The remote corner was really isolated. After a long time, when the child’s wet nurse didn’t show up. Qin Wanru was sure the wet nurse deliberately ran away.
Since it was getting late, she patted the child’s back.
“Time to get up!” she whispered.
The boy seemed to be sleeping very comfortably, so he twisted his body, turned his head aside, and continued to cling to Qin Wanru in his sleep. He was incredibly cute
Qin Wanru smiled and reached out to pinch his small nose and continued to call him. This time, the boy couldn’t sleep, so he opened his sleepy eyes, looking at Qin Wanru somewhat confused. He did not know where he was for a moment. His big eyes blinked, then he revealed a clever smile, which was completely unlike the little bully from before.
“Let’s go to have a meal!” Qin Wanru’s hand fell from his nose and gently pinched his tender, fat, white face.
“Sister!” The boy muttered and wiped his tears with the back of his hand. He was well behaved.
Yujie also felt that she liked him very much, and took the initiative to ask, “Young Master, do you want me to hold you?”
The boy looked at Qin Wanru and looked at Yujie again. He hesitated and shook his head. “No… I want to go with sister!”
He jumped up and took Qin Wanru’s hand to go outside.
They went out together, not knowing the way very well. Qin Wanru did not know where she was going after walking several laps. She did not know where the banquet was, so she could only go forward.
Yujie saw a servant girl pa.s.sing by the door of the cave on the left, and rushed over to ask her for directions.
After pointing to a direction, the servant girl left in a hurry. She seemed to be worried and was ready to turn around to leave, but she stopped in surprise when she saw the boy who was holding Qin Wanru’s hand.
“Master Hao?” The servant girl looked at the boy whose little hand was held, and then looked up at Qin Wanru again. She said tentatively, “Miss Qin?”
“Do you know us?” Qin Wanru stood still in astonishment.
The servant girl looked at Qin Wanru cautiously and answered in a low voice, “I know Master Hao!”
“Then how do you know that the one with Master Hao is me?” Qin Wanru looked at the boy from the side and found that he was looking up at her blankly. He realized that the boy did not know the servant girl.
“Well, the whole mansion knows about it…” The servant girl muttered, squatting in front of the boy. She reached out and said, “Master Hao, we’ve all been looking for you. You’d better go back to see the princess with me.”
“Move away. I will go back with sister.” The boy pushed the servant girl’s hand away and looked at her with vigilance, appearing like a bully again.
“Why does the whole mansion know?” Qin Wanru felt that there was something wrong. It was an accident for her to meet the kid. How could the whole mansion know about it?
The servant girl stood up and looked at Qin Wanru, then at the boy again. She was about to speak, but in the end, said nothing.
“If sister asked you, just answer. Otherwise, I’ll tell my grandma that you deliberately bullied me and hit me!” The boy straightened his back and stared imperiously.
He looked very fierce!
But with his small size, tender skin, beautiful face, and fat hands and feet, it didn’t look like much of a threat.
However, it was obvious that the opposite servant girl believed him. After hearing what he said, her face turned white with fear. She hastily shook her hands placatingly.
“Master Hao, I’ll immediately tell her. You cannot say that I bullied you!”
“Tell me, what is going on?”
Qin Wanru smiled and pinched the boy’s hand. The “fierce look” on the boy’s face instantly retreated, and he was like a good child again.
The servant girl bowed her head.
“Everyone said that you, Miss Qin, took away Master Hao,” she whispered. “It was said that someone saw you deliberately take him away.”
“I took him away? Why?”
“They said Master Hao offended Miss Qin, and then, although you didn’t know who he was, you were so angry that you wanted to take him away to sell him!”
The servant girl looked at Qin Wanru and found the story unbelievable. The young lady in front of her was not much older than Master Hao. How could she be so vicious? Just because Master Hao, who was bad-tempered, had threatened her, she would deceive Master Hao to take him away?
“Tell me in detail,” Qin Wanru said, realization dawning on her face.
Seeing that Qin Wanru was not angry with her and and asked gently, the servant girl’s heart settled down. She told her everything she knew.
The child in front was Master Hao. He was with his family to attend the banquet of Great Elder Princess Rui’an. Originally, he was with everyone. Later, the child disappeared without anyone knowing why. Everyone was so anxious that even Great Elder Princess Rui’an heard about it.
Great Elder Princess Rui’an asked everyone to look for Master Hao.
It was strange that they could not find him, but they found a piece of shredded paper. n.o.body cared much about shredded paper, but then a servant girl who worked with Master Hao said she’d seen him folding it for fun.
Therefore, the paper was handed in.
The piece of paper had been torn, but “Qin Wanru… kid…” was vaguely written.
For a time, people did not know who Qin Wanru was. They went to ask several ladies named Qin, but n.o.body was her. Then they heard from people of Duke Yong’s Mansion that the Young Lady of the Ningyuan Army General in Jiangzhou, who had just entered the capital, was called Qin Yuru, so the lady named Qin Wanru should be her sister.
Later, things became more mysterious. It was said that many people saw Miss Qin pa.s.sing by, and she seemed to have a child around her…
In the end, it was concluded that Second Miss Qin met Master Hao, who was a little bossy, while walking. Due to his arrogance, he might have offended Second Miss Qin when he spoke. So the Second Miss named Qin Wanru had evil intentions and tried to deceive Master Hao and sell him.
This matter was seen by a servant girl who could write. She was scared of facing Qin Wanru alone, so she picked up a piece of paper dropped by Master Hao and wrote some words down as fast as she could.
By the time she looked up, the figure she was keeping an eye on was gone!
After listening to this story, Yujie was stunned. She looked at Qin Wanru, and then at Master Hao. She didn’t know what to say for a moment!
It was all so fantastical.
“Miss… this… this is too ridiculous!” Yujie was dumbfounded.
However, Qin Wanru’s face fell. Some people would believe such a ridiculous reason, as they apparently did now!
“Are you a servant girl at this mansion?” A flash of lightning shot through Qin Wanru’s mind, as she realized the most important detail. Her face changed dramatically, and anger flashed in her eyes.
Not many people would believe that absurd a story. But if Hao’er had actually been hurt, the absurd remarks would suddenly seem credible! As long as they didn’t come back, Qin Wanru would be the culprit.
The key was still the safety of Hao’er. With that in mind, Qin Wanru knew what she had to do next.
“Yes, I am!” the servant replied.
“Can you find more people at once? As fast as possible!” Qin Wanru told her.
“I came here with a few sisters just now. They were over there!”
“Tell them to come over together!” Qin Wanru said.
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, the servant girl nodded her head and didn’t dare waste time. She ran and came back with five or six girls.
“Don’t make any noise, and come with me!” Qin Wanru said.
The group of servant girls nodded and followed behind Qin Wanru.
It did not take long to get back to the place where Hao’er climbed in the hole before..
As she approached, she could hear two people talking nervously.
“Why is he not here? He should be here!” said a young woman.
“Then you should look for him quickly!” The other woman’s voice was somewhat hoa.r.s.e; she must have been elderly. “Or, you look for him here, and I’ll go look around. When you find him, go straight to the hole in the backyard. No one should be there!”
“Alright!” said the young woman.
Qin Wanru stood outside the door of the cave and gave a sign to the servant girls. They understood and followed Yujie out.
The two of them were looking around in front of the tree where Hao’er had gotten stuck. Hearing a sound behind them, they both turned around. They were held by the servant girls, who rushed them before they could collect themselves. Some pulled their arms, and some hugged their waists. It was easy for several servants to deal with each woman.
They were a young woman in her twenties, and a stout old woman in her fifties or sixties. The older woman let the large broom in her hand fall, face twisted with rage.
She thrashed desperately, trying to break the grip of the servants.
“Where did you b.i.t.c.hes come from? Do you want to die!?”
The other young woman did not struggle much. She trembled violently, unable to speak.
Qin Wanru walked out from behind the cave doors slowly, gazing at the women with impa.s.sive eyes. She smiled, but it was cold and humorless.
“Which mansion are you from? It is impolite to make so much noise in the mansion of Great Elder Princess Rui’an!”
Shocked by her sudden appearance, the old woman twisted several times, but eventually restrained her ferocity.
“Lady, I am the servant of the mansion! I was sweeping the floor just now, and these servant girls rushed over without speaking. It frightened me. Please ask them to let me go, Miss.”
“Are you really the servant of the mansion?” Qin Wanru raised her eyebrow.
“Yes, I am!” the stout old woman said confidently.
“What are you looking for? You seemed very anxious. Tell me, and I will help you,” Qin Wanru said leisurely, while sitting on the corridor floor, pretending to be listening!