Chapter 515 An Incident Happen in the Midnight
There was no one else around, and her maid had gone away. The only maid here was Shao Wanru’s maid, who was staring fiercely at her, making her not dare to move!
“Yujie, give me a hairpin!” Shao Wanru said slowly.
Yujie neatly took the only bamboo hairpin from her head. It was made by herself and much sharper than the stick that Shao Wanru used to knock the small wooden fish.
“Fifth Sister, Fifth Sister, I didn’t mean to do that. I won’t… I won’t dare to do that again!” Shao Jie’er burst into tears and said, looking at the sharp hairpin, soaked with cold sweat.
If she had known that Shao Wanru was so fierce, she would not have acted so insolently in front of her unless she was seeking death.
“Do you mean it?” Shao Wanru asked coldly.
“Yes, yes, I mean it! I mean it… Fifth Sister, I won’t dare to do that again!” Shao Jie’er almost lost control and cried out loud.
Shao Wanru didn’t say anything, but just looked gloomily at Shao Jie’er. Her gaze made Shao Jie’er tremble all over with a pale face. As she felt the hairpin was removed from her neck, she was pushed away by Shao Wanru.
After the hairpin was removed from her neck and her clothes were released, Shao Jie’er rolled and crawled to the bottom of the Buddhist altar and cried sadly with one of the Buddha’s legs in her arms. She was really scared. How could a girl, who looked delicate, be so ruthless and do something like this?
Yujie picked up the wooden fish that she had kicked over just now and placed it in front of Shao Wanru. After that, she neatly raised the hairpin in her hand and inserted it in her bun.
Shao Wanru ignored Shao Jie’er, who was crying sadly. She picked up the wooden fish and knocked on it slowly and rhythmically.
“Second Miss, you’d better shut up, in case of p.i.s.sing off my master again.” Yujie looked at Shao Jie’er coldly and said. Shao Jie’er was so scared that she stopped crying at once. She just sobbed silently and glanced at Shao Wanru from time to time, thinking that Shao Wanru was a psycho who looked like a normal gentle Miss from an aristocratic family and could turn into a fierce beast at any time.
Thinking that she had to stay here with the fierce beast in human shape till midnight, Shao Jie’er felt that she just asked for trouble by saying those hypocritical words to Shao Yanru before.
If she left after Old Madam without saying anything at that time, there wouldn’t be such a thing. It really made her shudder with fear to stay with Shao Wanru now.
However, she didn’t dare to leave now. She had planned to pretend to be obedient by sleeping here for a while and leaving when it was almost time. Anyway she could tell that Old Madam wouldn’t inquire many details about their staying up tonight.
But now, she didn’t dare to do so. She just hid aside and hoped that Shao Wanru didn’t notice her.
When the maid Liuxiang came back, she saw her master holding one of the Buddha’s legs and crying silently.
“Miss, Miss, what’s wrong with you?” Liuxiang was shocked, hurriedly pounced on Shao Jie’er, held her in her arms and asked.
Shao Jie’er reached out to cover her mouth with her hand and stole a glance at Shao Wanru. Seeing that Shao Wanru was still chanting scriptures and did not notice her, she let out a sigh of relief and whispered, “Shut up. Do you want to disturb my eldest uncle and eldest aunt?”
“Second Miss…” Liuxiang looked at Shao Jie’er in front of her in shock, with no idea why her miss became so respectful to her nominal “Eldest Uncle” and “Eldest Aunt” in such a short time.
“Shut up!” Shao Jie’er looked at Shao Wanru secretly, while rebuking Liuxiang, for fear that Liuxiang would annoy Shao Wanru accidentally and get her into trouble.
“Miss, do you want to have dinner?” Liuxiang, who was confused, quitted thinking about it after glancing at Shao Wanru, and asked in a low voice.
“Go, go and ask the Fifth Miss if she wants to have dinner?” Shao Jie’er pushed Liuxiang and said after hesitating for a while.
She didn’t dare to have dinner without waiting for Shao Wanru.
“Miss, I’ve just brought a set of dinner for you. I asked the kitchen to prepare it before, and it includes your favorite osmanthus cake!” Liuxiang said. She became increasingly confused, because she had always known well about her master who had always looked down on the Fifth Miss who came from outside.
Since when did her master become so considerate to the Fifth Miss?
What was more, when she left just now, her master didn’t instruct her to bring the Fifth Miss’s dinner at the same time. Why did her master become so enthusiastic to befriend the Fifth Miss in such a short time?
“Just do what I ask you to. Stop talking nonsense!” Shao Jie’er said with a bit of anger from embarra.s.sment.
Liuxiang had no choice but to stand up. She walked up to Shao Wanru and said, “Fifth Miss, I’ve brought the dinner. Would you like to have some?”
“My master doesn’t feel like having dinner now. Tell the Second Miss to have her dinner!” Yujie shook her hand to Liuxiang and said.
“Well!” Glancing at the Fifth Miss, who had ignored her, and then glancing at her master, who kept looking at her secretly in the corner, Liuxiang felt that something seemed to be wrong. The current situation was contrary to what she expected.
Seeing Shao Jie’er waving at her, Liuxiang took the food basket back.
“Put it here. I’ll have dinner first. Someone will bring Fifth Sister’s dinner later!” Shao Jie’er let out a sigh of relief and said. Since Shao Wanru declined to have dinner, she couldn’t blame her for having dinner first.
Liuxiang nodded. She took the lid off the basket and was about to take out the dishes.
“Wait a minute. Let’s move to the corner!” Shao Jie’er pulled her hand and said.
Liuxiang looked around. They were at the corner now. She didn’t know where they could go.
“Go to the gate and hide behind it!” Shao Jie’er said. Now she just wanted to stay far away from Shao Wanru in case that Shao Wanru discovered her petty actions. After looking around and finding nowhere to hide, she looked up, saw the broad gate of the hall and immediately became joyful.
She wiped her tears away and led Liuxiang to walk quietly to the entrance of the hall. By hiding behind the gate, she could not only stay away from Shao Wanru, but also prevent Shao Wanru from seeing her directly.
Liuxiang walked over behind Shao Jie’er, and took out the dishes one by one. Seeing her master eating in that way, she found it increasingly strange. Her master ate quietly and didn’t dare to make the lightest sound, behaving differently under ordinary circ.u.mstances.
“Miss, what’s wrong with you?” Liuxiang said. She felt as if the person in front of her was not her master. Otherwise, why did her master look like a different person?
“Shut up!” Shao Jie’er lowered her voice and said angrily.
At this moment, Liuxiang really did not dare to speak and only silently looked at Shao Jie’er. After Shao Jie’er finished her dinner, she cleaned up the dishes carefully, and then saw that her master knelt on the rush cus.h.i.+on carefully and began to chant scriptures seriously.
Now Liuxiang was confused by her master. It was the Fifth Miss, who was the most isolated and wretched, in front of them. In the past, her master had always talked about the Fifth Miss contemptuously. Moreover, at this moment, Old Madam was absent, and so were Madam and the First Miss. There was even no one else around. Why did her master act so cautiously?
Liuxiang couldn’t figure out her master’s intention, so she could only take the dishes, that she had cleaned up, to the kitchen. When she came back, she saw that the Fifth Miss was having dinner.
Compared with her master, who seemed to be eating stealthily, the Fifth Miss acted much more naturally. She sat down in the chair aside and had dinner, with two maids around serving her. Although she was just having dinner, she acted naturally and gracefully, completely different from Shao Jie’er who acted stealthily just now.
Liuxiang intended to keep watching Shao Wanru, but Shao Jie’er asked her to go over and chant scriptures together.
Shao Wanru glanced at Shao Jie’er coldly. With a slight smile, she wiped her mouth with her handkerchief and asked Qu Le to return the food basket. After that, she knelt down again and began to chant scriptures.
After she chanted scriptures for a while, Yujie asked her to rest for a while and offered to chant scriptures on behalf of her. Compared with Shao Wanru, Yujie was much more fluent in chanting scriptures. Both her way of knocking the wooden fish and her voice of chanting scriptures exuded a kind of natural appeal.
Shao Wanru rested for a while. After a busy day, she was indeed tired with numb legs. She sat down sideways and reached out to pound her legs.
Seeing Shao Wanru stop chanting scriptures, Shao Jie’er also stopped at once and did the same moves, while peeking at Shao Wanru cautiously.
Shao Wanru didn’t care about Shao Jie’er’s peeping at all. She looked at the gate of the hall outside and frowned. When Qu Le came here just now, she had said that she hadn’t met anyone on the nearby path.
Although it was dark and there seemed to be heavy rain, it was really strange that there were no nuns now. The religious rite was still going on, and some of the master’s family members still stayed here. There should be one or two nuns outside to take care of them. How could there be no nun around?
Was it a coincidence that the nuns left for a while or something else?
Just in case, she had asked Qu Le to call Qing’er here. Qu Le had told her before that Qing’er had been driven out now after cleaning for an afternoon with the excuse that Shao Yanru had enough hands to clean her room.
A dull thunder suddenly struck the hall, as if exploding in a corner of the hall. Shao Jie’er, who had been peeking at Shao Wanru in a tense mood, was frightened and cried out. She trembled all over, moved aside and held Liuxiang, who was still chanting scriptures, in her arms.
Liuxiang was also scared and held Shao Jie’er in her arms.
A lamp in the hall inexplicably went out, and the entire hall became slightly dark.
“Miss!” No one knew when Yujie had stood beside Shao Wanru. She looked at the Buddha lamp, which had gone out, with a stern face. The lamp oil was used up. How could that happen? There were so many people taking care of them but forgetting to add the lamp oil.
“Miss, the lamps over there are also about to go out!” Yujie glanced at the other lamps and whispered.
There were a total of ten lamps in front of the Buddha statue. Now one of them had gone out, and nine of them were still on. Shao Wanru stood up and looked at the other nine lamps, each of which seemed to be going out. With a trace of gloom flas.h.i.+ng in her watery eyes, she thought that someone had planned this early!
Another thunder struck the hall. Two lamps ran out of oil and went out. Shao Jie’er was so scared that she screamed again and clung to Liuxiang.
“If you don’t want to die, just shut up!” Shao Wanru rebuked Shao Jie’er in a cold voice which seemed to carry the darkness of the night, making Shao Jie’er hold back her crying voice at her throat.
“Miss, I’m here!” The gate of the hall was suddenly burst open with a crash. Qing’er’s pet.i.te figure appeared behind the gate, and there seemed to be a piece of clothes in her hand…