Chapter 839 An Inopportune Infatuation
Xiao Xuanzi quietly took a few steps backward, thinking that he’d better stay far from his master. Needless to say, his master was in a fury!
The moment when they walked into the flower hall, Xiao Xuanzi and his master had realized that Fifth Miss Shao was being bullied by everyone else there. Xiao Xuanzi cast a secret glance at the two Old Madams sitting on the main seats, and thought inwardly that how daring they were to oppress Fifth Miss Shao, who was going to be his master’s wife!
“Your Highness, there is nothing worth seeing in that courtyard. But you can visit it as long as you want!” Old Madam didn’t look well. She was clever enough to tell the unfriendly att.i.tude in Chu Liuchen’s words. She just thought that it was unlikely to happen, “What does he mean? Does he really care about Shao Wanru?”
“Then can I have the honor to have both Old Madam and Fifth Miss Shao as the guides to show me around it?” Chu Liuchen said with an elegant smile, “And I just heard that Old Madam Zhao and Miss Zhao also wanted to visit that courtyard. Why don’t we go together?”
Old Madam Zhao was astonished and showed an embarra.s.sed face. She hastened to wave her hand and denied, “I am not eligible, Your Highness! Please never mind!”
“If it was not Old Madam’s idea, then it was Miss Zhao’s?” Chu Liuchen turned to look at Zhao Xiran who was standing aside, with his eyes becoming more and more bright and watery.
Zhao Xiran instantly lowered her head, her heart beating wildly, half frightened and half shy. Then she bowed and replied, “I’m not eligible either, Your Highness!”
“Old Madam Zhao, are you sure that you are not coming with us? I happen to have time today to go for a visit with Old Madam and you!” Chu Liuchen’s vivid eyes were gently cast on the two Old Madams, who were in great tense.
“You are all politeness, Your Highness!” Old Madam said with a reluctant and stiff smile.
Old Madam Zhao said to Chu Liuchen respectfully, “Your Highness, we Zhao Family never intend to take up the courtyard of the former Heir of Duke Xing. We just want to choose a new house as the bridal chamber in Duke Xing’s Mansion, because the last chosen one was burned.”
Then she turned to speak to Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion, “We understand that no one expects an accident like that. Since it has been burned down, please prepare another chamber for Ran’er’s wedding. We are nearly running out of time. If we don’t do it well, Fifth Miss Shao’s wedding will be delayed.”
Her words were sincere, reasonable, and extremely comfortable, especially those at the end that flattered Chu Liuchen.
Old Madam Zhao could only hide the grievance in her heart. She didn’t know that Prince Chen cared about his marriage with Shao Wanru. When Old Madam was telling the plan to her, she was only told to have a cooperation to force Rui’an Great Elder Princess to give up the vacant Quhuan Courtyard.
She didn’t expect that Prince Chen would get involved.
As the minister of the Ministry of Works, Minister Zhao would occasionally talk about Prince Chen at home. So Old Madam Zhao was well aware that the Emperor and the Empress Dowager thought highly of Prince Chen, who was much higher than the other princes. Sometimes Minister Zhao even implied that if Prince Chen recovered from illness, it was hard to say who would inherit the throne in the future.
At first, Old Madam Zhao didn’t take it seriously. She even doubted whether Prince Chen would be still alive a few years later after hearing about his poor health. Now she saw that his health was little influenced, though he looked slightly weaker than healthy people. Moreover, he was devoted to protecting the Fifth Miss Shao. Thinking of these, Old Madam Zhao was very annoyed.
She was eager to rebuild the relations.h.i.+p with Duke Xing’s Mansion.
Old Madam Zhao would want to cancel the marriage if it weren’t for the fact that it had been well decided and arranged before the marriage of Prince Chen and Shao Wanru. She was afraid that Prince Chen’s wedding would be affected if something wrong happened to her granddaughter’s wedding.
Would Shao Hua’an get the position of the Heir of Duke Xing? At first, an important factor for the engagement between the two families was that Shao Hua’an would become the Heir of Duke Xing and then the Duke Xing in the future.
At the very beginning, Madam of Duke Xing had been very confident and promised more than once about it. Because at that time, there were no other opponents for the position in Duke Xing’s Mansion. As for Shao Yuanhao, no one cared much about him, though he was the son of the former Heir of Duke Xing. On the one hand, he was still young. On the other hand, he was worthless compared with Shao Hua’an, who was brilliant.
However, the marriage was postponed for three years because of Shao Wanru. In the end, they found that nothing of principle had even changed even though she was involved, so the two families settled the marriage. Later, they had to hold the wedding ahead of time, because Shao Wanru and Chu Liuchen’s marriage was decided and arranged in a hurry.
Even so, Old Madam Zhao didn’t take Shao Wanru seriously. She still believed that in Duke Xing’s Mansion, Fifth Miss Shao was just an unmarried daughter without any power and authority. She would marry Prince Chen in the future and devote herself to serving her seriously ill husband. How could she have time to care for Duke Xing’s Mansion?
What’s more, when she was married, she would not have the right to b.u.t.t in the inheritance of her parents’ family. She could make no decision, but only stood aside and expressed some useless ideas.
But Old Madam Zhao had never thought of the current situation. She really wanted to break off the engagement.
“Don’t worry, Old Madam Zhao. We will deal with it as soon as possible. A good chamber will be well prepared as a wedding room before tomorrow and our people will spare no efforts to decorate it. As for the furniture sent by you before, we will make up for it. Everything will be to your satisfaction!” Aware that nothing more could be robbed from Shao Wanru, Old Madam turned to try her best to deal with every problem, with a stiff smile.
“That’s good. Then we are leaving!” Old Madam Zhao was unable to stay there any longer. She said goodbye to Old Madam, and then bowed to Chu Liuchen and walked out with Zhao Xiran.
Chu Liuchen didn’t stop them and watched them leave with a smile. After they left, he turned to ask Old Madam, “Old Madam, can we go now?”
“Your highness, this way please!” Old Madam said with a reluctant smile. Under the situation that Prince Chen was interested in that courtyard and asked for her guidance, she could only follow his words to accompany him.
Of course, Shao Wanru and Shao Caihuan would have to follow Old Madam. They went to Quhuan Courtyard together.
When they arrived at Quhuan Courtyard, they could still see the characters on the huge screen wall. Shao Wanru stood in front of the wall and raised her head to read the characters from top to down one by one, during which her eyes started to get wet with tears.
Those were her father’s writings, just in front of her. But his figure and appearance in the memory were too remote for her to remember clearly. After all, it was the memory of her childhood. In addition, she was reborn once, so the memory about him became much farther away. Now another sight of his characters made it clear in her mind.
Though she bit her lip, trying hard to suppress the sadness in her heart, an irrepressible trace of grief could be captured in her eyes. In her last life, she didn’t have a chance to meet her father or know about his life even when she died. Everything was entirely covered by Duke Xing’s Mansion, including the fact of their murdering her and her relatives.
“Old Madam, what a good building, the courtyard of the former Heir of Duke Xing!” Chu Liuchen’s voice came in her ear. Shao Wanru could tell from the voice that he was smiling when he said that. She glanced sideways and saw that he was talking to Old Madam, so she did not respond.
She was in a bad mood now and not in the mood to talk. It was best for her that Chu Liuchen did not try to speak to her.
“This is the best courtyard in Duke Xing’s Mansion and it was given to my eldest son in the past. I thought… I didn’t expect that he would end up like that… throwing a tantrum, running away from home, and even losing his life outside in the end!”
The screen wall also reminded her of her eldest son. In a moment, sadness came through her mind like an unforeseen storm and suddenly she choked with sobs.
“Is the house better than the one where Duke Xing lives now?” Chu Liuchen continued to ask Old Madam with his head up as if he did not notice her abnormality.
Old Madam had to suppress the sorrow and answered Prince Chen, “My second son also lives in a good courtyard!” She wiped off the tears at the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief.
Shao Jing now lived where generations of Duke Xing had lived. How could it not be good? Old Madam did not dare to ramble on it.
“That sounds brilliant! Old Madam, can you show it to me? There are several vacant courtyards in my mansion, one of which will be set for the heir of the duke and one as my private courtyard in the future. The layout of Duke Xing’s Mansion looks great and I think I can take it as a reference!”
Chu Liuchen asked Old Madam with a smile and in a friendly and calm att.i.tude after he walked around the screen wall twice. On the other side, Shao Caihuan kept gazing at him, enjoying him both behaving and looking like a handsome childe existing in an ink painting. Her heart was pounding wildly!
She had been attracted by Chu Liuchen for long, and her pa.s.sion was doubled at this time. She always thought it much better to marry such a man even as a concubine or a consort than marrying Commandery Prince Qing. With this dream in her mind, she could feel her heart heat up and beat fast and a burning blush showed up on her face.
She had been wanting to talk with Prince Chen, but she hadn’t got a chance. When she heard Chu Liuchen’s words to Old Madam, she immediately cut in, “Grandma, I happen to be free of time, so I can show His Highness to see Second Uncle’s courtyard!”
After saying that, she felt very shy so that she lowered her head. The blush in her face was as brightly red as sunset. Fortunately, her face was still covered with a light veil, so no one could see it.
Old Madam became angrier on hearing Shao Caihuan’s initiative and even wanted to give her a sober slap on the face when seeing her affected shyness. How could an unmarried Miss from an aristocratic family say things like that? What’s more, it was obvious that Shao Wanru next to her was a more suitable person to do it. It was Shao Wanru who should accompany Chu Liuchen there. They would get married in two months, so it didn’t matter even if that was a little misconducted.
What did Shao Caihuan mean? Did she fall in love with Prince Chen? Old Madam thought it ridiculous!
“What do you think of it, Old Madam?” Chu Liuchen said gently, giving a glance at Shao Wanru who was still immersed in sadness. The smile on his face slowly disappeared, his beautiful eyes were narrowed slightly and his handsome face expressed a trace of coldness with unignorable aggressiveness.
He was facing Old Madam, and Shao Caihuan was behind him. She couldn’t see his changed face, so she was still immersed in the wonderful wish. After all, she was intensely willing to show Chu Liuchen to Duke Xing’s courtyard!
Old Madam, however, saw Chu Liuchen’s cold face and knew that something bad might happen—Shao Caihuan might have p.i.s.sed Prince Chen off. But, a wonderfully tempting evil idea suddenly flashed through her mind…