Chapter 753 Driven out of the Imperial Palace
Shao Caihuan was taken out of the imperial palace after lunch!
Shao Wanru and Shao Yanru walked her all the way to the palace gate and watched her leave slowly with the help of two palace maids on each side of hers followed by an imperial physician.
With those red spots all over her body, she certainly could not attend the consort selection, and it would even be difficult to restore her face.
…
“Fifth Sister, let’s go back!” Seeing Shao Caihuan’s figure disappear behind the palace gate, Shao Yanru turned around and said to Shao Wanru.
Shao Wanru glanced at Shao Yanru’s face and found she looked a little tired with a trace of haggardness in her eyes.
Shao Wanru sneered and was about to speak when she suddenly heard someone crying behind her. The two of them turned around and saw three people walking towards them. The one in front was w.a.n.g Yuxin. However, the arrogant and rude Miss from the Vice Minister’s Mansion now was disheveled, covering her face and crying while walking.
She was followed by two eunuchs rather than her maids, and they looked obviously impatient.
With her eyes becoming deep, Shao Wanru realized this morning a chief eunuch and a chief palace maid were sent over to deal with what had happened to Shao Caihuan.
She was called over once, and Shao Yanru was called over several times. Shao Yanru’s look of haggardness at the moment was partly true and partly faked.
Although Shao Caihuan failed to push the blame to her, Shao Caihuan’s crazy acts before and the palace maid’s testimony indicated that Shao Yanru must have played a role in this plot even if she wasn’t proved to be the culprit. No one considered her innocent despite no evidence to prove her guilty.
When the chief eunuch and the chief palace maid left, they were extremely cold to Shao Yanru, showing an att.i.tude completely different from that when they came.
Shao Yanru must be panic-stricken, so she showed a haggard look. Otherwise, someone like her would maintain her composure even if she was really tired.
w.a.n.g Yuxin eventually took the blame. Her maid was detained and probably had been tortured. Considering she was the Miss of the Vice Minister’s Manor, they could not do anything to her before finding out the truth, so she was driven out of the imperial palace.
Since she was driven out of the imperial palace, she certainly didn’t deserve to be treated kindly. The two eunuchs were obviously rude to her. Seeing that she walked slowly, one of them even pushed her, and she almost fell. Getting her footing after staggering, she saw Shao Yanru and Shao Wanru standing in front of her.
She turned her eyes from Shao Yanru’s face to Shao Wanru’s. There was hatred on her face, but she didn’t dare to act as presumptuously as before.
Shao Wanru glanced at w.a.n.g Yuxin composedly. Now the truth had been basically revealed. w.a.n.g Yuxin occasionally picked up such a piece of incense sheet. Hearing that Shao Wanru had been poisoned and it could cause red spots on her face so that she wouldn’t be able to attend the consort selection, w.a.n.g Yuxin secretly used it to deal with Shao Wanru and caused a series of subsequent things.
She had been supposed to go to Shao Wanru’s room. Unexpectedly, Shao Wanru didn’t return to her room at that time, so she went to Shao Caihuan’s room instead, put the fragrant incense sheet in Shao Caihuan’s censer and then asked Shao Caihuan to invite Shao Wanru there.
Unexpectedly, Shao Caihuan was poisoned and got red spots instead of Shao Wanru.
Shao Caihuan got her talismans from a palace maid at a high price. Talismans were rare in the imperial palace, especially consecrated ones. The palace maids actually sold talismans that were not consecrated, at high prices. The nuns in the Buddhist hall said that they did not know about it.
They made some talismans, but only consecrated ones were recorded. Sometimes, when some chief palace maids came to ask for talismans, they would give them talismans that weren’t consecrated. Because these talismans were just ordinary ones not for the masters in the imperial palace, the nuns didn’t care about where they went.
Therefore, it was impossible to trace the source of Shao Caihuan’s talismans.
There were two points getting Shao Yanru involved in this matter. One was Shao Caihuan’s words and the palace maid’s testimony. Shao Yanru did send someone to contact her, ask about talismans, and also buy one from her. Moreover, the palace maid delivered a talisman to Shao Yanru before delivering the other two talismans to Shao Caihuan.
The other was another palace maid’s testimony. She claimed to have seen Shao Yanru and her maid speak in each other’s ears after the palace maid left. For fear of being heard, Shao Yanru’s maid deliberately went to the door, and closed the door after looking around. The palace maid saw through the window that they acted in a sneaky way.
However, she didn’t hear their conversation and only remembered that the maid pointed at the Fifth Miss Shao’s room at that time!
Because of the two palace maids’ testimonies and some inexplicable reasons, the chief eunuch and the chief palace maid sent over thought that Shao Yanru was not innocent.
The palace maid claimed that she fetched the three talismans in one go, so it was impossible that one of them was alright while the other two were poisoned. However, Shao Yanru’s talisman was eventually proved to be alright.
Meanwhile, Shao Caihuan’s talisman and the talisman Shao Caihuan gave Shao Wanru contained something else.
Shao Wanru clearly explained why she wasn’t poisoned. She didn’t like this talisman, but for fear that Shao Caihuan would be upset if she didn’t accept it, she accepted it and put it by the window. Her maid accidentally thought it was unwanted and threw it out of the window. In the end, the talisman was found outside the window.
It could be said that Shao Wanru escaped being poisoned by accident.
If Shao Wanru also wore it, even if she was not as severely poisoned as Shao Caihuan, she would inevitably have red spots and be taken out of the imperial palace.
“Miss w.a.n.g!” Seeing w.a.n.g Yuxin stop in front of them, Shao Wanru raised her eyes slightly, looked at her, and asked, “Miss w.a.n.g, we’ve held no grudge against each other. I’m wondering why you did this to me. Could it be that you can benefit from my being disfigured?”
Since they met, Shao Wanru happened to have something to ask w.a.n.g Yuxin, who seemed to have such a profound hatred for her that she must ruin her life. They obviously had no connection. Although they had been in conflict with each other once, they had hardly met throughout the rest of the time.
“Don’t you remember what you’ve said and done? Shao Wanru, don’t be too complacent. G.o.d is watching you!” w.a.n.g Yuxin squeezed out the words through clenched teeth and looked at Shao Wanru with resentment.
Her words were inexplicable, and she seemed to suggest that Shao Wanru deserved it. Yujie was so furious that she was about to step forward, but Shao Wanru winked at her as a hint for her not to act rashly.
“Miss w.a.n.g, do you really think it’s over now?” Shao Wanru asked with a sneer while glancing at the high palace walls on both sides of them. People standing here seemed insignificant and felt depressed, especially w.a.n.g Yuxin who was driven out of the imperial palace.
Hearing this, w.a.n.g Yuxin folded her trembling hands with her face changing dramatically.
“My Third Sister is hurt by a poison, which is said to be a tribute from the Xu State. It’s impossible for a Miss living in the backyard like you to have access to this kind of thing. Now I’m afraid both you and Vice Minister w.a.n.g can hardly absolve yourselves from the blame!” Shao Wanru calmly turned her eyes to w.a.n.g Yuxin and said with some pity in her eyes, “Miss w.a.n.g, do you really have no idea that you have been used by someone?”
After that, she looked away and walked past w.a.n.g Yuxin with a look of disdain.
After Shao Wanru walked over, it was Shao Yanru in front of w.a.n.g Yuxin.
“Miss w.a.n.g, don’t worry. How could your father get involved in it? My Fifth Sister just tried to frighten you!” Shao Yanru comforted her softly.
Compared with Shao Wanru, Shao Yanru could be considered gentle with some pity for w.a.n.g Yuxin, which made it easy for her to leave a good impression on others.
The two eunuchs ignorant of what had happened before thought that the First Miss Shao seemed to be good-natured and gracious.
Comforted by her, w.a.n.g Yuxin seemed to want to say something with her lips trembling, but didn’t know where to begin and burst into tears again.
“Eldest Sister, do you think Miss w.a.n.g is wronged? I remember that the case has been settled with a definite conclusion. Both Third Sister’s face and her life have been ruined. I didn’t expect that you still consider Miss w.a.n.g is wronged. In this case, Third Sister should feel aggrieved, because you cherish Miss w.a.n.g, a friend you just met a few days ago, more than Third Sister, who has been your sister all these years!”
Shao Wanru turned around behind them and looked across w.a.n.g Yuxin at Shao Yanru coldly. Their eyes met with w.a.n.g Yuxin between them.
The smile on Shao Yanru’s face froze. w.a.n.g Yuxin had been proved guilty of trapping Shao Caihuan. She, who didn’t take her sister’s side but showed kindness to w.a.n.g Yuxin instead, seemed to be trying to cover up something. Clenching the handkerchief in her hand, she thought Shao Wanru became increasingly cunning.
Although they were at the palace gate, where there seemed to be no one paying attention to them, the two eunuchs around them would spread what they heard. Shao Yanru was sure that what she said here today would inevitably go out.
She, who had intended to console w.a.n.g Yuxin, had to stop talking now.
“Shao Wanru, what do you mean?” w.a.n.g Yuxin turned her head and asked with rage in her eyes.
“I just want to make it clear that our Duke Xing’s Mansion is no longer on friendly terms with your w.a.n.g’s Mansion. But if you and my Eldest Sister have a close relations.h.i.+p, I can say nothing about it. After all, I can just represent myself rather than the whole Duke Xing’s Mansion. No matter if you intended to trap me or my Third Sister, my Third Sister and I will no longer be on friendly terms with you. Vicious people will eventually fall into the trap set by themselves! I’m just wondering who will benefit the most in the end!”
Shao Wanru’s words were extremely cold and merciless. After that, she turned to look at Shao Yanru and said with a faint sneer, which made the atmosphere between the two high walls a little cold and evil, “Eldest Sister, if you have such a close relations.h.i.+p with Miss w.a.n.g, you can walk her out. I’m going back now. By the way, please ask her who spoke evil of me in front of her so that she believes that I want to hurt her. Is it… necessary for me to care about someone like Miss w.a.n.g and hurt her?”