Chapter 045

Chapter 45: Don’t Bully My Sister

One of them sat in a wheelchair. His manner was gentle. Like Du Zi Heng, he was a refined gentleman, but he looked sicker and less sure of himself.

He was Yu Ming Quan, Third Young Master of the Yu Manor, Yu Zhi Yi’s third brother in name. In the Capital he had once been a famed young scholar, but at twelve he fell gravely ill. He recovered in most ways, yet his legs were ruined.

In her past life, Yu Zhi Yi had searched for a way to cure his legs. By the time she gathered everything, she was forced to marry Zhang Tian Shun and soon after had to go with him to the Borderlands. Before leaving, she wrote down the method to heal his legs and sent it to him. Sadly, he did not believe it. When she returned to the Capital more than ten years later, he was still in the wheelchair. Because he had been unable to walk for so long, his health was very poor. Not long after she came back, he passed away.

In the Yu Clan, Third Young Master Yu was one of the few who still showed her kindness, in that life and in this one.

While Yu Zhi Yi drifted in thought, their voices carried to her.

Third Young Master Yu spoke to Young Master Du and said with steady calm: “Yi’er is my sister. I hope the rumors are only rumors, and I hope you will not do anything to wrong her. I cannot walk, but I still have the ability to stand up for my sister.”

Du Zi Heng looked a little awkward. What lay between the three of them was complicated. No one was truly wrong, and he did not know how to defend himself. He could only say: “Do not worry, Third Brother. Zhi Yi is doing well in the Du Manor. Since she entered the manor, I have not done anything to wrong her.”

What he had done was before the wedding.

Third Young Master Yu had heard pieces of the matter but not the whole. Hearing Du Zi Heng’s promise, he believed him and said: “In that case, good.”

He refused Du Zi Heng’s invitation to come inside and had his attendant push his wheelchair slowly back toward the Yu Manor.

Yu Zhi Yi did not show herself. She watched his back as he left, her eyes shadowed. [If I had one regret before I died in that life, it was this: I wanted to ask, Third Brother, why did you not believe me? Why did you burn the prescription I sent? By then I already had a name. I was no longer a girl unworthy of trust.]

Du Zi Heng did not notice her behind the door. After he said goodbye to Third Young Master Yu, he walked quickly toward the end of the street. Yu Zhi Yi knew he was going to deliver talismans, and she felt nothing about it. Her good mood was gone. She no longer wanted to stroll. She went back to the Windward Pavilion.

She did not want to practice cultivation and had no appetite. She went to the incense room. Sandalwood smoke curled upward. She sat on a woven mat. Her bright face was blank, her eyes empty.

As a child, besides Zi Yuan, she had no one to share her heart with. Later, there were things she could not even tell Zi Yuan, so she came here to speak to the Ancestor.

She bowed her head and said softly: “I am troubling you again.”

“I have been reborn for a while now, but I still feel lost. I do not know what the meaning of rebirth is.”

“If I had been reborn before marrying, I would never have married Du Zi Heng. Master only said my mortal ties were not yet ended, but did not say those ties had to be a marriage.”

“Too bad my wish could not come true.”

“Ancestor, I do not ask for love or kinship. I only have one question I cannot solve…”

She was just about to say what her question was when Zi Yuan knocked in a rush and called, anxious and breathless: “Miss, something bad happened!”

Moments later, the door opened. Yu Zhi Yi asked calmly: “What happened?”

Zi Yuan said: “The young master is hurt!”

When Yu Zhi Yi reached the Bright Radiance Courtyard, the servants were silent with fear, hardly daring to breathe. It felt as if a dark cloud hung over the courtyard. As she drew closer, a sharp smell of blood reached her.

Du Lin knelt at the doorway, back straight, filled with deep sorrow and self-blame. Madam Yao had cried herself into a blur. Seeing Yu Zhi Yi, she grabbed her hand and asked through tears: “Yi’er, Heng will be all right, won’t he? He will be all right, right?”

Yu Zhi Yi could not read the path of fate now. She could no longer see Du Zi Heng’s face clearly. Still, she comforted her: “Do not worry, Mother. He will be fine.”

Madam Yao let out a shaky breath. Though still grief-stricken, she was no longer panicking.

Only then did Yu Zhi Yi ask: “What happened?”

Madam Yao ground her teeth: “It is all that troublemaker’s fault!”

She turned and snapped toward the door: “Du Lin, get in here!”

Du Lin crawled inside. He had already heard Yu Zhi Yi’s question, so without prompting he poured everything out like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.

“After Miss You was hurt, her mood was very bad. Today she wanted to go outside the city to relax. The young master would not agree, but she kept saying her skin is thick and a small wound is nothing. She even asked if he no longer loved her, or why he would not grant such a small wish. The young master was worn down and had to agree. He prepared the carriage and carried her up.”

“I was outside the carriage, so I do not know exactly what happened inside. I only heard faintly that the young master wanted to give Miss You something to protect herself. But Miss You…”

He glanced at Yu Zhi Yi, unsure.

Yu Zhi Yi finished for him: “The young master was going to give her the Protective Talisman he took from me.” Then she asked, puzzled: “Miss You knew the talisman was from my hand and would not accept it?”

Even if Miss You refused it, the talisman would still be on him. Even if danger came, he would not be easily hurt.

Madam Yao clearly had the same thought and pressed: “And then? Did that woman make more trouble?”

Du Lin kept his head down. He dared not judge his master or his master’s sweetheart. He only stated the facts: “Then the two of them argued. Miss You seemed to want the young master to throw the talisman away.”

“I heard the young master promise that once he got off the carriage, he would throw the talisman far away.”

“After that, we were ambushed.”

“Miss You, though injured, fought well. And the assassins were not here for her, so she did not suffer more wounds. But the young master was cut three times. If at the last moment he had not pulled Miss You back into the carriage, the assassins would not have broken through the carriage’s outer Protective Barrier, and the Capital Halberd Guards arrived in time. Otherwise, our whole group would have been in grave danger.”

Madam Yao was shaking with fury: “That troublemaker! Out of such petty jealousy, she made him throw away a life-saving charm!”

She rarely lost her composure, but now she cursed You Bing Yue openly.

Yu Zhi Yi had not expected You Bing Yue’s jealousy to be that strong, strong enough to reject something that could save a life.

Suddenly the steward rushed in and cried out: “Madam, young madam, bad news! The master has been attacked!”

Yu Zhi Yi moved on instinct to Madam Yao’s side. As expected, Madam Yao staggered twice and was about to faint.