Chapter 682 Dust on the Painting, Not on the Words!
“Uncle, if you are concerned, you can ask the servant to follow me. I will talk to Fifth Miss Shao just for a short while!” Qi Tianyu said politely.
Since he had said that, for the sake of Magistrate Qi, Qin Huaiyong didn’t refuse. He could only nod and ask the servant to lead Qi Tianyu to see Shao Wanru.
Then he sat alone in the study for a long time silently.
Since when had those things all gone wrong? At that time, he couldn’t even figure out the direction. Sometimes, he would even doubt if what he had done was right or wrong.
He was a military general, and he had been annealed on the battlefield. He had always been determined. When he had already chosen the direction, he would rush in a certain direction, but at that moment he was a little confused…
Shao Wanru returned to Zhifang Pavilion, where she had not been for a long time. Everything in Zhifang Pavilion was still the same. There were not many people in the Qin’s Mansion in the past, and at that time there were fewer.
Qin Yuru got married and Qin Wanru returned to her family. Brother Xuan, who was just born, was young and had no courtyard to live in. There were only a few masters in the mansion and several courtyards were empty. There was no one living in Shao Wanru’s place. Coupled with Shui Ruolan’s nostalgia, that place had always been kept the same.
There were fewer servant girls and old maids in the courtyard, but they were all familiar servants. They hurried to greet her when they saw Shao Wanru coming over. All of them were very respectful.
Everyone knew that their Second Miss was the daughter of the Heir of Duke Xing and Infanta Qinghua. She was of royal blood. Because of that, no one dared to offend her, even though she was no longer a mistress in Qin’s Mansion!
She went to the main room and sat down. After a servant girl served tea, the girl left obediently, leaving Yujie alone to serve her.
At that time, there was no need for other servant girls and old maids to be around her. Shao Wanru really just wanted to come and sit there.
Things had changed. She had been the Second Miss of Qin’s Mansion, but at that time she had even changed her surname.
Shao Wanru picked up the teacup and took a sip slowly. Then she stood up and looked at a flower rack by the window. There were some of her objects on it, most of which she brought from Jiangzhou. She reached out to pick up an inkstone. The carved pattern on it looked very elegant and antique, but it also looked very simple.
In fact, she went out and ran into it with Qi Baiyu when she was in Jiangzhou. It was rare for her to find such a good piece of inkstone, and she almost fought with others over it. When she thought about it, she found it very funny.
She put her hands on a brush washer. There was still a cut on the brush washer. It looked incomplete and was really not a good thing, but there was also a story behind it.
There were many things on the flower stand, and when she thought about them at that moment, she missed them very much. Before Qin Yuru plotted against her marriage, although she was not favored in Qin’s Mansion and was bullied by Qin Yuru and Qi Rongzhi, she had Old Madam Qin’s protection and didn’t have much interest conflicts with Madam Di and Qin Yuru, so they didn’t want to kill her.
But later, for the sake of their own interests, Madam Di and Qin Yuru repeatedly tried to kill her.
In her last life, they had succeeded in the end!
The nostalgic smile in her eyes became cruel. She took a scroll from the painting pot on the side and slowly unfolded it. There were a few pieces of calligraphy, which were written by herself. She suddenly became interested and asked Yujie to grind the ink for her. Then she took out a piece of white paper and began to write according to the characters on it.
After writing a word, she carefully differentiated it. After all, it had been three years. Her calligraphy was a lot different from that before. In the past three years, she had copied a lot of scriptures and practiced a lot of calligraphy in the Yuhui Nunnery. The calligraphy was no longer the same as it was when she was young.
She put down the writing brush in her hand, picked up the previous piece of calligraphy, and gently rubbed it with her fingers. Then she raised her hand and looked at the mark on her hand in astonishment. It was very shallow, hardly to be seen. If she had not touched it with her fingers, she would not have found the little dust.
But why was there only such a light layer of dust on it?
The servants would clean the room and every place was indeed quite clean. But they would not clean the kind of things like her calligraphy and painting.
The servants basically wouldn’t clean up those things since they might even spoil them in the cleaning process. Therefore, they were not allowed to clean the calligraphy and paintings. Even if they cleaned them, they would only clean up some dust outside carefully.
The words she wrote were not very precious. She just put them casually without putting a bag on the outside and rolled them up. There would inevitably be heavy dust on them for three years. Even if someone watched them carefully from time to time, there should be a lot of dust on them.
But the dust mark on her hand was very light. It was so light that it could not be seen without careful observation.
If she did not know clearly that the calligraphy was written three years ago, she would have thought that it could only be written about a month ago. The dust on the calligraphy could only have been acc.u.mulated for a month at most.
She rolled it up, put it aside, and took another piece of calligraphy. After looking at it, she reached out and touched it. There was also a very light layer of dust on it.
She picked up another painting. When she pressed her hand on it, her fingers were immediately covered with a thick layer of dust.
There was another one, which was still calligraphy. The dust on it was extremely light…
There was a lot of calligraphy and paintings in the painting pot. They were all casually written and painted by Shao Wanru when she was in Qin’s Mansion in the past. There was calligraphy and paintings. The paintings were covered with thick dust, while the calligraphy was different. It seemed that someone had seen it recently and looked at it carefully. The dust on it did not seem to have been acc.u.mulated for three years.
When she finished looking at them, Shao Wanru’s eyes darkened and she glanced at the two rows of calligraphy and paintings on the table.
The calligraphy was placed in a row, and the paintings were placed in a row.
It was not so obvious that they had been mixed together before, but now that they were divided into two rows, she immediately found that the calligraphy and paintings were indeed different.
The dust on the outside had been cleaned. Since it was cleaned, it was not very obvious on the paintings. But in fact, that place was rarely cleaned. But the calligraphy was different. The calligraphy written by her was basically very clean. Even from the surface, one could see something.
Her calligraphy was not so good. It was written by herself and could not be regarded as a treasure. Even because of the foundation of her last life, her painting had always been much better than her calligraphy. When her paintings were normal, but her calligraphy had been touched?
“Miss, is there anything in your calligraphy?” At that time, Yujie also saw something strange in it and couldn’t help reminding her.
“I don’t know either!” Shao Wanru shook her head and said.
She really didn’t know the reason. Someone was interested in her calligraphy? Although her calligraphy wasn’t ugly, it wasn’t written by a famous master. Besides, she was just a girl in the boudoir. Who would pay attention to her?
The scene around her was the same as when she left three years ago. There was no trace of being touched by others at all. If she hadn’t gone to draw the calligraphy in the painting pot, she wouldn’t have been able to find it.
Therefore, that person should be familiar with everything around her and know some of her habits. That person carefully avoided everything that made her suspicious. Did the person guess that she would come back and was he unwilling to let her find anything?
She felt very confused in her mind, as if something was deeply hidden which could be known, but she couldn’t see it clearly. She sat on the chair and took out a piece of calligraphy to read.
That piece of calligraphy was written by her according to the copybook. It was very ordinary and there was nothing strange about it, but that piece of calligraphy was also wiped clean.
“Miss, could it be that heir of the duke left something for you? And Madam of Duke Xing knew it, so she sent someone to check the old objects here?” Yujie blinked and had a whimsical idea.
Shao Wanru shook her head. “It couldn’t be Madam of Duke Xing!”
Many clues here showed that the person was not an outsider. That person knew everything there. Besides, even if she left the courtyard, there were still servant girls and old maids. It was not easy for anyone to come in. If it was in the daytime, it would not be easy for people from other manors to enter the manor. Moreover, that person could come into the backyard when there was no one in it.
If it was at night, who would come over? Who could come over?
As for Qin’s Mansion, she always felt that there was something important that she did not think of. So many things that were involved could not be explained. Or even if it could be explained, it seemed to be very far-fetched.
“Was someone looking for some calligraphy? My calligraphy?” Something suddenly flashed in her mind…
“Miss, Master Tianyu wants to see you!” While she was thinking, she suddenly heard a servant girl reporting from outside.
As soon as she arrived at Qin’s Mansion, Qi Tianyu came. Shao Wanru frowned unconsciously, motioned for Yujie to put the calligraphy and paintings well, and stood up to welcome him. Even though she didn’t live there at that time, it used to be her boudoir, and she didn’t want to meet Qi Tianyu there. The relations.h.i.+p between her and Qi Tianyu was not so close.
In the yard, Qi Tianyu stood there with his hands clasped behind his back, with a worried expression on his handsome face. He stood at the gate of the courtyard very politely and did not go straight in. There was a young male servant standing beside him. It was a young male servant of Qin’s Mansion.
It should be Qin Huaiyong’s servant. It seemed that Qin Huaiyong had agreed to Qi Tianyu’s visit, which made her feel very uncomfortable.
Hearing the sound behind him, Qi Tianyu turned his head and looked at Shao Wanru, who came down from the stairs. There was a trace of indescribable sadness in his eyes.
“Fifth Miss Shao!” Before Shao Wanru greeted him, Qi Tianyu had already made a deep bow.
Shao Wanru stood a few steps away and looked at Qi Tianyu indifferently. She bowed and then said seriously, “What’s the matter, Mr. Qi? If there’s something, you should go to Duke Xing’s Mansion. I have nothing to do with what happened to First Miss Qi. I don’t know what life she lives in Duke Xing’s Mansion either!”
She seemed to be very heartless and cruel by saying that, especially with her bright and beautiful eyes, which were as cold as the lake water. There were ripples in the lake, but there was no warmth. She looked at Qi Tianyu with no politeness or gentleness.
That was what Qi Tianyu wanted to say originally, but it was said by Shao Wanru. Even if Qi Tianyu had always been smart, he could not say it at that time.
After a long while, he smiled helplessly and said, “Fifth Miss Shao, do you still hold a grudge against me? If so, I’m here to apologize to you, explain to you and ask for your forgiveness!”