Chapter 281 Two Madams Were Scheming
“Madam, will others know this?” Countess Yong looked at Madam of Duke Xing frightenedly with a tea cup in her shaking hand.
“Absolutely, no!” said Madam of Duke Xing leisurely. With her pinkie up, she slowly reached out and took the tea cup from the table, and sipped. As putting down the cup slowly, she said, “If you dare not do that, that’s fine. Anyway, this event will affect only your mansion. I have nothing to do with this.”
“But, I…” As there were no others here, Countess Yong looked a little bit pale, wondering whether she could make it.
“Fine, just let it go. You know, it will only be a little bit detrimental to the virtue of your mansion now. Fortunately, your Duke Yong’s Mansion is not going to fall down and you can still have a bright future. Then you need to do good to make merits for you future generation. By the way, your eldest son is not a kid now, is he? When will he get married?”
Madam of Duke Xing asked with a half smile.
Her words struck Countess Yong whose face suddenly turned deadly pale. “We would have no future if we had no way to get through this! Even though Duke Yong’s Mansion seems to be successful and powerful now, it has been inwardly weak. My eldest son, Di Yan not only ruins his reputation by himself but, what’s worse, he is going to marry Qin Yuru who has a quite bad reputation. If we had no means to cancel this engagement, Duke Yong’s Mansion would absolutely fall down in a hundred years!”
“There would be no need to care about our future generation if our mansion fell down!”
Thinking for a while, Countess Yong gnashed her teeth and quickly raised her head and replied. “Thank you for your advice!”
Since Countess Yong promised to do this, Madam of Duke Xing smiled much more brightly. She sighed. “Honestly speaking, I quite like that girl before. You know, she is very pretty! However, she is also very cunning! How can she try to b.u.t.ter up Rui’an Great Elder Princess by using Hao’er! The worse thing is that she even wants to achieve her goal by trampling on us! Even though I can stand this, the Old Madam can’t!”
“That b*tchy girl even dares to trample on you!” Countess Yong shouted in shock.
Every aristocratic family knew the complicated story between Duke Xing’s Mansion and Rui’an Great Elder Princess. They all knew that if there had not been Shao Yuanhao, these two big families would have had a fight.
When the last heir of Duke Xing wanted to marry Princess Qinghua, Rui’an Great Elder Princess’ daughter, the whole Duke Xing’s Mansion opposed this engagement. However, since the Emperor agreed, Duke Xing’s Mansion had to agree reluctantly.
Even though Princess Qinghua enjoyed a high status in the capital city, Duke Xing’s Mansion was also superior to the other aristocrat families. As the whole Duke Xing’s Mansion had still been opposed to this marriage, it was said that Princess Qinghua had always been sullen in that there were some other elders in the mansion who had suppressed her all the time. Later, since the last Heir of Duke Xing felt heartbroken when seeing her like this, he decided to leave Duke Xing’s Mansion with her.
However, unfortunately, it was because they left Duke Xing’s Mansion that a series of tragedies happened.
Because of this, Rui’an Great Elder Princess had always thought that it was Duke Xing’s Mansion who killed her daughter and had hated their guts. Since then, she would seize every chance to embarra.s.s Duke Xing’s Mansion in any case.
However, Duke Xing’s Mansion had to give in when confronted with the eldest royal princess.
n.o.body dared to get involved in this in that they didn’t want to offend these two families and were unwilling to be impacted. Duke Yong’s Mansion didn’t expect that Qin Wanru would meddle with it. Madam of Duke Xing sneered and said, “How stupid she is! Idiot! Does she really think that Rui’an Great Elder Princess is superior to us?”
Although Rui’an Great Elder Princess enjoyed a high status in the capital city, she was weak and was a princess who had no son or daughter. Confronted with Duke Xing’s Mansion by herself, she had no advantage at all. If she fell down, the whole Great Elder Princess’ Mansion would be incapable of suppressing Duke Xing’s Mansion. And that was one of the most important reasons that Countess Yong would taunt Qin Wanru.
“In fact, she isn’t too stupid!” Madam of Duke Xing meant it. “Without Rui’an Great Elder Princess, Madam Di wouldn’t be suppressed by a woman whose status is lower than hers. The reason that Madam Di is suppressed by her is that they get the support of Rui’an Great Elder Princess!”
“What a b*tchy girl! It is she who is playing tricks!” Countess Yong burst into anger and banged on the table heavily with her hand, making her tea spill.
“You don’t have to be too anxious. The girl is too cunning. And remember, n.o.body can trample on us as he or she wants!” Madam of Duke Xing said calmly, seeming that whenever something happened, she looked nice and graceful. Moreover, her eyes were so clear that they made everyone think her of a kind, graceful and elegant lady.
“Don’t worry, madam. I won’t let this b*tchy girl escape!” Countess Yong responded ferociously with a hint of distaste flickering in her eyes.
When Lan’er came back, she also said that Qin Wanru was a very rebarbative person. It was Lan’er who ordered the jewelry first but Qin Wanru took the lead to pay and take the jewelry, which made Lan’er still couldn’t find the jewelry she was satisfied with till now. When Lan’er was in the mansion, she cried so pitifully. When finding her most distressed daughter was bullied in this way, Countess Yong felt extremely mad.
All of a sudden, her worries went away. As long as she could get that b*tchy girl disappeared and make her become a scapegoat for Qin Yuru’s faults, Qin Yuru would win her reputation back. As for Di Yan, it would be much easier to whitewash himself. If she failed, then it would be impossible to help her son and her future daughter-in-law whitewash their reputation when they had quite poor reputations now.
Moreover, she understood what Madam of Duke Xing said to her. It was because Shui Ruolan and Qin Wanru, the b*tchy mother and daughter plotted against them that Qin Yuru and Madam Di had come to this. Without Qin Wanru, the little bast*rd, helping Shui Ruolan secretly, Shui Ruolan wouldn’t have been able to manage this on her own.
As Shui Ruolan was pregnant now, she must not let Shui Ruolan give birth successfully.
If Duke Yong’s Mansion wanted to revitalize themselves, they would need Qin Huaiyong’s support with the influence of Ningyuan Army General’s Mansion. Therefore, it was of great importance for them to let Qin Huaiyong help Duke Yong’s Mansion heart and soul. If Shui Ruolan gave birth, Qin Huaiyong would definitely get distracted and lay Duke Yong’s Mansion aside, which was the most intolerable thing for Countess Yong.
Therefore, Qin Wanru was the key!
Finding that Countess Yong was in a daze, Madam of Duke Xing reached out and shook her slender finger in front of Countess Yong. “Well, it is not about whether I like her or not. I do like Qin Wanru. Even though she embarra.s.sed us, I still believe that she is much more useful than Rui’an Great Elder Princess when she becomes my accepted daughter!”
“What? Madam, how…” Countess Yong gasped and suddenly stood up. She didn’t want Qin Wanru to have anything to do with Duke Xing’s Mansion.
“Calm down. It is only my thought. You know, we, Duke Xing’s Mansion and Duke Yong’s Mansion are old friends. I will definitely stand by you when it comes to that girl!”
Madam of Duke Xing comforted her with a smile.
Madam of Duke Xing’s words sounded contradictory. She seemed to hate Qin Wanru while she also seemed to appreciate her, making Countess Yong not know which one she should believe.
“Thank you, madam. I almost believe that you will adopt her as your accepted daughter!” Countess Yong sat down, taking a sigh of relief.
“She is very shrewd. When I first met her, I did like her but I didn’t expect that Old Grandma would ask me to take her as my accepted daughter! Fortunately, Qi Rongzhi, the daughter of Magistrate Qi was there so I could do nothing but promised her. Then it won’t bother you!” said Madam of Duke Xing.
Her words sounded very sincerely and almost heart to heart.
Countess Yong was very moved and excited. Nodding heavily, she responded. “I must repeat your words to our Old Madam and let her know your sincere!”
“We are old friends and you really don’t have to do that. My Old Madam and your Old Madam have their friends.h.i.+p while we have our own. There is no need to get them involved this!”
Taking her handkerchief out and wiping her mouth very lightly, Madam of Duke Xing smiled and looked calm.
“Okay! Okay! Okay!” Countess Yong kept saying the same word excitedly. She quite feared that Madam of Duke Xing would choose Qin Wanru just now. When Madam of Duke Xing told her all detail of this event, she now felt proud and despised Qin Wanru.
“However clever the mean girl is, Qi Rongzhi will be the winner. Well, Qi Rongzhi is so lucky to benefit from this event.”
“If you can whitewash your future daughter-in-law, I could take her as my accepted daughter. The lady from Qi’s mansion was forced to say ‘yes’ actually and she might not want it sincerely!”
Madam of Duke Xing’s intriguing words cheered up Countess Yong who bowed deeply to Madam of Duke Xing out of excitement. “Madam of Duke Xing, let me thank you for Yuru!”
If Qin Yuru was able to become Madam of Duke Xing’s accepted daughter, she would have very strong backing while Di Yan was also able to benefit from her. Even though he was an immoral person, preference would be given to him because of their backing from Duke Xing’s Mansion.
Today’s Duke Yong’s Mansion was not comparable to Duke Xing’s Mansion at all!
“Dear, you don’t have to do this! We used to be a pair of sisters, right? So it won’t bother me!” Madam of Duke Xing stood up and pretended to hold Countess Yong while a hint of grimness flashed upon her eyes. “This girl shouldn’t be in this world! If she dies, that’s better!”
“If I had found her earlier, there wouldn’t have been so many troubles!”
“Those stupid servants! They have spent years looking for her while she just lives happily under my nose!”
It was a gorgeous day when the royal banquet was held. Although it was in winter, it was warm because there was no wind and it was sunny. It was very comfortable!
Qin Wanru wore a pale pink gauze s.h.i.+rt and a dress embroidered with colorful b.u.t.terflies. Although there weren’t too many b.u.t.terflies, the quality and situation of the embroidery was perfect! It seemed that every b.u.t.terfly was dancing on her dress in a beautiful posture and different shape. With a piece of light gauze around her dress, she seemed to stand in the mist!
Wearing the dress which was embroidered with flying b.u.t.terflies and with a piece of gauze around, Qin Wanru seemed to be able to fly when a breeze sprang up!
There was an elaborate toggle-and-loop b.u.t.ton on her pale pink gauze s.h.i.+rt, which was also designed as a b.u.t.terfly. It was quite cute and exquisite. Although its style was different from the dress, they were not contradictory!
The belt was covered with a layer of gauze, making the embroidery fanciful and dreamy.
It was Madam Dong who designed for Qin Wanru!
Her look surprised every servant when she dressed up!