Reborn as a Hatrack in the Mystical Land-Chapter 51 - 35 The Despicable Mule Rolls

On return day, at the entrance of the valley where the Royal Xuanji Academy was located, carriages for picking up young masters and misses from various families were parked bumper to bumper.

Yue Jinghua and Shalman, not having a family carriage to pick them up, walked out of the valley on foot.

Upon arriving at the narrow valley entrance, they were met with a carriage covered with a golden-threaded silk canopy, drawn by four snow horses. Atop the carriage, a flag swayed in the wind, prominently embroidered with the character "Xiao Yi."

Beside the carriage, Lie Sisi wore an exquisitely delicate soft hat, her delicate skin slightly reddened under the sun, smiling at the corners of her mouth. Standing together with her was the stern-faced Prince Xiao Yi.

Prince Xiao Yi paused his gaze slightly and whispered something into Lie Sisi's ear.

Lie Sisi's eyebrows raised in displeasure, quickly reverting to a tame expression. She turned and in a gentle voice asked, "Cousin Jinghua, what a coincidence. Today is return day, and I cannot go back to the mansion alone due to an inconvenience with my eyes. Prince Xiao Yi wishes to escort me back. How about you join us and return together?" Lie Sisi deliberately used "wishes to escort" and skillfully included "us" in her speech. Hearing this, Prince Xiao Yi by her side didn't contradict her, merely leaning against the carriage stoically, his cool face unchanged.

What slightly disappointed him was Yue Jinghua's equally indifferent expression.

Ever since the day Lie Sisi was badly injured in the Xuan Technique Pavilion, Prince Xiao Yi had visited multiple times and even brought the imperial physician to treat her. Over the past few days, their relationship had progressed rapidly and became quite ambiguous.

With her speech suffused with shyness, dressed in fluttering white robes as if descended from a painting, Lie Sisi indeed resembled a beauty that could not easily be ignored. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

It is indeed a small world for enemies; this damnable Yue Jinghua seems to bump into them wherever they go.

The thwarted effort in the Xuan Technique Pavilion left Lie Sisi extremely irritated, but due to this injury, she inadvertently grew closer to the Xiao Yi King.

Her eyes were injured by sharp fragments of a Jade Tablet. After thorough treatment, they were not yet fully healed, requiring Prince Xiao Yi's expertise in guiding Dark Power to restore some of her vision.

That carriage was exclusively for the Xiao Yi Prince Mansion, initially there to pick up Prince Xiao Yi, and coincidentally encountered Lie Sisi "waiting for a ride" at the valley entrance.

According to the Xiao Yi King's temperament, he naturally wouldn't let a beautiful woman wait alone for a carriage, and thus invited Lie Sisi to ride with him.

Together, they made a striking pair – him cool, her charming; truly a matched set that drew lots of attention.

In the eyes of others, Prince Xiao Yi and Lie Sisi matched each other in family background and looks, forming a perfect union. Contrastingly, Yue Jinghua was the fiancée of Prince Xiao Yi.

Blocking the valley entrance were numerous carriages of various families. Many pulled back the curtains, pointing and murmuring various comments at the trio with expressive faces.

From Lie Sisi's earlier remarks, everyone at the entrance understood that Prince Xiao Yi hadn't sent for his fiancée, yet lavished attention on Lie Sisi. By tomorrow, the entire Poluo City would be buzzing with this gossip.

Yue Jinghua sneered inwardly, thinking of the pretentious couple, but said aloud, "Thank you for your kind intentions, sister. However, Empress Dowager Min is endowed with virtue and has prescribed proper female conduct. Books say, 'Boys and girls over seven should not share a seat,' and my mother also taught me from a young age not to share a carriage with the opposite sex. If I get on the carriage, I'm afraid it would breach etiquette and give rise to gossip, which would not be good."

Lie Sisi's mother died early, and with Yue Jinghua mentioning it like that, it sounded as if she was accusing Lie Sisi of having a mother but no teaching.

It struck her that Yue Jinghua, who has always acted without regard for etiquette, would invoke the customs of Shang Kingdom. She was an unmarried girl, and though she fancied Prince Xiao Yi, riding in a carriage alone with him without any maids present indeed wouldn't sound proper if word got out.

The situation took a sudden turn; those who had been looking forward to seeing Yue Jinghua's drama were now looking at Lie Sisi with contempt, not expecting the ordinarily saint-like Lie Sisi to be so bold and unrestrained.

As if he couldn't bear to see Lie Sisi's embarrassment, Prince Xiao Yi spoke up, "It was my oversight, and I have troubled Miss Sisi. Since it isn't proper for men and women to share a carriage, I shall ask Miss Yue to accompany Sisi back. Her eyes have not fully recovered; she can only see blurry figures and might encounter difficulties on the road." Prince Xiao Yi still maintained his cool demeanor, but his gaze at Yue Jinghua held a bit of consideration.

"Of course, she is my sister," replied Yue Jinghua, stepping forward and offering her hand to support the seemingly fragile Lie Sisi.

"Then I must trouble my sister to help me onto the carriage," said Lie Sisi gratefully, letting Yue Jinghua aid her, already stepping onto the carriage.

Yue Jinghua, this time I'll see how you absolve yourself from blame. Just as Lie Sisi was about to climb into the carriage, her knee mysteriously gave way, and she let out a sharp cry: "Cousin Jinghua, why would you push me?"

There's no denying Lie Sisi was a natural-born actress. As she cried out, her body tumbled like a falling stone, looking like she was about to roll down from the carriage.

Alas, no matter how crafty the actress, when faced with the Oscar-winning caliber of Yue Jinghua, all her tricks were rendered useless.

Just as Lie Sisi began to speak, "Miss Lie," Fa Xiaoyi, who had not walked far, quickly stepped forward, intending to support Lie Sisi as she fell to the ground.

"Hss," a cloud of dust rose as the normally gentle snow horses suddenly reared, one of them neighing loudly as it leapt up, blocking Fa Xiaoyi.

Lie Sisi, who was already unstable, lost her balance and tumbled to the ground.

What's worse, another snow horse lifted its front hooves, and one hoof landed on the face of Lie Sisi, who had rolled onto the ground.

In just a moment's time, the ethereal fairy turned into a dust-covered mule, unable to curse out loud, Lie Sisi could only endure as Yue Jinghua began to shriek wildly.

A sneer flashed across those deep red lips, as Yue Jinghua feigned panic, "Sister, are you alright? It's all my fault, when I saw the horses getting startled, I immediately tried to protect you."

Fa Xiaoyi reacted promptly, stopping the distressed snow horses with a shout, "Someone come! Each Beast Tamer in charge of the snow horses in the mansion is to receive forty lashes of the Xuan Whip. Prepare several sedans to send the young ladies back."

After two sedans took Yue Jinghua and her companions away, Fa Xiaoyi approached the snow horses and checked for any wounds under their fur.

There were no injuries on the snow horses. After a thorough check, nothing abnormal was found.

The more he found no issues, the darker the shadows grew in Fa Xiaoyi's eyes. Snow horses are very tame Dark Beasts; they would never get frightened for no reason—someone must have tampered with them.

Fa Xiaoyi furrowed his brow, his thoughts inscrutable.

"Thank you, Cousin Jinghua, for your care along the way," Lie Sisi managed a forced smile as a personal Maid assisting her entered the mansion.

After passing through the corridor and entering the secluded Golden Rose Court, Lie Sisi's expression darkened.

"Get lost," Lie Sisi snorted, her knuckles turning white with anger, blood seeping from her injured eyes. She slapped the Maid who stepped forward to help, sending her crashing against the wall, bleeding profusely.

"Miss, you're injured, you must not lose your temper," the head Maid Bi Zhi came forward, offering a bottle of calming Clear Heart Pills.

Lie Sisi was not a haughty young lady like Shaluo, who was all looks and no brains.

She was meticulous in her thoughts; though furious, she wanted to tear Yue Jinghua apart, she still held her breath, suppressing this wicked fury.

After swallowing a few Clear Heart Pills and seeing Lie Sisi's complexion improve slightly, Lian Bi cautiously asked, "Miss, I feel that cousin has been a bit strange lately," after hearing what happened from Lie Sisi, Bi Zhi too felt something was off.

If it had been before, Yue Jinghua would have already fallen into the Young Miss's trap.

"If I had known this would happen, I should have arranged to eliminate her in Hundred Beast Mountain and prevent future troubles," Lie Sisi ripped off the gauze covering her eyes and threw it aside, her beautiful face revealing a frightening ferocity.

Lian Bi was startled and lowered her head, not daring to look directly at Lie Sisi, thinking to herself, not only the cousin, but even the Miss whom she had served for over a decade had changed drastically over the past two years.

The original Lie Sisi was gentle and frail, a typical example of a pathetic beauty, seldom involving herself in the affairs of Lie Family Mansion.

But in recent years, the Miss's temperament had drastically changed, and she became completely indifferent to the life and death of the servants; like the Maid she just slapped, her heart shattered, the Miss merely had someone dispose of her in the forest outskirts to feed to the Dark Beasts.

"Miss, do you want me to send someone?" Bi Zhi pretended not to hear.

"No need, why should I bother with dealing with her? In the coming days, closely monitor Jingxin Courtyard's Lie Rou and Yue Chen for me. If I can't act against her directly, then I'll start with those she cares about the most," after saying this, Lie Sisi twisted the gauze in her hand and tore it apart.