"Quick, see if Madam is fine!" Nanny Zhou held onto a nearby chair to hoist herself back on her feet. She was so panicked that her face had turned pale. The injury on her leg was minor; all it did was slice her skin enough to produce some blood. Panicked as she was, she couldn't process the pain.
The dumbfounded maids and older female servants hastily ran over. Some propped, while others pulled. They helped the two ladies in front of the bed stand upright and led them to the chairs before checking on bedridden Madam Di.
The medicine concoction, so dark it was almost black, spilled all over the bed. Madam Di was as pale as a sheet of paper. There were still traces of a dark liquid on her hand. She was hurting so much that she was shuddering and incapable of speaking even a word. She stood upright on the bed, dispelling all of her sickly demeanor from before.
Nanny Zhou immediately ordered the other servants to fetch a clothing rag. After wiping Madam Di's hand, she excused everyone else from the room and changed everything on Madam Di's bed as well as her clothes. She then hastily sent someone to fetch a physician.
Qi Rongzhi and Qin Wanru sat on the chairs in the exterior room in silence. Both looked frenetic as if they had received a shock.
Qin Yuru looked even ghastlier. She sat on the chair, eyeing the two of them with a cold gaze. She picked up the cup and threw it on the floor. "Did you two do this on purpose?"
Qi Rongzhi looked up, revealing her wan face. "Sister Yuru, how... how can you accuse me of such a thing? I'm sincere about serving Madam Di... Who knew Nanny Zhou will snatch the bowl from me? I wouldn't have expected you to come and snatch it as well."
Qi Rongzhi looked like she had been mistreated.
"When have you ever been so kind as to help me attend to Mother? I'd be worshipping the gods if you don't cause any trouble," Qin Yuru retorted unhappily. When she recalled Madam Di's screech earlier, she could almost feel her pain.
"Sister Yuru... you... how can you say that about me...?" Qi Rongzhi began tearing up and sniffling. She wiped her tears with her handkerchief, but the cloth was stained with blood instead. It was stained from when she pressed the handkerchief over her injured foot.
"Big Sister, it's not like Miss Qi did it on purpose," Qin Wanru said softly, sounding as if she couldn't stand watching an injustice.
"You're one to talk. You did it on purpose, didn't you? You're here to create chaos, didn't you? I just knew that you two didn't come to attend to Mother on her sickbed without malice!" Qin Yuru said through gritted teeth.
"Big Sister, how could you think so poorly of us?" Qin Wanru replied, looking shocked. "I came here on Madam's orders. Do you mean that Madam wanted me to come here and create chaos?"
"You..." Qin Yuru was livid, but Di Yan interrupted her and said, "Enough. These two wouldn't want to see this happen. Who'd expect such an accident? No one wanted this. Besides, they're both injured as well."
"Cousin Brother, how can you stand on their side? Look at them! Neither of them bears any goodwill!" Qin Yuru said indignantly. The rim of her eyes reddened after hearing Di Yan admonish her. She glared at Qin Wanru and Qi Rongzhi.
"Prince, I... I didn't do it on purpose. I swear. Please help me prove my innocence, Prince, or my father will punish me when he comes to the capital!" Leaning against the side table, Qi Rongzhi sobbed so hard that she could hardly breathe and her entire body was trembling. Evidently, she was terrified of the familial punishment of Qi's Mansion.
Di Yan was surprised to learn that an influential clan with less than a hundred years of history would have such strict family education. He became increasingly fond of Qi Rongzhi. He stared at Qi Rongzhi, who was a crying mess, and then at his cousin, who was grim-faced despite her red eyes. He inexplicably felt frustrated. Wasn't his cousin the gentlest person he knew? How could she be so fierce now?
Could it be that whatever his cousin displayed before was meant for him to see? Was his mother right?
"Cousin Sister Yu, let them go home for now. They can't attend to Aunt like this and will just create a mess. If someone sees this, they might wonder what great commotion has happened!" Di Yan said unhappily.
The sound of Madam Di lashing out the servants drifted from the interior room. They could even faintly hear the sound of someone being slapped. Meanwhile, the exterior room was filled with the sound of Qi Rongzhi crying. Coupled with Qin Yuru's vicious voice, Di Yan suddenly felt the onslaught of a headache as well as frustration.
"How can they just leave after scalding Mother?" Qin Yuru asked through gritted teeth.
"That was no more than an accident. Cousin Sister Yu, we should worry about dealing with Aunt's injury first. They're both injured as well. It's useless to keep them here; they'll add on to our troubles instead!" Di Yan said.
"Prince, it's alright. We'll stay here. I'm worried about Madam Di!" Qi Rongzhi raised her head. There were remnants of two trails of sparkling tears on her fair cheeks which made her look even more delicate.
"It's alright. You two should return first and deal with your injuries. Once the physician is done attending to Aunt's injury, I'll bring him over to check on you both," Di Yan said.
He made the final decision without listening to Qin Yuru.
"Thank you kindly, Prince!" Qi Rongzhi stopped crying as soon as she heard Di Yan would be coming over. She wiped her tears, and her cheeks flushed with the faintest of color.
"Go back then!" Di Yan said, waving his hand. With the situation being a mess over here and Qin Yuru looking as if she was incapable of handling matters, he had no choice but to step up and deal with everything.
Qi Rongzhi teared up again. Holding on Chun Yi's hand, she limped out of the room.
Qin Wanru didn't stand on ceremony either. She performed a curtsy at Di Yan before holding onto her maid's hand and sauntering away.
Qin Yuru stamped her feet when she saw the troublemakers had left just like that and cried indignantly, "Cousin Brother!"
"Cousin Sister Yu, go and check on Aunt. I'll see if the physician is here!" Feeling a headache, Di Yan rubbed his head. Suddenly, he felt as if his father asking him to come to Qin's Mansion and care for his sickly Aunt was a mistake.
He spun around and walked out of the house with large strides as soon as he was done speaking, ignoring Qin Yuru who was protesting coquettishly.
When Qin Wanru returned to her own house, Yu Jie and the rest immediately helped her walk inside. She didn't limp much on her walk back, so the maids thought her injury wasn't severe. When they lifted her skirt, however, they found that blood was dripping down her right calf and even soaked her underpants.
"Miss! How did you get this badly injured?" Yu Jie turned pale from fright. Earlier, she had been standing behind Qin Wanru. She had wanted to pull her mistress backward, but Qin Wanru shoved her hand aside and allowed herself to crash. Yu Jie had received a shock then, but she knew Qin Wanru had charged forward herself.
Even if Qin Wanru had charged ahead on her own, that didn't warrant such a severe injury. Qi Rongzhi, who was closest to the bowl, wasn't this badly wounded either. She had merely suffered a cut that was neither deep nor light on the foot. From where Yu Jie stood, she managed to see what had happened to Qi Rongzhi but not to Qin Wanru. Little did she imagine that her mistress would be so badly cut.
Qing Yue carefully rolled up the leg of Qin Wanru's underpants and sure enough, there was a large cut on her calf. The cut was both lengthy and deep, and had yet to scab. The wound was rather frightening. Qing Yue clapped a handkerchief over it and blood instantly stained the white cloth!
The servants in the room turned pale.
"Miss, you..." Nanny Yu was so worried that tears were threatening to spill from her eyes. She turned around and said, "I'll see if the physician is here! I'll go and wait at the entrance of Madam's courtyard right now!"
Qin Wanru looked deathly pale, and even her lips turned a few shades paler. Still, she smiled and said, "No need, Nanny Yu. The physician will stop by in a moment. I did this myself. The injury isn't serious!"
"Miss, how can you do this to yourself?" Nanny Yu couldn't help raising her voice. She simply refused to believe that her mistress would do something like this.
Qin Wanru leaned backward, and her smile turned cold. The corner of her eyes twitched as malice swam in her pupils. "Numerous things can happen when you're caring for the sick. If Qi Rongzhi hadn't thrown a wrench in matters today, the bowl of medicine would have been spilled all over me! The bowl contains scalding medicine that will make it hard for wounds to heal!"
If such a scalding-hot bowl of medicine were splashed on Qin Wanru's skin, she would probably be disfigured if not dead. Even if the whole thing didn't splash on her face and only a little touched her skin, the wound would still be a challenge to remove. Moreover, Qin Wanru also got a whiff of some other medicine in that bowl.
It was a smell different from ordinary medicine meant to heal injuries. It belonged to exceptionally good medicine, which had a rather special smell that became indistinct when mixed in that strange-smelling concoction. This medicine had a particular function, which was to slow the healing of wounds. The mother-and-daughter pair, Madam Di and Qin Yuru, had come prepared this time!
"Madam Di is a monster!" Nanny Yu gasped.
"It's not like it's her first time. Miss, what do we do now?" Yu Jie, who grew up in the monastery, had little respect or reverence for Madam Di.
"Di Yan will likely tag along with the physician when he comes to check on my injury later. Qin Yuru will surely come as well," Qin Wanru said slowly. "I'm sure she wouldn't believe that I've truly injured myself and will propose examining my wounds herself. You all must stop her."
Now that Madam Di and Qin Yuru's plan was thwarted and got the former's hand scalded instead, they would surely refuse to let matters be. They would surely come and examine her and Qi Rongzhi's wounds, especially her own. They would never let her off that easily and would want nothing more than to find proof of her faking her injury. If they did, they would be able to push all the blame on her.
"Rest assured, Miss. I promise I'll protect you and not let First Miss examine your wound!" Nanny Yu said. Then, she hesitated momentarily before asking, "Miss, do you truly refuse to let First Miss examine your wound?"
"We must let her, of course! Not only that, but we must Father examine it. If you deny Qin Yuru, she'd surely protest and become convinced that I'm faking it. She'll kick up a fuss. Yu Jie, you should fetch Father immediately when that happens. You're a faster walker," Qin Wanru said, giving her orders to Yu Jie.
Caring for the ill? She would never give Madam Di the chance to torment her!
Sometimes, the reason was simple. She would beat Madam Di at her own game. However influential Duke Yong's Mansion was, they wouldn't be able to interfere in the fact that she was injured, much less when the cause was Madam Di!
With the bait thrown, all she had to do was wait for Qin Yuru to bite it.
Sure enough, Qin Yuru didn't betray her expectations. Qin Yuru was lying on her bed in fresh clothing when she heard a commotion outside the door. It was complete chaos...
"Nanny Yu, please redecorate the flower rack!"