CHAPTER 182: CHAPTER 182 STAB WOUND

Inside the study.

Xie Jingchen put down the teacup, picked up the book, and had just opened it.

The Hidden Guard came in and said, "Young Master, there’s an incident in the back courtyard."

Xie Jingchen frowned, "What happened to the Eldest Young Madam?"

The Hidden Guard was silent, "..."

Why worry about the Eldest Young Madam?

He didn’t say it was the Eldest Young Madam who had an accident.

"It’s the eldest girl, she climbed over the wall into the back courtyard and fell," the Hidden Guard said.

"That height couldn’t hurt anyone," Xie Jingchen said indifferently.

"..."

"Young Master, have you forgotten Prince NanAn’s previous mishap?" the Hidden Guard reminded.

Only then did Xie Jingchen recall the cactus incident, and with a dark line on his forehead, he said, "Did she also fall on a cactus?"

"Not only did she fall on it, but it’s worse than what happened to Prince NanAn," the Hidden Guard said sympathetically.

"..."

Outside the courtyard wall, Xie Jinxiu and Xie Jinhuan were dumbstruck by the words "cactus pile."

How could there be cacti in the back courtyard of the Agarwood Pavilion?

And a whole pile of them!

But the little maid said it with a tremor, and the Eldest Young Madam’s maid also said they needed to invite the Imperial Physician, so it couldn’t be fake.

The little maid beside them sprinted off into the distance.

She was asked to invite the Imperial Physician into the residence while also reporting to Princess Nanzhang’s Buddhist Hall.

Today is the seventh day.

Half an hour ago, the Old Madam received a letter from the border, already knowing that the great master had safely detoxified and was safe.

She sent a maid to the Buddhist Hall to inform Princess Nanzhang, since the person is fine now, there is no need to keep chanting prayers for blessings.

But Princess Nanzhang didn’t come out; she’s been in the Buddhist Hall for six and a half days already, and she wouldn’t mind waiting another two hours.

She will stay the full seven days, so that the great master would know when he returns that she was worried and worked hard for his poisoning issue.

Princess Nanzhang continued to chant sutras with her eyes closed.

The little maid rushed in, saying, "Commandery Princess, something bad happened to the eldest girl!"

Princess Nanzhang frowned.

Mrs. Zhao scolded, "This is a place of serenity, why shout? The eldest girl is fine, what could possibly happen to her?!"

The little maid, not daring to mind Mrs. Zhao’s glare, hastily said, "The eldest girl climbed over the wall into Agarwood Pavilion’s back courtyard, who would’ve thought the Eldest Young Madam had planted cacti by the wall, and the eldest girl fell on them."

Mrs. Zhao, "!!!"

"The eldest girl fell on a cactus?" Mrs. Zhao’s voice trembled.

"A cactus pile," the little maid corrected.

She can hardly imagine how many cactus thorns must be stuck into the eldest girl’s body.

The pitiful screams still haunted the little maid’s heart.

Princess Nanzhang’s face turned as cold as if layered with frost.

She tried to get up.

Perhaps because the news from the little maid shocked her, her legs went weak, and she couldn’t stand.

Mrs. Zhao quickly helped her up.

The two of them rushed towards Agarwood Pavilion.

They entered the back courtyard unimpeded.

Hmm.

The little maid had already found someone to dismantle the courtyard gate.

She held the lock in her hand, slightly bewildered by the removed gate.

Such a coincidence, the lock that wouldn’t open no matter what; as soon as the door was taken down, she casually fiddled with it twice —

The lock, opened!

Just as she was panicking, Princess Nanzhang strode over in three steps, and the little maid wanted to stop her but didn’t dare.

Words reached the tip of her tongue but weren’t spoken as Princess Nanzhang walked right in.

The little maid, fearing punishment, followed closely behind.

From afar, Princess Nanzhang saw Xie Jinxiu leaning on the wall, half her body exposed, knowing her daughter was on the other side.

She hurriedly walked over.

Xie Jinyu was still lying on the ground.

Su Jin and Xingxing stood aside.

Seeing this, Princess Nanzhang shouted, "Don’t you know to help her up?!"

Su Jin replied nonchalantly, "We tried, but she was too heavy, our hands are powerless, we really couldn’t lift her."

Xingxing nodded repeatedly, "Not only couldn’t we lift her, but we almost fell too."

They tried to help kindly, but she misbehaved, deserved a second fall.

Last time, Prince NanAn climbed over the wall and ruined several of her cacti, and when removing the thorns, some broke and only half could be pulled out.

She thought that was too cruel.

So she specifically asked the little maid for particularly hard cactus thorns, which hurt terribly to touch.

Mrs. Zhao kicked away the cactus and helped Xie Jinyu up.

Just touching her made Xie Jinyu scream hysterically, tears streaming down.

Princess Nanzhang’s heart hurt so much it twisted, her palms itching with the urge to drag Su Jin down and beat her with a stick.

She yelled at Su Jin, "Who allowed you to plant cacti?!"

Su Jin was speechless.

Could they be reasonable?

Xingxing was displeased, Agarwood Pavilion belonged to her lady, not to mention cacti, even if she planted nails, no one had a say.

"The cacti were planted to prevent people from climbing over the wall," Xingxing said.

If anyone’s to blame, the eldest girl shouldn’t have climbed the wall.

Princess Nanzhang was so angry even her forehead trembled.

Su Jin glanced at Xie Jinyu and said, "Today’s the opening day for the ice shop, it’s considerate of Mother to take care of my business, and I’m touched, but mixing private and public affairs is unwise. Was it necessary for the eldest girl to personally fetch a paper kite that fell into the backyard?"

"If she couldn’t wait for my return, she could’ve let a maid fetch it, and standing on the wall, she should’ve seen the ground full of cacti. There was an empty plot not planted; didn’t she think to step back when met with adversity or choose another spot?"

Su Jin looked as if more suffering was deserved for such foolishness.

Princess Nanzhang was so furious from head to toe that even her limbs trembled in rage.

It wasn’t just Xie Jinyu’s cactus injury, but the ice shop too.

Xingxing, standing by Su Jin’s side, said, "I also wrote outside, instructing them to climb over from the other side, being so close, they should’ve seen it."

Su Jin, "..."

Su Jin felt a dark line on her forehead.

She didn’t know Xingxing left a note on the wall.

But it was probably meant for Prince NanAn and his people.

However, after Prince NanAn’s previous setback, he likely feared this place.

Xie Jinyu was lifted up with a cactus still attached to her.

Su Jin, "..."

Xingxing, "..."

The thorns were stuck quite deep, otherwise, they wouldn’t bring the cactus along.

Mrs. Zhao pulled out the cactus, wanting to throw it at Su Jin’s face in anger, but of course dared not.

Princess Nanzhang, gritting her teeth, said, "Help Yuyu back home!"

Mrs. Zhao and the maids quickly almost carried Xie Jinyu away.

The little maid wanted to follow, but Xingxing handed her the paper kite, "This is the eldest girl’s."

The little maid’s mouth twitched. A paper kite, causing the eldest girl to get injured by cacti, even if it were made of gold, it wouldn’t have a good ending.

But the little maid still took the paper kite away.

Outside, the maid moved the ladder away.

Su Jin walked to the bamboo house, while Xingxing happily said, "Planting cacti was indeed effective. The ones flattened by the eldest girl won’t survive for sure; I’ll replace them later."

Su Jin, "..."

The little maid stood far away, holding that bronze lock in her hand.

She felt deeply guilty.

She felt she had to bear half the responsibility for the eldest girl’s injury.

If her stomach hadn’t hurt a bit in the morning, she wouldn’t have spoken to the Eldest Young Madam’s maid, so she wouldn’t have locked the courtyard gate.

If it weren’t locked, the eldest girl wouldn’t have been unable to enter and wouldn’t have climbed over the wall.

If she hadn’t climbed over the wall, she wouldn’t have been injured by the cacti...

Xingxing saw the lock open and joyfully said, "Did you open the lock?"

The little maid weakly replied, "The door was dismantled."

"No worries, just put on a new door," Xingxing said in a good mood.

The little maid nodded repeatedly.

Xingxing looked at Su Jin, "Lady, what about the lock?"

"Keep it. Such a proud lock that doesn’t even give face to a key should stay; maybe someday it’ll come in handy?" Su Jin said.

"..."