Chapter 653 The Invitation With an Evil Intent from the Imperial Palace!
When they got into the room, they first saw a screen, which was so worn that Shao Yanru even couldn’t think of a word to describe it!
One side of the screen was curled, and the other side was worn. The most terrible thing was that a part in the middle of the screen seemed to have been mended and looked quite conspicuous. The wide and large screen was supposed to look majestic and extraordinary, but it gave a sense of declining at this moment.
Looking around, they found that the cushion on each chair had been mended. However, they were all sewn casually with terrible stitches, which made them even more conspicuous than before. Some of them were mended with other cloth probably because there was no similar cloth.
It could be said that the cushions were mended with all kinds of cloth.
Shao Jie’er looked at everything in front of her, dumbfounded, opened her mouth, only to find that she couldn’t say anything mean. All of these were more than she could imagine. Was this really the main room of a Miss? It looked like a room with piles of junk and no good stuff.
She looked up and found that the furniture was either damaged or unusable. The one who lived in this room tried her best to make them look decent by mending them, only to find that she not only failed to make them look decent but even infinitely magnified their flaws and made others think them shabby at a glance!
“Are… these mended by you, Fifth Sister?” It took Shao Yanru a long time to say something.
“Of course, they are mended by me and my maids. They look new and comfortable after that!” Shao Wanru said with a calm smile.
Shao Wanru looked exceedingly gorgeous with ripples in her soft eyes, red lips, and a delicate face. However, such a face made Shao Yanru so angry that she even wanted to beat Shao Wanru. She gnashed her teeth, managed to suppress the anger in her heart, and said, “I’m afraid that it’s done by those restless servants. I will report it to my mother after returning, and she will definitely change the servants!”
She meant to shift the blame onto the servants so that Madam of Duke Xing didn’t have to take the blame!
“I don’t care whether they are new, as long as they are usable. I just think they are eyesores. If I have a guest here and she sees these, she will probably think that I, the Fifth Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion, am not good at arranging my room and make it look in a mess!”
Shao Yanru was good at pretending, but Shao Wanru could even do it better.
She winked at Qu Le as a hint for her to come over before them to place what she had prepared in the room. There was a set of teacups on the table. They looked fine, but there was actually a gap inside the lid of each of them.
In fact, the furniture and other utensils sent by Madam of Duke Xing were not so bad. After Shao Wanru moved in, she led several maids to damage them and deliberately place them in this way. If someone saw such furniture and other utensils in her room, where she had just moved, the one would know that Duke Xing’s Mansion treated her lightly.
If she mentioned it after she finished observing mourning for her parents and the Spring Festival, during which Madam of Duke Xing was busy, passed, others would say that she damaged the room Madam of Duke Xing meticulously decorated for her rather than Duke Xing’s Mansion deliberately sent some unusable furniture and other utensils to her courtyard when she moved in.
Madam of Duke Xing did that based on the thought that it was inappropriate for Shao Wanru to make it known to others during her cultivation in seclusion.
However, Shao Wanru intended to react in opposition to what Madam of Duke Xing had expected!
Since she had returned to Duke Xing’s Mansion, she did not intend to restrain her anger and keep silent. Three years were long enough for her to learn the history of Duke Xing’s Mansion and figure out how to deal with Duke Xing’s Mansion after her returning to Duke Xing’s Mansion.
In front of her unamiable grandma and the hypocritical and vicious second branch, she would not back out. In the last life, she was forced into a dead end. In this life, if she backed out, she would definitely be forced into a desperate situation step by step again and die with her blood staining the stone stairs as she did in the last life.
In this life, after preparing for three years, she didn’t have to back out when faced with Duke Xing’s Mansion.
Making use of the decoration of the room to fight back was just the first step…
“We should at least change a few of the furniture. I’ll tell my mother now!” Shao Yanru couldn’t stand it anymore and said, only feeling that every word of Shao Wanru’s was penetrating and directed to her mother.
She took a deep breath, suppressed the anxiety in her heart, turned around, and left before Shao Wanru said anything!
Looking at Shao Yanru, who had left, and then at Shao Wanru, Shao Jie’er said with a scornful look, “Fifth Sister, are you so short of furniture and utensils that you accept such shabby stuff? Or the furniture and utensils in the Qin’s Mansion are so terrible that you consider such stuff good?”
“Everything in the Qin’s Mansion is good. Isn’t everything in Duke Xing’s Mansion like this? I thought all the masters of Duke Xing’s Mansion use such stuff.” Shao Wanru said coldly.
Shao Jie’er was born to be a mean person, who always mocked those inferior to her and tried every way to trample them underfoot while flattered and tried to please those superior to her. It was really difficult to have a good impression of her.
“Ignorant!” Taunted by Shao Wanru, Shao Jie’er blushed in anger, turned around, and strode away after saying that.
Shao Wanru didn’t say anything this time, but just looked at Shao Jie’er’s back and slightly raised the corners of her mouth to show a smile.
“Miss, will Madam change the furniture for us?” Qu Le came out from behind her and asked with sweat all over her head. In order to seize the time to arrange the room, she ran over and placed the furniture quickly. Now she finally had time to take a breath.
“Yes!” Shao Wanru smiled slightly and said with a cold look.
The room was arranged on instructions from Madam of Duke Xing. It seemed that even Shao Yanru didn’t know it, so she followed Shao Wanru here.
Madam of Duke Xing intended to displease her, and Old Madam and Shao Yanru intended to trick her into the imperial palace. There seemed to be no connection between the two things, so Shao Yanru was tricked into her courtyard to have a look. Since Shao Yanru had seen it and claimed that she would help her, if Shao Yanru didn’t help her and she mentioned it in front of Honored Consort Shu tomorrow, Shao Yanru would be disgraced!
Shao Yanru had always cared about her reputation, so Shao Yanru would not risk her reputation and would definitely find a way to get her some good furniture and utensils so that she would not tell others that Duke Xing’s Mansion treated her badly.
The best way to stop her from gossiping about such a scandal was to shut her up.
The opportunity coming to her was quite good!
Of course, Shao Wanru was not worried if Shao Yanru did not help her, because she had got Shao Yanru involved in it and could threaten Shao Yanru with it next time!
“Will Madam send us some good furniture and utensils?” Qu Le had a new question and asked uncertainly.
“Of course she will. Tell Qing’er to go to grandma’s place later and ask grandma to sort out my mother’s dowry list when she married into Duke Xing’s Mansion.” Shao Wanru said meaningfully.
“Miss, are you going to ask Madam of Duke Xing for Infanta’s dowry?” Qu Le froze for a moment and said uneasily. It was inappropriate to ask the elders for the dowry. Besides, without Master Hao around, Shao Wanru was not qualified to ask Duke Xing’s Mansion for Infanta’s dowry.
“It’s not me!” Shao Wanru shook her head and said. It was truly unreasonable for her to ask for the dowry. Both she and Shao Yuanhao were the descendants of Duke Xing’s Mansion. In particular, they tried to obtain the Emperor’s approval to determine Shao Yuanhao as the heir of Duke Xing’s Mansion. At this time, it was even more inappropriate for her to ask for her mother’s dowry.
However, not asking for them didn’t mean that she would put them aside. She had to figure out the part belonging to her and Hao’er and couldn’t be fooled by Duke Xing’s Mansion.
She would definitely get her mother’s dowry back when she had a chance. But she estimated that most of the dowry had probably fallen into Madam of Duke Xing’s hands.
However, she couldn’t argue about it now, so she decided to check it out slowly. Since Madam of Duke Xing got her mother’s stuff, she would use some of them. Madam of Duke Xing, who was greedy, should worry that she might not be able to draw back her hand. Shao Wanru thought that she could definitely find something fishy on the dowry list.
“Miss, are you going to the imperial palace to meet Honored Consort Shu?” Nanny Zheng appeared at the door and asked. She seemed to come in a hurry and was out of breath.
“It is said that Honored Consort Shu sent something to Duke Xing’s Mansion and said that she wanted to meet me, so grandma asked me to enter the imperial palace with other sisters to pay respects to Honored Consort Shu!”
Shao Wanru said casually, turned to the chair in the middle, and sat on the cushion on the chair.
To be honest, the cushion looked a little shabby with a red patch, but she felt comfortable when sitting on it.
After sitting down, she looked at Nanny Zheng, who wanted to say something but stopped on second thought, and asked softly, “Nanny Zheng, is there anything wrong?”
Nanny Zheng, who came in with a frown and a gloomy face, said after thinking for a while, “Honored Consort Shu doesn’t like Prince Chen!”
“Is there any connection between Honored Consort Shu and Prince Chen?” Shao Wanru asked while squinting at Nanny Zheng with deep eyes. She didn’t remember the connection between Honored Consort Shu and Chu Liuchen.
One of them was the legitimate son of the late emperor, and the other was the current emperor’s imperial concubine with no children. The two of them even rarely saw each other, let alone bear grudges against each other. However, Nanny Zheng seemed to suggest that they bore grudges against each other.
Shao Wanru attached great importance to Nanny Zheng’s words!
“Honored Consort Shu… she doesn’t like Prince Chen, and even… hates Prince Chen!” Although Nanny Zheng was a little hesitant, she still said her sincere words. When she heard that Shao Wanru was going to the imperial palace to meet Honored Consort Shu just now, she became nervous.
Shao Wanru saved Prince Chen, which would inevitably Honored Consort Shu’s hatred against her. At this time, Honored Consort Shu sent some gifts and even wanted to meet Shao Wanru. Honored Consort Shu obviously had an evil intent towards Shao Wanru, so Nanny Zheng was very worried.
“Nanny, do you think that Honored Consort Shu will hurt me?” After thinking for a while, Shao Wanru understood Nanny Zheng’s concern and said with a serious look. Honored Consort Shu’s invitation came suddenly, and she had never heard of any connection between Duke Xing’s Mansion and Honored Consort Shu. Could it be that she was Honored Consort Shu’s target this time?
“That’s possible, but… not necessarily true!” Nanny Zheng said, nodded, and then shook her head. She was really worried that something would happen to Shao Wanru in the imperial palace!
“Don’t worry, Nanny. I will be fine!” Shao Wanru said with deep eyes. Honored Consort Shu obviously meant to do something by inviting her at this time, but Honored Consort Shu probably would not set her up directly. It seemed that she had to be more cautious tomorrow.
Honored Consort Shu, who invited her at this time, should have an evil intent!