The Daily Life of a Female Esper in Ancient Times - Chapter 237

The news of the assassination attempt on the Lady of the Marquis of Pingnan by her own niece from her maternal family quickly spread throughout the Capital City.

Early in the morning, upon receiving news that Li Xia had been stabbed on the street, the Emperor was furious. He ordered a thorough investigation, determined to give the Lu Family an explanation.

Li Xia’s injuries were not as severe as rumored. The thick winter clothing and her superpower had helped block the attack, so Xu Yiyou’s stab was not deep. However, to make the incident seem more serious, Xiao Changning was instructed to tell others that Li Xia was gravely wounded.

Li Xia opened her eyes to find Lu Liucheng sleeping soundly beside her, clutching her arm.

“We sent him back to rest last night, but he snuck back in the middle of the night, insisting on staying by your side. He wouldn’t go anywhere else,” Xu Xinyue’s voice sounded near Li Xia’s ear. Li Xia turned her head to see Xu Xinyue looking very haggard.

“Mother, I’m fine. Don’t worry,” Li Xia said. This scene reminded Xu Xinyue of when they first came to the Capital City and encountered bandits. Even then, despite being seriously injured, Li Xia’s first words were to comfort her mother and tell her not to cry.

“I’m not worried about you at all,” Xu Xinyue said, tilting her head up to hold back tears. But it was difficult to control her emotions; her daughter had been hurt in front of her once again.

“Mother, I—” Li Xia began, but the turmoil of her superpower within her body made her uncomfortable, and she couldn’t help but cry out, “It hurts!”

“Xia’er, what’s wrong? Quick, someone call for Doctor Xiao!” Xu Xinyue called out. Qiu Ling, who was guarding the door, immediately ran to fetch Xiao Changning, who had just lain down to rest.

Xiao Changning took Li Xia’s pulse and found that her internal energy was in chaos. He kept Qiu Ling and Qiu Chan in the room and asked everyone else to leave. He then began to use acupuncture to relieve Li Xia’s pain.

“My lady,” Xu Xinyue said upon seeing Mrs. Lu, as if she had found her anchor.

“How is Xia Xia doing?” Mrs. Lu asked.

“Xia’er is crying out in pain. She’s the one who fears pain the least. Now she’s crying out in pain, she’s crying out in pain,” Xu Xinyue repeated, her words jumbled. Mrs. Lu understood and felt a pang in her heart.

“Mother, Mother, Mother,” Lu Liucheng opened his eyes to see Xiao Changning administering acupuncture to Li Xia. He tried to move forward but was quickly picked up by Qiu Chan.

“Young Master, Madam is having acupuncture, you can’t touch her,” Qiu Chan explained.

“Aunt Qiu Chan, put me down. I won’t touch Mother,” Lu Liucheng said, no longer as agitated as the day before. He climbed down from Qiu Chan’s arms and sat nearby, watching Xiao Changning treat Li Xia.

Li Xia opened her eyes and reached out to Lu Liucheng.

“Mother,” Lu Liucheng carefully walked over and was grasped by Li Xia’s hand.

“Cheng Cheng, Mother is fine,” Li Xia’s words caused Lu Liucheng to burst into loud sobs. He had been so afraid, terrified that his mother would leave him, scared that he would be motherless.

Hearing Lu Liucheng’s cries, Xu Xinyue, who was outside the room, became restless and wanted to go in.

“Sit down, don’t go in and cause more trouble,” Mrs. Lu’s voice made Xu Xinyue sit down, though her eyes remained fixed on the room.

“Qiu Chan, take Cheng Cheng downstairs to wash up. Have Qiu Shui arrange breakfast for Grandfather, Mother, and the others. Tell them I’m fine now,” Li Xia instructed Qiu Chan.

“Mother, I don’t want to go,” Lu Liucheng refused to leave.

“Be good, go eat. After you’ve eaten, you can come back to keep me company,” Li Xia said in a relaxed tone. Lu Liucheng was then led away by Qiu Chan.

Seeing the two come out, Xu Xinyue and Mrs. Lu approached them. “Qiu Chan, how is Xia Xia doing?” they asked.

“The young miss is awake, and Doctor Xiao is performing acupuncture,” Qiu Chan’s words slightly eased Mrs. Lu’s worry.

Other close relatives also arrived after receiving the news. Zhou Shi came later, arriving only in the afternoon. She exchanged a few words with Mrs. Lu before leaving with Lu Xuanyu.

“Is Xia Xia’s relationship with her mother-in-law that bad?” Mrs. Lu was surprised at the poor relationship between Li Xia and Zhou Shi. She had previously seen Li Xia interact with Old Madam Lu, who treated Li Xia like her own granddaughter.

“If the relationship were good, she wouldn’t have come only at this hour,” Li Xin, who was accompanying Mrs. Lu, expressed her dislike for Zhou Shi’s behavior. She added with a sigh, “It’s fortunate they don’t live together.” With less frequent encounters, they didn’t have to deal with such issues when problems arose.

Mrs. Lu silently agreed with Li Xin’s words.

Qiu Chan brought a lounge chair to the courtyard. Xu Xinyue helped Li Xia lie down to sunbathe and peeled fruit for her to eat.

“Mother, you’ve seen my wound. It’s almost healed. Don’t worry,” Li Xia said, pulling Xu Xinyue to sit down. Xu Xinyue was now taking on all the tasks usually performed by the maids.

“Xia’er, it’s all my fault,” she said. She felt she shouldn’t have met with Xu Yiyou, or even returned to the Xu family. If she hadn’t, Li Xia wouldn’t have been hurt.

“Mother, this has nothing to do with you. Don’t take everything upon yourself. My injury causes you the most pain,” Li Xia held Xu Xinyue’s hand, trying to ease her worries.

After comforting Xu Xinyue, Li Xia turned to look at Qiu Chan, who was standing guard nearby.

“Come here,” she called.

Qiu Chan approached Li Xia’s side upon hearing her call.

“Sit down. Standing so tall makes me strain my neck to look at you,” Li Xia told Qiu Chan to sit.

“My lady, I failed to protect you,” Qiu Chan said. When Li Xia had chosen her, Qiu Chan had sworn to protect her mistress with her life. Now that her mistress had been injured, Qiu Chan felt deeply remorseful.

“No one could have anticipated Xu Yiyou attacking me. I was careless in this matter,” Li Xia admitted. She had faced more dangerous situations and emerged unscathed, yet this time she had been stabbed. It shouldn’t have happened.

During the day, Li Xia had to comfort her mother and her maid. At night, she still had to console her son and husband. Li Xia felt that her recovery period was proving to be quite challenging.

The investigation quickly yielded results. The Third Prince was found to have been selling substandard military supplies. The Emperor was enraged that someone would dare to disregard national interests for the sake of money. He stripped the Third Prince of his title of Prince, demoted him to Prince of the Commandery, and confined him to the Prince of the Commandery’s Mansion, forbidding him from leaving.

Wu Feng, who was unaware of the situation, could have been reinstated to his original position after the truth was uncovered. However, because Xu Yiyou had believed false information and stabbed the Lady of the Marquis of Pingnan, Wu Feng was dismissed from his official position and barred from ever serving in office again.

Xu Yiyou was released from prison because Li Xia didn’t pursue charges against her. However, she had caused her husband to lose his career permanently. Her maternal family had also been demoted due to her actions. Her life would not be easy from now on.

As for Mei Saniang, who had instigated Xu Yiyou to assassinate Li Xia, she was sentenced to death by dismemberment. Li Hui personally interrogated her and learned that Mei Saniang’s motive for wanting to kill Li Xia was related to Fourth Miss Lu. Mei Saniang had always suspected something about Fourth Miss Lu’s death and had been investigating. She finally learned some information from someone at the Tian Yi Pavilion.

She deduced that Fourth Miss Lu’s death was connected to Li Xia. Fourth Miss Lu had been Mei Saniang’s savior, and she was determined to avenge her benefactor.

It was only then that Li Hui learned that Li Xia had eliminated Fourth Miss Lu years ago. Given the circumstances at the time, if Fourth Miss Lu hadn’t been eliminated, she would have become a great threat to the Li family.

To prevent any future trouble, Li Hui and Lu XuanNing worked together to thoroughly erase all traces of people and matters related to Mei Saniang, leaving no evidence behind.

After hearing Lu XuanNing’s explanation of everything, Li Xia sighed at her own carelessness.

“Xia Xia, this isn’t your fault,” Lu XuanNing reassured her.

“I’m not admitting I made a mistake. If it happened again, I would still kill Fourth Miss Lu,” Li Xia stated firmly. She wouldn’t allow her family to be bullied.

“Next time something like this happens, you don’t need to act. I’ll handle it,” Lu XuanNing said, gripping Li Xia’s hand tightly.

“My lady, the Xu family has come again,” Qiu Kui entered to report.

“Don’t see them,” Lu XuanNing said. He now harbored a hundred times more dislike for the Xu family. If it weren’t for the fact that the Xu family was Xu Xinyue’s maternal family, he would have dealt with them along with the others in this incident.