11 Chapter 11: Broken Bracele

When the mother-daughter duo heard this cry, they quickly jumped up to see what was going on.

Upon exiting the room they were in, the two began to cough, as smoke could be seen in the air.

"Mother, what is going on, where is the fire?" Yao Xiuying asked, quickly taking out a handkerchief tocover her nose and mouth, in an attempt to lessen the amount of smoke she was inhaling.

"I don't know, but we must leave quickly. It seems the fire is close. Be careful and stay near to me, we must find your father."

As she said this, the two women made there way towards the exit of the courtyard, hoping to be able to escape the thickening smoke and the encroaching flames.

When they came to the outside of the courtyard, the place was a rush with guards and maids, all running about to put out the fire. Now that they were outside, the two could see that is was the kitchen connected to the courtyard that had caught on fire.

Jiu Niu spotted her husband a distance away, pointing and shouting at various servants, giving direction in an attempt to get the fire under control. She grabbed onto Yao Xiuying's wrist, and started pulling her towards Jiang Won.

As they were making their way over, Yao Xuiying felt someone push her from behind. She screamed, grabbing onto her mother's arm, as she fell. Unfortunately, when she grabbed Jiu Niu's arm, she didn't manage to get a firm hold, instead simply managing to slip the jade bangle off her mother's wrist. Yao Xiuying didn't see who had pushed her, and so just assumed that a servant accidentally bumped her in their rush to help put out the fire.

Jiu Niu didn't notice that the bracelet was no longer on her wrist, as she quickly knelt to help up her daughter. As such, when the two were reoriented and starting making their way towards Jiang Won once again, the bracelet was left upon the ground, were it was picked up be a girl wearing a worn brown cloak, the same girl who had stealthily pushed Yao Xiuying from behind.

When the fire was finally out and investigated, the servants reported that a table clothe close to the oven suddenly caught fire, and as such the incident was labeled as an accident, with all the servants being reminded to be more careful in the future. Thus, no one suspected anything amiss.

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