Chapter 618 - Visit with Her Injured Face, After Something Big!
Chapter 618 Visit with Her Injured Face, After Something Big!
Because the Fifth Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion was seriously injured and a series of incidents had occurred in the Yuhui Nunnery recently, she was going to spend the last period of her meditation in the Huaguang Temple.
As the royal temple, the Huaguang Temple was the largest temple in the capital with scenery and a Buddhist atmosphere far better than those of the Yuhui Nunnery.
As a member of the royal family, Shao Wanru naturally had the right to meditate in the Huaguang Temple for a few months, unlike ordinary pilgrims who could only stay in the Huaguang Temple for a few days.
Generally speaking, ordinary pilgrims were only allowed to live in the Huaguang Temple for less than a month, but there was no limit to a member of the royal family.
Shao Wanru went to the Yuhui Nunnery partly because Mingqiu Nun was there. Living close to Mingqiu Nun made it convenient for her to visit Mingqiu Nun. On the other hand, she thought it more convenient for her to meditate in a nunnery, where all members were female, for three years.
However, she now didn’t need to worry about Mingqiu Nun, since Mingqiu Nun had got used to life in the capital city and could live well in the Yuhui Nunnery without her company. There were only a few months left before she finished her three-year meditation.
Rui’an Great Elder Princess went to Duke Xing’s Mansion to talk it over with the family members of Duke Xing’s Mansion in order to persuade them to let Shao Wanru finish her three-year meditation before the Spring Festival.
At that time, Shao Wanru went to the Yuhui Nunnery a few days after the Spring Festival, and now it made no difference for her to finish her three-year meditation a few days before this Spring Festival. Rui’an Great Elder Princess meant that she went up the mountain for meditation at an early age, and now she, who had turned fourteen years old, should be allowed to celebrate this Spring Festival.
A 14-year-old girl was old enough to seek a good husband.
Shao Wanru didn’t know how Rui’an Great Elder Princess convinced Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion to agree with it. But in this situation, it was indeed the best time to make a request.
It was rare that Rui’an Great Elder Princess looked refreshed after coming back from Duke Xing’s Mansion. After visiting Shao Wanru in a good mood, she went to prepare the stuff Shao Wanru needed during her visit to the Huaguang Temple. This time Shao Wanru didn’t have to leave as hastily as last time, because it was reasonable for her to stay longer for a rest after she was frightened in the accident, as long as she didn’t attend any banquet.
Duke Xing’s Mansion was now at the forefront of the discussion. Not only had Duke Xing been punished, but he also disgraced the entire Duke Xing’s Mansion. Meanwhile, the First Miss Shao, who had always enjoyed showing up as a delicate, unworldly, gentle and dignified lady, hardly stepped out of her courtyard recently.
It was said that she was seriously injured in the fight with Qin Yuru on that day, and it would take some time for her to recover completely.
However, all of these were heard from others. One day, a carriage slowly came to Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s Mansion, and an old maid came down and reported. Rui’an Great Elder Princess happened to have entered the imperial palace to listen to the monks’ chanting the Buddhist scriptures with the Empress Dowager, so the servant reported it to Shao Wanru.
“The First Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion?” Hearing the maid’s report, Yujie froze for a while and asked, thinking that she had misheard.
“Yes, it’s the First Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion. She came specially to see Fifth Miss.” The maid confirmed her words.
“Miss, what does the First Miss come here for? Isn’t she injured? Has her face completely recovered so that she can show up in front of others?” Yujie said in surprise. On that day, she saw with her own eyes how awful Shao Yanru’s face looked after she was slapped by Qin Yuru violently. Could Shao Yanru’s face recover in such a few days?
“Let her in!” Shao Wanru frowned slightly and said after thinking for a while. The maid reporting Shao Yanru’s visit answered and left.
“Miss, what does she come here for? She comes when Great Elder Princess is not here. What a coincidence! If Great Elder Princess is here, she probably would not meet her!” Qu Le said in rage.
On that day, the First Miss had lost all her dignity. Now she had the cheek to come here.
Qu Le also knew that it was unreasonable for Shao Wanru to refuse to meet her. After all, in order to prove their innocence, Duke Xing’s Mansion had presented a memorial to suggest Master Hao as the heir of Duke Xing, which made them look impartial. It would be rude for Shao Wanru to refuse to meet her. Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s refusal could be considered reasonable.
However, Shao Wanru couldn’t refuse to meet her as her cousin.
“Of course, she comes here after learning that my grandma is not here!” Shao Wanru said leisurely.
“Miss, you mean that she has sent someone to keep an eye on Great Elder Princess’s Mansion, and came here as soon as Great Elder Princess left?” Qing Yue opened her eyes wide and said after thinking for a moment, gasping in shock, “The First Miss Shao does have formidable connections!”
Sending someone to keep an eye on the whereabouts of Great Elder Princess every day and knowing where exactly Great Elder Princess had gone was obviously out of the hands of an ordinary unmarried lady. There were plenty of people around Great Elder Princess. If there was really a suspicious person watching over Great Elder Princess, those around Great Elder Princess would definitely discover it.
It could be seen that the one sent to watching over Great Elder Princess was not an ordinary person.
If there was really such a person working for the First Miss Shao, it would not be a good thing. So Qing Yue was extremely worried.
“She doesn’t have that formidable connection. The person isn’t sent by her.” Shao Wanru shook her head and said. She had some conjectures in her heart but didn’t expect it to be within Shao Yanru’s capability. An unmarried lady was unable to send out such a person. Only a smart secret guard could watch over Great Elder Princess without being discovered.
Regarding whom this secret guard worked for, Shao Wanru couldn’t figure it out at the moment.
He could work for Chu Liuyue or Chu Liuzhou or even Duke Xing, but it was definitely impossible that he worked for Shao Yanru.
In the last life, she had been so muddle-headed that she was set up by Shao Yanru and got killed even before figuring out her origin. When she was cut in half, she finally figured out that she was an obstacle on Shao Yanru’s way rather than Shao Yanru’s target.
After Shao Yanru got rid of her, Duke Xing’s Mansion could rest assured and didn’t have to worry that her identity would be exposed. But the most important thing was to push Chu Liuyue back to the position of the crown prince. However, Chu Liuchen was too formidable, so she guessed that Chu Liuyue ended in misery.
Now Shao Yanru came in a hurry with her face injured. She didn’t think that Shao Yanru did it just for the “sisterhood” between them! Others might not know what actually the so-called sisterhood was, but the two of them knew clearly that they obviously hated each other and had better not meet each other.
If she didn’t guess wrong, Shao Yanru must be up to something else!
It was exactly what she wanted. The death of her parents was the greatest regret in her life. She had been thinking that there must be something fishy about it. How could there be a series of accidents? It seemed that everything had been covered up since her father left. There could be someone covering up the whereabouts of her parents in secret.
How could someone as powerful as Duke Xing and Rui’an Great Elder Princess fail to find out the whereabouts of her parents?
If she wanted to find out the truth, she had to start from Duke Xing’s Mansion. However, the prejudice of the entire Duke Xing’s Mansion against her made it not easy for her to do that.
Fortunately, she had successfully aroused the anger of the third branch and made the second branch and the third branch bear grudges against each other. She just didn’t know how much the third branch knows about it and how much they could tell her. Someone as cautious as Duke Xing wouldn’t leave any trace easily. Now that Shao Yanru was here, it was a good opportunity.
Shao Yanru came with a veil and only showed a pair of fluid eyes, which made her still look ravishing and fascinating. Shao Wanru could not see the part of her face under the veil. Nevertheless, Shao Wanru could tell that her face should be in a bad condition. She, who came over with her face injured, seemed to be after something big!
“Fifth Sister, do you feel better?” Shao Yanru looked at Shao Wanru, who was lying on the bed, after getting in the room. Seeing that her face was still as pale as snow and not as white touched with red and pretty, as usual, Shao Yanru said with concern in a soft voice and then sat down in a chair beside the bed.
Qing Yue stood behind Shao Yanru after serving the tea.
Yujie and Qu Le had been sent out by Shao Wanru, leaving only Qing Yue in the room to serve her. Among the three maids, Qing Yue was the least shrewd one who looked honest and kind.
It was easy to make use of a gentleman’s honesty and kindness to deceive him!
“I’m fine. Thank you for your concern, Big Sister!” Shao Wanru said with a light smile and a trace of cold mist in her watery eyes, which looked both soft and cold and made others subconsciously want to avoid them, which almost showed no emotions. Everyone was afraid of someone like her, who could hide her emotions while seeing through others’ minds.
However, Shao Yanru looked into Shao Wanru’s eyes with proper gentleness in her eyes. No one knew that she had almost broken off her nails under her long sleeves and felt a sharp pain in her palms, but the pain made her come to herself and slowly relax her hold.
She slowly suppressed the hatred in her heart, because it was not the time yet and she still had to make use of Shao Wanru.
“Fifth Sister, I really know nothing about what happened before, and I have no idea why Qi Rongzhi said that. At that time, my mother really liked you rather than her but had to adopt her since you were unwilling to be adopted by my mother. Unexpectedly, she’s such an ungrateful person and claimed that my father intended to kill you for the title of nobility. If it’s true, he wouldn’t have presented the memorial to suggest Hao’er as the heir of Duke Xing!”
Shao Yanru said in a very soft voice with a hint of sadness and lowered her head slowly as if she really felt indignant for her mother.
Only when she lowered her head, there was a hint of ferocity and viciousness across her eyes. But she became extremely fragile again as if the previous expression were not real.
Shao Wanru, who had been staring at her, naturally saw her expression when she lowered her head slightly. She sneered and thought that Shao Yanru did have a glib tongue.
Her words were usually a mixture of something real and something false, so it was hard to tell whether she told the truth. It was no wonder Shao Yanru seemed to live a smooth life in the last life. Shao Wanru could tell that from the way Shao Yanru pretended to be friendly with her despite her deep grudges against her.
However, in the last life, at the cost of her life, she clearly knew that Shao Yanru just showed the part she wanted to show and was dreadfully vicious in fact!
The more fragile now she pretended to be, the bigger thing she was after…