Chapter 755 The Painter Madam Ou
Shao Wanru had lived a peaceful life these days. She had only a few acquaintances here, so she didn’t care about the other Misses’ staying away from her. Moreover, given that she was the victim rather than the culprit, other Misses still looked at her with kindness. Although they thought that her gorgeous appearance made her their strong opponent, she was still much less dangerous than Shao Yanru!
Shao Wanru gradually got acquainted with a female painter, who even invited her to her place for a chat when she was at leisure.
The female painter was known as Madam Ou, and she was the wife of a petty official. After her husband passed away, she, who had no kids, was put forward as a painter portraying the candidates in the imperial palace.
Madam Ou had been a famous talented lady in the capital city when she was young. However, she didn’t come from a noble family, so she only married a petty official.
She, a childless widow, was in a very similar situation to that of Shao Wanru in her last life. It somehow reminded Shao Wanru that she had entered the imperial palace to portray the candidates after Wen Xichi’s death in the last life. The difference was that she was notorious in the capital at that time, so she must be put forward as an imperial painter on instructions from someone.
Although she still couldn’t remember what Chu Liuchen had done in the last life, she could sense his existence everywhere after entering the imperial palace. Therefore, she could hardly remember what had happened after she entered the imperial palace.
She could only remember the scenes, where Chu Liuchen was not present, clearly.
Shao Wanru didn’t know why she lost the memory of Chu Liuchen since she had her life to live over. But this didn’t prevent her from realizing that she probably got the opportunity to enter the imperial palace with Chu Liuchen’s help, because Qi Baiyu wasn’t powerful enough to do that.
Madam Ou in front of her proved her conjecture. There were plenty of female painters entering the imperial palace, and all of them were famous for their talents. Madam Ou finally got the opportunity to enter the imperial palace after passing several tests. However, at that time, it seemed that as soon as Qi Baiyu recommended her, she immediately entered the imperial palace without any difficulty.
In the last life, she was so muddle-headed that she neglected numerous things, so she did not notice there must be something fishy about it. Now thinking of it, she found it ridiculous. What convinced her that Qi Baiyu was powerful enough to send her into the imperial palace?
Both in this life and in the last life, Chu Liuchen had always been around her, but she didn’t notice it. Thinking of this, Shao Wanru felt so guilty. There was a person who had been staying by her side and helping her, but she forgot everything about him.
If he knew, how distressed he would be! At this time, she suddenly felt glad that it was she rather than Chu Liuchen who had their life lived over.
Other candidates kept staying away from her for fear that they would be implicated in trouble if she was trapped when they were around her. As such, she, who was at leisure, visited Madam Ou again.
Sometimes, Madam Ou modified her works instead of painting, and modification also took a lot of time.
“Madam Ou, you’ve done such a great job!” Shao Wanru, who turned to the back of Madam Ou, said with a smile after glancing at the portrait she was working on. She really appreciated Madam Ou’s painting skills. In her last life, she had portrayed a lot of candidates. Now seeing Madam Ou’s work, she involuntarily made a comment.
“It’s not very good. I feel there’s something missing in the portrait!” As Madam Ou said, she put down the painting in her hand, took a step back, looked at her painting, and then looked at Shao Wanru. She felt that there was something missing in her painting. The Fifth Miss Shao in front of her was obviously more ravishing than her painting.
Now she was modifying Shao Wanru’s portrait. In fact, she had already drawn one before, but she was not satisfied with it, so she drew another one.
But she was still not satisfied with this one.
Shao Wanru smiled and said leisurely, “It’s good enough. Madam Ou, are you going to portray me as a fairy?” She, who enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere in the drawing room a lot, came to visit Madam Ou from time to time.
“Fifth Miss, you’re as fascinating as a fairy, so it’s not a matter of my painting skills. However, I don’t think I can depict your charm!” Madam Ou shook her head helplessly and said. She thought that she was not good enough at painting, otherwise, she wouldn’t have failed to depict the charm of the person in front of her. She looked at her work while saying, “I heard that the Third Young Master of the Prime Minister is excellent at painting. I think he can definitely depict your real charm.”
Madam Ou said with great pity.
Of course, she didn’t really mean to ask Wen Xichi to portray Shao Wanru. She just mentioned it.
Shao Wanru’s hand, which was holding the album, paused for a moment, and then she slowly put down the album. In the last life, when she met Wen Xichi, he, a well-known gentleman in the capital city, had been in a miserable situation after suffering from a serious disease for a long time. He usually stayed in bed for recuperation. But even so, he still gave her some instructions on painting.
However, she made real progress after entering the imperial palace and being taught by Chu Liuchen, but she did not know whether he taught her in person or sent her his paintings.
She reached out to rub the part between her eyebrows and felt uncomfortable as if there was something weighing on her mind. She knew it, but she couldn’t see it.
“Fifth Miss, are you tired?” Seeing Shao Wanru rub her eyebrows, Madam Ou asked with concern.
“I’m fine. I just have a headache!” Shao Wanru tried to hide her feeling.
“Fifth Miss, please go inside and have a rest!” Madam Ou said with concern. She, who had no children, had already regarded Shao Wanru as her niece after getting along well with Shao Wanru these days.
“Thank you, Madam Ou!” Shao Wanru said with a nod, picked up the album she had put down, and turned to walk to the back of the screen. The painting room was divided into two parts. The front part was for painting, and the rear part was for rest.
There was a large rattan chair by the rear window with two thick cushions on it. After Shao Wanru came over and sat down, Yujie put a cushion behind her so that she could lean against the back of the chair.
The rattan chair was large, and Shao Wanru was petite enough to nestle in the rattan chair. The sun was shining through the window, which made her feel very comfortable.
Yujie served a cup of tea on the table in front of her and then left, leaving Shao Wanru alone to rest inside.
After leafing through a few pages, she felt her eyelids became heavier and heavier and fell into a deep sleep…
Shao Wanru seemed to be in an endless dream shrouded in darkness. It started from the moment her bridal sedan chair arrived, her bridal veil was pulled off by Qi Tianyu, and then she was disdained by everyone in Jiangzhou. She began her tragic life from then on.
From then on, she became a shameless girl, who snatched her elder sister’s fiance from her elder sister, who had always doted on her. Later, the scandal between her and Qi Baiyu even intensified her image as a dissolute girl.
Then, after she moved to the capital with the Qin’s Mansion, she was set up again and again so that one and another her engagements were ruined. Finally, she married into the Deputy Prime Minister’s Chambers in the name of counteracting bad luck. However, she was driven out of the mansion. She was pushed into one and another dire straits and eventually got killed in a bloody scene. Throughout her life, she was set up all the time and ended up in an eternal hell…
She was so depressed that she couldn’t breathe as if she were choked by something. She wanted to say something to scare the nightmare away, but she couldn’t say a word.
“Zhuozhuo, Zhuozhuo…” Suddenly, she heard herself called. The bloody dream slowly faded away, and she fell into thick darkness, where there seemed to be a figure. She couldn’t see it clearly and only knew that it was a man with a hat and a pair of beautiful and gloomy eyes, but she couldn’t tell who it was.
She suddenly opened her eyes, only to see a pair of eyes in front of her. She looked at them in a daze, subconsciously covered them with her trembling fingers, and asked, “Who… Who are you?”
“Did you have a nightmare?” Chu Liuchen reached out to hold her slender hand and only felt that her fingers were cold. Thinking that she must have been frightened, he said in a soft voice.
Shao Wanru blinked. After a long while, she finally recognized that it was Chu Liuchen in front of her. His gentle eyes were completely different from the gloomy eyes in her dream. Sure enough, it was a just dream, not reality. At the moment, she, who had been tense just now, let her guard down, reached out to hold Chu Liuchen, and burst into tears.
Chu Liuchen froze for a moment. He didn’t expect that Shao Wanru would suddenly burst into tears out of control. Thinking of what had happened recently, he raised his eyebrows, reached out to hold Shao Wanru’s thin body, and asked, “Did Shao Yanru bully you?”
There was a hint of bloodthirsty coldness in his pretty eyes. He didn’t mind directly sending someone to deal with Shao Yanru although she had the backing of Duke Xing’s Mansion!
“No… no…” Shao Wanru said tearfully and even choked.
Chu Liuchen reached out and patted her gently on the back, asking, “Who else could it be?”
“I… I had a nightmare!” Shao Wanru said vaguely. Although she choked with sobs, she could still sense Chu Liuchen’s rage. She did not want Chu Liuchen to intervene in this kind of thing.
“There, there. Don’t be afraid. It’s over now. What kind of nightmare can make you cry so miserably!” Hearing that she cried because of a nightmare, Chu Liuchen smiled, reached out to pat Shao Wanru’s back, and comforted her. He fixed his eyes on her childish little face, thinking that she was such a child who was scared out of her wits by a nightmare.
He patted Shao Wanru’s back in an increasingly soft manner.
It was very quiet in the room, except for Shao Wanru’s crying and Chu Liuchen’s gentle comforting from time to time.
Yujie glanced at Xiao Xuanzi, who was standing beside her, and stepped aside with disdain, because she didn’t want to stand by his side. She was supposed to get in to serve her master, but she was stopped by Xiao Xuanzi, who looked weak but was actually stronger than her. At the thought of this, Yujie was really upset.
Seeing that Yujie stayed away from him, Xiao Xuanzi leaned in and said with a smile, “Take it easy. With my master around, the Fifth Miss will stop crying soon!”
He sounded so confident, as if his master did a great job in consoling others. Yujie snorted lightly, thinking Prince Chen obviously didn’t look like someone good at consoling others. It was possible that he made her master cry. Originally, her master was quiet, but as soon as Prince Chen got in, her master burst into tears.
Nevertheless, Yujie was not anxious. She and the other maids Shao Wanru trusted knew very well about the relationship between Shao Wanru and Prince Chen.