Chapter 440
Chapter 440 The Courtyard of Miss Lin from the State of Yan
Jing Wenyan was feeling very smug when the Wei sisters entered the courtyard.
Upon getting her maid’s report, Jing Wenyan stood up and said to the group of young ladies with a smile, “The Duke of Yan State Mansion is different from the other mansions in the capital city. Would you like to take a tour?”
“Sure, Eldest Miss Jing.”
“Yeah, I was just about to ask.”
Instantly, several young ladies of aristocratic families responded. Even the few who remained silent raised their eyes shyly and had expectation in their gaze.
This was the Duke of Yan State Mansion, the most likely place to encounter the Heir-apparent of the Duke of Yan State.
However, they were in the inner courtyard’s parlor now. If they remained here, it was basically impossible for them to see the Heir-apparent of the Duke of Yan State. Now that they had the chance to tour with Jing Wenyan, it would be more likely for them to encounter the incomparably handsome heir-apparent.
Seeing that many of the young ladies had responded, Jing Wenyan was very satisfied and curled her lips. She then led the group of seven or eight young ladies toward the inner courtyard.
They entered from the back and naturally did not see that the bodyguards were guarding the front door. Hence, of course, they did not know that Yan Huaijing forbade others from entering the place.
The few young ladies who had come with Wei Yuewu were now scattered around. Since they could only view the courtyard from afar and it was empty, they lost interest and broke up after looking around.
Hence, at this time, the group did not meet the few young ladies who had arrived earlier.
“Eldest Miss Jing, who is that?” A sharp-eyed young lady suddenly exclaimed when she saw a man’s figure flashing past the back entrance.
“What?” Jing Wenyan asked the sharp-eyed young lady with a surprised expression.
“There was… a man who entered the back door of that courtyard…” The young lady answered after some hesitation.
“Uh… maybe it was the Heir-apparent’s servant. After all, this is the Duke of Yan State Mansion’s backyard, which belongs to the Heir-apparent. I heard that there is only one young lady of an aristocratic family who lives here.” Jing Wenyan smiled indifferently.
“Really? There is a young lady? Who is it?” Instantly, this caught the attention of the others.
Right now, no one was willing to leave, and their eager gaze fell on the back entrance.
After all, Jing Wenyan’s words signaled that there was a possibility that Yan Huaijing was behind the door with a young lady who was actually accepted by him. Some of the young ladies, who originally treated Jing Wenyan with a bit of suspicion and envy, even relaxed.
It seemed that what Jing Wenyan had claimed was true. The Heir-apparent of the Duke of Yan State just wanted Jing Wenyan to help receive the guests. After all, she also mentioned that in the past, she had helped the Madam of the Duke of Yan State entertain guests. So, she must understand some of the State of Yan’s customs very well.
“She is a young lady from an aristocratic family in the State of Yan. I don’t know exactly who she is, but we’d better not go in. Maybe the young lady is resting inside.” Saying that, Jing Wenyan turned around and looked like she was about to leave.
However, those young ladies were even more unwilling to leave.
“Eldest Miss Jing, let’s go in and take a look. Since we’re His Heir-apparent’s guests and His Heir-apparent has always been gentle and refined, he definitely won’t blame us. As for that young lady from the State of Yan, I believe that she would be happy to tell us more about the customs in the State of Yan since it’s rare for us to have the chance to visit the Duke of Yan State Mansion.”
“Indeed, Eldest Miss Jing. Since we are here, we should meet this young lady from the State of Yan. She must be an extraordinary young lady for His Heir-apparent of Yan to value her so much.”
“Hey, isn’t there a performance later? If we can watch this lady perform a song, we will be utterly honored.”
One after another, the guests came up to persuade Jing Wenyan. None of them intended to move their feet, hinting that there was no way they would leave today without going in.
“Uh… I’m afraid this is not a good idea. If we disturb this young lady who is resting, it will be hard for me to explain to His Heir-apparent!” Jing Wenyan responded with a difficult look.
“Don’t worry about it! His Heir-apparent is best known as a gentle and polite man. He won’t blame you.”
“Indeed, let’s go in!” Another guest chimed in and persuaded.
Being persuaded by her peers, Jing Wenyan had no choice but to turn back, though she still looked a little hesitant. “But, what if His Heir-apparent…”
“Don’t worry, Eldest Miss Jing. If you still don’t trust us, we can promise to support you later. I believe that His Heir-apparent of Yan won’t blame you any further.”
“Yeah, if His Heir-apparent of Yan blames you, we will support you!”
Since they said so, Jing Wenyan naturally had to agree. With a reluctant look, she hesitantly led the group to the back entrance.
One maid stepped forward and pushed the door open. As expected, it was not locked.
Jing Wenyan led the group inside.
On the other hand, Wei Qiufu was still in the courtyard. She had previously followed the group in due to her curiosity about the noble young lady from the State of Yan. Since Wei Yuewu promised to wait for her outside, she felt much more at ease.
Nevertheless, Wei Qiufu had always been cautious. After entering the courtyard, she did not immediately walk around. Instead, she first observed her surroundings.
It was a relatively large courtyard and probably a little bigger than her grandmother’s Tranquility Courtyard. There were several houses here. However, the backyard she was situated in was actually very quiet, and she did not spot the maid from before.
“Miss… should we go back?” Ming Yan looked around uneasily.
“No, let’s look around!” Wei Qiufu gritted her teeth. She was only interested in the mysterious aristocratic young lady because the Crown Prince himself was interested in the lady. If she could find out about the lady for the Crown Prince, he would definitely appreciate her.
Wei Qiufu had always been brooding over the fact that her status was lower than that of Yang Yuyan, who was an idiot. Especially today, she was even aggrieved when she had to go up and greet Yang Yuyan when they ran into each other.
Of course, Ming Yan listened to Wei Qiufu’s decision. With caution, the two planned to pass a corner to explore further.
Just as they had passed the corner, a person suddenly appeared in front of them. Wei Qiufu did not expect to run into someone at this time and was too late to avoid the incomer. As a result, the two of them bumped into each other heavily.
The incomer was walking pretty fast. So, before Wei Qiufu could even see who it was, she was knocked unconscious.
Following behind Wei Qiufu, Ming Yan was just about to speak, but she was hit on the head and fell down.
After the two had passed out, two maids exchanged a look, nodded, pulled the two up, and then sent them to a room next to the room that was near the back entrance.
The room was very simple. There was only a screen and a bed. On the bed lay a fainted young man.
The two maids left Ming Yan outside, carried Wei Qiufu into the room, and put her on the bed. Wei Qiufu was now leaning against the man.
“Uh… who is this young lady?” One of the maids looked at Wei Qiufu’s face and whispered to the other.
“I don’t know either. Anyway, Miss ordered us to knock out whoever came in and put the pretty one on the bed. Now that there is only one young lady, she is the one then,” the other maid replied uncertainly.
The order they received was to place the beautiful young lady of a noble family on the bed. But since there was only one young lady now, it didn’t matter whether she was beautiful or not. At least, she should be much better looking than the maid outside!
“That’s it! Let’s go!” The previous maid said vigilantly.
“Alright!” Without saying much, the two maids put down the bed curtains and quietly left the room. Ming Yan was left to lean against the door. When one looked from afar, it was as if Ming Yan had fallen asleep at the door out of boredom.
The two maids did not dare to head toward the front yard. Their master had hired someone to lure out the words of a housekeeper who worked here in the backyard of the Duke of Yan State Mansion and secretly got a key. However, the housekeeper did not know much about the mysterious noble young lady who resided here.
The housekeeper only imparted that this young lady was not in good health and usually stayed in the room to recuperate.
After thinking about the information, their master decided to lure the young lady out. And if they did not manage to lure her out, they would cause a huge uproar here. As for Sixth Miss Wei, who was accidentally involved in this, she could only blame her bad luck since she was so pretty that even their master felt a sense of crisis.
The two maids were both Jing Wenyan’s most trusted servants. After taking a glance at Ming Yan who was still unconscious and making sure that there was no one suspicious around, one of the maids went to report to Jing Wenyan, while the other went back into the room to change into a set of man’s clothes. When Jing Wenyan brought the guests over, it was the maid who entered the backyard through the back door.
Then, the maid went to the room where Wei Qiufu was lying and planned to change her clothes behind the screen. Of course, the clothes belonged to the man who was lying inside.
After she managed to hang the man’s clothes on the screen, she would be considered to have succeeded.
Earlier, the maid hung her own clothes on the screen. But after she took off the man’s clothes and was about to get her own clothes, she couldn’t find her clothes. She looked up at the screen in surprise.
Her clothes were not on the screen. She began to suspect that perhaps she had thrown her clothes behind the screen.
As the maid was full of questions, she tied her belt with one hand and turned around. Unexpectedly, when she went around the screen, she was hit heavily on the head before she could see anything. She blacked out and fell to the ground without making a sound.
Behind the screen, Wei Qiufu had fear in her eyes as she held a wooden lamp hanger in hand. Her face was pale.
Wei Qiufu had always been cautious. She had woken up before the maid came in to change clothes. When she woke up, she immediately realized that her situation was not good and wanted to leave. However, she decided to hide when she heard the maid entering the room.
After knocking Jing Wenyan’s maid out, Wei Qiufu threw away the lamp hanger and left the room. She saw that her maid, Ming Yan, was lying by the door.
She gave Ming Yan two tight slaps and immediately woke the latter up.
“Miss…” As soon as Ming Yan regained consciousness, she hurriedly got up.
“Come in and carry the maid onto the bed!” Wei Qiufu instructed sternly.
Ming Yan did not dare to say anything more and hurried in. The two of them worked together to throw the maid, who had not changed her clothes yet, onto the bed. The curtains of the bed were still down.
“Come, let’s hide to the side first!” Gritting her teeth, Wei Qiufu said viciously. No matter who it was, she would not let the person off easily.
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