"What happened?" asked Qin Wanru without even looking up.
"They said Qu Le bumped into Elder Miss Qin's maid when she was out running errands. Her maid gave Qu Le two tight slaps and Qu Le could not swallow it and fought back, that's when they started fighting. For this reason, Mrs. Qin had taken both of them away!" said Nanny Yu, looking displeased, not so much because the maids got into a fight, but rather, that somehow Mrs. Qin was involved in this matter.
Qin Yuru's maid? Qin Wanru had observed Qin Yuru's interest in Qu Le yesterday. She did not expect Qin Yuru to have thought of a plan to lay hold of Qu Le so quickly.
It would appear that Qin Yuru and Mrs. Qin was really quite interested in Qu Le.
She was merely a common maid and Qin Wanru did not think she was especially important if not for her memory of her previous life. Given that Mrs. Qin was trying to intervene, it looked like this was no ordinary maid and she had to be someone more important than what she imagined.
"Miss, Madam had asked for you. She wants to speak to you about the two maids who got into the fight," said Qin Yue, who just entered and looking worried. The mood of all the people in Qin Wanru's courtyard was weighed down when they had to deal with people from Mrs. Qin.
Her obedience was expected as a show of her filial piety.
"Tell her I've fallen ill and cannot make the trip at this moment!" Qin Wanru said softly and quietly as she took a sip of her tea.
"Will... will that do?" asked Qin Yue anxiously.
"No worries. She won't say anything at this time!" What can Mrs. Qin do even if she became suspicious of her excuse? She would not dare to touch Qin Wanru given that she had caused so much trouble for herself.
After hearing the reassuring words of Qin Wanru, Qing Yue felt more relieved and went out to pass Qin Wanru's message to the maid sent by Mrs. Qin.
When Qing Yue returned to the room, Qin Wanru led her into the inner chamber where Qin Wanru took off her outer layer of clothing and let down her hair. She brought a mirror to her face as she observed herself in it. She observed that her brilliantly colored lips were really too bright, and she definitely looked healthy.
An eleven-year-old little girl with transparent complexion, and such bright-red lips, together with her delicate features. No way did she look like she was ill.
"Bring me some powder."
Qing Yue went over to the dressing table to fetch a some a box of powder and carefully applied some on Qin Wanru's face, which made her look pale but gaunt at the same time. As for her lips, Qin Wanru did not deliberately try to hide it's brilliance since she had always had a brighter lip color than the others.
Just when she was about done with making up, Nanny Yu entered to inform her, saying, "Second Miss, Madam is here to see you!"
She was fast!
Qin Wanru laughed in her heart. She leaned back onto a cushion Qing Yue put at her back, pretending to look frail and drained of energy.
This was what Mrs. Qin saw when she entered Qin Wanru's room, a frail-looking little girl leaning back for support, with bright-red lips but a face drained of a healthy glow. In fact, her complexion seemed a little jaundiced. Had she really fallen ill?
"Weren't you still okay when you were at Old Grandma's, Wanru? How did you become so ill so suddenly? It must be because the maids did not take care of you well."
Mrs. Qin entered the room, wearing a worried expression on her face. She was trying to sound concerned but was actually harboring something malicious.
Earlier, she was perfectly fine when they were at the Old Grandma's. However, when she heard about the maid trouble and Mrs. Qin called for her, Qin Wanru indicated that she had fallen ill. How could a child pretend to be ill and let the mother make a trip to visit her? This would be seen as unfilial to the people who hear about it.
Forcing open her eyes, Qin Wanru managed to keep her body erect just for a moment before she leaned back again and with a weak voice, she said, "Mother, there's a pain in my arm because I bumped it when I was carrying something for Grandma just now. It is so painful, that it's giving me a headache now!"
It was unlikely that anyone would suddenly fall ill. However, the wound of Qin Wanru's arm had not fully recovered. If she bumped it against something, it would take even longer to get well.
Mrs. Qin was dazed for a moment. She did not expect Qin Wanru to be so quick to respond by making a statement which made her seem like a filial daughter.
"I see, so it was because your arm had collided into something. I will get a physician to have a look at it," Mrs. Qin said with a smile while she sat down firmly on the stool next to the bed.
Qin Wanru was quietly laughing in her heart, thinking that Mrs. Qin had even gotten a physician ready to expose her pretending to be sick.
Too back Qin Wanru was the one who was injured, who was the physician to say that she was not in pain?
Moreover, her wound was on her arm, and the physician would not dare, as a man, to look at her arm. Qin Wanru was not afraid of Mrs. Qin getting a physician for her.
"Did the wound tear open? Ask Nanny Zhou to have a look at it and apply some ointment," Mrs. Qin said with concern, while in her heart, she was cursing at Qin Wanru being so cunning. She had said that she was ill, which was why she sent for a doctor to prove that Qin Wanru was faking sick. Little did she expect Qin Wanru to be referring to the problem with her wound.
The physician was a man.
"Mother, I've asked Nanny Yu to change the dressing for the wound," said Qin Wanru, shaking her head as an indication that she did not need a change of dressing.
"I have some ointment which was sent over by Duke Yong, which would be more effective," said Mrs. Qin, who was about to ask Nanny Zhou to come over to get the ointment. She was persistent about taking a look at Qin Wanru's wound today.
Mrs. Qin would not so easily believe that Qin Wanru had hurt herself again.
"Where is this special ointment you are talking about, Mother?" Qin Wanru said after being slightly taken aback. She lifted her innocent eyes to look at Mrs. Qin.
The innocent, questioning look from Qin Wanru's bright eyes made Mrs. Qin nervous for a second, then she quickly nodded and said, "I'm sending someone to get in right now."
"Why did you not bring it out for me to use earlier on when I was hurt, Mother, since it is such an effective ointment?" asked Qin Wanru coyly, eyes tearing up.
"I... I am left with only a little, so I thought it would not be enough for you at the time you got injured, which was why I didn't bring it to you!" Mrs. Qin secretly chided herself for slipping her tongue and tried to explain. She could almost feel sweat running down her back as she thought that this little girl was becoming increasingly sly. She was so fixated on seeing Qin Wanru's would that she had been negligent on the ointment she was offering.
"Then why did you not bring it to me until now?" asked Qin Wanru, sniffing.
"At that time, I thought the ointment you are using was not too bad... since you didn't complain about it, I didn't bother to ask you," stammered Mrs. Qin, looking tense.
"Thank you, Mother. In that case, I will just make do with the one I have, otherwise, it will hurt if you keep changing the dressing!" said Qin Wanru squeamishly as she gently stroked her wound with her other hand.
"Then... just leave it be!" said Mrs. Qin through gritted teeth.
The physician arrived when they were still talking, so Mrs. Qin moved to the side to allow him to feel Qin Wanru's pulse. She had lost quite a bit of blood when she was injured and her body was indeed weaker as a result. Having heard that she merely bumped her wound, the physician was not expecting to hear anything unusual in her pulse. He merely prescribed some new ointment and instructed her to take care of herself and to eat things which would help replenish her loss of blood. Thereafter, the physician gave her the prescription on a piece of paper and left.
The physician was also wise enough not to insist that there was nothing wrong with Second Miss Qin.
It was after the physician left that Mrs. Qin moved closer to Qin Wanru and with a smiley face and said, "Wanru, I've asked for you because your maid and your elder sister's maid got into a fight."
Seeing that there was no way to accuse Qin Wanru of pretending to be sick, Mrs. Qin was not going to let the matter rest. She went straight to the point instead of beating around the bush.
"Second Miss Qin, I heard this maid was the one you just picked. How dare she got into a fight with Elder Miss Qin's maid, being ignorant of the rules. I don't think you should keep this maid. How about you send her away and ask Madam for a replacement?"
Nanny Zhou said, smiling.
To have one undesirable maid replaced by a new one sounded like a bargain for Qin Wanru. Moreover, this maid in question had just entered the household and Qin Wanru had not really built up a relationship with her.
"What does Mother think?" asked Qin Wanru calmly.
A tender and kindly look spread across Mrs. Qin's face as she openly said, "I think so too. Since this maid was ignorant of the rules and created a stir not long after she enters the household, let's just fire her and choose better ones. I heard that Yuru had also picked a few the other day while you did not pick many. Let's send for Old Maid Ya to bring more maids in for you to pick again!"
"Does it mean that each time any of my maids fights with Elder Sister's maid, she will be sent away and I get to choose new ones?" asked Qin Wanru with a surprised voice as she bit her lips.
Mrs. Qin's face fell in that instant.
"Mother, although you are not my birth mother, which I always thought you were and had also treated you as my own mother, however, am I that insignificant compared to Elder Sister? Why is it that my maid has to be thrown out in a when our maids got into a fight?"
Qin Wanru looked hurt and tears began welling up at the corner of her eyes.
This latter part of her statement was what she had wanted to voice out in her last life. As she spoke it now, she was indeed moved with emotion.
In her previous life, she truly thought that Mrs. Qin was her birth mother, who would never wish harm upon her. Even if she was not perfect, Qin Wanru thought she still meant good for her, which was why she had always been obedient to her wishes. Never would she expect that the ones who eventually forced her into the abyss step by step were Mrs. Qin and Qin Yuru.
Everything that happened in her past life was part of their plan, and Qin Wanru eventually sacrificed her life. All that talk about a loving mother and close sister was not true after all.
The scheming Mrs. Qin was never sincere in all that she did to Qin Wanru, even though Qin Wanru had been totally blinded by this so-called kinship.
"Why would I think that, Wanru? It was really because that maid of yours had just joined us..." explained Mrs. Qin, whose face became tense as she let out a nervous laugh.
"Let's stop here, Mother, I'm not giving way!" said Qin Wanru, wiping her tears away.
"You... why are you so disobedient? Hasn't the maid just came a day ago? Why are you putting your relationship with your sister at stake because of her...?" Mrs. Qin panicked. She did not expect Qin Wanru to be so stubborn with her mouth. It seemed to Mrs. Qin that Qin Wanru was too willful and was not able to take any rebuke.
"A maid who had been with us for a long time would know the rules. Elder Sister's maid had even trained other maids who came in after her. How did she end up fighting with a new maid? Mother, who do you think should be sent away and be replaced?" said Qin Wanru with a straight face, even though waves of hatred was raging in her heart.
In her previous life, she would have submitted to Mrs. Qin's suggestion. For the sake of her relationship with her loving mother and sister, she would give in to them...