Chapter 518 A Premeditated Invitation
Shao Wanru was also summoned for several detailed interrogations, but she only claimed that she survived by hiding at that time.
When Shao Jie’er left, she was still there. Shao Jie’er told the truth, but only said that after the lamps in the hall went out, she felt that something went wrong and ran away before Shao Wanru and her two maids.
Shao Jie’er was very lucky. She ran away first at high speed so that she met a nun of the Yuhui Nunnery when the main hall was on fire. After that, she hid in the nun’s courtyard directly. Although she had been frightened and fallen several times, she was still very lucky.
Rui’an Great Elder Princess also came up the mountain to accompany Shao Wanru, for fear that her granddaughter would be frightened. Meanwhile, Old Madam hurried down the mountain with the excuse of being frightened.
Shao Jie’er and others also went down the mountain. Only Shao Yanru stayed with the excuse of assisting Shao Wanru in taking charge of the religious rite.
The religious rite was finished in a hurry in the following two days. Pushan Nun was also frightened on that day. It was said that a black-clad man broke into her Zen room and stabbed her in the arm. So she was unable to continue holding the religious rite and instructed her two disciples to take her place in the rite.
The entire Yuhui Nunnery was strictly guarded. Except for Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion and her companions, no one was allowed to go down the mountain. The Yuhui Nunnery stopped accepting any engagement, and the ceremonies, which were still in progress, were finished in a hurry.
The fire suddenly breaking out in the hall was supposed to be caused by lightning and thunder that day. Regarding the fact told by Shao Jie’er that the lamps suddenly went out one after another, of course there was a reason for it. It must be the strong wind in the rainy day that blew out the dim lamps.
Of course, Shao Wanru did not agree on this point, but she acquiesced to it at the moment.
Plenty of officials of the Ministry of Justice came and lived in the simple bamboo shed temporarily set up outside the Yuhui Nunnery. The members of the Yuhui Nunnery were all female. Among them, there were some nuns with different identities. In addition, most of the pilgrims were female. Thus, it was inconvenient for the officials of the Ministry of Justice to live in the Yuhui Nunnery directly.
The officials repeatedly asked those in the Yuhui Nunnery some questions they had asked, except for some people whose high status made it inconvenient for the officials to summon them for interrogation too often.
Yujie, Qu Le and Qing’er had also been summoned three or four times. During the rest of the time, they cultivated in the silence room with Shao Wanru.
The entire Yuhui Nunnery was sealed strictly.
No one knew when there was another rumor in the capital city that there was another son of the former emperor in the Yuhui Nunnery and he was related to one of the former emperor’s imperial concubines. It was said that the former emperor had another son besides Prince Chen. At that time, an imperial concubine was also pregnant and her son seemed to be a few months younger than Prince Chen.
It was only because the birth mother of Prince Chen was the former Empress that he survived. The imperial concubine was not so lucky. Later, she gave birth to a son and secretly sent him out of the imperial palace. After that, she was sent to the Yuhui Nunnery for self-cultivation as an imperial concubine with no child.
The son of the deceased emperor, who had been sent out of the imperial palace secretly at that time, called some people loyal to the deceased emperor together and intended to go to the Yuhui Nunnery to save his mother and thus to result in the tragedy in the Yuhui Nunnery.
Meanwhile, there was another saying that it was done by the reviving supporters of the previous dynasty. They had started a rebellion a few years ago and almost succeeded. This time they staged a comeback.
This statement had convinced some people because of the rebellion before.
It was quite chaotic outside, while the courtyard, where Shao Yanru and Shao Wanru lived, was quiet. Some officials came here from time to time to inquire about something. Except for this, the two of them spent the rest of their time cultivating in seclusion in the courtyard with their maids.
“Miss, the First Miss is here!” Qu Le came in to report.
Shao Wanru and Shao Yanru lived in the same courtyard, but they basically lived in their respective rooms and seldom went out. Rui’an Great Elder Princess came to visit Shao Wanru from time to time. Meanwhile, with no one coming to visit her, Shao Yanru had to stay in her room all day. It was said that she was also frightened and in poor health.
“Let her in!” She said with a smile, rolling her watery eyes. Her grandma was still here just now, and Shao Yanru happened to come here right after her grandma left.
Shao Yanru came in, looking a little pale and frail.
Shao Wanru stood up to greet her. After that, they sat down casually on the mat with legs crossed, and Yujie served tea.
“Big Sister, how are you?” Shao Wanru looked at Shao Yanru, who looked out of spirits, and asked.
“Thank you for your concern, Fifth Sister. I’m… fine!” Shao Yanru said in a hoarse voice, reaching out to rub her forehead. She looked out of spirits anyway.
“Big Sister, since you are in poor health, you should go down the mountain first. Now my parents’ religious rite has finished, so you don’t need to stay here. You’d better go down the mountain and see a doctor!” Shao Wanru said softly.
“Grandma went down the mountain because the Ministry of Justice did our mansion a favor. If I want to go down the mountain now, I’ll have to talk it over with them. I’m too embarrassed to do that,” Shao Yanru said. She shook her head, raised her delicate face, and forced a gentle smile. “I’m fine. I’ll stay here and chant scriptures with you!”
She glanced at the scripture in front of the mat. There was a wooden fish beside the scripture. She knew at a glance that Shao Wanru had been knocking on the wooden fish and chanting scriptures here. Shao Yanru could hear it from time to time in her room.
She reached out and asked, “What scripture are you chanting, sister?”
Shao Wanru said with a gentle smile, “Nothing special. It’s just about releasing souls from purgatory. I got it from Huiming Nun!”
Shao Yanru picked it up and flipped through it. Feeling bored, she put it down and said, “It is a fine day today. Would you like to go out for a walk with me, Fifth Sister?”
After thunder and lightning that day, the heat seemed to be subsiding. These days, it was not so hot even in the daytime. In particular, there was mountain wind on the mountain. It was indeed a good time to have a walk.
“Big Sister, the Ministry of Justice doesn’t allow us to walk around!” Shao Wanru shook her head and declined.
The only person, who could walk around the nunnery at will now, should be Rui’an Great Elder Princess, and it was because of her identity. Thinking of this, she suddenly realized something with her shimmery eyes becoming deep.
“We won’t go far. Let’s take a walk over there. The scenery over there is fine.” Shao Yanru suggested and reached out to rub her forehead, looking quite uncomfortable.
“Okay, let’s go for a walk!” Shao Wanru agreed after thinking for a while despite her reluctance.
They each led a maid to walk towards the entrance of the courtyard.
There was no one around the door of the courtyard, but they saw someone dressed in the robe of the Ministry of Justice in the distance. Seeing the two Misses of Duke Xing’s Mansion come out, the one immediately disappeared. He probably went to report it.
They walked along the path casually and came to the place where Chu Liuxin met several Misses during his blind date. It was scenic here indeed. They could see mountains and rivers, as well as a few clusters of weeds growing wildly through the stones which were more natural and scattered than those planted in the mansions.
“Big Sister, let’s stop here. The guards of the Ministry of Justice will definitely come to stop us if we go any further!” Shao Wanru stood still, looked up and said. Above them, it was a cliff. With luxuriant trees on the mountain, it was a great place to enjoy the view.
“It’s okay. We won’t go any further and just walk around. Besides, Great Elder Princess is still here, so the Ministry of Justice will definitely not go hard with you.” Shao Yanru also looked up at the small mountain above her, narrowed her eyes, and said casually.
“Okay, we’d better stay here, lest others consider that I rely on my grandma’s power!” Shao Wanru said. She shook her head and walked to an octagonal pavilion on the side.
Yujie quickened her pace to get into the pavilion, and stepped aside after wiping the fence on one side. Shao Wanru came in and sat down, leaning against the fence.
Glancing at Shao Yanru’s countenance, Shuqi hurriedly came over and wiped the fence on the other side. After that, Shao Yanru also sat down.
“We won’t go far, but just divert ourselves by having a walk. If you don’t want to rely on Great Elder Princess’s power, I’ll talk it over with Her Highness,” Shao Yanru said amiably with a smile.
Shao Wanru sneered in her heart. It made no difference whether Shao Yanru or she talked it over with her grandma. Since they were cousins and her grandma was the only person they could rely on at the moment, others would consider that they did that with her grandma’s support even if they said nothing to her grandma. Now even the abbess of the Yuhui Nunnery was under watch and barely came out.
Meanwhile, if they walked around at will with her grandma as their backing, what would others think of her grandma?
Although her grandma was of noble status, her grandma had little power.
Shao Wanru shook her head and refused in a soft voice, “You don’t need to do that. Let’s sit here for a while. I’ve been tired recently.”
As she said, she also reached out to rub her forehead. Yujie neatly came over, stood beside her and reached out to massage her forehead.
Shao Wanru stopped talking and closed her eyes, quietly enjoying the massage of the acupuncture points on her forehead given by Yujie. At the moment, it became quiet in the pavilion.
Seeing Shao Wanru quietly enjoy the massage given by Yujie, Shao Yanru showed a bit restlessness in her eyes, but instantly hid it and said, “Fifth Sister, let me help you!”
As she spoke, she stood up and intended to take Yujie’s place and give Shao Wanru a massage.
Shao Wanru suddenly opened her eyes, waved her hand and said, “How can I trouble you to do that? Big Sister, I am really tired and have to go back for a rest. If you have enough energy, you can stay here and enjoy the view.”
She meant that she was going to leave Shao Yanru alone.
“Fifth Sister, please stay with me for another while. It is inconvenient for me to stay here alone!” Shao Yanru sat down and pleaded in a low voice.
The members of the Yuhui Nunnery were originally all female. At that time, it was okay for her to stay here alone. But now the male officials of the Ministry of Justice were everywhere. So it was better indeed to enjoy the view with others than to do it alone.
“Big Sister, I’m really sorry. I’m so uncomfortable that I couldn’t stay with you!” Shao Wanru stood up, bowed sideways to Shao Yanru and said. After that, she turned around and returned by the way they came with Yujie without watching Shao Yanru’s countenance.
Behind her, Shao Yanru was so angry that her face turned pale. If it were not for the fact that she had always done a better job in restraining herself, she would almost walk over and hold on to Shao Wanru.
“Miss…” Shuqi said in a low voice behind her. She was asking about what they should do next!
Shao Yanru suppressed the annoyance in her eyes and clenched her fists. After that, she put down her fists slightly, stood up and went back behind Shao Wanru.
Without Shao Wanru, what was the point of staying here?
An official from the Ministry of Justice hurried over from a small path not far away, followed by the one who was sent to guard Shao Yanru and Shao Wanru’s courtyard by the Ministry of Justice and had seen them got out of the courtyard for a walk…