Chapter 599 The Consequences of Pus.h.i.+ng Too Hard
“Eldest Brother, I’m sorry that I’m going to see Imperial Grandmother!” Chu Liuchen raised his cold eyes, looked at Chu Liuyue, who looked amiable and said.
The coldness in Chu Liuyue’s crystal-like eyes made his smile look a little stiff.
“Go ahead, Third Brother!” Chu Liuyue gave way to him and said.
Chu Liuchen nodded. Xiao Xuanzi turned his wheelchair and pushed it to the Empress Dowager’s Palace of Benevolent Peace.
Watching Chu Liuchen going away, Chu Liuyue became sullen despite the smile on his face. He walked out slowly with his hands clasped behind his back, thinking of a way to find out the cause of the incident.
He was very a.s.sured about Wen Xichi’s capability. With his intelligence, WenXichi was unlikely to make a trivial matter within the inner court so significant that it was even known to the officials in the imperial court. When several doc.u.ments were thrown on him, he stole a glance at them, only to find that they were all about the “bane”.
The officials in the imperial court were all convinced of the claim of describing Shao Wanru as a “bane”. It could be seen that their father must be suspicious of them.
He could be sure that someone, who was behind him and Wen Xichi, managed to make it significant in order to arouse his father’s suspicion of him, so he couldn’t act rashly at this moment.
He had intended to tell his father about his affection for the First Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion, but now he decided to drop the idea. If his father a.s.sociated Shao Yanru with it, he would probably get involved in it.
Therefore, during this period of time, he had to distance himself from Shao Yanru so as not to get into trouble. Meanwhile, he had to tell Wen Xichi not to act rashly in the upcoming days.
He didn’t mind if others continued talking about the “bane”, as long as he and Wen Xichi didn’t get involved in it. He was a.s.sured that Wen Xichi would definitely wipe out the evidence of what he had done. Nevertheless, he couldn’t have much contact with Wen Xichi in private during this period of time.
After figuring out his current situation, Chu Liuyue looked a little better!
He felt a little regretful that he had intervened in Shao Yanru’s affairs, which was just a battle in the backyard. Moreover, Duke Xing’s Mansion was not decent and tolerant enough indeed Shao Wanru was just a Miss returning to their mansion from outside. They just needed to prepare a set of dowry for her when she grew up and got married. Why were they so narrow-minded that they had to force her into a dead end?
At this moment, he disdained Shao Yanru in his heart and thought that Shao Yanru was not as perfect as he had imagined. If he really married her, could she really handle the affairs of his backyard well?
The rumors about the “bane” in the capital city came aggressively and disappeared quickly within a day.
Madame Dong specially came up the mountain in person to report it to Shao Wanru!
She said that the officers of the local authority had been trying to find out where the rumors come from, but they had no clue yet. No one knew where the rumors come from. It was said that a merchant from another place came to the capital city and heard it while chatting with others. However, the merchant just stayed in the capital city for a short time, and no one knew where he had gone after that.
As the rumors about the “bane” disappeared, the previous rumors intensified and were a.s.sociated with the rumors about the “bane”. The public opinion directed the spearhead at Duke Xing’s Mansion, and people thought Duke Xing’s Mansion the cause of the series of things.
Of course, people only talked about these rumors in private now without daring to talk about them in public. Those, who had talked about the rumors about the “bane” fervently before, had already been arrested. At this time, no one dared to spread the rumors, for fear that they would get into trouble. After all, Duke Xing held real power.
Apart from the news, Madame Dong brought the news of Fanglan Embroidery Shop, which was supposed to be merged with b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop as a shareholder. However, after Shao Wanru cleverly negotiated with them, both of the two shops made a concession later and reached an agreement that either of the two shops could borrow a certain amount of money from the other shop when it was short of money. It could be considered a reciprocal partners.h.i.+p.
“Miss, Fanglan Embroidery Shop said that they wanted to borrow a large sum of money this time. I can’t make the decision.” Madame Dong said while taking out a piece of paper from her bosom.
b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop had always been stable in business with no shortage of funds despite its small scale. In recent years, b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop had never borrowed money from Fanglan Embroidery Shop, while Fanglan Embroidery Shop borrowed money from b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop from time to time for more than ten times. When they wanted to borrow a large amount of money sometimes, Madame Dong did not dare to make the decision and directly turned to Shao Wanru.
Fortunately, Fanglan Embroidery Shop kept its word and usually returned money soon.
“Have you checked their account book?” Shao Wanru glanced at the seal of Fanglan Embroidery Shop on the receipt and asked with composure. In the past three years, she had seen it more than ten times and found it familiar now.
“I haven’t checked it yet. Miss, if you think it feasible, I’ll ask someone to check their account book!” Madame Dong reported.
Fanglan Embroidery Shop wouldn’t claim to be short of money with no evidence, so they would naturally show their account book to Madame Dong.
“Lend them money after checking the account book and finding nothing wrong as before!” Shao Wanru nodded and returned the receipt to Madame Dong.
“I got it!” Madame Dong said with a nod, put the receipt into her bosom, and then hesitated for a moment.
“Is there anything else?” Shao Wanru smiled slightly and asked softly.
“I… I seem to have seen an acquaintance a few days ago…” Madame Dong said hesitantly, “But I didn’t see her clearly at the moment and was not sure if it’s her.”
“Who?” Shao Wanru asked with a smile.
“It seemed to be the personal old maid of the wife of the magistrate in Jiangzhou. When I was in Jiangzhou, I met her several times, so I can recognize her.” Madame Dong said.
The personal old maid of Magistrate Qi’s wife? Since a personal old maid usually followed her master to serve her master, could it be that Magistrate Qi had come to the capital city?
“Go to inquire about Magistrate Qi!” Shao Wanru thought for a while and gave an order.
She didn’t know whether Magistrate Qi went to the capital in the last life. But what had happened in the last life might not happen in this life. Many things in this life had changed, and there were many things that even she didn’t know.
Qi Tianyu came in a hurry that day and disappeared after setting her up. She had an intuition that Qi Tianyu would not leave so easily.
If he had let go of what had happened three years ago, he would not have done that on that day. Of course, in other words, he might be after something.
“Okay, I’ll inquire about it after going back!” Madame Dong said with a nod. After reporting some trivial things to Shao Wanru and chatting with her for a while, Madame Dong hurried down the mountain.
After sending Madame Dong to the gate of the courtyard, Yujie stopped and asked her to go out on her own. Seeing that Madame Dong had left, Yujie returned to the silence room.
“Miss, is the First Miss really not coming back?” Yujie brought a cup of tea for Shao Wanru, put it down, reached out to point at the main room, and said.
“She isn’t coming back!” Shao Wanru said with certainty. She didn’t expect that Shao Yanru would leave so decisively even before revealing many clues she had set as if she had nothing to do with any of them.
But it also showed Shao Yanru’s shrewdness. Shao Wanru felt that she had underestimated Shao Yanru!
Shao Wanru had thought that with so many clues in her hands, Shao Yanru would use them step by step. But now, Shao Yanru left decisively and only said that she went back to find out the truth and was too ashamed to see Shao Wanru before that.
Her words immediately left a good impression on others. Shao Yanru had cut off the connection with Shao Wanru before she was defeated, which made Shao Wanru consider Shao Yanru indeed a strong opponent of hers.
No wonder she died in Shao Yanru’s hands in the last life, while Shao Yanru seemed to have nothing to do with it!
“The… the clothes…” Yujie said, reaching out to point to the corner, where there was a locked box, inside which the clothes were extremely fancy, gorgeous, splendid, and totally out of harmony with the Yuhui Nunnery.
It was a piece of clothes that was not supposed to show up here.
“Just leave them aside. Since she has left them there, she must be unwilling to let them go. She just doesn’t think it the right time to take action now!” Shao Wanru said with a slight smile and cold eyes. Although Shao Yanru left decisively, she still intended to keep some unrevealed clues in her hands.
Such as the clothes and the silence room…
“If she still intends to use the clothes against you, she will definitely come up the mountain again. But you said that she’s not coming back. How does she intend to make use of the clothes?” Yujie asked in confusion.
People would consider that Shao Wanru claimed to mediate on the mountain but actually had no filial piety at all only if the clothes were found in Shao Wanru’s silence room. After Shao Wanru went down the mountain, no matter how gorgeous the clothes were, people would only consider Shao Wanru a little extravagant, which had little influence on Shao Wanru.
“So there should be someone coming up the mountain!” Shao Wanru said meaningfully.
Since Shao Yanru had left the mountain, there should be someone coming up the mountain and the one should be an acquaintance of Shao Wanru’s. Otherwise, it was impossible for the one to enter her silence room.
She couldn’t figure out who Shao Yanru would send to the Yuhui Nunnery at the moment, but she was sure of one thing. Shao Yanru would never let go of the clues she had set for nothing.
Shao Yanru would send someone to come up the mountain, and the one should be an acquaintance of Shao Wanru’s and would not get Shao Yanru into trouble if something went wrong. Shao Wanru picked up the cup and took a sip with a faint sneer on her face. She suddenly figured out who the one was!
The one was really no match for Shao Yanru, but was the right person to deal with Shao Wanru!
It was just because of the one’s ident.i.ty!
In fact, Shao Wanru could not stay in the Yuhui Nunnery any longer. Within the high wall lived the late emperor’s concubines, and a posthumous child of the late emperor had come out from there. It would not be peaceful anymore, and now it was just the beginning. She could not leave on her own, but now it was the best time to take action. No matter what Shao Yanru intended to do, she would inevitably make trouble. Shao Wanru just needed to meet trick with a trick!
Shao Wanru had prepared for the next step, while Qi Rongzhi had been sent to find the person…
There were a lot of people coming and going in the street. Sitting by the window of a private room and watching people coming and going busily, Qi Rongzhi found the lively scene included everyone except for her. She felt that she was a pa.s.ser-by watching others engaged in their business just like the invisible person she was in Duke Xing’s Mansion.
Everyone knew that she was out of favor with Madam and Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion. She was just an adopted daughter raised in their mansion, and it didn’t cost a lot to raise her…