As soon as the door opened, Third Madam Qi hurried in anxiously. “Yuan Jie’er! Are you alright?!”
Earlier, she had been in the rear courtyard watching the opera with the other madams. Only later did she hear that someone had fallen into the lake.
When she heard that Qi Yuan had also fallen in, she was completely stunned.
Before coming out, the Old Madam had repeatedly instructed her to make sure to watch over Qi Yuan and, in everything, simply follow Qi Yuan’s lead.
If anything happened to Qi Yuan, how could she possibly explain it to the Old Madam when she returned?
Qi Yuan had already recovered somewhat; her face had regained some color. Seeing Third Madam Qi so anxious, she smiled reassuringly. “I’m fine, Third Aunt. It was only a small matter.”
A small matter?
Third Madam Qi anxiously held Qi Yuan’s wrist. “Silly girl, when a woman catches cold it’s the most troublesome. Falling into the water in winter is never a small matter.”
As she spoke, she hurriedly asked how Qi Yuan had fallen in.
At this moment, she wasn’t the only one asking that question.
The Eldest Princess was also asking the softly sobbing Zeng Wenxiu, “Wenxiu, how did you fall into the lake?”
Zeng Wenxiu had always been in poor health, and after becoming pregnant she had been uncomfortable in all sorts of ways.
The Eldest Princess had always arranged for people to carefully look after her.
Moreover, not long ago Zeng Wenxiu had just been speaking with Zhou Wangfei and herself, how had she suddenly run to the lakeside and fallen into the water in such a short time?
Commandery Princess Xianning gripped Commandery Princess Luochuan’s hand and gave her a solemn look.
Commandery Princess Luochuan, however, was not flustered at all; she even lightly squeezed Commandery Princess Xianning’s palm.
Commandery Princess Xianning immediately frowned.
Zeng Wenxiu’s voice was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz. “I felt stuffy staying in the room, so I wanted to go out for a walk. Who knew that halfway there, I saw…”
Lu Jintang had already changed clothes and come over. Seeing Zeng Wenxiu biting her lip, he couldn’t help asking, “Saw what?”
Zeng Wenxiu bit her lower lip tightly, as if she had suffered a great shock.
The Eldest Princess immediately frowned.
At the side, Zhou Wangfei asked gently, “Young Madam, these are all family. What is there that cannot be said?”
Zeng Wenxiu carefully lifted her eyes to glance at the Eldest Princess and said in a low voice, “I saw… I saw Miss Qi speaking with a man in the pavilion… I tried to avoid them, but Miss Qi noticed me…”
The Eldest Princess froze.
Zhou Wangfei also lowered her eyes.
On the outer edge, Commandery Princess Luochuan curled her lips at Commandery Princess Xianning in satisfaction.
Wretch!
That wretch Qi Yuan.
She would not let Qi Yuan have an easy time.
Wasn’t Qi Yuan close to the Eldest Princess?
She wanted to see, between her own daughter-in-law and Qi Yuan, whom the Eldest Princess would choose.
She also wanted to see how Qi Yuan planned to resolve this matter.
Zeng Wenxiu was Lu Jintang’s wife, the Eldest Princess’s daughter-in-law, and a hard-won one at that.
No one could be lucky forever.
It was time that lowborn wretch Qi Yuan learned a lesson.
The room fell silent, and the Eldest Princess’s expression instantly darkened.
She looked at Zeng Wenxiu and frowned. “What are you saying?”
What did it mean to say she saw a man speaking with Qi Yuan in the pavilion and then couldn’t avoid being noticed?
This clearly implied that Qi Yuan had been secretly meeting a man in the pavilion and was discovered by her.
The meaning behind the words was obvious.
The Eldest Princess knew the relationship between Xiao Yunting and Qi Yuan.
Before leaving, Xiao Yunting had repeatedly asked her to help take care of Qi Yuan.
Besides, even putting that aside, she herself owed Qi Yuan a favor.
Why would Qi Yuan need to secretly meet a man?
As for pushing Zeng Wenxiu into the water, that was even more ridiculous.
Her tone suddenly became stern. “The choice of word is improper. Today the residence is hosting guests, all personally selected by me. Many of them are even related to one another.”
Her intention to defend Qi Yuan was already very clear.
Commandery Princess Luochuan let out a silent sneer.
Zeng Wenxiu’s eyes widened in apparent terror, and she suddenly whimpered, “I… it hurts so much… my stomach hurts…”
As she spoke, she clutched her lower abdomen and collapsed painfully into Lu Jintang’s arms.
Lu Jintang was badly frightened and hurriedly called out, “Mother!”
The Eldest Princess’s right eyelid twitched rapidly. For a moment, she felt as if her head were about to split open, and she quickly urged someone to summon the imperial physician.
Yet in her heart, it felt as though a stone were pressing down, and she studied Zeng Wenxiu with growing suspicion.
Zeng Wenxiu had no connection whatsoever with Qi Yuan.
Why, then, claim that she had seen Qi Yuan speaking with a man in the pavilion?
The implication was clearly that she had discovered Qi Yuan meeting someone and had therefore been pushed into the water.
But the Eldest Princess knew Qi Yuan’s character, Qi Yuan was not that kind of person.
Not to mention, if Qi Yuan had really pushed her in, why would she then jump in to save her?
Yet Zeng Wenxiu kept crying that her abdomen hurt, making it impossible to question her further. The Eldest Princess could only frown.
Zeng Wenxiu gripped Lu Jintang’s hand, sweating from fear. “I… I’m scared…”
Lu Jintang finally reacted and quickly comforted her softly, “It’s alright, it’s alright…”
As he spoke, Zeng Wenxiu’s face grew even paler. “I… it hurts so much…”
It was Zhang Mama who sensed something was wrong. She stepped forward and lifted the quilt, immediately crying out, “This is bad, the young madam is bleeding!”
Zhou Wangfei was startled. She saw that the bedding beneath Zeng Wenxiu had already been soaked with blood and instinctively stepped back.
The Eldest Princess could no longer care about anything else and repeatedly urged, “Where is the imperial physician?! Why hasn’t the imperial physician arrived yet?!”
Commandery Princess Xianning pulled Commandery Princess Luochuan aside to a place where no one was around before asking, “What exactly is going on? Haven’t you made this too serious?”
Commandery Princess Luochuan smiled with satisfaction. “What do you know? I’m helping Zeng Wenxiu. She’ll be grateful to me in the future.”
The Eldest Princess’s residence was thrown into complete chaos.
Seeing that Qi Yuan was fine, Third Madam Qi wanted to take Qi Yuan to bid farewell to the Eldest Princess.
She felt that today’s events were truly inauspicious.
They hadn’t even eaten yet, and someone had already fallen into the lake.
If they stayed the whole day, who knew what else might happen?
Qi Yuan gave a light laugh. “Just as well, I also want to go find Her Highness the Eldest Princess. I have something to say to her.”
Her tone remained calm, her expression steady, as if nothing major had happened, as if the person who had just climbed out of the lake wasn’t her at all.
Third Madam Qi nodded. “Alright, we’ll go speak to Her Highness and then head back.”
Wang Chan looked at Qi Yuan as if she wanted to speak but hesitated. She felt that Qi Yuan was being unusually easygoing today.
Zeng Wenxiu had repaid kindness with betrayal to such an extent, yet Qi Yuan showed no reaction at all.
This was completely unlike Qi Yuan!
Qi Yuan walked steadily ahead. After speaking to a maid outside, she had someone lead the way to Zeng Wenxiu’s courtyard.
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