After the replacement marriage, I was forced to fight at home

Su Qing shook her head and watched Shuiqin follow her out the door, but while Cai'er turned left, Shuiqin went to the right towards the pond.

When Shuiqin came back in the evening, for the first time ever, she did not cause trouble with Su Qing. Instead, she washed up early and lay down on the bed. She tossed and turned until Su Qing fell asleep.

The next afternoon, around 3 p.m., everyone was sitting in the yard picking vegetables for dinner. Mrs. Hong even asked Mrs. Ma Wu, "Why didn't we see any trace of Shuiqin all day?"

Old Lady Liu sneered and said, "He must have gone to some master's yard to ask for food."

"Well, she's still a child. One more or one less won't make much, just leave her alone." Ma Wujia coughed lightly and spoke for Shuiqin.

At this moment, a group of people rushed into the yard, led by Mother Wu, the most capable person around the lady, followed by Dongmei.

As soon as everyone entered the yard, Dongmei stepped forward and said, "Where is the girl named Shuiqin here? Ask her to come out."

"Shui, Shuiqin...she, she hasn't come back yet?" Ma Wujia's legs were almost twisted, and he had to hold on to the table to stand up.

"Search for me." Mother Wu said, and the servant who followed her rushed into the kitchen past the crowd. They heard the sound of banging and banging. Shao Qing came out and replied that no one was there.

"Listen carefully, if you see that girl being watched by me, report to me immediately. Anyone who dares to hide it should rub his head." After saying this, Mother Wu turned and walked out, arranging to search other places as she walked.

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Cai'er watched everyone leave the yard, lowered her head and thought for a while before following them out. After a while, Cai'er came back with a pale face. Su Qing looked at her and saw that she seemed to be frightened, so she quickly poured her a cup of hot tea.

Cai'er didn't drink either, she just held the cup in her hand, turned her head for a long time to see if anyone was paying attention to her, took Su Qing's hand and whispered, "Shuiqin is in big trouble this time."

When Su Qing heard this, her heart rose to her throat. What kind of trouble had this brainless person caused?

Cai'er whispered in her ear, "I don't know where Shuiqin got the courage from. She heard that the fourth young lady was going to fish in the pond today, so she squatted there to wait. She said that she found a nest of newly born wild ducks, which were fluffy and very cute. The fourth young lady usually likes these wild animals the most. Although she has raised several of them, they are all big. She has never seen newly hatched ones. When she heard Shuiqin say that there were newly hatched ones, she wanted to go and see them. No matter how people around her persuaded her, she went to the old willow tree by the pond.

"Because the nest of ducks was born on the lower slope of the willow tree, separated by a row of wooden fences. No one dared to let the fourth young lady get closer, but Shuiqin somehow got the courage and pulled the fourth young lady closer to the wooden fence to take a look. Unexpectedly, the two of them exerted force and the wooden fence actually, actually broke, and the fourth young lady fell behind the willow tree and rolled down the slope."

"Oh my God." Su Qing covered her mouth with her hands. She had only one thought in her mind: Shuiqin was finished. What was wrong with her?

"Then, how is the fourth young lady?"

"Wanxiang was assigned by Mama Yu to deliver grass and flower seedlings to the Fourth Young Lady's yard. Because it was hot, she wanted to walk to the cool spot by the pond. When she was walking to the steps down the slope of the big willow tree, she encountered this incident. She hugged the Fourth Young Lady and pushed her aside. She herself fell into the pond and is now unconscious.

"The fourth young lady was just frightened and had some scratches on her body. The doctor said she would be fine after some rest. Madam got really angry and swept the tea set to the floor. She then slapped the old woman who responded to her several times."

"Then, what about Shuiqin?" Su Qing asked.

"Maybe she saw the fourth young lady fall and got scared, so she ran away when there were so many people in a panic. So, Madam ordered us to find her even if we have to turn the house upside down."

At night, Shuiqin was not found, and no one asked Su Qing and Cai'er to go to the lady to question her. Su Qing and Cai'er lay in bed and could not fall asleep. The two did not talk anymore, but every time Su Qing heard a sound, he felt that Shuiqin was jumping back.

It was almost dawn when Su Qing felt sleepy. But she felt that she had just closed her eyes for a while when she heard Cai'er calling her. She opened her eyes and saw Cai'er with messy hair and red eyes. She threw herself into her arms and started crying.

A bad premonition arose spontaneously, and as expected, I heard Cai'er in my arms saying intermittently: "Shuiqin, Shuiqin is gone..."

"What's going on? What do you mean it's gone?"

"This morning, I couldn't sleep, so I followed the woman who was looking for her around the garden. I heard someone talking about water celery floating in the pond. She...she..."

"where are you now?"

"They carried him to the straw shed in the outer courtyard. They said they would make a decision after consulting the Madam."

"Come on, let's go take a look."

"What did you say? Are you crazy? That's so scary!" Looking at Su Qing putting on his clothes, Cai'er hurriedly followed and said.

"It's okay. I'm not afraid. I'm just going to take a look from a distance. I won't go forward. If you're afraid, don't go."

"I, I'll go with you."

When the two men arrived at the straw shed in the outer courtyard where weeds and horse feed were stored, the sun had already risen. There was already a crowd of people there, and an old woman was kneeling beside a wooden plank, crying breathlessly. The person on the plank was covered with a straw mat, with only two whitened feet exposed.

Cai Er hid behind Su Qing and didn't dare to look up. Su Qing stood there for a long time without moving. The warm sunlight shone on her body, but she only felt very cold all over. She slowly put her arms in front of her chest. For the first time, she felt death was so close to her. She felt powerless for the first time since she came here.

She knew what would happen if she found Shuiqin. Although Shuiqin targeted her and made trouble for her everywhere, it was all just talk and no actual harm was done. She regarded those provocations as a spice of her boring life.

She believed that the worst outcome for Shuqin was to sell her. But the child was still frightened by what she had done. She had no one to discuss with, no one to give her advice, so she chose this simple way.

After a while, a few servants came. I don’t know what they said to the old woman kneeling next to them, but I saw the old woman slowly stand up and follow the people carrying water celery to the back corner door.

"That, that is Shuiqin's grandmother, her only relative."

Seeing that the old woman was about to walk out of the corner door, Su Qing suddenly ran up, grabbed the hem of her clothes, and in front of everyone's surprised eyes, she took off the hairpin that the fourth young lady had given her last time and put it into the old woman's hand. Then she turned around and walked back, tears streaming down her cheeks.