Chapter 539 Qing’er Who Is Simple and Obedient
The carriage of Duke Xing’s Mansion stopped in front of Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s Mansion, far away from the gate. Nanny Yu thought that as servants, they didn’t dare to directly stop in front of the gate of Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s Mansion, so they stopped in front of a shop on the opposite side of the gate of Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s Mansion.
Qing’er got off the carriage in a hurry and went into the mansion. After a while, she came out with an exquisite box and ran to the carriage from a distance.
Nanny Yu, who was anxious, had already waited out of the carriage with four old maids.
Seeing Qing’er finally come out, Nanny Yu let out a sigh of relief and instructed an old maid beside her. “Go and pick up the longevity lock of the Fifth Miss. We’ll go back to our mansion immediately and show it to Taoist Priest Xiushui.”
At this moment, Taoist Priest Xiushui must have arrived at Duke Xing’s Mansion!
The strong old maid responded by a nod and staggered over in an attempt to pick up the box in Qing’er’s hand. Perhaps because the old maid was too st.u.r.dy or she walked too fast, she b.u.mped into Qing’er hard before reaching out.
Qing’er fell backward with hands and legs in the air, and the box in her hand was thrown away.
Not only the box but also the longevity lock in the box was thrown to the street and almost hit someone.
The pa.s.sers-by dispersed at once. Seeing a circle of black ants on the longevity lock on the ground, some people nearby jumped high in fear and screamed while desperately pus.h.i.+ng their way out of the crowd.
More people saw such a disgusting scene, and some ladies even screamed in fear.
Nanny Yu felt her legs went weak and collapsed on the ground. She was trembling all over and muttering to herself, “Evil… evil spirits. As I expect, all the pieces of stuff of Fifth Miss contain evil… evil spirits!”
A bold old maid dragged Nanny Yu desperately and said anxiously, “Nanny Yu, let’s get away from here. The Fifth Miss is possessed by evil spirits… Both of her bracelets and longevity lock contain evil spirits. Hurry… hurry up and report it to Old Madam. Let’s go!”
As she said, she pulled Nanny Yu up. They got in the carriage in a hurry, leaving both Qing’er and the longevity lock on the ground behind, as if they met a dreadful monster.
Everyone backed away, watching the scene in front of them in shock and fear and glancing at the longevity lock on the ground.
There was a circle of black and big ants on the longevity lock. They couldn’t even find such a big ant in normal times, while the longevity lock was covered with these ants, which was quite chilling.
Qing’er stood up slowly from the ground. She, who was quite bold, picked up a small branch from the ground to lift the longevity lock and looked at it. Everyone around her stepped back, for fear that the ants would stick to them.
Of course, there were some busybodies taking a few more glances at it. Although the ants were chilling, they had never seen such a strange thing. They intended to take a closer look at it so that they could boast about the experience in the future.
“Is there sugar on it?” Qing’er said to herself. She picked up the longevity lock, put it in front of her nose to smell it, and then continued saying to herself, “It smells like osmanthus sugar!”
Did it smell like sugar? Several meddlesome men suddenly didn’t feel afraid.
“Let me smell it!” Some busybodies said and reached out. If the ants were really attracted to the longevity lock by sugar, they had just made a fuss about nothing!
Qing’er handed over the branch in her hands. A bold busybody took it over, put the longevity lock under his nose, and smelled a strong sweet fragrance from it.
“It’s really stained with sugar.” The busybody nodded and said, pa.s.sing it to his companions around. They nodded one after another. The scent of osmanthus sugar was so strong that even those, who hadn’t taken the longevity lock, could smell it when other people pa.s.sed the longevity lock.
Someone couldn’t help laughing and said, “It turns out that the longevity lock is stained with sugar. The ants made me think it’s something evil!”
Although so many ants also looked like something evil, they were nothing unusual. An ant was actually not horrifying. It was horrifying and disgusting to see so many ants. Nevertheless, thinking of the strong scent of osmanthus sugar from it, they found it was no big deal that it attracted so many ants.
At this moment, even ladies stopped from a distance. Although they thought so many ants were quite disgusting, they would not turn around to run away and scream in fear.
“You didn’t keep it well, so it’s stained with sugar. Go and wash it clean, lest it should scare plenty of people next time you take it out!” The busybodies said complacently while pa.s.sing the branch back to Qing’er. It proved that they were bold and careful, and they wanted to tell others about it later.
“It’s just stained with sugar. Why were the old maids of Duke Xing’s Mansion scared away? They said that the stuff of Fifth Miss contained evil spirits. The longevity lock was obviously given by Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion to the Fifth Miss. The Fifth Miss has grown up, and it’s no longer appropriate for her to wear it, so she could only lock it up! Why was it stained with sugar?” Qing’er took over the branch while defending her master defiantly.
She put the longevity lock on the ground and hit it hard with the branch. Some ants began to run away after being hit. Someone was afraid and lifted the bucket beside him in an attempt to pour some water on the longevity lock, but was stopped by Qing’er.
“Don’t do that. The sugar will be washed away by the water. I should keep the sugar as evidence in case that my master will be wronged!” As she said, she hit the ants very quickly.
Some ants were killed, while some of them were crushed to death by some pa.s.sers-by when they tried to escape. As they became less, people no longer felt afraid.
“How could your master be wronged because of the sugar on the longevity lock? The girl is a maid loyal to her master, but she exaggerated a bit!” Someone pointed at the somewhat naive Qing’er and said with a chuckle.
“They don’t like my master!” Qing’er said gloomily and continued knocking the ants off from the longevity lock. There were not many ants left, so it wasn’t slow for her to knock them off one by one.
“Who is your master?” Someone asked in astonishment.
“My master is the Fifth Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion. She has been observing mourning for the heir of Duke Xing and the Infanta in the Yuhui Nunnery for more than two years. Unexpectedly such a thing happened at the end of the third year. I really feel aggrieved for my master!” Qing’er talked about what had happened to her master naively.
However, judging from her appearance, she was just an inferior maid at a young age. There was no one else from her mansion around at this moment. Based on what had happened just now, it was no big deal for her to defend her master indignantly. Moreover, she did not mention anyone’s name.
“The Fifth Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion? Is it the Miss who is extremely filial to her parents and has just been recognized by Duke Xing’s Mansion?” Someone suddenly thought of it, immediately looked at the gate of Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s Mansion, and realized who the maid was talking about.
“It should be her. I heard that the Fifth Miss couldn’t stay in Duke Xing’s Mansion after being recognized by Duke Xing’s Mansion because everyone in the Duke Xing’s Mansion doesn’t like her. Could it be true?”
“Since she has been recognized, she must be the biological daughter of the former Heir of Duke Xing. How can they treat her so harshly and send her to the Yuhui Nunnery, where she has stayed for three years? It’s indecent indeed for them to do that. It can be seen that they really don’t like the Fifth Miss. She’s such a poor girl who has no parents and is disliked by other family members.”
“Just now the little maid said that the longevity lock was given by Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion. Later, the Fifth Miss has been too old to wear it, so she kept locking it up. In this case, the sugar on it could be…”
“Do you mean they are going to wrong the Fifth Miss?” Someone gasped with surprise and came up with this conclusion.
Many of those present stood gazing at one another and thought that the members of Duke Xing’s Mansion were really cruel. The Fifth Miss was just a girl. Why couldn’t they tolerate her? Even her grandma did this to trap her.
“Little girl, hurry up and report it to Great Elder Princess. You can’t bear the responsibility.” Someone reminded Qing’er, who looked naive and was still knocking those ants off.
“That’s right. Little girl, turn to Great Elder Princess, tell her about this and show her the longevity lock!” Hearing the words, plenty of people expressed a.s.sent. Looking at this little girl, they knew that her master was not scheming. Since the members of Duke Xing’s Mansion did not like this Miss, she could only turn to her biological grandma!
Qing’er, who was at a loss, was pulled up. Someone kind-hearted picked up the longevity lock with a branch, put it into the box on the side, and handed the box to her after closing it. They pushed her toward Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s Mansion and said, “Go ahead. Your master will get into trouble if you go late!”
At this moment, Qing’er seemed to have realized something. She rushed to Great Elder Princess’s Mansion with the box in her arms. After taking a few steps, she turned back and bowed deeply to the crowd and then continued running in a hurry.
This little maid was quite likable and very polite, so she left a good impression on plenty of people at present. Seeing her run into Great Elder Princess’s Mansion, the onlookers let out a sigh of relief for her and began to talk about it at the moment. They all thought that Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion was unamiable, and then some past events were raked up.
It was said that this Old Madam did not like Infanta Qinghua and kept torturing her so that Infanta Qinghua and the former Heir of Duke Xing had to leave Duke Xing’s Mansion. Afterward, the former Heir of Duke Xing died outside, and Infanta Qinghua died of difficult labor not long after being found and returning, only leaving a son…
With the hints dropped by someone ax-grinding, not only the past of Old Madam of Duke Xing but also the past of the current Madam of Duke Xing was raked up. The present Madam of Duke Xing was supposed to marry the former Heir of Duke Xing, but she had to marry the current Duke Xing in the end. Some people found it amusing.
It was a shameful thing rather than a good thing to marry the younger brother after failing to marry the elder brother.
As they talked, someone mentioned the First Miss Shao, who had a great reputation. It was said that the First Miss Shao had a great reputation, a gorgeous appearance, and an excellent character. However, when they talked about her, someone raised an objection and said that the First Miss Shao and Madam of Duke Xing were much alike in character. They divagated into a subject of gossip.
Someone said that the First Miss Shao looked demure, but she faked it and was actually ill-behaved. As they talked, some of their words deviated from the original topic. Most of those people who stayed to gossip were idle busybodies. Speaking of the affairs of such a beauty, they became increasingly excited and had forgotten they didn’t talk about Shao Yanru at the beginning.
Nevertheless, it was more exciting to talk about the affairs of a beauty, especially the top beauty in the capital city, than to talk about the affairs of a little maid.
A carriage stopped at the side of the road. After listening to their discussion for a while, someone in the carriage said in a cold voice, “Go and disperse them!”
Two guards immediately answered, came out from the back of the carriage, and swayed the whips in their hands at the faces of several busybodies, who were talking excitedly…