Li Xin set aside her needlework and sent someone to notify Li Hui, who happened to be on leave at home. Li Hui recalled his promise to build a horse farm for his two sisters. He had forgotten about it during the busy years. On the way to the West Market, Li Hui instructed Zhang Hu to look for a horse farm to purchase.
The livestock market didn't smell pleasant. Li Xin and Li Xia were excited as they looked at the horses.
After listening to Li Yu's explanations about selecting horses along the way, Li Xin pointed to a brown horse and said, "Xia Xia, this horse has smooth and glossy hair. It should be a good one."
Li Xia looked at the horse Li Xin mentioned, "Its eyes are bright and lively."
"This horse looks good on the outside, but its teeth are severely worn. It's an old horse. Not suitable for purchase," Lu XuanNing's voice came from behind.
Li Xia turned around, "What are you doing here?"
"I heard there's a new batch of horses, so I came to take a look," Lu XuanNing was also a horse enthusiast.
"My sister and I are here to buy horses. It's perfect that you can help us choose," Li Xia didn't know much about horses.
"Alright," Lu XuanNing was naturally willing to help his fiancée buy horses. He explained to Li Xia how to examine and select horses. After inquiring about their requirements, he chose a black stallion for Li Xia and a chestnut stallion for Li Xin.
When Lu XuanNing offered to pay, Li Hui disagreed. How could he let Lu XuanNing pay for his sisters' horses? He paid for them himself.
They left someone behind to handle the remaining procedures.
"I have a small horse farm that I'm about to sell. You can take a look if you'd like," Lu XuanNing spoke up when he heard Li Xia mention buying a horse farm.
The three Li siblings couldn't believe such a coincidence – they wanted to buy, and Lu XuanNing happened to be selling.
"It's true. That horse farm is a bit small for me, so I'm planning to sell it and buy a larger one. If you don't believe me, we can go take a look now," Lu XuanNing hadn't expected things to align so perfectly either.
As it was still early, the three Li siblings agreed. The group changed course and went to Lu XuanNing's horse farm on the outskirts of town. This farm was about half the size of the public farm they had visited before. Disabled veterans who had followed Lu XuanNing into battle and had no homes were settled here to raise and care for horses. With the increasing number of horses, the farm had become somewhat crowded.
If the Li family bought it, it would be suitable for keeping a few horses for leisure. After seeing it, Li Hui immediately agreed to buy and asked Lu XuanNing to name his price.
Seeing Lu XuanNing hesitate, Li Xia laughed, "Brother has money, no need to be frugal on his behalf."
"The Cao family knew about my situation before proposing. They won't believe these nasty rumors," Li Xin reassured her mother not to overthink.
"The Zhang family is going too far," Mrs. Lu couldn't help but slap the table.
"Mother, let people say what they want. We should just live our lives with dignity," Li Xin's words surprised Mrs. Lu. She wouldn't have been surprised to hear such words from Li Xia, but Li Xin rarely spoke like this.
Noticing her mother's confusion, Li Xin smiled, "I've learned a lot about being open-minded from spending time with Xia Xia."
"Then I won't attend that chrysanthemum appreciation banquet," Mrs. Lu had no desire to go anyway.
"Didn't we say we'd go horseback riding? That day, our whole family should go to the horse farm to ride," Li Xin had a strong aversion to the Zhang family.
In the Orchid Courtyard, Li Xia also heard from Qiu Ling about the rumors circulating about Li Xin.
"Hasn't Cao Fugui done anything? His fiancée is being bullied like this, and he's just sitting idly by?" Li Xia asked.
"General Cao led his men to break Zhang Qiming's right leg," Qiu Ling's words made Li Xia scoff.
"Just broke his right leg? Go to Tian Yi Pavilion and place an order to break Zhang Qiming's left leg as well." Li Xia couldn't be bothered to deal with a scum like Zhang Qiming herself.
"Yes, Young Miss. What about that Sun Yiliu? Should we also..." Qiu Ling made a leg-breaking gesture.
"Not for now," Li Xia replied. If Sun Yiliu's legs were broken, she wouldn't be able to take care of Zhang Qiming. Besides, what Sun Yiliu cared about most was her face and figure. Rather than breaking her legs, it would be better to ruin her face and figure.
At night, Li Wan went to Tian Yi Pavilion.
"I'm worried, so I plan to take matters into my own hands," Zhou Heng said as he stood up to pour tea for Li Xia.
"Do you have any medicine that can make someone fat and ugly?" Li Xia didn't answer Zhou Heng's question, but instead made her own request.
"Who are you trying to deal with? That's quite harsh," Zhou Heng rose and took a medicine bottle from the cabinet, handing it to Li Xia.
Li Xia didn't respond to Zhou Heng again. She took the medicine and left, saying, "Zhang Qiming's legs. Break them as soon as possible."