Chapter 1072 Two Traps Set in a Row
As soon as these guards heard Nanny Wei served the Empress Dowager, they didn’t dare to neglect them and immediately sent someone to report it. After a while, Yujie appeared at the door, walked to the carriage, and bowed respectfully. “Nanny Wei.”
“The Prince Chen’s Mansion is really grand. It took me so long to see Princess Chen’s servant!” Nanny Wei asked the coachman to lift the curtain and looked at Yujie with hostility.
“I’m very sorry for the inconvenience, Nanny. Our mansion is indeed a little big. My Lady got the news and sent me out, but I was still late and kept you waiting outside for a while longer.” Yujie greeted Nanny Wei with a smile, overlooking her angry words.
Meanwhile, she asked the coachman to follow her into the manor.
When they arrived at the parking lot of the Prince Chen’s Mansion, Yujie helped Nanny Wei get out of the carriage and said with a smile, “Nanny, you used to come through the side door. Why did you choose to come in from the front door today? Unlike the side door, it’s not so convenient to come and go from the front door. You must be tired.”
She smiled before speaking, which made Nanny Wei unable to vent her anger for a moment.
“Is Her Highness busy?” Nanny Wei asked lightly, ignoring Yujie’s pleasantries.
“My Lady lives a life of leisure. When His Highness is away, she has been waiting for him to return. Other than that, she only needs to prepare a birthday gift for the Empress Dowager,” Yujie said with a smile.
She wasn’t slow and steadily led the way in front. It was much shorter than the distance from the gate to the backyard, and the parking lot was close to the inner court.
This parking lot was for the carriages of those female family members.
Along the way, Nanny Wei no longer responded to Yujie. Whatever she said, she would give a grunt to show she heard it. Later, Yujie was at a loss for words and could only stop talking. In silence, she led Nanny Wei to Shao Wanru.
There were needles and thread in Shao Wanru’s room, and various kinds of thread were scattered there, bright-colored ones, exquisite ones, and some were in dull colors. On the table aside were a lot of brocades and one unfinished table screen, which was not large but very exquisite. It was almost done, but some corners still needed to be sewn.
A length of thread was left outside. Shao Wanru held the needle and thread in her hand, and a few servant girls were helping her in the room. When Nanny Wei came in, she put down the thread and turned around, smiling. The moment Nanny Wei saw her delicate elfin face, she couldn’t help gasping with admiration at her unrivaled beauty, though she had seen many beautiful women in the Palace.
In Nanny Wei’s eyes, Princess Chen was exceedingly gorgeous, but in her heart, she thought Princess Chen was as vicious as a viper.
Shao Wanru was even willing to do such despicable acts to collect wealth. Since Nanny Wei was simmering with resentment and still remembered Wei Dahai’s critical remarks about Shao Wanru, she could hardly force a smile at her.
Fortunately, she had been imbued with what she had seen and heard in the Palace for a long time, so she always had a fake smile on her face to avoid unforeseen trouble. Hurriedly taking two steps forward, she was about to bow to Shao Wanru. Shao Wanru was slightly taken aback and immediately stepped forward to hold Nanny Wei up, saying she was overwhelmed by her unexpected salute. Then Shao Wanru gently led Nanny Wei to sit down on a chair beside her.
“Your Highness, is this prepared for Her Majesty?” Nanny Wei raised her eyebrows and asked with her eyes on the table screen.
“What do you think of it?” Shao Wanru asked merrily, seemingly quite satisfied with her work.
“It’s a good choice. Her Majesty will like it.” Nanny Wei praised with a faint look.
“You’re an experienced servant serving Imperial Grandmother by her side, so I guess you must understand her tastes. Please give me some advice. What do you think I should improve on it?” Shao Wanru asked sincerely.
Nanny Wei tilted her head to look at it. Reaching out her hands, she picked it up and turned it around. “Your table screen is very exquisite. Her Majesty will definitely be satisfied to see such a fancy screen. Now that my master is aged, she likes showy things and prefers to see young girls dressed in vibrant colored clothes that can make them stand out in the crowd.”
She let his eyes settle upon the table edge and said, “My Lady, your table screen is so delicately made, and the embroidery patterns on it are so beautiful. My master will love it. But if you could change this part, it will be more appealing in her eyes.”
Nanny Wei pointed to the screen edge. There was a circle of decorative border, which was not long but made the screen more elegant.
The trimming, neither long nor short, was just right.
“Do you mean to broaden the border?” At first, Shao Wanru didn’t understand Nanny Wei’s meaning, hanging her head to think. After a while, her eyes lit up.
With a smile, Nanny Wei added, “Elder people like to see younger generations in red and other bright colors because they can bring a lovely jubilant atmosphere.”
Thus, the size of the small trimming should be increased while there should be more bright colors. But if she made the changes, the secondary would supersede the primary — the screen edge would outshine the pattern on the table screen, which would put the central part in the shade.
The different arrangements of the screen patterns and other accessories suggested hierarchical relationships between power holders and their subordinates.
Shao Wanru bent her head to check it with a hint of doubt, feeling it might not be a good idea.
“Your Highness, you can do whatever you want. Anyway, Her Majesty would like any gifts from you. Prince Chen is one of her favorites, and she also cares about you very much,” Nanny Wei said with a smile.
It meant that the Empress Dowager liked her on account of Chu Liuchen, which was not favorable for a woman. One day if Chu Liuchen no longer loved her, she would be left alone and helpless.
As a daughter-in-law who had just married into the royal family, she must ingratiate herself with her husband’s family members, let alone the Empress Dowager, a mighty figure holding great power. Moreover, she couldn’t rely on Chu Liuchen to win over the Empress Dowager’s love. Shao Wanru needed the Empress Dowager to value her. In this case, even if Prince Chen married some new consorts, Shao Wanru would have someone to depend on.
“Then I’d better change it. Qu Le, pick some vivid trimmings and show them to me. I want bigger and brighter ones.” Shao Wanru immediately instructed Qu Le.
Qu Le nodded, put down the pair of scissors in her hand, and went to pick up some new frills from the pile of brocade and colorful threads.
“Your Highness, what do you think of this?” Qu Le dug out a bright red trimming. The embroidery was twice as long as the original one. At first glance, it looked redundant that couldn’t match the elegant colors on the screen.
“Nanny Wei, help me have a look…” Shao Wanru said hesitantly, looking up at Nanny Wei imploringly as if she wanted Nanny Wei to make the decision.
” Your Highness, it will do if you think it’s good. I’m just a servant. I can’t decide for you!” Nanny Wei refused with a smile.
How could she help Shao Wanru choose the edges? If the table screen used the kind she had suggested, the Empress Dowager would dislike it and even get angry. If the hostess of a mansion couldn’t even pick up the proper border for a screen, how could she be a competent master? The Empress Dowager would think that Shao Wanru might mess up the Prince Chen’s Mansion.
“Well… let’s pick another one!” Shao Wanru looked at the red trimming and said helplessly.
Nanny Wei nodded with a smile. She didn’t say yes or no, but let Shao Wanru choose for herself. Frankly, the previous one was perfect. Any longer, larger, or more gorgeous ones wouldn’t be suitable. So, whatever adjustments Shao Wanru made, the Empress Dowager wouldn’t like it, especially at this moment when the Empress Dowager was very critical of Princess Chen.
Given these adverse conditions, the Empress Dowager would become more dissatisfied with Princess Chen because she couldn’t do anything good!
Wei Dahai was right. Since they had confronted Princess Chen, they couldn’t let her gain the upper hand. Besides, according to her many years of experience in the Palace, Nanny Wei knew that once they chose to be hostile to Princess Chen, they had to smash her power and make sure she could never stage a comeback. Otherwise, Princess Chen might become their terrible threat in the future.
Wei Dahai and Nanny Wei agreed on this point.
Once again, Princess Chen took out another bright-colored and wide embroidery. Although it looked better than the previous one, it wasn’t nice at all. Looking at Princess Chen try this one with a pleased expression, Nanny Wei sneered in her heart. Indeed, the Empress Dowager appreciated young people wearing gorgeous clothes, but not Princess Chen.
Throughout the years, Prince Chen liked the elegant style. In the Empress Dowager’s mind, her best grandson was delicate and graceful. If Shao Wanru had nothing to do with Prince Chen, the Empress Dowager would like to see her in red on her birthday. However, Shao Wanru was now Princess Chen.
When Shao Wanru showed up with clothes that didn’t match Prince Chen’s, the Empress Dowager wouldn’t like it even if Prince Chen wasn’t present.
Beyond that, the table screen would show Princess Chen couldn’t differentiate between primary and secondary. The Empress Dowager would absolutely loathe her.
Nanny Wei’s suggestion set up two traps for Shao Wanru.
She didn’t believe that Princess Chen could successfully avoid them. Even if she somehow decorated the table screen properly, she would choose the wrong clothes and accessories.
At this time, the Empress Dowager should be selecting Misses of aristocratic families from their portraits. When she went back, she would seize the opportunity to recommend a few Young Madams with forceful character to the Empress Dowager. Princess Chen in front of her couldn’t suppress any of them and would certainly come to no good end.
It was Nanny Wei’s fiendish plan. At this time, she was not in a hurry and watched Shao Wanru and her maids bustling around. A shadow of a smile touched her mouth as if she was very satisfied with the few items Shao Wanru had just picked up.
But she didn’t express her approval. After all, as the Empress Dowager’s personal nanny, she must be very cautious about expressing opinions.
Shao Wanru was busy for a while and suddenly seemed to think of Nanny Wei. She hurriedly put down the ornamental edges in her hand and said with an apologetic smile to Nanny Wei, “Nanny Wei, I’m really sorry for leaving you aside. You specially came to me today, so is there anything I can do for you?”
“No big deal. Her Majesty remembered the Butterfly Clothing Shop you talked about and thought it was a good shop, so she didn’t want you to intervene in its business and specially asked me to tell you that,” Nanny Wei said politely with a smile.
Shao Wanru froze and blinked her clear eyes. After a long while, she asked, “So, do you mean Imperial Grandmother takes a fancy to this shop?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t conjecture why my master wanted to do this. I just came here to pass on this order. Now that the message has been delivered, I will have to return.” Nanny Wei stood up and said goodbye.
“Nanny Wei, please wait a moment!” Shao Wanru stood up and bowed to Nanny Wei. “I have another question. I wonder if you could remove my doubt?”
“Princess Chen, you might be too young to know some rules. You can ask only when you’re allowed to do so. And you’d better not ask the question that you shouldn’t ask,” Nanny Wei stood still, glanced at Shao Wanru, and said with a trace of sarcasm across her eyes. “She is Princess Chen, so what? Still, she is frightened by a few words from me.”