Li Xia stuffed a piece of pastry into Li Dongs mouth, "Sister, eat. Sister loves me the most, and I love sister the most."

  "Jiuniangzi has fallen into the water once and changed into a completely different person, shes never been so obedient before!" Su Ye said with a smile while pouring out the soup.

  "And me! Your fifth brother! Fifth brother loves you the most!" Li Wenshan stretched his head over, exaggeratingly opening his mouth wide towards Li Xia.

  "You just said Im the one you care about the most!" Li Wenlan pouted, and Li Wenshan bit into the pastry that Li Xia stuffed into his mouth and mumbled: "Among brothers, I care about you the most, among sisters, I care about Ah Xia the most."

  Li Xiaowu was in her sisters arms, pinching a pastry and nibbling on it, watching Su Ye smile and pick up the crumbs that Liu Ge dropped while eating, watching Wu Ge rub Liu Ges head, and looking at Liu Ge who looked like an emperor, eating pastries and pushing away Wu Ges hand. The warmer she felt in her heart, the more bitter she became.

  The tragic events of the past... are you going to watch it again? How can she bear to watch this time?

  ………………

  In the middle of the night, Li Xia slept beside her sister, listening to the sound of water flowing outside, and stared blankly with her eyes open.

  Their family tragedy originated from Father Ahs unjust lawsuit that cost a life.

  That lawsuit was carefully reviewed after she became Empress Dowager.

  It was a case of murdering ones wife: the stepmother reported it, saying that her stepson had murdered his wife. There were witnesses but no material evidence. The father sentenced the stepson to exile and closed the case. On the night of the day the case was closed, the stepson hanged himself in prison.

  The stepson had a younger sister, who rushed to the county government office with evidence and cried injustice. The county government accepted the case and investigated, only to find that the stepmother had abused her daughter-in-law to death and framed the stepson. When they brought the stepmother in for questioning, she immediately confessed and revealed that she had bribed the county official with 500 taels of silver, and the father was released from prison.

  Li Xia carefully recalled those files.

  Father is indeed wronged, but the inventory of confiscated goods does not have those five hundred taels of silver, and the total value of all items on the inventory is not even worth five hundred taels of silver.

  Big Brother firmly believes that Father would never do such a thing, even if he is greedy for ink, he will not do something that would wrongly take someones life for the sake of money. She doesnt remember Father, but she believes Big Brother.

  The stepmothers statement said that on the day she submitted the complaint, a man named Lian Gui came to her and revealed the truth of the case in just a few words. He also said that he and Li County Magistrates trusted servant, Weng Tong, were brothers and could help her frame the case as the stepson killing his wife. He asked her for 500 taels of silver, but she was afraid of being cheated. Only after seeing Weng Tong point at her and her father talking, and her father nodding in agreement, did she hand over the silver. The silver was a large box of frost-covered silver ingots, which she personally handed over to Lian Gui...

  Wutong disappeared before and after his father went to prison, without any news. She looked for many years but couldnt find him. Who is that Lian Gui anyway? After so many years, its impossible to investigate again.

  At that time, Ah Ties two masters, Bu Huaiyi and Lu Youde, were his uncle-in-law and had a previous conviction. They couldnt escape their connection to this case no matter what. However, after Ah Tie was imprisoned, the two masters returned home one after another, and both died in a shipwreck...

  She went through all the files and account books of her fathers tenure for over a year, had others review them several times, and she herself reviewed them many times. Except for this one case, everything else - taxes, labor services, public cases - was spotless, as if washed clean with water...

  After Ah Die was imprisoned, Wu Youguang, the county lieutenant, took over as the county Magistrate. This marked Wus first step from being an official to a government officer. Two years later, Wu was transferred to Dinghai County and after this appointment, he was promoted to Prefect. Later... Consort Su died, and Wu Youguang was found guilty of corruption and died in prison.

  She was unable to find out the truth about her fathers bribery and wrongful conviction.

  What should she do now?

  Li Xia looked at her small hands, she was only five years old now. If she went to tell Father about it, he would definitely think she was possessed by evil spirits...

  Shes too young, too young!

  The Empress Dowager once said: When ones own strength is insufficient, go find people with common interests and form an alliance.

  She must have an ally, and Fifth Brother is the best choice!

  Big Brother Wu loves to read chivalric stories, and even more so those about gods and ghosts. He has almost worn out the Shan Hai Jing with his reading. As for this matter of having a soul, he can probably accept it, and besides, he is born with a broad heart...

  ………………

  The next day after breakfast, Li Xiara pulled Li Wenshan and looked up at him, "Fifth brother, I have something to tell you."

  "Alright! Whats up? Speak!" Li Wenshan plopped himself down in front of Li Xia, beaming with a smile.

  Li Xia turned her head to look around, this boat was very small, the front cabin was crowded with four siblings, it served as a living space during the day and at night they pulled curtains in the middle, she and her sister on one side, Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother on the other, if she spoke with Fifth Brother here, no matter how softly, her sister, Sixth Brother, and Su Ye would all be able to hear clearly, her sister was already looking over at them.

  "Its very important!" Li Xia said solemnly, "Lets go up to the deck and talk."

  Li Wenshan scratched his head in embarrassment. Last time she fell into the water, it was him who brought her to the deck to play, and when he didnt keep an eye on her for a moment, she fell into the river.

  "I promise I wont run around, or you can carry me if you want." Li Xia suggested, "Its extremely important, we must go up to the deck to discuss!"

  "Alright..." Li Wenshan reluctantly agreed. His little sister loved to play and move around, and being cooped up in this small cabin for three or four days was definitely getting to her. This was her way of trying to get him to take her out for some fresh air. He couldnt bear to say no, so he held her tight on the middle of the deck, keeping a close eye on her, making sure she didnt go near the edge of the ship.

  "Put on the life jacket." Li Dong stood up, took the life jacket and wrapped it around Li Xia, then reminded her: "Just stand in the middle of the deck, let Fifth Brother hold you, dont be naughty."

  Li Dong responded with a sentence, Li Xia nodded and replied with a good sentence, and it was extremely clever.

  "Ever since she fell into the water, Ninth Sister seems to have grown up overnight, and has become so sensible!" Su Ye looked at Li Xia in Li Wen Shans arms with admiration.

  On the bow deck of the ship, Li Xia patted her brothers face and said, "Fifth Brother, put me down so we can talk."

  "No way!"

  "Then you squat down, Im afraid that after hearing my words, youll be so shocked that youll throw me into the river." Li Xia said extremely seriously while hugging Wu Ges neck.

  Li Wenshan was choked by her words, "Cough...cough! Alright! Ill squat down, Ive squatted down, go ahead and say it!" Li Wenshan squatted down, holding Li Xia in his arms, looking at her with a helpless expression.

  "Brother Five, Ive lived a life." Li Xia wrapped her short and sturdy arm around Brother Fives neck, whispering into his ear.

  "Hmm! Hmm? What? Whats... " Li Wenshan didnt finish speaking, when Li Xias chubby hand stuffed into his mouth, "Dont shout! Cant let others hear!"

  "Wu Ge didnt understand." Li Wenshan pushed away Li Xias hand and acknowledged sincerely.

  "Im saying: I lived once, died, and came back to life." Li Xia pinched Wu Ges ear with one hand, her mouth close to his, enunciating each word.

  "Cough! Cough, cough!" Li Wenshan was stunned for a while, and then started coughing even more violently. While coughing, he raised his hand to press against Li Xias forehead, "Xia, youre not running a fever, are you?"

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