Chapter 7: The Fiancé and the Concubine-born Sister

She turned and headed toward Qingmeng Tower.

Slipping inside with practiced ease, her eyes caught sight of his bleeding leg, and she hurried over. "What is wrong with you? Are you blind? Your leg is bleeding so much, yet you don't even try to stop it. Are you looking for death?"

She babbled on, scolding him.

The man did not even argue.

The moment he saw Su Jin, a flash of light appeared in the depths of his eyes, passing so quickly it was almost impossible to catch.

Rarely, he admitted his mistake obediently, "I stabbed myself."

What?

Su Jin threw the cloth she was using for hemostasis onto the ground and glared at him fiercely. "Have you grown tired of living? Why on earth would you stab yourself for no reason? Do you not want to be a flower-plucking thief anymore?"

The man: "..."

Su Jin truly felt that this fellow was wasting her precious, rare kindness.

She was utterly depressed. "You went through all that trouble to dress up as an effeminate man, specifically picking beautiful women like me to target, wasn't it just to pluck flowers and brew honey? Besides, if you truly become crippled, how will you act all high and mighty and arrogantly pick fights in the future?"

He was truly a headache.

While she was inwardly grumbling, the man spoke abruptly, "Actually, I am already crippled."

Su Jin was stunned.

So, he was... paralyzed?

Half-doubting, she placed her fingers on the man's pulse and was dumbfounded. "Huh? Huh? How could it be the *Xiangsi Yin* (Yearning Attraction)? Just how wretched is your fate that you even ran into that?"

Among the ten thousand poisons in the world, only the *Xiangsi Yin* has no cure.

It was universally recognized as incurable by any medicine.

Su Jin lowered her eyes...

When she looked at this fellow again, her gaze unconsciously carried a hint of compassion. She proactively offered to be his protector, not even worrying about being groped. "How about I take you home?"

As the saying goes, fallen leaves return to their roots; one shouldn't die in a brothel.

The man's expression darkened with anger.

He hated her gaze; it was truly detestable.

After crudely pushing Su Jin away, he roared toward the empty night sky, "Hurry up and take this Prince back! If you dare to play dead for even another quarter of an hour, beware that this Prince will immediately have your heads separated from your bodies!"

As his voice fell, dozens of men in black drifted in through the window.

Silent and well-trained.

They knelt in unison, asking for forgiveness.

Su Jin froze. So this fellow had personal guards. No wonder he kept running around aimlessly even though he knew he would have an episode. Seeing that she was no longer involved, she patted Wu Chen's lapel and waved a hand in farewell.

The man's sinister voice came from behind, "You'd better get lost and don't let me see you again."

Otherwise, don't even think about escaping.

He could let her go once, or twice, but he might not be willing to let her go a third or fourth time.

Su Jin's hand gave a light wave. "I'll try my best."

Having said that, she turned and walked away.

The next morning, the maid Ruobing came to knock on the door. "Miss, Mudan went to the Master's side. She said that yesterday's incident was your framing of her, and she is begging the Master to seek justice. You..."

Su Jin rubbed her temples.

Stupid!

What could the Left Minister possibly decide? If she were Mudan, she would wait a bit longer; if there were movement in her belly, she might be able to use the child to gain status through motherhood. If all else failed, she should at least take some money and run far away. Being so thoughtless, she would likely die even faster.

After tidying herself up, Su Jin followed Ruobing to see the Left Minister.

The one called in for questioning was also the Young Cousin.

Mudan was weeping and wailing, "Miss conspired with the Young Cousin to deliberately frame Mudan. Now Mudan has lost her innocence and is being mocked by everyone. I beg the Master to restore Mudan's innocence."

The Left Minister said impatiently, "Enough."

The Young Cousin's disgusted gaze shifted back to Mudan. "Uncle has always been decisive; how can you allow yourself to speak such falsehoods? It was clearly you who seduced me first, and then you pressured me to take responsibility. When I refused, you came here to cause a scene with Uncle."

The Left Minister glanced at Su Jin.

Su Jin's voice was very light, as if she would fall if the wind blew. "Jin'er knows nothing. Everything depends on Father's decision."

If they truly investigated further...

It would certainly drag the First Madam into this muddy water.

The Young Cousin wouldn't be able to escape either.

Although his behavior was a bit disgusting, he surely wasn't stupid enough to commit self-immolation by exposing his and the First Madam's conspiracy. She only needed to watch the show. As expected, the Young Cousin subsequently insisted that Mudan had ill intentions and was trying to smear him, constantly trying to clear his name.

The Left Minister grew tired of listening. "Someone, take this maid who has rebelled and slandered her master, give her thirty strokes of the cane, and expel her from the manor."

Guards entered.

They dragged Mudan out.

The Young Cousin left to find the First Madam, and Su Jin also took her leave. Passing through the courtyard, she happened to see Mudan's resentful gaze. She sighed and continued walking. At noon, she heard that on her way back, Mudan caught a chill and died.

Su Jin only smiled without a word.

The First Madam indeed worked with impressive speed.

Killing someone to silence them, tsk tsk...

In the First Madam's room, the Young Cousin laughed heartily. "Someone just reported that the lowly maid is dead. What wonderful news. She didn't even think about it—how could I, the dignified Young Master of a Marquis Manor, marry her? Isn't that clearly wishful thinking?"

She actually thought she could threaten him? Death wish!

The First Madam adjusted the hairpin in her hair. "Indeed. I didn't expect her to be so brainless, running to the Master to cause trouble. A mere servant with no witnesses—how could the Master possibly punish a master because of her?"

If she couldn't learn the distinction between master and servant...

If she didn't die, who would!

...

A lady of a noble family was meant to be raised in the inner chambers, not to show her face in public. However, the Left Minister felt that by keeping her hidden, no one could see just how stunningly exquisite his daughter was. Constantly finding people to hype her up wasn't working, yet it wasn't easy to shamelessly boast about his own melon.

Thus, he decreed that she could freely leave the manor one day every month.

Coincidentally, it was today.

Su Jin changed her clothes and went to Qingyun Tower, the most luxurious restaurant in the entire Imperial Capital. She had heard of it years ago while abroad; it was said to possess a luxury accompanied by an elegance incomparable to other establishments. Seeing it was better than hearing of it.

Arriving outside the tower, she paused to observe.

Before her eyes was a bustling scene of carriages and horses, with high officials and nobles arriving in an endless stream. It was rare to see people in simple clothing approaching. The plaque above the tower was ancient and weathered, looking quite old.

Just as she was about to step forward, she suddenly felt that the man and woman before her looked very familiar.

She racked her brains...

Suddenly, she remembered. Wasn't it her nominal fiancé, Sun Yaojun, and the Fifth Young Lady of this manor, Su Huangying? Tsk tsk... She quickened her pace to match their stride. She didn't approach closely, but even from a distance, she could hear the two of them sweet-talking.

Truly, a match made in heaven.

Su Jin, who loved to join in the fun, would not miss such a good opportunity. She turned and followed behind them. Once they had settled into a private room, she took out a silver ingot and tossed it in front of the shopkeeper. "Tell me, which room is that gentleman in blue in?"

The shopkeeper gave a forced smile. "This..."

Su Jin grandly tossed out another silver ingot, her eyes narrowing slightly.

The shopkeeper hesitated; his mouth refused, but he was slow to push the silver back.

Greed surfaced in his eyes.

Su Jin slapped her right hand down, and another silver ingot filled the shopkeeper's palm. His eyes went wide, and saliva trickled from the corner of his mouth. "That gentleman is in the Yunshui Room on the third floor."

Hearing this, Su Jin turned and went to the third floor. Every room here had an elegant name, with small wooden plaques carved in seal script hanging outside for easy finding. It didn't take long for her to find the Yunshui Room.