Chapter 333 Each Had Her Own Thought and Secret Plan
Huangrui hurriedly returned to Madam Di’s Yulan Pavilion. After entering the yard, she said to the two inferior old maids guarding the door with a smiley face, “Nannies, I just went to take some ginsengs back for Madam. They were sent by Duke Yong’s Mansion for nursing Madam’s body!”
As she said, she handed over a ginseng in her hand and a purse to the two old maids. They sneered scornfully, and one of them took her purse and said, “Go inside. Madam is waiting for them!”
“Thank you, Nanny!” Huangrui said, turning around to enter the courtyard. Seeing her come in, Hongye , who was standing in the porch of the courtyard, hurriedly waved to her. Huangrui walked over softly.
“Nanny Zhou is talking with Madam inside. You should go inside later!” Hongye whispered.
“Okay!” Huangrui nodded. Nanny Zhou and Madam didn’t want them to hear their conversation. Last time, they just stood a little closer, and then were questioned by Nanny Zhou, as if they were two thieves. Later Madam Di even questioned them repeatedly and told them to stay away.
Therefore, Huangrui did not dare to walk over at this moment. Seeing the closed door, she knew that Madam and Nanny Zhou were having a conversation again.
“What happened to the First Miss today?” Hongye lowered her voice to ask.
“She has been locked up. I heard that she beat and cursed the Second Miss on the street, and it has been seen by a lot of people,” Huangrui said helplessly with a bitter smile. Although she was a maid, she knew that the First Miss shouldn’t beat and curse her younger sister on the street. Even if the First Miss just beat and cursed her maid on the street, it would do harm to her reputation. What did this First Miss think!
Nevertheless, she suddenly felt delighted. Since the First Miss was so stupid, her future was more promising. When she was on Madam’s side, she considered the First Miss hopelessly stupid. Now thinking about it, she suddenly considered it a good thing.
There was a sudden smile on her face.
Seeing her sudden smile, Hongye was dumbfounded for a while and then said, “How dare you laugh?”
“I didn’t laugh! You’ve been deceived by your eyes!” Huangrui hurriedly pulled herself together and argued.
“I’ve been deceived by my eyes?” Hongye looked at her face suspiciously. At this moment, Huangrui looked worried again. Convinced that her eyes were dazzled, Hongye told her again, “Be careful. If Madam sees your smile, you’ll probably be punished!”
Dissatisfied with Huangrui’s failure in hooking up with Qin Huaiyong, Madam Di had often cursed Huangrui and even slapped and kicked her.
Thinking of this, Huangrui showed a trace of hatred in her eyes, but immediately suppressed it.
“Rest a.s.sured, I will be careful. The First Miss now has been grounded by the general again, so she may not be able to come here and see Madam secretly anymore. In this case, there is no way out!” Huangrui sighed. On hearing her words, Hongye fell silent and looked at another slender figure in the yard speechlessly.
It was Qing Xue, who was also transferred here. As a princ.i.p.al maid, she worked as a junior maid now. Both of them were the same.
If Madam was grounded here under surveillance for a lifetime, would they stay with her in this yard for a lifetime? Both of them were reluctant.
After a moment of silence, Hongye involuntarily asked, “Haven’t you ever encountered the general?”
Huangrui didn’t tell the truth, “I haven’t . With so many servants around the general, I can’t encounter him as I expect. Besides, I can’t get out of Chuihua Gate frequently!”
“Hurry up. Please take me away when you leave. I don’t want to stay here forever!” Hongye implored her in a low voice.
Neither of them wanted to spend their lives with Madam Di here. Thinking of Madam Di’s slightly crazy and ferocious eyes, both of them felt the coldness in their heart and on their back.
They thought that it was a good place, but now found that it turned out to be a h.e.l.l.
Huangrui stretched out her hand to pull Hongye and lowered her voice to say, “If I can leave here, I will definitely take you away!”
“Okay, I will work as your maid in the future!” Hongye held Huangrui’s hand and said sincerely.
Hongye knew that Huangrui entered the mansion with the intention of hooking up with Ningyuan Army General, while she just a cover for Huangrui. She was capable of serving masters, but Huangrui was a.s.signed the major task. If Huangrui became a concubine, Hongye still considered that working for Huangrui was much better than working for Madam Di.
Madam Di was nothing more than the legitimate wife of Ningyuan Army General’s Mansion. Almost everyone knew that there was no chance for her. She was still the legitimate wife who seemed to live a decent life, but actually all of her power had been taken over!
“Should we draw her in?” Hongye raised her chin and talked about Qing Xue working in the yard. In Hongye’s view, both she and Huangrui came from outside anyway and directly went to work in Yulan Pavilion as soon as they entered Ningyuan Army General’s Mansion. so they didn’t know anything about General’s Mansion. However, Qing Xue was different from them and brought here from Jiangzhou, so she naturally knew everything in the mansion!
“We should watch her for some time!” Huangrui nodded and also considered Qing Xue a good candidate. Both of them looked towards Qing Xue, which made Qing Xue looked up at them. They both nodded and smiled at Qing Xue with kindness. Qing Xue also nodded slightly.
Qing Xue lived with Huangrui now. Except showing severity to Qing Xue at the beginning, Huangrui had always been nice to Qing Xue. Of course, she wanted to draw Qing Xue in.
As the door to the main room was opened, Nanny Zhou came out with her face darkening and said loudly, “Huangrui, you’re back. Come here. Madam wants to meet you!”
Huangrui hurried forward and walked into the inner room behind Nanny Zhou. After a while, there came the sounds of broken porcelains and Huangrui’s bitter cry. Hongye trembled, dodged to one side and lowered her head. Knowing that the First Miss had been grounded, Madam would inevitably get angry…
It got dark. The winter darkness was particularly early. It was hard to see outside clearly only after dinner, and only the wind could be heard.
Qin Wanru hadn’t had dinner, because she just came back from outside with Yujie and Qingyue. Qu Le came up to lift the curtain for her and undressed her light pink cloak trimmed with a circle of fox fur, revealing her little delicate face.
Despite her coming back from outside, Qin Wanru looked good. Her face was white, delicate and well-moisturized. Under her fluttering long eyelashes, a pair of bright eyes looked increasingly dark and watery with a trace of glamour. She slightly lifted the corners of her mouth, seeming to be in a good mood.
She walked slowly to the chair and sat down. Several maids took out the dinner from the food basket and set the table for her.
The reason why she came back so late was that she went to see Shui Ruolan, took her pulse and treated her with acupuncture again. After making sure that Shui Ruolan was all right, Qin Wanru rested a.s.sured and returned.
Since Qin Huaiyong knew about Shui Ruolan’s situation, he had stayed in Shui Ruolan’s Liufeng Pavilion and even had no time to have dinner just now. Qin Wanru could tell that he was really worried.
The dinner was very simple, including five dishes and a pot of soup. Qin Wanru put down her dinnerware after eating a little. She had little appet.i.te, because she liked light dishes. In the past, the kitchen mostly sent light dishes here, but today three dishes had a slightly strong flavor and were not to her general taste.
“What’s… wrong with the dishes?” Qin Wanru wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and asked casually.
“I heard that the dishes are made by a new old maid. The former old maid has sticky fingers, so she has been expelled,” Qu Le said. She was the one who brought the dinner, so she naturally noticed that these dishes were probably not to Qin Wanru’s taste and asked about that intentionally.
“Sticky fingers? When was she expelled?” Qin Wanru asked, blinking her watery eyes.
“It was found in the afternoon. I heard that she was caught with the loot and expelled after Concubine Xu asked someone to beat her.”
Qu Le said.
Although Shui Ruolan was in charge of domestic affairs, most of affairs were a.s.signed to the two concubines. It was no big deal that Concubine Xu asked someone to expel an old maid working in the kitchen, let alone Shui Ruolan felt uncomfortable today. Even if something happened, it would basically not be reported to Shui Ruolan.
Qin Huaiyong stayed beside Shui Ruolan, and he would not allow her to handle such a trivial matter.
“Where does the new old maid come from?” On hearing the phrase “this afternoon”, Qin Wanru leant back and asked slowly with her eyes blinking.
“She was recommended by another old maid working in the kitchen, but wasn’t allowed to prepare dishes before. After Concubine Xu asked her to come over and tested her cooking, she was allowed to stay and work here. Some of the dinner tonight was made by her.” Qu Le asked detailedly. Before going to visit Shui Ruolan, Qin Wanru had told Qu Le to be attentive and ask about the details if something happened today.
All maid in Zhifang Pavilion knew that something happened to the First Miss today. After that, the First Miss did not make any trouble, while Madam Di kept quiet. It really looked suspicious.
Neither Madam Di nor the First Miss could bear to suffer losses!
They had inquired about it before. It was said that the First Miss learned the rules obediently. She was practicing standing with a bowl on her head.
Regarding Madam Di, it was only said that she sent someone to take ginsengs, was bedridden and could not get up for a while!
“Go and check this old maid!” Qin Wanru nodded with a hint of deepness in her eyes. It was no big deal to change an old maid. Besides, today’s dishes were ordered by herself and prepared properly. The only difference was that the dishes had a slightly strong flavor and weren’t to her taste.
The slight difference was really no big deal, but she got an intuition that there must be something behind it. Nanny Yu had reported what had happened at Chuihua Gate, and the maid named Huangrui had got out of Yulan Pavilion today. So she must know about what had happened to Qin Yuru. Someone like Madam Di wouldn’t be able to bear it.
“Yes, Miss. I will go and check tomorrow!” Qingyue answered.
Qin Wanru stood up to wash and dress herself. After finis.h.i.+ng these, she let her hair down, sat under the lamp and picked up a medical book to read.
The maids were all dismissed. The room was very quiet. Only the wick cracked occasionally with a snuff bursting.
There came the roaring wind from outside and sounded extremely loud in the winter, as if there was something agitated with a wuthering momentum.
Qin Wanru didn’t know when she fell asleep unconsciously and how long she had slept. She suddenly woke up, looked at a letter in her medical book in astonishment. After a long while, she involuntarily trembled. She remembered that she had placed the letter under her pillow because she had no time to read it. She originally intended to read it after taking a shower, but then forgot it when reading the medical book…