"You need not apologize to me. You've done nothing wrong to me," Sheng Jinyu said, throwing a half-smile at him before striding away.
Fu Rongxuan was taken aback. What did the Prince of Yu mean? Did he expect him to apologize to Lu Wanning in person? His face flushed bright red with anger. He turned around angrily, but Sheng Jinyu was already out of sight.
The young gentlemen, who had been holding their breaths, finally stepped forward to console him, saying that the Prince of Yu was just joking.
Lu Wanning left the path to the front hall. Maybe she had walked too fast just now, and for a moment, she couldn't find the way to the inner hall. After a moment of thought, she vaguely remembered that if she took a small path, there would be an arch bridge by the pond, and beyond the bridge was the flower hall.
He Chan was the youngest daughter of the Duke's Mansion, and her coming-of-age ceremony was grand. Many guests would come just for the Duke's sake. In fact, a daughter's coming-of-age banquet was usually attended by familiar ladies and close friends. Therefore, today's coming-of-age ceremony was held in the flower hall.
The time was approaching. Lu Wanning thought she might as well go straight to the flower hall.
After walking along the small path, she saw the arch bridge as expected. She happily walked onto the bridge and saw Shi Aohan coming out of the flower hall. After saying something to her maid, Shi Aohan looked in her direction.
She couldn't see clearly from afar, but Lu Wanning could clearly feel that Shi Aohan was walking towards her.
The two met on the arch bridge. Shi Aohan bowed gracefully and said, "Cousin Lu."
Lu Wanning returned a half-bow as before and said, "Hello, Cousin Shi."
In the original owner's memory, this Shi Aohan was just a down-and-out girl not worth paying attention to. But the confrontations before today made Lu Wanning cautious. This Miss Shi was not an ordinary person. The paper characters in the book couldn't give Lu Wanning more clues. She had to figure everything out by herself.
After returning the greeting, Lu Wanning didn't want to stay with Shi Aohan any longer and immediately wanted to go down the bridge to the flower hall.
But Shi Aohan moved and just blocked Lu Wanning's way. She looked at Lu Wanning with a pitiful look in her eyes and reached out to hold her hand.
"Cousin Lu, Brother Xuan and I are deeply in love. Please let him go and fulfill us."
Lu Wanning was completely stunned. Then she realized that in the book, it was on this day that the original owner learned about Fu Rongxuan's affair from a maid. Angrily, she found Shi Aohan on the arch bridge and pushed her into the water. From then on, the torturous love story of the three began.
But now, it seemed that because she had gone to find Sheng Jinyu, she hadn't heard the maid talking about Fu Rongxuan and Shi Aohan's affair, thus avoiding the path of actively looking for Shi Aohan. But still, by some strange coincidence, she ended up on the arch bridge and met Shi Aohan.
Wait a minute. Did Shi Aohan voluntarily reveal her affair with Fu Rongxuan? So originally, was it very likely that the maid who told this story where the original owner passed by was also arranged by Shi Aohan?
The description in the book was - it was the cold winter, and the pond water was freezing cold. But Lu Wanning was burning with anger and pushed Shi Aohan into the water...
Lu Wanning's heart skipped a beat when she heard Shi Aohan let out a scream. She fell headlong into the pond.
In a split second, Lu Wanning reached out and pulled Shi Aohan hard. Shi Aohan hit the railing of the arch bridge, but Lu Wanning didn't stand firmly because of saving her and fell towards the pond.
The original owner knew kung fu, and it was still a bit useful at this moment. But Lu Wanning wasn't as quick in her reactions. After she propped herself up on the railing, although she didn't fall into the water, her head hit the railing hard, and a long gash opened up immediately. Lu Wanning felt dizzy and fainted in the screams of the noble ladies.
The news that the Princess of Zhaoyang had fainted after hitting the railing while saving Miss Shi, who had accidentally fallen into the water, quickly spread to the front and back yards. The Princess and Mrs. Wei were so frightened that their souls flew away. They rushed over in a hurry.
In the yard, Shi Aohan was wearing thin clothes, looking pitiful and pathetic. She knelt there like a flower battered by the cold wind, crying uncontrollably.
At this moment, Duke He and others from the outer yard also rushed over. Many young gentlemen followed behind just to watch the fun. Fu Rongxuan wasn't here to watch the fun. He was worried that his beloved girl had been wronged.
Now that he saw it, sure enough, Aohan had been wronged. She was actually punished to kneel in the yard. The cold wind was howling, and she didn't even have an outer cloak on. She was just kneeling there. It must be that Lu Wanning was domineering and arrogant, shifting all the blame onto Aohan. And she even said that she had saved Aohan. A person like Lu Wanning would be lucky if she didn't harm Aohan. How could she possibly save her?
But what exactly had happened in this?
Fu Rongxuan was extremely anxious. There were too many people here, and he couldn't rush over to hold his beloved woman and comfort her. He could only endure it and wait for the truth to come out as soon as possible.
The Princess rushed in and didn't even notice Shi Aohan kneeling on the ground. She impatiently asked, "Where's Ning'er? What happened? Why wasn't there a maid or servant guarding such a dangerous arch bridge? If anything happens to my daughter, I'll surely make you pay!"
She wasn't talking to Shi Aohan, but Shi Aohan crawled forward on her knees and cried prostrate on the ground, "It's all my fault. Princess, don't blame them. If it weren't for me... the Princess wouldn't have had such a thing happen. It's all my fault... I'm the one who's wrong. If the Princess wants to blame someone, blame me. I'm willing to be punished..."
She was sobbing and couldn't explain clearly. It was the noble ladies beside her who chattered and said that Shi Aohan was about to fall into the water, and Lu Wanning had saved her but hit the railing herself.
The Princess didn't have the time to find out why Shi Aohan was about to fall into the water. She rushed into the room in a hurry. Seeing her pale daughter on the bed, she felt heartbroken. She turned around and scolded her daughter-in-law who was following beside her, "I told you to watch her. How could you let her run out?"
Mrs. Wei, the daughter-in-law, had also come to congratulate today. She had been married into the mansion for four years and knew her mother-in-law's temper very well. Immediately, she quickly asked the maid guarding beside, "What did the doctor say? Is the Princess okay?"
The maid hesitated for a long time before saying that they hadn't had time to invite a doctor.
The Princess flew into a rage, "When did the Duke's Mansion become so shabby? Can't they even afford a doctor? They're so ignorant. It's really abominable! Zhao Zhao, let's go back to the mansion now. You go and get my token and enter the palace to invite the imperial doctor!"
Mrs. Wei was also extremely angry. It had been about the time it took to burn an incense stick since they got the news and rushed over, and they still hadn't invited a doctor. Wasn't this ridiculous?
The yard was in a complete mess. Fu Rongxuan found an opportunity to come in and wanted to help Shi Aohan up. His face was full of distress, and he wished he could immediately hug her into his arms.
"Aohan, you've suffered. Get up quickly. The ground is cold."
Shi Aohan's face was red from crying. She shook her head and said, "If the Princess doesn't forgive me, I won't get up."
Fu Rongxuan was indignant, "She... it wasn't you who made her get hurt. How could she be so harsh on you? Such a vicious girl is really..."
Shi Aohan cried even more bitterly, "It's my fault. She's injured, but I'm here safe and sound. You can't talk about her like this."
Fu Rongxuan only thought that Shi Aohan was the most beautiful girl in the world. She was so generous and kind. She endured the grievance without saying a word. She just didn't want to make others embarrassed.