Chapter 925 Refused to Echo with Them
Chu Qing was stunned. He didn’t expect that Princess Chen, who looked delicate and gentle, would dare to argue with him outright. A trace of surprise flashed through his eyes.
“Commandery Prince Qing is a descendant of the royal family. You should decide who to marry or not. No one else can make the decision for you!” Shao Wanru said.
She looked at Chu Qing’s face indifferently, as if she didn’t see Old Madam and others changing their expressions in an instant.
Of course, Chu Qing’s marriage was his decision. Even if he could not make the decision, his elders would make the decision for him. His elders included the Emperor, the Empress and the Empress Dowager, so no matter how senior Old Madam was, in fact, she was not in the position to make the decision for Chu Qing.
“Fifth Girl…” Old Madam said in a cold voice, wanting to stop Shao Wanru.
“Grandma, Commandery Prince Qing is a member of the royal family and has a high status. How can we make the decision for him? You were hesitant, and I don’t dare to talk about it. We’d better listen to Commandery Prince Qing!” Shao Wanru said indifferently.
Shao Wanru looked delicate. Her smile was charming and soft. But if her face darkened slightly, she would immediately look cold, which diluted her original charm, and no one would not dare to underestimate her.
Although Chu Qing and Shao Wanru had met before, they had hardly talked at that time, and most of the time Chu Qing had paid attention to Shao Yanru. Now he began to take Princess Chen seriously.
“You’re right, Princess Chen. I should go to the imperial palace and ask for Imperial Grandmother’s opinion on this matter!” Chu Qing nodded and agreed. Since Shao Wanru had mentioned he was in the royal family, he certainly could not lower his status, and he put all the blame on Marquis Xing’s Mansion.
Old Madam got extremely angry and couldn’t calm down for a while.
Zhao Xiran again reacted quickly and said jollily, “This is the best. We should ask for the Empress Dowager’s opinion!”
“If the Empress Dowager agreed, this matter would be settled.” Old Madam thought to herself.
“Alright.” Old Madam said with displeasure on her face.
Since this was the plan, Chu Qing stood up and said, “Old Madam, I’ll go to the palace and ask for Imperial Grandmother’s opinion about it. After she gives the order, I’ll discuss it with your mansion!”
Chu Qing addressed the Empress Dowager as “Imperial Grandmother” outside the palace, just like the other princes did.
“Sorry to trouble you, Commandery Prince Qing!” Old Madam said unhappily, but she had to pull out a polite smile.
Chu Qing made obeisance to Shao Wanru, then he turned around and walked out.
“Fifth Girl, both the Second Girl and the Third Girl have agreed on this. Your Second Uncle also thinks it’s great. If it doesn’t work, I’m afraid your two sisters’ lives will be ruined!” Old Madam said, her eyes turning red.
“Grandma, don’t you cry. How could Fifth Sister not care about it? She wants her sisters to live a good life, doesn’t she?” Zhao Xiran conciliated Old Madam.
“Fifth Girl, you go to the palace with Commandery Prince Qing now. The happiness of your two sisters all relies on you!” Old Madam wiped her tears and said.
“Grandma, don’t push Fifth Sister. Fifth Sister has just married Prince Chen; thus, she can’t do anything about it!” Zhao Xiran conciliated Old Madam again. Her words seemed to be for Shao Wanru’s sake, but in fact, they didn’t.
“But now, who else can go into the palace to see the Empress Dowager right away except for Fifth Girl?” Old Madam said absent-mindedly.
“Fifth Sister, Fifth Sister, could you…” Zhao Xiran turned to Shao Wanru and said awkwardly, as if she didn’t know what to do and asked Shao Wanru for help. Given Shao Wanru’s current position, she was indeed a suitable advisor for matters related with the royal family.
“Grandma, even the Emperor can’t disobey Empress Dowager’s decision!” Shao Wanru was not surprised that the two of them echoed each other.
“Fifth Sister…” Zhao Xiran still wanted to leverage their relations.h.i.+p but was interrupted bluntly by Shao Wanru. Shao Wanru said, “Does Grandma want to persuade Empress Dowager to change her mind?”
“Given the situation the Third Girl is in right now, no one is willing to marry her!” Old Madam looked at Shao Wanru and said, “Fifth Girl, if you can help her, please help her. I know that you are in a dilemma since you are a newlywed Princess, but… we indeed have no other way. If we were still a Duke’s Mansion, I would beg the Empress Dowager no matter how embarra.s.sing it would be. But now… with this situation… what should we do with Third Girl?”
“Fifth Sister!” Seeing that Old Madam was truly speaking for her sister’s interest, Shao Cailing couldn’t help feeling moved and said to Shao Wanru imploringly.
Her sister’s current situation was not very good. Even her mother said that it would be difficult for her sister to find a good husband now, not to mention that her sister was not young anymore.
“Grandma, Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion is not a fancy place. Second Sister must have a reason not unwilling to go there. Because previously Second Sister liked this marriage!” Shao Wanru said calmly. Old Madam was trying to move everyone to force her to go to the palace and vouch for this matter.
Not to mention that Shao Wanru had never had such an idea, even if she had had such an idea, she would never listen to them at this time. Old Madam had been kind in appearance and evil in heart for a long time.
Hearing Shao Wanru’s words, Shao Cailing immediately flinched away. She looked at Old Madam doubtfully and stole a few glances at her. Others might not know about Shao Jie’er’s character, but everyone in the mansion knew.
She was mean, insidious, flexible, and ingratiated herself with the mother and daughter of the second branch in an embarra.s.sing way. However, she was particularly vicious to those who couldn’t compare with her.
“Would grandmother actually care about such a person and wanted to organize a good marriage for her?” Shao Cailing wondered and decided to ask her mother about it later so that she would not fall into Shao Jie’er’s trap.
Thinking of this, Shao Cailing stopped interrupting. Although she was still paying attention to the situation in the room, she lowered her head and kept silent.
Looking at her, Old Madam got extremely angry. “The people of the third branch were indeed useless. Look at this girl, she was obviously fighting for the interests of the third branch, but she didn’t dare to say a word again,” Old Madam thought to herself.
“Grandma, if there’s nothing important, I’ll go back to my place!” Shao Wanru stood up and said.
“Fifth Girl, am I being annoying?” Old Madam asked bluntly. She failed to achieve her goal, so her face darkened.
“As your granddaughter, how can I think that you are annoying? But when I came here just now, Prince told me to go back as soon as possible. If I go back late, I’m afraid that Prince Chen won’t be able to take the medicine on time. Prince Chen has always been grumpy, so he needs someone to remind him to take the medicine for multiple times!” Shao Wanru said.
There was a hint of worry in her calm expression.
Everyone knew that Chu Liuchen was in poor health. Some people also knew that he had a temper, and Old Madam happened to know about it. She also knew how much Empress Dowager valued Prince Chen’s health. Every time he was unwilling to take medicine, Empress Dowager was so worried that she couldn’t even eat.
There was nothing more important than Prince Chen’s health.
“When you go out next time, prepare the medicine for Prince in advance, so you will not have to leave for this kind of reason again!” Old Madam said angrily because she had to let her go.
“Yes!” Shao Wanru answered, but it could be seen that she was being perfunctory and did not take that seriously at all.
Old Madam was depressed and angry, but she couldn’t do anything to Shao Wanru. After all, Prince Chen was still waiting for medicine. If it was postponed and affected his health, she couldn’t afford to take the responsibility.
Watching Shao Wanru leave with her servant girl, Old Madam took the teacup at hand and smashed it hard on the ground.
She used so much strength that the Buddhist beads on her hand slipped off. A few beads broke and their fragments flew out.
The room suddenly became quiet. The servants looked at the broken Buddha beads on the ground with fear, and their faces were pale.
Last time when the Buddha beads broke, several people serving in the room were punished, including a much-favored princ.i.p.al maid.
“Old Madam, don’t be angry. We can discuss this matter in the future. The Fifth Miss has now become the Princess Chen with a higher status, but her higher status can also bring glory to our mansion. Look, even Commandery Prince Qing came here today.” Nanny Yu said with a smile. She walked over and picked up the Buddhist beads.
“Old Madam, these few beads were broken. A few days ago, the monks of the Huaguang Temple said that the string of Buddha beads you sent there was consecrated by the Abbot, and now they are being wors.h.i.+ped. If you want to wear it, I’ll have them send it over tomorrow. It’s consecrated by the Abbot. It’s very rare in the capital city!” Nanny Yu said.
Nanny Yu knew Old Madam the best. At this time, she of course brought about Old Madam’s favorite things. Although she put on a smiling face, Nanny Yu was actually in a cold sweat. She got the news about the consecrated string a few days ago, but she was too busy to report it to Old Madam. She wanted to tell her about it at a proper time. Now it happened to be the case!
“Grandma, I didn’t expect that you have the Buddha beads consecrated by the Abbot of Huaguang Temple. It’s a great blessing. I’ve long heard that the Abbot of Huaguang Temple only consecrates the Buddha beads for those with great luck, but I’ve never met those people before. I didn’t expect that you’re so lucky. Grandma, when you receive the Buddha beads, you must show them to me and let me benefit from your luck.” Zhao Xiran said with a smile.
She helped to pick up two beads on the ground and held them to the front of Old Madam with her handkerchief.
Old Madam’s face relaxed a little and said, “Leave them alone.” And then she rebuked Shao Wanru unkindly, “This girl is getting more and more ignorant of her family background. If it weren’t for Marquis Xing’s Mansion, she could never marry into the Prince Chen’s Mansion and have such a high status!”
Nanny Yu took the two beads from Zhao Xiran and carefully placed them on the table in front of Old Madam. When she was about to conciliate her, she suddenly heard Old Madam mutter to herself, “It cannot be like this. I will make this girl know that if I could get her married into a good family, I could also make her live a miserable life!”
Being rebuked by a junior made Old Madam feel ashamed. Shao Wanru didn’t treat her as a grandmother, so no one could blame her for not treating Shao Wanru as a granddaughter!
Nanny Yu was fl.u.s.tered. As she moved her hand, a bead almost fell to the ground!