On the other side, Gu Youyou had finished administering acupuncture treatment to Miss Du, and Lin Qianqing was supporting her; both of them were speechless at the behavior of this family.
Miss Du started to regain consciousness slowly, coughing once, startling everyone in the room who was arguing.
"Awake?" The concubine’s face instantly turned ashen.
Wasn’t she supposed to be unable to speak anymore? How come she had awakened?
Magistrate Xie stood up in shock, asking hurriedly, "Doctor Gu, what is this...?"
Xie Qinyun quickly interjected with an "Ah!" and snatched the conversation away, "Sister-in-law is experiencing the ’returning light.’ Doctor Gu, you are truly amazing."
Lin Qianqing chimed in from the side, "My cousin made Miss Du wake up so she could speak a few words for herself. She doesn’t have much time left, so if you want to know anything, you’d better ask quickly."
No matter if it was true or not, everyone present was extremely agitated.
When Magistrate Xie’s second son tried to step forward, he was squeezed out by Xie Qinyun and pushed to the back.
Magistrate Xie, with tears streaming down his face, said, "Xintong, do you have anything else you want to say? Tell me, how did you fall into the water?"
Miss Du’s mind was foggy, but upon seeing all the people in the room, the memories of before she fell into the water also came flooding back.
Pointing at the person hiding in the far back of the crowd, she said, "You, come here."
Hearing this, the crowd made way for the concubine to come forward.
Miss Du was both saddened and upset, weakly questioning, "Why did you do that? I’m about to die, and you still won’t let me go? You even wanted me dead!"
"Sister, what nonsense are you speaking?" The concubine denied on the spot.
This wasn’t the first time such a thing had happened; the concubine had always been able to twist right and wrong, and Miss Du had grown accustomed to it, only nodding, "Alright, alright, I won’t argue with you, I’m too tired to argue. I’m asking you, where is Father’s letter? After I fell into the water, did you recover them all?"
Everyone looked at them in surprise, those who understood felt even more sympathy for Miss Du.
That was just the way she was, which was why she was bullied to this state, right?
What she was concerned about now was not that the concubine wanted her life, nor how much longer she could live, but the letters left behind by Magistrate Du.
The concubine’s face stiffened for a moment, then she said, "When you fell into the water, big sister, we were all busy trying to save you, who had time to care for Father’s letters? I’m afraid most of them must have been ruined in the water by now."
"You... cough cough..." Overcome with anger, Miss Du started coughing fiercely, then shouted angrily, "Go, get them. Do to me what you will, but those are things Father left behind, you, as his daughter, cannot treat them ."
Seeing Miss Du getting worked up, Magistrate Xie hurriedly ordered, "Go, get all of Magistrate Du’s letters back, not a single one should be missing."
In the midst of this family’s life-and-death separation, and the debate over who was right and who was wrong, outsiders like Lin Qianqing and Gu Youyou withdrew to the most inconspicuous corner of the room.
Lin Qianqing spoke softly behind Gu Youyou, sighing, "When disaster strikes, one only knows how to shirk responsibility, while the other, despite grave danger, still remembers their father’s belongings. Cousin, how can there be such a great difference between people? Are there still those who cannot discern between good and bad? Doesn’t the character of a person determine their actions? What do you think?"
Gu Youyou laughed and said, "Dear Cousin, this is what you don’t understand. There’s a saying that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. What you think is bad doesn’t mean others feel the same. Everyone knows it’s imitation, but what about the person who cherishes imitation as if it’s real pearls? Is that not so?"
"Yes, yes, Cousin, your insights are always profound. It’s just a shame that the real pearls have been cast aside by the ignorant fisherman, thus remaining in obscurity."