Chapter 345 Let the Three of them Run the Errand
“Is it really just a misunderstanding?” the Empress Dowager said doubtfully. She wasn’t convinced by Qin Wanru’s words. However, Qin Wanru looked so calm that the Empress Dowager thought that if she lied, she could not be so calm.
“Report to Your Highness, it’s indeed a misunderstanding. After we returned home, my father and grandma also asked us about it!” Qin Wanru replied calmly, with a gentle and indifferent look.
“Where’s your eldest sister?” The Empress Dowager still considered it unbelievable, but this explanation sounded much better than what she had heard. If it was just a misunderstanding, it was not bad!
“She is in our mansion now.” Qin Wanru answered naturally.
Seeing Qin Wanru answer in an extremely gentle way, the Empress Dowager showed another smile on her face. She leaned back and waved her hands. Knowing that the Empress Dowager had something to talk to the several Young Madams in front of them, several imperial concubines sensibly stood up and made their farewells at once.
The Empress Dowager nodded and squinted, watching them leave.
Outside the Palace of Benevolent Peace, the imperial concubines got in their palace palanquins successively. Only the newly favored one glanced at the major palace maid next to her and lowered her voice to ask in a corner aside, “Where is the emperor?”
“He’s still in the imperial study. The eunuchs serving the emperor have told you not to inquire about the emperor’s whereabouts at your will, otherwise you will annoy the emperor!” the palace maid whispered to warn her master.
“What are you afraid of? The emperor has promised to meet me and stay in my palace recently!” The newly favored imperial concubine was surnamed Li and ent.i.tled as Ronghua which wasn’t a high rank. Nevertheless, because she had just entered the palace and found favor with the emperor, she talked with no scruples.
“Uh… They insist that you shouldn’t inquire. The emperor will come to our palace if he wants to!” the palace maid still said in a low voice.
She didn’t dare to talk about something. Compared to Ronghua Li, who had just entered the palace, the palace maid had worked in the palace for some time.
“Humph, I don’t believe that the emperor will do anything to me. Continue keeping an eye on him. Watch where he has gone and whether he has gone to another vamp’s place. He has promised me.” Ronghua Li looked up and said proudly.
She had been the emperor’s favorite in the palace during this period, so she was not so afraid of him.
“Yes, master!” the palace maid said helplessly.
“Sister Li, what are you talking about? Why don’t you leave? You want to stay here with the Empress Dowager?” An imperial concubine, who had got in the palace palanquin, asked with a smile.
“No, I’ll leave now! I don’t have the good fortune to stay with the Empress Dowager!” Ronghua Li secretly curled her lip, but didn’t show her emotions on her face.
Everyone in the palace had various masks and treated different people in different ways. Although she disdained this imperial concubine who had been out of favor with the emperor for long and had to come to flatter the Empress Dowager, she wouldn’t show her emotions on her face.
The imperial concubine blinked, let down the curtain, sneered in a low voice and seemingly said to herself, “She is just another reckless fool who really thinks that the emperor loves her sincerely. The one the emperor loves sincerely has always stayed in the palace, and no one can steal the emperor from her!”
…
In the Palace of Benevolent Peace, the Empress Dowager didn’t know that at the gate of her palace, the imperial concubines no longer looked as kind as they were in front of her.
With her gaze falling on the three faces in front of her, she nodded secretly and thought that all of them looked good.
In terms of the face, Qin Wanru naturally had the most delicate face.
Nevertheless, she was a little younger and too thin. Compared with her, the Empress Dowager was more satisfied with the other two girls.
“The three of you rarely enter the palace. Stay for lunch later!” the Empress Dowager said kindly and puckered in a smile.
“Yes, Your Highness!” the three said respectfully together.
“Your Highness, you are tired. Would you like to take a break?” Nanny Wei stepped forward and whispered.
“I’m not tired. I should go and see Chen’er!” The Empress Dowager supported her head with her hands. Although she said that she was not tired, she looked really tired. Those several imperial concubines should come here to pay their respects early in the morning. It had been a long while since the early morning.
“Your Highness, you should have a rest now. Prince Chen is fine. I just need to deliver some medicinal herbs to his palace. Let me run the errand!”
“You are so old that you must walk slowly. I’ll ask the three of them to run the errand!” Old Madam reached out to point at the three Young Madams sitting in front of her.
With her long eyelashes fluttering, Qin Wanru’s watery eyes looked increasingly clear, making her face look like a hibiscus flower. At the sight of her face, the Empress Dowager nodded repeatedly.
Her current appearance had been rare around the world. After she grew up in the future, no one knew how gorgeous she would be. Thinking of this, the Empress Dowager thought that it would be nice to keep this girl for her grandson.
“It’s all up to Your Highness!” Since the Empress Dowager said so, the three of them certainly would not refuse. They stood up respectfully together and said.
The Empress Dowager got up and walked inside to rest, while Nanny Wei asked someone to lead them to a side hall. Qin Wanru finally saw the people around her clearly on her way.
However, it was such a coincidence. She was wondering who had spoken ill of her in front of the Empress Dowager. It turned out to be Shao Jie’er, the daughter of non-lineal descent of the current Duke Xing.
In the last life, she only saw this Second Miss Shao from a distance. When Shao Yanru led her to walk around in the palace, Qin Wanru glanced at them from a distance. At that time, she felt that they looked like a Miss and her maid rather than sisters. This non-lineal younger sister was extremely respectful to her lineal elder sister, and seemed to flatter her lineal elder sister in her att.i.tude.
It seemed that Madam of Duke Xing was really anxious, even more anxious than Madam Di who intended to make her daughter adopted by Duke Xing’s Mansion as soon as possible.
Both Madam of Duke Xing and Madam Di were reluctant to see her identified as the granddaughter of Duke Xing and would inevitably prevent her from being identified as the granddaughter of Duke Xing. In this case, she decided to watch their actions now.
After what happened today, Madam of Duke Xing should be more anxious, right?
Good, she would be worried if they weren’t anxious!
The three Young Madams followed the palace maid sent by Nanny Wei with their respective maid, and went to the place where Chu Liuchen lived.
At first it was quiet. However, after walking for a while, the other two Young Madams became restless. Shao Jie’er and the other Young Madam should know each other. The two whispered to each other and looked back at Qin Wanru from time to time with a few traces of scorn on their faces, seemingly gossiping about Qin Wanru.
Qin Wanru ignored them and walked behind the palace maid without looking sideways.
As the two talked, seeing Qin Wanru ignore them, their voices even became louder.
“At such a young age, she dared to grab the bracelets on the street. She’s so petty!” Shao Jie’er curled her lip scornfully and sneered.
Although she didn’t directly mention Qin Wanru, the meaning in her words referred to Qin Wanru.
“Exactly. She looks pretty good at pretending!” Another delicate Young Madam gently pressed the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief and looked disgusted.
It was almost a slap in the face. Seeing the palace maid, who was leading the way, seemingly not intend to intervene in it, Qin Wanru suddenly turned to look at both of them with gloomy eyes. “Who are you talking about? Could it be that you think that the Empress Dowager is wrong?”
The Empress Dowager had accepted her explanation and did not pursue it any further.
Not expecting that Qin Wanru dared to talk back with such sharp words, the two were struck dumb for a moment.
The Young Madam Qin Wanru didn’t know responded quickly. After thinking for a while, she reacted immediately and talked back, “Why are you angry? We were not talking about you!”
With the Empress Dowager involved in it, they certainly dared not say that the Empress Dowager was wrong.
“Yeah, we were not talking about you. What do you feel guilty for!” Shao Jie’er also came to her senses at this moment. She raised her eyes and squinted at her from high above, looking arrogant and n.o.ble.
Qin Wanru was almost amused by her pretending to be a lineal daughter. She was imitating Shao Yanru. As an insignificant non-lineal daughter, she acted like a lineal eldest daughter.
“No matter who you were talking about, do you think that you can talk about someone else even though you weren’t talking about me? Is this what you have learned from the instructions and etiquette for unmarried girls?” Qin Wanru asked unhurriedly.
Her words made the two angry and ashamed with blus.h.i.+ng faces. If they were not in the palace, they would have quarreled with Qin Wanru.
Stealing a glance at the palace maid who seemed to hear nothing, the two didn’t dare to act arbitrarily, and only gave a severe glance at Qin Wanru. The two secretly gnashed their teeth and glanced at each other. They didn’t dare to quarrel openly, but could treat Qin Wanru coldly.
On the rest of their way, the two stopped talking about Qin Wanru, but began to talk about the relations.h.i.+p between sisters. They also mentioned that the younger sister of a certain family beat the elder sister and then ended up in a tragedy with her reputation ruined.
Since they weren’t talking about her openly, Qin Wanru ignored them, glanced at the palace maid in front who looked calm with no expression, and followed her slowly, as if she didn’t hear their sharp voices in the conversation with innuendo.
Chu Liuchen’s palace was in front, and two guards were guarding at the gate. Seeing several people come over, they immediately stepped forward and stopped them.
The palace maid leading the way bowed sideways and said, “The Empress Dowager asked me to bring the three Young Madams over to send the medicinal herbs to Prince Chen!”
Another guard stepped forward and went over the medicinal herbs in the hands of the three maids. Finding nothing wrong, he stepped aside and waved.
A group of people were allowed to get in.
As they just entered the room, before clearly seeing the scene inside the palace, they saw a white shadow flash by and rush towards them.
Shao Jie’er and the other Young Madam walked in front of Qin Wanru. As soon as the guards let them pa.s.s, the two of them strode in after giving Qin Wanru a hard look. The white shadow first pounced on the Young Madam. The Young Madam subconsciously touched it, only to feel that it was furry and see a pair of blue eyes. She screamed in fear and pushed it away.
This time it b.u.mped into Shao Jie’er. Shao Jie’er uttered a startling scream, stepped back and fell to the ground heavily.
No one knew if she tripped over the other Young Madam, and the Young Madam staggered and fell down as well.
The two screamed together in panic.
The white shadow jumped from Shao Jie’er towards Qin Wanru…