In the study room, Qin Huaiyong smashed the cup in Mrs. Qin's foot, who was scared to step back and hit the table on the side.
"Talk about it, what is going on?" Qin Huaiyong gloomily looked at Mrs. Qin with a pair of fierce and suffocating eyes.
Mrs. Qin was shocked and knew that Qin Huaiyong was really angry. She then hurriedly pretended to be confused and said. "General, I don't know what you are talking about?"
"How come I didn't know that you have the same taste as my cousin? When did you actually take away the dishes she likes!" Qin Huaiyong harshly said with a cold voice.
"I··· General, I··· I just wanted to taste her food that day so I told people in the kitchen. After they sent the food, I didn't feel very good after I tasted it, so I didn't care. I didn't know that they went behind my back and actually took away more than half of cousin's dishes!"
Mrs. Qin was flustered. She knew about the problem, so she could immediately think of countermeasures and hurriedly said it.
But things could still be clear if they took a deep look into it, since there were many people who had seen that Mrs. Qin had taken away more dishes that day, she couldn't hide it even if she wanted to.
"You like my cousin's dishes, so you want to split and have a taste?" Qin Huaiyong sneered and said.
"If you don't believe me, you can go asking someone else. It was coincident that you and Magistrate Qi were talking about Yuru's marriage, since I didn't know how things went on between you and assumed that you had no appetite, so I ate after seeing mother. A biddy of mother told me that cousin's dishes were pretty good, thus I did it, how could you just say that I ate her dishes deliberately?"
Mrs. Qin felt she was wronged, and her eyes turned red.
At that time, she deliberately let a biddy around Madam mention this matter to make it look casual, and she did it on purpose in front of Servant Duan, who Madam trusted most.
Because Qin Huaiyong had a very good relationship with Magistrate Qi, so they were very congenial every time they drank together, and he would always come back drunk. But on that day, it was Mrs. Qin, who deliberately asked Qin Huaiyong to find Magistrate Qi to discuss the marriage.
"How come things could be so coincident? You split cousin's dishes, so Qionghua ate her own and got stomachache?" Qin Huaiyong could not believe Mrs. Qin's explanation, but his voice was softened.
"General, why should I know about that··· you know that your cousin has never been close to me and she barely talks to me even if something bad happened to her. Though I tried so hard to make a good relationship with her, she was just cold to me. I don't really know what she thinks about, and Qionghua is her servant, so what do you really mean by saying this?"
Mrs. Qin cried with grievances, covered her face with handkerchief to act like sad. She didn't mean well by what she just said. She meant that there was something wrong with what Qionghua had said.
Qin Huaiyong's expression was still serious. He knew that Shui Ruolan and Mrs. Qin's personalities were not alike and they were usually indifferent when they met each other. Mrs. Qin didn't lie about it, but he was still confused and his brows were tightly locked.
Of course, he didn't know that what he saw was deliberately planned by Mrs. Qin. The so-called "what he knew" was simply on the surface that he thought that Mrs. Qin was really good for Shui Ruolan, but what he didn't know was that Mrs. Qin had always been ignorant of Shui Ruolan, and sometimes even taunted her.
"Whether it was something you deliberately did or not, but you were the reason that caused the mistake. Since the mistake had been made and it was on us, then we couldn't badly treat to my cousin." Qin Huaiyong slowly said it after long silence.
"General···" Mrs. Qin was shocked and lifted her head while being unable to cry but screamed.
"Why? Isn't it supposed to be like this? Things had happened and we have to take the responsibility." Qin Huaiyong sat down and resolutely said it. He didn't know what Shui Ruolan was thinking about at first place, so he said nothing when she entered the family temple. But since she still had some feelings for him, he surely could not let her down.
"But··· but it was a mistake, and cousin herself felt blamed and entered the family temple, which means··· " Hearing Qin Huaiyong was really thinking about that, Mrs. Qin was worried and didn't have time to wipe the tears she forced herself to cry out. She then hurriedly stopped him and said, "If you want to compensate her, just follow her wish. If we make her embarrassed, it will be even worse to deal with it then!"
It was something well said, which was completely considered from the perspective of Shui Ruolan, and it sounded fair and reasonable.
Qin Huaiyong would inevitably be touched by her words if it was before, which was also the reason why Qin Huaiyong had not dared to take action for so many days, but what Qin Wanru just said had dispelled his concerns.
"Since we did her wrong in the first place, I have to make it up as a real man. I will go to my mother to discuss this matter later!" Qin Huaiyong shook his hand and went silent for a long time before he said it firmly.
"But··· but what about me?" Mrs. Qin had never thought about things could turn out this way, so she immediately said with grievances, "I··· I can't get used to it at the moment, I still want to treat her as a cousin··· I, I fee terrible!"
Mrs. Qin's tears came down while saying that. It was not totally faked since a big part of it dropped because of worries. She would not care about it if there was really nothing between Shui Ruolan and Qin Huaiyong. But if they were quite affectionate to each other at first place, there would be a serious problem.
"You suddenly splitted a large part of the cousin's dishes that day, and then Qionghua had a diarrhea after she had her own food, could it be so coincident!" Qin Huaiyong coldly said. Since he had the doubt in his heart, he chose to lead the conversation that way. And the more he thought about it, the more skeptical it was that it was such a coincidence when these things came together.
Although Qin Huaiyong did not know the truth of the inner court and he could not see through Mrs. Qin for a while who had been playing dirty in the backyard, it didn't mean that he couldn't see the strange situation inside. When he saw that Mrs. Qin didn't agree to his idea for a long time, he felt a bit unpleasant.
"But it··· was just a coincidence, if you don't believe me, you can ask people in the kitchen and people around mother!" Mrs. Qin cried again with her face covered, looked like pretty poor.
"You can leave now, it's settled," Qin Huaiyong waved his hand and unpleasantly said, and then added another sentence, "don't make those coincident things again, there are not so many coincidences in the world! If you are not capable to manage Yuru's thing, you can ask someone else to help you with the family issue!"
This sentence was almost a warning to Mrs. Qin.
She was so furious when she heard it and wanted to talk back, whilst her sleeve was secretly pulled by someone when she was ready to talk. She turned and found it was her personal servant Servant Chou.
Servant Chou made a gesture to her and pointed at the door with her finger, indicating that she should go out at this time.
Looking at Qin Huaiyong, right now, Mrs. Qin knew that it was useless to say anything at this time. She had to secretly bite her teeth and left the room after she bowed down and wiped out her tears.
Qin Huaiyong lifted his head again after seeing that Mrs. Qin was out. He reached out and rubbed between his eyebrows and looked at the snack on the table for a long time without saying anything.
Coming out from Qin Huaiyong's study, Mrs. Qin took Servant Chou to a secluded place and spit hard. She said with a face fully covered with jealousy. "That bitch actually had a thing with General. I won't give them such a chance if I knew about it!"
"Madam, don't worry, it's not done yet." Servant Chou tried to comfort her and said.
"By looking at what General means, he hoped it could be done right away. He is so partial before he even doesn't marry her, then we could not live after she was a part of the family!" Mrs. Qin bit her and almost smashed the handkerchief in her hand. How could she bare that she made herself such a big enemy by just playing a little trick?
Thinking about Shui Ruolan's personality, she felt so ashamed that she wanted to die when something like this happened. She should hide herself from people because of shame.
"Madam, don't worry, even if the General has the intention, it couldn't be done so soon. The marriage of young madam just failed the other day, and everybody was talking about things between us and Magistrate Qi, so the Madam would not allow him to marry Shui Ruolan at this time."
Servant Chou reminded Mrs. Qin while looking harshly and pointed towards the family temple.
It was the time when the wind and waves were highest, it would be easily said but hard for people to accept the truth that Qin Huaiyong wanted to marry his cousin, which might also affect Qin Huaiyong's career.
Mrs. Qin was enlightened and she nodded with her gloomy face. If the news that marrying his own cousin who was widowed at home was spread out, it was indeed very shameful. Since Qin Huaiyong always cared much about his reputation, not to mention the sensitive time like right now when he was trying to move back to the city, he couldn't be so reckless.
"But··· he would eventually marry her!" Mrs. Qin couldn't let go of it after thinking about it.
"Madam, it's not only decided by General if he could marry her. If something bad happened to Shui Ruolan, he couldn't marry her even if he wanted to!" Servant Chou reminded her, "isn't Miss Qi coming over to have fun, we could ask her to stay for a few more days until someone of Magistrate Qi came to pick her up, whether it's Magistrate Qi or First Young Master of the Qi Family, we can make moves until then!"
"No, it will make the general suspect!" Mrs. Qin categorically refused, because Qin Huaiyong had already warned her.
"Please rest assured, Madam, even if it is a coincidence, it is not made by you. So General could not blame you, could he just find trouble at Qi's mansion? Since we owed them on Young Madam's thing!" Servant Chou pointed to the direction of the family temple.
Her words made Mrs. Qin remain silent, and she revealed some cruelness in her eyes after thought about it. "Well! People of Qi's mansion would not come to ask for explanation if something happened to Miss Qi? We can wait and see that something bad happened to Miss Qi and the bitch at the same time!"
Servant Chou immediately understood what she meant and hurriedly applauded.
Qin Wanru was running, running hard, but she could not find a way, and she was lost! It was bottomless darkness in front of her, and some people were chasing behind her with heavy breathing, as if there was a knife behind her. But she just couldn't see the direction and she didn't know where to escape. Someone was calling her. It seemed to be very far when she first heard it, but it seemed to be right to the ear when she heard it again. She wanted to run over as if the sound gave her guidance, but she heard the screams of others before she had time to run over, she subconsciously turned back and saw nothing but blood··· "Ah!" She screamed and sat up. "Young Madam, what happened to you, did you have a nightmare again?" Qing Yue rushed over, and saw Qin Wanru's pale and sweaty face while picking up the gauze. Her face was pure white like snow, but the lips were bright red, and some black hair were dripped with sweat on her cheek.
Qin Wanru did go to the garden, and went towards the lotus pond. The lotus pond was a good view in the General's mansion. As long as it was not winter, lotus pond was always the destination to people when they came to the mansion. Although it was not big enough as ten kilometers, it was not small in scope. It was already the autumn, and the leaves were somewhat withered. However, lotus leaves still could be seen here in the pond. A few lotus flowers fell on the green lotus leaves, and the withered flowers were still enjoyable. Qin Wanru went to the pavilion of the lotus pond. The path of the pavilion expanded on the lotus pond. There were several rooms in the innermost, and there was an octagonal pavilion on the outside of the house. People could enjoy the scenery of the lotus pond in the pavilion, or invite several friends to chat here. There was still a place to rest in the room. The leftmost one was filled with
The Old Grandma stood outside the crowd with Nanny Duan, looking at the crowd around her while frowning, then slowly walked over and asked. "What happened?" "Old Grandma, everyone in your house is bullying me!"Qi Rongzhi immediately cried when she saw Madam coming over. She was not afraid of Mrs. Qin, but she was afraid of the Madam. "Falling into the pond? Come on, why don't you take Miss Qi to change clothes, why are you still crying here?" The Old Grandma had never liked Qi Rongzhi and looked indifferent when seeing her crying. Under such situation, she should change her clothes first then talk about it. Nanny Duan then asked someone to hold Qi Rongzhi to change clothes. She also felt cold and knew that it would bad for her if she continued to do so, this she got up quietly and was taken away with tears falling down from her face. "You all come here!" The Old Grandma looked at Mrs. Qin coldly and walked towards
In the previous life, Mrs. Qin had always portrayed herself as Qin Wanru's biological mother, therefore she was deemed to have done everything for her out of good intention. To Qin Wanru, Mrs. Qin was perhaps just showing favoritism, but would never harbor any evil intention towards her. Mrs. Qin's repeated attempts to set Qin Wanru up secretly was explained away precisely by this reason. It was later on that she eventually found out that she was not Mrs. Qin's own daughter. Mrs. Qin was only using her as part of her scheme to achieve her goal. After Qin Wanru was reborn into this life, the first thing she wanted to do was to remove the mask of hypocrisy from Mrs. Qin to expose her, so she could put a stop to her shameless claim that she was Qin Wanru's birth mother. "Are you truly unwilling to treat Wanru as your own daughter, my dear daughter-in-law?" pressed Old Grandma, giving Mrs. Qin a severe look, as she embraced Qin Wan
"Grandma had gone to bed by now!" said Qin Wanru matter-of-factly. She recognized that the maid was none other than Mrs. Qin's chief maid, Meiya. "Gone... gone to bed? What do I do?" Meiya said as she walked up and down in panic. "What's the rush?" asked Qin Wanru, frowning. "This... this Magistrate Liu sent someone to our house to inquire about Miss Qi. What do we do now... that this mishap befell Miss Qin?" Meiya asked, looking all panicky like she had lost all her nerves. She continued, "Madam said that Old Grandma has to be the one to settle the matter with them. Miss Qi usually only listens to Old Grandma." How was Old Grandma going to make Qi Rongzhi listen to her if she was already so unwell due to her cough? "Second Miss, will you please let me tell Old Grandma about it, so she can decide what to do?" Meiya pleaded with Qin Wanru after walking up and down the corridor for a while. "Grandma is
"Qin Wanru, you're indeed a person who kept well to her promise, it took so long for you to come back to me!" said Chu Liu Chen, who was crossing his arms on his chest and standing at the mouth of Moon Cave, leaning against the wall. He stood right in Qin Wanru's way and was staring at Qin Wanru with raised eyebrows. Although his countenance was too pale for a spirited young man, there was beauty in it. His beauty tinged with frailness gave people a thrilling feeling. However, when coupled with his casual but mocking eyes, it also gave forth a feeling of dangerous enchantment. Qin Wanru blinked her dry eyes and took a step back unconsciously. She supposed she would become a cannon fodder if she went up to him. "I... I didn't know when you would like to go out for a tour, Prince Chen!" said Qin Wanru, thinking it wise take initiative to explain herself. She hoped she had not offended the prince. "Why don't you ask
After Qin Wanru made sure that Chu Liuchen was feeling alright, she lifted her head to look around and realized that he had in fact brought her to the flower patch in her own garden. He was pointing a the tiniest pot of flower in the flower patch. However, there were neither any flower of bud growing on the plants, but only a few small, green shoots. In fact, the shoots looked a little yellow and withered and it looked as if they were going to die soon. Looking at these young shoots with no flowers or buds, Qin Wanru's face fell. The finger pointing at the plant trembled a little and Qin Wanru looked to the right, then to the left, inadvertently. Only when she realized that there were no other people, she stopped looking. How was it that this pot of plant was here? When did this pot of plant appear in the garden of the General's Mansion? She had not discovered this pot of flower in her previous life, so why was she seeing this
"Second Miss Qin, Miss Qi had invited you to join her in her visit to Eldest Miss Qin tomorrow to be a witness!" said Chun Yi, Qi Rongzhi's personal maid, with a smile as she bowed to Qin Wanru. She had come to convey a message for her mistress. "What witness?" Qin Wanru asked without betraying any emotions. "Tomorrow, my young mistress would be going to Elder Miss Qin's room to look for evidence. If they were to get into an argument and someone questions them, we would like Second Miss Qin to testify honestly what exactly happened," said Chun Yi with a smile. "Is your young mistress going to find trouble with my elder sister?" asked Qin Wanru, frowning. The question was so direct that Chun Yi found it too awkward to answer. She forced a chuckle and continued to explain, saying, "It's not that my young mistress is going to find trouble with Elder Miss Qin, but she just wanted to know if Eldest Miss Qin was speaking the truth re