The carriage made several turns and then turned into an alley.
Shen Qingyu saw the mark on the map: Xinghua Hutong.
We walked all the way to the end of the alley, entered a courtyard, and then stopped.
The slender woman lifted the carriage curtain: "Get down. You'll be staying here for the time being."
The group got out of the car and were all taken aback.
This yard is huge!
The house was decorated in an exquisite and elegant style.
The grape trellis in the courtyard, the stone table and chairs under the trellis, the exquisite calligraphy and paintings and vases hanging in the hall...
They really are a wealthy family!
Maids and servants stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Please come this way, gentlemen..."
The group was settled in a separate courtyard with three bedrooms and a living room.
The bed with its carved railings, the brocade quilt, the elegant vase, the paintings on the wall...
There is also a desk by the window, complete with writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.
Shen Qingyu glanced at it and nodded, "Thank you. When will the people who want to see us arrive? Or should we go see them ourselves?"
The old woman spoke very respectfully: "Please wait a moment in the courtyard, my master will be here shortly..."
"You can arrange yourselves in the rooms of this courtyard. There are clean clothes in the closet. If you need anything else, just call me."
Shen Qingyu, adaptable to the situation, said, "We're hungry. Do you have any hot food? We'd like some soup."
I haven't eaten properly for several days.
"Let's set out the meal for you."
After the old woman left, Shen Qingyu opened the wardrobe. Inside, there were quite a few clothes, all of them new, made of silk and satin.
Zhao Yuzhu and Yuqiao were both surprised: "Who exactly are the people who captured us?"
Now that things had come to this, Shen Qingyu had to explain things to them, so she told them about her background that Qi Yunxiao had previously told her.
"I suspect that the people who captured us are likely from the Qingping Marquis's residence."
Zhao Yuzhu became nervous after hearing this.
"Is it because of your poor family background that they think you're not good enough for Qi Yunxiao's family, so they brought you here to...do harm to you?"
Shen Qingyu shrugged: "I don't know. But no matter what, I have to protect Da Bao and Xiao Bao. I can't let them bully them."
Yu Qiao, an observer with a clear perspective, said: "They've been quite polite to us the whole way, so they probably don't want to kill us."
As long as the person doesn't die, everything else is manageable.
Shen Qingyu calmed down and took out clothes from the closet: "Let's go! Let's take a shower and change first! No need to be polite with them."
Good heavens, we've been eating and sleeping in the open all this way, we haven't had a proper shower, they're all rotting!
The maids seemed to have known all along, and the kitchen prepared hot water, which they quickly brought over to wash the two little ones first, then Zhao Yuzhu and Yuqiao, and finally Shen Qingyu.
After everyone had washed up and changed into clean clothes, the food was ready.
A table full of dishes, a perfect balance of meat and vegetables, with appealing colors, aromas, and tastes, is sure to whet your appetite!
Shen Qingyu tasted it first, and after confirming that it was not poisonous, she waved her hand and said, "Let's eat!"
It was the first time that Xiao Bao and Da Bao had seen such beautifully presented and exquisite food, and they ate until their bellies were round and full.
After everyone had finished eating, Granny Yu gestured, "Madam Chen, please bring the two young masters and the young lady with you."
Shen Qingyu pointed to her own nose: "Only me? What about my mother and this Lady Yuqiao?"
"We'll see these two later." Granny Yu smiled and led the way.
Knowing she couldn't refuse, Shen Qingyu grabbed one child on each side and walked towards the front yard.
Upon entering the flower hall, Shen Qingyu saw a middle-aged man and a beautiful but ageless noblewoman sitting in the main seats, with two housekeepers standing beside them. Their natural air of nobility was breathtaking.
Shen Qingyu remained silent and stood in the center of the flower hall.
The two children looked at the person sitting at the head of the table with a mixture of curiosity and fear, clinging tightly to their mother and holding her hands even tighter.
Granny Yu gestured, "Master, Madam Shen and the young master and young lady have arrived."
The woman spoke first: "Weren't you supposed to be triplets? Why is one missing?"
Shen Qingyu retorted, "You brought us here without doing any investigation?"
The middle-aged man was slightly surprised: This country woman actually dared to question him?
That's incredibly bold!
"What's going on?" the woman asked the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man said in a deep voice, "I heard that the Second Miss was taken in as a disciple by the Mad Taoist? And taken away?"
"Yes," Shen Qingyu readily admitted.
He knew it after all.
"The Mad Taoist?" The noblewoman looked at the middle-aged man in shock.
Shen Qingyu had already tacitly accepted that the two people were the Marquis of Qingping and his wife, and assumed that they had already investigated them, so she simply decided to go all out and confess.
"The Mad Taoist took a liking to Erbao, saying that she was born with five deficiencies and three lacks, and was afflicted by the Heavenly Canopy, and needed to achieve great success in cultivation in order to defy fate. So he took her as his disciple. Now he has gone on a journey, and no one knows where he has gone."
"So these are Da Bao and Xiao Bao?" The lady's eyes fell on Da Bao and Xiao Bao, her eyes sparkling with undisguised affection.
"Da Bao, Xiao Bao, come here quickly, let Grandma take a look..."
Shen Qingyu: As expected, she is Qi Yunxiao's stepmother.
Shen Qingyu didn't want to call the child over, but the stepmother had already instructed the old woman beside her to open a food box containing exquisite pastries.
"Da Bao and Xiao Bao, come here! Grandma brought you some delicious food!"
Da Bao and Xiao Bao didn't dare to go over, and both looked at Shen Qingyu.
Shen Qingyu politely declined, saying, "You don't need to be so polite. They just finished eating and don't eat snacks."
The lady put away the snacks with some disappointment, then asked her servant to bring out another box: "These are toys I prepared for the children, can we give them these?"
Shen Qingyu was startled when she took a look: inside was a beautiful white jade nine-linked ring!
This kind of thing breaks easily if it's bumped or knocked, what's the point of letting a child play with it?
So Shen Qingyu politely declined again: "This thing is too precious, and the children are still young; it's easy for them to break it."
Undeterred, the noblewoman asked her servant to bring out another box: "How about this one? This one is for crickets... made of straw! It won't break easily."
Hmm, although this is made of straw, the eyes are made of pearls...
Shen Qingyu wanted to politely decline, but seeing the increasingly dark expression on Qingping Hou's face, she decided to accept it: "Dabao, Xiaobao, thank you, Grandma..."
The two little ones, having received their mother's command, finally let go, walked forward, and took the two straw crickets, saying with exceptional politeness, "Thank you, Grandma."
Their soft, cute, and obedient appearance immediately made the lady smile, and she pulled them over with one in each hand, hugging them tightly and refusing to let go!
"Oh my, these little ones look exactly like your father when he was a child! Except their foreheads aren't as dark! Little pink dumplings... Grandma loves you so much..."
Shen Qingyu was astonished: This stepmother is too amazing!
If Qi Yunxiao hadn't mentioned that his stepmother had schemed against him in his marriage, she would have believed that his stepmother genuinely liked the two children!
Such acting skills, such genuine emotion...
The Hundred Flowers Awards owe you a trophy!
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