Chapter 74 Your father brought you a husband.
Xiao Jingrui is a good-for-nothing, neither scholarly nor martial, and spends his days indulging in womanizing. I've heard he's already gotten several women pregnant.
In order to refuse cooperation, Xiao Jingheng actually used such a person to humiliate her?
For Su Xiaoyu, he was even willing to give up his position as heir apparent!
Lin Wan'er's face was as white as paper as she looked at the cold and ruthless man in front of her with despair.
"Young Master Xiao."
She barely managed to suppress her anger. "If you have no intention of cooperating, just say so! Why humiliate me like this?"
"Or does the young master not want to know the whereabouts of Physician He?"
Xiao Jingheng stood up, his imposing gaze falling on her face.
After a long pause, he coldly uttered a sentence.
"Miss Lin."
"You're very good at scheming."
"But you seem to have forgotten that scheming must be based on strength."
"You put on airs and used the whereabouts of Doctor Crane as bait, weren't you just trying to test her worth?"
"Now, I can tell you definitively. Her importance is so great that all your calculations will become a joke."
He looked down at Lin Wan'er's face, which was turning white inch by inch, and his words were like knives:
"Also, don't try anything with Lingxi again, or I won't hesitate to let you see for yourself what real 'scheming' is!"
Lin Wan'er froze on the spot, as if her soul had been ripped out.
Xiao Jingheng's words were like a slap across her face.
It turned out that he had seen through everything long ago, knowing that he didn't know the whereabouts of Doctor He. This meeting with her was partly a test, and partly a warning to her about Xiao Lingxi's matter.
She felt like a clown who had been stripped naked, making a fool of herself in front of him in her self-righteousness!
Even long after Xiao Jingheng left, Lin Wan'er was still unable to recover from the shock she had just experienced.
"Miss! Your hand!"
Qingdai's exclamation finally brought Lin Wan'er back to her senses.
Looking down, she realized that she had pinched her palm so hard that it was bleeding, and a few drops of blood dripped down her palm, staining the hem of her skirt red.
Qingdai took out her handkerchief, intending to bandage her wound.
"roll!"
Lin Wan'er flung Qingdai's hand away, her gentle smile vanished, replaced by a twisted, ferocious expression. Her voice sounded as if it were being squeezed out from between her teeth.
"Very well! Xiao Jingheng, how could you treat me like this!"
"For a lowly servant girl, you're even willing to give up your position as heir apparent? I'd like to see how you manage to get past the Marquis of Yongning!"
Qingdai cautiously stepped forward, wanting to share her young mistress's worries.
"Miss, I heard that the Marquis of Yongning's carriage should be arriving in the capital in the next few days. Should we...?"
Before she could finish speaking, Lin Wan'er raised her hand to stop her from saying anything more.
"Everyone in the capital knows about this, so there's no need for us to get involved ourselves."
All you need to do is arrange for someone to stay at the inn where Marquis Yongning is staying, pretend to be a passerby, and say a few words of 'idle talk'.
Lin Wan'er revealed a sinister smile.
——
Meanwhile, Xiao Jingheng arranged for people to continue keeping an eye on Doctor He's whereabouts before heading back home.
On the way, he carefully recalled everything that had happened since he met Su Xiaoyu.
Initially, he solved two cases because he could hear her thoughts. But at that time, Xiaoyu was unharmed and did not suffer any backlash.
Later, at the Princess's flower-viewing banquet, he overheard her inner judgment and publicly rejected Lin Wan'er's advances. After that, Xiao Yu inexplicably fell into a coma. The first backlash occurred.
Later, because Xiaoyu stopped Lingxi and Shen Moyan, she suffered a second backlash after returning from Black Wind Village, and her injuries were even more severe.
Why were the first two times fine, but the second time it didn't?
Xiao Jingheng frowned in thought, as if some truth was about to surface.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him like lightning.
A bold guess suddenly came to mind.
In the previous two cases, she only provided clues about her "inner thoughts," and he took the lead in the action and changed the outcome. Su Xiaoyu herself did not take any action, so she was safe and sound.
However, the flower viewing banquet and the Lingxi affair were caused by Xiaoyu's direct or indirect interference, which led to his rejection of Lin Wan'er at the flower viewing banquet and Xiao Lingxi seeing Shen Moyan's true colors.
Su Xiaoyu personally intervened in both incidents and changed their outcomes.
Therefore, the root cause of the backlash does not lie in the 'outcome' being changed itself!
It stemmed from Xiaoyu's 'personal intervention'!
In other words, the rule allows Little Fish to express her feelings and vent her frustrations, but does not allow her to take any action!
This idea, like a ray of light, illuminated Xiao Jingheng's mind.
He suddenly understood.
So, if we keep Xiaoyu in a safe place from now on, and she doesn't go out or speak, and we let him act to change those unfavorable 'predetermined trajectories,' will we be able to protect her and prevent her from suffering the backlash?
The more Xiao Jingheng thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
Now, we need to verify it.
After a moment's thought, Xiao Jingheng had already made up his mind.
He remembered that Xiaoyu had mentioned something very important before: the Crown Prince had fallen from his horse.
He had already reminded the Crown Prince to avoid riding horses when traveling recently.
But there was one thing I had to do on horseback.
That was the autumn hunt a month later.
At that time, the hunting grounds will be bustling with people, and the defenses will be lax, making it the easiest time for the Third Prince's faction to take advantage of the situation.
How can we prevent the Crown Prince from suffering this disaster?
...
Three days passed quickly.
After a few days of rest and with Xiao Jingheng's regular feeding, Su Xiaoyu quickly regained her usual liveliness, and her complexion was even rosier than before.
Xiao Lingxi used her charm and persistence to persuade Liu Shi to take Xiaoyu into her courtyard as her head maid, where she received generous treatment and plenty of extra income.
Moreover, now everyone in the household knows that Miss Xiaoyu is the Second Miss's savior, and they treat her with utmost respect. Even the servants in the mansion address her as "Miss Xiaoyu."
Su Xiaoyu thought, "These days are really great!"
If I could continue living this kind of carefree life with the second young lady, it wouldn't be so bad.
However, the second young lady is not young anymore; she has reached marriageable age and will probably have to get married in less than two years.
Oh! If only the second young lady hadn't gotten married!
Just as Xiaoyu was lying on the rocking chair under the grape trellis, sighing for the 108th time, Zisu rushed over, her face still showing excitement.
"Little Fish, what are you still doing here?"
"The Marquis has returned to the manor. The Madam has instructed everyone to go to the main gate to greet him."
After a pause, Zisu added jokingly, "Of course, your father, Guard Su Zhong, also came back with the Marquis."
"What?! My dad?!"
Startled, Su Xiaoyu immediately stood up from the rocking chair, her eyes wide open, and the half-eaten piece of candied fruit in her mouth fell to the ground with a 'thud'.
The next second, Zisu only saw a gust of wind blow past her.
When she looked again, the rocking chair was still swaying, but Su Xiaoyu was nowhere to be seen in her previous spot.
Zisu paused for a moment.
"No? Su Xiaoyu, I haven't finished speaking yet. I heard your father brought a husband back for you. Why don't you get ready before you go..."
However, these words only drifted to the wind, and Su Xiaoyu didn't hear a single word.
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