Dark tide surges

  The painted barge gradually moved towards the center of the lake, creating ripples in a circular motion. Yuan Yi stood at the bow of the boat, basking in the gentle caress of the spring breeze, and his heart gradually became calm.

  At some point, Yuan Ruo stood beside her, with a warm smile on his face, and said: "It's really a good spring scene, Fourth Sister, don't you think?"

  Facing this gentle and quiet second sister, Yuan Yi had a good impression of her. Upon hearing her words, she smiled and nodded, and the two of them looked at the distant green mountains and water together, without saying another word.

  Gradually, some women walked to the bow of the boat, laughing and chatting, because the space was spacious, and the two did not move, standing still. Unexpectedly, those people actually came straight towards them, pushing and shoving each other, and the scene suddenly became crowded. It's unclear who bumped into her, but she managed to grab onto a nearby red railing, narrowly avoiding falling into the water. However, a sudden cry of surprise erupted from the crowd, followed by a loud splash, and when Yuan Yi turned around, he found that Yuan Rou was nowhere to be seen.

  Yuanyi's face turned cold, and without thinking, she jumped into the lake water, carefully searching for Yuanyu's figure. However, there were many aquatic plants in the lake that obstructed her view. By the time she found Yuanyu's figure, she had already been hugged by a man in white clothes, who was swimming towards the boat at this moment.

  As soon as she climbed onto the boat, a woolen cloak with embroidery was immediately draped over her body. She looked up to see Xiao Heng's gloomy face, "You're just a woman, what heroism are you trying to show off?"

  "She's my second sister!" Yuan Yi growled in a low voice, disregarding his suddenly ugly face, and turned around to look for Yuan Rou's figure. He only saw her spitting out a few mouthfuls of muddy water, her face pale, and when she met Yuan Yi's gaze, her stunned eyes moved slightly, and two lines of clear tears flowed out.

  The person who saved her was a male guest on the second floor.

  Yuanyu was carried back from the lake by a man, her reputation was completely ruined. Yuanyi suddenly felt a wave of weakness and desolation, her eyes were swollen and dry, wanting to cry, but there were no tears in her eyes.

  When something big happened, Rui Wangfei Yun Jie's expression also became urgent. She hastily called a maid to carry Yuan Rou back into the painting boat and ordered someone to help her bathe and change clothes. Another maid came before Yuan Yi, who was drenched from head to toe, and said: "Fourth Young Lady, please go in and change your clothes."

  Yuanyi didn't move, her gaze swept across the faces of the people around her, especially Yuanyi, Yuanhua and Qin Rujing who were standing beside her just now. Their faces hung with cold smiles, but they didn't say a word and followed the maid into the painting boat, leaving behind a crowd of people with unreadable expressions.

  This trip ended abruptly as expected. The people of the Zhu Manor all had a heavy expression, and after Rui Wang promised to investigate the truth, he took Yuan Rou back to the Zhu Manor with a dead silence.

  Zhang understood the situation and was furious, beating and selling off Yu Rou's personal maidservants, and also venting his anger on the people who followed him, each and every one of them were given a disciplinary order, not even Yu Yi was spared.

  What made Zhang's family even more embarrassed was that, in just one day, her natal family sent someone to break off the engagement, on the grounds that Yuan Rou had lost her virtue as a woman and had immediately become engaged to a concubine's daughter from the Ministry of Works. In an instant, undercurrents surged through the capital.

  After learning this news, Yuan Ruo's condition suddenly worsened due to the cold she caught from falling into the water, and she became increasingly frail and haggard day by day.

  Su Mei pushed open the door and came in, only to see her own daughter sitting by the window in a daze. She hurried over to close the window and worriedly said, "Girl, the evening wind is cold, you must take care of your body."

  The original text is already in Chinese, I will translate it to English:

  Mulan stared at the rice paper in her hand without any reaction. Su Mei looked over and let out a low cry of surprise, only to see some official names scribbled hastily on top, which seemed to be a distribution of power among the court officials.

  The Minister of Justice and the Vice Minister of Works, who originally belonged to the Crown Prince's party, were heavily targeted with an arrow pointing directly at the Second Imperial Son, Ding Wang!