Yun Lie strode out of the mansion without looking back: "If you can't bear it, then go yourself."
He knew, of course, that Luo Cuiwei was very likely not to go out for several days, but wasn't this just in case?
For example, what if she really... really wants to see him?
Doesn't that mean we have no choice but to go out?
****
Once Yun Lie's carriage was out of sight, Xiong Xiaoyi muttered, "Being this attentive, he must have fallen for her, right?"
After muttering to himself for a while, he shook his head and turned to go to the back hall to select people.
On the way, they encountered Steward Chen, who was walking in a hurry.
Has His Highness left?
"They're gone."
Steward Chen slapped his forehead: "I forgot to tell Your Highness that the Luo family sent people this morning..."
"When did this happen?" Xiong Xiaoyi was stunned.
"While Miss Huang was speaking with His Highness in the main hall," Chief Chen said, "I heard that His Highness was receiving guests from the Huang family, so I didn't disturb him. After delivering the New Year's gifts, he left after saying only a few words. Oh well, it's the same if I report it when His Highness returns later."
Steward Chen was unaware that the Huang family and the Luo family were mortal enemies.
Seeing Steward Chen turn to leave, Xiong Xiaoyi grabbed his arm and cautiously asked, "Uncle Chen, is it Luo Cuiwei who's coming?"
"It's her younger brother Luo Fengming, and Miss Xiahou." Steward Chen turned to look at him in surprise, but still told him the truth.
“That’s it, some people are done for,” Xiong Xiaoyi shrugged, his dark face full of schadenfreude. “What’s the difference between this and Luo Cuiwei coming in person? Hahaha.”
Serves you right for calling me a "hunting bear"!
16. Chapter Sixteen
After seeing Luo Fengming and Xiahou Ling off in the morning, Luo Cuiwei went to the main courtyard to talk with her father. Feeling uneasy, she only dared to ramble on about interesting trivial matters, and hesitated to bring up the important matter.
At noon, after asking her opinion, Zhuo Yu arranged for her to have lunch together in the main courtyard.
Because Luo Huai needed to recuperate, he usually ate medicinal meals. He couldn't bear to let the children eat with him without enjoying the food, so for the past few years, Zhuo Yu had been accompanying him to eat alone in the main courtyard.
Zhuo Yu was a meticulous person and guessed that Luo Cuiwei must have something important to tell Luo Huai today. After the meal, he smiled and said that he would go and see if Luo Cuizhen was acting up, leaving the main courtyard for the father and daughter to talk.
"Speak."
Luo Huai sat back on the carved couch by the window, a dark, satin-black fox fur cloak wrapped around him from his chest to his toes, warmly protecting him.
The afternoon light streamed through the window, illuminating the faint smile on his pale, thin face.
He survived a shipwreck at sea, barely clinging to life, but his internal organs were severely damaged. Even after several years of recuperation, he never fully recovered, and his breath was weak and short when he spoke.
Luo Cuiwei, sitting on a round stool by the couch, felt a lump in her throat and simply lay down on the couch, burying her face in a corner of her fox fur cloak.
Seeing this, Luo Huai smiled and reached out to gently pat her dejected head, "My little girl, you've run into some trouble."
This soft, lighthearted remark brought tears to Luo Cuiwei's eyes.
“Your little girl is useless! All those years of teaching her have been for nothing…” Her pouting lips and the way she was trying to hold back her tears made her look just like a frustrated child who couldn’t do his homework.
“If you say my little girl is useless again, I’ll hit you,” Luo Huai said with a smile, tapping her forehead with his finger. “No matter how big the problem is, you don’t need to be afraid. Your old father is still here.”
For the past few years, he has been recuperating in the main hospital, leaving all the family business to Luo Cuiwei and Luo Fengming, but this does not mean that he is indifferent to everything.
The reason he rarely interfered was that he hoped his two children could try and explore on their own. After all, there are many things that cannot be taught; only by letting them experience things firsthand will those experiences truly become their own.
But when his children encounter obstacles they think they can't overcome, this old father still has to step up and help them out.
****
After listening to Luo Cuiwei's account of the whole story, Luo Huai meticulously analyzed the situation and went straight to the root of the matter—
"Knowing that the Huang family is blocking our caravan in Songyuan, why are you still so foolish as to spend a lot of money to prepare goods and stubbornly insist on going there?"
Luo Cuiwei lowered her head somewhat ashamed and stammered, "Because three or four out of every ten shipments would go through, we... took a chance. In addition, the majority of our family's annual profits came from the northern route, so we were reluctant to give it up easily."
The most ruthless thing about the Huang family is that they understood the siblings' thoughts so well that they always felt there was still a glimmer of hope.
"The profits from the northern route are considerable, provided that the Huang family wasn't interfering before." Luo Huai chuckled, his eyes piercingly insightful.
"The Huang family calculated that you two wouldn't be willing to withdraw from the northern route, so they'll keep you occupied in Songyuan for two years. Even if they win three or four out of ten times, can the few profitable trips make up for the losses?"
Luo Cuiwei looked up at him in a daze, as if suddenly enlightened.
Initially, she and Luo Fengming had wondered why sometimes the goods would be released smoothly after arriving in Songyuan, while at other times they would be detained for various reasons.
However, they were still too inexperienced and didn't think things through further, thus walking headlong into the trap that had been set up by the other party.
Songyuan was a swamp that the Huang family had carefully prepared for the Luo family. When they first stepped into it, they felt a little dangerous, but the soft, threatening feeling seemed to be manageable. However, the more they struggled, the deeper they sank.
Seeing that she had understood the mystery, Luo Huai smiled with great satisfaction.
"With our resources, as long as we manage things properly, even if we're unlucky enough to spend more than we earn for the next ten years, the worst that could happen to the Luo family is that they'll only fall to the level of a mid-sized business, they won't collapse. So why are we being so stubborn with the Huang family on the northern route?"
Continuing to fight the Huang family in Songyuan with "three or four out of ten shipments" would undoubtedly be like drinking poison to quench thirst; while "borrowing the route through Linchuan" to protect the northern trade route would be like "snatching chestnuts from the fire," neither of which, in Luo Huai's view, was the best approach.