Chapter 1067 The Mistress Came to Her
“Who?” Shao Wanru didn’t understand, waved her hand, and asked again.
Yujie lifted the curtain and went out.
The old maid, afraid of seeing Shao Wanru, lowered her head and spoke in a low voice, “She said she was an old acquaintance and had some connections with Marquis Xing. She asked to see you, Your Highness.”
The old maid didn’t want to report this because that woman obviously had no powerful backing. Otherwise, she would have claimed herself to be a Madam instead of Princess Chen’s acquaintance.
There were too many old acquaintances. Even those unfamiliar to Princess Chen when she was young could be seen as her acquaintances.
However, since she was an acquaintance of the Marquis Xing’s Mansion, the old maid didn’t dare to offend her and could only come in to report.
Yujie turned around. After lowering the curtain, she went in and asked, “My Lady, do you have any old friends in the Marquis Xing’s Mansion? When we were there, I didn’t see any Madam come to visit you.”
They had only spent a short period in the Marquis Xing’s Mansion, so they had not seen many Misses from other mansions, not to mention Madams. They had only interacted with the few scheming ladies living in the mansion. Except for them, Yujie couldn’t figure out which Madam was an old acquaintance of her master in the Marquis Xing’s Mansion.
“My Lady, I wonder if she comes here to blackmail you on purpose?” Qu Le got a sudden idea and asked. She couldn’t remember which Madam was familiar with her master.
Since she was an old friend, Princess Chen must know her. But she didn’t even meet an outsider in the Marquis Xing’s Mansion, so how could she get to know a Madam?
It couldn’t be Madam Jiang, Marquis Xing’s Madam, for she was not allowed to go out and meet others at this moment. As for Old Madam, it was even more impossible. If it were Old Madam, she wouldn’t say she was an old acquaintance. The two maids couldn’t come up with anyone else.
Shao Wanru pondered for a moment and suddenly said with a smile, “There is one!”
“Which one? My Lady, we’ve been accompanying you all the time, but why don’t we know it?” Qu Le and Yujie looked at each other in blank dismay and asked.
“On that day, when I met Marquis Xing outside…” Shao Wanru reminded them with a deep look in her eyes.
“No way! How could such a woman of low and degrading status come to see you?” Qu Le said in disbelief. The woman was Marquis Xing’s mistress, and it was apparent that she was not a good person. The information she got later proved it.
Marquis Xing had kept this mistress outside his mansion for more than ten years. They even had a daughter.
Everyone from n.o.ble families would hold such a woman in contempt.
“My Lady, Marquis Xing has gone too far. How could he let his mistress come to see you? He wants you to accept her and let her marry into his mansion, doesn’t he?” Yujie was so irritated that her face turned pale.
“That’s impossible. If she wants to marry into the Marquis Xing’s Mansion, she has to get Old Madam’s permission.” Qu Le shook her head and denied it.
Marquis Xing had elders, and he was Shao Wanru’s elder. Thus, he couldn’t ask a junior to help his mistress marry into his mansion.
“Why not? Old Madam is not in charge now. It is Eldest Young Madam who manages the mansion, and she is Marquis Xing’s daughter-in-law. No matter how thick-skinned Marquis Xing is, he would be too embarra.s.sed to ask his daughter-in-law to handle such a thing. At present, our master is the most distinguished person who can represent the Marquis Xing’s Mansion. Our master’s support will save them a lot of trouble. In that way, he could take not only his mistress but also his daughter into his mansion.”
Yujie sneered.
Shao Wanru remained silent for a moment. There was something strange about this woman’s visit. They had only met once. Ordinary mistresses would quickly hide once they saw anyone from their lover’s mansion. However, she dared to come to the door of the Prince Chen’s Mansion as an acquaintance. How could she be sure that Shao Wanru would agree to her request and be willing to see her?
“Ask her to go away and tell her that I don’t know her,” Shao Wanru said. No matter who this woman was, she didn’t want to pay attention to her and just wanted to see what they would do next.
“My Lady, let me have a look!” Yujie volunteered to see the shameless woman.
Shao Wanru nodded.
Yujie lifted the curtain and went out. With the old maid who delivered the message, she went out of the mansion. When she arrived at the gate, she saw a carriage alone before the gate. In front of it stood a thirteen or fourteen years old little servant girl with double hair buns. She looked pretty delicate. When she saw Yujie coming over, she hurriedly bowed to her.
“Who is your Madam? Our princess doesn’t know her.” Yujie raised her head and looked at the carriage arrogantly.
The curtain of the carriage was lifted, and there was a little servant girl about twelve or thirteen years old inside.
Behind the lifted curtain, a woman called “E’niang” appeared and saw Yujie. Before saying anything, she smiled and got out of the carriage with the help of a little servant girl. She bowed sideways to Yujie and said, “Miss, we met last time. At that time, you and Marquis Xing were both there. Do you remember me?”
She was wearing a light-colored dress, which made her look very elegant. Her initially delicate appearance became even more charming.
She was very good at dressing up.
Shao Jing, Marquis Xing, brought her with him that day, but Yujie didn’t dare to watch her very closely. At this time, she finally had to chance to look her up and down.
“Who are you? Her Highness doesn’t know you!” After examining her, Yujie still kept a straight face and said unhappily, “You’d better go back. If you’re looking for Marquis Xing, you can go to the Marquis Xing’s Mansion.”
“Miss Yujie, I’m E’niang. His Excellency brought me to you last time!” E’niang pleaded softly with tears in her eyes, looking extremely pitiful, “Her Highness met me in the private room before, right?”
“So what do you want to do?” Yujie was shocked. She didn’t expect this mistress to know her name. Sure enough, this woman came prepared, so Yujie became serious at once.
“I’m not asking anything, and I just want to see Her Highness.” E’niang wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, appearing extremely aggrieved. “After meeting Her Highness last time, I remembered one thing that should have something to do with her. So I specially came here.”
“About Her Highness?” Yujie sized E’niang up and said unhappily, “How could there be anything about Her Highness that needs you to pay a visit?”
With Princess Chen’s high status, how could there be a connection between her and such a woman?
“I mean it. It’s about her father. Please go in and report it, Miss Yujie,” E’niang said softly, bowed sideways again, and looked very respectful to Yujie.
Her master’s father was the former Heir of Duke Xing. Yujie couldn’t make a decision on such a thing at the moment.
Princess Chen had been trying to discover the truth about what had happened that year, and all her trusted subordinates knew about it. However, it was challenging to find out what happened back then. After all, the former heir of a duke died at the remote frontier.
“Is there any clue now?”
However, this clue was brought to them by this woman, which made Yujie doubtful.
“Miss Yujie, this is of great importance. When I met Her Highness before, I couldn’t remember it. Later on, I recalled such a critical thing. Miss Yujie…” Seeing Yujie’s hesitant look, E’niang knew there was hope and emphasized it with a silver voice and deep feeling.
Her expression looked very sincere.
“There’s no need. My master said that she knew everything about what had happened to her parents. She didn’t need you to reveal anything. If you think it is important, you can go out, turn left, and stop at the second intersection. The Ministry of Justice is there. You can say anything you like in the hall of the Ministry of Justice.”
Qu Le walked out of the gate of the Prince Chen’s Mansion.
She headed here later than Yujie because Shao Wanru specially asked her to go and instructed her to say these words.
“I indeed have something crucial to report to Her Highness.” Seeing Qu Le come out with a poker face, E’niang knew it would be no good to her and said in a hurry.
“Madam, Her Highness doesn’t know you. You must have made up things about the former Heir of Duke Xing to mislead us, so she refused to hear anything about it. If you keep pestering us, don’t blame our mansion’s guards for being rude. They will directly get you and throw you into prison, charging you with causing a disturbance in the Prince Chen’s Mansion.”
According to Shao Wanru’s order, Qu Le took an uncompromising att.i.tude.
A few guards came out from the gate, their hostile eyes on E’niang. Though their long swords were still in their sheaths, they approached with murderous looks.
These guards guarding the gate were specially sent here by the Emperor. When Qu Le went out just now, she told them that some people deliberately came to make trouble and asked their leader to dispatch several guards.
E’niang suddenly paled in a great panic. Seeing Qu Le’s stern look and the few fierce guards, she didn’t dare to say anything more and could get back to the carriage with her servant girl’s help.
The carriage turned around and left obediently.
“Qu Le, Her Lady asked you to come here?” Yujie asked in a low voice, looking at the carriage that seemed to be on the run and the guards going back.
“Let’s go back and talk about it!” Qu Le nodded.
They entered the mansion from the gate and went to the back courtyard.
“My Lady, she said she knew something about your father. She didn’t remember it when meeting you back then. Afterward, she suddenly recalled it and made this visit.” As soon as Yujie entered the door, she reported to Shao Wanru.
Qu Le, who arrived later than her, didn’t hear these words. At this time, she was stunned. It turned out the mistress knew such essential things, so she subconsciously turned to see Shao Wanru.
Given Princess Chen’s character, she would investigate this matter.
“It turns out to be such a reason!” Shao Wanru sneered with a cold smile. She had guessed that this woman must have prepared a very reasonable reason for forcing her to meet her. It seemed that she was right.
“Is it true?” Yujie asked worriedly. Anything related to Infanta Qinghua and the former heir of a duke was what Princess Chen was most concerned about. If it was true, she couldn’t miss it.
“Do you think it’s true?” Shao Wanru asked, her penetrating and cold eyes widening.
“I… I don’t know… I think it may be true, but may also be false.” Yujie hesitated. She really couldn’t tell whether it was true or not.
“Why do you say that?” Shao Wanru asked with some interest.
“This woman is Marquis Xing’s mistress. Based on such a background, she may know something. But even so, she couldn’t suddenly come to see you unless… unless something unexpected happened! So I think it may or may not be true. It’s hard to say!”
Yujie thought for a while and said bluntly.
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