Seeing Xiang Limingzhu's angry face, Li Huilin cowered and dared not say a word. She only regretted that she had come at the wrong time and had the misfortune of running into the matriarch of the Jiang family.
Xiangli Mingzhu walked away haughtily, leaving Hexiang here to watch.
He Xiang winked at the second-class maids: "What are you standing there for? This kind of slut who seduces the young master deserves to be taught a lesson. Beat her!"
Li Huilin stared fearfully at the several second-class maids, retreating step by step, warning them, "I am Concubine Li's niece. I am a guest at the Jiang family. You cannot lay a hand on me. Ah..."
Someone stuffed an embroidered shoe into Li Huilin's mouth to prevent her from crying out and disturbing the young masters in the courtyard.
Several second-class maids rained down their fists, striking Li Huilin's face, head, shoulders, arms, and any part of her body that her hands and feet could reach.
The maids used their hands and feet to beat and kick Li Huilin until she was unrecognizable. Although she wasn't seriously injured, she still looked terrible.
Being beaten wasn't enough; Li Huilin was forced to kneel on a cobblestone path.
He Xiang left two maids to keep an eye on Li Huilin, then swaggered away.
The next morning, Yuan Qi finished his breakfast feeling refreshed and was about to go out to set up his stall when he saw Li Huilin being supported by Jiang Jiulu and Concubine Li.
Li Huilin's face was covered in bruises, she looked terrible, almost unrecognizable, and she walked with a limp.
Yuan Qi carefully examined her face and found it radiating an aura of death, so intense it seemed to overflow.
After all, it was a human life, and no one had done anything heinous. Yuan Qi, adhering to the principle of saving as many lives as possible, kindly reminded her: "Miss Li, you're already so badly injured. Just stay in the house for the next few days and don't go out, lest something unexpected happens."
Li Huilin was seething with resentment and had nowhere to vent it. She didn't think the other person meant well; she only felt that they were mocking her and kicking her when she was down. She retorted directly, "Mind your own business!"
Yuan Qi snorted, feeling that his good intentions had been wasted, and said, "Good advice is useless to a damned ghost. Do whatever you want."
Yuan Qi pouted and left, ignoring Li Huilin's cries of pain.
As Li Guifei walked, she grumbled indignantly, "Madam has gone too far. Even when beating a dog, you have to consider its owner. Huilin may not be clever enough, but she has no right to bully her like this. I'll go and argue with Madam later."
Jiang Jiulu didn't hear what Concubine Li said; she was only thinking about what Yuan Qi meant by that inexplicable remark.
Concubine Li continued to complain: "Your brother is the same. How come Huilin was beaten up like that at the entrance of Yuhua Pavilion, and your brother didn't even come out to help her?"
Li Huilin burst into tears: "They covered my mouth so I couldn't scream, so my cousin didn't hear me."
"This is too much!" Concubine Li complained about Xiangli Mingzhu the whole way, but she didn't turn back to cause trouble for Xiangli Mingzhu. She just asked the royal physician to treat Li Huilin.
Li Huilin had promised Jiang Juncai not to reveal that he had killed the maid, so she refrained from mentioning that Jiang Juncai had decided to take her as a concubine.
After the physician applied medicine to Li Huilin, she fell into a deep sleep.
Jiang Jiulu followed Concubine Li outside. Jiang Junjing and Jiang Junyu had also heard about this and, who were originally planning to go out, turned around and came over to take a look.
Concubine Li scolded Jiang Junjing: "Huilin was beaten for a long time last night, didn't you hear a sound?"
Jiang Junjing said innocently, "I didn't hear anything, but later I heard from the servants that Mother scolded a maid who tried to seduce my elder brother at the door, but no one said it was Huilin. Why would she want to seduce my elder brother? Hasn't she always wanted to marry me?"
Jiang Junyu has always been insightful about people's hearts, and she especially dislikes the Li family. She also has some understanding of Li Huilin's psychology.
"She must have become more ambitious after coming to the Jiang family. Seeing that my eldest brother is the legitimate son and will inherit the title in the future, which is more promising than the two of us, she changed her mind and wanted to marry him. Maybe she was trying to take advantage of him at night and was caught red-handed by Mother. It's just her bad luck. Who can she blame?"
Concubine Li asked curiously, "What was the lady doing there after her death? When did she go, and how long did she stay?"
Jiang Junjing answered one by one: "We went to talk to my elder brother about the marriage with the Feng family. We had just finished dinner and went there. We stayed in the room for an hour before leaving. I heard the two of them arguing. They were saying that she was nothing and that she was not worthy to be a concubine. But I didn't hear what they said in detail."
Concubine Li muttered, "Whom does the young master intend to take as a concubine? Could it be that the young master has really taken a fancy to Huilin?"
Jiang Junyu immediately denied it: "Impossible. Huilin has neither looks nor brains. How high are your standards, brother? Would you even look at her?"
Concubine Li nodded in agreement: "Yes, it's very difficult for daughters from ordinary families to become concubines in the Jiang family. It's only because your mother is intelligent and beautiful that I caught the Marquis's eye."
After the two brothers learned that Li Huilin was not seriously injured and only had superficial wounds, they went about their own business.
Yuan Qi arrived at the big locust tree on Tianshui Street. Zhang Liu and Mei Zi had just set up their stall and came over.
Meizi said, slowly and deliberately, "Thank you! I can speak now."
Zhang Liu, finding it difficult for his daughter to speak, spoke for her: "Ever since she ate the red fruit you gave her, she's found she can speak. Little Celestial Master, is what you gave her a magic elixir?"
Yuan Qi chuckled: "It was just some fruit a friend gave me; I didn't expect it to have such an effect."
Zhang Liu knew Yuan Qi's abilities: "Look, we don't have anything worthwhile to thank you with. The red fruit that the Little Celestial Master gave us must be something good. Don't be modest, please accept our bow."
He pulled his daughter and tried to kneel down.
Yuan Qi gently lifted him up: "You are all so good, how could Heaven bear to keep making things difficult for you? This is your good fortune."
Zhang Liu discovered that he couldn't even kneel down; this little celestial master was incredibly strong.
Two golden beams flew into Yuan Qi's spiritual platform. She was overjoyed, thinking that she could also accumulate merit.
Zhang Liu expressed his gratitude at length before returning to greet a guest who had just sat down.
Yuan Qi and Mei Zi were chatting idly in front of the fortune-telling stall.
Mei asked curiously, still speaking slowly and deliberately, "Why haven't you come for several days? Several people have been looking for you."
Yuan Qi listened patiently: "Something came up at home and I was delayed. Who contacted me?"
“The second master of the Xiangli family looks like he’s here to cause trouble, so be careful.”
Yuan Qi remembered that Xiangli Youming's curse had been broken, and Xiangli Lin had suffered a backlash. He heard that she was still alive, but she must be in a terrible state. It was to be expected that he would want to settle accounts with her.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com