Seeing the woman enter, Zhu Lili’s expression instantly shifted from panic to grievance.
She pouted and went over to her mother, tearfully complaining, “Mom, they’re bullying me!”
The middle-aged woman patted Zhu Lili’s hand and then frowned at the people in the kitchen.
“In our sir’s villa, who dares to bully my precious daughter?”
The kitchen fell completely silent. The few chefs who had been about to step forward didn’t utter another word.
The middle-aged woman was Li Ma, one of the first servants to work at Wanhan Courtyard.
Apart from the butler, she held the highest status among the household staff.
No one wanted to make trouble at this moment—after all, their livelihoods were at stake.
Seeing everyone lower their heads, Li Ma looked satisfied and took Zhu Lili out of the kitchen.
“Lili, we all work here. Don’t always cause trouble. You need to know your limits.”
As soon as they left the kitchen, the middle-aged woman reminded Zhu Lili cautiously.
A mother naturally knew her own daughter’s temperament.
Especially in Wanhan Courtyard, if someone else had provoked Zhu Lili first, she wouldn’t even have believed it.
Zhu Lili shook her mother’s arm coquettishly. “Mom, I didn’t come here to serve people, you know that.”
“And what good does knowing do? Upstairs, that one is the sir’s legitimate wife.”
The middle-aged woman poked Zhu Lili on the forehead. “Stop thinking about unrealistic things.”
“Mom!” Zhu Lili shrugged off her mother’s arm and stubbornly looked upstairs.
“I won’t give up that easily!”
Li Ma simply shook her head at her daughter but didn’t continue to persuade her.
Whether she wanted to make soup or porridge was her own business.
As long as she didn’t cause a major problem, her father and Li Ma would protect her completely.
Moreover, if she really managed to get close to the sir, their whole family would rise to the top.
Li Ma’s face couldn’t help but reveal a self-satisfied expression.
At that moment, she imagined herself as the youngest yet richest mother-in-law of the Li family in W City.
Upstairs, Xia Zhiwan frowned slightly, still unaware that her Ah Han was already being eyed by someone else.
In the basement, the ocean cycles appeared in her dreams.
Frequent nightmares, combined with the morning’s first menstrual experience, left Xia Zhiwan feeling utterly exhausted.
After tossing and turning for a long time, she eventually drifted into deep sleep.
She slept straight through until evening, showing no intention of waking even when Li Xiaohan returned home.
Li Xiaohan, wearing his suit jacket over his arm, went straight upstairs.
He gently opened the bedroom door and found the woman still asleep.
On such a large bed, her figure seemed so small and fragile.
He threw his jacket on the floor and lay down beside her, wrapping her tightly in his arms under the covers.
In her sleep, the woman felt the comfort she had finally settled into suddenly turn a little confining.
She shifted and squirmed to free herself from the tight embrace, then continued to sleep deeply.
Li Xiaohan felt a little disappointed seeing her break free from his arms.
He thought to himself: the woman’s heart still hasn’t completely accepted him.
But the disappointment lasted only a moment. Soon, he coaxed himself back to calm.
The fact that she was willing to be with him at all was a good start. He could wait—wait until she accepted him completely.
In her dream, still cuddling with Li Xiaohan, Xia Zhiwan had no idea.
Her one little action had already caused him to imagine an entire story in his mind.
Seeing that she had no intention of waking, Li Xiaohan went to the study to work overtime.
There was nothing urgent, but finishing work early was always a good idea.
When Xia Zhiwan finally woke up, the outside was completely dark.
Still groggy, she opened her eyes to pitch-black surroundings.
At that moment, the darkness in her dream’s basement merged with her current reality in her mind.
“Ah!”
Li Xiaohan, working in the study, heard her scream and immediately rushed to the bedroom.
“Wanwan, what’s wrong? I’m here.”
He pushed open the bedroom door, turned on the light, and held the trembling Xia Zhiwan in his arms.
“Wanwan, don’t be afraid. Did you have a nightmare?”
Being embraced by him, her mind gradually calmed.
“Ah Han, I had such a long nightmare… I dreamt someone kidnapped me, and you died trying to save me. I was so scared.”
Her voice trembled, choked with emotion, as she clutched Li Xiaohan’s waist tightly.
“Don’t be afraid, Wanwan. Don’t be afraid. You’re with me—no one can hurt you here.”
Li Xiaohan comforted her, yet Xia Zhiwan couldn’t help recalling being captured in her past life.
When Li Xiaohan was away on a business trip, she had sneaked out and unexpectedly seen her sister and the man who claimed to love her in an embrace.
When they discovered her, they only lamented that she could no longer be their pawn.
There was no guilt; instead, she was locked in an abandoned basement and endlessly tortured.
As Li Xiaohan said, she had never been harmed by him.
All the pain she had endured had been caused by herself, for those shameless people.
Not only had she hurt herself, she had hurt Li Xiaohan as well.
The man gently patted her back, and through tear-filled eyes, Xia Zhiwan lifted her face and lightly kissed his jaw.
“From now on, Wanwan will always stay by Ah Han’s side. Nowhere else.”
“Good. Then we promise—Wanwan stays with me, and you won’t go anywhere.”
Her words were exactly what Li Xiaohan wanted to hear.
Having the woman by his side had been his hope since youth.
After five years, and eight months into their marriage, these words finally came from her mouth.
Li Xiaohan felt that fate had finally smiled upon him—the red string of destiny connecting them at last.
He held her and slowly lay down on the bed. “Wanwan, if you don’t keep your word, I will punish you.”
“A lady’s words are like four horses racing—once said, they can’t be taken back. Wanwan’s words definitely count.”
Xia Zhiwan said earnestly, while the man’s gaze drifted downward.
“L…lady? Hmm, my Wanwan truly is a l…lady.”