Chapter 825 Knew This or Not?
“Is Childe w.a.n.g very familiar with this Childe Yan?” Shao Wanru was about to walk into the mansion, but she suddenly stopped when she heard the footstep. In her last life, she had not known that w.a.n.g Shengxue had been quite acquainted with Yan Xi.
“They are not that close to each other. Childe w.a.n.g came to look for Childe Yan a few times, but Childe Yan only followed Childe w.a.n.g out once or twice. He didn’t go out other times,” the supervisor answered as he curled his lips.
Everyone in Duke Xing’s Mansion didn’t like this Childe w.a.n.g very much, but the masters didn’t forbid him to come over, so all the servants in the mansion turned a blind eye to him.
“Did Childe w.a.n.g also come over today?” Shao Wanru suddenly thought of something and asked.
“Yes, he came this morning and went out with Childe Yan. Childe Yan just came back!” The supervisor nodded.
Shao Wanru didn’t ask any more and asked the supervisor to do his own work. She walked slowly into the mansion with Yujie.
After sending Shao Wanru away with a smile, the supervisor looked hesitantly in the direction where Shao Wanru had gone and then looked at the place where Childe Yan had disappeared. He somehow felt that Fifth Miss had paid much attention to Childe Yan today.
After thinking for a while, the supervisor felt that it was appropriate to report this. Fifth Miss had never paid attention to others, so her behavior today was indeed a little abnormal.
In the next few days, Shao Wanru was indeed very busy. She was busy packing up and sewing clothes for Chu Liuchen. The ceremony had been scheduled in two months by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory. It was really urgent for the royal family to finish the whole wedding process in two months, but everyone was not so surprised because this was Prince Chen’s wedding.
After all, everyone knew that Prince Chen was sick. Now that he had been engaged, he definitely needed to get married early.
The whole Duke Xing’s Mansion was hectic, because not only Shao Wanru’s marriage but also Shao Hua’an’s would be held soon. Shao Hua’an’s marriage had been scheduled a month later, which would be a month earlier than Shao Wanru’s marriage.
Shao Hua’an had already been 18 years old, which was old enough to get married. In fact, many people at his age had already been married, and some even had children. He didn’t get married so early because he had been studying outside instead of staying in Duke Xing’s Mansion. After returning to the mansion, he devoted himself to taking care of his parents, which delayed his marriage.
Although it had not been officially engaged before, many aristocratic families had known that Duke Xing’s Mansion was going to be engaged to Minister Zhao’s Mansion. Although it would only be held in a month, everyone felt that it was normal to officially get married now. Maybe the two mansions had already prepared for it early. After all, the First Miss of Minister’s Mansion was not at a young age now.
However, because Shao Wanru’s marriage had been scheduled later, Shao Hua’an’s marriage needed to be held in a hurry.
Shao Jie’er’s biological mother, Concubine Zhao, was in charge of the mansion with Third Madam. The Third Madam was still in poor health, but Shao Caihuan’s face had been much better. However, the scars on her face had not disappeared after a while and could still be seen. Now she was slowly applying medicine to the scars, but what would happen later remained unknown!
It was said that the imperial physician was not sure about the medicine effect now, so she could only apply the medicine for the time being.
In order to customize the embroideries, Duke Xing’s Mansion had invited a lot of people from embroidery shops to come over, among which Madame Dong was also included. She brought a few embroidery maids into the Piaoyun Courtyard to help Shao Wanru customize the clothes and accessories needed for her wedding. As for the embroidery maids from other shops, they were sent to the bridal chamber that was newly settled down for Shao Hua’an.
This time, the new courtyard was obviously not out of the line, and it even looked a little remote and inconspicuous.
Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion had originally intended to choose one courtyard from those in the main branch’s yard to become Shao Hua’an’s bridal chamber. However, after Great Elder Princess had come here once, Old Madam knew her place and dared not to act rashly because of Great Elder Princess being tough.
So, the bridal chamber had been temporarily decided.
Old Madam had had another idea to ask Great Elder Princess for Shao Yuanhao’s courtyard. She had also implied this in front of Shao Wanru several times, but after Great Elder Princess had come here, Old Madam had never mentioned it again.
Shao Wanru knew that Great Elder Princess had used Madam Jiang’s matter as a warning to make Old Madam drop the idea. If Old Madam Jiang’s affair that day had been really reported to the Emperor and the Emperor was still willing to intervene in it, it would be easy to find Old Madam’s fault and convict Shao Jing of not managing his family well.
For this reason, Old Madam dared not to go too far. She had had to make a concession on Hao’er’s matter and promised Great Elder Princess that Hao’er didn’t need to return to the mansion for the time being. He could be raised in Great Elder Princess’s Mansion for a period of time and then come back to Duke Xing’s Mansion when he got older.
Shao Wanru embroidered all kinds of items in her room quietly every day. Fortunately, these were not difficult for her. In her last life when she had been in the Mansion of the Prime Minister, she had had nothing to do but embroidery. She was familiar with it and could sit there quietly.
She was doing embroidery in the main room, while Madame Dong was in the wing room with a group of embroidery maids. Sometimes Shao Wanru deliberately asked Madame Dong to come over. Seeing this, others thought that Shao Wanru specially called Madame Dong over to have a look because she was not proficient in embroidery.
There were so many embroidery maids in the mansion, but no one expected that Madame Dong originally belonged to Shao Wanru.
The embroidery maids, who followed Madame Dong, sometimes lacked some embroidery threads and cloth, so Madame Dong always went to the embroidery room of the mansion to get them. With an agile mind, Madame Dong got familiar with many people in the mansion within a short time. It was more convenient for her to inquire about information than for those conspicuous Shao Wanru’s servants.
Time flew. Shao Wanru had a lot of things that needed sewing and so did Shao Hua’an.
Since there was no hostess in the second branch, Concubine Zhao was in charge and Shao Jie’er helped her from time to time. Without Madam Jiang and Shao Yanru, Shao Jie’er gradually felt that she was the daughter of lineal descent in the second branch. When looking at others and talking to them, she could also straighten her back, as if Concubine Zhao was about to become the legal wife of Duke Xing.
When she met other sisters, she couldn’t help showing a little pride too.
Staying in her courtyard all the time, Shao Wanru didn’t think too much. Besides, she had already known Shao Jie’er’s vile character in the very beginning and that she would be arrogant when she succeeded. Since Shao Wanru was about to leave Duke Xing’s Mansion soon, she didn’t really care about Shao Jie’er. Compared with Shao Yanru, Shao Jie’er was much easier to deal with.
It would only benefit Shao Wanru if Shao Jie’er made troubles in the situation. Only by secretly setting Shao Jie’er, an unknown factor, in Duke Xing’s Mansion could Shao Wanru intervene in managing the affairs of Duke Xing’s Mansion in the future.
After all, a married daughter couldn’t manage affairs in her parent’s home at will.
She didn’t care about this, but Shao Caihuan did. Recently, Shao Caihuan had come to Shao Wanru from time to time, helping her do some embroideries and chatting with her. Compared with Shao Cailing, Shao Caihuan was much closer to Shao Wanru. Maybe it was because she, rather than Shao Cailing, had stayed in the palace with Shao Wanru for a period of time.
Her face had also been injured, so she was unwilling to see others at ordinary times. Busy as Shao Wanru was, she basically just sat in the room and did embroidery, which could also be regarded as her leisure time.
“Fifth Sister, don’t you go to have a look at Big Brother’s courtyard?” Shao Caihuan put down the embroidery in her hand, picked up the teacup aside to take a sip, and asked softly.
Since she left the palace, her att.i.tude had been a little different from the past, and she had become more and more intimate with Shao Wanru. She had invited Shao Wanru to visit the courtyard before, but Shao Wanru had always refused her.
“I don’t want to go there!” Shao Wanru shook her head and said with a smile, “Big Brother’s affairs are all managed by Grandmother. His courtyard is also selected by Grandmother, so it must be a good one.”
“Indeed, it is really good, so you’d better go to have a look too. Let’s go there together, shall we? I haven’t been there either, just hearing this from someone else!” Shao Caihuan said softly. She was wearing a veil, and didn’t take it off even she was in the room, just leaving a pair of eyes exposed. Her eyes showed a little conation at this moment.
They were young girls, so actually they might both like joining in the fun!
“Maybe not…” Shao Wanru hesitated for a moment and still shook her head. “I’ll be embarra.s.sed if I meet Big Brother now!”
“There’s nothing to be embarra.s.sed about. We just go to see Big Brother’s courtyard. It is he that should feel embarra.s.sed when he sees us!” Shao Caihuan said with a cold smile, “It’s better not to meet Second Sister. Second Sister now really regards herself as Second Uncle’s daughter of lineal descent!”
Shao Caihuan had mentioned this before, but Shao Wanru had always showed the att.i.tude that it had nothing to do with her.
“You don’t have to care about Second Sister because this is her character!” Shao Wanru said lightly.
“I had no intention to care about this, but she… she talked nonsense in front of Mother…” Shao Caihuan said angrily.
“What did she say in front of Third Aunt? About Big Brother’s courtyard?” Shao Wanru asked in surprise. The needle in her hand fell smoothly without being affected at all.
“That would be great if it was about Big Brother. But she has never cared about others, hasn’t she? She just talked about herself and seemingly said something like… I envy her… But it’s just a marriage that no one wants…” Speaking of this, Shao Caihuan blushed and twisted her handkerchief twice angrily.
She really looked down on the so-called good marriage for Shao Jie’er.
A co-consort in Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion? This was even worse than the legal wife of an ordinary family. What was there to be proud of? However, Shao Jie’er even implied that, if Shao Caihuan wanted this marriage, she could give it to Shao Caihuan for the sake of her being so pathetic.
Every time when she thought of this, Shao Caihuan was so angry that she wanted to push Shao Jie’er’s hateful face away. How dared she say that in front of her mother!
“What… did Third Aunt say?” Shao Wanru tilted her head to look at Shao Caihuan and asked softly with a trace of darkness flas.h.i.+ng through her eyes.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with Mother. How could she be so gentle to Shao Jie’er? Being so ignorant of the rules, Shao Jie’er should have been beaten away long ago!” Shao Caihuan found it harder to calm down.
She didn’t understand why her mother could bear Shao Jie’er’s words like this. Shouldn’t Mother directly kick her out? Why did Mother still let Shao Jie’er talk there? Why did Mother still wear a smile on her face and be very polite to Concubine Zhao? The more Shao Caihuan thought about this, the angrier she became. She always felt that her mother was too lenient with Shao Jie’er.