Chapter 1085 - Chapter 1085 Tell on Others, Retreat to Advance
Chapter 1085 Tell on Others, Retreat to Advance
The matter they talked about before was so secretive that the Empress Dowager didn’t want others to hear their conversation, so even Nanny Wei was not with them.
In fact, it didn’t matter whether she trusted Nanny Wei or not. When Shao Wanru talked about some secrets with the chief supervisor, she also asked Yujie and the others to go out. Knowing too many secrets was not a good thing for them.
The Empress Dowager must have had the same considerations, which showed that she trusted Nanny Wei very much. Shao Wanru was fully aware that she should be more careful when talking about Nanny Wei.
“It has something to do with Nanny Wei? How could it be possible?” asked the Empress Dowager.
From her surprised reaction, Shao Wanru knew what she said had successfully attracted the Empress Dowager’s attention. At first, she just asked this question casually after making sure that Shao Wanru had nothing to do with the matter related to the maple leaf painting. To her great surprise, the shop was relevant to Nanny Wei.
“The heartless man had a relations.h.i.+p with Nanny Wei, which I didn’t know before. Today, I’ve just learned from the shopkeeper that someone pretended to be her and colluded with Lord Wei to deceive Nanny Wei,” Shao Wanru said.
Then she told the whole story in detail.
She said that when the shopkeeper saw Wei Dahai come over, he took a female guest out of the shop. Because the female guest looked and dressed like the shopkeeper, shop-boys paid attention to her. Later, when Wei Dahai entered the shop and led the female guest away, a shop-boy followed them to a carriage. The shop-boy heard Wei Dahai introduce the woman to the people in the carriage, saying she was the shopkeeper of b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop. In addition, he called the person in the carriage his aunt, who was said to be a maid serving the Empress Dowager.
The shop-boy couldn’t hear everything clearly nor understand their conversation, so he went back to report this to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper felt that something was wrong and immediately reported it to Shao Wanru.
“Someone pretended to be the shopkeeper of b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop and misled Nanny Wei?” The Empress Dowager immediately believed it, her face darkening.
She believed in Nanny Wei. If Shao Wanru said Nanny Wei conspired with them, the Empress Dowager wouldn’t buy it. But when she said that Wei Dahai lied to Nanny Wei, the Empress Dowager believed it right away. Shao Wanru’s words couldn’t be more authentic, and she looked perfectly calm without any sense of guilt.
“If you don’t believe it, you can check it out. According to the shopkeeper, that woman is the trusted nurse of Lord Wei’s mistress, who is about the same age as the shopkeeper.” Shao Wanru dropped another sensational message.
She asked the Empress Dowager to investigate it by herself. Since Nanny Wei was involved in this matter, she wouldn’t send her to do the survey. As long as it was not Nanny Wei, others could easily find out the truth and learned the news that Wei Dahai kept a mistress outside his mansion.
Previously when Nanny Wei was with them, Shao Wanru usually replied cryptically and never directly mentioned Wei Dahai’s name. But when Nanny Wei was not here, she could talk about Lord Wei without scruples.
There was Lord Wei, Nanny Wei, and so many other pieces of evidence to verify. Immediately, the Empress Dowager believed everything Shao Wanru mentioned.
Her expression changed dramatically as soon as she learned about and believed the whole story.
The Empress Dowager remembered the dropped contract she had seen before. If what Shao Wanru said was true, that contract must have been faked, and the story that Shao Wanru lost the contract was also a lie.
Did all of this mean that Nanny Wei was disloyal to her? So, she deliberately led the Empress Dowager to the contract to mislead her.
When they came back from outside the Palace that day, Nanny Wei had helped her choose Misses from aristocratic families. The Empress Dowager could still remember everything clearly. In the past, Nanny Wei would advise her to let Chen’er choose for himself. If Prince Chen picked up any lady, the Empress Dowager would no longer need to do so many things. In this way, the Empress Dowager wouldn’t make Prince Chen feel uncomfortable.
That day, Nanny Wei didn’t persuade her to give up this idea. Instead, Nanny Wei suggested that she choose a few n.o.ble ladies to marry into the Prince Chen’s Mansion, saying that they could guarantee Prince Chen’s wealthy life in the future.
Long ago, the Empress Dowager had such an idea, but it was no longer suitable for the current situation. Although the Empress Dowager had disappointed Shao Wanru because of the b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop, she didn’t intend to make Shao Wanru leave Prince Chen. Once Misses from distinguished families married Prince Chen, the whole Prince Chen’s Mansion would be in a mess.
At that time, the Empress Dowager felt nothing weird, and she even nodded in approval after hearing Nanny Wei’s advice. Now when she calmed down and pondered on this matter, she immediately found that there was something unusual. The Empress Dowager began doubting Nanny Wei’s loyalty to her.
Impossible! That was impossible!
As the Empress Dowager’s trusted maid, Nanny Wei had gone through ups and downs with her. How could Nanny Wei betray her at this time? Wei Dahai must have deceived Nanny Wei.
Thinking of this, the Empress Dowager vigorously suppressed the uncomfortable feeling in her heart and said, “You go back first. I’ll have to check it out first.”
“I see. Thanks for that, Imperial Grandmother!” Shao Wanru stood up, bowing respectfully to the Empress Dowager. Then she turned around to leave, but the Empress Dowager suddenly stopped her. “Wei Dahai, I seem to have heard this name. Is there anything else about him?”
“I don’t know that.” Shao Wanru shook her head and said with doubt in her bright watery eyes.
“So, she really has no idea about that.” The Empress Dowager looked at her and waved her hand, signaling her to withdraw.
Shao Wanru stepped out of the room as she was told. Seeing Nanny Wei standing at the door, she smiled gently, nodded to her, and was about to leave.
“Greetings, Princess Chen!” Nanny Wei took the initiative to say.
Shao Wanru stopped and asked, “Nanny Wei, what’s the matter?”
Nanny Wei looked Shao Wanru up and down several times and found nothing improper. However, she was pretty confused. The Empress Dowager had even thrown a teacup at Duke Cheng’en, but how could Princess Chen come out safe and sound?
“I just want to know if Her Majesty is angry?”
“Imperial Grandmother asked me some questions. Why could she get angry?” Shao Wanru said, looking at Nanny Wei calmly.
Nanny Wei felt increasingly confused. When the incident happened, she happened to be outside. It was said that the Empress Dowager hit Duke Cheng’en in person with a teacup. In a mess, Duke Cheng’en went back home in a panic. She had intended to go in and comfort her master, but she was told that the Empress Dowager needed to spend some time alone to calm down, and no one was allowed to get in.
Shao Wanru came later, but now she seemed fine. Nanny Wei was greatly surprised.
Duke Cheng’en was the biological brother of the Empress Dowager. Although Duke Cheng’en was not that capable, the Empress Dowager had always been very good to him. How could Princess Chen get out of trouble when even Duke Cheng’en suffered?
Recently, the Empress Dowager liked Princess Chen less and less. She even wanted to get some new consorts for Prince Chen!
Nanny Wei had a bad feeling in her heart, so she stopped Shao Wanru.
“Yes, I made a mistake. This way, please, Your Highness!” Seeing that she couldn’t get any information, Nanny Wei stepped aside, reached out to show the way, and replied respectfully.
Nanny Wei reflected on what she had done in the Prince Chen’s Mansion. At that time, she soon regretted losing her composure. How could she arouse the vigilance of Princess Chen? She should have behaved as usual.
Before others, Nanny Wei returned to normal. Although she was the Empress Dowager’s trusted maid, she had always been respectful to the royal family members in public.
Shao Wanru responded with a light smile and turned to leave without taking it seriously.
With a deep frown, Nanny Wei stood behind her and watched her go down the high steps, feeling perturbed. In the past, whenever the Empress Dowager came across anything, she would tell her the first time. But now she didn’t even allow her to enter. What happened?
The Empress Dowager didn’t tell Nanny Wei about it. At present, what she cared most about was the matter of the maple leaf painting. So, she invited the Emperor over and asked all the servants to leave.
The Empress Dowager put the painting brought by Duke Cheng’en on the table, looked at the Emperor, and said, “Look at this painting!”
The Emperor didn’t know what had happened. Seeing his mother’s serious look, he took the painting and unfolded it in confusion. His face immediately changed. He slammed his hand on the table and said sharply, “Where did this come from?”
The Empress Dowager sighed and smiled bitterly, “It’s from Duke Cheng’en!”
The Emperor was at a loss for words. He would think that the person was against his mother and him if it were someone else. But it turned out to be Duke Cheng’en. The Emperor could guarantee that his kind but useless uncle would never do such a thing deliberately.
The Empress Dowager was Duke Cheng’en’s biological sister. If something terrible happened to his sister, how could he be at peace?
The Emperor took a deep breath and said with a gloomy face, “Who set Duke Cheng’en up?”
His uncle was indeed a good-for-nothing. From time to time, some people would swindle some money out of him. The Emperor never accused him when learning about these things about money. However, he was becoming more and more irritated by his foolish behavior. How could he dare to send this painting to the Empress Dowager?
“Worse still, he had intended to demonstrate it to me before all the officials.” The Empress Dowager gave a long sigh. Fortunately, he didn’t choose to do that. At least the current situation is not that bad. He didn’t bring disgrace on the Emperor and her in front of all the officials.
“Duke Cheng’en has made great progress in bringing trouble upon us. He even had the guts to do such a stupid thing! Then why did he choose not to do it?” The Emperor said furiously. Since Duke Cheng’en had always been a man who would spoil rather than accomplish things, the Emperor had decided to remove his uncle from the Imperial Household Department. The older he was, the more muddle-headed he became. At such an old age, it was better for him to recuperate at home so as not to cause any new trouble.
“It was Princess Chen. She happened to visit the Duke Cheng’en’s Mansion with a painting of maple leaves she made because she wanted to ask them what I liked. Madam of Duke Cheng’en felt that the painting in her mansion could not compare with Princess Chen’s, so she let Duke Cheng’en bring the painting to me before my birthday, saying that it was a token of his kindness!”
The Empress Dowager felt hatred and anger, but she could do nothing.
Her elder brother did it all out of kindness, though this action was stupid. How dare he present it in front of the officials without scrutinizing it?
“Mother, don’t worry. I will investigate the people around Duke Cheng’en. I will find out the people behind it and deal these people a crus.h.i.+ng blow.” The Emperor pushed the painting aside and had a clear idea.
This matter had something to do with people in the Palace. Perhaps, it was the Empress, Consort of Virtue, and several other high-ranking imperial consorts. Of course, the Empress was the most likely to be related to this plot, followed by the Consort of Virtue. It was because both of them had grown-up sons.
“Don’t alert the suspects.” The Empress Dowager nodded and reminded him.
“Mother, rest a.s.sured! I will be careful about it.” The Emperor nodded. After thinking for a while, he said, “Mother, you’d better take a look at Princess Chen’s painting first, lest something unexpected happen again!”
With the lesson drawn from Duke Cheng’en’s mistake, the Emperor was afraid that Princess Chen would be ignorant and would send a similar painting to Empress Dowager.