Chapter 536 - Increasingly Weird, Another Person...
Chapter 536 Increasingly Weird, Another Person…
“Thank you very much, Third Young Master Wen. If it weren’t for you, it wouldn’t have been handled in such a short time!” Shao Yanru said softly.
Wen Xichi picked up the teacup at hand, took a sip, and said with a smile after putting it down, “First Miss Shao, you’re welcome. It’s not worth mentioning. I have some other business, so I must be leaving now!”
As he said, he stood up to leave.
Shao Yanru and Shao Wanru both stood up to see him off.
Wen Xichi made obeisance with his hands folded toward them and left leisurely. Since what had happened here had nothing to do with the case into which the Ministry of Justice was investigating, he naturally did not have to stay here.
When he turned around and glanced at the veil under Shao Wanru’s curtain hat, he couldn’t help showing a light and gentle smile.
Seeing him leave, the two of them sat down again. At this moment, Shao Yanru said, “This is the Third Young Master of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Mansion, and he passed the imperial exam at the same time as the First Young Master of the Qi Family. Nevertheless, he took the first place. I heard that during the parade that day he rode a horse, numerous people turned out to see him and there were plenty of sachets thrown by Misses along the way. Now he has already served in the Ministry of Justice with a promising future!”
“He is indeed a talented person!” Shao Wanru said lightly, as if she was not interested in it.
She looked at Shao Yanru’s face. Shao Yanru did not introduce Wen Xichi when he was here just now. At this moment, he had left, but Shao Yanru pretended to be enthusiastic to introduce him to Shao Wanru.
Shuqi deftly cleaned up the teacup Wen Xichi had just used and said with a smile, “The several young masters of the Wen’s Mansion grew up with the several young masters and misses of our mansion. The Third Young Master Wen has been good at taking care of others since his childhood. But First Miss, you were a little aloof just now!”
“We’ve both grown up now, and no longer children!” Shao Yanru said with emotion, “He is an official of the Ministry of Justice now, and would probably catch up with his father in career in the future. I didn’t expect to see him here.”
The top scholar in the limelight working in the Ministry of Justice at a young age with extraordinary family background, all indicated that he had a bright future. Of course, his future was not what Shao Yanru paid most attention to. A county magistrate was no better than an official in charge of a certain area. Wen Xichi was in charge of this area now, and Shao Yanru could frighten Shao Wanru with it.
Despite Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s formidable connections, she could not officially intervene in the affairs of the Ministry of Justice.
Wen Xichi’s presence here was a bonus. The two families had contacts, so she could ask Wen Xichi to do her a favor in private when she needed help. As one of Wen Xichi’s friends in childhood, she was much better in connections than Shao Wanru, who barely knew anyone here.
If she asked Qiu Yu for a favor, she had to get rid of him after that. In contrast, it was both simple and convenient and much safer to ask Wen Xichi for a favor.
Shao Wanru didn’t answer, but just nodded. She picked up the teacup, lifted her veil, took a sip, and then put it down and looked at the two old maids who were running over. Each of them held a bracelet with their fingertips, as if the bracelets were still greatly stained. In fact, they had been washed in the water just now.
“Miss, this pair of bracelets belong to the Fifth Miss!” An old maid said and was about to bring the bracelets to the stone table.
“Don’t put them down. Don’t put them down. How dare you put such evil stuff in front of my master.” Shuqi screamed loudly, swung the handkerchief hard in front of her a few times and turned her head away, as if she would be stained with evil spirits by glancing at them.
The two old maids loosened their grip in fear, and the pair of bracelets fell to the ground.
“Whose bracelets are these?” Shao Yanru gently covered her nose with her handkerchief and asked.
“They, they belong to the Fifth Miss. I saw the Fifth Miss’s name on them!” an old maid stammered. She didn’t feel anything wrong when bringing one of the bracelets here. However, seeing the reactions of the First Miss and Shuqi, she suddenly thought that it was really weird and she would probably be bewitched because of holding it.
“My bracelets?” Shao Wanru said with a light smile.
“Yes, yes, they belong to the Fifth Miss. We all saw the Fifth Miss’s name on them just now.” Despite her fear, the other old maid nerved herself to say at this moment.
Shao Wanru looked at the bracelets falling on the ground with her dark eyes. Coincidentally, the end of the bracelet, where the character was engraved, came into her view. It was indeed the character “ru”.
“These are my bracelets, but I didn’t wear them. Why do they become like this?” Shao Wanru said with deep eyes.
“I don’t know what happened to this pair of bracelets and made them become like this. When I came here last time, I saw these pairs of bracelets. Each pair of them were fine and kept by grandma at that time. Why do they become like this?” Shao Yanru said with a look of surprise.
“Go and dig up other bracelets and see if they are the same.”
After thinking for a while, she gave an order.
“Okay, we’ll dig other bracelets out right away!” The two old maids said. Looking at the bracelets falling on the ground, neither of them dared to stay here. On hearing Shao Yanru’s instruction, they hurriedly stood up and ran out. They did not want to stay here with such evil bracelets.
It became quiet again in the pavilion. The bracelets were still on the ground. Neither Shao Yanru nor Shao Wanru instructed someone to pick them up. They didn’t say anything else to each other, seeming to be heavy-laden and in no mood to talk.
After a while, the bracelets of the others were dug out. There was nothing wrong with any pair of them and nothing weird happening as before.
Those in the hall began to secretly spread the rumor that the Fifth Miss Shao’s bracelets were very weird and must contain evil spirits. Otherwise, why did something weird happen to her bracelets while others’ bracelets were fine? Or there was something wrong with her bracelets.
“Fifth Sister, how about going to ask the nuns of the Yuhui Nunnery about it?” Looking at the several pairs of bracelets in front of her and looking at the pair of bracelets falling on the ground, Shao Yanru said helplessly.
“Go to ask Pushan Nun?” Shao Wanru asked softly, expressing her concurrence.
“Pushan Nun likes meditation. Let’s not bother her. Let’s turn to Puming Nun, who is in charge of this kind of affairs in the Yuhui Nunnery!”
Shao Yanru shook her head and said.
“Okay, let’s turn to Puming Nun!” Shao Wanru said, nodded and stood up.
Puming Nun was also a member of the Pu generation in the Yuhui Nunnery and could be considered a senior nun in the Yuhui Nunnery. Although she was not outstanding among the nuns in the Yuhui Nunnery and couldn’t compare with Pushan Nun and Puyu Nun, she was a famous senior nun. Shao Wanru had also heard of her reputation in the Yuhui Nunnery.
“Pick up the bracelets!” Shao Yanru instructed Shuqi.
“Miss… I… I’m scared…” Shuqi fell on her knees with a thud and said with a pale face in horror, “May I… ask the two old maids to pick them up?”
Shao Yanru frowned impatiently and said in displeasure, “Go quickly!”
“Okay, I’ll call for help right away!” Shuqi said, stood up in a hurry, lifted her skirt and went to look for the two old maids. After making a big loop, she found the two old maids who were also trembling with fear, and then asked each of them to pick up a bracelet with a small branch and turn to Puming Nun.
No one noticed when the little maid Qing’er showed up here. Seeing the pastries dug out, she cautiously picked up some of them with a handkerchief while everyone was talking about it…
After the two masters left, all the old maids of Duke Xing’s Mansion immediately began to talk about it. In order to show their rich experience, they all claimed that the bracelets were something weird containing evil spirits.
“Why is this pair of bracelets so weird, while there’s no problem with the bracelets of other Misses and Young Masters?” An old maid lowered her voice to say.
On hearing her words, the surrounding old maids all nodded repeatedly. As inferior old maids, they had always been very superstitious. As they talked about it, they were increasingly convinced by the superstitious statement and found the incident increasingly weird.
An old maid, who was the first to dig out the bracelets, got cold hands and feet. She couldn’t talk until she trembled all over with her lips quivering twice, “You know, the bracelets were dug out by me. Would, would anything terrible happen to me?”
“There seems to be something wrong with you indeed. Why do you look so pale?” The old maid beside her suddenly took a few steps away from her after glancing at her, and asked in astonishment while looking at her face.
“I… I don’t…” The old maid, who dug out the bracelets, reached out to cover her chest with her hands and said. She felt pressure on her chest and almost couldn’t breathe, “Am I… Am I bewitched?”
“It seems to be true. Sister-in-law, are you, are you really okay?” another old maid asked with concern, but she was far away from her, as if she was afraid of being stained with something bad.
The old maid felt increasing pressure on her chest. She reached out to cover her chest with her eyes wide open, gasped hard, felt her legs went weak and fell heavily on the broken debris. She only felt dizzy and then passed out with her head tilted to one side.
“What, what, what should we do?” The old maids screamed in fear.
“Take her to the pavilion and let her have a rest!” a leading old maid said loudly.
Several old maids came over and wanted to carry the old maid, but they did not dare to do so and looked at the leading old maid timidly. If they had been a little suspicious before, now they were convinced that there must be something wrong with the bracelets. Otherwise, how could a healthy and strong old maid pass out at once?
“Take her there, or something terrible will really happen!” The leading old maid shouted harshly, “If something terrible really happens, none of you can stay out of it!”
Hearing her words, a few old maids timidly carried the fainted old maid into the pavilion.
“Look, her face turns purple and looks so scary, as if she was possessed by evil spirits!”
“That’s right. She has always been the most capable one who works in high spirits and is quite strong. Why did she suddenly pass out?”
“This, this is too terrifying. There are numerous ants on the bracelets, which really made me feel uncomfortable.”
“There must be something wrong with this pair of bracelets!”
“But there’s nothing wrong with other bracelets. Why is the Fifth Miss’s bracelets the only pair with something wrong?”
“There must be something wrong with the Fifth Miss…” The result of their discussion was a problem that no one dared to think about. When the last old maid spoke of this, she immediately knew that she had made an indiscreet remark. She hurriedly reached out to cover her mouth, looked at the several old maids around her, and begged in panic.
“I… I just talked nonsense. They are nonsense.”
The other old maids looked at each other with their faces turning pale. They even thought that it was true, but did not dare to continue this topic at this moment. The old maid in charge scolded her feebly, “You’d better wise up in future. Don’t talk about this kind of nonsense. If it’s heard by the Fifth Miss, she will kill you!”
“Okay, okay, I won’t do that again!” The old maid, who had said something wrong, said and bowed unctuously.
“Send someone to inform Old Madam about it. This kind of thing must be reported to Old Madam!” The old maid in charge thought for a while and said.
“I’ll go.” “I’ll go.” “I’ll go”…
At this moment, everyone wanted to leave such a weird place, so they strove for the errand…