Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I was sick for several days, drifting in and out of consciousness. During my clearer moments, I heard Mother and Lin Chengfeng arguing.

Lin Chengfeng said I shouldn’t have targeted Lin Dieyun at every turn.

“She just had to come back and start fighting and grabbing for things like a jumping clown. When has our Lin family ever produced such a scandal? It’s simply humiliating. If she actually had the ability to compete, that would be one thing, but she has no self-awareness. She doesn’t know her own weight and has made herself a laughingstock.”

“She is your sister. If she doesn’t know better, you can teach her slowly. How could you use the heavy paddles meant for servants to strike her across the mouth?”

“Hmph, she doesn’t act like a lady at all. She is shameless, the height of ignominy.”

He left in a fit of pique.

Mother was moved to tears by her anger.

As she cried, she pounded on my bed, saying that between the two of us, we were breaking her heart.

Her tears seemed to make my wounds feel much better.

I thought that although my elder brother hated me and my sister framed me, at least Mother’s tears were real. She truly shed sorrowful tears for me.

I swore that I would be a good daughter, an obedient daughter, and never make my mother sad again.

Later, I recovered from my illness, though I would still occasionally think of that dead little maid and have nightmares.

A new maid by my side named Qiuyan tried to comfort me:

“Miss, you shouldn’t think about that traitorous girl anymore. She clearly fell for Heir Apparent Zhao herself and egged you on to fight for him so she could follow you as a bridal maid. She probably hoped for a chance to become Heir Apparent Zhao’s concubine in the future. She was planning for her own sake when she stole your chemise and stuffed it into Heir Apparent Zhao’s things, causing you to suffer this undeserved disaster. Even if she reincarnates, she’ll end up in the animal realm. Please, try to move on.”

I was astonished.

“How do you know I was wronged?”

Qiuyan’s gaze held a hint of pity.

She said, “Who couldn’t see it?”

Everyone saw it.

Every servant in the courtyard could see it.

Yet my brother, my mother, and Zhao Pu-they all failed to see it.

No, perhaps they did see it.

But they wanted to use the opportunity to beat me down, to ensure I didn’t harbor any overambitious thoughts, so they punished me anyway.

They had all ganged up to bully me.

This realization drained my strength. My heart was sick, and my body felt limp, unwilling to heal.

I suffered from insomnia and anxiety. My hair fell out in clumps, and my eyes grew more hollow by the day, yet I couldn’t say exactly what was wrong.

The estate doctor came time and again, only to say it was a sickness of the heart.

Mother’s gaze toward me grew more disappointed by the day, until eventually, she couldn’t be bothered to care for me anymore.

Qiuyan was frantic.

She said, “Miss, you must get well quickly. I overheard the Eldest Young Master saying today that if you don’t get better, he fears your presence conflicts with the estate’s feng shui and he’ll send you away to a manor. If you really end up there, you’ll be beyond all help. That place is filled with criminal slaves and disgraced women who were cast out of the city estates. How could you survive there? At least here you have food and drink. Stay alive first, then find another way.”

She was truly a good person.

Through my tears, I forced myself to eat more, making myself get better day by day.

I encountered Zhao Pu again later. I avoided him whenever I saw him and ran whenever we met, as if I had seen a ghost.

The last time I saw him in the Chancellor’s Mansion was the day I was ordered to be beaten with clubs and thrown out by Chu Yi, the Third Prince. As I was being dragged away by the crowd, I saw a corner of his robe in the corridor.

I suddenly realized that from his vantage point, he would have been able to see the entire process of Lin Dieyun framing me.

He could have spoken the truth for me.

A flame flared up in my heart, only to be extinguished just as quickly.

Why should he speak the truth for me?

He and Lin Dieyun-both of them wished I were dead.

I stared fixedly in his direction, my mouth whimpering, but my heart sank. He didn’t stand forth; he just stood there quietly behind the pillar, watching the scene unfold…