The people let out a surprised shout but saw that the person that had leaped into the lotus pond was quite good in the water. She headed straight to where Xu shi and Lu Yao were. It was just that everyone was very unfamiliar with the girl that had leaped into the water. They were all speculating on who she was, but this was someone that Feng Yu Heng recognized. That person was the Lu family’s eldest daughter, young miss of a concubine Lu Ping.
She and Xuan Tian Ge looked at each other, and both appeared to be a bit surprised. Feng Yu Heng could determine that Xu shi falling into the water could not escape being related to Lu Yao. Also, she noticed that although Lu Yao became submerged before Xu shi, it did not seem to be because she had drowned. Instead, it looked deliberate. Although she was not good in the water, based on her observations, Lu Yao’s thoughts and actions were unable to fool her, even if they might have fooled others. Lu Yao was good in the water. This was something that Feng Yu Heng was certain of.
After gaining a bit of an understanding, she still felt worried. Xu shi was still in the water and could not handle the slightest bit of clumsiness.
Huang Quan carefully asked from her side: “Young miss, do you want this servant to go in and help?”
Even if Feng Yu Heng wanted to, seeing that Lu Ping had swum over to where they were, she slightly shook her head, “No need for now. Observe for a little longer.”
Just after saying this, Lu Ping had already reached her hand out to Xu shi. This movement caused her mind to shift. One of the people that fell into the water was Xu shi and the other was Lu Ping’s younger sister; however, she reached out to Xu shi and ignored Lu Yao. This really was was food for thought.
Some people from the spectating crowd began to cheer for Lu Ping. Although they did not know who this person was, they approved greatly of her leaping into the water to save them. But at the same time, there were people that began to question them falling into the water: “The two were clearly admiring the pond. How did they end up falling in? Also, how did they end up so far?”
These words caused everyone to become startled. That’s right! Although falling into the water was strange, they would have just fallen near the side of the pond. This lotus pond also has a number of plants. How could people have floated out that far?
At the same time, this question was asked in Feng Yu Heng’s mind. Her gaze, however, remained fixed on Lu Yao. Although Lu Yao was still under the water, Feng Yu Heng watched as she continued to desperately hold onto Xu shi. She even managed removed Lu Ping’s hands from Xu shi.
She frowned and felt that Lu Yao was actually stopping Lu Ping from saving them. But to the people on the outside, Lu Yao was just struggling while drowning. Feng Yu Heng was astonished and was prepared to order Huang Quan to jump in to help, but at this time, Lu Ping had already broken free from Lu Yao’s interference. Pulling Xu shi, she quickly headed toward the side of the pond.
But while she was swimming, blood could be seen in the water. The blood was coming from Lu Ping’s face. In the blink of an eye, a large patch of the lotus pond was dyed.
Everyone was shocked. The young misses that were easily-scared let out a scream. At this time, palace servants had also managed to bring the eunuchs over. The strong eunuchs went and pulled the people out of the water. Feng Yu Heng quickly rushed over and forcefully patted Xu shi’s back. This immediately allowed Xu shi to cough up a large amount of water.
There were no major problems with Xu shi. After coughing up the water, she was just a bit frightened. Fortunately, there were many people watching on. The kindhearted madams and young misses had already retrieved some clean clothes from the palace servants and wrapped up Xu shi. But looking at Lu Ping, she was not as lucky as Xu shi. The veil covering her face had already been washed away while she was swimming. The face that was capable of bringing the ruin of countries was now exposed. Everyone could see it, but there was an ugly wound on her face. Who knew if something from the pond got into the wound, as it was dark. The blood that came pouring out became darker and darker. Along with this, the color on the left side of her face began to change.
Feng Yu Heng was shocked, “You were poisoned? What hurt you?”
Lu Ping forcefully endured and told her: “I was bitten by a bug. Imperial Daughter, there is no need to worry. This sort of poison won’t take my life. It will only ruin half of my face. Take a look first at how madam Yao is doing. Was she bitten by the poisonous bug?”
At this time, Xu shi had already woken up. Upon hearing what Lu Ping had said, she repeatedly shook her head. With tears in her eyes, she said: “May I ask this girl, what family’s young miss are you? My Yao family will definitely repay miss for the grace of saving my life. Don’t worry. I have not been hurt because you were protecting me the entire time. Using your own body, you protected me from the bugs under the water, but your face…” Looking at it, she felt shocked and could not help but say to Feng Yu Heng: “A-Heng, you need to help treat this miss.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “Aunty, don’t worry.”
At this time, there were imperial physicians that were running over. Feng Yu Heng opened up a spot for the imperial physicians. At the same time, she reached into her sleeve and pulled out a special painkiller and told the imperial physicians how to use it and instructed them to give it to Lu Ping. She could already tell that the injury on Lu Ping’s face could no longer be treated, but at the very least it needed to not get infected. It was even more important that another illness did not spring up because of an infection.
Everyone was gathered around Lu Ping and Xu shi. The imperial physicians were also hurriedly providing treatment for the two. Nobody paid attention to the fact that there was still another person still soaking in the lotus pond. It was the one that had fallen into the pond with Xu shi, Lu Yao.
At this time, Lu Yao’s head had already popped above the surface. Just as she looked toward the side of the pond, especially after Feng Yu Heng had stood up and looked over, her expression became filled with even more bewilderment and displeasure. Lu Yao just could not understand. Could it be that the first person to jump in after Xu shi had fallen into the water was not Feng Yu Heng? Was it not said that her relationship with Xu shi was very good? She had already arranged for herself to call for Feng Yu Heng first. Why was it Lu Ping that jumped in instead?
The person that had leaped in to perform the rescue was not Feng Yu Heng. This was a reality that Lu Yao had just realized. She only realized it in the moment that Lu Ping was pulled out of the water. The bugs that she had let out had bitten the wrong person. Not only did they not bite Feng Yu Heng, but they also ruined Lu Ping’s face. While Lu Yao felt unreconciled, she was also quite shocked. It was not like she had no clue as to the Lu family’s hopes for Lu Ping. Although Lu Ping had a hidden illness, her extremely beautiful appearance was a reason that the Lu family did not give up on her. But now that Lu Ping’s face was ruined, and by her own hand at that, although this matter could be hidden from others, it could not be hidden from her father. If her father investigated later on, how should she explain the matter?
Lu Yao continued to float in the water while pondering to herself. Her mind spun, as this was being watched by Feng Yu Heng.
This sort of expression had sold her out. Feng Yu Heng was a smart person, to begin with. Upon seeing Lu Yao’s expression, how could she not understand what exactly was happening. She just hated that Lu Yao’s desire to harm her resulted in Xu shi being implicated. If Lu Ping was not present, even if Xu shi did not drown, she would have fallen very ill. Lu Yao’s intentions were sinister, which caused her to make up her mind. She could no longer keep this scourge around.
“Huang Quan.” She coldly gave an order, “Get in and save her.”
Huang Quan was startled. Just as she was puzzled and looked to see why her young miss would ask her to save Lu Yao, she saw Feng Yu Heng’s expression. Their many years together as master and servant allowed Huang Quan to understand her intentions. Thus she curled her lips into a smile and nodded, saying: “This servant obeys.”
After saying this, she removed her outer cloak and suddenly leaped into the water.
When the people heard this “splash” sound, they turned around and took a look. They found that someone had leaped into the water. They managed to react at this time, “Ah! There was another person in the water!”
The eunuchs that had rushed over to rescue people were caught off-guard. Seeing that Feng Yu Heng was present and Xu shi was among the people in the water, how could they worry about anyone else. After pulling Xu shi out, they inquired about how her wellbeing and had long forgotten about Lu Yao.
But at this time, Huang Quan had leaped into the water to save her. Although people wanted to watch, they also felt that Xu shi and Lu Ping’s matters were a bit more interesting. Thus those people that had turned their heads only watched for a bit before turning back around.
Huang Quan swam toward Lu Yao. Her swimming ability was not very good, but how could Lu Yao know things so accurately. She did not even know that Feng Yu Heng did not know how to swim. Upon seeing that Huang Quan had come, she immediately felt shocked. Without even thinking, she began to swim further into the lotus pond, trying to avoid Huang Quan. Huang Quan saw this and could not help but sneer; however, she also did not want for Lu Yao to swim further away. After all, she knew her own limits when swimming, thus she used all of her strength and suddenly reached out to grab Lu Yao’s foot and pulled her back.
Huang Quan’s swimming ability was average, but her martial art’s ability was good. She was also strong. When Lu Yao was pulled by Huang Quan, she was immediately brought back to her starting point. She lost her mind in a panic, and Huang Quan refused to relent. Pulling Lu Yao along, she began to sink in the water.
But not long after Huang Quan sank, she poked her head back out. She then used her body to block Lu Yao, making sure that the people on the shore would not be able to see what was happening, but the hands that were in the water were tightly wrapped around Lu Yao, giving her no room to move around.
Feng Yu Heng and Xuan Tian Ge stood on the shore. They stared fixedly at the events in the water, and Xuan Tian Ge quietly asked: “It’s been decided?”
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “There are some people that will work toward their own death the more you try to let them off. I thought it through before. I can ignore it if she bullied Yao Shu. After all, Yao Shu himself was happy to accept it, but this time, for the sake of harming me, she actually dragged eldest aunty into the water. I cannot continue to tolerate her.”
“Good.” Xuan Tian Ge’s expression became cold, “My mother said that Lu Yao marrying into the Yao family would be a disaster. Who knew that this disaster would lead down the road of her own destruction so quickly. To the Yao family, it can be considered a good thing.”
While the two were speaking, the movements in the water had already become much smaller. Huang Quan had already begun swimming toward the side of the pond. In the time that she turned her head, she winked a few times to Feng Yu Heng. Feng Yu Heng curled her lips into a smile and told Xuan Tian Ge: “It’s done.” She then quickly took a couple steps forward and feigned concern, asking: “How is she? How is the Yao family’s young madam?”
Huang Quan shook her head from the water: “Young miss, it’s not too good. She was drowning in the water for too long. I don’t know if she has any air left.”
These words were said with quite a loud voice, and everyone heard it. The people could not help but feel extremely shocked. They never thought that delaying a rescue would actually cost the Yao family’s young madam’s life?
When Huang Quan swam back to the shore, there was a strong eunuch that reached out and pulled the two out of the water. Huang Quan was able to put in some strength and was easily pulled out of the water, but Lu Yao could only be pulled up with a great deal of effort. While pulling out Lu Yao, one of the older eunuchs shook his head and said: “So heavy. I fear that it’s no good.”
Sure enough, after she was pulled out of the water, she just lay on the ground like a dead pig. Her clothes were messy, her hair was scattered, and her belly was bulging. It was clear that she had drank a large amount of water. Nobody wanted to look any further and averted their gazes. Xu shi, however, stared at Lu Yao for a long time then took the initiative to say to the imperial physician: “That one is our Yao manor’s young madam. May I ask the imperial physician take a look at her.”
The imperial physician was stunned. He never thought that the person that had been neglected was also someone of the Yao family, thus he quickly got up and walked over to Lu Yao to take a look. Feng Yu Heng also stepped forward. Both of them were doctors. After performing separate examinations, they both shook their heads: “The young madam of the Yao family died of drowning.”