Zishu Sui aimed accurately and fell towards Ji Sixue.
Ji Sixue quickly caught her, momentarily caught off guard. She only heard the girl in her arms weakly say,
“I, I think, I’m not going to make it…”
Huh???
Everyone saw Zishu Sui suddenly weaken and spit blood, the corners of her mouth still stained, and were struck dumb, too scared to speak.
They couldn’t afford a murder case in the Marquis’s mansion.
Finally, Shen Lingyi’s scream drew Madam Cui and others from the women’s banquet.
Cui squeezed into the crowd, shocked by the sight, “What, what happened! Jinse, where’s Jinse?”
Xiao Jinse was still standing blankly in the back, not saying a word. Called out by Cui, she immediately stepped forward, “Aunt, it’s nothing to do with me, she’s just unwell!”
“Someone, someone! Go get a doctor!”
A group of servants stepped forward, divided into two groups. One group escorted Shen Lingyi towards the rear courtyard to change clothes, and the other, under Cui’s command, carried the “fainted” Zishu Sui away.
Zishu Sui was about to be carried to the (xiāngfáng, wing room), when she suddenly heard a terrible explosion not far away—
“Bang! Bang!”
Then came a woman’s scream, still Shen Lingyi’s voice.
Zishu Sui resisted the urge to open her eyes and find out what was happening, and tried to listen.
She heard Shen Lingyi scream, then burst into angry howls and sobs.
“Something’s wrong!” Many footsteps sounded chaotic in the courtyard. A maid shouted,
“Second Miss has been injured by the explosion! Someone, help!”
One disaster followed another.
Zishu Sui couldn’t help it anymore, and weakly opened her eyes. Seeing Cui by her side, she weakly called out, “Aunt, what’s wrong with me? Let me down, I’m fine, cough cough cough.”
As she spoke, her eyes glanced towards the source of the sound.
She saw a wall of the courtyard had been blown down, and a group of people were gathered around a spot, presumably surrounding Shen Lingyi.
Even Cui frequently looked over there, but didn’t forget the matter at hand, “Why are you spitting blood? Now that you’re awake, I’ll take you back.”
In the current situation, staying in the Rongxin Marquis’s mansion might not get her a doctor sooner than Shen Lingyi.
The Rongxin Marquis’s full moon banquet was thrown into chaos by the explosion, and even the male guests in the front yard heard the commotion.
As Zishu Sui and Cui walked towards the outside of the mansion, the servants in the mansion hurried towards the backyard, their footsteps hurried, and they even said things as if they were used to it.
“Did that young master next door blow up the backyard wall again?”
“Every time it’s repaired, he blows it up again, and repairs it again after it’s blown up. How much has the Marquis worried about this? Even the Imperial Concubine has mentioned it to the Emperor many times, but the Emperor just doesn’t care.”
“Who told the young master Qi to be able to develop military weapons, and he insists on testing cannons at the Qi residence, frequently affecting our Marquis’s mansion.”
“I suspect the young master Qi has a grudge against our Marquis’s mansion.”
Zishu Sui heard a bit of it and walked out of the mansion with Cui.
Xiao Jinse reluctantly followed them back.
In the carriage.
Cui, seeing Zishu Sui’s complexion a little rosier, was relieved, “How could your body be so weak?”
Zishu Sui patted herself, with lingering fear, “Aunt, did I cause trouble?”
“Sigh,” Cui sighed, “I’ll have the family doctor take a closer look later. You spat blood in front of everyone, I’m afraid they all know you’re not well, and it will be difficult to find a good husband’s family in the future.”
Hearing this, Zishu Sui lowered her head with a low mood and sat aside, “I’ve troubled Aunt.”
Xiao Jinse glared at her pitiful appearance, then looked at Cui, complaining,
“Aunt, just now my cousin had a quarrel with Lingyi. It was clearly my cousin who was at fault, and this vomiting blood was also caused by herself.”
Cui quickly grasped the main point, “A quarrel? Why did the quarrel happen?”
“My cousin said that Jiang Yu from the 少詹士 (shǎozhànshì, Vice Minister of Palace Affairs) family was a maid in the Marquis’s mansion. Jiang Yu couldn’t bear it and said a few words, making my cousin unhappy. Lingyi came out to mediate, and my cousin also said that the Rongxin Marquis’s wife had a low status, which made Lingyi also angry, and a conflict occurred.” Xiao Jinse added fuel to the fire and twisted the truth.
After hearing this, Cui’s face changed drastically, and her eyes looking at Zishu Sui were different, “Is what Jinse said true?”
If that were the case, wouldn’t she have offended both the Rongxin Marquis’s mansion and the Jiang family at the same time?
The Jiang family was secondary, but the Rongxin Marquis’s mansion was deeply favored by the Emperor. Even if they were from a humble background and suddenly rose to prominence, they couldn’t be offended casually.
Originally, Cui had the good intention of taking her to see the world and make friends with some ladies in the capital, but she didn’t expect her to cause trouble the first time she came out.
How dare she bring her out in the future?
Zishu Sui looked at Xiao Jinse in disbelief, still the weak little white flower in front of Cui, “How can my cousin twist the truth? It was clearly Miss Jiang who insulted me first. Not only did my cousin not help me, but she also helped outsiders speak about me. Have I ever said a bad word about you from beginning to end?”
“Where did Jiang Yu insult you! Isn’t what she said the truth?” Xiao Jinse couldn’t stand her weak appearance, and her voice couldn’t help but increase a bit.
“Enough!” Cui understood everything by now.
Startled by the reprimand, Xiao Jinse sat in her seat, biting her lip and not speaking, but she was very unconvinced.
“Jinse, you are cousins, you should help each other, not stand by. You are the daughter of the Wuning Marquis’s mansion. If you treat Sui Sui better today, others will not dare to bully her because of your attitude.” Cui looked at Xiao Jinse seriously.
The fact is that, in the eyes of outsiders, although Xiao Jinse was not born to the Wuning Marquis, as long as the Wuning Marquis’s mansion was not divided, Xiao Jinse was the proper daughter of the Wuning Marquis’s mansion, the master.
And the newly arrived cousin was a guest.
The attitude of the master towards the guest determined the attitude of outsiders.
If even Xiao Jinse bullied her and looked down on her, how could she make outsiders value her?
After returning to the Wuning Marquis’s mansion, Xiao Jinse was punished by Cui to be confined for three days.
Although Xiao Jinse was dissatisfied, she could only obediently accept the punishment.
As for Zishu Sui…
Naturally, it wouldn’t be better for her.
Cui took Zishu Sui to the ancestral hall, which was full of memorial tablets.
Cui turned her back to her, her face calm, her tone indifferent, “Sui girl, your great-grandfather is also here. Do you know what you did wrong today?”
Zishu Sui lowered her head obediently and said, “I shouldn’t have quarreled with Miss Jiang and Miss Shen, and I shouldn’t have caused trouble for the Marquis’s mansion. I’m sorry for my aunt’s wholehearted efforts for me.”
After saying this, Cui sighed in front of her, as if she was a little helpless and distressed, but in the end she still restrained that bit of distress,
“Sui girl, I know you have suffered a lot of grievances along the way, but now that you have lost both your parents, even if I pity you again, I can’t protect you all the time. If one day you cause an even bigger disaster, your uncle and I may not take responsibility for you.”
These words, although realistic, Cui wanted her to understand a truth.
When interests conflict, she will only be a discarded pawn.
If you want to live well in the capital, you must have your own means and scheming.
Cui turned around, “Kneel for three hours, then come and tell me what you did wrong. If you say it right, I will ask the family doctor to see you. If you don’t say it right, continue to kneel.”
After speaking, Cui left and ordered someone to close the ancestral hall.
Cui looked ruthless, but in fact she was also doing it for Qi Sui’s good, but unfortunately Zishu Sui didn’t need this kindness.
Fortunately, Zishu Sui didn’t really vomit blood, otherwise, she might have died after kneeling before asking the doctor. From this point of view, Cui was still ruthless.
As expected, she was not her own daughter, so she didn’t cherish her that much.
In the ancestral hall, Zishu Sui looked at the memorial tablets in the Xiao Clan Ancestral Hall,忍着 (rěnzhe, enduring) the thought of burning down the ancestral hall, and silently knelt on the futon.
What she was thinking about was how to seduce Xiao Bian into her hands.
A person like Xiao Bian didn’t seem like someone who could fall in love with someone based on pity and affection. If he could be seduced by beauty, how could he be unmarried to this day?
Impossible.
Previously, Zishu Sui relied on selling misery and pretending to be weak, which could only be regarded as gaining trust, and making him feel a little bit of guilt, which made his attitude better.
If she still relies on the same methods in the future, it may be difficult for him to be truly moved.
She still has to use a strong medicine.
Zishu Sui thought, she had to create a big show in a few days.