“Since I have known the case, I have to investigate it. Otherwise, it will embarrass me that I, who lives next to you, have nothing to give when being questioned by the Ministry of Justice.” Wen Xichi said in a moderate tone, “You’d better tell me what on earth was going on. It’s better to talk about it ourselves than to go and ask your sisters. Now the Second Miss of your mansion is still missing. If something has happened to her, it will probably be a life-and-death lawsuit!”
As long as the case involved people’s life, it was necessary for an official of the Ministry of Justice on the spot to investigate it, even if there was still no report from a victim.
There were both seriousness and forgiveness in Wen Xichi’s words. It seemed that there were connotations inside.
Shao Hua’an looked at him with a wry smile and said reluctantly, “Okay, I will tell you what you want. Everything I know is all from my grandma. I am not sure whether they are true or not. Some statements may be her prejudice, so don’t take them seriously!”
“Go ahead. I can tell!” Wen Xichi nodded and comforted him to dispel his worries.
Wen Xichi’s solemnity made Shao Hua’an very helpless, then he described what had happened before in Old Madam’s words.
Based on Old Madam’s description, when Shao Jie’er was decorating Shao Hua’an’s bridal chamber, Shao Caihuan and Shao Wanru got there together to find fault with her. The former two argued that the chamber was too small, and ordered Shao Jie’er to choose another. But once a bridal chamber was chosen, it could not be changed at will. However, the two of them did not give up after being refused by Shao Jie’er and even mentioned the First Miss of Minister Zhao’s Mansion in an unfriendly manner.
When the argument was at its peak, people from Minister Zhao’s Mansion arrived there and heard the ill words about their First Miss in the quarrel, which inflamed their anger and caused them to complain it to Old Madam…
“This is the whole thing. Second Sister was punished, because of this, to copy Woman Precepts in this chamber of mine!” Shao Hua’an sighed and said with vexation.
Indeed, it was really a headache.
After hearing Shao Hua’an’s description, Wen Xichi thought for a moment and doubted, “It seems that Second Miss hasn’t done anything wrong, but it is Third Miss and Fifth Miss who have. Why was Second Miss, instead of the other two Misses, punished?”
“You know that my mother is not home now, and so is my eldest sister. So we left the duty of choosing the bridal chamber to Second Sister. It was she who chose this house. Grandma also thought that she had picked a bad one. Although Third Sister and Fifth Sister were also wrong, they just did it for my good, intending to choose a big chamber for me. Grandma punished Second Sister, for she not only chose a bad house but also refused to correct the mistake she had made!”
“What should she do?” Wen Xichi asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe she was once asked to pick another one. But she refused and then was punished to stay here. No one expected that such a thing would happen. It’s really…” Shao Hua’an shook his hand and said helplessly.
The quarrel was started due to his bridal chamber, and an accident happened to his bridal chamber too. But he knew nothing clear. Shao Hua’an was very frustrated that he had lost a house to live in, for it was almost burned out, not to mention that Shao Jie’er was still missing.
More frustratingly, his fiancee’s family would definitely be furious. Shao Hua’an was totally deep in a dilemma now.
“So you’re going to choose another bridal chamber?” Wen Xichi looked at Shao Hua’an, who looked extremely worried.
“It seems so!” Shao Hua’an nodded and said.
“How about offering the choice to Miss Zhao’s family? Give them the right to choose a suitable house as the bridal chamber, as long as it was a vacant one. That might appease their anger,” Wen Xichi comforted Shao Hua’an and said.
“That might be all I can do now!” Shao Hua’an nodded and said.
During their discussion in a low voice, many people were seeking Shao Jie’er. But no one had ever seen her yet, even if they moved the beams in the ruin. Shao Jie’er seemed to have disappeared into the air.
Duke Xing was very anxious and asked someone to rummage through the whole collapsed house, but there was nothing. Shao Jie’er was not there.
Then many people started to shout, “Second Miss! Second Miss!”
That no one was under that ruin meant that Shao Jie’er might be still alive. However, there were still some places that had not been searched. No one could be sure whether she was alive or not.
Shao Jie’er was wakened up by the shouting of her name. She stood up with her hands covering her head, confused, and not knowing where she was. Hearing the sudden cry of “Second Miss” not far away, Shao Jie’er answered subconsciously.
She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she saw Shao Jing’s excited face. She had never got such attention from her father before.
“Second Miss, it’s really you. Why… why are you here?” An old maid said excitedly. Everyone had thought that Shao Jie’er was dead. Unexpectedly, she was not only alive but also uninjured. Except for some burnt marks on her clothes, other parts of her were well and clean.
Shao Jie’er was in a pavilion, which was behind a big tree outside the burnt chamber.
The tree was huge enough to block half of the pavilion from the wind and rain.
Earlier, everyone rushed over to the chamber to put out the fire, but none of them had ever noticed the pavilion, which was right beside them. No one had seen it because their minds were totally occupied with the fire.
So the truth was Second Miss had fallen asleep here instead of being in the burnt house?
“Miss, Miss!” A servant girl suddenly rushed into the crowd and hugged Shao Jie’er. Everyone looked at her and found that it was Liuxiang, Shao Jie’er’s private servant girl.
The servant girl was also unscathed, but there was a trace of black stain at the corner of her dress. It should have something to do with the burning.
“Father? And Brother?” Shao Jie’er was still dizzy. She didn’t understand why the two were here in front of her. She closed her eyes again, wondering whether she was in a dream.
“Why are you here?” Shao Jing looked Shao Jie’er up and down and asked coldly.
“I just went out for a walk!” Shao Jie’er lost some of her memories. She smiled awkwardly and tried hard to recall what had happened before.
“Went for a walk? Why didn’t I see you just now?” Shao Jing said coldly.
“I… I didn’t see you either. Maybe I have left before you came!” Shao Jie’er laughed and felt embarrassed, and her laughter became more and more reluctant.
At this time, she finally remembered how she got out of that burnt house.
When the chamber was on fire, as Shao Jie’er had plotted ahead of time, she left on purpose and then came back later with an excuse. Now that the house had been burnt out, she should claim her innocence right now.
“Why did you leave?” Shao Jing asked, still in a cold voice.
“I… I… Fifth Sister…” Shao Jie’er looked around. It seemed that she was looking for Shao Wanru.
“What’s wrong with your Fifth Sister?” Shao Jing asked.
“Fifth Sister’s servant girl… Fifth Sister’s servant girl came over and passed her master’s message to me saying that what Fifth Sister has said today was not her idea. So I wanted to go to her. But on the way, I changed my mind because I thought it was not good to disturb Fifth Sister so late!” Shao Jie’er became sober and answered in an orderly way.
“Why did Wanru’s servant girl come to a place which is far away from her master’s!” Shao Jing didn’t believe her.
“Father, it’s true. It’s truly the servant girl of Fifth Sister. I’ve seen her before. Although I couldn’t remember her at first, I could do it as soon as she showed her identity!” Shao Jie’er said anxiously with fear on her face.
She reached out her hand to pull Liuxiang close to her. “Father, if you don’t believe me, you can listen to Liuxiang. Liuxiang saw her as well!”
Liuxiang was sharply pained by Shao Jie’er, who was pinching a piece of her flesh with great force. When she saw Shao Jing looking at her, she nodded repeatedly and said, “Yes, I saw her. Both my master and I saw her!”
The intense pain in the hand was a clue of her master’s order. How could she not understand her master’s hint?
In fact, Liuxiang was also in great confusion. She had just woken up before long, left alone in the corner of the pavilion, without anyone besides her. Hearing some sounds, she turned around in a hurry and saw her master in the crowd, who for her was the last hope, so she immediately rushed to her.
But until now, she was still puzzled and didn’t know what had happened. But she knew that she couldn’t tell the truth. She followed Shao Jie’er’s words as suggested, and lowered her eyes subconsciously to hide the panic in them. Actually, she really didn’t know why her master mentioned Fifth Miss’s servant girl!
The truth was she didn’t see the Fifth Miss’s servant girl just now. She felt a hit on her head and then fainted after getting out of the room.
“Call Fifth Miss!” Shao Jing, who was with a gloomy face, ordered an old maid and said.
The old maid nodded and ran out in a hurry, but soon she came back without anyone.
“Duke Xing, it was said that when the fire broke out, Fifth Miss was too afraid so that she went to Old Madam’s and has been there until now. So, do you still want her to come?”
“Let’s go to Old Madam’s!” Since the fire had been put out, Shao Jing asked the servants to go back. After all, no one was hurt in the fire; hence, other matters could be settled tomorrow. Then Shao Jing headed towards Old Madam’s house with Shao Jie’er and Shao Hua’an.
Wen Xichi, following beside Shao Hua’an, observed Shao Jie’er’s dress. He raised the corners of his mouth and smiled with an idea in his head. Then he watched Shao Jie’er’s hair, which was messy and stained with dust…
When they arrived at Old Madam’s Chuntang Courtyard, Shao Wanru was calmly sitting with Old Madam. On seeing them, she hastened to stand up and bowed to Shao Jing who was walking in front, and then to Shao Hua’an. After her beautiful eyes met a pair of clear ones, she was slightly stunned, but immediately bowed once more.
Then she stood aside and waited for Old Madam to speak.
Old Madam didn’t look well. Her eyesight didn’t fall directly on Shao Jing in the front, but on Shao Jie’er, who was hiding behind.
She gave a glance and turned away at once as if she had not seen Shao Jie’er just now.
Shao Wanru had been observing Old Madam’s expression. She saw Old Madam’s rapid glance at Shao Jie’er and found that there was no worry, no happiness, or other fluctuations in her eyes. It was obvious that Old Madam was not surprised with Shao Jie’er appearance. She couldn’t help sneering in her mind and assured that everything was indeed Old Madam’s plot…