Chapter 528 When Shao Yanru Was a Child
Speaking of the Fifth Miss, Qiu Yu suddenly became angry. It was obvious that the lady showing up in the hall was not the First Miss Shao, but the Fifth Miss kept suggesting that it was the First Miss Shao. The Fifth Miss, who was so vicious at such a young age, was really not a good girl.
He wanted to rebuke her directly. However, at the thought of sending the ointment to his sweetheart, he didn’t want to ruin such a good opportunity, so he nodded at once.
“I will instruct someone to send it here after returning. First Miss Shao, please accept it and consider it a chance for me to make amends!” After finis.h.i.+ng speaking, Qiu Yu bowed respectfully to Shao Yanru, who was behind the gauze curtain, snorted coldly at Shao Wanru without talking to her, and then turned to leave with the doctor.
The First Miss Shao was a good girl. He thought that he should find an opportunity to remind her to be cautious of the Fifth Miss Shao. Otherwise, her kindness would make her a girl who remained ignorant after being deceived!
“Your Excellency…” Shuqi still wanted to refuse, but Qiu Yu had stridden away. She wanted to chase after him, but found it inappropriate for her to do that. So she could only look back at Shao Yanru, who was lying in bed, and thought, “Why is it so difficult to get rid of him? We just made use of him. How dare he have a fantasy for my master without considering whether he deserves my master…”
Qiu Yu acted quickly and sincerely. Not long after that, he came back here again to fetch the ointment in person. Qing’er opened the door, and then went to ask Shuqi out.
Shuqi refused him several times on instructions from Shao Yanru. However, she failed to refuse him and could only accept the ointment for fear of attracting more attention.
After bringing the ointment into the room and closing the door, she walked into the inner room and apologized to Shao Yanru, “First Miss, the ointment… I failed to refuse him. Later some nuns pa.s.sed by. For fear of attracting their attention, I had to accept it!”
“Just put it away!” Under the shadow of the bedside, Shao Yanru said with a gloomy face. She lost to Shao Wanru this time and was set up by her. However, it was she who caused the problem, so she had no choice but to face the consequences.
Speaking of which, Qiu Yu could still be a witness of her innocence. After all, when they first met, he came specially to deliver a letter from Qi Tianyu. Later, she sent Shuqi to deliver a letter to him on behalf of Shao Wanru. He could be useful to her one day, so she could not offend him by refusing him directly.
“Miss, let me apply some ointment to your wound!” Shuqi said. Seeing that Shao Yanru did not blame her, she let out a sigh of relief, bent down to kneel in front of the bed and lifted the quilt at the foot of the bed.
Shao Yanru really sprained her ankle. She did that on purpose after returning, and didn’t send for a doctor until this morning. There was a big b.u.mp on her ankle, but fortunately she was not injured in the bones.
“First Miss, since he has delivered the ointment here, we can apply it. Your foot has been injured. Applying normal ointment could result in incomplete recovery.” Looking at the ointment in her hand, Shuqi said hesitantly.
It would be a big deal if the First Miss’s foot was really injured.
“First Miss, if you find it efficacious after applying it, we can ask the First Young Master to send him a gift after we go back!” Seeing that Shao Yanru fell silent for a while, Shuqi, who knew with which her master was concerned, advised again.
“Okay, apply it!” Shuqi’s words struck a chord in Shao Yanru’s heart, so Shao Yanru nodded and said at once.
Overjoyed, Shuqi hurriedly got up and fetched the ointment on the table. After that, she wiped the ointment she had applied to Shao Yanru’s wound before, and then cautiously applied the new ointment to her wound after rubbing it. The ointment granted by the imperial palace was really efficacious. As soon as it was applied to her wound, Shao Yanru found it refres.h.i.+ng and much better than that given by the doctor.
After finis.h.i.+ng applying the ointment, Shuqi cautiously pushed Shao Yanru’s leg onto the bed, went out to wash her hands and then came in to serve Shao Yanru with a cup of tea in her hands.
“First Miss, Huiqing Nun came here just now in an attempt to see you, but the Fifth Miss refused her request,” Shuqi said cautiously, while placing the teacup on the table in front of Shao Yanru.
When she went out to wash her hands, she got the news from Qing’er.
“She refused it?” Shao Yanru said with an increasingly gloomy face.
“Yes. She was afraid that you would be disturbed, so she asked Huiqing Nun to go back!” Shuqi said, also looking sullen. As the First Miss’s personal princ.i.p.al maid, she had always been flattered by everyone in the mansion. Unexpectedly she had to try hard to please an inferior maid one day for information.
“How dare she?” Shao Yanru said, while clenching a corner of the quilt and scratching the quilt with her sharp fingernails.
Seeing her become furious, Shuqi didn’t dare to say anything else.
After a long while, Shao Yanru calmed down. Despite her cold face, the rage on her face had faded. She said, “Live in seclusion these days. If Rui’an Great Elder Princess comes here, report it to me and I’ll go to salute her. If not, I’ll stay here for recovery.”
After the doctor came, everyone should know that she had twisted her ankle long before and the lady showing up last night to meet Qi Tianyu could not be her.
The Yuhui Nunnery had been sealed, and there were plenty of female pilgrims in the nunnery besides the nuns. There were many possibilities if it was not her.
She had been too hasty on this…
Rui’an Great Elder Princess came here after lunch. Hearing that Shao Yanru had twisted her ankle, she specially sent someone to inquire about it. Unexpectedly, Shao Yanru struggled to come over after freshening up to pay respects to her. After that, Shao Yanru had a small talk with her. Seeing Shao Yanru’s pale face, Rui’an Great Elder Princess asked her to have a rest with no need to stay with her.
After chatting with her respectfully for a while, Shao Yanru left with the help of Shuqi.
Watching Shao Yanru leave totteringly, Rui’an Great Elder Princess looked at her thoughtfully and said with a frown, “When she was young, I had brought her to Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s Mansion and raised her for a period of time!”
“Grandma, you had raised her?” Shao Wanru asked in astonishment, because she really didn’t know about it.
“I hadn’t raised her for long, only about half a year. At that time, she was so cute a little girl as delicate as polished jade with a sweet voice. I was not on good terms with Duke Xing’s Mansion back then, but we hadn’t come to an open break. When she came to my mansion as a guest, she looked obedient and lovely and was particularly willing to get close to me. So I asked her to stay in my mansion. Unexpectedly, she had lived there for about half a year!”
Rui’an Great Elder Princess said with a sigh.
A little girl at the age of five or six was the loveliest. Shao Yanru was chubby and smooth-tongued, so Rui’an Great Elder Princess found her quite pleasing to the eye. Seeing that Shao Yanru was so close to her, Rui’an Great Elder Princess, who had no children, kept her in Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s Mansion cheekily. Madam of Duke Xing naturally did not say anything about it. Despite her reluctance, Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion did not refuse.
Looking at the reluctant face of Old Madam of Duke Xing, Rui’an Great Elder Princess suddenly felt that she had vented her spleen and made up her mind to keep Shao Yanru in her mansion.
“At that time, your mother had left and I didn’t know where she had gone. I was very lonely. The company of such an innocent child actually made me happy. In addition, keeping her in my mansion could displease the old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion. So I kept delaying sending her back to Duke Xing’s Mansion. Prince Yue, Prince Zhou and Prince Chen were also young at that time and visited my mansion from time to time. Prince Yue and Prince Zhou came more often, especially after Shao Yanru lived in my mansion. But Prince Chen just visited my mansion a few times in half a year due to his poor health, and didn’t necessarily meet Shao Yanru during his visit.”
Rui’an Great Elder Princess said with an increasingly furrowed brow.
Shao Wanru suddenly opened her eyes wide after rolling them, and said, “Grandma, do you mean that they had grown up together?”
Rui’an Great Elder Princess reached out to pat her granddaughter’s head to express her admiration for her granddaughter’s intelligence, while saying with a chuckle, “You could say that. At least Prince Zhou and Prince Yue visited my mansion more often during the period, but came here less often after Shao Yanru left. It could be seen that they had a close relations.h.i.+p with Shao Yanru at that time.”
“Why did Shao Yanru leave later?” Shao Wanru thought for a moment and asked. Since Rui’an Great Elder Princess was willing to raise Shao Yanru because she wanted to displease Old Madam of Duke Xing and Shao Yanru was close to her, why did she give up after half a year?
“Later, I found that she looked well-behaved and cute, was filial to me and often came to pay her respects to me. Nevertheless, she didn’t behave like a child at the age of five or six, which reminded me of her mother, who had been raised in Duke Xing’s Mansion since her childhood. I heard that her mother had been careful in everything and particularly filial to Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion since her childhood. In this way, her mother managed to make your mother leave Duke Xing’s Mansion. At the thought of this, I felt sick of her!”
Rui’an Great Elder Princess said with a trace of tiredness on her face. As long as she thought that the girl in front of her would grow up into a lady like her mother, she became displeased with Shao Yanru and even felt that Shao Yanru did everything in front of her purposefully as Madam of Duke Xing did in front of Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion at that time.
No matter how cute Shao Yanru was, she couldn’t compare with her biological daughter. However, Rui’an Great Elder Princess could not vent her anger on a child, so she let Shao Yanru go home.
“Before leaving, she held my leg tearfully and said that she wanted to stay with me forever and serve me wholeheartedly as long as I didn’t drive her away!” Rui’an Great Elder Princess said slowly with a sarcastic smile, “I have heard these words many times, but I generally heard them from sensible children more than ten years old. She was only five or six years old at that time…”
On hearing her words, Rui’an Great Elder Princess, who was still hesitant at first, immediately instructed someone to send her back to Duke Xing’s Mansion and ignored her ever since.
Shao Wanru understood. At the age of five or six, Shao Yanru should not be sensible enough to say those words. How could Rui’an Great Elder Princess, who had rich experience in life, be deceived by a child? She must have smelled a rat, so she instructed someone to take Shao Yanru away directly and left Shao Yanru no chance to attach herself to her ever since.
It turned out that Shao Yanru grew up with Prince Yue and Prince Zhou. It was no wonder that she had the opportunity to switch back and forth between the two princes.
A child at the age of five or six had already known how to attach herself to Rui’an Great Elder Princess. Thinking about it carefully, Shao Wanru found it terrifying!
“Grandma, don’t worry. I won’t be deceived by what she feigns!” Shao Wanru said softly. She knew what Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s words meant.
“You’d better be more careful!” Although Rui’an Great Elder Princess was relieved, she still patted her hand with a serious look and reminded her.