Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I had always been eager to help, ever since I was little.

My body moved faster than my brain.

The instant I heard the words “fallen into the water,” I had already shot forward.

By the time I came to my senses, I was thrashing in the water, grabbing hold of the desperately struggling County Lady and dragging her toward the bank with all my might.

Only after I shoved her ashore did I finally have the chance to read the barrage comments.

[What the hell? Wasn’t the Male Lead supposed to be the one saving the damsel? Where did this random extra come from?]

[So this is the so-called iconic scene… How did the plot collapse this badly? I can’t anymore.]

[Then stop watching. Who says the Female Lead has to be saved by the Male Lead?]

?

Why didn’t you say so earlier?

On the verge of tears, I looked down at County Lady Jiale lying unconscious in my arms.

I had wronged my elder brother.

Not only had I slept with him,

I had even stolen his big shining moment.

I braced a hand against the ground and tried to stand, but my knees went weak, and I dropped back down.

The thin spring blouse clung to my body. Once soaked through, it hid nothing.

I lowered my head for one look, and my heart lurched.

Below my collarbone, several red marks showed faintly through.

They were from last night.

“Whose young lady is that… How could she have those things on her body?”

“How shameless!”

Whispers surged in like a tide.

Instinctively, I looked toward the mistress of the household in the distance.

Her face was cold as frost, as if she were already calculating the method of my death.

My elder sisters’ eyes were faintly red as well. They turned their faces away, unwilling to be associated with me.

The barrage drifted past.

[Isn’t she one of the Male Lead’s younger sisters? Why aren’t the people from Ningyang Marquis Manor acknowledging her?]

[Isn’t she an adopted daughter? The kind with no blood relation and no favor.]

[She’s so pitiful… She just saved someone, and this is how they treat her.]

I was just about to speak

when I heard a man’s voice.

“She is a young lady of my Ningyang Marquis Manor.”

The crowd automatically parted to make a path.

I lifted my head.

At some point, Shen Yanci had walked up to me and was looking down at me.

His gaze fell on the red marks on my body and paused for an instant.

Then he reached out his hand to me.

“Get up.”

After a moment’s hesitation, I still placed my hand in his.

Shen Yanci’s fingers were slightly cool. He clasped my wrist with just enough force and pulled me up from the ground.

“It is the height of summer, and your little courtyard is near the water. There are too many mosquitoes. On ordinary days, you should have the servants light some incense.”

His expression did not change, and his voice was cool and mild.

It sounded like an elder brother’s everyday reminder.

He was helping me out of this.

I answered softly, “Yes.”

The gazes around us shifted from suspicion to understanding.

The frostiness on the mistress’s face faded somewhat, and she withdrew her gaze.

She began ordering people to call a physician for County Lady Jiale.

Shen Yanci released my hand and shifted sideways, blocking most of the staring eyes for me.

“Go change first. Do not catch a chill.”

With that, he turned and left.

As if the few words he had spoken to save me from embarrassment had merely been an incidental gesture.

I lowered my head and followed a maid toward a secluded changing room in the distance.

The clothes were folded neatly on the couch: a pale yellow ruqun.

Moving quickly, I stripped off my wet clothes, wiped myself down with a towel, and was just about to reach for the ruqun

when the sound of the door bolt being lifted from outside suddenly rang out.

My heart jumped. I covered my chest and looked in that direction.

The door opened a narrow crack.

Shen Yanci’s cool, clear voice came through.

“I picked up your handkerchief on the road just now. I thought you might need it while changing, so I brought it over.”

A plain handkerchief was quietly passed in through the crack.

I moved closer, took it carefully, and thanked him softly. “Thank you, Elder Brother.”

But then I heard him say without warning, “Is the injury on the top of your right foot new?”

My heart skipped a beat.

Last night, when I climbed in through the window, I had accidentally stumbled. The top of my right foot had struck the window frame, leaving a purplish bruise.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to stay calm.

“Yesterday, I was walking by the pond and accidentally fell. It must have happened then.”

Shen Yanci was silent for a moment. He said nothing more, only gave a quiet hum before leaving.

The door closed.

I leaned back against it and slowly sank into a crouch, unable to move.

That feeling had come again.

Clearly, I had only relieved it once yesterday.

So why was it that, after nothing more than a little simple contact with my elder brother today, my body felt inexplicably excited and tingling?

I lowered my head and gazed thoughtfully at the handkerchief Shen Yanci had given me.

As if possessed, I brought it to the tip of my nose and sniffed it lightly.

The cool, clean scent of his fingertips still lingered on it.

After a long while, I drew in a deep breath, and my eyes cleared from their hazy darkness.

…I really was going insane.