Chapter 576 Enjoy the Scenery of the Maple Forest
“Maple forest?” Shao Wanru fluttered her long eyelashes and asked, not thinking of it at the moment.
“In fact, it’s not called maple forest. It’s just a place, where numerous maple trees are planted. In the autumn, it looks extremely beautiful with the red leaves as red as fire. It’s not open to the public at first, so people outside don’t know it. Although you’ve lived on the mountain for a period of time, you don’t know it.”
Shao Yanru introduced it with a smile.
“So why is it… open now?” Shao Wanru asked. She was really not very clear about the affairs of the Yuhui Nunnery. On one hand, she came up the mountain to avoid being set up by Duke Xing’s Mansion. On the other hand, she sincerely intended to observe mourning for her parents. Thus, she seldom inquired about the irrelevant affairs outside.
“In fact, the maple forest is located at the back of the mountain and near the high wall, so the Yuhui Nunnery didn’t dispatch guards there and just blocked the area. Now they have dispatched guards there, so the maple forest has been separated from the area!”
Shao Yanru said with a gentle smile, “I’ve seen it from a distance on the mountain and thought it wonderful. Besides, I inquired about it from the nuns of the Yuhui Nunnery, and they also thought it wonderful. So I wanted to go there with you to have a look. It may be more beautiful if we take a close look!”
“Okay, let’s go and have a look together tomorrow!” Shao Wanru nodded and agreed, seeming to be a little curious.
Shao Yanru left with Shuqi with a smile. After getting out of the room, she gave an order to Shuqi, “Prepare a set of black clothes for me!”
“Miss, you’ve been dressed in plain clothes!” Shuqi looked at Shao Yanru’s light blue dress and asked in confusion.
Shao Yanru didn’t answer her, but only waved at her. After looking around and finding no one in the corridor, she lowered her voice and said, “Tell the two old maids to go with us tomorrow…”
Perhaps because Shao Yanru was very looking forward to going to the maple forest, she came over after breakfast early the next morning.
“Big Sister, why are you…” Shao Wanru, who was still having her breakfast, put down the bowl in her hand, looked Shao Yanru up and down in astonishment and asked. Shao Yanru had always been dressed in plain clothes in the nunnery, but she had never been dressed in the same black clothes as Shao Wanru. Today she dressed almost exactly like Shao Wanru.
She was dressed in simple black clothes with a simple bamboo hairpin on her head. Although she was slightly taller than Shao Wanru, it was impossible to tell the difference between them if they didn’t stand together.
“Fifth Sister, you’ve been dressed in black clothes all this time for observing mourning for Eldest Uncle and Eldest Aunt, so I’m dressed in the same clothes to show my sincerity!” Shao Yanru pulled the black clothes on her and said with a smile, “Fifth Sister, can we go now?”
What she said was really meaningful. Shao Wanru couldn’t change her clothes now even if she wanted to. After all, this was a symbol of her filial piety to her parents. How could she change it?
It seemed that Shao Yanru’s way of dealing with her was related to the clothes. Thinking of the news Qing’er inquired yesterday, she said indifferently with a trace of deepness across her eyes and a calm look, “Please wait for a while, Big Sister. I’ll go with you after binding up my hair!”
“Okay, I’ll wait for you, Fifth Sister!” Shao Yanru agreed nicely, sat down at the mat and watched Yujie bind up Shao Wanru’s hair.
This was a small silence room for meditation, so it was simply equipped without a dressing table. Yujie just took out a box, which contained a set of dressing articles and a few pieces of small and simple jewelry.
There were a few hairpins inside, all of which looked simple. Among them, there was a bamboo hairpin similar to the one on Shao Yanru’s head, and Shao Wanru wore it most of the time. Besides, there were a few jade hairpins. Yujie presented the hairpins to Shao Wanru, and Shao Wanru took a jade hairpin casually and handed it to Yujie. Knowing that Shao Wanru meant to wear this one, Yujie nodded, put down the box, took out a comb and carefully combed Shao Wanru’s long hair.
“Fifth Sister, why don’t you wear the bamboo hairpin you wear most of the time? I intended to wear a hairpin similar to yours.” Shao Yanru picked up the tea served by Qu Le and asked with interest. She glanced at the jade hairpin and found it extremely ordinary. She had prepared several such ordinary hairpins when she came up the mountain.
Of course, she could not wear gorgeous jewelry in the nunnery, so this kind of hairpins, which looked a little different but were simple, was very necessary.
“Okay, I’ll wear the same bamboo hairpin as Big Sister!” Shao Wanru smiled at Shao Yanru casually and gave an order to Yujie.
“Fifth Miss, I have reported to you yesterday that there is a gap on the bamboo hairpin. You could only wear it after I polish it. Otherwise, it will hurt you!” Yujie said with a smile.
“Oh, yes, I forgot it. I’ll wear another one!” Shao Wanru said and reached out to pat her white and delicate forehead, seeming to have just remembered it.
“Since it’s broken, of course, you can’t wear it now. If this kind of bamboo hairpin hasn’t been polished, it’ll hurt your head and hair!” Shao Yanru said with concern.
After that, she took out a book from under the desk and flipped through it casually. It was a volume of scriptures, but Shao Yanru was sure that it was not the one she had seen yesterday. The cover of this book was neither too big nor too small and fit the pages, so it should be the original cover of this book. The book she saw yesterday was actually a script with the cover of a volume of scriptures.
Shao Wanru was so smart that she deliberately placed a volume of real scriptures here for fear that Shao Yanru would come over to check it.
However, it showed that she felt guilty.
Shao Wanru had her hair bound up in the simplest style. After finishing binding up her hair neatly, Yujie fixed her bun with the jade hairpin she picked, and then looked at the few pieces of simple jewelry in the box and said, “Miss, you seldom go out to enjoy the scenery. Would you like to wear earrings during this visit? This pair of pearl earrings look beautiful!”
As she spoke, she took out a pair of pearl earrings from the jewelry box and presented them close to Shao Wanru’s ear.
“Yujie, the Fifth Miss is dressed in black clothes!” Shuqi, who stood beside her, involuntarily reminded her.
“So what? The earrings are just a pair of ordinary white earrings, which are beautiful and not conspicuous. My master has stayed on the mountain for almost three years, during which she has never worn earrings. Since she is going to enjoy the scenery, she could wear them!”
Yujie shook the earrings in her hand in confusion and handed them to Shao Wanru.
The earrings were indeed of the simplest style with three pearls hanging under a long chain of each of them. The pearls were bright, but neither too big nor too small, coupled with the long chains, making the earrings look simple and elegant, beautiful and eye appealing.
“Fifth Sister, where did you get this pair of earrings? They are so beautiful!” Shao Yanru couldn’t help reaching out and said.
Since she had reached out, Yujie had to put the earrings in her hand and watched her take the pair of pearl earrings.
“I don’t know. They are probably given by my maternal grandma!” Shao Wanru shook her head and said.
“Miss is right. The earrings were indeed given by Great Elder Princess when she came up the mountain last time. She said that it has been almost three years since Miss began to observe mourning for the Heir and Infanta, and Miss could wear some simple and plain jewelry now. So the earrings were given by her at that time,” Qu Le said with a smile on the side.
Shao Yanru shook the earrings in her hand and said implicitly with admiration in her eyes, “They are so beautiful. They look simple, but are actually luxurious. It’s appropriate to wear them even at a banquet held in the capital city. If you stand among a group of Misses from aristocratic families, the earrings can make you stand out at first glance! Great Elder Princess really loves you dearly!”
“Yujie, drop the earrings.” Shao Wanru shook her head at Yujie and said, “I’ve been observing mourning for my parents. It’s inappropriate for me to wear such eye-catching and luxurious earrings!”
“Well, uh… you could wear this pair!” Yujie said with a grievance and reached out to take out another pair of earrings from the box. Compared with the earrings she presented before, they were really inconspicuous.
They were also a pair of pearl earrings, but each of them only had a pearl and a stud. If Shao Wanru lowered her head a little more, no one would notice that she had worn earrings.
“Fifth Sister, are they too simple? You might wear this pair of earrings. Since they are a gift from Great Elder Princess, you shouldn’t waste them!” Shao Yanru put the long pearl earrings into Shao Wanru’s hand and persuaded her to wear them with a smile.
“No, thank you, Big Sister. I’m still observing mourning for my parents, so I should be simply dressed! If I’m not going to enjoy the scenery with you today, I wouldn’t wear any earrings!” Shao Wanru casually threw the earrings into the box in Yujie’s hand and refused with a faint smile.
Seeing that Shao Wanru insisted on doing this, Yujie had no choice but to help Shao Wanru wear the pair of earrings, which were extremely simple and inconspicuous.
After dressing up, Shao Wanru looked in the mirror again and found the earrings really inconspicuous. If people didn’t take a closer look, they wouldn’t notice that she wore a pair of pearl earrings.
Shao Wanru was very satisfied with it. Of course, Shao Yanru was also very satisfied with it.
No one noticed that Shao Wanru held a hairpin in her hand when taking the earrings and put it in her sleeve. She didn’t know what would happen during this visit, so she had better bring an extra sharp hairpin with her!
After Shao Wanru finished packing up her stuff, the two of them went out of the courtyard together with Yujie, leaving Qu Le and Qing’er behind. Before they left, they specially put on the same veils. If they didn’t stand together to be compared carefully, no one could tell the difference between them.
When they reached the door, Shao Yanru suddenly stopped and apologized to Shao Wanru, “Fifth Sister, please wait for a moment. I left something behind. I’ll be back soon after fetching it!”
“Big Sister, do as you please!” Shao Wanru said and nodded, and then stepped out of the courtyard with a smile, followed closely by Yujie. She and Yujie waited outside the courtyard.
Shao Yanru hurried back and then came back soon with Shuqi. After that, she held Shao Wanru’s hand and walked forward.
It was still early, so they didn’t meet anyone along the way. But when they arrived at the maple forest, Shao Wanru found plenty of people, who also came here early.
Besides some ladies, there were not a few men. It was located deep in the Yuhui Nunnery, where few men could enter. Shao Wanru looked around and wondered if there was any difference of the maple forest.
“Big Sister, why are there so many men in this place?” Shao Wanru stopped and asked in astonishment.