Chapter 108 – Switching The Bags Right Under The Nose
Yueya was shocked to see Shuiyue squatting at the wall with sweat on her forehead and blood on the corner of her lips. She hurriedly came over and put aside her bundle. She reached out to help Shuiyue up and asked, “Sister Shuiyue, what’s wrong? Are you sick? Do you need a doctor?”
Yueya’s face was filled with anxiety.
“I hit…into the wall. I’m not feeling well.” Shuiyue’s eyes involuntarily landed on the covering of the bundle, “You… where did you come from?”
“I came from the sewing room. My mistress made some clothes and I didn’t take back all of them last time. I am free today, so I went to get the rest. I don’t know if my mistress will like them or not!” Yueya said as she helped Shuiyue up.
“Weren’t clothes made for all the mistresses last time?” That was when the Madam Dowager arranged to make clothes for the young ladies who were invited to the mansion of the Prince of Nan’an.
“Those clothes are too gorgeous for my mistress to wear on usual days, so she bought some materials and asked those in the sewing room to make some new ones. Actually, my mistress has quite a few such clothes. I don’t even know when she will wear them.” Yueya said casually.
After helping Shuiyue up, she reached out to pick up the bundle on the side. Shuiyue’s eyes rolled around quickly and she pulled Yueya’s hand almost subconsciously. “Ouch.” she cried out in pain.
Yueya hurriedly came to help her again. She did not notice that while Shuiyue was grabbing her hand, her other hand quickly switched the two parcels placed on the side.
“I… I’m fine. I just hit the wall and was a little hurt. You can go back. Fifth Young Lady will be looking for you. She’ll be angry if she can’t find you.” Shuiyue panted soon after she switched the two bags.
“Alright then, see you!” Yueya nodded. She picked up the package on her side and walked away.
After Yueya left, Shuiyue reached out her hands and held the other bundle tightly in her arms as if she was hugging a life-saving straw. As long as the Second Young Lady had new clothes, she would not be sent to that kind of place.
Looking at the exposed light blue material, she felt that the material was good and the color was suitable. She couldn’t help but feel relieved.
Back in the courtyard, Shuiyue walked into Wei Yan’s room. Without waiting for Wei Yan to speak, she timidly said, “Miss, I ran into someone from the sewing room. She said that the previous clothes were damaged from washing, so they made you some new sets. The supervisor was away when I went there last time. Other servants did not know about it. They thought that those damaged clothes were for you.”
Wei Yan felt satisfied when she heard that the sewing room had made a few new clothes for her because the previous ones were damaged. She snorted coldly, “You bitch, that meant you brought back the damaged clothes by mistake. Look more carefully next time. If the same thing happened again, you would lose your eyes for good!”
“Yes, I will definitely look more carefully next time. Then, I will put away these clothes first and take them out when you want to wear them.” Shuiyue nodded cautiously.
“Put them aside.” Wei Yan was quite satisfied with the sensible act of the sewing room. She knew that time was different from the past. Even though she had her bosom filled with anger, she could only vent it on her maid. It would definitely do her no good if she really stirred up trouble.
Shuiyue didn’t dare to think any further. She took the clothes into Wei Yan’s room, put them away, and subconsciously hid them in a deeper position. Fifth Young Lady had quite a few clothes. She wouldn’t notice those damaged clothes very soon, would she?
At dusk, commotion was suddenly stirred up in the inner courtyard of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang.
The reason was actually very simple. Xie Qingzhao’s clothes were sent to the sewing room for washing, but they were taken away by someone.
Xie Qingzhao could be considered a victim in Wei Qiuju’s incident. He thought that his reputation was damaged and got furious. When he was going to leave, Lady Zhang came to persuade him under the instruction of the Madam Dowager. She expressed the will of the mansion to make concessions to avoid trouble by forming a marriage between the two families. That meant Wei Qiuju would be given to Xie Qingzhao as a concubine, so as to save face for the two families.
Under Lady Zhang’s persuasion, Xie Qingzhao reluctantly agreed. Since they were willing to become related by marriage, it was naturally not fit for Xie Qingzhao to leave at that time. Otherwise, people would gossip about what was going on and the name of the young ladies of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang would be tainted.
Unexpectedly, only a short time had elapsed before a similar incident happened again. Furthermore, this time, his inner clothes were involved. Therefore, Xie Qingzhao angrily came to the Madam Dowager’s residence with a blushed face. He insisted on finding out the maid who had taken his clothes away.
The sewing room had allegedly told the maid that those were Xie Qingzhao’s clothes. That maid said nothing, but she secretly took his clothes away when those in the sewing room were busy with work.
It was too shocking that such a thing actually happened in the mansion and a maid dared to take a man’s clothes to the inner courtyard so blatantly. The Madam Dowager was so angry that she shuddered. She sternly said to Nanny Hong on her side, “Search, search the mansion immediately. Find out which maid did this.”
In the Madam Dowagers’ opinion, some maid must have seen Xie Qingzhao and had a crush on him, so she secretly took away his clothes.
The Madam Dowager felt embarrassed to have such a maid in the dignified mansion of Marquis Hua Yang.
In order to prove their innocence, every courtyard had to be searched. The search would begin with Wei Yuewu’s courtyard. As Lady Zhang said, since the first branch had got someone living in the mansion, of course search should start with the first branch, followed by the second branch and the third branch.
Lady Zhang’s words were reasonable. Moreover, Wei Yuewu was the only one from the first branch, so the Madam Dowager readily agreed. Thus, Nanny Hong led a few maids and old maidservants to Wei Yuewu’s Lotus Courtyard. In order to show the fairness of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang, Xie Qingzhao’s lad servant was also allowed to come as a witness. After all, Xie Qingzhao was also involved in this matter.
It was at dusk. The winter sky darkened early. Hearing the noise in the courtyard, Wei Yuewu hurriedly walked to the porch with the company of her maids. She was wearing a light-colored cloak on her shoulders. Her eyes fell on Nanny Hong’s face and she asked unhappily, “What happened, Nanny Hong?”
Nanny Hong smiled and took two steps forward. She made a gesture to support Wei Yuewu and explained politely, “Sixth Young Lady, nothing serious. A maid took away Imperial Academician Xie’s things. The Madam Dowager asked me to search every courtyard and see which courtyard’s maid it is and where the things are. Those things didn’t belong to our mansion. It’s a disgrace to the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang to have taken them.”
However, she didn’t mention Xie Qingzhao’s inner clothes. Nanny Hong was very discreet about it, since Wei Yuewu was still an unmarried young lady.
“Nanny Hong, are you beginning the search with my courtyard?” Wei Yuewu had a smile on her face, but her eyes were cold.
“The Madam Dowager ordered to check the courtyards of all branches one by one. Since the Lord Marquis’s branch has only you living in the mansion, I thought I would just take a brief look before going to the second branch and finally to the third branch. There are too many courtyards. The search would take a long time and I’m afraid that it will be too difficult to search all the courtyards simultaneously, so we might as well search the courtyards one by one in order!”
Seeing Wei Yuewu’s displeasure, Nanny Hong smiled and used the Madam Dowager’s instruction to support her explanation.
Since it was the Madam Dowager’s intention, Wei Yuewu naturally could not disagree. Moreover, what Nanny Hong said was quite reasonable.
“Since grandmother has given the order, then, Nanny Hong, please. Do you want to start with my room?” Wei Yuewu moved to the side in a very natural and poised manner to make space, signaling for Nanny Hong to start with her room.
“Well….” Nanny Hong hesitated for a moment. Actually, the target of this search was the maids. The Madam Dowager did not explicitly ask to check the mistresses’ rooms.
However, Xie Qingzhao’s lad servant was also here. Even if it was only for form’s sake, she should go on with the search. She immediately made a decision in her heart. “Then let’s start with Sixth Young Lady’s room. Sixth Young Lady, you see, how about letting your maid lead the way? I will just take a brief look inside.”
Those words were very polite. Wei Yuewu nodded and looked at the maids beside her, trying to find a suitable one.
Qianxi stood out and said respectfully to Wei Yuewu. “Sixth Young Lady, let me take Nanny Hong to take a look.”
Wei Yuewu’s eyes fell on Qianxi’s face, and then she nodded her head with a thoughtful expression as a signal of her consent.
Hence, Nanny Hong followed Qianxi into Wei Yuewu’s room with two old maidservants. As for Xie Qingzhao’s lad servant, although he was young, he was a man. Therefore, he only stood at the door, from where he could hear the voices inside the room.
Wei Yuewu sat in the middle of the outer room. Shufei served her a cup of tea. Wei Yuewu sat there, picked up the tea cup, dispersing the heat, took a sip and put down the cup. She then took a book from Huamo and casually flipped through it. The room quieted down for a moment.
The lad servant looked in from the door and knew that Wei Yuewu was a young mistress of the mansion. He just stood at the porch and didn’t dare to move much.
Suddenly, a sound of something falling to the ground came from the inner chamber, accompanied by Qianxi’s painful cries. The sound was especially loud in this quiet room! The lad servant couldn’t help but peep in again.
Wei Yuewu’s eyes carried a faint mockery as she hooked her fingers around the handle of the cup. She sat quietly on the chair, motionless, waiting for the play to unfold.
“This… this… what is this?” Nanny Hong’s furious voice came from inside the room.
“Nanny, please spare me, please spare me! This… this is what our young lady wants… no … not what our young lady wants… I… I took them… by myself.” Qianxi sounded incoherent inside the room. One could tell that she was flustered and panicked and that she was indeed a loyal servant, since she could still try to cover it up for Wei Yuewu in her state of shock and panic.
The lad servant was also alarmed by what was happening inside. He wanted to go in to take a look, but when he saw Huamo guarding the door and looking coldly at him, he did not dare to rush in. He only protruded his head to look in. His eyes were filled with suspicion.
“You… you actually… dared to do such a thing? Someone, pull this bitch to the Madam Dowager and let the Madam Dowager beat her to death.” Nanny Hong said angrily.
Upon hearing that she was about to be caned to death, Qianxi was really scared. She staggered to her feet and rushed out with a pile of clothes in her arms. She dropped to her knees in front of Wei Yuewu….
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