Old Maid Ya came to the General"s Mansion the following day. The General"s family was one of her most important clients.
However, she seemed to have come much earlier than necessary. Old Maid Ya waited at the accounts room for a long time before she got the payment and thereafter, with her face all smiles, she got up to leave.
Although she supposedly waited for a long time, all the while, she was chatting with the people outside the accounts room and so it did not feel like it was a long time.
There was no lack of people gossipping outside the accounts room, in fact, the gossipers came in waves.
Old Maid Ya was not dim-witted, she knew what to say and what not to. She was careful to make a distinction between them. After she took the silver, she was not planning on offending anyone lest it affected her business. She would keep all business relations.h.i.+p cordial, although once in a while she did show some biases, she was careful not to make any of her clients unhappy.
For this reason, she kept her mouth shut on certain things.
Those unfortunate that happened in the Qin"s Mansion had nothing to do with her and she did not want to be implicated.
Early in the morning, Qin Wanru already made her way to Old Grandma"s room and by the time she arrived, Shui Ruolan was already there too. The two of them helped served Old Grandma some porridge first, then they helped her to her bed, where she sat up, leaning to the side, to rest.
Because of her cough, Old Grandma did not have a good night"s sleep. However, the porridge had calm her coughs and as she sat on the bed, leaning to the side, she closed her tired eyes and seemed to have fallen asleep.
Shui Ruolan signaled for Qin Wanru to follow her out of the room at that moment.
By the time the, two got out of Old Grandma"s room and sat down, the maids had prepared some tea for them. Shui Ruolan brought her hand to her forehead and touched it lightly, looking fatigued.
"Did you spend your night here with Old Grandma?" Qin Wanru asked.
"My aunt hasn"t slept well at night. At this time every year, she was usually well and would not start coughing until later. I wonder why she fell ill this early this time," said Shui Ruolan, nodding her head as a frown appeared between her brows.
"In fact, Grandma does fall ill at this time of the year, but basically she would not be coughing so badly all of a sudden. Moreover, she usually didn"t start coughing right after waking up in the mornings," said Qin Wanru and bit her lips.
She clearly remembered what happened the other day when Qi Rongzhi fell into the pond. Grandma started coughing badly after she returned to her room. It did not seem like she had caught a cold the night before and fell sick the following morning.
Qin Wanru"s comments gave Shui Ruolan and idea. She locked her brows and asked after a short pause, saying, "Could she had gone through some stimulation, like she was allergic to something?"
Although Old Grandma did have the old problem of coughing once the weather turned cold every year, Shui Ruolan was aware that there was a possibility that an allergen could have triggered Old Grandma"s cough.
Looking at Shui Ruolan"s expression, Qin Wanru realized that she was also beginning to suspect that something was amiss. Initially, Qin Wanru thought she was the only one being suspicious. Unfortunately, the fact that she was too young and helpless, there was no way she could investigate and find out more. Shui Ruolan, however, was different.
"That is possible. That day, after grandma interacted with Mother, my elder sister, and Miss Qi and me, she returned to started to cough non-stop."
Qin Wanru said carefully, not leaving out any details she remembered.
"Let go to Jingxin Monastery and ask the reverend there to have a look at Old Grandma," Shui Ruolan said decidedly as she could not come to any conclusion.
She had slept in Old Grandma"s room last night and heard her coughing badly. She was worried that Old Grandma would be drained of energy during day time since she did not sleep well. This bout of coughing had come suddenly and fiercely, and by now, Old Grandma"s voice was hoa.r.s.e from so much coughing.
So much so that she could only speak softly and with much effort.
"Let"s tell Father about this first then!" said Qin Wanru, nodding, since it was the only way to go about it.
In the past, Old Grandma would always go to Jingxin Monastery and stay there for a period of time when she started coughing. She would go through the conditioning and treatment from the reverend at Jingxin Monastery and reap effective results.
After Shui Ruolan and Qin Wanru discussed the details of their plan, Qin Wanru went back to her courtyard, leaving a worried-looking Shui Ruolan sitting outside in the courtyard.
She was beginning to find it strange too.
Old Grandma"s cough had come too suddenly.
At this moment, Nanny Duan came out from and said, "Miss Shui, Old Grandma wants you to go in."
"Is my aunt awake?" asked Shui Ruolan, as her frown eased and she stood up to follow Nanny Duan into Old Grandma"s room.
"She was feeling more energetic now, so please come with me," said Nanny Duan, nodding, as the both of them entered the room. Old Grandma, who was sitting on the bed opened her eyes and looked at Shui Ruolan with tenderness.
Shui Ruolan knew that loving look in Old Grandma"s eyes and suddenly she was overwhelmed with emotions and almost began to tear up. However, once she thought about Old Grandma"s deteriorating health, she had to suppress her grief and force a smile.
Old Grandma waved her over and pointed to a small stool by the bed.
Shui Ruolan hurried over to take her hand and led her to sit down firmly on the stool. Nanny Duan, who was aware that Old Grandma had some private things to discuss with Shui Ruolan, excused herself quietly.
"It"s been hard on you, Ruolan!" said Old Grandma with a hoa.r.s.e, low voice which was almost inaudible.
Shui Ruolan p.r.i.c.ked up her ears and strained to listen, while shaking her head and saying, "It"s not hard, Aunt. I had always wanted to take care of you until your old age. You"re the one who raised me. It is not hard to remain by your side!"
She knew that Old Grandma was referring to her marrying the general. Not wanting Old Grandma to worry over additional matters on top of her poor health, Shui Ruolan told her that she was agreeable to her marriage arrangement.
"Since your cousin had promised to protect you even though this was going to affect Mrs. Qin, you should just get married into the General"s household formally. In a few days time, you may leave the Mansion and live outside for a few days. When the wedding preparation is done, we will bring you back to the house as the bride!" said Old Grandma in one breath, and started coughing as she tried to catch her breath.
Shui Ruolan"s eyes welled up in tears as she patted Old Grandma gently on her back and said, "Please don"t be too anxious, Aunt. It is more important for you to recover from your sickness. Let me accompany you to stay in Jingxin Monastery until you are better, then we can come home!"
If a formal wedding was to take place, they would have to carry eight sedans into the General"s Mansion and Shui Ruolan would have to stay put in the General"s Mansion, which was not exactly appropriate for now.
"Alright!" said Old Grandma as she stopped coughing for a while. She reached out to pat Shui Ruolan on her hand and said, "Until you enter the household, I will let you raise Zhuozhuo. She is just a child, and I"m already old and sickly. I"m afraid I might not be able to protect her forever. By that time, I would have to trouble you to take care of all matters concerning Zhuozhuo."
Her little granddaughter"s marriage was almost ruined because Old Grandma"s age was catching up with her and she was seeing and hearing things clearly, which was why Qin Wanru was almost wasted. Every time this matter came to her mind, she felt heartbroken. She used to think it was just because Mrs. Qin was showing favoritism, but now she realized that not only was she showing favoritism, she had an extremely malicious heart.
"Rest a.s.sured, Aunt. Just pa.s.s the responsibility of taking care of Wanru onto me. I will protect her and not allow her to suffer anymore," promised Shui Ruolan. After all, she doted on Qin Wanru as much.
Back when she was still staying in the family temple, she had never really inquired about the matters concerning Qin Wanru and Qin Yuru"s through Qionghua. However, when she found out about all that was happening after she left the family temple, she was determined to take care of Qin Wanru.
"I will let you take charge of the matters concerning Zhuozhuo, while I will help you deal with your marriage to the General. The General"s family owes you your rightful place in this household," said Old Grandma as she looked at Shui Ruolan with tender loving kindness.
Shui Ruolan looked down, not from being shy, but rather to cover the cold look in her eyes. She was not afraid of what Mrs. Qin could do to her, given that letter which was in her hand.
This letter, which had not been shown to anyone else, could be used against Mrs. Qin. Earlier, Qin Wanru had secretly revealed to her that Mrs. Qin had written this letter to frame Qin Wanru, thereby staging the earlier commotion about the letter.
Although the chaos had died down, this letter could still be used against her. Although it was really a piece of evidence, this letter can be a critical item for Qin Huaiyong to give up his trust on Mrs. Qin since she had almost lost all credibility.
She was sure Mrs. Qin did not dare to use this letter to do any more harm to Qin Wanru.
By the time Qin Wanru returned to her courtyard, Nanny Yu was already waiting for her, and she quickly followed Qin Wanru into her room to report to her all that she observed.
After listening to Nanny Yu"s report, Qin Wanru rephrased what she heard to reconfirm the facts by saying, "So Qing Xue was sent to Old Maid Ya only the night before, so she had not gone through any training. However, she appeared to be prim and proper despite not having gone through any training, so they just brought her to us. Is that right?"
"Yes, this was what they said, Miss..." asked Nanny Yu, nodding.
"It"s okay, leave her be for now!" said Qin Wanru as she snorted. Without any doubt, Qing Xue had to be someone arranged by Mrs. Qin for Qin Yuru to use reverse psychology to trick Qin Wanru into picking her. Of all the maids chosen by Qin Wanru, Qing Xue was the most outstanding of them all, while the other outstanding maids were picked by Qin Yuru. Apparently, Qin Yuru had left Qing Xue behind for Qin Wanru.
Qin Yuru even endured the pain in her injured arm to put up an act. That was not easy.
"However, Qu Le had been with Old Maid Ya for a long time, so she had undergone a period of training. Today it was her first time being sent out for selection," Nanny Yu continued.
"Let the two of them live together!" said Qin Wanru after contemplating the information provided by Nanny Yu.
"Miss, do you think there"ll be trouble if the two of them live together?" asked Nanny Yu, feeling uneasy about the decision. "Qing Xue is definitely not a simple character," she continued.
"It"s alright, it"s good for the two to live together. I can see that Qu Le is a very smart girl. We just have to tell her to keep an eye on Qing Xue and get close to her. Tell her that once she feels anything is amiss, she should report it to you!" said Qin Wanru as her lips curled into a cold smile.
There were bruises on Qing Xue"s arm, but no one knew where those bruises came from. Did it have something to do with her coming to the General"s Mansion? Qu Le would be the best candidate to find out the truth.
"Yes, I will make the necessary rearrangements," said Nanny Yu once she understood Qin Wanru"s intention.
"Nanny Yu, would you also pack some clothes for Old Grandma in a while? She is unwell and she may want to go to Jingxin Monastery to recuperate and I want to accompany her there," instructed Qin Wanru.
"Rest a.s.sured, Miss, I know what to do. Who else are you going to bring along to Jingxin Monastery this time?" inquired Nanny Yu and she stopped in her tracks.
Tapping her fingers on the table, Qin Wanru pondered for a moment and answered, saying, "I will bring Qing Yue along, while Nanny Yu, you stay here in the mansion to keep an eye on everything that happens in the courtyard, especially Qing Xue and Qu Le. Perhaps something interesting will happen when they live together, especially in my absence!"
While n.o.body knew what was on Qing Xue"s mind, and Qu Le was not as easy as she appeared to be, Qin Wanru was looking forward to what would happen.
Qin Wanru"s words had a deeper meaning to it, but Nanny Yu did not understand the hidden meaning. However, when she saw how confident Qin Wanru sounded, she received the instruction without further questions and went ahead with the arrangements...
However, it was not long after she stepped out of the room that Nanny Yu lifted the door curtain and entered the room again. Looking pale on her face, she said, "Oh dear, Miss, something bad happened, Qu Le had been beaten up!"