"Fine, I'll stop eating. Is that okay?"
Yun Xi pouted and then compromised.
"Can you at least bring me some fruits?"
She was a young lady! Having to negotiate for what she wanted to eat made her feel so pitiful!
She couldn't help but feel sorry for herself.
"Sure, this maid will go prepare them for the young lady right away!"
This time, Yuzhu didn't refuse. She smiled and readily agreed.
Watching Yuzhu's departing back, Yun Xi finally let out a sigh of relief. She smacked her lips, rubbed her belly, and then lay down on the wisteria - woven bench.
It wasn't until the coolness of the bench counteracted the heat on her body that Yun Xi felt she was alive again.
In the past few months, it had been a troubled time. She had no time to manage the shops. During this period, the shops had been constantly facing problems. Their business was sluggish, and they had lost many long - standing major customers. The losses were substantial!
Jing Yao, who had been exposed to business since childhood, reminded her that perhaps someone was deliberately causing trouble behind the scenes and told her to be vigilant.
So, she secretly sent people to investigate. After following the clues for a few days, she finally discovered that several shops were joining forces to squeeze her out and had set up a trap for her!
If it hadn't been for Jing Yao's reminder and her timely discovery of the trick, she might have fallen into the enemy's trap by now and probably ended up losing all her capital!
She had asked the managers of many shops and learned that such a situation had never occurred when the Jiang family was in charge.
Now that she was in charge of the shops, she had always conducted business in an upright manner and never bullied other merchants or deliberately monopolized others' business opportunities.
She understood the principle that harmony brings wealth. There was no way for one to dominate the market completely. Squeezing out others would only narrow her own path.
So, she was certain that someone must have secretly targeted her and even persuaded others to gang up against her.
It was true that she was inexperienced as a newcomer, but she would never allow them to bully her!
Because the more she retreated, the harder the blows from others would be.
Only by fighting back with all her might and making the opponent admit defeat could the problem be fundamentally solved!
Yun Xi put her hands behind her head and stared straight at the ceiling. Just as she was thinking about how to fight back in the near future, she suddenly heard a scream in the yard!
"What's going on?!"
Yun Xi suddenly sat up from the bench in shock. She just put on her shoes when she heard Yuzhu shouting:
"Run, young lady!"
It seemed that the situation was extremely urgent!
Yun Xi didn't dare to delay. She quickly got up and rushed towards the door.
When she opened the door, she saw Yuzhu's fruit plate scattered on the ground. Yuzhu was grabbing a woman's arm, and the two were wrestling with each other.
Not far away on the ground, a maid was sitting, covering her arm and sobbing. Scarlet blood was flowing out through her fingers.
Seeing this scene, Yun Xi was stunned on the spot, but she quickly came to her senses. Without having time to figure out the situation in front of her, she rushed towards Yuzhu.
"Don't worry about me, young lady. Run! She has a knife in her hand!"
Seeing Yun Xi running towards her, Yuzhu screamed in panic.
At that moment, Yun Xi suddenly felt a flash of white light in front of her eyes, rushing straight towards Yuzhu's back!
Everything happened so suddenly that Yun Xi's pupils constricted sharply. Without thinking, she leaped up and slammed into the person holding the dagger with all her might!
The impact was so great that all three of them fell to the ground. Yun Xi didn't dare to slack off. Seeing the dagger swing again, she quickly pushed Yuzhu beside her to the side and then rolled to the other side.
The dagger stabbed hard at the place where she had been lying!
If she hadn't dodged in time, she might have become a victim under the knife!
"Yuzhu, are you injured?"
The first thing Yun Xi did after dodging was to ask about Yuzhu's condition.
After learning that Yuzhu wasn't injured, the tense heart in Yun Xi's chest finally relaxed. Her gaze turned to the crazy woman who had suddenly broken into the South Courtyard to kill.
After seeing the woman's face clearly, Yun Xi's eyes instantly showed surprise:
"Why is it you? Yu Xueming!"
She had originally thought that the Prince Xian's Mansion had been attacked by assassins, but unexpectedly, she saw Yu Xueming in her yard?!
However, at this moment, Yu Xueming looked crazy. Her eyes were blood - red, and she still held a blood - stained dagger in her hand.
She was completely different from her usual self. Where was the proud and arrogant Yu Xueming?
With her disheveled hair and a fierce look on her face, she was more like a crazy old woman who had gone on a killing spree!
This was also the reason why Yun Xi didn't recognize Yu Xueming at first.
Who could have imagined that Yu Xueming, the once - famous top talented woman in the capital, would rush into the Prince Xian's Mansion with a dagger to kill someone?
What puzzled her even more was that with such a commotion in the South Courtyard and the cries for help from Yuzhu and the maid, it was believed that people around had already been alerted.
However, there was not a single movement in the mansion, let alone any rescue!
It was as if their South Courtyard was isolated from the rest of the mansion.
There were only two possibilities for this situation:
One was that the guards and servants in the mansion were too far away to hear their cries for help.
This possibility was almost zero!
So, there was only one last reason, which was that they had heard the cries but still turned a deaf ear and remained indifferent!
Thinking of the second possibility, Yun Xi frowned tightly.
It seemed that in this situation, they could only save themselves because they couldn't count on any rescue!
Fortunately, there was only Yu Xueming. Apart from the dagger in her hand being a bit tricky, there was nothing to be afraid of. At least, they had an advantage in numbers.
Just as she was thinking about how to subdue Yu Xueming, the latter said nothing and raised the dagger to stab at her again.
Yun Xi quickly dodged and signaled Yuzhu with her eyes to grab the broom in the corner. She coldly scolded Yu Xueming:
"Yu Xueming, are you crazy? How dare you attack people with a knife! Don't you care about your own reputation at all?!"
Yun Xi couldn't help but wonder if Yu Xueming knew what she was doing. Even as a young lady from a noble family, attacking someone would land her in jail!
How could she ever hold her head up among the other young ladies in the future?
In the past, Yu Xueming always hid behind others, deliberately provoking disputes and then reaping the benefits of a third - party.
But now, she was making such a crazy move, obviously stimulated by something and driven to desperation!
"Reputation?"
Hearing Yun Xi's words, Yu Xueming burst into wild laughter. As she laughed, tears streamed down her face.
She stared at Yun Xi fiercely, with hatred in her eyes:
"You drove me to a dead end! Before coming here, I didn't care about anything anymore. But even if I have to go to hell, I'll drag you with me!"
Yu Xueming roared hoarsely at Yun Xi.
Reputation and life no longer meant anything to her because her Rong Gege didn't want her anymore!
And it was all Yun Xi's fault!
She must make the other person pay a heavy price!