Chapter 177 A Girl Servant from Other Mansion Came to Qin’s Mansion
When Madam Di and Nanny Zhou saw that it was Qin Yuru who was coming in, they felt relieved.
“Mother, are these the new clothes made for me?” Qin Yuru did not take their reaction seriously. Her curious eyes landing on the several dresses in Madam Di’s hands, she recognized that they were newly made, and the color of these dresses looked a little familiar to her. After taking a closer look, Qin Yuru found that she chose the cloth of these dresses. “Are these dresses mine?”
“They are yours.” Madam Di nodded.
“Why didn’t you send them to my place but my mother’s place?” Qin Yuru said discontentedly.
“I asked Nanny Zhou to bring them here. The dresses have not yet completed.” Madam Di put down these dresses in her hands and said, eyes flickering.
“Then why did you ask her to bring them here?” Qin Yuru asked, still puzzled.
“The cloth of these dresses looks good, but it is not outstanding. I have a few girl servants who are handy with the needle. I want them to embroider these dresses with some flowers to make them look better,” Madam Di said.
“Thank you, mother!” Qin Yuru was overjoyed. She was a little dissatisfied when she picked those pieces of cloth to make dresses. If Madam Di helped to embroider some distinctive flowers on those dresses, she certainly felt happy. “What kinds of flowers you chose to be embroidered on them? Let me see.”
With this, Qin Yuru walked up to them.
Madam Di and Nanny Zhou exchanged a glance. Then, Madam Di uttered a short cough. “But I am still picking the patterns of those flowers and haven’t decided yet! I will show you after I make the final decision. I heard that etiquette instructors would come today. Why didn’t you learn the rules with your etiquette instructor but came here?”
Upon hearing her question, Qin Yuru immediately remembered her purpose in coming. She settled down in the chair next to her and said with suppressed anger. “Mother, I don’t like this Nanny Huang. She is a very troublesome person who intends to take full control of my moves. Well, Qin Wanru got a better one. I heard that her etiquette instructor was willing to sell herself to her and be her maid!”
“What?” Madam Di did not understand for the moment. She went blank and asked.
“She is the person from the Imperial Palace who my aunt said might bring some trouble. Now, she signed the contract of selling herself and became one of the maids of our mansion. I don’t know what she was thinking about that such a person like Qin Wanru could even catch her fancy!” The more Qin Yuru thought about this matter, the more uncomfortable she felt. She also wanted such an obedient etiquette instructor.
“Did she sign a contract of selling herself?” The eyes of Madam Di and Nanny Zhou got wide, and they gasped. They hadn’t heard of such a thing for so many years.
In general, etiquette instructors might stay and teach in the mansions for a longer time. Some of them would even go to live in the mansions that the ladies they taught married into. But they hadn’t heard that any etiquette instructor sold herself. Moreover, the etiquette instructor, who sold herself to Qin’s Mansion, had just been driven out of the Imperial Palace.
In fact, every one of them only wanted to avoid such a person who was cast out from the palace. How dare Qin Wanru accept her as a maid?
“Yes, Nanny Zheng sold herself. I heard that my grandmother had filed this matter!” Qin Yuru twitched her mouth. “Grandma was not afraid of incriminating all the people in our mansion because of this person. For now, my father is still waiting to be given a position. If someone kicks up a rumpus over this matter, we will… get into trouble!”
Qin Yuru said that there would be trouble, but it seemed more likely that she was expecting a good show.
“Madam!” Nanny Zhou was pleasantly surprised.
Madam Di waved her hand to silence Nanny Zhou. Then, she looked toward Qin Yuru and said, “What about your Nanny? I heard that she is very lovable and also good at teaching etiquette. Some of the ladies she taught even managed to enter the Imperial Palace. She is a well-known etiquette instructor in the capital, so you should get along well with others. You must not offend her!”
Judging by the way Qin Yuru spoke just now, Madam Di felt somewhat uneasy.
“Mother, I see. I will listen to your words; besides, my aunt also… told me so!” Twisting her handkerchief, Qin Yuru bowed her head and flushed.
Countess Yong hinted that when Qin Yuru had learned the rules well, she could be engaged to her son.
Countess Yong finally managed to give her a definite message. How would Qin Yuru not feel happy about that? Therefore, without any resistance, Qin Yuru accepted an etiquette instructor to teach her. Beyond that, she listened to Countess Yong’s advice and chose Nanny Huang, who was of great benefit to her.
“Then, that’s good. If this is the case, you can no longer put on a show of bad temper. Your aunt prefers the girls who are meek and docile. You can never let any rumors against you reach her ears.” Seeing that Qin Yuru had nothing against her etiquette instructor, Madam Di breathed a sigh of relief because she was afraid that Qin Yuru would do something out of control.
“Yes, mother. Then I will go back!” Thinking of Countess Yong’s words, Qin Yuru felt that she could still bear Nanny Huang’s control.
Qin Yuru thought that she could endure first. She had born suffering for many years in Jiangzhou. Why could she not endure an etiquette instructor at this point when her wish was going to come true?
In order to marry into Duke Yong’s Mansion, she could endure anything!
After thinking it out, Qin Yuru went back.
“Madam, is this Nanny Zheng whom Countess Yong invited here this time was driven out of the Imperial Palace?” After Qin Yuru left, Nanny Zhou smacked her lips. That day when the person sent here by Countess Yong told this thing to Madam Di, she was at Madam Di’s side and heard everything clearly.
“It is true that my sister-in-law said so. Nanny Zheng had been driven out of the Imperial Palace because of some mistakes she made. How dare the old woman accept such a woman?” Madam Di sneered with deep eyes. “Later, you go to Duke Yong’s Mansion and ask my sister-in-law what mistakes Nanny Zheng has made and which n.o.ble madam she has offended?”
No n.o.ble madam in the palace could be offended, especially the n.o.ble madam who could cast a person who had offended her out of the Imperial Palace. When Qin Yuru told her that the etiquette instructor from the Imperial Palace entered Qin’s Mansion, Madam Di instantly felt that it might be a good thing. Perhaps, she could find a way to deal with that b*tch and the b*tch’s daughter on this matter.
Nanny Zhou had the same idea. “We do not know how to deal with Madam Shui and Second Miss. Isn’t the newcomer Nanny Zheng naturally the person that we can hold against them?”
“Okay. I will go to ask Countess Yong about this thing a while later!” Nanny Zhou agreed and nodded.
“You can ask someone to embroider flowers of several patterns on these dresses. Then, let First Miss wear them on the days when she may come across the people from Duke Xing’s Mansion. If the thing is true, then the matter is settling into shape. People from Duke Xing’s Mansion will come to us, so we do not need to find them.” After this thing was done, Madam Di began to talk about the matter that they were discussing in a low voice before and threw the few dresses in her hands to Nanny Zhou.
“Madam, in fact, I still have doubts about that.” Nanny Zhou took the dresses but started to hesitate.
“Whether it is true or not, we should try it. When I was in Jiangzhou, I thought that if I found a servant who had worked in Duke Xing’s Mansion, I could ask the servant questions and make everything clear. But I have never expected that the servant I found was a useless one.” Madam Di snorted coldly. Actually, it was just her guess about this thing. She made the guess after mixing all kinds of these things that she had seen and could think of together.
In previous, she did not take this thing seriously!
But now she had to pay attention to it. One of the most important reasons was Qin Huaiyong’s att.i.tude. At that time, she just casually said the guess she made, which even she did not take seriously. But she had never expected that Qin Huaiyong took it seriously.
Then she thought that they might as well give it a shot!
“If this thing doesn’t work, it will have little impact on our family. But if it works, I can get great benefits. Once my daughter gets the upper hand and amazes everyone with this single brilliant feat, it will certainly do good for me.”
“Well, I’d better get the girl servant. If she can follow Yuru, it can be the sign of a positive outcome.”
“Madam, I think it is a great coincidence. How could there be such a coincidence?” Nanny Zhou certainly knew what Madam Di was thinking. But she felt that she was too indulging in the wildest fantasy. How could they come across such a coincidence? However, when she pulled the causes and effects together, it appeared that the thing could be real.
“It doesn’t matter whether it is a coincidence or not. For the time being, take this thing as a coincidence. Maybe it is true!” Upon hearing Nanny Zhou’s doubts, Madam Di also hesitated. But she became steady again after thinking it over. “If such a good chance is true, we get a great fate, and the future ident.i.ty of Yuru will be unbelievably honorable…”
Nanny Zhou should also report before leaving Qin’s Mansion. Now Shui Ruolan was in charge, so she would know that Nanny Zhou left. Hence, Nanny Zhou followed the rule with great care and reported her whereabouts. After that, she went to the Chuihua Gate.
She made a simple explanation to the old maid who guarded the Chuihua Gate and walked out. Just when she took a few steps, Nanny Zhou suddenly spotted a girl servant avoiding her right in front of her. Because of her sharp eyes, Nanny Zhou immediately found that she was actually not the servant of Qin’s mansion. Right away, Nanny Zhou stopped and turned to walk toward her.
The girl servant hid in the bushes. When Nanny Zhou walked over, she saw the maid curled up her body and squatted there. Only after casting a glance at her, Nanny Zhou knew that the maid there was trying to evade her. The clothes on the maid looked like the clothes that those maids in Qin’s mansion wore, but the patterns of the flowers on her clothes did not.
“Which mansion are you from? Why did you sneak into our mansion?” Nanny Zhou always helped Madam Di to take charge of the housekeeping, so she had a somewhat imposing manner. As soon as she was sure that there was something wrong with this servant, she immediately shouted out her questions in a sharp voice.
“I, I am looking for… someone.” It had never occurred to the girl servant that Nanny Zhou had such a pair of sharp eyes. When Nanny Zhou found her, the servant instantly stood up in a panic.
“You… Which mansion are you from? Who are you looking for?” Nanny Zhou looked the girl servant up and down and asked coldly.
“She is in Qin’s mansion and was nearly going into the inner court of Qin’s mansion. How could this girl servant sneak in? Is it because the clothes on her are similar to the clothes the maids in Qin’s mansion usually wear?”
“I am looking for someone,” the girl servant answered in a timid manner.
“Who are you looking for?” Nanny Zhou became more and more suspicious.
“I am looking, looking for someone, but I don’t know whether this person is in this mansion or not.” The girl servant was much panicked and it seemed that she didn’t dare to say it.
“Tell me. Who exactly are you? How did you get into the mansion? Why the people who guarded the gate let you in?” Nanny Zhou asked coldly. Once again, she felt certain that this girl servant was not from Qin’s mansion.
“I, I am looking for someone!” The girl servant seemed to be really scared and kept stepping back. It seemed that she was going to run away. The words she uttered were only used to go through the motions. Nanny Zhou knew instantly that she did not want to tell the truth.
The reaction of this girl servant alerted Nanny Zhou, and so she noticed that the servant was going to escape. Therefore, she shouted at once, “Stand still. If you dare to run away today, I will consider you as a thief and send you to the government office. There is a distance from the place you are to the gate. So you can never escape. When I send you to the government office, you will humiliate not only yourself but also your master!”