Chapter 522 Shocked, Who Is the Real Fifth Miss Shao?
Shuqi waited outside, rubbing her hands from time to time, with her heart torn with anxiety. Suddenly, she saw someone coming from the distance with a lantern, so she hurriedly reached out and to knock on the door of the hall and said in a low voice, “Miss, Miss, they are coming. Come out quickly!”
Hearing no response from inside, Shuqi reached out to knock on the door again and said anxiously with her face changing dramatically, “Miss, Miss! Hurry up.”
She looked up and found that a group of people had come over. Someone seemed to have seen her and reached out to point at her. Shuqi had no time to think about something else and hurried into the hall.
It was so dark in the hall that she couldn’t see her hand in front of her. After taking only a few steps, Shuqi almost tripped over something and fell. She hurriedly reached out to hold the pillar beside her and said with her head covered with sweat in the dark, “Miss, First Miss, are you here? First Young Master Qi, First Young Master Qi!”
She did not dare to raise her voice and could only keep calling their names. However, it was completely silent in the hall with the slightest sound.
Suddenly, there came a low groan. Shuqi listened to it carefully, only to find that it did not seem like her master’s voice, but seemed like a man’s voice.
Then there came another groan which seemed like a lady’s voice. As soon as Shuqi heard the familiar voice, she became overjoyed at once and hurriedly felt her way toward the direction, while saying anxiously, “Miss, First Miss, let’s go quickly. They are coming!”
“What happened?” In the dark, Qi Tianyu rubbed his head where he felt a dull pain, sat up with his hand on the altar table and asked.
“First… First Young Master Qi?” After freezing for a while, Shuqi looked toward the direction, where the voice came from, and asked.
“It’s me. Who hit me?” Qi Tianyu, who still felt a headache, stood up straight and rubbed his head with one hand, while saying. He tried to close his eyes, which barely made him feel less dizzy.
“Shuqi, Shuqi!” There came Shao Yanru’s weak voice in the dark later.
Shuqi rushed toward the direction, but suddenly heard someone tripped over something and fell to the ground, followed by Shao Yanru’s scream in pain.
“Miss, First Miss, is it you? Let’s go. They are coming!” Shuqi groped in the dark, while saying anxiously.
“First Miss Shao?” Qi Tianyu, who also recognized Shao Yanru’s voice at this moment, pulled himself together and said with his face changing immediately.
“It’s me. Why did I faint? Someone knocked me out just now!” Shao Yanru said. At this moment, she had realized that something went wrong. She stood up with the help of Shuqi, who reached out to her hurriedly, and asked, “Is there a side door here?”
Qi Tianyu came earlier than her, so he must have seen the surrounding environment.
“Yes, come with me!” Qi Tianyu responded quickly and said in a hurry. He was fl.u.s.tered, because he came here to meet Shao Wanru in secret. However, he met Shao Yanru instead of Shao Wanru, and both of them were knocked out. At the moment, he immediately realized that something went wrong.
It was not the time to talk it over, so he turned around and walked to the side door while making some sounds to lead Shao Yanru and Shuqi to come over.
When Shao Yanru and Shuqi joined him and the three of them hurried to the side door, there came the footsteps from outside of the hall. As the door was kicked open under their shocked gaze, the strong light shone in from outside.
Shao Yanru hurriedly reached out to block the strong light from outside.
A large group of people came in suddenly.
“Tianyu, I’ve been looking for you everywhere, for fear that you would have an accident. Unexpectedly… you are meeting a girl secretly here?” The young official of the Ministry of Justice came in and said with laughter. However, he was immediately shocked by the scene in front of him. With a stiff smile, he glanced at Qi Tianyu and then glanced at Shao Yanru, who reached out to cover her eyes, and said, “Isn’t… this the Fifth Miss Shao?”
Shuqi hurriedly reached out to hold Shao Yanru’s head in her arms and kept her head down, so fl.u.s.tered that she did not dare to move.
“Qiu Yu, I’m fine. You can leave now!” Qi Tianyu touched his head without giving a definite answer, and just waved his hand in displeasure.
“I… I really didn’t know that you and the Fifth Miss Shao are here. If I had known it before… I… I won’t have brought others here.” Qiu Yu said with a smile, acting like he really felt embarra.s.sed because of ruining his friend’s secret meeting. After finis.h.i.+ng his words, he waved his hand and said to those behind him, “Let’s go. It’s no big deal. He’s here. But keep your mouth shut after getting out of here in case of ruining the Miss’s reputation!”
“Okay!” Those present answered listlessly. Many of them smiled, expecting a good show.
Numerous people knew that the two Misses of Duke Xing’s Mansion were on the mountain. One of them was the First Miss Shao, the most beautiful lady in the capital city, and the other was naturally the Fifth Miss Shao in front of them, who was said to be a “filial daughter”. However, they could tell that the Fifth Miss Shao was not a decent lady based on the fact that she met a man in secret.
Under the cover of a good reputation, she was actually extremely lascivious!
They had thought that the young official’s friend was missing. In view of what had happened in the Yuhui Nunnery recently, they helped the young official search for his friend, but they didn’t expect to see this. How could it be possible for them to keep their mouth shut? They had never seen such a thing before.
An unmarried Miss met a man in secret. What an alluring thing! They happened to witness it.
A large group of people left successively. Shao Yanru secretly let out a sigh of relief in the dark and looked relieved. Fortunately, she had wrapped herself firmly with her clothes and covered her eyes with her hands because of the strong light. Otherwise, she would inevitably be exposed in front of those officials. Although they didn’t see Shao Wanru, Shao Wanru still had to take the blame.
“First Miss, you’d better leave quickly. There is a back door in the side hall, and you can leave through it directly!” In the dark, Qi Tianyu also let out a sigh of relief and lowered his voice to say.
“Let’s go, Shuqi!” Shao Yanru nodded and said. Since she had s.h.i.+fted the blame onto Shao Wanru, she could not stay here and expose her face in front of those officials.
Those, who walked out of the hall, suddenly stopped and stared at the lady under the light in front of them in surprise. With half of her face covered with a veil, she only showed a pair of pretty eyes. She, who slightly raised her eyes, was supposed to look attractive, but her face showed a hint of purity. They could tell that she was a strikingly beautiful young Miss at a glance, although they couldn’t see her face clearly.
A little maid stood beside her with a lantern. Although she was wrapped in a cloak with her face covered with a hood, she still looked amazing in the light.
Someone cautiously stepped back and whispered to the person next to him, “Could… it be a fox spirit?”
In the shadow of the lamplight, her fluttering hem made her look free from the mortal world.
“How could it be possible? We, we are in a nunnery.” The man trembled and said. He looked up at the plaque of the hall above his head, suggesting that even if there were demons and ghosts, they were not supposed to show up here. After all, it was a place where the Buddhas lived. How dared the demons and ghosts come here?
“Excuse me, are you from the Ministry of Justice?” Shao Wanru asked softly.
“Who are you?” Qiu Yu asked. He took two steps forward and saluted Shao Wanru with joined hands, because he did not recognize her.
“I’m the Fifth Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion. My Big Sister is missing, so I’ve been looking for her all the way here. I wonder if you have seen my Big Sister?” Shao Wanru said lightly and dropped them a sedate courtesy.
“The Fifth Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion?”
“The Fifth Miss Shao?”
“Who, who’s the lady inside…”
Some of them exclaimed, and some turned around and pointed to the dark part of the hall behind them. They were so shocked that they couldn’t even finish saying a complete sentence. If the lady in front of them was the Fifth Miss Shao, who was the lady inside?
“Someone said that the First Miss has come here with her maid Shuqi. Did you see them? My master has been looking for her all the way here with me, for fear that she would have an accident. But we didn’t see her along the way,” Qing’er said and swayed the lantern slightly, seeming to intend to see those in front clearly and enable them to see her face clearly at the same time.
She was a little maid around eleven or twelve years old, looking a little naive.
“I’ll go and have a look…” An official of the Ministry of Justice suddenly turned around and ran into the main hall. Several of them glanced at Shao Wanru and then at the little maid, and then also turned around and walked to the hall.
“Miss…” Qing’er said in confusion.
“Have you seen my Big Sister?” Shao Wanru turned to Qiu Yu and asked.
Qiu Yu was also at a loss. He pointed inside and then at himself. At this moment, he didn’t know whether the lady inside was the First Miss Shao or not either. With his heart pounding rapidly, he had mixed feelings and didn’t know how to answer for a moment.
“Qing’er, let’s go and have a look!” Seeing that he could not answer, Shao Wanru also walked into the hall. Qing’er replied and followed her.
“Where is the lady? Where has she gone?” In the hall, some of the officials asked, while some were running.
“Let’s go to the side door and have a look.”
When Shao Wanru walked in slowly, she only saw Qi Tianyu standing alone beside the altar without Shao Yanru and Shuqi. Many officials had left to search for them, while some surrounded Qi Tianyu and looked around. However, although they had even lifted the curtain under the altar, they found no one.
Qi Tianyu lowered his head slightly, so Shao Wanru could not see his face clearly. With one hand on the altar, he closed his eyes slightly, and then slowly opened them. He looked at Shao Wanru sharply, took a deep breath and said, “Shao Wanru, what do you mean by doing this?”
“First Young Master Qi, what do you mean by saying that? According to these officials’ words, you stayed with a lady here, but it was not me. However, you made them misunderstand that it was me in an attempt to ruin my reputation. Why did you do that? I thought what happened in Jiangzhou has been settle, hasn’t it?”
Shao Wanru said coldly.
She sneered in her heart. Just now Qi Tianyu had suggested that she was the lady meeting him here in secret. Now seeing her show up, he intended to make her take the blame directly.
She was not afraid of coming to an open break with Qi Tianyu, so as to avoid seeing him keep pretending to be her childhood sweetheart with a deep affection for her.
Hearing her mention what had happened in Jiangzhou at the beginning of the conversation, Qi Tianyu frowned secretly. What had happened in Jiangzhou was the last thing he was willing to mention. No matter what the truth was, he was cuckolded by Qin Yuru at that time anyway. Any man would feel ashamed to talk about this kind of thing.
Qi Tianyu, who had always been intelligent, knew that it was inappropriate to talk about what had happened in Jiangzhou at this moment. So he simply ignored Shao Wanru’s words and continued talking about what he had started with a distressed look, “Wanru, you asked me to come here, and I came here after receiving your letter. I don’t know the lady showing up here just now. I think she happened to show up here and she has left!”
As he spoke, he drew a letter from his bosom, and his look became gentle. He even looked at Shao Wanru affectionately!