Pure: Going to translate everything so I can have all the chapters on this site for a smoother read~ Enjoy~ Please let me know if there are any errors!

Edited by NovaLeir

Chapter 1: Su Family’s Embroidery

It was the twenty-third spring of the Republic of China, in Suzhou.

On a Spring morning of the third lunar month, the drizzle that had been ongoing for several days had dissipated, and the bright morning sun was hanging onto the branches.

The chirping of birds and the fragrance of flowers arrived in the wind, accompanied by the opening of the morning market with people coming and going. The market is located in Suzhou’s downtown square, a place similar to the courtyards of the Beijing period. Servants were already busy with the cleaning work at hand or mixing with the rice and coriander in the big kitchen; a new day had begun. 

Overlooking the famous "Su Embroidery Home" in Suzhou City, the Su Family Courtyard Mansion, where several small courtyards are distributed in a well-ordered manner, among which are the winding brick paths, interspersed with elegant pavilions and a lake. On both sides are lush and neat bushes of flowering trees. The person in charge of the Su family mansion seemed to be a person who knew how to enjoy and appreciate.

"Where's your Young Lady?" Su Tingyi, the eldest son of Su's Head Master, ignored the maids and servants greeting him good morning. He hurried into a small and exquisite courtyard, into a bright embroidery room facing the rising sun, and toward the two maids who were sorting out embroidery threads.

The two maids looked at each other, feeling rather strange. One of the maidservants, who was slightly taller, quickly lowered her eyes and replied, "Replying to the Elder Young Master, the Young Lady got up early in the morning and picked up the large Su embroidery that will be exhibited the day after tomorrow, and went to the Old Master. The person delivering the message said it was the Young Master who requested this." After speaking in a low tone, she looked at the young master's face and realized that someone else must have used the young master's name.

Su Tingyi raised his eyebrows, and then turned around in a hurry to go out, rushing to the old Master's courtyard, the oldest in the Su Family. 

Before he could enter, he heard exclamations. Su Tingyi frowned, and his pace became faster.

"A’fen, go inform the Master, I'll go check the courtyard."

"Yes!"

With the sound of hurried footsteps, two maids with terrified faces rushed from the direction of the old Master's main courtyard to the courtyard gate.

"What happened?" Su Tingyi called to these two maids who were hurrying with their heads down, not paying attention to any incoming people.

"Ah! Eldest Young Master!" The two maids seemed to have grasped a backbone and almost cried with joy.

"What happened? Did you see the Eldest Lady? Or is it the old Master..." Su Tingyi asked eagerly, seemingly disregarding them rudely grabbing his sleeves. 

"Eldest Young Master, it's... it's the Eldest Lady... the Eldest Lady she..." One of the maids was already frightened, and the other maid answered a few words incoherently.

After Su Tingyi grabbed a few words, he stopped asking them. He pushed them away and hurried to the old Master's courtyard. Damn it! It's all his fault that he didn't realize it fast enough. If something were to happen to Shuilian, he would definitely not let the mother and daughter go! No matter how favored the second concubine was!

While still fuming, the old Master’s main courtyard appeared in front of him. Su Tingyi pushed open the gate to the main courtyard, strode in, and shouted eagerly, "Shuilian! Shuilian!"

She was not in the hall, not in the side hall, not in the left wing. Su Tingyi searched the rooms one by one until he came to the right wing with the curtain half-hanging. He smelled a fishy smell and stepped in quickly. The scene that appeared made him almost fall to the ground.  If you can read this, it means this chapter was stolen from puretl .com

"Shuilian... Shuilian..." Su Tingyi’s hands trembled, he took a few steps forward and knelt on the ground. Gently lifting her hands, Su Tingyi knelt down on the ground and looked at her head, which seemed to have hit the corner of the table. Gurgling blood bubbled out, dyeing her turquoise blue clothes red, and turning her small oval face pale.

"Shuilian, you'll be fine. Big brother will take you to the medical center. You'll be fine." Su Tingyi turned pale for a moment, then quickly picked her off the ground while mumbling to himself. 

Along the way, he shouted in all directions: "Come, prepare the car immediately!" The figure rushed out without a pause, occasionally looking down at the pale and bloodless sister, brows wrinkled.

"Mother, do you think she will..." Su Tingyi ran all the way, and after passing by an exquisite artificial rockery, there was a conversation between a mother and daughter. 

"If it's true, then it's better. Let’s see who dare still suppress you in the future." A middle-aged woman in luxurious clothes was the first to show her face, hatred in her eyes.

"However, the old man won't leave this matter alone. After all, something happened in his courtyard." A young woman, around sixteen years, pouted – looking slightly flustered. 

"What are you afraid of? No matter how they investigate it, it's still an accident. There is no evidence, so how will we be punished for the accident? Besides, now that Su Shuilian is dead, your talent will be appreciated by the old Master and your father. Without Su Shuilian, you will rightfully inherit Su Family's Embroidery House. How can they catch you and punish you?" Madam Gui threw off her veil, stretched out her index finger and nodded at her panic-stricken daughter, hating iron for not becoming steel. She insisted firmly: "If the old Master and your father asks about it, don't leak anything, got it? As for the work of <Across the River at Qingming Festival>, send it out and dispose of it." 

"Understood, mother. But I'm afraid of Madam and my eldest brother..." When she thought of her half-brother, who doesn't speak much but has a serious expression, and Madam, who seemed to be able to see through her thoughts at a single glance - The current head mistress of the Su Family, Su Shuiyan couldn't help but tremble.

"Useless!" Madam Gui, the second concubine of the Su family, Deng Yun squinted at her daughter. The handkerchief in her hand was crumpled into a ball. "Go back. I don't think the house will be peaceful for the past two days. You better stay in the embroidery room and practice. The old Master will definitely let you go to the national competition the day after tomorrow. Don't lose your mother’s face." Deng Yun squinted at her daughter. If it wasn't for her to find a good husband in the future, instead of being a lowly concubine like herself, why did she plan so hard for her? 

Su Shuiyan lowered her head and responded lightly. She was also anxious in her heart. Even if her eldest sister, who is always better than her, is lucky enough not to die. She was afraid that she would not be able to participate in the national competition in the future. Well, mother is right, prepare herself well, if she were to become famous in the national competition, she would be the future inheritor of "Su Embroidery Home", right? As for the Eldest Young Master of the Wang family, he would definitely choose herself instead of Su Shuilian. After all, Su Shuilin was chosen by the Wang family because of her Su embroidery! Su Shuiyan was full of confidence as she followed her biological mother back to her small courtyard. If you can read this, it means this chapter was stolen from puretl .com

—

The large study in the main courtyard of the Su family.

"Crack!" There was a loud noise on the table, and the blue and white porcelain cups shattered instantly. The one who glared from the main seat was the old Master of the Su family. 

"Who spread such words? Instructing Shuilian to go to my courtyard? Although this family has a head, I am not dead yet!" Although the old Master was over eighty years old, he was still full of anger when he scolded.

"Father, calm down!" The head of the Su family, the eldest son of the old Master, Su Fanghua hurriedly got up from the old man's left side and bent over to ask forgiveness from the old man: "My son is busy arranging the national competition to be held the next day for the past two days. I really don't know what happened to Shuilian. According to my son's thorough investigation, it was Tingyi's maid who went to Shuilian's courtyard that day. It was said that Tingyi was at father's house, and so Shuilian went to father's courtyard, but there was no Tingyi and father. It's just the matter of how she hit the corner of the table and started to bleed... This matter, your son hasn't figured it out as of yet."

Su Fanghua told the old Master the truth, but he also had doubts in his heart. According to Shuilian’s calm temperament, she would never go out in a hurry without a maid. Moreover, according to the statement of the two maids who were nearby, when Shuilian went out, she brought the large Su embroidery that was going to be exhibited. But after the incident, according to the first discovery of the two maids and his eldest son, Su Tingyi, neither of them found this giant Su embroidery. He was afraid this was not an accident, but a deliberate plan by someone. But now... 

"Where's that maid from Tingyi?" The old Master also thought of the twists and turns and asked immediately.

"When my son sent someone to find the maid, she had already fallen into the lake and died."

"Bastard!" The old man slapped the table angrily and stood up: "This is not an accident, it is clearly a murder! This girl Shuilian... ah... hurry up, send more people, and find out the reason at any cost!" The old Master frowned and instructed his eldest son. At the end, he added: "The day after tomorrow's competition... Let the girl, Shuiyan, prepare. In any case, the Su Family can't go without a representative."

"Yes. Your son will tell her now." Su Fanghua answered with his head lowered.

— 

"What did the doctor say?" In the lounge outside the operating room of the hospital, a wealthy madam in her forties grabbed Su Tingyi's hand and asked eagerly. This is the current head mistress of the Su family, Li Ruxi, and Su Fanghua's wife. At this time, she no longer had the appearance of a calm and quiet Madam, her face full of anxiety to find out about her daughter, whose life and death were unknown.

"Mother." Su Tingyi clenched Li Ruxi's cold hand and called out softly, but he couldn't continue; he just shook his head.

"Yi'er, what do you mean?" Li Ruxi couldn't bear it any longer, and tears welled up in her eyes. The maid next to her also looked at her Eldest Young Master nervously, hoping that the result would not make the Madam despair.

"The doctor said..." Su Tingyi organized what the doctor said just now, and picked out some words that were not so shocking, and faintly said: "The doctor said, sister, my sister hurt her head. Before the blood clot dissolves, she may or may not be in a coma for a few days." This is only one possibility, and the possibility is very small. The biggest possibility was… she would be living in a coma. If there is no improvement in half a year, they are afraid... Su Tingyi thought of this possibility and endured it. He kept throwing his fists at the concrete wall beside him.  If you can read this, it means this chapter was stolen from puretl .com

"Eldest Young Master!" The maid next to Li Ruxi exclaimed when she saw this.

Li Ruxi looked at her son, and after listening to his words, her mood eased a lot. Seeing her son like this, she thought he was angry with those who hurt Shuilian. Then she comforted his son: "As long as there is no danger to life, it's fine. The rest, I think, we can't sit still and wait for death. The servant girl who sent the message died in a strange way, and the mastermind behind this can be guessed. It's that bitch. I'll go back to your grandfather's house tomorrow, I heard that the two incompetent sons of the Deng family participated in some organization and were raising money all over... Hmph, I don't believe that I can’t find that slut’s weakness. I’ll let their family bite each other's tails off." Li Ruxi snorted coldly, her eyes full of frost.

Dare to hurt my daughter? Truly courting death! 

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