Chapter 523 Two Letters Sent One After Another
“It’s not the First Miss Shao but the Fifth Miss Shao who met you in secret? And you have a letter from her. That’s great. Let me have a look!” Qiu Yu, who came after Shao Wanru, suddenly felt as if he came back to life. He reached out to grab the letter, and burst into laughter and said after opening the letter and reading it, “It’s the letter for asking the First Young Master Qi to meet here indeed. Look, even the time and location are clearly stated.”
After saying that, Qiu Yu glanced at Shao Wanru scornfully. He had thought that Shao Wanru was a pure girl. Unexpectedly, she turned out to be a lascivious girl. For fear that Shao Wanru would take the letter away so that others couldn’t see it, he handed it to the man beside him. After pa.s.sing it around, all the officials stared at Shao Wanru with increasing disdain in their eyes.
From the graceful handwriting of a lady, they could tell at a glance that Shao Wanru asked a man to meet her in secret in the letter. She was indeed a girl who didn’t follow the instructions for unmarried girls.
“Can I take a look at this letter?” Shao Wanru asked unhurriedly after most of them finished reading the letter.
Someone pa.s.sed the letter to Shao Wanru, and she took it.
“Wanru, you asked me to meet here and then put me in such an unpleasant situation. Regarding the First Miss Shao you mentioned, I didn’t see her at all. Do you plan to frame the First Miss Shao up by trapping me? If this is true, I must be blind so that I mistook you for a good girl. I’ve been longing for coming here to meet you. Unexpectedly it… is just a trap!”
Qi Tianyu said in rage and pounded the altar heavily with his face turning red with anger.
“A trap?” After finis.h.i.+ng reading the letter, Shao Wanru said, tapped the letter with her finger and looked sideways at Qi Tianyu.
Watched by her limpid eyes, Qi Tianyu involuntarily felt fl.u.s.tered. He hadn’t seen Shao Wanru for more than two years. Shao Wanru was only a child two years ago despite her delicate appearance. But now she had grown up into such a gorgeous and radiant teenage girl that her fluid glance made his heart beat faster.
Qi Tianyu had never doubted Shao Wanru’s remarkable beauty. Her charming and pure glance made him inexplicably fl.u.s.tered.
“First Young Master Qi, I don’t remember that we are so close to each other. When we were in Jiangzhou, we’ve made it clear that we would break off relations with each other till the end of our lives because of the First Miss Qin. Does the current situation mean that we’ve broken off relations with each other? It has been almost three years since we said that. I didn’t expect that you’ve never kept it in mind.”
Shao Wanru handed the letter to Qiu Yu, and said decisively, “I didn’t write this letter!”
Since a man claimed to break off relations with a lady till the end of his life, how much should he hate her? Bearing such great grudges against each other, could they really have an affair?
The officials of the Ministry of Justice had always been sensitive. They immediately thought of numerous possibilities. A trap. Yes, it was certainly a trap for setting the Fifth Miss Shao up.
Many of them were immediately convinced. At a glance, they knew that the Fifth Miss Shao in front of them was a pure and dignified girl. How could she meet a man in secret? Moreover, the Fifth Miss Shao always had a good reputation.
Qiu Yu took the letter subconsciously, looked at it, and then looked at Shao Wanru. He was confused as well.
“I didn’t write this letter. You can tell it from the letter paper. I can’t make so exquisite flower fancy letter paper. I’ve been on the mountain for self-cultivation. How can I know about this? I heard that plenty of Misses create their own original pattern shaped like a certain character of their name and have it printed on the flower fancy letter paper. I’m wondering if the pattern on the letter paper is shaped like a character of my name or my Big Sister’s name Shao Yanru?”
Shao Wanru said calmly.
Watching her calm look, Qi Tianyu had a bad intuition. He reached into his bosom to touch another letter, which was sent by Shao Yanru. She claimed to make an appointment to meet him on behalf of Shao Wanru and asked him to talk it over with Shao Wanru. He had known about it, so he intended to set out for the meeting after receiving the letter.
However, later he received another letter, which was sent by Yujie, Shao Wanru’s personal maid. The time and location of the meeting were stated in this letter. If it was used as evidence, the letter written by Shao Wanru personally would certainly be more convincing. Thus, Qi Tianyu took out the letter sent by Shao Wanru and hid the letter sent by Shao Yanru a moment ago after thinking for a while.
At this moment, although he felt that something went wrong, it was inconvenient to take out the other letter.
Several officials of the Ministry of Justice gathered in front of Qiu Yu and carefully examined the letter. Some of them were the descendants of aristocratic families, so they were familiar with this kind of flower fancy letter paper of boudoir style. After taking a quick look at it, someone immediately said, “It’s shaped like the character ru (a character of Shao Yanru’s name). Look at the flowers and leaves and the pattern of gra.s.s.”
As he spoke, he reached out to write a character ru in the air according to the pattern. Plenty of people nodded their heads at once.
As the members of the Ministry of Justice, they all had sharp eyes. As soon as they heard this, all of them immediately understood that this letter paper belonged to the First Miss Shao instead of the Fifth Miss Shao.
It was obvious that the First Miss Shao rather than the Fifth Miss Shao who asked Qi Tianyu to meet here.
“First Young Master Qi, both of us have claimed to break off relations till the end of our lives, so we don’t need to contact each other in the future. I just want to tell you not to try to set me up with a letter. I don’t care with whom you have an affair or with and whom you want to have a secret meeting here. I just hope that I won’t hear you mention my name again!”
After finis.h.i.+ng speaking, Shao Wanru turned around and left decisively.
Qi Tianyu wanted to stop her, but didn’t know what to say after opening his mouth. At the first sight a moment ago, he clearly knew that Shao Wanru in front of him was no longer who she used to be.
After taking a few steps behind Shao Wanru, Qing’er seemed to be unbearably indignant. She turned her head and said angrily with her hand on her waist, “First Young Master Qi, why were you so sure that this letter is from my master? My master has stayed on the mountain for more than two years and has never contacted you. Why did you make her take the blame after receiving a letter for a secret meeting? Is it because you’ve got accustomed to using my master as the s.h.i.+eld for you and the First Miss Qin when you were in Jiangzhou? Please just stay away from my master!”
“Qing’er!” Shao Wanru stopped and called her in a low voice.
“Miss, I’m coming!” Qing’er answered, turned around, and left with a lantern in her hand.
Those present looked at each other and didn’t know what to say for a while. They all looked towards Qi Tianyu. The coachman, who intended to kidnap Shao Wanru at that time, had been recorded by the Ministry of Justice, so everyone present knew what had happened in Jiangzhou. The First Miss of the Qin’s Mansion and Qi Tianyu did s.h.i.+ft all the blame onto Shao Wanru, who was still the Second Miss Qin at that time.
Could it be possible that what happened today was the same old trick played by Qi Tianyu? Some people, who knew the inside story of what had happened in Jiangzhou, believed it.
A trick could be played again. This was actually nothing strange. The Fifth Miss Shao, who had always taken the blame for others, must be set up again.
“Tianyu, did you really meet… the First Miss Shao In secret?” Qiu Yu said with his hands trembling, feeling unbearably indignant. Obviously he took fancy to the First Miss Shao. How could his friend meet her in secret at night? Moreover, the letter was pa.s.sed by him. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he had been treated as a stepping stone. He almost failed to suppress his anger.
Seeing Qiu Yu’s expression, Qi Tianyu knew that he was in trouble. He immediately restrained his thoughts and tried to find a way to comfort Qiu Yu.
“Qi Tianyu, no wonder when I came up the mountain this time to investigate into the case, you repeatedly told me to meet the Miss of the Shao’s Mansion. No wonder you were so ecstatic when I gave you the letter from the First Miss Shao. It turns out that you and the First Miss Shao actually, actually…” Qiu Yu felt so distressed that he couldn’t even finish the sentence. Pointing at Qi Tianyu with a trembling finger, he couldn’t go on.
Throwing the letter at Qi Tianyu’s face violently, Qiu Yu stamped his feet hard and turned around to leave with his face turning red with anger.
Those present looked at each other and didn’t know how to deal with the current situation at the moment.
“Hey, look, look, it’s really the First Miss Shao. There is a character ru embroidered on this handkerchief which I just picked up at the back door of the side hall.” A man from the Ministry of Justice walked in with a handkerchief in his hand with a smile.
The pattern at the edge of the exquisite handkerchief was exactly the same as that on the flower fancy letter paper. Needless to say, they were indeed made by the same person…
The officials of the Ministry of Justice looked at each other in dismay. Was the First Miss Shao, who had always enjoyed a good reputation and was going to be chosen as a prince’s consort soon, really so deplorable?
With such a good reputation, she shouldn’t do this, right?
Could it belong to the lady who had shown up here a moment ago? But was the lady actually the First Miss Shao? It was hard to tell because they didn’t see her face…
Shao Yanru ran out through the back door in a hurry and returned to her courtyard in a panic with no time to look at anything else on the way. For fear of meeting others on the way, she took a detour. When arriving at the entrance of her courtyard, she let out a sigh of relief. What had happened just now was too dangerous. If her face were seen by them, her reputation would be ruined.
Fortunately, no one saw her face in the end.
But what had happened just now? She had heard a man’s voice outside the hall before. Why did she find that Qi Tianyu had pa.s.sed out after she entered the hall? Who was the other man?
As she thought about it, she was about to push the door open and enter the courtyard. Suddenly she heard a man’s deep voice and was stunned. Why was there a man in the courtyard at this moment?
“Come on, come on!” The man’s voice was deep and a little familiar. On hearing it, Shao Yanru began to breathe rapidly. It was obviously the man’s voice she had heard outside the hall before. If it were not for this voice, someone cautious like her wouldn’t have entered the hall.
“Stop horsing around!” Qu Le said sweetly with a chuckle. Shao Wanru’s three maids had their own distinctive voices. Shao Yanru had been familiar with their voices these days, so she immediately recognized that it was Qu Le’s voice.
The man was so close to Qu Le. Needless to say, he must have a better relations.h.i.+p with Shao Wanru. As she thought, she gently pushed the door open while clenching her teeth. She could be sure that she had suffered a secret loss today, and Shao Wanru must have played some tricks behind it. She did not know who the other man was, but she must catch this man.
As long as she caught this man, she wondered how Shao Wanru would explain it!
The door of the courtyard was pushed open slowly, and the shocked faces of Qu Le and Qing’er came into her view…….