Chapter 142 Rip Down the Veil of TendernessIt happened so suddenly that everyone failed to respond timely. Qin Wanru unconsciously wanted to drag something. Feeling her wrist wrapped around a piece of clothes, she dragged it hard. Someone reached out to pull her, and she staggered and finally stood firm.
“Di Fenglan, what do you mean by doing that?” It was a bright girl who stood beside Qin Wanru and reached out to pull her. She was dressed in red clothes, which made her face seem gorgeous.
Although red was a bit tawdry, it made her look brisk. At this moment, she held Qin Wanru’s hand, while unfriendly looking at a girl beside Qin Yuru. The girl wore a colorful peac.o.c.k blue dress with gold brocade. She looked extremely eye-catching with a bit of pride and disdain in her eyes.
Glancing at Qin Wanru and the girl in red clothes, she pulled up her sleeves, patted it gently, and then raised her eyes arrogantly and said in a sharp voice, “Yan Xulan, I accidentally fell down. Does it have anything to do with you? What makes you so angry? What’s the matter? Do you find me unpleasing to the eye?”
It was she who crashed into Qin Wanru.
Qin Wanru glanced at the fence behind her, and there was a trace of rage across her eyes. Between the two fences, there was a gap. If Yan Xulan hadn’t pulled her, she would directly fall out.
“Di Fenglan, it is not your Duke Yong’s Mansion. Don’t think that no one can do anything to you!” Yan Xulan said coldly.
“Yan Xulan, what do you want to do? You don’t need to say that even if you find me unpleasing to the eye. Qin Wanru did not say anything, but you argue with me for defending her. What do you mean?”
Di Fenglan said, arrogantly glancing at Qin Wanru, with disdain on her face.
Yan Xulan blushed in anger. However, she did not see it clearly and didn’t know Qin Wanru. Qin Wanru hadn’t said anything, so she was in no position to express her opinion. She turned around to say to Qin Wanru, “Miss Qin, tell us if she deliberately pushed you. Don’t be afraid. All of us can testify for you!”
Her words made everyone fix their eyes on Qin Wanru.
Countess Yong arrogantly withdrew her gaze from Shui Ruolan and stared at Qin Wanru. She was just a half-grown child and came from a small place in the countryside. Countess Yong did not say anything, but stared at her with scornful eyes which were exactly the same as Di Fenglan’s.
She did not believe that Qin Wanru dared to say anything at this moment. Even if Di Fenglan bullied her, so what?
Qin Yuru did not talk either with a glimmer of smugness across her eyes. Nevertheless, she pretended to be at a loss, standing there in a daze with no idea how to deal with it.
Everyone stared at her in different ways. Some of them sympathized with her, some took pleasure in her misfortune, and some just watched the scene for fun. Di Fenglan and Yan Xulan could talk in this way in Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s Mansion, but it didn’t mean that others could also do that.
Zhaoyi Di and Zhaoyi Yan in the palace could be considered the emperor’s favorite concubines. With their ident.i.ties, Rui’an Great Elder Princess would definitely think highly of them. That was the reason why they dared to argue here.
But, what powerful connections did Qin Wanru have?
Almost everyone could imagine that she would inevitably meekly accept it or pretend to be generous and thinking nothing of it.
“She deliberately pushed me!” Qin Wanru looked up and fixed her sharp eyes on Di Fenglan. Countess Yong’s face slightly changed, but Qin Wanru looked up at Di Fenglan and said without being servile or b.u.mptious. After that, she looked towards the gap. With a slope paved with pebbles, if she fell from this position, she wouldn’t just have a slight injury.
“Miss Di, you are Big Sister’s cousin as well as Madam Di’s niece. It’s the first time we meet, right? I don’t remember I’ve done anything that offended you. Could it be possible that we had a quarrel in our childhood, so you’ve held grudges against me since then?”
With her head slightly tilted and childish delicacy and puzzlement on her face, Qin Wanru looked up and down Di Fenglan.
She started her words sharply, but only showed a child’s grumble in the conclusion. The confusion in her watery eyes fully showed Qin Wanru’s current mood, as if she really thought that Di Fenglan was so narrow-minded that she had held grudges against Qin Wanru because of something happened in their childhood and she didn’t remember.
If Di Fenglan really did that because of something happened in their childhood, how narrow-minded should she be?
However, if she didn’t do that because of this, she must have done that because of the relations.h.i.+p between her and Qin Yuru. Now everyone understood what had happened.
Everyone fell silent, and then laughed aloud. Yan Xulan, who was beside Qin Wanru, curled up with laughter. The answer didn’t sound very sharp, but everyone understood the meaning behind it. Everyone looked at Qin Yuru and Di Fenglan with contempt in their eyes.
Di Fenglan felt very embarra.s.sed. With her face darkening, she yelled at Qin Wanru, “You are talking nonsense!”
“Miss Di, can tell me why you are so hostile to me?” Qin Wanru said with full composure and no humbleness on her face.
Di Fenglan was speechless and could not say a word.
“That’s enough, Fenglan. If you don’t go there, Great Elder Princess will be anxious.” Countess Yong glanced at Qin Wanru coldly and helped her daughter out of the predicament.
“Yes, mother!” Although Di Fenglan was very reluctant, she knew that she should not argue with Qin Wanru at this moment. She secretly clenched her teeth and went forward behind Countess Yong.
“As a little girl, you have quite a sharp tone.” When Countess Yong pa.s.sed by Qin Wanru, she stopped for a while, squinted her and said coldly.
“Thank you for your compliment. I’m not as good as your daughter!” Qin Wanru leaned to one side to bow and then said slowly. She directly talked back to Countess Yong with one word.
Her voice was neither too loud nor too low, happening to be heard by not only Countess Yong but also others around her.
Although no one said anything, the meaning behind her words was hostile. Countess Yong had been known as an aggressive Madam among aristocratic families. Qin Wanru’s sharp retort made her feel embarra.s.sed.
She suddenly stopped, looked away from Qin Wanru to Shui Ruolan and snorted, “An aggressive daughter is educated by an aggressive mother!”
She felt like bullying a child if she argued with Qin Wanru, so she directly messed with Shui Ruolan.
Her words caused a commotion among the surrounding people. Everyone looked towards Shui Ruolan and looked up and down her with many bad conjectures in their minds. Countess Yong’s word really aroused their suspicion that this woman might have some improper behaviors.
Shui Ruolan had actually wanted to come over and speak for Qin Wanru, but was stopped by Qin Wanru. At this time, on hearing Countess Yong’s words, she looked up at Countess Yong. She slightly and politely bowed, and then looked up at Countess Yong and said without dodging her eyes, “Have I done anything that makes you dissatisfied with me?”
“Madam, does my mother have anything to do with you? Do you know my mother? Or do you know that my mother condescended to marry my father in order to take care of me? Could it be possible that you think that my mother didn’t teach me well because I didn’t stoop to compromise like my mother?”
Qin Wanru also looked up at Countess Yong with her face full of confusion, as if she did not understand what Countess Yong meant.
She looked like a child, but pretended to be an adult. She stared at Countess Yong in this way, making it more like Countess Yong was making trouble out of nothing.
Seeing her extremely inharmonious look, everyone was immediately amused and looked at Countess Yong with less respect in their eyes!
Countess Yong was so embarra.s.sed. She looked away from Shui Ruolan to Qin Wanru, snorted and was about to say something. With her status, even if she oppressed Qin Wanru once, others wouldn’t say anything about it.
Among the crowd, there were some smart people feeling sorry for Qin Wanru. After all, she was a child who was not very sensible. After aggravating Countess Yong, she would certainly come to no good end, and so was her mother!
Suddenly an old maid forced her way into the crowd. Seeing Qin Wanru here, she gasped, came over and made a salute. “Second Miss, why did suddenly you disappear? I failed to find you after looking for you for a long while. Come with me. Great Elder Princess is waiting for you!”
After finis.h.i.+ng her words, she raised her hand to lead Qin Wanru to leave.
“Thanks, nanny!” With a smile and sparkle in her eyes, Qin Wanru walked to Shui Ruolan and said softly, “Mother, let’s hurry up and go there!”
She had long known that it was impossible for the old maid who led the way to ignore her affairs, so she said something so sharp to Countess Yong.
On her way here, she had seen clearly that she was the only one with someone leading the way. She could tell that Rui’an Great Elder Princess really valued her.
The incident happened suddenly, and the old maid could not come here in time to save her. However, it had been a while since it happened, and she would be too stupid if she still failed to respond timely.
And now was the proper time.
She wanted to let others know that Countess Yong didn’t get along well with Shui Ruolan, and secretly indicated that Shui Ruolan married into Qin’s Mansion because of her, not because of the relations.h.i.+p with Qin Huaiyong. There was nothing in this world that would not be disclosed. If there were any bit of rumors about Shui Ruolan spread, both Madam Di and Duke Yong’s Mansion behind her would make a big fuss about it. It was better to drop a hint in advance.
She did not want Qin’s Mansion and Duke Yong’s Mansion to be too close.
She could simply rip down the veil of tenderness of Duke Yong’s Mansion through what had happened between her and Di Fenglan, and thus to make others know that Qin Yuru and Madam Di and even Duke Yong’s Mansion behind Madam Di were hostile to her mother. In this way, she could avoid Countess Yong’s tricks when she had to attend the banquet of Marquises’ Mansion of Fengyang in future.
Something like this would definitely happen again. Di Fenglan refused to suffer any loss and could make trouble out of nothing. Could she really swallow her grievance today? Qin Wanru would wait and see what she would do in future!
Hearing Qin Wanru say that, Shui Ruolan nodded and turned to leave with Qin Wanru.
Shui Ruolan looked delicate but not frivolous, staring at others in a decorous and decent way. Even though some people had some doubts about her because of Countess Yong’s words, their doubts completely vanished when they saw her dignified manners.
In terms of Qin Wanru, she still reserved her childishness with no scheming.
Originally no one knew about Qin’s Mansion. Seeing Qin Yuru and Countess Yong, many people had already found out that it was Ningyuan Army General’s Mansion in Jiangzhou as well as the family into which Madam Di married. Some Mesdames, who knew what had happened at that time, involuntarily looked towards Qin Yuru with a faint smile.
They vaguely knew what had happened at that time, but did not know whether it was true or not. As Madam Di married and moved to a faraway place, it was gradually forgotten by most people.
What happened today reminded many people of it.
However, there were other people who focused on Rui’an Great Elder Princess and wondered why Rui’an Great Elder Princess specially summoned Qin Wanru. After looking at each other, they moved forward silently.
It seemed that this little girl was not that simple…