Chapter 565 Did the Girl Really Fall or Deliberately Fall?
When Shao Yanru came back with the hamper, she did not disturb Shao Wanru. However, not long after she entered the courtyard, Yujie, who followed her back, did not disturb her either.
After gently closing the door of the courtyard, at the sight that the door of the main room was closed, Yujie entered Shao Wanru’s silence room.
“Miss, I saw Lord Qiu bring the hamper to the First Miss. At first, the First Miss acted properly, but later I found that the First Miss seemed to have feelings for Lord Qiu!” Yujie reported. Receiving Shao Wanru’s hint, she was not surprised at the sight of the two figures not far from the courtyard door.
She just hid herself and watched the whole thing.
At first, the First Miss acted as Yujie expected. However, later the First Miss seemed to be a little frivolous and gave such a charming smile to Lord Qiu.
Lord Qiu obviously had a crush on the First Miss, but it was impossible for the First Miss to marry him. In this case, the First Miss should stay away from him. Why did the First Miss’s behavior make Yujie feel that they seemed to be in love with each other?
Yujie had always been sharp-eyed. Even in the dim light at that time, she saw the excitement on Lord Qiu’s face when he saw the First Miss turn around and bow. His expression obviously showed that he was willing to do anything for the First Miss and gave Yujie an intuition that it was dangerous.
“Of course she doesn’t like Qiu Yu, but she can make use of him!” Shao Wanru said with a smile and looked up at the door. It was very quiet outside, and the other maids hadn’t come back.
“She intends to ask Lord Qiu for help?” Yujie asked bluntly.
“Most of the officials in the Yuhui Nunnery have been transferred to other places. Among those left here, Qiu Yu could be considered high positioned. If he can help her, it will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her. Even if something goes wrong, given Qiu Yu’s deep affection for her, he will not give away her name.”
Shao Wanru said casually.
“Miss, what should we do?” Yujie asked in panic. She grew up in the Jingxin Monastery, and the Abbess of the Jingxin Monastery often told her that a civilian was always no match for an official. If Qiu Yu became their enemy, they would get into big trouble.
“Don’t worry. Qiu Yu is not a fool and won’t take actions at will. What’s more, Shao Yanru won’t let him take actions at will. He will only take actions at a critical moment,” Shao Wanru said slowly. Shao Yanru obviously stayed on the mountain with malicious intentions and would definitely deal with her. She certainly would not await her doom.
She deliberately offered Qiu Yu an opportunity to meet Shao Yanru and become her p.a.w.n. If she didn’t know about it, Shao Yanru could make use of Qiu Yu and make a secret move indeed. But now that she knew about it, she could send someone to keep an eye on Shao Yanru and Qiu Yu so that she could make use of Shao Yanru’s secret move.
She would like to let Shao Yanru set the trap and see where the trap would lead.
Shuqi came back after a while with the help of Qing’er, and Yujie happened to meet them after cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks. It was said that Shuqi fell and sprained her ankle on her way back because it was too dark, so she came back late. Fortunately, Qing’er, who went to see if Qu Le had come back, encountered Shuqi and helped her back.
Qing’er came back to report to Shao Wanru after helping Shuqi to the main room.
“Miss, when I went out, I encountered Shuqi, who was coming back. I made her fall, and then I ‘accidentally’ met her after getting out of the nunnery to have a look and helped her back. Is it okay for me to come back at this moment?”
“It’s okay. Go to have dinner with Yujie. Qu Le won’t come back today!” Shao Wanru said with a smile.
Yujie and Qing’er left at her command. Shao Wanru got up to fetch Pushan Nun’s painting and began to examine it. She always didn’t think it an ordinary painting, but she couldn’t find anything wrong.
“Miss, I ran into an incident and felt strange about it. I want to tell you about it!” Yujie suddenly stopped at the door and said.
The fact that Qing’er made Shuqi fall reminded her of what had happened in the afternoon. A strange thought came across her mind. Could it be possible that the girl fell deliberately?
“What’s happened?” Shao Wanru sat down in front of the desk with the painting and asked.
Yujie returned to the room and said, “Miss, when I went out with Qu Le, we met a girl, who fell in front of us. She just came from the road, and we couldn’t see each other at that time. If I hadn’t pulled Qu Le aside, the girl would have b.u.mped into us!”
Yujie said as she chose her words carefully. “Although the girl was dressed in fine clothes and seemed to come from an extraordinary family, she acted imperiously, seemed like a vulgar and ferocious girl and didn’t look like a Miss from an aristocratic family. But plenty of maids and old maids ran out later and attempted to seize us. It was so typical for an overbearing aristocratic family to do that!”
Yujie had lived on the mountain since she was a child, so she had experience more extensive than that of an ordinary maid. Thinking about it carefully, she immediately found some doubtful points and told Shao Wanru about them at the same time. She did not think much about it before, but the fact that Qing’er made Shuqi fall aroused her suspicion.
“Later I asked the nuns in the nunnery about it, but they all said that there was no such a Miss and they haven’t heard of such a thing. It seemed that this Miss was really magnanimous enough to let me and Qu Le off. However, based on her overbearing look and her servants chasing after Qu Le and me, I don’t think she’s such a magnanimous person!”
As she said, she became increasingly suspicious. The slight suspicion was infinitely magnified at this moment.
Shao Wanru raised her head with a slight frown and listened to Yujie’s detailed description of the whole story. After that, she clarified her thoughts and asked after thinking for a while, “You said that a large number of maids and old maids rushed to you. Did anyone go to see that Miss?”
“No, I remember it very clearly. Because everyone rushed over, I took Qu Le’s hand and ran away. If we didn’t run, I couldn’t resist them despite my great strength, not to mention that Qu Le was also there. Even if you come forward to deal with the matter later, Qu Le and I would have been beaten and been robbed of the paintings.”
Thinking about the situation, Yujie still felt scared. Those servants looked so fierce and were obviously up to no good, more like some evil servants cultivated for some purposes.
It was quite surprising for a Miss to be served by these evil servants.
“No one went to check their Miss’s injury, and they all rushed to you?” Shao Wanru asked again.
“Yes, exactly. It’s very strange. What’s more, it’s a very remote place. I don’t know why this Miss went there and happened to rush out. Shouldn’t she walk slowly as a Miss? Why did she walk so fast like an anxious maid? She rushed to us in a hurry and then put the blame on us!”
Yujie said in rage.
“Do you remember that place?” Shao Wanru asked after thinking for a while. Among the maids, Yujie could be considered very sharp-sighted and could even compare with Qing’er, who had received special training. It was related to her experience of living in the Jingxin Monastery for a period of time. After seeing plenty of people, she could naturally distinguish the difference between various people.
“Yes, I do.” Yujie nodded and said.
“Take me there to have a look tomorrow!” Shao Wanru said. There must be something behind the mysterious girl. Although she did not know what it was, now it seemed to be related to her.
Shao Wanru went to bed very late that night, but even so, she still found nothing. At the end, she could only roll up the painting and go to bed.
When she got up the next day, it was still early. She instructed Yujie to knock on the door of Shao Yanru’s room, give her the painting and say that Pushan Nun asked Prince Chen to send someone to deliver the painting here just now.
Shuqi had got up, while Shao Yanru had not. Nevertheless, the knock on the door woke her up. When Shuqi came in with the painting, she got up.
Hearing the sounds coming from the bed, Shuqi hurriedly put down the painting in her hand, lifted the gauze curtain and helped Shao Yanru up.
“What happened just now?” Shao Yanru asked.
“It’s Yujie, the Second Miss’s maid. She said that Prince Chen’s servant brought a painting from Pushan Nun for you,” Shuqi said.
“From Pushan Nun?” Shao Yanru said with a frown. When she went to see Pushan Nun yesterday, she didn’t see her. The entrance was guarded by the guards of Prince Chen’s Mansion, who said that Pushan Nun was packing up her things before going down the mountain and entering the imperial palace, so people without fixed duties were not allowed to get inside.
If it weren’t for the guards from Prince Chen’s Mansion, Shao Yanru would not have come back so obediently. However, the guards were from Prince Chen’s Mansion, so she dared not act rashly.
Prince Chen had always been moody and not tender towards girls at all. No one knew whether he would instruct the guards to throw her out or not. If he did, she would be disgraced.
If the news that she, the first beauty, was thrown out went out, it would be a stain on her name. She could not allow any stain, because she must be flawless.
After coming back alertly, she no longer went to bother Pushan Nun. In fact, Shao Yanru didn’t mind whether she could meet Pushan Nun or not, because it was Pushan Nun who asked Shao Yanru to meet her before she entered the imperial palace.
Now that the painting was delivered here, it explained why Pushan Nun asked Shao Yanru to meet her. Shao Yanru got up, came up to the painting with disheveled hair, instructed Shuqi to unfold it and looked at it carefully. The private seal at the bottom of the painting did belong to Pushan Nun, because she had seen Pushan Nun use it.
Pushan Nun only drew a few paintings, and even fewer of them were stamped with her seal. Shao Yanru had learned painting from Pushan Nun for a period of time. Pushan Nun had taught her a lot and occasionally painted in person, but these paintings basically weren’t stamped with her seal. Only once did she accidentally see Pushan Nun stamping a painting with her seal.
Later, she, who was astonished, had asked to see the private seal of Pushan Nun’s, the characters on which she hadn’t figured out till now. However, Pushan Nun declined to show it to her and only said that it was engraved by a close friend of hers in their childhood. The characters on it actually didn’t indicate a name and just looked like characters of an unrestrained style because her close friend didn’t do a good job in engraving.
But it was extremely precious for her.