Harem Daily Life

Chapter 995 Bad Luck

Xiao Nan heard a woman's voice and looked closely. The newcomer was dressed in gorgeous clothes, with an extraordinary demeanor. Her eyebrows were like distant mountains, her eyes were like clear springs, her nose was straight and delicate, and her cherry-like lips were naturally red. Her long, black hair was adorned with several exquisite pearls and jade ornaments.

Xiao Nan quickly curtsied and said, "Greetings, Third Princess."

He Min knew Xiao Nan. Before that, she had only read his poems. Later, on the day at the horse farm, she saw his disheveled state and was deeply impressed by him.

“Editor Xiao, no need for formalities. You look so nervous, are you in a hurry to leave the palace?” He Min asked.

Xiao Nan replied, "I just came from the Imperial Study and thought this road was closer to the palace gate, so I took this route. I did not expect to offend the princess. I was being presumptuous."

He Min smiled and said, "I don't usually take this road. I was in a hurry to pick up Xiao Liu today, so I took a shortcut. I hope it won't delay Editor Xiao from getting off work. Please, Editor Xiao."

Xiao Nan stepped aside to let He Min go first. He Min nodded and left with her entourage.

After everyone had gone far away, Xiao Nan straightened up and turned to walk towards the palace gate. However, he stepped on something and felt it shatter. He stopped, bent down to look, and saw that it was a jade pendant that he had crushed in two.

He quickly bent down and picked up the jade pendant. When the patterns were pieced together, they formed a phoenix design.

Xiao Nan: "..."

Judging from the texture, the pattern, and the color of the pink jade, it's not hard to guess that it belongs to the Third Princess who was bumped earlier.

Xiao Nan sighed. Pink jade was extremely rare, much more expensive than ordinary green jade. He feared he would have to use half of the two thousand taels of silver he had just received as compensation from the Marquis of Jing's mansion to buy a jade pendant for the Third Princess. But what troubled him was that even if he was willing to spend the money, he might not be able to buy the finest pink jade!

Xiao Nan slapped his head, extremely annoyed. "How could I be so reckless? Not only did I bump into the Third Princess, but I also crushed her jade pendant!"

He carefully put the broken piece of pink jade into his bosom and left the palace with a worried look on his face.

Xiao Nan was not from the capital. After becoming an official, he rented a small two-courtyard house in the west of the city, where he and his servant, Xiao Da, lived alone. After his shift, he didn't have many social engagements, so he didn't rent a carriage and walked home every day, a journey that took him almost half an hour. Along the way, he passed through the bustling palace gates, then the commercial streets lined with shops, and finally through several alleys, getting increasingly remote.

He was somewhat unsettled today and hadn't paid attention to what was behind him, not noticing when several people were following him. Just as he was about to reach his home after passing through the alley and turning a corner, several people suddenly rushed up, grabbed a sack, and began punching and kicking him.

Xiao Nan, who was weak and powerless, was no match for several burly men. He tried to fight back several times, but he couldn't make a fuss at all, and was eventually knocked unconscious.

It was his servant Xiao Da who waited for a long time but did not see him return home, so he went out to look for him and found Xiao Nan dying in the alley.

"Help! Help! Someone's been killed!" Xiao Da shouted desperately. Finally, a few people came over and helped him carry the person to a nearby clinic.

"Doctor, you must save my young master! He's an official of the imperial court, he can't die!" Xiao cried his heart out, begging the doctor to save him.

Upon hearing that it was an official, the doctor dared not delay and immediately began to treat him, using all the best medicines available.

"Fortunately, it's all superficial injuries, but his leg is broken. He needs to be bandaged first and it will take a few months to heal. Go and pay the consultation fee. I used the best medicine for him, and he'll need to take it for ten to fifteen days. The consultation fee wasn't cheap."

Xiao Da wiped away his tears: "Alright, alright, doctor, please keep an eye on things for me, I'll go pay the money right away." Luckily, he had paid two thousand taels of silver before, otherwise he probably wouldn't have been able to pay the consultation fee today.

Xiao Nan woke up in the middle of the night, and as soon as she woke up, she felt unbearable pain all over her body, as if her bones and tendons were connected and she was in pain everywhere.

Xiao Da stayed by his side for a long time. When he saw that he had woken up, he quickly warmed some porridge for him and brought him some medicine.

"Young master, who did you offend to deserve such a beating? The doctor said your left leg is broken and it will probably take several months to recover."

Xiao Nan closed his eyes, hoping it was all a dream. But the pain all over his body told him it was real.

"I don't know what bad luck I've had today, nothing has gone right." After saying that, he hurriedly asked Xiao Da to check if the jade pendant in his arms was still there.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Da hurriedly went to look for it and finally found the pink jade broken into three pieces in the innermost layer of clothing.

"This...Young Master, you bought a jade pendant?" Xiao Da asked incredulously.

This spendthrift! He just got two thousand taels of silver, and he spends so much money on a jade pendant? Is this jade pendant edible or what? Isn't this just a waste of money?

Moreover, it's a piece of pink jade; even a grown man like you wouldn't wear it out in public!

Xiao Da looked at Xiao Nan strangely, "Young Master, could it be that you have someone you like and spent a lot of money to buy that pink jade for her?"

Xiao Da's heart was bleeding; the jade pendant was shattered, and all the money had been wasted!

Xiao Nan coughed lightly, the cough aggravating his wounds, causing him to gasp involuntarily.

"What nonsense are you talking about? This is the Third Princess's jade pendant. It accidentally fell off today and I found it."

Xiao Da looked at Xiao Nan with a mournful expression: "If the young master hadn't picked it up, it wouldn't have been broken. What are we going to do now? Do we have enough money to pay back the money?"

Xiao Nan didn't tell him that he had broken the jade pendant by stepping on it. He sighed softly, "It would be best if we could buy it. But I'm afraid even if we had money, we couldn't buy such high-quality pink jade."

Xiao Da picked up the bowl and fed him the medicine: "Young master, you should heal your injury first. If your injury doesn't heal, you can't go on duty. If you can't go on duty, it will be considered absenteeism, and you won't get your monthly salary... Young master, today's consultation fee is twenty taels, and the medicine cost thirty-five taels. You spend money much faster than you earn it."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Nan closed her eyes helplessly: "Fine, go ask for leave for me early tomorrow. In this state, I can't even leave the house."

The following day, He Yucheng frowned when he heard that Xiao Nan had been attacked by thugs on her way home the day before and had broken her left leg.

"Where did these thugs come from out of nowhere? Guards, have the Prefect of the Capital investigate! My teacher has been beaten up. Is this an insult to my reputation?"

The Crown Prince's order naturally had an immediate effect. The Prefectural Governor of Jingzhao conducted a thorough investigation for three days, eventually pointing the finger at the Marquis of Jing's residence.

He Yucheng narrowed his eyes upon receiving the message from the Prefectural Governor's Office.

"Still the Jing family? Ha, is the Jing family specifically targeting Master Xiao? First they drugged him, then they sent people to beat him up. How dare they be so brazen under the emperor's nose?"

He Yucheng didn't wait a moment and went straight to the Imperial Study to find his father.