Shen Xiling never expected that her sleep that night would later bring great disaster upon her.

To trace the source of this matter, it actually began in the study hall.

Though Teacher Wang had given Shen Xiling three days off that day, he hadn’t given Zhao Yao the same treatment. The next day she still attended the study hall as usual, her left hand wrapped in layers of bandages like a small rice dumpling.

Fu Rong and the two Qi family young masters all arrived early that day. When Qi Le saw his dear Sister Yao’s pitiful pained appearance, he felt truly heartbroken and came forward to show concern, asking if it still hurt. Zhao Yao was in no good mood and threw a small tantrum, saying: “What kind of words are Fourth Brother saying? Looking like this, how could it not hurt? When Teacher beats you all, he’s never this harsh—why must he treat me like this!”

Speaking of both pain and grievance, she pouted and began crying again.

Seeing her cry made Qi Le even more flustered, not knowing how to comfort her properly. Then he heard Sister Fu say: “Sister Yao, please don’t cry anymore. Teacher will arrive soon—what if he punishes you again?”

Zhao Yao already had some friction with Fu Rong, so hearing her say this made her even more furious. Her uninjured right hand slammed hard on the desk as she angrily said: “I’m just crying a little—why would he punish me for that! Has this study hall forbidden even crying now!”

Fu Rong sat in her seat, turned around to look at Zhao Yao with slightly furrowed brows and apologetic expression, saying: “Sister, please don’t be angry. It’s my fault for speaking improperly, I just…”

She paused without finishing, then glanced seemingly casually toward Shen Xiling’s empty seat.

Zhao Yao didn’t understand the meaning of that glance, but subconsciously felt Fu Rong was hinting at something, so she pressed: “Just what?”

Fu Rong smiled at her with a cryptic expression, saying: “Nothing much, I just heard that yesterday though Sister Wenwen also received punishment, Teacher Wang gave her three days off while Sister Yao didn’t get any. Perhaps it’s because Teacher has higher expectations of you. That being the case, he surely doesn’t want to see you crying…”

Zhao Yao had been beaten so badly by Wang Qing yesterday she was nearly crying for her parents—how could she have paid attention to Shen Xiling’s fate? Only now hearing Fu Rong mention it did she learn about the three-day leave, making her so angry smoke practically poured from her seven orifices as she raged: “How outrageous! How can Teacher handle things so unfairly!”

Seeing her agitation, Qi Le hurriedly tried to soothe her. Qi Ning, sitting nearby, couldn’t stand watching and couldn’t help speaking fairly: “You can’t really call it unfair handling, can you? Yesterday’s incident wasn’t started by Sister Wenwen in the first place. Teacher Wang did beat her too. She’s just a delicate young girl—giving her three days off is reasonable.”

His implication was that Zhao Yao, the instigator, shouldn’t have gotten leave in the first place.

Zhao Yao had already been somewhat at odds with Qi Ning recently, so hearing him say this while she was angry made her cry directly from rage, her fury burning even hotter. But before she could explode, she heard Fu Rong say: “Jing’an’s words are rather unfair. Though yesterday’s incident wasn’t started by Sister Wenwen, if she had been more careful, it wouldn’t have resulted in Sister Yao being punished…”

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhao Yao immediately understood.

So that’s it! She had wondered why that orphan girl would help her cheat! It turned out she was scheming against her! She pretended to help her but actually intended to be caught by Teacher Wang deliberately. This way she could avoid offending Zhao Yao while ensuring Zhao Yao got beaten by the teacher!

What a poisonous heart!

Ever since entering this study hall, Zhao Yao had felt everything went wrong. She wasn’t cut out for studying—she had only come here to appear more often before her Second Brother. But now not only was her daily hard study fruitless, she rarely even saw Second Brother’s face and frequently got beaten, which had long made her miserable. Now she directed all her anger at Shen Xiling, feeling this fallen family’s daughter dared scheme against her because she seemed easy to bully! If even an outsider dared do this and she tolerated it, how could she maintain her position in the Qi family in the future?

With this thought, her anger flared up. Zhao Yao felt a desperate, reckless fury in her heart. She suddenly stood up from her seat and charged headlong out of the study hall. Qi Le tried to stop her but couldn’t hold her back.

Qi Le panicked and asked Third Brother and Cousin: “What should we do? Sister Yao in this state… surely she won’t go cause trouble for Sister Wenwen?”

Qi Ning was also somewhat panicked, uncertain what to do. Only Fu Rong remained calm, turning to tell the two: “Today’s matter probably isn’t something we can persuade her out of. In my opinion, we should go find Grandmother to mediate.”

While Fu Rong was leading people to find Old Madam Qi, Zhao Yao had already led two Zhao family maids to find Shen Xiling’s courtyard, making a commotion at the gate and shouting for Shen Xiling to come out and give her an explanation.

Zijun had been sweeping at the gate when she saw this Zhao family noble lady charging over like a shrew making a scene, immediately feeling anger rise in her heart.

She was originally a maid from Fenghe Garden and wasn’t very familiar with the main household’s affairs, so she was even less inclined to defer to relatives like Zhao Yao. Moreover, she had a straightforward nature. Just last night she had heard that their young miss was beaten by the teacher because of this noble lady’s involvement, which had already made her indignant. Now seeing her come looking for trouble, her fury truly reached the heavens. There was absolutely no reason to step aside. So she blocked the doorway with her broom, not letting them enter.

Seeing this made Zhao Yao even angrier. She had the two maids behind her pull Zijun aside, and they began pushing and shoving. Zijun was overwhelmed fighting two against one. Fortunately, Fengshang heard the commotion and ran out from the house to help, and after a while Shuipei was also alerted.

Among the three of them, Shuipei was the most sensible, knowing they couldn’t directly confront Zhao Yao. She quickly pulled Zijun and Fengshang aside, bowed to Zhao Yao, then said politely: “Has Miss Zhao come looking for our young miss? Unfortunately, young miss is sleeping and hasn’t gotten up yet.”

Zhao Yao snorted coldly and cursed: “What kind of young miss is a parentless orphan from Bajun? Still sleeping? Then drag her up! Get out of the way!”

Without bothering to negotiate with Shuipei, she charged straight inside. Seeing this situation, Shuipei knew the matter couldn’t end peacefully, so she joined Zijun and Fengshang in blocking Zhao Yao’s group.

Zhao Yao laughed angrily from rage, turning to call some household servants to help. Those servants from the main household weighed the situation—seeing that Miss Zhao had family connections to the Qi family while that Miss Fang was unknown from who knows where, they naturally favored the former. So together with the two Zhao family maids, they pulled Shuipei and the others aside, allowing Zhao Yao to charge through the door with her group.

The commotion outside was extremely loud, yet it didn’t wake Shen Xiling.

She was ill and still drowsy after the night had passed, still wrapped in Qi Ying’s clothes sleeping just as she had been last night. Only when Zhao Yao violently pushed open her bedroom door and charged in with a group of people did she finally wake up.

Not understanding what was happening at first, in her confusion she seemed to return to childhood, remembering the scene when her father’s wife had led people to break into their home. As if trapped in a nightmare, she broke out in a cold sweat. Only when she saw clearly that the intruder was Zhao Yao did she gradually regain her senses.

However, when she realized she hadn’t yet hidden Qi Ying’s clothes, her heart clenched into a knot. She didn’t know why she felt so nervous—even beyond nervousness, she felt an inexplicable shame. Clutching the corner of the long fur coat, she froze in place, not knowing what to do.

Fortunately, Zhao Yao charged in full of anger and didn’t notice anything improper about Shen Xiling’s clothing. After entering, she immediately put her hands on her hips and angrily scolded: “How dare you, Fang Jun! You actually dared scheme to harm me! Speak! Did you deliberately let Teacher Wang discover us yesterday!”

This barrage of accusations left Shen Xiling completely bewildered. As she stood there stunned, Zhao Yao had already lost her reason and lunged forward to attack her.

Zhao Yao had harbored deep resentment against Shen Xiling. Ever since first seeing her at Fenghe Garden on Lantern Festival day, Zhao Yao had always held a grudge against her. She resented her living in Second Brother’s private residence, resented her causing Third Brother to become distant from herself, resented her good studies that earned Wang Qing’s special regard, and even more resented her stunningly beautiful face.

Now, riding on her fury, Zhao Yao struck hard, recklessly attacking Shen Xiling and specifically targeting her face. Her nails were grown quite long—with one swipe she left a bloody scratch on Shen Xiling’s face. Seeing this, Zhao Yao was stunned for a moment, not having expected to draw blood. But this only further aroused her vicious nature, making her feel thrilled. So she deliberately scratched another harsh line across her face. Shen Xiling instinctively dodged to one side, deflecting most of the force, but still received a half-deep bloody mark on her face.

At that time, Shen Xiling was ill, her whole body aching and weak. She was also more delicately built than Zhao Yao, giving her virtually no ability to fight back. Shuipei and the others were restrained by the servants Zhao Yao had called, only able to watch helplessly as she was bullied by Zhao Yao without being able to help. Fengshang struggled while crying, and Zijun, having a fiercer temper, fought with her broom against the servant restraining her, but couldn’t spare attention to rescue Shen Xiling.

During the struggle, Shen Xiling’s small grasshopper slipped from her palm and fell to the ground, where it was coincidentally stepped on by Zhao Yao. Shen Xiling had originally had no intention of fighting with Zhao Yao, but this made her see red. She somehow found a surge of strength and pushed Zhao Yao away, crouching down to look at her small grasshopper. She saw that the thing that had been sent to her from thousands of li away just last night was now trampled to pieces, its lifelike root fibers all broken.

That was something Qi Ying had given her… but now, it was like this.

It had only been one night.

Zhao Yao hadn’t expected Shen Xiling to dare fight back, making her even more furious. After shrieking, she lunged forward to beat her again. For a moment, Shen Xiling’s courtyard was in complete chaos, filled with angry shouts, cries, and fighting sounds. Even the most notorious pleasure quarters in Jiankang City rarely saw such commotion, let alone a noble family household like the Qis.

All this only came to an abrupt halt when Old Madam Qi arrived.

Old Madam Qi had already passed seventy last year. Though she had a strong temperament in her youth, now that she was aging and her health wasn’t good, she had gradually stopped managing household affairs. However, just now her beloved grand-niece had come to her room saying that Sister Zhao was having a dispute with that Fang family girl and asking her to mediate. Old Madam Qi had always known Fu Rong to have a steady temperament, self-controlled and proper—the most dignified and composed person. Even she couldn’t help but come seek mediation, which showed those two girls were making quite a disturbance.

Old Madam Qi was displeased, feeling these two girls truly couldn’t be presented properly. She originally hadn’t wanted to manage such trivial matters, but ever since last time when Rong’er had mentioned that Fang family girl might have some unclear entanglements with Jingchen, she had harbored some concerns. Since today’s incident had erupted, she might as well go see. If that Fang family girl had any improprieties, it would be convenient for her to take action.

Having made up her mind, the old lady headed straight for Shen Xiling’s courtyard with Fu Rong’s support.

Before even entering the courtyard gate, they could hear the commotion inside from far away. Upon entering and looking, they saw that noble lady Zhao Yao had completely lost all dignity and decorum while fighting that Fang family girl. Though the Fang girl couldn’t match her, she hadn’t forgotten to fight back either, leaving Zhao Yao’s hair completely disheveled. The maids on the side were crying and making noise—the whole room was in chaos, extremely annoying.

Fortunately, the Zhao family maids were more observant than their young mistress. Seeing Old Madam Qi had come in person, they quickly went to pull Zhao Yao back and make her stop. Zhao Yao had been having a grand time throwing her tantrum, but when she turned and saw Old Madam Qi standing behind her, she was immediately frightened.

Zhao Yao knew that Old Madam Qi was different from Yao Shi and didn’t favor her. Her mother Zhao Qishi was a concubine-born daughter of the Qi family who had also been at odds with the old lady in her youth. Zhao Yao didn’t dare act presumptuously in front of her. Seeing her arrival, she was so frightened her legs went weak and immediately half-knelt on the ground.

Author’s Note: This chapter is a bit angsty. Countdown to their meeting.