Chapter 714 An Etiquette Instructor from the Imperial Palace
“Miss, Madame Dong said that the problem has been solved!” Qu Le reported the news she got from someone sent by Madame Dong to Shao Wanru.
Shao Wanru smiled slightly as a hint that she got it, and then put down the writing brush in her hand and went aside to wash her hands.
Then she walked up to the couch and sat down, picked up the teacup in front of her and took a sip, and then put it down thoughtfully. Yesterday she got the news that it was an officer of the Ministry of Revenue who managed to persuade the Business Department to return the detained goods of her store. This officer didn’t have a high position but was quite powerful.
The most important thing was that this officer had something to do with Chu Liuyue.
Duke Yong worked for Chu Liuyue. In the last life, Chu Liuyue didn’t gain power and Duke Yong’s Mansion didn’t stand out in the end. Although Duke Yong, who followed the lead of Duke Xing’s Mansion, was not an important powerful official in the last life, Duke Yong’s Mansion had never declined and even showed a faint hint of rising.
Shao Wanru got the news that besides Huangrui, the maid who seemed to be from a good family and was sent to the Qin’s Mansion by Old Madam of Duke Yong’s Mansion, there were plenty of maids like her in Duke Yong’s Mansion. In this case, Duke Yong’s Mansion seemed to be after something big. Of course, their cultivating this kind of maids, who seemed to be from a good family, was not just targeted at Qin Huaiyong.
If it were not for the fact that Madam Di had always been unfavored and suppressed by Shui Ruolan, Old Madam of Duke Yong’s Mansion would not have sent Huangrui to the Qin’s Mansion. Although Huangrui was raised in Duke Yong’s Mansion, she had never met Di Yan. It was obvious that she did not prepare it for the male masters of Duke Yong’s Mansion.
Since they had cultivated a lot of such maids, but not for the male masters in their mansion, it must have something to do with someone other than one of them. Thinking of this, Shao Wanru immediately realized that they must have the backing of someone.
This time she tricked Duke Yong’s Mansion into agreeing to help her in order to make the person behind Duke Yong’s Mansion come forward. As she expected, it was Chu Liuyue.
After thinking for a while, she walked up to the window, picked up the writing brush, and wrote down her thoughts on a piece of blank paper. Then she folded the paper after drying it off and handed it to Qing’er, who was beside her.
“Qing’er, deliver it to His Highness!”
“Yes, I will do it right away!” Qing’er said with a nod, took the note, and left. As a second-cla.s.s maid, she could not stay in the main room all day long.
“Is the Fifth Miss inside?” There suddenly came a familiar voice from outside.
Shao Wanru was stunned for a moment and nodded at Yujie, who was at the door.
Lifting the curtain and seeing that it was Nanny Yu who walked into the yard, Yujie hurried to greet her with a smile.
“Nanny Yu, my master is inside. What brought you here?” Yujie looked at the four maids standing behind Nanny Yu and asked in surprise.
Each of them was holding a bolt of gorgeous cloth.
Nanny Yu looked back at the maids behind her and said with a smile, “Old Madam instructed me to come over and measure the Fifth Miss for making some new clothes for her. The Spring Festival is coming, and the Fifth Miss just has a few sets of clothes.”
“Please express our grat.i.tude towards Old Madam. Please come in, Nanny Yu!” Hearing that she was going to make new clothes for her master, Yujie said happily and reached out to lead her in.
Nanny Yu walked into the room, bowed deeply to Shao Wanru, who was still painting, and said, “Greetings, Fifth Miss!”
Shao Wanru put down the writing brush in her hand, turned back, and said with a smile. “Nanny Yu, you don’t have to be overcourteous!”
Nanny Yu instructed the four maids to put all the brocade in their hands on the table and said, “Fifth Miss, Old Madam wants you to pick the cloth first!”
“Didn’t you measure me for making a few sets of new clothes for me not long ago?” Shao Wanru took the handkerchief from Qu Le, wiped her hands with it, and asked in confusion.
It was true that they had measured her for making two sets of winter clothes for her before, but the clothes had not been finished yet.
“That was then, and this is now. Fifth Miss, Old Madam means that you have been dressed simply in the Yuhui Nunnery in the past three years. Now that you are going to finish observing mourning for your parents soon, you should have a few more sets of clothes. The other Misses in the manor have two more sets of clothes because of you!”
Nanny Yu said with a smile.
She meant that the other Misses in the mansion were only supposed to have two sets of clothes.
Walking up to the table, Shao Wanru looked at the brocade Nanny Yu brought here. Each of them was indeed gorgeous and exquisite.
Comparing the colors, she drew two plain bolts of cloth and said, “Nanny Yu, I’ll have these two bolts!”
“Why did you only choose these two bolts, Fifth Miss? Old Madam means to make a few more sets of clothes for you. You can choose as many as you want, and even keep all of them. Old Madam got other cloth for the other Misses!” Nanny Yu said with an increasingly kind smile.
Shao Wanru’s hand paused above the brocade for a while, thinking that how desperately they hoped that she would be excluded by all the others in the mansion so that they did this.
The others in the mansion would consider it hardly acceptable that she chose the cloth first as the youngest sister, not to mention that she kept all of the cloth. Old Madam seemed to treat her generously, but in fact, she put her in an adversarial position towards the entire Duke Xing’s Mansion.
Both of the daughters of the third branch were lineal daughters, and they wanted high-quality brocade more than she did. If she took the high-quality brocade before them and even kept all the brocade, it would be impossible for them to have a good impression of her.
It seemed that Old Madam learned that Shao Caihuan and Shao Cailing had come to visit her!
Shao Wanru lifted the corners of her mouth silently, thinking that Old Madam indeed showed her hostility to her in every respect and now she even tried to upset her with a few bolts of cloth!
The brocade couldn’t make her lose her head. She really didn’t care about these. But since Old Madam intended to upset her with the brocade, she should certainly “pay her back”.
“Well, I’ll pick three bolts from them. I can’t pick much more cloth than the other sisters. Otherwise, what will they think of me? Old Madam doesn’t want me to be isolated by the other sisters, does she?”
Shao Wanru seemed to be joking, while fixing her eyes on the brocade in front of her and beginning to check them, and seeming to be focusing on the brocade in front of her.
Nanny Yu was stunned for a moment. In fact, Shao Wanru’s remark was extremely inappropriate. Although it was a joke, the meaning in her words was unpleasant. However, seeing that Shao Wanru was concentrating on picking the brocade and didn’t seem to have satirized Old Madam just now, she didn’t rebuke Shao Wanru on behalf of Old Madam after thinking for a while.
“Nanny Yu, what do you think of this bolt I pick?” Shao Wanru reached out to draw a bolt of bright red brocade and said with a smile. Although the dark-colored pattern was joyful, it looked a little too dull for Shao Wanru, who was a teenage girl. Besides, the brocade was not Shao Wanru’s usual style of dressing.
“Of course it’s good. Fifth Miss, you can pick a few more bolts. Old Madam feels very guilty for what she has done to you and wants to compensate you. The more you pick, the happier she will be. Regarding the other Misses’ feelings, rest a.s.sured, Fifth Miss. Old Madam will definitely be impartial and won’t arouse the other Misses’ hatred for you!”
Nanny Yu pulled the other bolts of brocade to the front of Shao Wanru, reached out to pat one of them, and said, “Look, this brocade is excellent. It’s perfectly weaved with a good-looking color. Would you like to keep it?”
Shao Wanru pushed the cloth away from her, walked slowly to the chair to sit down, and then shook her head with a smile and said, “I really appreciate Old Madam’s kindness. I’ve picked enough cloth, and there are some winter clothes which have not been finished yet. There are too many clothes for me!”
“Fifth Miss, you are not raised by Old Madam, so Old Madam is not clear about what you like. Sometimes she doesn’t know how to get close to you even if she wants to.” Nanny Yu stopped persuading Shao Wanru to pick a few more bolts of cloth and said in earnest with a sigh.
“I know. I also want to get close to Old Madam!” Shao Wanru lowered her head and said with a gentle smile, “On the day when something terrible happened to Miss w.a.n.g, I lost control because I was furious. Nanny Yu, I have to trouble you to apologize to Old Madam on behalf of me!”
What had happened at w.a.n.g Yishu’s place that day could be said to be a real conflict between the two of them. Although Old Madam didn’t mention it again, how could she really not care about it?
“Fifth Miss, it’s great that you think so. Old Madam had a hard time. The w.a.n.g’s Mansion… intended to make a scene. Old Madam had no choice but to take the Misses there. If it weren’t for the fear that the matter would become significant and affect the marriage of all the Misses in the manor, Old Madam wouldn’t have suffered such a grievance!”
Nanny Yu shook her head and sighed again.
Nanny Yu described Old Madam as such a kind and righteous person, as if Old Madam really devoted herself to Duke Xing’s Mansion and did all these for Shao Wanru.
“Old Madam had a hard time indeed!” Shao Wanru said sincerely with a sigh.
“Fifth Miss, it’s great that you think so. Since you’ve made your choice, I’m leaving now. I should take the rest of the cloth to the other Misses’ courtyards for them to pick!”
Nanny Yu reached out to wipe the corners of her eyes and said with a flattering smile.
Shao Wanru walked her to the corridor, and then frowned slightly. After thinking for a while, she sent Qu Le out.
It didn’t take long for Qu Le to get the news that the list of the candidates for the consort selection in the imperial palace had been issued. All the four lineal Misses in Duke Xing’s Mansion were all included in it, except for Shao Jie’er.
An etiquette instructor in charge of teaching the four Misses of Duke Xing’s Mansion came with the list.
The etiquette instructor was supposed to be prepared by each mansion. The candidates had to learn necessary etiquette before entering the imperial palace to partic.i.p.ate in the consort selection. The Misses from each mansion had to learn the rules and etiquette in the imperial palace and to perform them properly. Although the Misses had learned it before, they might not be able to perform them properly.
It was meaningful that Duke Xing’s Mansion got an etiquette instructor from the imperial palace. It meant that some of the four Misses would definitely marry into a prince’s mansion, or all of them got such an opportunity? Of course, it was also possible that the etiquette instructor sent to Duke Xing’s Mansion represented the respect for Duke Xing’s Mansion.
In fact, there were very few etiquette instructors from the imperial palace directly sent to a mansion. This kind of etiquette instructors were all the nannies serving the masters in the imperial palace. They were different from the nannies in each mansion, not subject to each mansion, and might even report what they had seen in each mansion to their masters after returning to the imperial palace.
What was more, the etiquette instructor was sent by the Empress and was said to be a nanny serving the Empress, so it was an unusual privilege.
Duke Xing had been rebuked not long ago, so the privilege cheered up the whole Duke Xing’s Mansion.
At the same time, all the members of their mansion had to be careful and hide their secrets from the etiquette instructor. Although the Empress would not directly intervene in their domestic affairs, no one knew when the Empress would take action.
Therefore, this was the reason why Old Madam came to make peace with her? It was possible in other mansions, but it might not be the truth in Duke Xing’s Mansion!
She looked at Old Madam’s courtyard with deep eyes…