20 Legacy World 1.10 The Truth Is Out

When ZhangYong shouted, the guard had already swung down another hit and the paddle was reaching Xinyi's flesh with a great momentum that was difficult to break.

Before anyone could register what happened, a sharp crack was heard, quickly followed by a loud wail of pain. The paddle fell to the ground harmlessly with its momentum broken.

ZhangYong stood in front of the guard who hand looked abnormal with his wrist caught in ZhangYong's strong and fierce grip.

"Didn't I tell you to stop?" He spoke in a menacingly deep voice.

The guard started hyperventilating out of fear and pain and eventually fainted. ZhangYong let him fall by letting go of his wrist.

The other guards who were holding Xinyi down immediately let go of her and backed away.

Everyone else was stunned still, including WangWei who witnessed how ZhangYong used his martial ability to reach Xinyi in a flash.

"There's something wrong with this whole set-up. With WangYe and me present, I will not allow any mistakes to happen that could mar our reputation. I'll re-investigate this matter myself. In the meantime, no one can leave this courtyard, and no one is to touch her."

"ZhangYong GongZi, pardon my rudeness but can you explain what is the meaning of this? How can you detain all of us here?" Official Chen asked him.

"He has the right to do so. After all, this can be considered a ploy against me. HuiShan collapsed while she was by our side. Would you rather I bring my imperial guards here to detain all of you by force should you refuse to listen to ZhangYong?" WangWei trusted ZhangYong's judgement.

Official Chen paled. He did not want this to become that blown up so he bowed and apologised. "This lowly servant has overstepped his boundaries."

Suddenly, MeiRuo's sharp scream pierced everyone's eardrums. Everyone looked at her then looked at what she was staring in fear at.

Xinyi was dragging herself across the floor to MeiRuo, leaving a trail of blood behind her. All the while, a death glare was fixed on MeiRuo.

While everyone was busy talking, Xinyi had been trying to push herself off the ground.

However, she could never stand for long with her knees constantly giving way. She could barely feel her legs. Continuously splashing into a pool of her own blood got blood everywhere on her white dress and some on her pale face. It gave her quite a ghastly and frightening image.

MeiRuo's legs eventually went soft and she fell. Her face has already turned as white as sheet in her fright.

"MeiRuo, get up on your feet and stop looking so useless and disgraceful." The first concubine chided her own daughter.

"Xinyi what are you trying to accomplish by scaring your Da Jie like that?" She sternly asked Xinyi.

ZiYao did not say a thing and merely looked at MeiRuo with subtle disdain in her eyes.

ZhangYong stepped towards Xinyi and tried to help her up. "Leave it to me."

"Go away." Xinyi weakly but fiercely bit out. She did not bother casting him a single glance.

ZhangYong froze in place. His heart started to hurt. He clenched his jaw and he looked at her sadly. If she was not favourable to him before, she must hate him now.

Not wanting to remain helpless, he went beside MeiRuo, grabbed her shoulder, then threw her towards Xinyi so that Xinyi did not have to keep crawling.

Xinyi hated his assistance but took the chance to grab onto MeiRuo's wrist, causing her to scream more in fear. Raising it so that everyone could see the dirty fingernails and fresh burn marks on her hand and fingers, Xinyi asked, "Want to try and explain these again?"

MeiRuo, however, remained frozen under Xinyi's penetrating gaze.

"Answer me."

MeiRuo jumped when she prompted her with a biting cold tone.

"I- I- Th- This-"

"What do gardeners use to dig soil?"

Feeling like this was an easier question to answer under her watchful gaze, she immediately answered. "Hands! Their bare hands!"

She looked at a servant among the crowd. "Do you use your bare hands?"

The servant started sweating cold sweat, unsure if he should answer, but when he noticed ZhangYong's glare, he stuttered, "N- No! Th- There're tools for that!"

Xinyi turned back to MeiRuo who looked even paler now.

"Do you know how to cook?"

MeiRuo shook her head. "It's impossible for me to be the culprit. I don't even know how to cook!"

"Prove your innocence by matching your burns to the pot."

When MeiRuo made no move to do so even after Xinyi let go of her wrist, ZhangYong moved to bring the pot over instead.

Not wanting his help, Xinyi spoke as soon as he moved, "You didn't know that the handle would be hot, right?"

When Xinyi hit the nail on the head, MeiRuo broke down. "I don't know what you're saying! I don't know what you're saying!"

Having seen enough, WangYe's voice sounded like the death sentence. "ZhangYong."

ZhangYong knew that they needed the last piece of evidence. If the herb did not come from the garden, it had to come from someplace else. He left the courtyard and began the search.

MeiRuo kept pleading her innocence and crying for the whole time that ZhangYong was gone. The more she did so, the more inconsistent her stories became and the more her lies came apart. She was her own undoing.

ZhangYong came back with results to show. He found the place where the herb was purchased from and the package used to hold the herb that was disposed of within the estate.

With further questioning, MeiRuo was identified as the culprit by the shopkeeper and a maid who helped her in this scheme.

Understanding that there was no way out, MeiRuo scrambled to ZiYao's feet on all fours. "ZiYao meimei, why aren't you saying anything?!"

"What do you expect me to say? I thought you were innocent earlier but now it's clear for everyone to see that you're the person responsible for HuiShan's condition." ZiYao said sadly as if she was scammed.

MeiRuo stared at her with eyes as wide as saucers for a second before screaming hysterically, "I know what you're up to now! You're the one who's in love with ZhangYong! You're the one who's jealous of HuiShan! You schemed for all these to happen!"

ZiYao feigned shock and tears filled her eyes. "How can you say that of me? How can I be involved in this? HuiShan may be better than me in many ways but I know my strengths. I don't see the need to stoop to this level to win someone's love. Only people like you would need it."

Everyone nodded within their hearts and felt that MeiRuo was just trying to drag someone else down with her.

The first concubine looked as disappointed with MeiRuo as she sounded and did not bother to mitigate her sentencing and punishment. MeiRuo and the maid that aided MeiRuo ended up with two times the number of hits Xinyi had been sentenced with.

Not wanting to dirty Xinyi's courtyard any further, MeiRuo got dragged to her own courtyard to be flogged. Meanwhile, BaoBao informed Xinyi that she had passed the second hurdle of avoiding her fate as a cripple.

MeiRuo did not have an audience watching her like Xinyi had. Everyone hid in their rooms in shame or anger, especially their father who had been indirectly told off by WangWei for his carelessness and rashness.

"You should know your family more than this." Was what WangWei left him with.

While everyone left without a single word of apology, ZhangYong stayed back. WangWei got an inkling of ZhangYong's guilt so went ahead without him. The maids and servants who were ordered to clean Xinyi's courtyard got chased away as soon as they were done. She rejected their help that they were asked to provide her.

Xinyi's bleeding had already slowed down, so she continued to drag herself across the floor instead of attempting to stand up and risk aggravating her wound.

It was not her desired date of results but she needed something now and she might as well use this chance to test the effects instead of creating wounds on her body for it.

Once ZhangYong realized that she was going for the potted plants, he moved to help. However, Xinyi's words made him freeze. "Go away. I don't want you here. I don't want your help."

Her tone sounded much colder now because she was somewhat upset that she had to rely on him to find the conclusive evidence that MeiRuo could not escape from.

Meanwhile, BaoBao was backing Xinyi up in her mind. [Yes! Go away! We no longer want to see you!]

Xinyi could not help but think that BaoBao sounded like a jilted lover who was cheated of his feelings.

[But he did! He did cheat us!] BaoBao defended himself.

ZhangYong balled his hands into fists. As much as he wanted to stay and make it up to her, it would only end up as another self-gratifying act if it went against her wishes. Not wanting to upset her even further, he left after a soft apology. "I'm sorry for earlier."

As soon as he left, BaoBao appeared by her side with tears running down his red face. Xinyi did not know that this was BaoBao's first time crying like that. The emotions he felt has been gradually growing in intensity overtime the more he associated with her and he began to experience new sensations that he was unable to put a label on. Nonetheless, he knew what he wanted to do right now.

"Xinyi, please rest… I know what to do. I'll do it for you and once I'm done I'll let you know..."

Xinyi's heart went soft at the sight of his heartbroken and sorry look. She reached out to rub his head. "BaoBao, it's okay, it'll all be alright. I'm in your hands then."

Xinyi's small comforting smile and soft words made BaoBao's heart feel a mix of relief and sadness. Once again, it was things that he still did not understand.

BaoBao nodded then carefully lifted her by her hand to fly her to her bed. Although he was strong, the largest he could be was still not large enough to carry her any other way without aggravating her wound.

Once Xinyi got comfortable on her bed, she closed her eyes and focused on cultivating.

Not long later, BaoBao returned to her side with the salves. "Which would you like to use?"

"Are you able to see which wounds are of the same severity?"

"Mm! I can run a check on the physical condition of your body."

"You… Could? So you could have confirmed if I had been poisoned or not?"

"I would be able to detect that the chemical makeup in your body isn't normal and I can inform you of what's abnormal."

"Why didn't you?"

"You didn't ask me about your body's condition." BaoBao blinked innocently.

"I see… Looks like you're feeling proactive today."

When BaoBao cocked his head to indicate a lack of understanding, she explained, "You offered your help today without me asking."

BaoBao's eyes now grew wide in realisation. "I did…"

He started to look sad again. "Sorry… I didn't notice…"

"What's there to be sorry about?"

"Is it not something frowned upon? We're told to only do something when we're asked and if it's within what we're allowed to do."

"The things you say make me very curious about what you're taught, but just to let you know, I do appreciate that you're more proactive. I'm still new to this transmigration after all, and since we're in this together, your help is greatly appreciated."

BaoBao experienced a warm sensation again. His cheeks turned pink and a bright smile bloomed across his face. "So how can I help now?"

Xinyi smiled lightly to see him all cheered up now. "Find wounds of the same severity and use an equal amount of each salve on different ones. You can use the one made from the most nourished herb for all the other wounds."

While BaoBao washed and dressed her wounds, the cool pain killing effect of the salves lulled Xinyi to sleep.

Xinyi slept for almost 24 hours and only woke up when the afternoon sun was already going down. She opened her eyes to see BaoBao flying in through the open window with a bowl of steaming hot soup.

He stood by her bed, blew onto the hot soup, then held the spoon in front of her mouth.

Xinyi's gaze shifted between the spoon and BaoBao's face. Finally, she smiled gratefully and rubbed his head again. "Thank you, BaoBao. You're very reliable."

BaoBao beamed sweetly with pink cheeks. "It's nothing..."

After a few mouthfuls, BaoBao suddenly placed the bowl on her bed and disappeared.

[He's here with new ingredients again.] BaoBao sounded put off. [Does he not get the message that I'm not going to use the things he brings now? Humph!]

Xinyi slightly raised an eyebrow at his petty tone. /He came by again? How long exactly did I sleep for?/

[You slept for almost an entire day.] ZhangYong came last night and this morning too.

/I see…/ Xinyi was propping herself up by her elbows and drinking the soup when the door to her room opened.

ZhangYong's eyes widened in surprise to find her awake. Afraid that she would scold him for lacking decency again, he said, "I knocked."

"... I heard." Xinyi replied curtly.

ZhangYong started walking towards her. He glanced at the bloodied rags still on the floor by her bed and guilt fleeted across his eyes. "How're you now?"

Xinyi, however, did not answer him anymore.

When he showed the intention to feed her, she slid the bowl towards the wall and placed her arm between the bowl and him. With her body acting as a wall between him and the bowl, she continued to eat in peace as if he was not there.

He stood by her bed looking dejected. "I'm really sorry... I know I let you down. I spent so much time with you yet I doubted you immediately like I haven't learnt anything about you in the time we have spent together. I have no excuses."

Xinyi stopped eating and looked to be deep in thought. "You don't have to come again. It's not like I can fight like this. Come back one or two weeks later." She then resumed eating and ignoring his presence. She was not the kind to ignore a heartfelt apology and kick a person when he was down.

ZhangYong left without a word while BaoBao reappeared to continue feeding her.