The next moment of consciousness for Su Jing Fei was when she felt strong arms pulling her out of the water and onto hard ground. Her skin burned from the touch, but all she could do was cough up the water, gasping for air. The rescuer gently but firmly patted her on the back, but each touch burned so when her strength finally returned, Su Jing Fei pushed away the arm.

“Don’t touch me.” Su Jing Fei gasped, clearing her hoarse throat.

“No matter if you hate me or not, this imperial prince cannot let you die,” replied Li Wei Sheng in a cold voice, having finally shed his polite facade. His black eyes were dark as they watched Su Jing Fei. “Stop being stubborn and let me help you.”

“You’ll help me if you stop touching me,” Su Jing Fei argued, glaring at Li Wei Sheng. “Unless the imperial prince possesses an antidote for aphrodisiacs, you’re of no help to me.” She also shed all notion of propriety and manners, a burning anger growing in her chest.

Li Wei Sheng’s eyes flashed with an unrecognizable emotion, and Su Jing Fei prepared herself for his backlash at disrespecting royalty. But in the next moment, warm robes were wrapped around her shoulders. She hadn’t realized that her body was shivering terribly from the cold, but the immediate warmth soothed her nerves. “Thank you,” murmured Su Jing Fei as she clutched the robes around her shoulders. However, despite the gratefulness she felt, the overwhelming emotion that consumed her was anger. The Feng family were really trying their best to either see her humiliated or dead! She’d have to teach them a lesson soon!

Li Wei Sheng watched Su Jing Fei’s bright round eyes darken into a pool of cold, and the young girl’s shivering stopped as her demeanor changed back into the polite calm facade of prior. Su Jing Fei was truly a mysterious young woman; to have suffered such a traumatic experience yet remain so calm, it required a considerable amount of willpower and strength. After hearing her words, Li Wei Sheng had guessed that the Feng siblings had probably drugged Su Jing Fei; they’d been acting rather hostile towards Su Jing Fei all night. He’d have to be stupid not to have noticed. “Why are the Feng family trying to kill you?” He asked in a low voice.

Su Jing Fei caught the man’s curious gaze and tried to discern whether she could trust him or not. “Why did you not kill me back in Xia-Wu?”

“Why were you in Xia-Wu in the first place?” Li Wei Sheng countered, his expression was carefully neutral.

Su Jing Fei knew he wouldn’t answer her question so easily. “This one could ask the same thing of you.” Her dark eyes flashed with a hint of danger and caution, unwilling to yield to Li Wei Sheng for even a moment.

Their conversation was interrupted as people came running to their side with servants carrying towels and crowding around Su Jing Fei. They all fell to the ground greeting Li Wei Sheng who quickly dismissed their greetings and commanded them to take care of Su Jing Fei. “Has a doctor been called yet?” Li Wei Sheng asked a nearby servant.

“Yes, a doctor has been called. The city lord has ordered us to take Su xiaojie to a room to change into dry clothes.” the servant spoke respectfully before Li Wei Sheng.

Li Wei Sheng nodded his head in acknowledgement, but he didn’t move away as he watched them help Su Jing Fei up and helped her move back to the Feng family residence. He walked back with them, and only left when another servant came to request his presence before the city lord. Without a second glance in Su Jing Fei’s direction, Li Wei Sheng immediately turned and left with the servant.

In the meantime, Su Jing Fei was brought to a room where dry clothes had been prepared. Yize cried at the sight of her xiaojie, thankful for her xiaojie’s safety. “This lowly one was so scared! This lowly one is glad to see da xiaojie is safe!”

The servants left them, and Su Jing Fei gave the young yatou a small smile as she stepped forward to wipe away the young girl’s tears. “There’s no need to worry now.”

Yize nodded and quickly helped her xiaojie change into dry clothes. The warmth of dry clothes helped soothe Su Jing Fei’s nerves, and she let Yize help her tidy up her hair and dry herself down as well. After everything was done, Su Jing Fei was expecting the servants to return. However, no one came after quite a while, and Su Jing Fei felt that the quiet was rather ominous. Moving quickly to the door, she tried to open it but found it to be locked from the outside. Su Jing Fei furrowed her brows as she suddenly heard noises from the outside. It sounded like… men talking!

“Da xiaojie, why would they lock us in here?” Yize asked worriedly.

Upon hearing the men’s voices coming closer, she recognized one to be Feng Ru Weng’s voice. The steps of the two men sounded strange as well. One set of footsteps were clear and steady however, the other pair seemed to be irregular in stride, as though the man was fumbling with his steps. With the Feng family’s constant set of schemes and humiliation for Su Jing Fei the entire day, this was no doubt yet another one. “Come quickly and hide yourself here, Yize.” Su Jing Fei quickly moved the young yatou to hide in a dresser.

The young yatou quickly followed her xiaojie’s command and did as she was told. Su Jing Fei closed the dresser behind the young girl before moving to rearrange the bedding to make it seem like someone was under the covers. Then she hid under the bed and watched the door carefully.

The steps grew louder as the voices became more hushed and urgent. “Your sister says she actually likes me?” spoke a naive-sounding voice; his words were clearly slurred as the man tried to speak with difficulty.

“Yes, she said she is impressed by Hou gongzi and wished to speak to you in private. Now go quickly!” The door was opened as someone was forcibly pushed inside the room with the door shutting loudly behind them. Loud footsteps could be heard walking quickly away from the door.

Su Jing Fei narrowed her eyes, watching the unsteady movements of a man as he stumbled over to the bed. “F-Feng xiaojie?” mumbled the young man in a confused voice. “Y-You’re in bed?” The man stumbled forward and fell onto the bed with a loud thud, and in the next few minutes, a loud snoring could be heard. Su Jing Fei crawled out from under the bed, dusting off her robes as she took a look at the man who was quite thoroughly passed out on the bed while cradling the blankets. Su Jing Fei moved quickly to the dresser and let Yize out. The young yatou took one look at the man on the bed and gave her xiaojie a look of alarm. “Da xiaojie, what do we do? They’ve locked us in here with a drunk man! That horrible Feng family is surely hoping to ruin your innocence!”

“Yes, they’re quite ruthless bringing in a drunk man to a defenseless xiaojie’s room.” Su Jing Fei’s eyes darkened as she observed the young man on the bed. From what she had heard, the young man had clearly thought he was meeting up with Feng Eu Mei for a secret tryst. Su Jing Fei had recognized his surname, ‘Hou.’ The Hou family were a rich noble family with connections in Xinyi; it was quite well-known that he held a strong torch for Feng Eu Mei. She rather pitied the young man because it was quite obvious that Feng Ru Weng was using him to kill two birds with one stone. They had hoped he’d ruin Su Jing Fei while also getting rid of his proposal to Feng Eu Mei; most likely because they wished Feng Eu Mei to marry a certain imperial prince rather than just some nobody.

“Yize, what happened after I fell into the water? Was Feng Eu Mei saved?” Su Jing Fei inquired.

“Yes, this lowly one saw that Feng Eu Mei was saved by Feng Ru Weng; however, the Feng xiaojie was severely ill and unconscious so she was taken to a room to rest. Then this lowly one was taken to this room to wait for xiaojie’s arrival.” Yize replied quickly, keeping a wary eye on the snoring young man.

Su Jing Fei nodded; it was good that Feng Eu Mei had been saved, for she had other plans for the young woman. Taking one of her hair pins out, Su Jing Fei stepped towards the door and began sliding the thin pin through the crack of the door in order to push out the lock. After a few minutes of tampering with the pin, the door finally popped open. “Do you know where Feng Eu Mei’s room is?”

“Right next door…” Yize said in a quiet voice. “Surely, xiaojie cannot be thinking of…?”

“This one is merely doing the Feng family a favor.” Su Jing Fei replied, giving her young yatou a smile. “If jade is not carved, it doesn’t turn into jewelry; a child needs to be taught.”

On the other side of the Feng family residence, Zhao shi was dealing with quite an irritating headache. Her mother-in-law wouldn’t stop pestering her about taking care of the Su da xiaojie once and for all. “If Zhao shi wants this family to succeed, you must get rid of Su Jing Fei!” Feng Lao Furen sputtered angrily, pacing back and forth as they waited for the doctor to arrive.

Due to the lake incident, the two women had to deal with other families quite quickly in order to appease the disruption of the celebrations. In the meantime, her father-in-law and husband had set out to appease the noblemen, especially the imperial prince. When her son and daughter had come to her with the scheme of drugging Su Jing Fei, she had been very receptive to the idea of getting rid of the girl once and for all; however, upon meeting the Su xiaojie, she found the girl to be quite alarmingly hard to read. She couldn’t tell if Su Jing Fei was truly a quiet and proper xiaojie or whether it was all a facade.

“Mother, everything has been taken care of.” came Feng Ru Weng’s voice from the doorway as he entered the room. His sharp features were quite reminiscent of Zhao shi’s own scholarly appearance, and she rather adored her son so she was quite happy to see him.

“Thank you, my son,” said Zhao shi adoringly as she helped her son to a seat. “Once Su Jing Fei is taken care of, this family will be able to rise with no obstacles. Your gugu¹paternal aunt has promised that your gufu²paternal uncle-in-law will take you as a disciple and sponsor you when everything has been taken care of.”

Feng Ru Weng’s eyes shined brightly as the future prospects of moving to the imperial city. “This one will work hard to earn gugu and gufu’s favor!”

“The doctor has arrived!” announced one of the servants. “The imperial prince and the city lord Feng Ruo Zhang and the first master Feng Ruo Qian also have arrived!”

Everyone moved quickly to greet the men as they arrived and entered the premises. At the head of the group was Li Wei Sheng and Feng Ruo Zhang who walked beside each other while conversing. “This lowly one thanks the imperial prince for getting an imperial doctor to come. My granddaughter Feng Eu Mei is a delicate young woman, and this lowly one is very worried for her health. This lowly one thanks the imperial prince for his concern for her.” Feng Ruo Zhang spoke heartily as they entered the room.

Li Wei Sheng smiled politely. “For such an unfortunate event to occur on such a joyous occasion is rather concerning. This one hopes to help the two xiaojie recover from such a terrifying experience. It is one’s duty as a member of the royal family to take care of one’s loyal subjects.” His words expressed neutral concern over Feng Eu Mei and Su Jing Fei, causing Feng Ruo Qian to become a little worried about his initial plan to have Feng Eu Mei win over Li Wei Sheng’s favor.

Feng Ruo Qian had initially hoped that his eldest daughter Feng Eu Mei could capture the attention of this imperial prince; however, he’d seen Li Wei Sheng take the initiative to converse with Su Jing Fei as though they were well acquainted. On top of that, the Hou family have been pestering to hear his reply to their betrothal request between their eldest son and Feng Eu Mei. There was no way he was letting his most beautiful and talented daughter marry a simple nobleman, even if the Hou family had all the money in the world. It was power that could truly change his family’s fate from a low-ranking city official’s family to one which had birthed a phoenix! His plans would definitely not be foiled by the stupid da xiaojie of the Feng family or the son of the Hou family!

“How are the two xiaojie doing?” Li Wei Sheng asked, looking towards Zhao shi and Feng Ru Weng.

“They have been settled into rooms,” Zhao shi replied with a small smile, but the furen’s expression suddenly became filled with sadness and concern as she continued speaking. “However, my Mei’er has suffered quite a shock and is still bedridden! This lowly one’s heart aches for my poor daughter!”

“Then we shall waste no more time,” Li Wei Sheng spoke in a firm tone. “Take us to the resting chambers so that the imperial doctor can examine their injuries." 

Feng Ru Weng eagerly led the group of people to the courtyard where the two women were resting. However, his steps were quick, and he made sure to unlock the front door to Su Jing Fei’s room before anyone else arrived to notice. Once everyone was present, Feng Ru Weng was quick to lead them into Su Jing Fei’s chambers; he couldn’t keep the grin off his face, but the rest of the Feng family managed to keep their happy emotions hidden. Of course, they were all well aware of the scheme to get rid of both Su Jing Fei and the Hou family all at once. They couldn’t wait to see the result of Su Jing Fei’s humiliation! However, upon entering the room, Feng Ru Weng noticed that something was wrong. He didn’t see either Su Jing Fei or the Hou gongzhi anywhere in the room!

Li Wei Sheng’s eyes darkened as he took notice of the empty room. “Does the Feng family wish to disrespect this imperial prince by wasting his time?”

“No! This lowly one does not dare!” spoke Feng Ruo Zhang quickly, hoping to appease the young man. The city lord turned to his eldest grandson and glared at him quite fiercely. “Stop playing your games, boy! Where is the Su xiaojie?”

Feng Ru Weng looked flustered and utterly shocked at Su Jing Fei and the Hou gongzhi’s disappearance. “This lowly one truly does not know! This is the room that the Su xiaojie was brought to rest while waiting for the doctor to arrive!”

Zhao shi suddenly had a very bad feeling in her gut, but before she could say anything, Feng Ru Weng rashly ran out of the room to check on Feng Eu Mei’s room next door. He was genuinely worried that Su Jing Fei had broken out and done something to Feng Eu Mei who was already in an incredibly vulnerable state. The group of people quickly followed Feng Ru Weng to the room next door as he pushed the doors opened and rushed into Feng Eu Mei’s room.

“What is the meaning of this?” shouted Feng Ruo Zhang angrily as they came upon the scene.

“Mei’er!” cried Zhao shi as she watched Feng Ru Weng pull a man out of the bed while a young woman fumbled to pull her robes around herself. Feng Eu Mei gave her mother a look of confusion, having finally broken out of her half-unconscious state of mind; the last thing she remembered was falling into the water and then having a very nice dream where her and the imperial prince were…

Feng Ruo Qian angrily marched forward, grabbing the stumbling man by the collar and pulling his face upwards to take a good look at the man who had sullied his daughter. It was none other than the Hou gongzi! “How dare you force yourself upon my daughter, Hou gongzi!” Feng Ruo Qian roared angrily, shaking the man fiercely.

“I-It wasn’t forced!” stuttered the man who had slightly sobered up from his previous drunken state. “Feng xiaojie called me down here to meet with me secretly!”

“Impossible!” argued Feng Ruo Qian as he threw the boy to the ground, turning his head to glare at Feng Ru Weng. “You were supposed to protect your sister! How are you so inept at such a simple task to have allowed such a humiliation?”

The color drained from Feng Ru Weng’s face, and he lost all of the previous composure he had before. He fell to his knees before his family, shaking his head. “It must be Su Jing Fei! She must have done this!”

Feng Ruo Qian’s face twisted in anger. That stupid Su xiaojie had actually caused his family to lose face like this? She was asking for death! “Go find Su Jing Fei!” He ordered the servants who stood idly nearby.

“There’s no need,” replied a calm familiar voice from the doorway. “This one has just returned and wonders what the first master has need of me for.” The crowd parted to reveal Su Jing Fei walking in with a graceful demeanor, bowing respectfully before her superiors.

As Feng Eu Mei became increasingly aware of her own circumstances, a deep hatred for Su Jing Fei burned in her heart. It was supposed to be Su Jing Fei who suffered a terrible humiliation, not her! But somehow, she had been drugged, and now she was in such a terrible state! “Su Jing Fei, you wretched woman! You drugged me!” shouted Feng Eu Mei in shrill voice filled with anger. She shed the facade of her previous demeanor, wanting to get justice for herself at having her scheme turned against her.

“Su Jing Fei, explain yourself quickly!” yelled Feng Ruo Qian as he pointed his finger at her.

Su Jing Fei kept a calm composure, politely returning Feng Ruo Qian’s angry words with a gentle and soft tone. “This one is unsure of what the first master means. This one has just returned after fetching a coat from one’s carriage.”

“You!” Feng Ruo Qian took a threatening step forward, but Su Jing Fei met his angry glare with a cold and imposing gaze. The man paused briefly, a little surprised at the young woman’s frightening composure. This was no ordinary naive xiaojie! 

“This lowly one begs the imperial prince to seek justice for my daughter!” cried Zhao shi as she prostrated herself before Li Wei Sheng. The Feng Lao Furen also fell to her knees beside Zhao shi, begging the imperial prince to seek justice for her granddaughter.

It was at this moment that Feng Eu Mei realized that Li Wei Sheng was present in the room, having been too preoccupied with her humiliating state to have noticed him in the back of the crowd. Her face reddened, and she clutched the robes tightly around herself. Her gaze flew to Su Jing Fei who was standing calmly to the side, and Feng Eu Mei wanted nothing more than to slap that righteous-looking expression off Su Jing Fei’s face!

“This imperial prince shall hear your words,” spoke Li Wei Sheng, reaching down to help Zhao shi and the Feng Lao Furen off the ground. “Let us first have the imperial doctor examine Feng xiaojie and Su xiaojie for any injuries. Then we will discuss matters.”

“This lowly one thanks the imperial prince for his kindness!” cried Zhao shi as the two women stood up, moving to the side as the imperial doctor stepped forward.

Everyone else left the room, including the Hou gongzi who was dragged out. The imperial doctor was left to examine both Su Jing Fei and Feng Eu Mei in peace while everyone else gathered at a nearby family hall, waiting to hear the imperial doctor’s examination results.

It seemed quite a long time of waiting before the imperial doctor returned. The two xiaojie followed behind him while servants trailed behind. Feng Eu Mei was redressed properly and had fixed her hair as well; however, her face was deathly pale as she moved to stand beside her mother. Su Jing Fei stood quietly to the side as the imperial doctor stepped forward.

“This imperial doctor has examined both xiaojie carefully. Su xiaojie has suffered a bit of bruising where the water had made impact with her body. Despite this, however, it is only minor injuries and Su xiaojie will recover with rest and healthy food to flush out the bad blood and cold in the body.” The imperial doctor spoke in a calm manner, politely stating the results of his examination for all to hear. “In regards to Feng xiaojie, falling into the water seems to also have caused a bit of superficial bruising on the skin, but this will also heal with rest and healthy foods. However, for the second matter, after an examination of the body, pulse, and external factors, one has also concluded that the Feng xiaojie is no longer a virgin.”