Today’s engagement should have been a joyful occasion, but who expected Yingzi to attempt suicide.

At this moment, Yingzi on the ground let out a sigh-like moan.

Gu Yuheng exclaimed with joy, "She’s alive!"

Yun Jiao quickly moved to clear the bloody mess from her neck to ensure her breathing wasn’t obstructed.

Guihua finally dared to cry out, "You foolish girl, sobbing... could you not speak up if you had issues? Why did you have to take this step!"

Yingzi’s consciousness was still blurry, her face expressionless, unable to speak, her eyeballs slowly moving to look at the people in the room.

Very soon she saw Shen Quan; her gaze paused briefly before moving away.

Shen Quan stepped forward, "Sister Yingzi, if you don’t want to marry me, don’t. I won’t force you."

"No need to seek death." After saying this, he cupped his hand toward Yingzi and turned to leave.

Yun Jiao instructed, "Someone go fetch a basin of hot water, clean her up, and then carry her to the bed."

Lao Jiu silently went out.

Gu Yuheng addressed Ah Tie and Zhang Shun, "Let’s go downstairs."

At this moment, Guihua suddenly knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Yun Jiao, crying, "Thank you, Doctor Gu, thank you. If it weren’t for you, Yingzi would be gone—"

Yun Jiao quickly helped her up, chiding, "What are you doing, sister-in-law? Get up quickly."

She continued, "I’ll prescribe some medicine, boil it and give it to her for a few days, then she’ll be fine."

She patted Guihua’s hand, "Stay with her, I’ll head downstairs."

Yun Jiao went downstairs to prepare a prescription and asked Ah Tie to fetch the medicine.

Upstairs, Guihua cleaned the chicken blood off Yingzi’s neck, then had Lao Jiu carry Yingzi to the bed.

Only then did she hold Yingzi and cry bitterly, "If you didn’t want to, you should’ve told me. Why resort to this?"

"This breaks your mother’s heart!" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Yingzi kept her eyes closed, tears continuously flowing from her eyes.

She had said it several times, but her mother wouldn’t listen, what could she do?

She didn’t want to marry someone like Shen Quan; she wanted to marry a scholarly man like San Ya’s husband and become a titled lady someday.

Guihua cried for a while, then instructed Ah Shong, "Look after your sister; don’t let her do anything foolish. If she does, call someone."

She wiped her tears dry, "I’ll go prepare your sister’s medicine and congee." With her throat injured, clearly, she couldn’t eat solid food for the next few days.

Guihua served a table of good dishes intended for the Shen family, which ended up being enjoyed by Yun Jiao and the staff at the shop.

By the afternoon, Guihua tidied up the kitchen and went alone to the Shen family’s rice shop.

There weren’t many customers in the shop that afternoon; when Guihua entered, she knelt in front of Shopkeeper Shen.

Initially, Shopkeeper Shen wasn’t pleased to see her come in, but seeing Guihua kneel, he sighed and said, "Please get up, sister-in-law Ren."

Shen Quan went to help Guihua up and sat her down.

Guihua sat on the chair, filled with shame, unable to lift her head, "It’s entirely my fault for causing trouble for your family without getting anything done."

"Yingzi was foolish; she isn’t blessed to marry into your family. I’m returning Shen Quan’s marriage proposal to you."

Shopkeeper Shen took his tobacco pipe from the side and silently smoked, not saying a word.

Shen Quan entered the room and quickly brought back the marriage proposal, exchanging it with Guihua’s.

Guihua, overwhelmed with embarrassment, took out a piece of silver worth ten taels, "This is a small token of our apology."

"I know this doesn’t make up for your loss; if it’s not enough, tell me the amount, and I’ll think of a way."