Chapter 193 The Plan Is Discovered
“Who?”
“Sister Qing Xue, it’s Sister Qing Xue. She happened to walk pa.s.s the window. I saw her!” The servant girl was so anxious that she sweated all over her head.
“Qing Xue?”
“Yes, it was Sister Qingxue. When Sister Xiu’er was talking to me, Sister Qing Xue happened to pa.s.s by. I saw her walking very slowly, and she looked in through the window. She would have seen me taking the hairpin from Sister Xiu’er’s hand!” The servant girl seemed to be fighting for her life as she said in dismay.
“Is there anything else?” Qin Wanru lowered her head and meditated.
“Nothing else!” The girl servant thought for a second and shook her head.
“Then go and take it to Nanny Dong!” Qin Wanru suddenly smiled, her red lips slightly raised.
“Miss!” Yujie was also stunned for a moment, and let go of the servant girl.
Qin Wanru softly said as her eyes fell on the girl servant, “Deliver the hairpin to Nanny Dong yourself, but I don’t want Xiu’er and Qing Xue to know that I know about it. If they do… this is what you three colluded with!”
“Yes, yes, I understand. Thank you, my Lady!” The servant girl thanked Qin Wanru for giving her such chance to prove herself.
“Go!” Seeing that the servant was actually smart, Qin Wanru smiled and handed over the hairpin in her hands, with a meaningful gaze.
It looked like someone would be busy again!
“Yes, I’m leaving now!” The servant wiped tears off her face, carefully took the hairpin, and nodded hard. “Second Miss is giving me a chance to prove my innocence. I will certainly not make it known to Xiu’er and Qing Xue. Otherwise, Second Miss will think that I stole things from the mansion with them.”
“If this matter is exposed, I will not escape!”
Although the servant was one of the lower servants of the mansion, she was smart. Originally, she thought that it was good to be close to Qing Xue who she thought was very kind, and was a princ.i.p.al maid in the courtyard. Unexpectedly, she was almost caught as a thief before benefiting from the close relations.h.i.+p with Qing Xue. How could she not be afraid?
After tidying her face, the girl servant came out of the main room with red eyes and hurried out of the courtyard. However, as soon as she got out of the courtyard, she was stopped by Qing Xue who had been hiding behind a tree. Qing Xue took her behind the tree, took a look at the tears on her face, and asked, “Qu’er, what happened?”
“I accidentally b.u.mped into Sister Yujie just now, and she scolded me!” Qu’er lowered her head and wiped the tears around her eyes. She dared not tell the truth.
Qing Xue looked at the gate of the courtyard and found that no one noticed them. Then she asked in confusion, “Then why did you go to Second Miss’s main room?”
The servant said grievously, “Sister Yujie was holding something for Miss in her hand, which was damaged by me, so she took me along to explain it to Miss!”
“Is there nothing else?”
“Yes, there’s nothing else!” Qu’er nodded.
“That’s good. Sister Xiu’er mentioned you just now. What did you do for her? Have you finished yet?” Qing Xue breathed a sigh of relief, and showed a smile on her face, as if she knew nothing.
“Ah, I have to leave now, or I will delay what Sister Xiu’er asked me to do!” Qu’er exclaimed and hurried off.
At first, she thought that Qing Xue knew little about the hairpin, but now after hearing what Qing Xue said, Qu’er immediately realized that she knew it. “Sure enough, they want to frame me!”
Qu’er was angry, and ran to the back door.
When she got to the back door, she was stopped by the old maid guarding it. The old maid asked where she from. Qu’er said that she came from Zhifang Pavilion and was going to buy some snacks for Sister Qing Xue. Then she was allowed to go!
The princ.i.p.al maids in the mansion occasionally asked the lower maids to buy something for them. It was nothing unusual. Besides, Qing Xue was Second Miss’s princ.i.p.al maid.
After going out of the back door, Qu’er went to the place designated by Dong Xiu’er. Qu’er was born and grew up in the capital, so she found the place quickly. She looked at the shop being renovated, and was about to enter, but was stopped by an ordinary young male servant.
“Are you the maid of Qin’s Mansion? Are you here to deliver something to Nanny Dong?” The young male servant stopped Qu’er and asked directly.
“Yes, who are you?” Qu’er was stunned for a moment. Unexpectedly, Xiu’er had already told Nanny Dong this matter.
The young male servant pointed to shop and said, “Nanny Dong is busy now. If you have something to give her, please give it to me. I will give it to Nanny Dong in a moment!” The shop was being decorated, and there were sounds of carpenters working. It sounded very busy.
But Qu’er hesitated.
“Don’t you believe me? If Nanny Dong didn’t tell me, how could I know you came from Qin’s mansion, and that you are the maid of Second Miss. I know that you were asked by Dong Xiu’er, the daughter of Nanny Dong, to bring this to Nanny Dong!” The young male servant held out his hand and impatiently said, “Hurry up! I will go up to help Nanny Dong carry things in a moment.”
The young male servant kept urging her. Besides, what he said was also in accordance to what she knew, so Qu’er hesitated for a moment more before she took out the hairpin wrapped in a handkerchief from her bosom.
As soon as he saw the hairpin, the young male servant grabbed it and ran to the store as he shouted, “Go back quickly, and don’t let the others find out that you’ve been out for long time!”
Seeing that he was running to the shop, Qu’er felt relieved. It seemed that he was really asked by Nanny Dong to come. On thinking that she had handed over the hot potato, Qu’er felt relieved and turned away.
The young male servant entered the shop, which was in a mess. Workers were working, and Nanny Dong was directing people to place things in the right place. When she saw a strange young male servant come in and looking around as if he was interested in the decoration, Nanny Dong frowned and ignored him.
The young male servant stood in the shop for a while, then looked around the door and turned away, as though he was bored with observing.
Nanny Dong was busy, and she did not notice when he left.
Qin Wanru, in the second floor of a teahouse diagonally facing the shop, saw the young male servant came out of the shop, stood at the door, and looked around. After finding that the girl servant had left, the young male servant dusted the ash on his clothes and swaggered towards where she was.
Yujie kept staring at the young male servant. Seeing that he came over and entered the shop downstairs, she said, “Miss, he really comes to this teahouse!”
“It’s supposed to be here!” Qin Wanru said thoughtfully. She came here by carriage, so she arrived a little earlier than Qu’er. After looking around, she found that she could drink tea, and wait for someone only in the teahouse on the opposite side!
That was why she chose this teahouse. Since the hairpin was sent out of the mansion, there must be someone outside of the mansion waiting for it. It was uncertain when Qu’er would leave the mansion, so she had to come here earlier and wait.
Qin Wanru had got along with Nanny Dong for a long time, so she knew what kind of person Nanny Dong was, and thought that the hairpin would not be handed to Nanny Dong. Therefore, she decided to wait here!
Qin Wanru said, “Go to the door!”
Yujie nodded, dropped the curtain she was holding, walked to the door, opened it slowly and looked into the stairway. When they just went upstairs, Qin Wanru especially entered a private room facing the stairway.
Yujie heard the footsteps coming from the stairs. The young male servant who came looking out of breath was the one they saw just now.
And the room the young male servant entered happened to be on the right of theirs.
When she saw the young male servant enter the room, Yujie came over and quietly said while pointing to the room on the right, “Miss, they are in this room!”
Qin Wanru looked at the wall, which was a wood siding wall. This room was different from some private rooms which were separated by screens, so it was impossible to hear clearly what they were saying. They could only hear the voice of the young male servant who seemed to be saying something.
Qin Wanru stood up, walked to the wall on the right side, and put her ears to the wood wall. She heard the voices then.
Yujie also came to learn from Qin Wanru.
The voice of the young male servant stopped, and then it was a woman’s voice.
Qin Wanru was slightly taken aback to hear a woman’s voice, but she was not too surprised. She listened, but could only hear some unclear words.
Then the two went on talking. It seemed that one was asking and the other was answering. From time to time, they also said something else. After a while, the talking in the room stopped. Next, the sound of a chair being pulled came from the next room. It seemed that they were going to leave.
Qin Wanru thought about it for a second, then she lightly walked to the door, and peeped through the slightly opened door.
The door over there was opened, and the young male servant walked out first, and stood respectfully to one side, and then a woman came out with a servant girl. The woman was not tall, but thin. Looking from here, Qin Wanru found that her servant was taller and looked stronger than her.
Because the woman was standing sideways, Qin Wanru could not see her face.
After thinking for a moment, Qin Wanru silently pointed to the empty teacups on the table. Yujie immediately understood, and hurried to take one. Qin Wanru took it from her, opened the door a little, and threw out the teacup, which hit the stairs.
The young lady came out of the private room, and was about to go downstairs. However, she was so scared by the cup which was suddenly thrown at the stairs that she almost fell down. The maid hurriedly reached out to help her, and the two stabilized themselves with great effort. Then, the young lady turned to Qin Wanru’s private room, her face pale. Her servant was very angry and was about to come forward, but was stopped by the young lady.
“Miss, I dare not make trouble again. Please forgive me!” Suddenly the voice of a woman begging for mercy could be heard in the private room, and then came sounds of something heavily b.u.mping into planks.
It turned out that a master was scolding the servant. The young lady frowned and carefully avoided the debris under her feet as she walked downstairs with her maid. The young male servant fell behind at a distance, but was also close to them.
In the private room, Yujie stamped her foot while looking outside. She was making the sound of a maid begging for mercy.
Qin Wanru’s eyes went a shade deeper when she saw the young lady’s face. She recognized who this woman was…