Chapter 3 Both Fall into the Water
"elder brother!"
Xie Hanyue on the shore was shocked, and the maids around her were also in a panic.
"Help! Someone's fallen into the water!"
"The young lady and young master have fallen into the water!"
The exclamations from the courtyard shattered the tranquility of the Xie family's inner quarters.
When Wang rushed over and saw her two children in the pond, she was so frightened that she almost fainted on the spot: "Quick! Save them!"
She clutched her chest, her whole body trembling.
However, the servants and maids in the inner quarters rushed to the pond, but they did not know how to help.
"Quickly go to the front yard and call someone who knows how to swim!" an old nanny shouted anxiously.
"no!"
Before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Madam Wang.
The dignified matriarch of the Xie family was sweating profusely with anxiety, but her still charming and beautiful eyes, fixed on her daughter struggling in the lake, were thinking about the marriage that had just been decided.
If Xie Qingran were pulled out of the water by a male servant, her wet body would cling to her skin, revealing all her curves.
In full view of everyone, her innocence is completely gone!
At that time, let alone the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, which other high-ranking family in the capital would be willing to marry a woman with a tarnished reputation?
"Quick! Find a bamboo pole! Find a rope to save the young lady!"
Wang's voice trembled as she glanced at the surrounding servants and warned sternly, "Keep an eye on the men in the front yard, don't let a single one of them come in! Zhaoye! Oh right, Zhaoye, you pull your sister up first!"
In a moment of desperation, Wang suddenly remembered that her son could swim.
But Xie Zhaoye himself was in grave danger in the water.
He choked on several mouthfuls of water, and his disgust for Xie Qingran had reached its peak. Hearing his mother's shout, instead of reaching out to pull Xie Qingran away, he became emboldened by evil amidst the chaotic water and secretly pushed Xie Qingran, who had finally managed to get close to the edge of the pool, back into the deep water!
"Cough..." Xie Qingran choked on the cold pool water again before she could react. The biting cold and her brother's ruthlessness intensified her hatred, and she stared at Xie Zhaoye with venomous eyes.
"Are you scared, Xie Qingran?" Xie Zhaoye approached her and said with a sinister laugh in a voice only the two of them could hear, "If you die in the water, no one will threaten Yue'er's position."
"Pooh."
Xie Qingran spat the water in her mouth at him and returned the same smile: "I'm so sorry to disappoint you."
She held her breath, suddenly sank down, nimbly circled behind Xie Zhaoye, and taking advantage of Xie Zhaoye's moment of surprise, used all her strength to grab his belt and pull him into the water!
"Glug glug..." Xie Zhaoye was completely unprepared for Xie Qingran's counterattack. Caught off guard, he was pressed down and completely submerged, gulping down water in terror.
Taking advantage of the situation, Xie Qingran kicked off the edge of the pond with both legs, grabbed the bamboo pole hurriedly handed to her by the servant, and was pulled ashore by the crowd.
A chilly early spring wind blew, and Xie Qingran shivered from the cold, her soaked clothes clinging to her body, her lips turning purple.
A maidservant quickly handed over a cloak, which covered Xie Qingran's body.
Xie Qingran tightened her cloak with her cold fingers, turned around indifferently, glanced at Xie Zhaoye who was still struggling in the water, and her eyes were completely unmoved.
Over the years, in the countryside, the old nanny who was ordered by the imperial concubine to discipline her strictly had established all sorts of strange and harsh rules in order to torment her.
In the summer, she was forced to learn to swim in the icy canals, and in the winter, she was made to practice walking etiquette on the frozen lake, all under the guise of "a lady of a noble family must be capable of everything and remain calm in the face of danger."
Who would have thought that the endless torment the old nanny had inflicted on her would become the very thing she relied on to almost be killed by her own family...
"Quickly call the people in the front yard to rescue the young master!" Seeing her daughter reach the shore first, Madam Wang panicked completely and directed the servants to find someone to rescue her son.
The inner quarters were in complete chaos.
Ignoring the chaos behind her and Xie Hanyue's eyes, which were filled with fear and resentment, Xie Qingran staggered step by step toward the secluded and deserted Yingxing Pavilion.
Back in the courtyard.
She soaked in the hot water for a long time before the biting chill gradually dissipated.
But the coldness in my heart lingered, layer upon layer, and I couldn't shake it off.
It's okay... just bear with it a little longer.
Soon, she would have no connection with the Xie family anymore.
Xie Qingran suppressed the pitiful and sorrowful feeling in her heart, changed into clean clothes, and leaned against the couch to calm herself down. Outside the courtyard came Xie Zhaoye's angry roar and the maid's voice trying to stop her.
"Xie Qingran! You vicious woman! Get out here right now! I'm going to kill you today!"
"Young Master, you can't come in. Miss just changed her clothes and lay down."
"Young Master, Miss has already retired for the night."
"..."
Xie Qingran slowly opened her eyes, a hint of annoyance flashing across her face.
This guy actually survived?!
It's true that evil can live on for a thousand years.
She listened quietly to the noise outside, without even moving a finger.
Squeak—
Suddenly the door opened.
Dressed in fine clothes, Madam Wang entered with a sorrowful and heartbroken expression, and asked in a grief-stricken voice, "Ran'er, is what your brother said true? You pulled him out of the water?! You are siblings!"
Xie Qingran thought she could completely ignore it, but she underestimated Wang's bias. Her pale lips curled into a mocking smile: "Didn't you see him pressing me down in the water?"
Wang looked embarrassed and tried to argue, "Your brother was too flustered at the time, he didn't mean it. Besides, why didn't you say you could swim sooner? Didn't you know your brother almost lost his life?"
"His life is his life, but mine isn't."
Xie Qingran lay on the couch, her pale and weak face making her phoenix eyes appear even darker and sharper, so fierce that no one dared to look directly at her. "Mother is here to seek justice for my brother? Then I will lie here and pay with my life."
"Why...why are you so stubborn!" Wang's fingers trembled, her grief and indignation filled with disappointment in Xie Qingran.
Xie Qingran remained unmoved.
"Xie Qingran! If you want to die, I can grant your wish!"
At that moment, Xie Zhaoye burst in.
Ignoring the servants' attempts to stop him, he looked at Xie Qingran with his face contorted with resentment: "Mother, why are you still favoring her? She's going to kill me! Am I even your own son?!"
“Mother, it’s not my sister’s fault, it’s all my fault.” Xie Hanyue followed closely behind, her beautiful eyes filled with tears, and she nestled pitifully into Wang’s arms.
Looking at her obedient youngest daughter and then at her furious eldest son, Wang couldn't help but close her eyes briefly before making a firm decision: "Guards, bring the family discipline!"
"yes!"
Two rough-looking old women rushed in from outside and quickly pinned Xie Qingran down.
Xie Qingran had just finished relieving herself in the lake and had no strength to resist. She was dragged and pulled to a bench in the yard. She didn't even have time to put on an outer garment, and her thin body was painfully pressed against the bench.
In addition, two rough-looking old women stood on either side of the bench, holding up torture sticks as thick as an adult man's arm.
"Don't blame me, it's just that you're too vicious, actually harming your own siblings! You've disappointed me so much!"
Wang was helped out of the house by Xie Hanyue. She stood on the steps and looked at Xie Qingran with a heartbroken expression.
Xie Qingran rested her chin on the hard seat, forced to look up at the three people in front of her.
Xie Zhaoye's face was sinister and vicious, with a smug look on his face as he watched her being punished.
Xie Hanyue stayed by Wang's side, pleading for Xie Qingran, which earned her a rather gratified look from Wang.
Xie Qingran's eyes churned, and a cold laugh escaped her lips: "Mother, if you want to hit me, then hit me. Why spout such unreasonable nonsense?"
“You…” Wang was both angry and heartbroken.
Even her adopted daughter knew the deep bond between sisters and begged for forgiveness for her sister's mistake.
But her own daughter...
Wang hardened her heart and shouted, "Beat them!"
The old woman executing the punishment raised her stick at the sound, and in the instant it fell—
"Stop!" Xie Yankang, who had just returned from the palace, was shocked to see this scene and shouted loudly.
What are you doing?!
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