IBTBTED Chapter 18

It’s Better to be the Empress Dowager

Chapter 18          Falling into Water

Did someone fall into the lake? Tang Shishi’s expression changed, she ignored Ren Yujun and rushed to the scene. The other three also knew that things had changed, and they hurried to keep up.

Tang Shishi’s intuition was wrong. Lu Yufei stood by the lake and anxiously shouted. When she saw Tang Shishi, she quickly asked, “Miss Tang, is there anyone here who can swim? My third sister, she can’t swim.”

After Shishi Tang ran over she found out that the young ladies had just gone to the pavilion to have a rest, and the edge of the road was slippery, and she fell into the water alone. They called “Miss Lu” just now. Tang Shishi thought it was Lu Yufei, but it turned out to be Lu Yuji.

Lu Yufei grew up in the Northwest and could not swim. The Lu family maids were all non-swimmers. At that moment, Lu Yuji who fell into the water was struggling for help and was about to sink.

Tang Shishi looked at the dry gravel road on the ground, then at Lu Yuji in the water, and her eyebrows twisted slightly.

Was there such a coincidence in the world? They just knew that Jing Wang wanted to make Lu Yufei a Shizifei. Lu Yufei’s sister from another mother fell into the water in the Jing Wang mansion. Although the road by the lake was not easy to walk, Jing Wang reinforced it with stones. It did not rain last night and now the road was dry and flat. How could she slip down?

Tang Shishi was judging Lu Yuji secretly. She suspected that Lu Yuji was intentional.

Tang Shishi stood by the lake and did not mean to go into the water to save people. If it were a true fall into the water, Tang Shishi might still hesitate, but the other party did it deliberately, so Tang Shishi would not take the risk at all.

Zhou Shunhua also rushed over. Feng Qian looked at the gravel on the ground and doubted, “Why did she fall into the water?”

Tang Shishi shook her head, “Who knows.”

Lu Yuji’s maid kept shouting for help, and her voice was about to cry. The movement here attracted more and more people. While Tang Shishi and Feng Qian doubted Lu Yuji, Zhou Shunhua moved suddenly. Zhou Shunhua quickly removed the jewelry from her head, hurriedly stuffed it into Ren Yujun’s hand, and jumped into the water without looking back.

She moved so fast that people on the side were startled. Feng Qian touched her heart and said in a surprised tone, “Sister Zhou has gone in to save people? She knows how to swim.”

Tang Shishi was also surprised. She looked at Zhou Shunhua’s movement in the water and frowned more and more deeply, “No, she’s not good in the water. She’s going to sink too!”

It was a very dangerous thing to save a drowning person. Out of the survival instinct, the drowning person would cling to the rescuer firmly. If one was not careful, the rescuer would be dragged into the water together. Now, Zhou Shunhua was faced with such a situation. She could swim by herself, but she could not take another person with her. Instead, she was still entangled with Lu Yuji and could not move forward. Zhou Shunhua’s physical strength was exhausted very quickly and she failed to save her. On the contrary, she was also in danger of drowning.

Tang Shishi was surprised. She was a selfish person and could not understand this kind of self-sacrificing feelings. Since Zhou Shunhua was not good in the water, why did she jump into the water? If she could not save people, how could she save her own life?

Tang Shishi could not do it. Whether she was selfish or unsympathetic, to her, she was the most precious.

Ren Yujun panicked and kept calling Zhou Shunhua’s name by the lake, “Shunhua, Shunhua, hold on! Whoever of you knows how to swim, go down and save people! Tang Shishi, doesn’t your family do canal business? Go and save Shunhua!”

“I’m just a jack-of-all-trades, getting into the water can only kill her.” Tang Shishi remained unmoved, in the vastness of the universe, her own life was the greatest. Tang Shishi turned around and shouted to the maid, “Hurry up and find an old woman who is good in the water. She is in charge of taking care of the lake. Go find her quickly!”

The womenfolk were all in a complete mess. After Tang Shishi yelled, the maids hastily went to find someone and ran into each other like a group of headless flies. Amid the chaos, a thumping diving sound came from the other side of the lake.

Tang Shishi turned her head and saw the attendants shouting “Shizi” in a panic. Then one by one jumped into the water, regardless of whether they could swim or not, all flopping in the water simultaneously. Tang Shishi widened her eyes in shock and watched Zhao Zixun quickly swim to the middle of the lake and saved Zhou Shunhua in front of everyone.

Two women fell into the water, and Zhao Zixun could only save one at a time. He chose Zhou Shunhua without hesitation. After falling into the water, their clothes were completely wet. Zhao Zixun hugged Zhou Shunhua from behind and took her back to the shore. During the period Lu Yuji’s cry for help became weaker and weaker, Zhao Zixun only glanced at her, but still resolutely pulled Zhou Shunhua away.

After Zhao Zixun took Zhou Shunhua away, the other rescuers also arrived. The old woman stunned Lu Yuji with a palm, and several people worked together to tow Lu Yuji back to the shore.

Everything happened out in the public, and Lu Yufei stood on the shore and was stunned also. At this time, Zhao Zixun had already rescued someone back to the shore. On the other side of the lake, the flapping sound attracted many people. Lu Yufei woke up like a dream and hurried to the other side to check on Lu Yuji’s condition.

Women’s integrity was most precious and fragile at the same time. It’s summer now and the clothes were lightweight, they stuck to their bodies after being soaked in water, showing all their curves. Since Zhao Zixun was a man, it was still tolerable, but the other two women who were exposed would lose their dignity.

Ren Yujun hurriedly found a cloak and wanted to surround Zhou Shunhua. As soon as she approached, before she got close to Zhou Shunhua, Zhao Zixun gave a warning glare, “What are you doing?”

Zhao Zixun hugged Zhou Shunhua tightly, ignoring the situation between the two of them. Ren Yujun was stunned and took out her cloak, “Shizi, there are so many people here, it’s not appropriate to stay for a long time. Give me Shunhua…”

“No need.” Zhao Zixun avoided Ren Yujun’s hand. He grabbed the cloak, wrapped Zhou Shunhua tightly, then picked up the person, and said quickly, “Quickly call the imperial physician, she fainted.”

Zhao Zixun left quickly with Zhou Shunhua in his arms with everyone surrounding him and leaving the lakeshore half empty. Ren Yujun was still maintaining her hand movement of delivering things and standing in place blankly.

Not far away, the womenfolk of the Lu family was taking care of Lu Yuji. Lu Yufei was standing outside, looking at Zhao Zixun who was leaving, and she was also a little lost. Tang Shishi came slowly from the other side of the lake. She stopped beside Ren Yujun and whispered, “Shizi really cares about her.”

Ren Yujun looked in the direction where Zhao Zixun and Zhou Shunhua left and did not speak. Tang Shishi looked at it for a while and said with certainty, “He likes her.”

He likes her, so the people at the present, Tang Shishi, Ren Yujun, including Lu Yufei, were all losers.

Tang Shishi was really sad. The first time an assassin was found in the room, Tang Shishi chose to report him, and Zhou Shunhua chose to cover for him, so Zhou Shunhua and Shizi became attached to each other. The second time someone fell into the water, Tang Shishi chose to call a professional to rescue people, and Zhou Shunhua knew that she was not so good with water and yet still jumped in, so Zhou Shunhua and Shizi had skin-to-skin contact. It turned out that this was the reason why Tang Shishi could not become a female lead?

She was not kind enough, and she was not self-sacrificing enough.

This was ridiculous!

Nuan Ge, the imperial physician hurried over holding the medicine box. The imperial physician walked in and saluted Zhao Chengjun, “Jing Wang.”

Zhao Chengjun waved his hand, “Don’t be polite, let’s get the pulse of the two patients first.”

“I obey.”

The imperial physician went to the inner room to check the pulse. The room was full of people standing outside the screen. Zhao Zixun had changed his clothes and kept glimpsing inside the screen, expressing his anxiety. The madam of the Lu family and Lu Yufei stood aside. Lu Yufei lowered her head with a worried expression. Madam Lu’s expression was tense, and she looked behind the screen from time to time. Tang Shishi, Ren Yujun, and others were also there, standing in twos and threes in front of the Duobao Pavilion, all of them looking down and contemplating themselves.

Ren Yujun could not hide her sourness and Madam Lu’s expression became more and more ugly when both of them saw Zhao Zixun’s peeping movements as it was too obvious.

Zhao Chengjun sat on the main seat and had a panoramic view of the expressions of the people below. Zhao Chengjun held back his anger and questioned, “What was going on?”

No one dared to speak. Zhao Chengjun’s gaze slowly swept across the crowd. All the people he saw bowed their heads and kept silent. Finally, he stopped at Tang Shishi.

Tang Shishi noticed it and quickly said, “Wangye, it really had nothing to do with me this time.”

“No one doubts you.” Zhao Chengjun asked in a cold voice, “Tell me what happened just now.”

Seeing that he did not mean to pursue the responsibility, Tang Shishi breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Wangye, I met Sister Zhou and Sister Ren by chance in the garden. We were talking and suddenly heard someone calling for help. When we arrived, we found out it was the third young lady of the Lu family that fell into the water, and Sister Zhou immediately jumped down to save the people. Unexpectedly, she was exhausted and trapped in the water together. I found an old woman who can swim, the old woman hasn’t gotten into the water yet when Shizi so happened to pass by. Shizi was courageous. He went into the water to save people regardless of people’s obstruction. Shizi saved Sister Zhou, and the old woman saved the third young lady of the Lu family. Then, this is exactly what Wangye saw.”

Lu Yufei and Ren Yujun were also there, and Zhao Chengjun saw that the two of them did not say anything, and he knew that what Tang Shishi said was correct. Zhao Chengjun became angrier. He just asked Old Madam Zheng to talk about the marriage contract with the Lu family, but Zhao Zixun did this later. Zhao Chengjun did not care about why the common daughter of the Lu family fell into the water, but Zhao Zixun rescued a maid in front of the eldest young lady of the Lu family and had skin-to-skin contact with the other party. Where did Zhao Zixun put the Jing Wang mansion with this kind of action? Where did he put the imperial family system?

Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that Jing Wang was angry and very serious. Everyone dared not come out, and even Madam Lu’s expression was embarrassed.

If it was under a normal circumstance, the prospective son-in-law rescued other women in front of the daughter, and still had an unclear relationship with the maid, even if the other party was Jing Wang mansion, the Lu family was eligible to flare up. However, this incident was caused by the Lu family themself.

Madam Lu had been in charge of the inner residence for so many years, how could she not able to see through such lesser methods? After Lu Yuji learned that Jing Wang intended to marry the Lu family, she deliberately fell into the water when Shizi passed by the lakeside. No one in the Lu family knew how to swim, but Shizi did. If Shizi saved her, the two would have skin-to-skin contact, and Shizi would have to marry her under the pressure of reputation and integrity.

Madam Lu just wanted to spit at it. Lu Yuji thought she was beautiful, but she did not look in the mirror. Who was Shizi, and who was Lu Yuji? There are so many guards in the Jing Wang mansion, how could Shizi be in danger for a woman? The best result of this incident was that Lu Yuji was rescued by an old woman. Although she was disgraced, she still somewhat kept her innocence. However, it was more likely that Lu Yuji was rescued by the guards or even the young manservants. At that time, not only Lu Yuji could not survive, but other women of the Lu family would also be dragged down by her.

Madam Lu could see that Lu Yuji was calculating Shizi’s reputation and integrity, and Jing Wang knew it as well. Madam Lu was angry and ashamed that her chest hurt for a while, and she could not even speak. As the atmosphere stagnated, the inner curtain moved. The imperial physician came from behind the screen, and bowed to Zhao Chengjun, “Wangye, this humble servant has already diagnosed the two ladies. Fortunately, Miss Zhou suffered from the cold, but she is still in good health. As long as she drinks some medications, she will be healthy in the future, and it will not be a big problem. On the contrary, the other lady has been in the water for a long time, choking a lot of water, and causing great damage to her foundation. I’m afraid she’ll have to take care of herself for some time.”

Zhao Chengjun nodded his head faintly and signaled to Liu Ji, “Good. Go and prescribe the medicine.”

Liu Ji and the imperial physician saluted together, “Yes.” Liu Ji led the imperial physician to the side room to prescribe medicine. After the imperial physician left, only the relevant people were left in the room and there were no changes in Zhao Chengjun’s expression. Then he calmly said to Madam Lu, “Madam Lu, I didn’t teach my son well and allowed you to ridicule us. If Madam Lu is willing, this marriage contract will continue.”

Madam Lu and Zhao Zixun were both surprised. Madam Lu’s face showed obvious joy, but Zhao Zixun’s face changed drastically. He stepped forward and burst out, “Father!”

Zhao Chengjun looked at Zhao Zixun unenthusiastically, and clearly did not say a word, but his expression was very heavy. Zhao Zixun was overwhelmed under such a gaze, his imposing manner became lower. Finally, lowered his head stiffly.

Zhao Chengjun retracted his gaze, with a slight smile at the corner of his mouth, and said to Madam Lu, “I admire your eldest daughter very much. In any case, she is the only Shizifei.”

Tang Shishi tutted in her heart, weak cannot match the strong, and the marriage was settled. Feng Momo was right, Jing Wang was really a very difficult person to approach, in various senses.

Even if the two previous intended wives were not dead, he would not have a wife.

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