Chapter 1232 - Chapter 1232 Madam Dowager Lu
Chapter 1232 Madam Dowager Lu
Madam Wen coughed in a low voice and said implicitly, “It’s not good for them to keep arguing like this, Your Highness.”
“Well, what’s not good about it?” Shao Wanru rolled her watery eyes and said with a little apology, “I was thinking about Grandma’s health just now, so I didn’t pay attention to what is going on. Are they arguing?”
Madam Wen was secretly angry. She didn’t expect Shao Wanru to not notice such a loud noise until now.
Madam Wen took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in her heart, and said with a smile, “It’s not appropriate for them to quarrel like this. It will damage the reputation of Marquis Xing’s Mansion.”
“The reputation of Marquis Xing’s Mansion? Thank you for your concern, Madam Wen. In fact, how much reputation do we have left now?” Shao Wanru said bluntly with a cold look in her eyes. She smiled slightly.
Madam Wen was rendered speechless and thought that as the daughter of the Shao Family, Princess Chen was not supposed to say that.
“Your Highness, I think even if you don’t think this is related to you, you need to take the young heir’s reputation into consideration. After all, the Marquis Xing’s Mansion will belong to the young heir in the future.” Madam Wen tried to persuade her in a different way.
She wanted Shao Wanru to step forward and suppress the quarrel between Shao Jing and Third Master Shao. With her status as Princess Chen, even though Third Master Shao was a carefree man, he didn’t dare to offend Princess Chen.
“Now everything in the mansion belongs to Second Uncle. It’s up to Second Uncle to decide what to do. From my point of view, I certainly take Third Uncle’s side. Indecent women shouldn’t be allowed to enter the mansion,” Shao Wanru said disapprovingly.
Madam Wen felt that they couldn’t carry on the conversation since every word of Shao Wanru made her feel uncomfortable. “Is Princess Chen also here to make trouble today?”
She looked Shao Wanru up and down secretly. Seeing her natural expression, Madam Wen couldn’t tell what her att.i.tude was at the moment.
“You’re a junior, Your Highness, but you have a n.o.ble status. It’s better for you to speak up to stop them,” Madam Wen added.
“Do you think that I’m being too indifferent, Madam Wen?” Shao Wanru asked lightly with a cold look in her watery eyes.
“That’s not what I meant. After all, we are a harmonious family. Since she has married into our family, can’t we have a nice discussion in peace?”
Madam Wen’s smile was a little embarra.s.sed. Although she thought so, she felt a little embarra.s.sed after her real thinking was exposed by Shao Wanru mercilessly.
Shao Wanru looked at the crowd seriously and said slowly, “Even if we are a harmonious family, we can’t have someone marry into the family casually, and we need proper evidence. Third Uncle’s meaning is obvious. She wants people to believe that she is the daughter of the former imperial censor, which remains a rumor so far. Our Shao Family has to keep its dignity. We can’t confirm the ident.i.ty of people just because of some rumor. There are so many daughters of the Shao Family, and their marriages can’t be ruined by one person.”
Her words were not soft, and many people heard them. The elders nodded in agreement.
After all, it was just a rumor. It was not appropriate to act according to rumors.
Shao Jing looked at his niece sitting above. He still couldn’t see through her. He always felt that this niece was not what she looked like on the surface, but when he looked at her carefully, he didn’t find anything wrong with her.
E’niang took two steps forward, bowed to Shao Wanru and Madam Wen, and said, “Your Highness, Madam Wen, my wet nurse can testify.”
Of course, she had been prepared for this. Even if Princess Chen didn’t mention it, she would bring it up.
“Your wet nurse?” Madam Wen asked in surprise.
“My wet nurse was separated from me back then, but I found her previously. She’s also here today. Many people know that she used to be my wet nurse. After she stayed in the capital city, she also had contact with some of my old servants,” Lu E’niang said.
“Since she’s here, bring her here!” Shao Jing called a servant over and asked him to call the wet nurse.
After a while, an old maid in her fifties was brought over and knelt in the living room. After kowtowing to the people in the hall, she said, “I am the wet nurse of Miss Lu. At that time, our Miss Lu was in distress and suddenly disappeared. I could only go back to my home. I have never given up looking for her for so many years.”
Third Master Shao looked the old maid up and down and asked, “Are you really the wet nurse who worked for Imperial Censor Lu’s family?”
“Yes, I am. If you don’t believe me, you can ask some servants in other mansions. After I went home, I still kept in touch with some old acquaintances. The servants got a.s.signed to work in other mansions back then,” the old maid said.
“Then how can you confirm that this is the Miss you worked for?” an elder asked.
“I grew up with Miss Lu, so how could I not know her? It’s been so many years. Although she has grown up, her facial features haven’t changed. Besides, there is a birthmark on her wrist, and I recognized it at a glance!” the old maid answered seriously.
Her words were very reasonable, and every word she said was to help E’niang to verify her ident.i.ty.
With a smile on her face, Madam Wen turned to Shao Wanru. She sighed and said in a kind tone, “Look, Your Highness, she is indeed the Miss of the imperial censor’s family. It’s a misery that Madam Lu up like this. At that time, she was very lonely and had no relatives. She didn’t know anyone. It’s pitiful for her to end up like this.”
Shao Wanru looked up and fixed her eyes on the old maid with a faint look in her eyes. Of course, she knew the old maid was one of the p.a.w.ns of her grandmother’s plan. Of course, her grandmother was not the one who asked the old maid to do this.
A servant girl rushed in and reported, “Your Grace, there are a few people outside who say that they are the relatives of Madam Lu and ask to see her.”
“My relatives?
“What relatives?”
E’niang was stunned at first, and then she panicked. She looked up at Shao Jing. “It can’t be the real relatives of the missing daughter. Please.”
“Those must be irrelevant people. Madam Lu’s relatives are not here at all. Drive those people away,” Shao Jing said unhappily. The sudden appearance of the alleged relatives made him feel uneasy, so he ordered to drive them away.
“Don’t do that. You’ve allowed an old maid to come here, Second Brother. But yet you’re turning down your woman’s relatives. Will that be proper?” Third Master Shao spoke again. He had to take Shao Jing down today.
He would mess things up as much as he could.
“Third Brother, won’t it be better if you don’t stir up trouble today?” Shao Jing scolded with a gloomy face.
Third Master Shao rolled his eyes and said indifferently, “Second Brother, what are you talking about? Did I say something wrong? An old maid came in and said that she’s your woman’s wet nurse, and you believe her. It’s strange that you now don’t believe that it’s your mistress’s relatives who have arrived. Could it be Imperial Censor Lu? If so, that will be really interesting!” He was really going to risk everything today. Even if he had to go against Shao Jing, he would not let Shao Jing get what he wanted.
Thinking of what his wife had told him before, Third Master Shao was burning with anger. Anyway, he was going to separate from the family and would not be a member of Marquis Xing’s Mansion in the future, so why should he be afraid of Shao Jing?
Now that they had fallen out with each other, what else could Shao Jing say?
“Since they are here, let them in!” Shao Wanru said indifferently.
Since his brother had said those words, it was inconvenient for Shao Jing to stop the ones who had arrived from coming in. He frowned and nodded. After a while, an old maid led the visitor in. It turned out to be an old Madam Dowager.
She was followed by a servant girl and an old maid.
The wet nurse’s face changed greatly, and she knelt on the ground in shock. E’niang blinked her eyes in a panic and felt that something bad was going to happen.
The Madam Dowager stepped forward and bowed to Shao Wanru and Madam Wen in front of the hall.
After a discussion, Madam Wen suddenly stood up and asked in astonishment, “Are… are you the Madam Dowager of Imperial Censor Lu’s Mansion?”
“Yes. I didn’t expect that you still remember me, Madam Wen.” The Madam Dowager nodded.
“Is Imperial Censor Lu going to be transferred back to the capital city?” Madam Wen asked in surprise. She had never heard her husband mention this before.
“No. Since he made such a mistake, I’m afraid he can’t go back to the capital city for the rest of his life,” the Madam Dowager said bitterly. After being involved in such a thing, her son almost couldn’t make a comeback. “This time, I’ve come to the capital city to visit my hometown. I’m old and may not be able to go back to my hometown again during my last days.”
The Madam Dowager sighed. She was from the capital city, and her ancestral land was in a town outside the city. After her son was demoted, she suddenly wanted to go back to her hometown for a visit. Since her son would not have a chance to go back to court again, her visit could be considered the last time for her to go back at such an old age. Imperial Censor Lu didn’t allow her to do so at first, but the Madam Dowager insisted, so he could only ask some servants to accompany her to the capital city.
Fortunately, the Madam Dowager was in good health and didn’t fall ill all the way to the capital city. It took her a long time to arrive while her servants took care of her.
Since Imperial Censor Lu had been demoted, it was inconvenient for Madam Dowager to see an old friend in the capital city this time, so she went to the ancestral land outside the city quietly. No one expected that the Madam Dowager, whose son had been demoted and was sent thousands of miles away, would come back to wors.h.i.+p her ancestors.
No one knew about her trip at first, but she happened to meet Nanny Gao, who was the personal Nanny of Rui’an Great Elder Princess and had something to do with this Madam Dowager. After seeing her by chance, Nanny Gao didn’t dislike her and came specially to see her.
Later, the second time she came to visit the Madam Dowager, apart from catching up, it was about this matter.
After that, Rui’an Great Elder Princess released the news that E’niang was the daughter of the imperial censor, and there were more and more rumors.
After the Madam Dowager briefly talked about her affairs, she turned to the crowd and looked at them one by one. Finally, her eyes were fixed on the face of E’niang. After looking E’niang up and down a few times, she said slowly, “It is said that my granddaughter is here, so I come here especially to see her. Are you the one?”
E’niang was so panicked that her face turned pale. She took a step back subconsciously and her lips trembled. Finally, she toughed up. She gritted her teeth, rushed over, held the Madam Dowager’s leg, and burst into tears. “Grandma, Grandma, I didn’t expect that I could see you again. I… I thought I would never see you ever again!”
After saying that, she choked with sobs.
“Greetings, Madam Dowager.” The wet nurse kneeling on the ground also sat up straight in a hurry and saluted the Madam Dowager.
Madam Dowager pushed E’niang away hard and looked her up and down a few times with a frown. When she was about to speak, Shao Jing interrupted her.
“Men, help Madam Dowager down so that she can talk.”
An old maid hurriedly reached out to help the Madam Dowager to sit down on the chair aside.
Shao Jing narrowed his eyes and said with a smile, “Madam Dowager, E’niang is your granddaughter, and now my madam. Speaking of which, our two families are relatives now. You are also my elder. When you left, there was a rumor that a granddaughter was missing. You asked your old acquaintances in the capital city to look for her. Now you are reunited as a family. Congratulations!”