Chapter 744 Her Test Failed!
“Fifth Sister, here you are!” Shao Yanru said softly, taking out another protective talisman from her neck, “I already have one!”
“I have one too. Thank you for your kindness!” Shao Wanru smiled gently.
“Where did you get it?” Shao Yanru asked in surprise.
“Third Sister gave it to me. I’ve always worn it!” Shao Wanru pulled a thread out of her neck. The protective talisman inside was not pulled out as Shao Yanru did. Only one end was exposed to show that what she said was true. Then she put the protective talisman back in place.
Although they were at the gate of the palace, they were near a corner inside. When Shao Yanru just took it out, she was quite vigilant, and Shao Wanru approached her to avoid being spotted by anyone else. Such behavior wasn’t polite after all.
“Third Sister gave it to you? I heard that this protective talisman is very useful. It is different from those from the outside. I got one before and I thought I would get one for you.” Shao Yanru also put her protective talisman back and explained it to Shao Wanru with a smile.
“Thank you, Eldest Sister!” Shao Wanru said softly, “I’ll go over first. I heard that my painter is very impatient. If I am late, I am afraid I will be scolded!”
The beauties of the draft did not dare to offend the painter. It would be too bad if the painter presented them poorly in their portraits. Different painters would paint the same person differently. It was not that they were completely different, but just a few small changes could immediately make a good-looking person ordinary and an ordinary-looking person more vivid and beautiful.
Shao Wanru had worked as a painter in her last life, but she was very cautious and sincere in her paintings. Even if someone wanted to bribe her to paint her more beautifully, she did not dare to tamper with the painting. For this reason, several ladies of the rich and powerful said that she was just a useless loser who deserved to be kicked out.
“Fifth Sister…” Shao Yanru wanted to talk to Shao Wanru more to find out if the protective talisman Shao Wanru was wearing around her neck was the one given by Shao Caihuan.
But Shao Wanru turned and left after speaking. She couldn’t stop her even if she tried to. Even if she could stop her, it would arouse Shao Wanru’s suspicion. She watched Shao Wanru’s back with a gloomy look. She would do it, but she would not do it herself. Nothing could go wrong in the draft. She would never do it herself. Since there were helpers around, why did she have to take the risk of being discovered and deal with Shao Wanru by herself?
Shao Wanru was not easy to deal with! Was the protective talisman on her real? After several encounters with Shao Wanru, Shao Yanru did not dare to underestimate Shao Wanru.
“Miss, why don’t we find another chance to check it?” Shuqi saw that she was silent and knew what she meant, so she thought about it and suggested.
“No, she will have some doubts about it!” Shao Yanru shook her hand and walked out slowly. Shao Wanru had always been vigilant and had been targeted several times. If she repeatedly asked about her protective talisman, it might be counterproductive.
She thought she’d better not ask about it right now.
She put the protective talisman in her hand into her sleeve. This protective talisman was good, but the two for Shao Caihuan were tampered with. With Buddha incense as its cover, Shao Wanru couldn’t find anything wrong with it, even if she knew some medicinal techniques. This medicine was not native to the Central Plains, so Shao Wanru was certainly too young to suspect anything.
“Then what if the Fifth Miss is not wearing the one the Third Miss had given her?” Shuqi was also very worried. Like Shao Yanru, she always felt that Shao Wanru would find out the secret.
Shao Yanru squinted her eyes and felt that what she had seen just now should be it. Although Shao Wanru only took out one corner of it, the fine lines on it should be Pushan Nun’s newly designed lines, which were true.
She was greatly relieved at the thought of it.
“Just take it as true for now. Ask w.a.n.g Yuxin to come over tonight!” Shao Yanru said. She believed that it was mostly true, and she could do nothing more about it now.
“Yes, I know!” Shuqi nodded. The incense had been delivered to Miss w.a.n.g, and she was waiting for Miss w.a.n.g to use it. Whether it was successful or not, this matter wasn’t related to her master. Even if they wanted to check it, they couldn’t go back to her.
They talked and left.
A palace maid who had been sweeping at the palace gate raised her head and looked at the direction where the Shao sisters went out and the direction where w.a.n.g Yuxin had just left. Then she bowed her head and swept the floor. If one looked at her carefully, they would find that she was not sweeping the floor as meticulously as before, and she was now simply sweeping forward. This direction forward was also very similar to the direction that w.a.n.g Yuxin had left just now… Shao Wanru’s painter was also a female painter. She was an elderly female painter of the age of 40 or 50. When she saw Shao Wanru, she looked amazed. After looking Shao Wanru up and down a few times, she immediately showed appreciation with a big smile on her face.
She looked at the list in front of her and said, “Are you Fifth Miss Shao of Duke Xing’s Mansion?”
“I am!” Shao Wanru smiled. She liked the female painter in front of her. Although she was not her in the last life. After a lifetime, she remembered her previous self when she saw the female painter.
“Fifth Miss Shao, you’re really beautiful. I thought it was Miss Shao who was extremely beautiful, but it turns out that Fifth Miss Shao is. I am very glad to meet you!” The female painter said with a smile in a very good mood.
As a painter, the idea of pursuing beauty was stronger than that of ordinary people. Another female painter was painting the Young Lady of Duke Xing’s Mansion Miss Shao, who was said to be the first beauty. She had been envious of her colleague. She had seen Miss Shao from a distance before, and she was indeed charming. Therefore, another female painter had proudly come to show it off to her for a few days, and she was quite depressed. Who didn’t want to paint a beautiful woman, let alone the first beautiful woman?
But seeing Shao Wanru right now, the female painter felt no regret anymore, and then it would be the turn of her colleague to envy her. Thinking of this, the smile on the female painter’s face brightened. In a very good mood, she asked Shao Wanru to sit down at an angle and started to paint her.
Shao Wanru was sitting calmly and gracefully. She held a picture alb.u.m casually, which was what she requested. If she sat motionlessly, she was afraid that she would fall asleep. The sunlight coming in from outside the window made her feel lazy and drowsy.
She had been a painter herself. Of course, she knew that when it came to portraits for the beauties, she didn’t have to sit down seriously. She could choose the right angle, hold something in her hand, and the picture alb.u.m of the female painter seemed great right now.
When she opened the picture alb.u.m, the first picture attracted Shao Wanru’s attention. Originally, she just looked at it casually to kill time, and didn’t intend to see anything interesting, but the picture right now made her heart tremble. It was Chu Liuchen’s paintings. This alb.u.m did not belong to the female painter, but Chu Liuchen?
Before she could take a closer look, she turned back page after page, and saw Chu Liuchen’s seal “Lay Buddhist at Weiyu Pavilion” as expected. She couldn’t help but feel a throb in her heart. She blinked her watery eyes, and her long eyelashes flickered to conceal the shyness in her eyes. Had it always been him for two lives?
In what way had he defended her in the previous life? In this life, he appeared in her life again. She somehow felt slightly sour and soft.
After she was born again, she had always been sensible, and even hard-hearted. But now when she thought of him, she felt like she was losing control. He had entered her heart. The things of the previous life were just a start to open her mind. If she hadn’t found that he was the person who had taught her painting and guarded her in the palace in the previous life, she might not have dared to take a good look at herself.
She didn’t regret it!
That sick man, would he have all the power in the future, would he be cold and bloodthirsty, he treated her differently after all! It was only a pity that she didn’t have any memory of him in the previous life. As if a part of her memory which was centered on him had been dug out and therefore made her some other memories unstable, and even some were missing.
Why was this happening?
Her fingers ran across the picture alb.u.m in front of her, tossing and resting on a plum blossom he painted, but her thoughts had already drifted beyond the clouds. Could it be that something had happened in the previous life, and it led to the loss of all her memories of Chu Liuchen?
All the memories about him were blurred, and she was inexplicably reborn again! She had never heard of rebirth before, but she was born again. If she hadn’t experienced it personally, she would never have believed its existence.
“Fifth Miss, raise your head slightly.” There came the painter’s voice, and Shao Wanru reacted after a while and raised her head.
“Well, that’s great. It’s already very good and beautiful!” The female painter exclaimed.
She felt that the Fifth Miss Shao in front of her was a unique beauty. She was extremely beautiful in every way, like a beautiful picture scroll that was very pleasing to the eye. This lady was here to partic.i.p.ate in the beauty draft. If she failed, the female painter believed that all the other beauties would certainly fail this year.
Shao Wanru continued to meditate. She always felt that there was a key here, a key that had a direct connection with her and Chu Liuchen, but she couldn’t put her finger on it now…
“Fifth Miss, that’s all for today. You can go back and rest!” The female painter put down the pen in her hand, looked at what she had drawn, and nodded with satisfaction.
Although she had only drawn an outline of her, one could see a beautiful girl leaning on a wicker chair at a large window, tilting her head slightly to look at a picture alb.u.m, which looked quiet and charming!
It was quiet behind her. The female painter turned her head and found that Shao Wanru had closed her eyes and fell asleep there. She chuckled but didn’t wake her up. She quietly packed her stuff, walked out of the studio, and said to Yujie who was guarding outside, “Your lady is asleep. Go and wake her up later!”