Chapter 876 Forced to Apologize
“Who fell into the river?” Zhao Xiran asked in disbelief after hearing the servant girl.
When a banquet like this was held in a mansion, safety measures were much more stringent, so it was unlikely that such a thing would happen.
“It’s… it’s Fourth Miss of your mansion!” The servant girl was awkward. After all, the two Misses in front of her were also from Marquis Xing’s Mansion. How could they still feel pleased after hearing that such a thing happened to their sister when they were guests here.
“Why did Fourth Sister fall into the river?” Shao Wanru asked in a low voice. Shao Cailing was not a naughty girl, so no one had ever thought that she would fall into a river. Moreover, she had a servant girl with her.
“I don’t know either. I was not on the spot at that time,” the servant girl lowered her head.
As they couldn’t get anything more out of the servant girl, Zhao Xiran and Shao Wanru hurriedly went back with her, not to the banquet but the previous flower hall. There were not many people there, only Madam Wen, Old Madam, Shao Cailing, and Gu Xishu.
Shao Cailing was crying, and Gu Xishu was wiping her tears. The atmosphere was very serious.
Zhao Xiran and Shao Wanru came over and bowed to Old Madam first, and then to Madam Wen. After that, they were led to sit aside. After they sat down, Old Madam asked, “Fourth Girl, is what you said true?”
“Grandma, I don’t dare to lie! Miss Gu told me that she wanted to lead me to the place where we had fun together when we were young, and I followed her there. But I didn’t expect… I didn’t expect that she led me there to push me into the water!” Shao Cailing said in anger when she raised her wet and swollen eyes and pointed at Gu Xishu. “It is an obscure place! And I was asked to go there by Miss Gu. So how could it not be her! Miss Gu, are you trying to ruin my reputation?”
Originally, she went to attend a banquet with happiness. But she got into an unexpected disaster here. How could she bear to stand it? Fortunately, there was no one around at that time, otherwise, her reputation would have been ruined.
Recently, everyone in the Marquis Xing’s Mansion was talking about reputation. Her mother also warned her not to lose her reputation, and Shao Cailing had always remembered it.
“Fourth Miss, I didn’t push you. I did have an appointment with you, but I left for a while because I had something to do later, didn’t I? I didn’t know that you were pushed into the water, and I didn’t see who pushed you. How could you blame it on me because you didn’t see anyone else around? If I intended to set you up, how could I ask you to be there in person?” Gu Xishu explained while she was crying.
“Who knows whether it is because you wanted to cast a mist before our eyes? When we were children, you and Eldest Sister were cunning and always plotted to do something secret!” Seeing that Gu Xishu still denied it, Shao Cailing rebuked her in a loud angry voice.
She had changed the wet clothes. Though her hair had been tidied up, it still looked wet. She looked quite pitiful with a pale face caused by the cold water.
Old Madam coughed in a low voice, and her face darkened. Shao Yanru had always been her pride, and Old Madam believed that there might be a future for her.
Zhao Xiran, who had sharp eyes, saw the expression on Old Madam’s face. She reached out to hold Shao Cailing’s hands and comforted her in a low voice, “Fourth Sister. Why don’t you tell us what happened at that time? I am confident that Madam Wen will give us a proper explanation!”
Shao Wanru’s hands were warm, which made Shao Cailing feel warm in the heart. She felt more and more aggrieved and shed tears drop by drop. She sobbed so hard that she could almost not make a sound. “Sister Zhao, it’s really Miss Gu who harmed me…”
“Okay, okay, I understand! We will listen to grandma!” Zhao Xiran comforted her and turned to look at Old Madam.
Old Madam coughed in a low voice again and pushed the problem to Madam Wen, “Madam Wen, what do you think of…”
“Xishu, where were you when it happened to Fourth Miss Shao?” Madam Wen turned to look at Gu Xishu, who was also crying, and asked her with a darkened face.
“Aunt, I was with my servant girls. If you don’t believe me, you can ask them. There were two servant girls with me at that time. I left there for a while, and something had happened to Fourth Miss Shao when I came back. I didn’t meet Fourth Miss Shao once before I went back there. How could I hurt her!” Gu Xishu also complained.
Shao Cailing refused to accept her explanation and said, “Here is your own mansion, so it’s easy for you to arrange someone to do that. You didn’t need to do it yourself!”
“Fourth Miss, I didn’t!” Gu Xishu cried again.
This problem became more tricky. The suspect said that it had nothing to do with her because she had witnesses to prove that she was not present at that time. While the victim insisted that it was the suspect’s plot even if she was not present, because it was the Mansion of the Prime Minister and Gu Xishu had the geographical advantage.
Madam Wen had a lot of guests outside to entertain, so she was in no mood to care about the affairs of these little girls. She made a prompt decision on the spot and said, “Xishu, apologize to Fourth Miss. No matter whether you have pushed her or not, you have made the appointment. You are in the wrong from the beginning!”
“Aunt?” Gu Xishu looked at Madam Wen in disbelief. Although Gu Xishu was a cousin Miss in the Mansion of the Prime Minister, Madam Wen, who had no other daughters now, had always spoiled her niece with mother’s love. Gu Xishu’s face always reminded Madam Wen of her delicate younger daughter. No matter what happened, Madam Wen had always supported and covered Gu Xishu.
So, it was a heavy slap in Gu Xishu’s face that she was asked by her aunt to admit what she didn’t do and apologize to Shao Cailing in front of so many people. If it was spread out, how could she face others?
“Apologize now! Fourth Miss is the guest. It’s your fault that you didn’t treat your guest well. And you left for your own business during your appointment with your guest, which was wrong!” Madam Wen said with a cold face and looked at Gu Xishu with a little anger.
Even though she had doted on Gu Xishu in the past, Madam Wen knew that she didn’t solve it in such a way, it would get worse, which was not good for Gu Xishu.
Seeing that Madam Wen was angry, Gu Xishu had to cry and apologize to Shao Cailing. Then she ran away with hands covering her crying face.
“Old Madam, I will go on the investigation. But no matter what was the cause, our mansion is to blame for starting it. Later, I will prepare a generous gift and send them to your mansion as an apology to Fourth Miss!” Madam Wen ignored Gu Xishu who had run out in tears and said to Old Madam with a wry smile, “It’s all my fault. I spoiled her and made her so casual.”
Shao Wanru looked up at Madam Wen, who actually never admitted that Gu Xishu had pushed Shao Cailing. She just tortuously said that Gu Xishu was wrong in being impolite to Shao Cailing.
Although Shao Cailing was frightened, she wasn’t hurt anyway. Old Madam couldn’t argue the point to death, so she nodded at once and considered to let it go.
However, it was not appropriate for Shao Cailing to stay here anymore in such a state. Shao Wanru proposed to send Shao Cailing back, and Zhao Xiran would stay to accompany Old Madam.
Old Madam agreed on her proposal. After all, Zhao Xiran was her new daughter-in-law. She couldn’t leave without showing up at the banquet. Otherwise, what would the madams and Misses on good terms with Minister Zhao’s Mansion think? What’s more, Old Madam Zhao and Second Miss Zhao were also guests here today.
Shao Wanru and Shao Cailing got on the carriage of Marquis Xing’s Mansion. The carriage went out of the gate of the Mansion of the Prime Minister and then arrived at Marquis Xing’s Mansion after a turn.
Shao Cailing kept trembling and didn’t look well, though she had changed her clothes. She must have caught a cold.
Shao Wanru accompanied Shao Cailing to the third branch. After Third Madam heard that something bad had happened to Shao Cailing, she struggled to get up to see her daughter. When she saw Shao Cailing lying in the quilt, trembling, she burst into tears.
She only had two daughters. Now accidents happened to them one after another, and the third branch was not in a good situation. The more Third Madam thought about it, the sadder she became, and she almost fainted.
After comforting her with a few words, Shao Wanru advised her to rest. Third Madam was indeed in weak health, and she didn’t pretend to be dizzy before.
Feeling Shao Wanru’s sincerity, Third Madam expressed her grat.i.tude while wiping her tears. Then she was helped to leave by a servant.
Shao Wanru didn’t go back to Piaoyun Courtyard at once. She asked someone to make brown-sugar ginger soup for Shao Cailing and helped her drink it. She stayed to guard her Fourth Sister.
Shao Cailing had slept for a long time. She was still asleep when Old Madam returned to the mansion and sent someone to inquire about her. Hearing that Shao Wanru had been staying here, Old Madam was satisfied and sent some nouris.h.i.+ng medicinal materials to Shao Cailing. The matter had to be ended like this.
In the past, Old Madam might have had confidence to question the Mansion of the Prime Minister for an acceptable explanation. But now, Marquis Xing’s Mansion was not favored by the Emperor and was in a weak position. Marquis Xing’s Mansion could not afford to offend any other mansion of officials of high status, let alone the Mansion of the Prime Minister.
Thinking that a little cousin girl of the Mansion of the Prime Minister dared to hurt her legitimate granddaughter, Old Madam could not bear it.
But so what if she couldn’t bear it? It was meaningless to argue more. Old Madam was best at weighing gains and losses. Thinking of this, she suppressed her anger, ate a little food at the banquet, and decided to come back with an excuse that she was worried about Shao Cailing.
When Shao Cailing woke up, it was already after one o’clock in the afternoon. Before she opened her eyes, she heard a gentle voice in her ear, “Fourth Sister, you are awake. How are you feeling?”
Although it was early spring and the weather was much warmer today, it was still cold in essence. She might get illness for the rest of her life after falling into the water. This was also the reason why Shao Wanru asked Shao Cailing to drink the brown sugar ginger soup before she fell asleep.
“Thank you, Fifth Sister!” Shao Cailing said in a hoa.r.s.e but sincere voice.
The servant girl helped her sit up. Shao Wanru put a cus.h.i.+on behind her back and reached out to take her pulses. She found that the pulse was still calm, so she got her hand off and said with a smile, “Fourth Sister, don’t worry. It’s nothing serious!”
Hearing Shao Wanru’s words, Shao Cailing breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at Shao Wanru, she wanted to say something but stopped on second thought. After thinking for a while, she waved her hand and all the servants in her room immediately left, leaving only a trusted servant girl of her. “Fifth Sister, Gu Xishu is not a good woman. I… I am going to tell you something…” Shao Cailing stammered to say.