Chapter 782 A Palace Maid Who Knew How to Seize Opportunities
Shao Wanru turned around, put down the plum branch in her hand, and bowed to him, “Your Highness, why are you here at this time?”
“Uncle Emperor asked me to have a look!” Chu Liuchen said casually, “Is Shao Yanru okay?”
The original order would be to ask a eunuch instead of Chu Liuchen to come and have a look, because the Emperor did not think that he needed a prince to do this. However, since Chu Liuchen volunteered himself, the Emperor had not been surprised.
Chu Liuchen had taken a fancy to Shao Wanru and their marriage had been decided by Empress Dowager three years ago. Others didn’t know this clearly, but the Emperor did.
“She is fine and she just asked the supervisor eunuch to tell me to go out early and come back late every day. She really takes care of me!” Shao Wanru said softly with a smile.
“What does she want to do again?” Chu Liuchen said lazily, “Need I stop her?”
“No, just let her do it!” Shao Wanru shook her head and said. She didn’t want Chu Liuchen to ruin Shao Yanru’s plan. She wanted not only Shao Yanru but also Duke Xing’s Mansion to slowly come to the surface.
The matters about her father and mother were full of doubts. She would find out the truth about what had happened that year.
“Take a walk?” Chu Liuchen suggested.
Shao Wanru shook her head and said, “Your Highness, you’d better go back first. This is the Phoenix Palace.”
Since the Phoenix Palace was the Empress’s territory, it was certain that Chu Liuchen’s every act here was closely monitored. Before their relations.h.i.+p was officially made public, she did not want to attract more attention.
The Empress might know something, but probably it had not been confirmed yet.
“Well, if you need anything, just tell me. I’ll ask someone to prepare a sedan chair and send you to the Phoenix Palace every day!” Chu Liuchen said. He glanced at Shao Wanru’s soft face with his beautiful eyes, and felt inexplicably peaceful in his heart.
“No, that makes me too special!” Shao Wanru felt that it was better to keep a low profile.
“If anyone says so, just let them come to me!” Chu Liuchen said unhappily. The gentleness in his eyes suddenly turned into coldness. He looked exactly like the Crown Prince in the last life in Shao Wanru’s memory, but now she was no longer frightened when she thought of this.
“Then keep it first. I will take the sedan chair when I want to, ok?” Shao Wanru made a concession.
“Okay!” Chu Liuchen reluctantly answered and reminded her again, “If you have any difficulties, just come to me. You also know that place. Even if I am not there, you can ask others to send a message to me!”
“Thank you, Your Highness!” Shao Wanru lowered her head and bit her lips, feeling inexplicably soft in her heart.
Chu Liuchen said a few more words to Shao Wanru, and then he left with Xiao Xuanzi. As for the side hall that Shao Yanru was in, he didn’t even step in and he just let Xiao Xuanzi go in to have a look.
“Master, someone is over there!” After turning the corner of the side hall, Xiao Xuanzi noticed with sharp eyes and pointed at a corner. Just now there was a figure poking his head out, who obviously was monitoring them.
“Ask him to come over!” Chu Liuchen said lazily.
“Come out!” Xiao Xuanzi took a few steps forward, walked to the corner and said in a sharp voice.
Chu Liuchen stopped and saw a cowering figure coming out of the corner. That was a eunuch.
“Your Highness!” The eunuch knelt down to kowtow and said in a panic.
“Who sent you here?” Chu Liuchen lowered his eyes and said coldly.
“I… I… I didn’t…” The eunuch stammered. His chest had been kicked so hard that he fell to the ground.
“Your… Your Highness…” Holding his chest, the eunuch trembled and could not even finish his words.
“Are you blind? How dare you b.u.mp into the Master? Next time, you just wait to be thrown into the lake to feed tortoises!” Xiao Xuanzi said coldly.
Chu Liuchen turned around to stride away, and Xiao Xuanzi trotted to follow him.
The eunuch, who had held his chest and been too panic to finish a word just now, did not stand up until the two of them disappeared. He rubbed his chest with his hand and held his waist to stand up. Looking at Chu Liuchen’s back, he smiled proudly.
Prince Chen was still weaker than he looked. This kick seemed to be powerful and made him painful, but actually Prince Chen had not used much strength. Had it been other princes, they would have kicked him so hard that he might have spit blood at least.
He needed to report to the Empress that there was no need to fear Prince Chen!
Getting such an important piece of information, the eunuch happily went to report to the Empress. As for checking the whereabouts of Prince Chen, it was none of his business. Moreover, although Prince Chen was not powerful, there were many strong bodyguards around him, so no one dared to monitor him closely.
He vaguely saw that this Prince left after talking to the Fifth Miss Shao of Duke Xing’s Mansion for a while. It should be the Emperor who had asked Prince Chen to do this.
Shao Wanru waited for a while, but Shao Yanru had not woken up yet. Seeing that it was getting late, she went back with Yujie.
The sedan chair had been waiting outside the palace gate, and palace servants immediately came to serve her when they saw Shao Wanru coming out. After she arrived at Chuxiu Palace, the Nanny in-charge invited Shao Wanru over and asked her about what had happened to Shao Yanru in detail.
The Nanny in-charge did not know what had happened outside Chuxiu Palace.
Shao Wanru told her what she had seen. Since this was an accident, she could not tell in detail and looked very confused. As for the two Misses who were going to leave, they had already been sent out of the palace. Shao Yanru was seriously injured, so Shao Wanru had to go to the Phoenix Palace to take care of her in the next few days.
The Nanny in-charge agreed with the Empress’ arrangement without hesitation.
Seeing that she couldn’t get anything from Shao Wanru, she asked Shao Wanru to go back and have a rest. On her way back, Shao Wanru met the palace maid Han Dan, who was waiting at the corner outside her room.
Seeing Shao Wanru coming over, Han Dan was overjoyed and hurriedly stepped forward to salute her, “Greetings, Fifth Miss!”
Shao Wanru stopped and looked at Han Dan, “What are you doing here?”
“I am worried about the two Misses. When I heard that something had happened to you two, I was extremely worried and have been waiting here since then!” Han Dan replied obediently.
In fact, she was really anxious. Both of the two Misses were considered promising by her. Although they were different, they were both the people she had chosen. It was unexpected that something had happened to both of them. The palace maid who had come back to deliver the message had not explained the whole story clearly but only said that they stayed in the Phoenix Palace together. Han Dan had never been relieved until now.
“Big Sister fell into the water and she has been injured. There is no one to take care of her. Are you willing to take care of her?” Seeing that Han Dan’s flattery really left a good impression, Shao Wanru suddenly had an idea and asked.
“Yes, yes. Fifth Miss, I’m willing to do anything you ask me to do!” Han Dan was so happy that she nodded repeatedly and said joyfully. If the selection of beauty candidates in the Chuxiu Palace was over, the palace would be quiet for three years. She couldn’t afford to wait for such a long time.
Her words were very smart. Not only did she show her sincerity but also flattered Shao Wanru.
“You can go to serve Big Sister, but you have to understand what you should do most importantly.” Shao Wanru smiled slightly. Her smile was beautiful and charming, but it made people feel a little cold in the night.
“Fifth Miss, don’t worry. I will listen to you and I know who my real master is!” Han Dan said in a hurry.
It was the Fifth Miss Shao who came back, but the First Miss Shao was left in the Phoenix Palace. Seeing this, she knew that the Fifth Miss in front of her was not someone that she could deal with at all. If she did not obey, she would probably lose her life.
She wanted to stand out in the palace instead of losing her life!
The First Miss Shao and the Fifth Miss Shao had been fighting against each other secretly, but the Fifth Miss Shao had always held the upper hand. It seemed to be the same this time.
In Han Dan’s mind, Shao Wanru made her unable to refuse.
As for the Phoenix Palace, it was the Empress’s place, where she had no chance to go in the past. Even if First Miss Shao had no hope, she might still have the opportunity to stay in the Empress’s palace. Thinking of this, she became more excited and looked at Shao Wanru with more desire in her eyes.
She was a palace maid who had always been very good at seizing opportunities, but she had never had a good opportunity. Now that the opportunity was coming, how could she not grasp it?
“Then you just wait. When the time comes, I will ask you to serve my Big Sister!” Shao Wanru left, leaving only these light words in the air.
Han Dan was so happy that she was unable to contain her joy with her heart pounding when looking at Shao Wanru’s back in the dark. The opportunity that she had been waiting for finally came.
Han Dan was summoned to the side hall of the Phoenix Palace two days later, because Shao Yanru needed someone to take care of her. When Han Dan had been in the Chuxiu Palace, she had taken care of Shao Caihuan, who had had an accident at that time. Now she was asked to take care of Shao Yanru. For one thing, it was because that she was good at taking care of people. For another, Shao Yanru also needed someone familiar with her to help Shuqi take care of her.
Of course, the reason why Shao Yanru suddenly thought of Han Dan and asked Han Dan to serve her was that Shao Wanru had repeatedly wanted to keep Yujie by Shao Yanru’s side. Shao Yanru had refused again and again, so she thought of Han Dan in the Chuxiu Palace. Compared to Yujie, she would rather find a palace maid who had secretly surrendered to her before.
Shuqi was indeed terribly busy sometimes.
It was not difficult to transfer an ordinary palace maid over, and Shao Yanru could also return her to the palace later, so this did not need to be recorded in the roster. This was settled after the eunuch in charge of the remote side hall asked the supervisor eunuch of the Phoenix Palace for instructions. It was a trivial matter, so there was no need to report it to the Empress.
Therefore, Han Dan went to Shao Yanru’s side and served her with Shuqi.
She was very well-behaved and tried her best to please Shao Yanru. No matter what Shao Yanru said, she followed everywhere and helped Shuqi with her work. In less than two days, Shao Yanru had been very satisfied with her and felt that she was a useful palace maid. She had always been busy these days, because Shao Yanru had asked Han Dan to go out to inquire about something when needing her. Although the information she got was not very useful, Shao Yanru was still quite satisfied with her.
The information included when Prince Zhou would come, when Prince Zhou would leave, when the Emperor would come, and how long the Emperor would usually stay…