how could he be willing to give up? His hand slowly loosened from the sword hilt, and he stiffly straightened his back, pointing at Li Xiang who was looking at Peony with concern, and shouted loudly: "Li Xingzhi! Was it you who forged the invitation that Qinghua sent to the He family two days ago?! If you're a man, tell the truth!"

  As soon as this was said, the He family members all cast questioning glances at Li Yi. Li Yi's eyebrows jumped and he smiled lightly, then puffed out his chest and said calmly: "It was me. Dan Niang didn't do anything wrong, I couldn't just watch her being tortured to death by you all. A man must take responsibility for what he does! I dare to, do you?"

  When he said this, the faces of He Si Lang and others quickly recovered from shock to normal, and then they seemed to be thinking deeply. Peony, on the other hand, became worried. No wonder Liu Quan suspected her and Li Wei, she hated Li Wei so much, it turned out that there was a story behind this, she had escaped from the wolf's den, but Li Wei had put herself in a difficult situation this time, and the favor she owed others had grown bigger.

  "Dare you?!" Li Yi's words were full of provocation, Liu Cheng's expression was gloomy and unclear, squeezing out a few words from between his teeth: "You're on! I'll remember you!"

  Pan Xiang pointed at Li Yin and scolded: "You've gone too far! This is both unscrupulous and sinister, you're not a decent person!"

  Li Wei looked at Pan Rong seriously and bowed to him: "Pan Shizi, you are the clearest, please tell me, what should I do to not be unvirtuous? If we can't get along, shouldn't we just marry separately and let each other go? Why must we torture each other to death, is there some kind of paternal enmity?"

  "How can you be related to someone with a grudge against your father? Your bad marriage is really unbearable." Pan Rong blinked her eyes, refusing to answer Li Yi's question, and turned her head to look at Peony: "I always underestimated you, you have talent!" And smiled at He Si Lang: "Those who see it will have a share, the Persian wine I'll come back another day to bother you, don't deny it." After finishing, she ordered the people around her to follow her and took Liu Can away.

  The peony was silent, and indeed, one cannot judge by appearance. Pan Rong had his own way of survival. In the midst of laughter, he left room for himself and the He family to interact in the future. He would come back another day with a flattering face to look for He Si Lang. Could it be that He Si Lang would still drive him away? Such a person, seemingly not close to anyone, yet actually having some connection with everyone, leaving room for maneuver.

  As for Li Yin, he was even more decisive and resourceful. Just as they were seeking his help, the incident with the Qinghua County Princess happened, and in a short moment, he came up with an effective solution. This kind of cleverness is not something ordinary people can match.

  But then Old Zou hurriedly followed up and asked Xi Xia: "Do you still want this flower of mine?"

  At this time, who still has the mind to buy flowers? Really can't read the situation! Xià Yàn was annoyed and waved her sleeves to drive him away: "Go, go, go! Don't add any trouble!"

  Zou Laoqi shouted in exasperation: "What kind of logic is this? Can't ruin my business and then say no!"

  "Sorry to part with the summer, take him to our family's shop to get the money." Liu Chuan stopped in his tracks and turned back to glance at Zou Laoqi with a faint gaze. His eyes swept over Peony, but saw that she was standing quietly there, her light blue peony-patterned silk dress fluttering gently in the early summer breeze. She seemed lost in thought, staring into the distance without even looking at him. Liu Chuan turned back fiercely, he wouldn't let this pair of shameless people off easy.

  He Silang kindly suggested: "Dan Niang, why don't we go to our shop first and rest for a while, then we can head home together?"

  Zhang also advised Peony: "It's hot now, let's go have a bowl of cold noodles?"

  "No, I have to hurry up and give the money to them, don't delay their journey." Peony was in a bad mood and originally wanted to go home immediately, but seeing the two brothers also eager to try, with just a lick of their lips, she changed her mind and said: "Alright, today I've troubled everyone, there's no need to thank me, so please let's all have a bowl of cold noodles."

  He Si Lang was originally leading the group to unload spices, and when he heard the news from his family members, he hurried over. Upon hearing this, he said: "I've only unloaded half of the spices on my side, I still have work to do, let the shop owner send them over." He also specially arranged for two sturdy men to escort Peony and others back home.

  Peony nodded and asked how many people were still in the store. After taking note of the number, he led the horse to the cold sugar shop strongly recommended by Zhang Shi.

  The peony stood at the door and saw that there were many horses with beautiful decorations tied up at the not-so-big shop entrance, and young boys in green clothes were taking care of them. Zhang said with a smile: "Their Shuihua cold dish is very famous, and many rich families' sons come to eat here."

  Liángpi is actually a type of cold skin noodles eaten during the hot summer days. The Liángpi store recommended by Zhang is extremely famous, selling hot pot stickers in winter and Liángpi in summer, with several flavors available. There's the Huai leaf Liángpi from Chengdu, as well as water flower Liángpi. As soon as the door opened, a twenty-something-year-old chef, dark and skinny, stood in front of the cutting board, holding a cleaver and chopping the noodles with a "whooshing" sound. The chopped noodles were thin and even, with knife skills rivaling those of Jiang Changyang's flying knives slicing fish. After chopping, someone would naturally put the noodles into a cold water basin to soak for a bit, then scoop them out and cook them in boiling water. After cooling, they'd be served on a plate with meat sauce soup and scallions.

  Zhang pointed at the cold water basin with instant noodles and whispered to Peony, "There's wine inside. This is where his family differs from others."

  "Also, it's just that their chef is like this. Other families have already started using machines to cut noodles, but he still cuts them by hand." Just then, the cook looked up and scanned the crowd with a wooden expression, his eyes dropping indifferently as he said, "Today we've been booked out. Please come early tomorrow, customers."

  Peony thought of the many horses with beautiful decorations at the gate and knew that what was said was true, so she pulled Zhang and Sun back to leave.

  He had just turned around when he saw a purple horse standing at the entrance of the store. The man in gray robe on the horse flipped down from the horse, didn't even look back and threw the reins to a blue-clad boy who came up to greet him, and strode into the store. As he passed by Peony's side, he stopped his footsteps and said "hmm" and glanced at that purple-spotted peony, smiling: "Madam is here to buy flowers?"

  ——*——*——*——

  Second watch of the night.

  [bookid=1736421,bookname="Joyful Gate"][bookid=1296881,bookname="Heavy Flower Shadows"][bookid=1421817,bookname="Leftover Woman is Not Virtuous"][bookid=1589709,bookname="Tian Yi Duo Mei"]