Chapter 5 Hypocritical Sister

“Second Miss,” Qing Yue screamed. She ran to Qin Wanru’s side.

A crowd of people stood at the door, including Grandma Qin and her servants. They saw Qin Wanru lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Grandma Qin’s face changed from scolding to horror.

“Hurry! Somebody get a doctor!” she screamed.

The servant girls rushed to obey as Grandma Qin picked up her half dead granddaughter.

“Zhuozhuo! Zhuozhuo, what happened?” she asked, voice trembling on the edge of tears.

Zhuozhuo was Qin Wanru’s nickname, but nobody called it with love like Old Grandma Qin.

“Grandma, big sister wants me to marry brother Qi, but… but I don’t want to marry him! She won’t let me just… I don’t want to marry him! Please don’t let her kill me…” Qin Wanru said, words broken and faint. Her hands went slack and she lost consciousness.

It was a risky move, letting herself get injured so severely, but Grandma Qin would remember her tantrum when she insisted on the marriage. Without the injury, Madam Di and Qin Yuru could easily paint her as a liar. She had to get Old Grandma Qin and Qi Tianyu on her side. Qi Tianyu, betrayed on his wedding day, was bound to come to question her soon.

"Zhuozhuo, Zhuozhuo, Zhuozhuo, wake up." Seeing Qin Wanru lose consciousness, Grandma Qin’s voice became more urgent. Qin Wanru looked a broken porcelain doll, little face bloodless. The blood pooled around them. “Hurry up! Go and see if there’s a doctor here!”

Qin Wanru woke to muffled sounds outside her door. She could hear loud voices. At first, the words were indistinct, but as her head began to clear, she started to make out words. The man was clearly outraged.

“Lady Qin, I don’t understand what kind of game Second Miss Qin is playing. Previously, she was willing to force me to marry her. Now she wants to smash the sedan chair to avoid it. Either way, I never wanted to marry her. I will not agree to this union! If she wants to marry, she can have my second brother.”

She slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She was alone in the room. It was not her death bed either. It seemed to be the inner room of her grandmother’s chambers.

She recognized the angry voice outside. It was Qi Tianyu.

Sure enough, Qin Yuru must have told him Qin Wanru had stolen the engagement from her. He didn’t admit that he’d only escorted the bridal sedan to humiliate Qin Wanru at the gate. He’d wanted to break things off as publicly as possible to further disgrace her.

She scowled, struggling to grab the bed rail. She levered herself up, teeth gritted in pain. Last time, she’d been a nervous and childish girl, but now she was filled with rage.

Her injured arm was nothing compared to the scars her last life left on her heart.

She had been reborn, so she would not fall for these people’s charming traps a second time. She’d tear off Qin Yuru’s mask for everyone to see.

To start with, she would be the one to break off the engagement, not Qi Tianyu.

“Young Lord Qi, were you so set on not marrying my Zhuozhuo that you had to send Nanny Fang to take her life?” Grandmother Qin slammed her hand against the table. She couldn’t stay calm when her beloved granddaughter was at the gates of death.

A smashed bridal sedan meant nothing to her. She was thinking about the words Qin Wanru had said before she fainted. They stung her like thorns. She’d been too focused on Qin Wanru to deal with it, but now that the girl was stable, she could question Nanny Fang. Instead, Qi Tianyu had walked in, so he became the target of her rage.

Qi Tianyu had brought a crowd in with him. Originally, he’d invited them along to further humiliate Qin Wanru. He’d made sure to bring as many relatives as possible in the wedding escort, so when he rushed inside, they’d come as well.

Now Grandmother Qin said a Nanny tried to kill Qin Wanru. Qi Tianyu didn’t believe it at all. This was part of her game! He just didn’t know what she was trying to do.

“Take her life?” Qi Tianyu repeated skeptically. He looked over to Qin Yuru who was sitting with her head down, letting her tears fall. His heart ached for her. “Grandmother, it’s likely your granddaughter found out I didn’t want to marry her, so made an excuse to cause me trouble.”

“All this to cause you trouble? Mister Qi, you really… overestimate me!” Qin Wanru said. Her voice was weak, but still stubborn.

Hearing her, everyone looked over to the doorway where the pale girl stood, eyes dark, lips snow white. Her arm was wrapped in a thick, white bandage but blood still showed through. It was clearly a serious injury.

Wasn’t she pretending? The injury looked far too severe for that. Qi Tianyu’s escort couldn’t help being shocked.

Qin Yuru, who’d been watching quietly from the side, was hit with a feeling of dread. She grabbed a handkerchief and stood up, hurrying to her sister’s side.

“Little sister, you’re hurt! Why’d you get out of bed?”