“Big Sister, why hasn’t Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion sent anyone here?” Shao Jie’er rushed into Shao Yanru’s room and anxiously asked Shao Yanru, who was about to take the medicine.
Shao Yanru put down the bowl in her hand heavily, looked at Shao Jie’er coldly, and said, “What’s the matter?”
Noticing her cold gaze, Shao Jie’er shivered in secret and immediately returned to herself. She bowed sideways to Shao Yanru and said, “Big Sister! I came back from Third Aunt’s courtyard!”
“What did Third Aunt say?” Shao Yanru lowered her head, looked at the bowl of thick decoction in front of her, and asked coldly.
“I told Third Aunt about the redecoration of Fifth Sister’s courtyard. Although Third Aunt didn’t say it clearly, I think she will send Fifth Sister some ordinary furniture,” with worry in her mind, Shao Jie’er said vaguely.
“In this case, you may go back now. I need to take medicine!” Shao Yanru asked her to leave with a cold face.
“Big Sister… I… I…” Shao Jie’er minced her words. She had always been timid in front of Shao Yanru.
“Finish your sentence or go back!” Shao Yanru said impatiently. She had been nervous these days and had not felt relieved until now.
Although Doctor Qiu said that his acupuncture would work, it would do harm to her health after all. Thinking that Shao Jie’er also got involved in it, she couldn’t calm down no matter how hard she tried. She looked gloomier than usual and was in a different state from before.
“Big Sister… I… I just want to ask when Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion will… send someone to propose marriage.” Shao Jie’er plucked up her courage to ask.
“How would I know?” Shao Yanru said coldly. Since her marriage had not been settled yet, it was impossible for her to care about Shao Jie’er’s marriage. That day, they just suggested Commandery Prince Qing to marry Shao Jie’er. Did Shao Jie’er really think that Commandery Prince Qing would accept her as his princess?
Didn’t Shao Jie’er realize her inferiority to her, the First Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion?
Shao Jie’er, who was frightened by the meaning behind Shao Yanru’s words, burst into tears and said, “Big Sister… you said that Commandery Prince Qing would marry me…”
Shao Yanru picked up a teacup impatiently and threw it at Shao Jie’er while shouting angrily, “Shut up!”
Although the cup was empty, Shao Jie’er felt a sharp pain in her arm after the cup hit her. Then the cup fell to the ground and broke into pieces, one of which fell at Shao Jie’er’s feet and cut the lower part of her outer skirt.
Shao Jie’er stopped crying and looked at Shao Yanru in horror.
“Why are you crying? I suggest for you to enter the imperial palace with tears, tell Empress Dowager and Empress that it was I rather than you who fell into the water that day, and see how they punish you after finding out that you lied. You could be convicted of deceiving the Emperor or at least have your reputation ruined,” Shao Yanru said with a sneer.
Her words stung Shao Jie’er. She dared to ask about it at the thought that with evidence of her taking Shao Yanru’s place, she could ask Shao Yanru to ask Commandery Prince Qing to marry her. After all, she had done Shao Yanru such a big favor and helped her out. However, she had never thought that she would be convicted of deceiving the Emperor if she went back on her word.
Shao Yanru and she were in the same boat.
At this moment, Shao Jie’er suddenly realized what had happened. She clenched her handkerchief and began to tremble slightly. In fact, it was the proof of her guilt, wasn’t it?
Even if she went back on her word and made Shao Yanru take the blame, how could Prince Zhou, Prince Yue, and Honored Consort Shu let it go? Strictly speaking, not only she but also they had deceived the Emperor.
If things really developed to this point, she might not even be able to survive.
Thinking of this, she felt terrible. She looked at Shao Yanru with slightly red eyes, her face turning pale and her lips trembling a few times, unable to say a word.
“Go back to think it over and work out what you should do next. Commandery Prince Qing probably is not going to send someone to propose marriage in a short time. Nevertheless, since the accident happened in the imperial palace, Empress Dowager and the Empress will definitely settle it properly. You can go back and wait. I’ll send someone to tell you if I get any news!”
When Shao Yanru saw Shao Jie’er’s frightened look, her face softened a little. After all, she could still use some help from Shao Jie’er now, so she didn’t want to fall out with her. At present, there were fewer people in the mansion able to help her. If she lost Shao Jie’er, she would have no other helpers in the mansion.
“I got it… Thank you, Big Sister!” Shao Jie’er opened her mouth again. This time, she finally heard her voice.
“You can leave now!” Shao Yanru waved her hand and said.
“Yes, Big Sister!” Shao Jie’er, who didn’t dare to talk back to Shao Yanru this time, turned around and walked out. When she reached the door, she turned to glance at Shao Yanru before walking out with her eyes drifting.
Shao Yanru was not a kind person. With such a proof of her guilt in Shao Yanru’s hands, what would Shao Yanru do to her?
As long as Shao Jie’er thought of such a possibility, she trembled with fear, felt cold all over, and even had an intuition that she would eventually be killed by Shao Yanru. She involuntarily began to wonder why she had lost her head and agreed to take Shao Yanru’s place at that time.
Now it seemed that if anything terrible happened, Shao Yanru would definitely push her out to take the blame. Maybe Shao Yanru would even claim that she begged to take Shao Yanru’s place out of the desire to become Commandery Princess Qing!
Shao Jie’er was not incurably stupid. Thinking of Shao Yanru’s and Madam of Duke Xing’s vicious deeds in private, she found that she was very likely to be killed by Shao Yanru. At the moment, she felt so terrible.
Standing at the door of the courtyard and thinking for a while, she gritted her teeth and stepped on a path. Now she could only ask her biological mother, Concubine Lu, for help.
Let’s put aside what happened after Shao Jie’er hurriedly turned to her biological mother, Concubine Lu, whom she had always despised, and let’s shift our attention back to Shao Caihuan and Shao Cailing, who kindly went to visit Shao Wanru with a tea set.
Hearing that the two of them had come, Shao Wanru went to the corridor to greet them in person and lead them in joyfully.
It was really the first time for the two sisters of the third branch to come in.
They had just watched it from outside. Madam of Duke Xing decorated the courtyard for her eldest son’s wedding and shut them out of the courtyard before the decoration was completed. Now when they came in to have a look, they were increasingly convinced that Madam of Duke Xing was quite partial towards her son.
The beautiful scenery in just a few steps in the courtyard was enough to make the courtyard outshine other courtyards.
When they got inside and saw that the furniture inside was indeed inconspicuous, the two sisters exchanged glances.
All the damaged furniture in the room had been removed, and the furniture placed here at the moment was for temporary usage, because the proper furniture had not been delivered yet. The Third Madam, who had just taken over, managed to spare some time to ask Shao Wanru to go to her courtyard today for a discussion about it.
Now it seemed that the Third Madam was going to take action soon.
Shao Wanru instructed someone to serve tea and then said with a smile, “Third Sister, Fourth Sister, please sit down. My courtyard is simply decorated for the time being. Third Aunt is going to begin the redecoration soon, right?”
Shao Caihuan, the Third Miss, smiled slightly as she said, “Mother said that she would begin the redecoration of your courtyard in the next few days. If there is anything you don’t like, you can tell my mother or me!”
Shao Cailing gave Shao Wanru a hard look and didn’t say anything. In fact, she was not very willing to come over.
Since the accident three years ago, the third branch had not been close to the other masters in Duke Xing’s Mansion and had almost kept themselves aloof from them with the excuse of the Third Madam’s poor health unless they had to talk to them. As long as they mentioned the Third Madam’s health condition, it would remind Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion and Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion, Madam Jiang, the reason why the Third Madam was in poor health.
It was because of the carriage crash that had been planned for a long time.
Considering this, Old Madam and Madam of Duke Xing no longer despised the third branch as before and were more friendly to the third branch. They didn’t mind the Third Madam and her two daughters keeping themselves aloof from them, as long as they didn’t cross Old Madam’s bottom line.
Therefore, Shao Caihuan and Shao Cailing didn’t like the other sisters in the mansion very much.
Shao Caihuan was a little better. After all, she was a little older and did a good job in controlling her emotions. At this moment, she showed a sweet smile, as if she had no grudge against Shao Wanru.
Meanwhile, Fourth Miss Shao Cailing couldn’t control her emotions properly. She looked at Shao Wanru with an explorative and unkind look. She still remembered that the carriage crash, where her mother got hurt, had something to do with Qin’s Mansion. Shao Wanru was Qin Wanru at that time. From this point of view, it also had something to do with Shao Wanru.
Shao Caihuan pushed the tea set towards Shao Wanru and said with a smile, “My mother asked me to bring you this tea set. Grandma gave it to my mother a long time ago, and today it was the first time that my mother had presented it. Thinking that you liked it and found that it looked like part of Infanta Qinghua’s dowry, my mother asked me to bring it to you.”
She didn’t directly say that it belonged to Infanta Qinghua.
“Uh… it may be inappropriate! Since Grandma gave it to Third Aunt, how can I accept it?” Shao Wanru said and gently pushed the gift box containing the tea set back to Shao Caihuan, as if she didn’t know the truth.
“It’s alright. It didn’t belong to my mother at first. Grandma has given away plenty of gifts before, but my mother has never been favored, so she just got this tea set. Since you reclaimed your identity, my mother has been in poor health and had no time to give you a gift. It’s rare to find something that you like, which offers us a chance to give you a gift!” Shao Caihuan said.
Her words were meaningful. Shao Wanru turned her watery eyes and they became deep. The Third Madam had played such an amazing trick by not only dispelling her doubts but also giving her directions. Nevertheless, it went as she had planned, so she was not surprised.
She not only said something meaningful in front of the Third Madam, but also used both tough and soft tactics. If the Third Madam was smart enough, she would definitely know what to do next!
Now it seemed that the Third Madam was not stupid. She set up a ladder for the Third Madam three years ago, and the Third Madam gave her directions three years later.
Of course, she got the directions by intimidating the Third Madam. Without her meaningful words, the Third Madam would have worked with the second branch to suppress her rather than given her directions. After all, all the members of Duke Xing’s Mansion had no so-called family affection for her.
However, it was just as well. At least, it enabled her to see through their minds!
“I’m so grateful to Third Aunt. Third Sister, Fourth Sister, please convey my gratitude to Third Aunt after you go back.” Shao Wanru gave in and said meaningfully with a smile, “If I get what I want in the future, I will never forget Third Aunt and the two of you!”