"Why is this bracelet of yours so flimsy?" Bai Zheng's somewhat regretful voice came. "With such a good-looking face, it just breaks like that."
The purple-clothed maid didn't care about anything else. Muttering, "Mother! Daughter is unfilial. I failed to protect the memento you left for me..." she reached into the boiling hot tea without hesitation and fished out the beads.
"Hey! You might burn your hands like this." Bai Zheng kindly reminded.
Bai Sheng watched as not only did the maid drop the beads into the nice cup of hot tea, but now she was even using her dirty hands to retrieve them.
How could Bai Zheng still serve this cup of tea to Bai Yizhang? Wouldn't it be a waste!
At that moment, Bai Sheng was both angry and anxious. Scolding, "You good-for-nothing," she stepped forward and wanted to slap the purple-clothed maid hard.
A sharp glint flashed in Bai Zheng's eyes. The foot hidden under her skirt moved slightly, and she kicked something out.
Just as Bai Sheng took two steps forward, she suddenly stepped on something round. She was walking too fast, and the thing under her feet came so unexpectedly that she immediately lost her balance. There was nothing for her to hold on to, so she fell forward helplessly.
"Ah—"
She turned pale with fright and instinctively let out a scream.
"Eldest Miss!"
"Elder Sister!"
Bai Shou and Bai Zheng shouted at the same time and rushed towards the falling Bai Sheng.
Although Bai Zheng shouted louder than Bai Shou and her anxious expression seemed extremely real, her feet moved a bit slower than Bai Shou's.
Bai Shou rushed to Bai Sheng's side first and barely managed to support her. The two of them just managed to stand still.
"Elder Sister, are you okay?"
Just then, Bai Zheng also quickly ran in front of Bai Sheng.
However, just as she touched the arm of the still-frightened Bai Sheng, Bai Zheng stepped on something again and slipped. She fell forward heavily.
"Ah—"
This time it was Bai Zheng's turn to scream.
Bai Sheng felt as if her ears were going to go deaf. Her scalp went numb.
She quickly wanted to turn around and dodge, but found that Bai Zheng, having lost her balance, instinctively grabbed onto her, the closest person to her, like a drowning person grabbing onto a life-saving straw, and refused to let go.
"Elder Sister, quickly dodge!"
Although Bai Zheng shouted like this, she tightened her grip even more and fell towards Bai Sheng.
Bai Sheng hadn't even managed to stand steady yet. Being pulled by Bai Zheng like this, she immediately fell down too.
Bai Shou, who originally wanted to protect Bai Sheng and was standing at the back, was like a domino. He was also pulled backward by Bai Sheng and fell.
This fall knocked into the purple-clothed maid who had just endured the heat and taken out the beads.
The purple-clothed maid was knocked to the ground along with the small table in front of her. The teacup shattered into pieces, and the hot tea spilled all over the place.
There were another series of clattering sounds of shattering and dull thuds.
Bai Shou and the purple-clothed maid fell to the ground together, while Bai Sheng was heavily pressed under Bai Zheng.
Bai Yizhang, the only onlooker in the room, was stunned.
"Bai Zheng—"
Bai Sheng's scream suddenly became louder, shrill and terrifying. When she was knocked to the ground by Bai Zheng, she hit her abdomen hard. A sharp pain came from her abdomen, making her face turn completely pale.
She wished she could tear the person in front of her into pieces and grind her into ashes!
On the other hand, Bai Shou and the purple-clothed maid were splashed all over with the boiling hot tea. The purple-clothed maid only focused on looking for the beads. Without caring about this, she got up to pick up the beads, while Bai Shou let out a pig-like scream.
"Elder Sister, Zheng'er is right here. How are you, Elder Sister? Are you okay?"
Bai Zheng's panicked and concerned voice sounded above Bai Sheng's head, but she was pressing down on Bai Sheng so hard that the words Bai Sheng wanted to scold were forced back.
Now Bai Sheng couldn't scold anything. She was so pressed by Bai Zheng that she could hardly breathe.
"Oops! Elder Sister, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's Zheng'er pressing on you!" Bai Zheng said so and started to exert force with her hands, trying to support the ground and stand up.
Who would have thought that just as she lifted her upper body a bit, allowing Bai Sheng to take a breath, her hand that was supporting her body slipped again. Letting out an "oops", she fell down heavily again and hit Bai Sheng once more.
This time, Bai Sheng couldn't even scream. She rolled her eyes and fainted directly.
"Elder Sister!"
Bai Zheng was pressing on Bai Sheng when she suddenly felt a warm sensation on her leg.
Was it the hot tea flowing over to them?
Bai Zheng frowned, a bit disgusted that her dress was wet. Glancing out of the corner of her eye and seeing that everything in the room that should be in a mess was now in a mess, she lost the interest in continuing to act. She quickly stood up.
"Elder Sister, let Zheng'er help you up."
She clapped her hands and turned around to help the fainted Bai Sheng.
Suddenly, a blood-red color appeared in her eyes.
This time, Bai Zheng was completely stunned.
At this moment, on the ground, Bai Sheng had completely fainted and showed no reaction at all.
On her moon-white dress, it was covered with fresh blood at some point. It seemed that the blood was still flowing out from her lower body, and the bloodstain on the dress was getting darker and darker.
Bai Zheng looked down and only then realized that her dress wasn't wet with hot water at all, but with Bai Sheng's blood!
"Sheng'er!"
This time it was Bai Yizhang's turn to be shocked. He gasped and shouted hoarsely.
Hearing the sound, Bai Shou immediately stopped his pig-like scream and stared blankly at Bai Sheng.
A moment later, the entire General's Mansion was in a complete mess.
Basin after basin of hot water was carried into Bai Sheng's room, and basin after basin of bloody water was carried out.
Bai Zheng stood under the corridor, frowning as she watched the maids of the General's Mansion coming in and out. She couldn't figure it out no matter how hard she thought.
In the yard, the purple-clothed maid was beaten so badly that she was almost out of breath. In the end, Bai Zheng couldn't bear to watch anymore. She asked Bai Nianyin to step in and, on the pretext of accumulating good fortune for Bai Sheng, spared her life.
After Bai Nianyin persuaded the furious Bai Yizhang, he peeked through the crack in the door and saw the chaos inside. He clenched his fist, stepped out of the room, and walked up to grab Bai Zheng who was standing under the corridor.
"What on earth did you do to Sheng'er?" Bai Nianyin looked at the basins of bloody water. His heart felt as if it was being tightly squeezed, and it hurt badly. His eyes were bloodshot as he looked at Bai Zheng. "You just promised me that you wouldn't do anything to the General's Mansion!"
Bai Zheng had already gone over the scene before Bai Sheng fell in her mind again and again. She couldn't figure out why Bai Sheng would fall like that.
There was no hard object around at that time. Even an old bone like Bai Shou still had the strength to let out a full-bodied pig-like scream after falling.
There was no reason for the young Bai Sheng to be hurt like this.
Unless...