Chapter 826 Quarrels Beginning Due to the Most Ordinary Courtyard!
Even if the second aunt was not here now, Shao Jie’er was not the one who had the right to give orders in the second branch. The eldest brother was going to get married soon, and his wife would be in charge of the second branch. Shao Jie’er was just an ordinary daughter of a concubine.
Except for Shao Jie’er, the other daughters in Duke Xing’s Mansion were all legitimate. How would they respect Shao Jie’er?
“The Second Uncle doesn’t have any other daughters now. Big Sister is not here now. Because of the Second Uncle, the Second Sister has gained more dignity. Even Grandmother treats Second Sister better, let alone us!” Shao Wanru answered calmly and didn’t care much about Shao Jie’er’s affairs.
“Although you are right, she… is really…” Shao Caihuan was a little angry. She took a deep breath to suppress her feelings, shook her head, and said, “Forget it. Let’s stop talking about her. I would get angry when I talk about her. I don’t know what’s wrong with her. She talks nonsense.”
Shao Wanru glanced at Shao Caihuan’s expression and smiled slightly. Did it mean that she didn’t know the details of Shao Jie’er’s decision to give up her marriage or was she showing her dissatisfaction with this marriage?
In Shao Jie’er’s eyes, being Commandery Prince Qing’s co-consort seemed to be a good marriage, but it was not necessarily the same for Shao Caihuan even if Shao Caihuan’s face was injured now. Furthermore, she did not know what would happen in the future and she was not young anymore.
But if there were other choices, she would definitely not choose Chu Qing! But why did Shao Caihuan tell her this?
Her watery eyes blinked twice to hide the suspicion in her eyes. When she raised her head again, there was only a slight smile left, which was a little cold and indifferent. She was not a friend of Shao Caihuan. When she was in the palace, Shao Caihuan had once helped Shao Yanru plot against her, but in the end, she only got what she deserved.
Now Shao Caihuan thought that Shao Wanru did not know the truth so she pretended to be close to her.
Shao Wanru had always been wary of those who had framed her before. She didn’t think that they could talk about such private things intimately now.
“Fifth Sister, let’s go and have a look at my eldest brother’s courtyard. Although it is newly fixed up, it is still very good, which is as good as other courtyards in our mansion. My eldest sister-in-law will definitely be satisfied with it when she marries into our mansion in the future!”
Shao Caihuan said again and reached out to pull Shao Wanru’s embroidery tools, which made Shao Wanru lose the threads in her hands and they were loosed in the end.
“Fifth Sister, I’m sorry. I’ll help you tighten the thread up later!” Seeing that she had ruined it, Shao Caihuan said with an apologetic expression and put down her hands.
Shao Wanru shook her head, put down the embroidery tools in her hands, and said, “Third Sister, you don’t need to blame yourself. It doesn’t matter!”
In the past two days, Shao Caihuan had helped her a lot. How could she really ask her to do this because of this small matter?
“Fifth Sister, are we really not going to have a look? We can go and just have a look at it. If you marry into Prince Chen’s Mansion in the future, it will be inconvenient for you to come back at that time!” Shao Caihuan sighed and inexplicably felt a little strange in her heart when she thought of Prince Chen whom she had met before.
A few days ago, Chu Liuchen sent the betrothal gifts in person. Originally, Chu Liuchen did not need to do this in person. The Ministry of Rites would send someone to send the betrothal gifts. That day, it happened that Chu Liuchen had nothing to do, so he came to Duke Xing’s Mansion with the officials of the Ministry of Rites. Although it was just a formality, the att.i.tude of the whole Duke Xing’s Mansion had changed.
Although some people had envied Shao Wanru for marrying into the royal family before, they knew that Chu Liuchen was a sick person who would not live long. So people had a lot of private discussions. However, after seeing Chu Liuchen, everyone only had envy left. He was as handsome as the childe in a painting. Many people felt that it was not a loss to marry such a person even if he did not have royal status.
Moreover, although Prince Chen looked a little weak, he was not so weak that he would die of illness. He seemed to be quite healthy. His illness did not seem to be a big deal!
Therefore, Shao Wanru did marry into n.o.bility!
“Let’s go!” Shao Wanru said helplessly. If it went on like this, she would not be able to do anything but be annoyed. She had never known that Shao Caihuan would be so annoying.
Hearing Shao Wanru’s words, Shao Caihuan immediately became delighted. The two of them dressed up and went to Shao Hua’an’s bridal chamber together.
There were many servant girls and old maids walking there along the way. Time was pressing so they were busy decorating Shao Hua’an’s bridal chamber.
Shao Wanru didn’t know where the bridal chamber was exactly located, but Shao Caihuan did know. However, when they saw the courtyard, Shao Wanru frowned slightly.
This courtyard was a little different from the courtyard she had imagined. She had thought that although it would not be as good as her Piaoyun Courtyard, it should at least be better than other courtyards. However, the courtyard she saw now was very ordinary. It was really surprising.
The Piaoyun Courtyard became Shao Wanru’s courtyard because of its special situation in Duke Xing’s mansion. It was the best courtyard in the whole mansion. As for the courtyards where other Old Madams lived and Madam Jiang lived, they were also excellent. The courtyard in front of her was even smaller than Madam Jiang’s courtyard, and its location was extremely ordinary.
“Why… is it like this?” Shao Caihuan also looked surprised. She had come here before, but she had forgotten the specific appearance of this courtyard. At this time, when she saw it, she couldn’t help muttering to herself.
Then she turned to an old maid nearby and asked her servant girl to call the old maid over.
“Is this the bridal chamber arranged for the First Young Master?” Shao Caihuan asked.
After greeting the two Misses, the old maid nodded with a smile and said, “This is the First Young Master’s bridal chamber. It is still being decorated. The Second Miss is arranging it inside.”
“Is there no other empty courtyard in the mansion?” Shao Caihuan asked the question in her heart. Such a courtyard could really not match Shao Hua’an’s ident.i.ty as the eldest legitimate son. It was so ordinary that it looked similar to Shao Caihuan’s courtyard.
The third branch of Duke Xing’s Mansion was much weaker in power than the second branch of the family, so of course, they could not choose a good courtyard before.
“I don’t know as a servant… If Third Miss wants to know, you could ask the Second Miss. She is in charge of this matter. I heard that the Second Miss helped to pick it,” the old maid hesitated to say.
As a servant, she really didn’t know about this kind of thing. Although they, as servants, also felt that this courtyard was too small and disgraceful, they just did as the masters of the mansion decided and said.
“Come on, let’s go inside and have a look!” Seeing that she could not get any answer, Shao Caihuan asked the old maid to do her own business and said to Shao Wanru.
Shao Wanru nodded and followed Shao Caihuan into the courtyard.
The courtyard was noisier. A large group of servant girls and old maids were moving a large wardrobe carefully inside. Shao Jie’er, who was in the corridor, loudly instructed them to move it. It seemed that they were very busy.
Seeing that they came in, the servant girls and old maids who were not busy hurriedly bowed to them, but Shao Jie’er acted as if she didn’t see them and didn’t even look at them. She continued to instruct the servant girls and old maids to move the wardrobe together.
“Second Sister, I heard that you picked the courtyard for Big Brother. Aren’t you afraid that he will be angry because you picked such a yard?” Shao Caihuan came over and said in an unfriendly tone. Shao Wanru followed her, looked at the group of old maids and servant girls who moved things and said nothing.
“It turns out that Third Sister and Fifth Sister are here. Look at how busy I am. I really didn’t notice that you are here.” Shao Jie’er said, “Sisters, if you are not busy, please help me think of a better way to put the wardrobe inside and protect it from b.u.mping damages.”
It seemed that she was asking them for advice, but in fact, she completely ignored Shao Caihuan’s words. Shao Caihuan was so angry that her expression changed. As the legitimate daughter of the third branch, she had always looked down on Shao Jie’er, who had always followed Shao Yanru, but now she was directly ignored by Shao Jie’er. How could she not be angry?
“Second Sister, don’t be in a hurry to move things. Does my big brother know that you have chosen this courtyard? Do Grandma and Second Uncle know?”
“Why would they not know? Eldest Brother, Second Uncle, and Grandmother certainly know about it. They are satisfied, but Third Sister seems to be dissatisfied!”
Shao Jie’er glanced at Shao Caihuan with some sarcasm in her eyes, as if she didn’t take Shao Caihuan seriously at all.
“Satisfied? Second Sister, you haven’t forgotten that my eldest brother is the eldest legitimate son of the mansion, have you?” Shao Caihuan snorted coldly and said with a gloomy expression.
“So what?” Shao Jie’er seemed to not understand Shao Caihuan’s meaning in her words.
Shao Wanru sat down in the corridor on the side and watched the two sisters quarreling calmly with a slight smile on her face. It seemed that this matter was not as simple as it looked on the surface. No matter how bold Shao Jie’er was, she did not dare to humiliate Shao Hua’an on purpose. Did it mean that they were really satisfied?
That was naturally impossible!
She wanted to see what they intended to do!
“Second Sister, you made it sound so easy. Big Brother is not only the legitimate son but also the eldest son. He has always been the n.o.blest one. When you say this, have you thought about your status?” Shao Caihuan said coldly, pointing out that Shao Jie’er was just a concubine’s daughter.
She was neither legitimate nor older than others.
Shao Jie’er was furious. She was so angry that her face became gloomy. She put down the round fan in her hand and said coldly, “Third Sister, what do you mean? Do you think I didn’t choose a good one?”
“Second Sister, there are many better courtyards in our mansion, right? Isn’t there a more suitable courtyard among those empty ones? You just chose such a courtyard to humiliate my eldest brother?!” Shao Caihuan was also annoyed. She couldn’t bear to be scolded by a concubine’s daughter whom she looked down on.
Especially when she thought of what Shao Jie’er had said arrogantly in front of her mother, which made her seem inferior to Shao Jie’er, she became angrier.
“What nonsense are you talking about?” Shao Jie’er frowned and muttered indifferently, “There is no more suitable courtyard in the mansion. It’s good enough to choose such a courtyard!”
“I’m talking nonsense? Aren’t there a few good courtyards over there? What’s going on? Do you intend to keep them for yourself? Let’s go and find my grandma. We must make it clear. Why did you pick such a small and narrow courtyard for my eldest brother?” Shao Caihuan was very angry and came over to pull Shao Jie’er away.