Zhang Yong and Wang Wei reached the courtyard and was greeted with the bloody sight. The sight shocked Zhang Yong to the core and stirred his senses. A weird blurry red image flashed across in his mind coupled with a thought. Why did it end up this way? He instinctively shouted out, "Stop! Don't hit her!"

However, the servant was already in the midst of swinging down the paddle. He had no strength to stop the heavy paddle that was going down with great momentum. The moment it landed on Xinyi, everyone heard a sharp crack and a loud wail of pain. 

Zhang Yong was in front of the servant and had broken his wrist with a strong grip. "Didn't I tell you to stop?" He said each word menacingly slow. The servant fainted out of fear. Everyone was stunned still, including Wang Wei. He had witnessed Zhang Yong use his martial skills to reach Xinyi in a flash.

"I realised something was off. I'll re-investigate this matter myself, everyone is not to leave this courtyard." He declared, then he added, "No one is to touch Xinyi too." He found out her real name from the way Zi Yao addressed her.

"Commander Zhang, what is the meaning of this? How can you detain all of us here?" Official Chen asked him.

"He has the right to do so. After all, Hui Shan is my intended. This ploy against can be considered a ploy against me. Would you rather I bring my imperial guards here to detain all of you by force should you not listen to Zhang Yong?"

Official Chen paled. He did not want this to become a royal palace issue so he bowed and apologised. "This lowly servant overstepped his boundaries." 

Suddenly, Mei Ruo screamed. Everyone looked at her then looked at what she was staring in fear at. Xinyi was pushing her upper body off the floor with her trembling arms and was trying to stand up. It looked quite ghastly with her bloodied white dress, messy hair, and pale face.

All the while, Xinyi kept a death glare fixed on Mei Ruo. However, her knees kept giving way, making her fall back down onto the floor, splashing into a pool of her own blood. Zhang Yong went to her and wanted to support her, but she flicked her sleeve at him before he could touch her. She doesn't even want me to touch her. Zhang Yong realised sadly. 

Xinyi resorted to dragging herself across the floor to Mei Ruo. Mei Ruo's legs went soft at the scary sight and she fell. She was pale with fright and shaking her head in denial. "Xinyi! What're you scaring my daughter for?!" The first concubine finally voiced her concern for Mei Ruo. Meanwhile, Zi Yao felt that Mei Ruo has been discovered and was already prepared to ditch her.

"Let Xinyi be." Zhang Yong ordered. He felt like she was on to something.

Mei Ruo backed off then tried to get up to run away in a panic. Zhang Yong swiftly blocked her path and knocked her backwards to land in front of Xinyi. Since he was not allowed to assist her directly, he would do so indirectly.

Mei Ruo screamed in fear as Xinyi grabbed onto her arm before she could run off in another direction. Xinyi pulled up Mei Ruo's sleeves to reveal her fair hands with dirty fingernails and a burn mark on the side of her palm.

Xinyi smirked. "A pampered girl like you would not know gardening and would be clumsy in cooking. What did you think was the normal way to unearth plants? Using your hands?" Everyone gasped, understanding full well what Xinyi was insinuating. 

Mei Ruo looked at Zhang Yong's dark and stormy expression then looked at Zi Yao to cry for help. "Zi Yao meimei! Please, help me! I messed up!"

Zi Yao feigned shock. "How can I help you? It seems like you're the true culprit after all?" 

Mei Ruo understood her intentions. "How can you ditch me like this?! This was all your idea! You're the one that hates Hui Shan meimei!" 

"How could you say that? Is this your last ditch effort in dragging someone down with you?" Zi Yao cried alligator tears.

Zhang Yong led the search in Mei Ruo's and Zi Yao's rooms. However, only evidence was found in Mei Ruo's room. The package of the herb that she bought was found among her rubbish. Zi Yao naturally was smarter and more careful than Mei Ruo so nothing could be found that would link this poisoning issue to her. Mei Ruo ended up with two times the number of hits Xinyi had been sentenced with. The first concubine's pleas for leniency landed on everyone's deaf ears as no one dared to go against Zhang Yong and Wang Wei. Mei Ruo was dragged to her own courtyard to be flogged. The flogging took place with only her mother as the audience. She ended up unable to take that many hits and died due to loss of blood.

When Mei Ruo and her mother left Xinyi's courtyard, maids were ordered by her father to assist Xinyi in standing and servants were told to clean up her courtyard. He apologised to her for the misunderstanding before taking his leave. Everyone trickled out after her father, except Zhang Yong. Wang Wei understood that Zhang Yong must be feeling guilty so left him here for him to do whatever he wanted to.

After the last person of her family left, Xinyi rejected the maids' help as well and told them to leave her courtyard along with everyone else. Xinyi remained standing without moving until the servants were done wiping up the blood and washing the floor with water. She finally took a small step and fumbled. Zhang Yong reached out to catch her but she pushed his arms away and fell down. 

Zhang Yong looked at her crumpled figure on the ground and clenched his hands into fists in frustration and guilt. She'd rather fall than to be touched by me. She'd rather crawl around than to be helped by anyone. Can't she rely on a single person?!

Xinyi dragged herself towards the pots of herbs that she was still experimenting on. She had to bring forward the results date. The herbs were not fully matured but that does not mean that they cannot be used. Zhang Yong immediately tried to help when he noticed that she was trying to unearth the herbs, but she did not let him touch her herbs. 

BaoBao was crying in frustration in his mind. Leave! Just leave! Then I can help her and she can rest!

Xinyi was thinking the same thing as BaoBao. When she saw how Zhang Yong stubbornly stayed here, she finally decided to speak to him. "Leave. I won't let you do anything for me anyway."

Zhang Yong felt immense regret. He felt rejected and hurt too. These were new feelings to him. Hui Shan never rejected him this way nor treat him so coldly before. He wondered if he would feel the same way if Hui Shan ever shunned him like this as well. Not wanting to upset her even further, he left.

BaoBao finally appeared with his face full of tears. "Xinyi! Rest now! I know what to do. I'll let you know when I'm done preparing all the salves!"

Xinyi smiled gently. "Thank you. I'll be relying on you again BaoBao." BaoBao flew and carried her into the room. She then closed her eyes to focus on cultivating. BaoBao made quick work and was done in less than half an hour. 

"I've run a check on your body, almost all your open wounds are about equal in severity." 

Xinyi nodded and let BaoBao wash her wounds then apply different salves onto different wounds. She instructed him to use the most nourished herb salve to apply on all the smaller wounds. All the salves had a cool painkilling effect. Her body relaxed and she fell into a deep sleep.

Xinyi only woke up late next morning. She has slept for more than 12 hours. BaoBao could feel when Xinyi was regaining consciousness so he was seen entering the room with steaming hot soup when Xinyi opened her eyes. "BaoBao, you're really reliable." Xinyi praised him and ruffled his hair.

BaoBao blushed. "It's nothing much..." He then proceeded on to feed her. Just after a few mouthfuls, he quickly placed the bowl on her bed and disappeared. He's here again. BaoBao did not sound happy nor grateful this time. He was unhappy with Zhang Yong for failing Xinyi when she needed him most.

Zhang Yong had come early in the morning to check on her, only to find that she was asleep. He saw that she was still in her bloodied clothes. To be accurate, BaoBao had to hastily cover her up with her torn robe. The robe was torn because he wanted to have access to her injury without needing her to move in pain. Later, he did not want to disturb Xinyi's rest so left her uncovered. He was thinking to dress her when she woke up. So if Zhang Yong touched her robes, she would have become bare for him to see. Luckily, he left without disturbing her.

He came again in the late morning. Now he saw her propping herself up on her elbows and trying to eat by herself. He approached her with the intention to feed her but she slid the bowl towards the wall, placing her arm between the bowl and him, preventing him from reaching the bowl. She continued to eat in peace as if he was not there.

He dejectedly said, "I'm sorry I let you down. I know I spent so much time with you yet I still judged you as if all the time we have spent together was nothing."

Xinyi momentarily stopped eating, then resumed while speaking to him, "You don't have to come for now. It's not like I can fight like this. Come back one or two weeks later." She ignored Zhang Yong's gaze on her and felt him leave. BaoBao reappeared to continue feeding her. 

3 days passed. BaoBao has been a perfect assistant. He helped her to bathe and change, and cooked and fed her. They noticed that the wound with the most nourished salve has already scabbed. Just as they were putting on another round of salve, BaoBao disappeared and lamented. Why is he here again? Wasn't he told to come after a week or so? 

Xinyi was still tying her robe when Zhang Yong entered her room. He immediately knew he came in at the wrong time when he saw her clothes in disarray. He turned around hastily. Xinyi was calm. There was bound to be a day that this would happen with the way they held no decorum with each other. Zhang Yong lightly coughed than asked, "Do you need help with the medication?"

"Leave." Xinyi answered easily. His spirit deflated. He left the things he brought onto the table before he bid her order to leave.

BaoBao appeared again pouting and resuming his job. The pair of them continued this way and Xinyi had plenty of time to rest, cultivate, read the books that Zhang Yong brought, and play games with BaoBao that Zhang Yong also provided. 

By the fifth day, the wound with the second most nourished salve was beginning to scab. 

On the sixth day, Zhang Yong appeared again to check on her. However, he knocked on her door instead of entering just like that. Xinyi still did not soften up and told him to leave. BaoBao's displeasure with him has begun to ease up and began feeling a little sorry for the sincere Zhang Yong who had his shoulders hunched in disappointment. However, BaoBao finally understood that he could not rely on the second male lead anymore. 

On the ninth day, Zhang yong appeared yet again. By now they figured out that he was checking on Xinyi's condition every three days. He just could not settle his heart with the knowledge that she was not being cared for by anyone, especially now that she was injured. He came to see how she was doing even though he knew that he would be turned away each time.

On the twelfth day, most of Xinyi's wounds were completely healed while the wounds that received the least nourished salve was scabbed over. Mei Ruo's funeral also ended over this period of time and no one came to bother Xinyi. Hui Shan has also recovered and was in the pink of health. Zhang Yong came by to see Xinyi working on her garden. He was elated that she was well enough to be doing more strenuous tasks now. 

"When I return again 3 days later, will you be fit enough to practice martial arts again?" He asked excitedly.

Xinyi nodded in reply. As usual, she told him to leave if there was nothing else he had to tell her. Soon after Zhang Yong left, a maid arrived to her courtyard to summon her to the sitting room.