Chapter 335 Appearance of the Second Witness
“Wanru, even if you don’t have biological parents, I’m still your mother!” Shui Ruolan paused and then reiterated with a serious face.
“Mother, I know!” With her long eyelashes fluttering, Qin Wanru hid the excitement at the bottom of her eyes, and then slowly closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, she was calm. “Mother, tell me about it!”
Seeing her finally calm down, Shui Ruolan was relieved, held her hand and told her about what Madam Dowager said in an orderly manner.
Qin Wanru held the hand of Shui Ruolan calmly. After excitement, she became keen in thinking again. As she verified her conjectures with Shui Ruolan’s words, she suddenly understood something she couldn’t figure out before. Under her long eyelashes, her eyes were filled with deepness, seemingly containing indiscernible huge waves in the deep sea.
After telling the cause and effect, Shui Ruolan sighed softly, held her hand with slight strength and said, “Wanru, no matter what happens later, you still have me and your grandma!”
“Mother, I know!” Qin Wanru raised her watery eyes to look at Shui Ruolan deeply and said. She knew that Shui Ruolan was sincere and she was on her side. Despite her weakness, she was extremely sensible.
However, she was not blindly weak. She had been very resolute when standing by Qin Wanru’s side in the study and raising an objection in front of grandma and father.
“Don’t blame your grandma. She is afraid that no one will come to admit your identity after you know it. She would rather hide it from you than make you feel sad for nothing. Your grandma really intends to raise you as the daughter of the Qin’s Mansion, but now…” Shui Ruolan said helplessly, because Madam Dowager couldn’t hide it even if she wanted to.
Madam Dowager had asked Shui Ruolan to investigate it, so Shui Ruolan sent Qionghua out to inquire about Duke Xing’s Mansion. The result of the inquiry was that the former heir of Duke Xing’s Mansion died outside during the rebellion. Before that, the heir of Duke Xing’s Mansion secretly left with his wife Infanta Qinghua because of the difficult relationship between his wife and Old Madam, and seemingly concealed his identity and joined the army.
When Infanta Qinghua was found and brought back afterwards, she had been demented and only murmured the name of the former heir of Duke Xing’s Mansion, seemingly scared out of her mind. Everyone guessed that she and the former heir of Duke Xing’s Mansion were separated in the chaos. She was guarded by several maids, but the last few maids were dead and only she was alive. She should be scared out of her mind at the sight of the tragedy that several maids were killed.
At that time, she was pregnant. Soon after returning to Duke Xing’s Mansion, she gave birth to Master Hao and died.
No one knew what had happened at that time, nor did they know whether the former heir of Duke Xing’s Mansion was dead or alive. But with no news in so many years, everyone firmly believed that this heir died long ago.
“Wanru, your Big Sister deliberately claimed to be younger. I asked Qionghua to check it. When she was born, the former Heir of Duke Xing and Infanta Qinghua left. If Infanta Qinghua was pregnant at that time, the baby is almost as old as your Big Sister now. But your age is also within this range!”
Shui Ruolan analyzed for Qin Wanru.
“Everyone said that Infanta Qinghua gave birth to a daughter for the former heir of Duke Xing, but this daughter was also lost in the chaos. Everything is in accordance with your situation. Besides, your grandma said that she could tell that your parents were not ordinary people at a glance, and the Fenghua Glazed Cup was found in your swaddling clothes!”
Shui Ruolan told Qin Wanru detailedly what she had inquired and what she could associate.
“Mother, I know what I should do!” Qin Wanru nodded and said with a gentle expression.
Shui Ruolan sighed again in a low voice again, “Wanru, no matter what you intend to do, I’m on your side!”
“Mother, rest assured and nourish the fetus. Don’t worry about things which you don’t need to worry about. I know what to do!” Qin Wanru smiled. Since part of the truth had been revealed, she would uncover the rest…
Grandma would be her second witness!
After walking out of Shui Ruolan’s courtyard, Qin Wanru went back to her own yard first. She asked Qu Le to pack what she needed, and went out with Yujie and Qu Le. She had learned from Shui Ruolan that Qin Huaiyong asked Shui Ruolan to seek another pair of blood jade bracelets. Now it was inconvenient for Shui Ruolan to walk around, so Qin Wanru volunteered to do that for her.
Unexpectedly, when walking out of the path and reaching the main road to the gate, she saw Qi Tianyu coming up from the path beside, which led to Madam Dowager’s Xinning Pavilion.
“The Second Miss Qin, how do you do!” Seeing Qin Wanru, Qi Tianyu froze for a while, and then stepped forward and politely said.
He was in a proper distance, neither too close nor too far away from her.
They had addressed each other as different names. However, Qin Wanru had grown up now anyway and had nothing to do with the Qi’s mansion, so it was inconvenient to address each other like before.
Qin Wanru stood still, leant to one side to bow to Qi Tianyu deeply and said, “The First Young Master of the Qi Family, how do you do!”
“Where are you going in a hurry?” Qi Tianyu stood still with a smile and a gentle expression, just like the elegant childe in her original memory.
As well as brother Tianyu who was kind and gentle in Qin Wanru’s childhood memory!
However, both of them had changed now and lost the affection between an elder brother and a younger sister long ago!
“My grandma asked me to go out and buy something, but I’m wondering why you are here?” Qin Wanru said lightly with a trace of aloofness in her clear eyes.
Although her face, which was as pretty as hibiscus, was a little charming, it showed some aloofness and indifference of keeping others thousands of miles away.
Qin Wanru didn’t think she had anything to talk with Qi Tianyu. Didn’t they hate each other till the end of their lives!
“Coincidentally I’m also leaving. Let’s go together!” Qi Tianyu proposed gently.
“I’m afraid I can’t. I suddenly remembered that my mother asked me to go to her yard again before leaving, and she’ll tell me to buy something,” Qin Wanru said with a smile. She said that politely, but obviously indicated that she was unwilling to walk all the way with Qi Tianyu. This excuse could be considered a simple and rude reason with insincerity.
“Since you have something to do, I won’t bother you!” Qi Tianyu didn’t insist on it and said politely with a smile. After that, he waved his sleeves and moved forward.
Qin Wanru stopped and squinted thoughtfully at Qi Tianyu’s back. She thought there must be a secret behind it, but couldn’t figure it out.
Some of Qin Yuru’s rumors were related to Qi Tianyu. At this time, Qi Tianyu’s visit was no good for Qin Yuru. Usually Qi Tianyu had avoided arousing suspicion, but why he didn’t today?
“Miss, does the First Young Master of the Qi Family show his kindness to you? What makes him believe that you will forgive him if he shows kindness to you?” Yujie said angrily. Although she did not see the farce in person, she heard various rumors and had no good impression of Qi Tianyu.
When Qi Tianyu came over a moment ago, she deliberately stood in front of Qin Wanru and looked at Qi Tianyu unkindly.
Since Qi Tianyu had left, Qin Wanru would certainly not go to Shui Ruolan’s courtyard again deliberately. She immediately moved slightly and continued walking out. “Ask Nanny Duan what he came here for after returning.”
Qi Tianyu should not come at this time, nor would he come.
“Okay, I’ll go to meet Nanny Duan as soon as I return.” Yujie nodded.
Because Qi Tianyu was in front, Qin Wanru deliberately slowed down. After getting out of Chuihua Gate, she went to the parking yard. As she expected, she did not encounter Qi Tianyu along the way.
After she got in the carriage, the carriage went out of the Qin’s Mansion, and went to Butterfly Clothing Shop instead of going directly to the address given by Chu Liuchen. Reaching the door of Butterfly Clothing Shop, she found it very prosperous with people coming and going. The situation was completely different from that of the former shop bought by her.
The carriage stopped in the alley beside. Qin Wanru got out of the carriage with Qu Le and Yujie. As soon as they entered the store, Madame Dong, who was sharp-eyed, saw them. She immediately excused herself to a Miss with whom she was talking, came up to greet Qin Wanru and led her to the inner room of the shopkeeper.
After she asked the shop assistant to serve the tea, the shop assistant left.
“Madame Dong, the business looks booming!” Qin Wanru said with a smile.
“It’s true. Since you went to the palace in the clothes, numerous Young Madams from aristocratic families have come to ask to make the clothes similar to yours. I’ve prepared some, but there are too many customers. We don’t have much inventory, so I have sped up replenishing the stock now.”
Madame Dong laughed with squinted eyes, because the business was better than she thought.
“Now there are stores on the street copying our clothes?” Qin Wanru asked.
“Second Miss, you’re right. Seeing our clothes covered with a piece of gauze clothing, many shops successively made clothes like this. Fortunately, we have more ways to match the clothes, coupled with some novel toggle-and-loop buttons and embroidered edges. They can’t copy them all!” Madame Dong nodded, increasingly admiring Qin Wanru.
The Second Miss had known everything before going out. She had intended to report these to the Second Miss. Unexpectedly, the Second Miss had prepared and known clearly about that.
“It doesn’t matter even if there are shops selling such ready-made clothes. We have made our shop known. From now on, we can mainly characterize our shop with exquisite toggle-and-loop buttons and embroidered edges, change some different schemes from time to time and make clothes according to Young Madams’ thoughts.”
Qin Wanru picked up the teacup at hand, took a sip, and said after thinking.
“I think so as well. I intended to ask you. But since you also think so, I’ll do as you ask. But there is one thing that I want to discuss with you.” Speaking of this, Madame Dong hesitated.
In fact, she was not sure about this. Although she had inquired about it in advance, she thought that there might be something that she did not know behind it.
“What’s the matter?” Qin Wanru slightly raised her eyebrows and could tell that Madame Dong was really confused.
“Someone wants to invest in our shop. Second Miss, What… do you think of it?” Madame Dong said with her eyes lighting up. It was obvious that it was appealing to her.
Butterfly Clothing Shop’s business was booming now. However, Qin Wanru didn’t have much money to invest. If there was a large capital investment, it would be the biggest benefit for the entire store.
“Someone, who?” Qin Wanru asked calmly and slightly frowned, wondering who was so well-informed.
“Not a person, but a shop expresses its willingness to invest!” Madame Dong immediately corrected her mistake and said.