When her carriage stopped at the doorway of Ning’s Mansion, Qin Yuru didn’t get out of it immediately. Instead, she sat inside it looking at the mansion through and through, it had become deserted and crumbled now. Some sort of ridicule appeared on her face. “It is impossible that such a poor house could cultivate some good girls. That so-called cousin is just someone from an impoverished family!”
What she didn’t notice was that Qin Wanru was sitting in another carriage, which was among several others in the corner, and her eyes were fixed on the doorway of Ning’s Mansion through the window, which was slightly raised.
Having known that Qin Yuru wouldn’t easily dismiss this anger from her mind, Qin Wanru naturally waited here earlier to be a looker-on. “Since that Ning Caixian intended to plot against me, she shouldn’t blame me to take vengeance on her!”
“Go tell the gatekeepers that we ask to see the First Miss of Ning’s Mansion,” Qin Yuru said to Mei Xue.
“Yes, Miss!” Mei Xue got out of the carriage and went to the gate of Ning’s Mansion, then she became serious and shouted at the gatekeeper who was coming out, “Is your First Miss in?”
“The First Miss is in the mansion, but you are?” The gatekeeper didn’t know Mei Xue, so he asked while looking her up and down with confusion.
“I am the servant girl of Duke Yong’s Mansion, and my childe wants to see your First Miss. Please take her out for a meeting, we have something for your First Miss,” Mei Xue said with a smile.
“Now that your childe has something for our First Miss, why doesn’t he simply take it in instead of asking for my First Miss to go out?” the gatekeeper was puzzled and asked. For Childe Di had always taken something into the mansion directly as he wished before. Never had he stayed so hesitantly outside the gate while asking the First Miss out for a meeting.
“Pah!” Suddenly Mei Xue slapped the gatekeeper in the face. “How dare you ask so much about what my childe thinks! Certainly it is something important that must be handed over to your First Lady. Go now to tell her.”
“Well, well, well!” After being slapped, the gatekeeper dared not say anything. At present, Ning’s Mansion was so run-down, so it was natural that he kept silent. Although Childe Di had always been friendly in the past, the gatekeeper was not sure if he was in a good mood today.
Silently, the gatekeeper hurried to report to the First Miss. Mei Xue went back to the carriage and told Qin Ruyu what happened just now, then she stood by the carriage.
The gatekeeper came back very quickly. He came out and ran to the front of the carriage. With a smile, he said to Mei Xue, “My First Miss is coming out soon, but she is weak, it will take some time, please wait a moment!”
“How could she be so slow!” Mei Xue frowned and snorted quietly.
Sure enough, after waiting some more, they saw Ning Caixian come slowly with a servant girl. Her every step was so delicate that it made her look like a willow branch trembling in the wind.
In the carriage, Qin Yuru looked at her carefully and thought, “Her face isn’t as beautiful as mine, and is somewhat mournful-looking, but that pair of eyes looks full of affection and some sort of tenderness. Such an appearance is easy to make people disgusted. As expected, she is a coquettish b.i.t.c.h.” Qin Yuru was exceedingly wrathful.
“Unexpectedly, this b.i.t.c.h used to see herself as the future female master of Duke Yong’s Mansion. It was said that she had punished two s.e.x-serving servants girl. What the h.e.l.l is she!”
“My cousin, why don’t you come in?” Ning Caixian stopped in front of the carriage, raised her head, and said with some shyness. She couldn’t think of any reason that she had to come out to personally take something and thought that Di Yan had to be joking with her. So after coming over, she looked at the carriage femininely, waiting for Di Yan to jump out of the it all of a sudden.
Mei Xue lifted the curtain of the carriage, and Qin Yuru jumped down.
Ning Caixian’s face changed. She moved back two steps, staring at Qin Yuru, who had a gloomy face. She knew that something bad was coming.
But before she got back to a safe place, Qin Yuru had rushed up and given her two slaps severely in the face. She couldn’t help taking a few steps back and fell heavily to the ground. The servant girl who was with Ning Caixian was shocked to almost faint. She rushed over to help her, screaming and shouting, “Missy, Missy!”
“b.i.t.c.h, you f*cking b.i.t.c.h looking so delicate and weak, G.o.d knows how dirty you are! You not only hooked up with the supervisor of my mansion, but also tempted other men to my mansion as you cannot stand the loneliness. What a licentious b.i.t.c.h!”
Qin Yuru went up close to Ning Caixian and kicked her body violently, which almost took her breath away. Upon hearing clearly what Qin Yuru said, she blushed deeply and said, “You are talking nonsense, and who are you? I don’t know you!”
“Of course you don’t know me. You and the supervisor of my mansion hooked up with each other, keeping a vague relations.h.i.+p. Didn’t you think that my supervisor had a wife? He is n.o.body but someone in charge of our inner affairs. You dirty woman, why are you so dirty!” Qin Yuru raised her head, sneered coldly, and said.
“You… What are you talking about?” Ning Caixian finally came to her senses. She was so angry that couldn’t help screaming and shouting. With the help of her servant girl, she stood up. Her face was ghastly pale.
“Is it nonsense? Do you want me to ask some people to confirm that your servant girl came to my mansion tempting men purposely? You look like an elegant lady from an aristocratic family, but what you have done is so disgusting. Even though Ning’s Mansion declines nowadays, you don’t have to be so low!”
Qin Yuru had come here prepared. She took out a hair clasp from her cuff and shook it in her hand. “Look, we have your hair clasp as evidence. Your name is engraved on it. Does the word ‘Cai’ mean anybody else?”
Two s.e.x-serving servant girls took Qin Yuru to find the hair clasp secretly in Di Yan’s room. Indeed it belonged to Ning Caixian, as she had left it in Di Yan’s room on purpose. Now it was in Qin Yuru’s hands as evidence.
They created such a disturbance, which had already attracted quite a few people. There was no more s.p.a.ce outside Ning’s Mansion. Besides, all the shops were gathered on both sides. This place having such a big disturbance immediately became surrounded by a large group of people.
Originally, people thought it was impossible that an elegant lady from an aristocratic family would hook up with a supervisor. After all, a supervisor was just a servant no matter how big the mansion was that he was in charge of. Although Ning’s Mansion was in decline nowadays, she was always a n.o.ble Miss, which was different from other ordinary people. But when people saw this hair clasp held by Qin Yuru, they all believed her. Ning Caixian’s face became pale.
At that moment, people were all talking about it. In their words, this Miss Ning Caixian looked like a n.o.ble one in daily life. n.o.body could tell that she was a dirty woman like this.
Some ruffians were among the crowd, and they even said obscene words to Ning Caixian, taking her as a wh.o.r.e in a brothel by their words.
Ning Caixian’s face changed either blue or pale. Until now, she hadn’t figured out who that Miss was and why she came to fight her all of a sudden.
It was impossible that she hooked up with the supervisor. At most, she would choose Di Yan, as Countess Yong was originally going to let Di Yan marry her. But now the bride-to-be became the Miss from Qin’s Mansion. She couldn’t accept it, so she used many means to contact him. She even sent a servant girl to supervise him at the gate, as she was afraid that Di Yan would keep living in Qin’s Mansion.
She never realized that her servant girl could get caught by people from Qin’s Mansion when the girl went to secretly contact Di Yan. The girl even led those people to meet her. Ning Caixian was anxious and in a panic.
Fortunately, the old maid from Qin’s Mansion was actually friendly. She said that only Ning Caixian herself could enter Duke Yong’s Mansion, but now the person who stopped her was the Second Miss from Qin’s Mansion. According to the old maid, this Second Miss had some sort of relations.h.i.+p with Di Yan, and thought that the two sisters could marry Duke Yong’s Mansion together. If the Second Miss was really successful, it would be impossible for Ning Caixian, even as a concubine.
If these words were only from an old maid, Ning Caixian would not believe it. But she remembered that once Di Yan had said some words to her. He said that the most beautiful Miss from aristocratic families in the whole city was none other than the Second Miss from Qin’s Mansion. At that time, she kept these words in her mind.
Now she put all these words together and made a decision not to let the Second Miss succeed. She immediately found ways to do it. That hair clasp got from Qin’s Mansion had been sent to a ruffian by her now. When the time came, she would arrange someone to ruin the reputation of the Second Miss.
She would create rumors that the Second Miss from Qin’s Mansion had hooked up with the ruffian and sent him a hair clasp, on which the word “Qin” was engraved.
She never thought that before she herself could take action, other people would take her hair clasp here to make troubles for her.
All of a sudden, Ning Caixian realized who she was. Looking at Qin Yuru’s beautiful face, she thought she knew her.
“Second Miss Qin, do you know what the crime of framing up others is?” Ning Caixian was so angry that she trembled. If she had known that the Second Miss from Qin’s Mansion was this terrible, she would have taken action earlier and ruined her reputation first. Now because of her mercy, she missed the good opportunity so that her opponent had a chance to deal with her.
Ning Caixian felt angry and hateful because she wasn’t evil-minded enough.
“Second Miss Qin? Sure enough, you are a b.i.t.c.h who has been blind. How did my second sister mess with you so that you could slander her like this?” Qin Yuru said with a cold smile.
Ning Caixian narrowed her eyes. Immediately, she realized that she was wrong. Unexpectedly, the Miss who was standing in front of her was the First Miss from Qin’s Mansion. Also, she was the one who should be engaged to Di Yan. At that moment, she was in a real mess, so she took a step backward and almost felt in the arms of her servant girl. Her face was as pale as white snow. “First Miss Qin, you… Why do you slander me like this?”
“Do I slander you? You are a profligate. You sent your hair clasp at random to the supervisor of my mansion, and even contacted men at their own house. Why don’t you dare to recognize it? Do you want some people of my mansion to prove your servant girl’s whereabouts?” Qin Yuru was full of confidence now because two s.e.x-serving servant girls had told her some information secretly. She laughed grimly while putting all these bad rumors on Ning Caixian.
The resentment that she had previously gotten from Qi Rongzhi had a chance now to be released at Ning Caixian.
Qin Yuru looked Ning Caixian up and down with her eyes full of contempt. “So, you have the guts to do it, but now don’t dare to admit it? You are so old yet still not married. Do you plan to find a better man?”
Ning Caixian was older than Di Yan. According to the plan, she would be engaged to Di Yan at first, but the Great Madam didn’t agree to it. Besides, they needed time to observe mourning for the dead. So the engagement was delayed.
“You… you have gone too far. Is it for the reason of my cousin? I sent this hair clasp to my cousin, I went to his mansion to contact him previously. I… I would have been engaged to Duke Yong’s Mansion. But because of you… my cousin said… said that he would marry you! However, even so, you shouldn’t ruin my reputation.” Ning Caixian’s face had turned dreadfully pale, her eyes were full of despair. Looking at Qin Yuru, she let tears fall down helplessly. After saying these words, she fell in a faint, and her servant girl hurried to hold her in her arms.
“Cousin Yu, what’s the matter with you?” Qin Yuru didn’t expect that Ning Caixian would fall down in a faint. She was shocked for a moment. When she prepared to say something, suddenly the voice of Di Yan came from outside the crowd.