Chapter 91 – An Old Maidservant Who Offered To Help For No Reason
Jin Ling nodded and walked over. She followed him into the room and saw Xie Qingzhao sitting there.
“Where’s your mistress’ letter?” As soon as the maid entered, Xie Qingzhao asked her anxiously without a second thought about the strange face of hers.
“Young Master Xie, here it is. Please write back to my mistress when you finish reading.” Jin Ling said as she generously handed the letter over.
“No problem!” Xie Qingzhao’s attention was entirely focused on the letter. He reached out and received it in person. Thinking that the young lady had never written a letter to him, he was extremely excited.
He had long known that she was very talented. He had always wanted to receive a letter written by her. Although what had happened today made him very frustrated, the letter exhilarated him immediately.
The handwriting on the letter did not seem to be outstanding; it looked rather ordinary. However, due to the caring feelings between the lines, Xie Qingzhao did not care why the handwriting was not as brilliant as he had imagined.
After skimming over the letter, Xie Qingzhao thought for a moment, picked up a brush, and began to write. Since she showed concern toward him, of course he must reciprocate her affection. Moreover, this letter represented the start of correspondence between them. How could he not say more?
Thanks to his wealth of knowledge, before long Xie Qingzhao finished a letter brimming with affections. He knew that he must be careful with such a letter, so he didn’t leave a signature.
After a quick glance at the letter, he handed it to Jin Ling, who respectfully received it and took leave of him and sneaked away. Her behavior was exactly the same as that of the maid he was familiar with. Xie Qingzhao’s last bit of doubt was dispelled. He went back to his room and thought about what to do next.
The young lady had told him this sweet and exquisite Sixth Miss Wei was so vicious as to drive her into the family temple during the Spring Festival. Since that was the case, he was not to blame for showing no mercy on his part.
An old maidservant hurriedly entered the Lotus Courtyard and happened to be seen by Nurse Mei, who stopped short and asked, “Which courtyard are you from? What’s the matter?”
“It’s Nurse Mei, isn’t it? Can I have a word with you?” The old maidservant who came over was very polite and bowed smilingly to Nurse Mei.
“Which courtyard…are you from?” Nurse Mei looked at the old maidservant up and down but wasn’t sure where she came from. She only found the old maidservant looked familiar.
“Nurse Mei, I have something to tell you.” The old maidservant said with a smile. She moved closer to Nurse Mei, as if she had something confidential to say.
Wei Yuewu was standing in front of the window in her chamber and happened to see this scene. A cold smile flashed across the corner of her eyes…
Wei Yuewu called Shufei over with a wave of her hand and whispered, “Go, tell Nurse Mei…”
Hearing Wei Yuewu’s words, Shufei nodded knowingly. She lifted the curtain and walked out of the room. When she got outside, she happened to see that the old maidservant was leaning toward Nurse Mei who remained skeptical.
“Freeze, you sneaky woman! What are you trying to do? Someone, catch this ill-intended servant!” Shufei shouted loudly as she stood on the porch and pointed at the old maidservant.
The other servants in the yard hadn’t paid much attention because the old maidservant had come to look for Nurse Mei. At this moment they were all startled and alarmed by Shufei’s angry reprimand. A few menial maids and some old maidservants immediately came over.
Since Shufei was a chief maid in the courtyard, her words often reflected the will of the Sixth Young Lady.
“Shufei, this…” Nurse Mei was also lost for reaction. She was blank for a moment and frowned.
“Nurse Mei, something’s wrong with this woman.” Shufei lowered her voice and whispered in Nurse Mei’s ear. Nurse Mei understood immediately. She eyed the woman and said to several menial old maidservants who had come over, “Tie her up and send her to the Madam Dowager.”
Now that even Nurse Mei had given an order, there was nothing to worry about. Two menial old maidservants immediately went up and pinned down the woman.
The woman was stunned. She went blank for a while and was pinned down right away. She hurriedly raised her head to Nurse Mei and said, “Nurse Mei, I came to see you. Why did you… let them catch me?”
The thought of being sent to the Madam Dowager made the woman nervous immediately.
“What’s the matter?” Nurse Mei sneered, “I have done nothing that needs hiding. Spit it out.”
“I….” The woman stuttered, “I… I came to ask…if you need help here…!”
“Do I need help here? No need for you to ask. Or are you so idle that you have nothing to do at all? Well, tell me which yard you are from. How can you be so idle?” Nurse Mei sized her up and down again, her face revealing a hint of anger. Those words sounded really intimidating.
All servants had their own work to attend to. No one would be so warm-hearted as to offer to help. Moreover, Nurse Mei was a supervisor. If she had any task, she would naturally ask someone in her own courtyard to do it rather than allow an unfamiliar old maidservant to approach her without an instruction.
Needless to say, everyone could tell that this woman had ill intentions.
“Lock this woman in the woodshed. Send a message to Nanny Hong. Tell her that there is a woman who came out of nowhere to our Lotus Courtyard with ill intentions and said repeatedly that she had something confidential to tell me.” Nurse Mei instructed a menial maid beside her.
“Don’t alert anyone else.” Shufei specially added.
The maid nodded and ran out like a streak of smoke.
Inside her chamber, Wei Yuewu had been standing quietly at the window. Her clear eyes were filled with mockery as she watched Nurse Mei ordering someone to lock the woman in a wing room. She then turned around.
It looked like this plot had more to come and that some people were fishing in muddied waters. When the water was clear enough to see the fish, she wondered if this fish could still hide so well…
The night was quiet. Wei Qiuju arrived at the gate of Wei Yuewu’s courtyard. She smilingly followed Shufei inside. Her eyes fluttered as they landed on the furniture in Wei Yuewu’s chamber. She couldn’t help feeling jealous and envious. However, when she thought about what the Second Lady had promised her, her mood immediately lifted.
To her, Wei Yuewu was a stumbling block. Getting rid of Wei Yuewu wouldn’t damage her own luck. Instead, it would give her quite a number of benefits. How could she not do it…
“Sixth Younger Sister, are you ready to go?” Wei Qiuju walked over with a smile and urged Wei Yuewu as soon as she entered.
“Fifth Elder Sister, is it really okay for us to do this?” Although Wei Yuewu stood up, her face was full of hesitation.
“What are you afraid of? We are just taking a look. Aren’t you curious about how he looks? Once a Bangyan and now a young promising official in the Imperial Academy? He specially came to bring up a proposal of marriage to you, Six Younger Sister.” Wei Qiuju expressed earnestly that it was not at all inappropriate for Wei Yuewu to do so.
“Furthermore, you have me as your companion. What are you afraid of? Even if someone finds out, we can say that we only run into Imperial Academician Xie.”
Wei Qiuju pounded her chest and made a promise in order to dispel Wei Yuewu’s worries.
With that said, Wei Yuewu naturally didn’t say anything else. Therefore, the two of them walked out together, each with one maid.
Wei Qiuju chose the route. She especially picked a winding one that was not easily noticed. She said that this path led to the outer courtyard and it was most unlikely for them to be noticed.
The two mistresses walked in the front and two maids followed behind. Fortunately, although the path was narrow, it could allow two people to walk side by side. The corner of a garden was revealed after they turned around a few bends. When Wei Qiuju saw the place, a trace of smug flashed in her eyes. She deliberately slowed down her pace and carefully stepped on a stone.
She was about to slightly tilt her leg to indicate that she twisted her ankle.
Wei Yuewu had been paying attention to her actions. She noticed Wei Qiuju looking left and right and at the ground before carefully stepping on a stone. The corners of her lips curled into a cold smile. Well, was Wei Qiuju trying to use this trick to leave her alone?
Wei Yuewu decisively stepped hard onto the bluestone path ahead of Wei Qiuju.
The bluestone path was slightly elevated from the surrounding ground. Wei Yuewu stepped on it and lost her balance. Her body involuntarily fell towards Wei Qiuju, who was about to exert her strength with one foot on tiptoe on the stone.
Wei Yuewu was falling down on her. Wei Qiuju did not notice the change on Wei Yuewu’s side and was hit directly. Her foot tripped over the stone and she lost her balance. With an “Ouch”, she fell heavily on the ground and coincidentally she was under Wei Yuewu’s body.
“Miss.”
“Miss.” The two maids cried out in alarm. They hurriedly went to help their mistresses up and crouched down to check if they were injured.
“Ah, Miss, you are bleeding!” Huamo pointed at the corner of Wei Yuewu’s skirt and cried out, “What… what should we do?”
At this time, Wei Qiuju was gritting her teeth in pain. She felt that her right foot was numb. She wasn’t sure if her bones were hurt. However, when she heard that Wei Yuewu was bleeding, she ignored her own injury, pushed her maid away and limped over.
“Sixth Younger Sister, how are you?” Wei Qiuju asked.
Wei Yuewu was half-seated on the ground, her hands covering her calf. However, Wei Qiuju could see a faint bloodstain on the skirt where her hands were. It seemed that she was really injured.
“I… I’m fine. How are you, Fifth Elder Sister?” Wei Yuewu raised her pale face and asked back.
“I…” Wei Qiuju was blank. She had planned to user her injury as an excuse to leave. However, in this situation, Wei Yuewu was clearly more seriously injured than her. If she said that she would leave, Wei Yuewu would definitely leave as well. Wei Qiuju did not know how to answer this question for a moment.
Yet, she was also clever. She immediately pointed at a garden not far away and said, “Sixth Younger Sister, we are both injured. How about…how about we go there for a rest first? Your leg is hurt and we don’t know the exact conditions. Let’s go to the garden and let the maids check if the wound is serious.”
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