“When I was in the kitchen, I saw a manservant carry a hamper. The servants in the kitchen said that he was Childe Wang’s manservant and he asked them to prepare some wine for Childe Wang. It seemed that Childe Wang has been busy with running some affairs for the manor these days and basically left the manor at night. But the manservant didn’t know exactly how long it has lasted!”

Qu Le said.

Although it was Qing’er who was sent to watch over Wang Shengxue, she came across Wang Shengxue’s manservant, so she kept an eye on him and tried to cotton up to him when she was waiting for the dishes to be prepared. She had almost got all information the manservant knew.

“What a coincidence. It seems that Wang Shengxue is not completely stupid,” Shao Wanru said with a sneer and handed the note in her hand to Yujie.

“Find Wang Shengxue and flick the note in front of him, but don’t let him find you!”

The note was not big and had been balled up. It was not easy to run away after throwing it in front of someone. Compared with Qu Le, Yujie was much more agile.

“I’m going now!” Yujie said, lowered her head and wanted to leave. Shao Wanru looked at her clothes and said, “Wait a minute, take out your old clothes.”

She was dressed in her new clothes today. The Spring Festival was coming, so all the servants in the mansion had new clothes. Yujie had put on her new clothes as soon as she got them.

Her old clothes referred to the clothes she got from the other maids when she just came to the mansion.

During the three years in the Yuhui Nunnery, Duke Xing’s Mansion had never made any clothes for Shao Wanru’s maids. Therefore, when Shao Wanru and her maids came to Duke Xing’s Mansion this time, they all dressed simply. Old Madam could not put up with it, so she instructed her maids to spare some clothes for Shao Wanru’s maids. The clothes were made for others and didn’t fit them well. So after the new clothes were distributed, Yujie and the other maids immediately put them on.

“Rest assured, Miss. I’m going to change my clothes right away!” Yujie looked at her new clothes and immediately understood what Shao Wanru meant. She said with a nod and went back to her room to change her clothes.

The new clothes had just been distributed. Except for the maids in the Piaoyun Courtyard, the maids in the other courtyards had not put on their new clothes. If Wang Shengxue saw a little of the new clothes, he could easily figure out it was someone from the Piaoyun Courtyard who threw the note at him.

It was better for Yujie to change into her old clothes. Wang Yishu was an insignificant person in the mansion, so the maids serving her were all dressed in very old clothes. Sometimes when every master in the mansion got a gift, she was excluded. This time her maids might not have gotten their new clothes.

It was the safest way for Yujie to wear her old clothes.

The maids went to prepare for it. When it was time to go, Shao Wanru headed for Wang Yishu’s courtyard, followed by Yujie.

The Piaoyun Courtyard was far away from Wang Yishu’s courtyard. It could almost be considered a travel from the center of Duke Xing’s Mansion to a remote corner. They met plenty of maids and old maids on their way.

Seeing Shao Wanru come over, the maids and old maids bowed their heads respectfully. However, after Shao Wanru passed by, they began to talk about it in twos and threes.

The path neither led to the gate of the backyard nor led to any master’s courtyard. Why did the Fifth Miss come in this direction?

“Is she just having a walk?” Someone guessed.

“It’s not a good time for a walk. The snow on the road has not been cleared yet!” someone else said. Although most of the snow on the road had been cleared before, the road was piled up with plenty of snow again after the heavy snow last night, which made it inconvenient to walk.

People seldom came to this remote corner, so even the snow on the road had not been cleared. No one would come out for an aimless walk on a slippery road on such a cold day.

“Could it be that… she’s going to see Miss Wang?” An old maid looked in that direction in confusion and asked.

“Miss Wang? Who is she?” a young maid asked. She, around eleven or twelve years old, didn’t know much about what had happened three years ago, so she really couldn’t remember that there was such a cousin Miss in a remote corner at once.

“She is the Childe Wang’s younger sister. I heard that she ends up in such a half-dead state after having a dispute with the Fifth Miss!”

Another old maid said in a low voice despite her loose tongue.

Hearing what she said, most servants immediately understood. Watching Shao Wanru walking away, they suddenly understood what she was going to do.

It was said that Miss Wang attempted to set up the Fifth Miss, who was the Second Miss of the Qin’s Mansion at that time, in the imperial palace, but her trick was seen through by the Fifth Miss. She was so ashamed that she fell to the ground and fainted after hitting a certain part of her body. After that, she was sent back to Duke Xing’s Mansion and remained unconscious. If it weren’t for Madam of Duke Xing who kept her alive with good medicine out of kindness, she would have been dead.

So the Fifth Miss was going to humiliate Miss Wang after hearing that she was still in the mansion?

The dispute between them happened in the imperial palace at that time, and it was said that they made quite a scene. The Fifth Miss must be furious. However, it had been so long, and Miss Wang was in such a miserable situation now. It was really disgraceful for the Fifth Miss to mess with Miss Wang now.

“The Fifth Miss is too narrow-minded!” someone said. On hearing these words, the other servants immediately nodded. Some bold people among them even chimed in with her opinion. After that, everyone’s face darkened. The Fifth Miss was no longer the Second Miss of the Qin’s Mansion. It was said that she was vigorous and resolute in her dealings, so they couldn’t gossip about her at will.

Some of them were scared, turned around and said that they should leave for some business. A moment later, all of them had left.

Everyone thought that Shao Wanru was going to denounce Wang Yishu for what she had done to Shao Wanru, but no one would help Wang Yishu out. Wang Yishu was just a cousin living in Duke Xing’s Mansion. Moreover, her brother was obviously disappointing and not promising. The Fifth Miss was different. She had been rewarded by Prince Chen more than once and even by the Empress Dowager. It was obvious that she was going to have a much brighter future.

No one cared about Miss Wang, since the worst thing likely to happen to her was nothing more than to be humiliated by the Fifth Miss.

Anyway, no one would be blamed even if anything happened to her, who was half-dead.

The servants all thought so. Some of them even thought that it was a good show. It would be good if they could watch it. However, they did not have the courage to follow Shao Wanru there, because no one would go to Wang Yishu’s courtyard with no purpose!

If the Fifth Miss found that they went there to watch the fun, she would definitely sell them.

Shao Wanru ignored the thoughts of the maids and old maids behind her, and walked slowly to the most remote corner with Yujie. As they walked, the road was covered with increasing snow, and they even left their footprints in the snow. Fortunately, after they walked for a while, the snow on the road was cleared, and the road returned to smooth and clean.

Even so, Shao Wanru’s head was covered with sweat. When she arrived at the gate of the courtyard, she breathed heavily and fixed her eyes on the courtyard.

It was a dilapidated courtyard, much smaller than her courtyard. After entering the courtyard, she found there were three rooms in a row which looked more like store rooms or woodsheds in a mansion.

A maid came out of the main room, looking listless. When she saw Shao Wanru and her maid standing at the door, she looked them up and down and then asked timidly, “May I ask who you are and why you come here?”

“My master is the Fifth Miss of our mansion. Hearing that your master is in poor condition, my master specially come to see her!” Yujie took two steps forward, looked the maid up and down, and asked.

“My master has just taken the medicine and is going to sleep now…” the maid said timidly. She didn’t mean to refuse them, but Wang Yishu usually went to sleep at this time indeed. Wang Yishu was in poor health, so she was afraid to delay Wang Yishu’s bed time so that Wang Yishu would get increasingly sick.

“Who… is outside?” A breathless voice came from behind her.

“Miss, it’s the Fifth Miss in the mansion.” The maid breathed a sigh of relief and answered in a hurry.

“The Fifth Miss?” Wang Yishu sat on her bed, closed her eyes and said with a creepy smile on her skinny face, “Invite her… in!”

“Fifth Miss, my master invites you in for a talk!” Hearing Wang Yishu’s words, the maid hurried down the steps, bowed deeply to Shao Wanru and said.

“Where is Doctor Qiu?” Shao Wanru looked around and asked after finding no one else around.

“Doctor Qiu has left. After my master took the medicine, he said that he had to go out for some business. Besides, he told me to make sure that my master has a good rest and not to let her get tired!”

The maid reminded her implicitly that this was the reason why she didn’t dare to disturb Wang Yishu just now.

Her master was in such poor health that her master had to sleep every time after taking medicine. She didn’t know if her master’s condition would worsen if her master didn’t go to sleep at this time. As a little maid, she couldn’t bear the responsibility!

However, Wang Yishu invited the Fifth Miss in after hearing her maid’s words, so she would not be blamed even if Wang Yishu’s condition worsened.

It was reasonable for the maid to think so. Wang Yishu’s condition had worsened recently. She had asked Doctor Qiu in private, but he kept telling her not to let Wang Yishu get tired. Besides, he said that ordinary people could get sick easily in cold winter, not to mention Wang Yishu who had always been in poor health, so she should take care of Wang Yishu carefully.

Shao Wanru stepped up the stairs and looked at the curtain hanging above the door. The curtain was too thin to keep out the cold in winter. Because of the thin curtain, the door behind it was half-closed to keep out the wind.

Yujie stepped forward to push the door open and lifted the curtain to let Shao Wanru in. As soon as Shao Wanru stood at the door, a warm current mixed with the stagnant smell of medicine and all kinds of the other smells came to her nose, making her feel very uncomfortable in the stuffy room.

Shao Wanru, who had always considered the smell of the medicine pleasant, involuntarily took a step back at this moment.

It was an unpleasant and unbearable smell which even contained a faint stench.

…

Yujie lifted the curtain so that the warm stench could go out.

The maid hurried over in an attempt to put down the curtain and said, “My master is in poor health and can’t be exposed in the wind. Sister, please put down the curtain so that my master won’t be exposed in the wind!”

“It’s not good for your master to stay in a stuff room!” Yujie explained.

As soon as she finished speaking, Wang Yishu’s restrained coughs came from inside. Although Wang Yishu had restrained her coughs, her coughs were still louder than those of ordinary people. Based on her coughs, Shao Wanru could tell that she was coughing very hard. It seemed that she was really hurt by the wind and became extremely weak.

“Put it down!” Shao Wanru said.

Yujie answered and put it down. Shao Wanru and Yujie were still standing outside the room and did not get in. Wang Yishu’s maid rushed in hurriedly and patted Wang Yishu’s back, while Wang Yishu was sitting on her bed.

She coughed so hard that her coughs sounded piercing. Finally, her condition got a little better. Shao Wanru stood quietly at the door and didn’t get in.

“Fifth Miss, please come in!” Wang Yishu said in a hoarse voice which didn’t seem to belong to a young lady.