The carved carriage abruptly stopped in front of the second gate of the General's Mansion, and Shen Ruorou was practically carried off by two maids. The hem of her moon-white uniform was stained with grass debris, and the collar at the back of her neck was scratched to shreds, leaving her exposed skin covered in red and swollen scratches that looked like a layer of red ants crawling on it from a distance.
"Let go!" she screamed, shaking off the old woman's hand. The pearl flower on her bun fell to the back of her ear, and her hair stuck to her sweaty cheek. As she walked into the hanging flower door, she heard the maids' tittering around the corner.
"See? Where did the second young lady come back from?"
"Hush... I heard someone scratched themselves so hard they became like monkey butts!"
Shen Ruorou turned around abruptly, her sharp nails almost digging into her palms: "Who is talking nonsense!"
She was answered with even louder sneers. She was so angry that she was shaking all over. She picked up her skirt and ran to Xiefang Courtyard, but because of the unbearable itching on her legs, she stumbled and bumped into the moon gate, leaving a bruise on her forehead.
"Miss!" Qinghe, her personal maid, hurriedly supported her. "Slow down!"
As soon as she stepped into the room, Shen Ruoruo tore her clothes and screamed, "Take it off! Take it off quickly!" Qinghe timidly untied her skirt. When her moon-white dress slipped to the ground, grass debris fell down and piled up into a small pile on the blue bricks.
"Grass scraps? How could there be so many grass scraps!" Qing He was so frightened that her face turned pale. "I clearly shook my skirt that day..."
Shen Ruorou rushed to the mirror, only to see the person in it with a sallow complexion. Her eyeliner had been blurred by tears, leaving two black streaks. Her cheeks and neck were covered in bloody scratches from her fingernails. Her carefully drawn eyebrows had become smudged like caterpillars. She suddenly grabbed the jade comb on the table and smashed it against the mirror. With a clang, the mirror cracked into a spider web.
"Chen Weiwan!" She pointed at the shattered mirror and screamed, "It's you! You must have shaken the grass into my skirt!"
Qing He was so frightened that she fell to her knees: "Miss, please keep your voice down... walls have ears..."
"I told you to keep your voice down!" Shen Ruorou kicked Qinghe on the back, "It's all your fault! If you hadn't looked at my skirt, how could I have been tricked by her!"
At this moment, the sound of noble ladies laughing and talking came from outside the window. Shen Ruorou suddenly opened the curtains and saw Lin Churan and several noble ladies passing by the courtyard, all pointing in the direction of Xiefang Courtyard and laughing.
"See? That's Miss Shen's yard. I heard she scratched her face all over at the Taifu Mansion today!"
"Not only that! I also heard that she wanted to make Miss Shen wear a skirt with grass scraps, but ended up wearing it by mistake!"
"Tsk tsk, isn't this too vicious? It's a shame Miss Shen still spoke up for her..."
The sound of discussion pierced Shen Ruorou's ears like needles. She looked at the noble ladies' disgusted expressions, then looked at the grass scraps on the ground and her own miserable appearance, and suddenly collapsed to the ground and burst into tears.
"My reputation... my white lotus..." She grabbed the grass scraps on the ground and stuffed them into her mouth. "Chen Weiwan! I'm not done with you! I'm going to kill you!"
Qing He was so scared that she hugged her legs: "Miss! Please calm down!"
"Calm down?" Shen Ruorou shook her off, grabbed the rouge on the dressing table and threw it at the door. "How can I calm down? The whole capital is laughing at me! Laughing at me for being a stupid woman! Laughing at me for being vicious!"
Just as the quarrel was getting out of hand, Liu rushed in with a group of maids. Seeing her daughter's disheveled hair and scratched face, she was so angry that she trembled all over: "What are you doing? Are you crazy?"
"Mother!" Shen Ruorou threw herself into Liu's arms, "It was Shen Weiwan! She harmed me! Now the whole capital is laughing at me..."
Liu looked at her daughter's half-human, half-ghost appearance, and remembered the cold eyes of the Grand Tutor's wife. She suddenly raised her hand and slapped her: "Waste! How could I give birth to such a waste as you! I asked you to scheme against others, but you ended up getting yourself into trouble! Now look, you've brought shame upon the General's Mansion!"
"Mom..." Shen Ruorou covered her face, unable to believe that her mother would hit her.
"Don't call me mother!" Liu pushed her away. "From today on, you stay in the yard and don't go out and embarrass yourself!"
After saying that, Liu left without looking back. Shen Ruorou looked at her mother's resolute back, then looked at the empty room, and suddenly burst into a shrill laugh: "Hahaha... White Lotus... My White Lotus..."
She got up and frantically searched the room, throwing all the beautiful clothes on the floor and stomping on them. Suddenly, she touched a red gold hairpin at the bottom of the box - it was the one Liu had secretly taken from the tablet of Shen Weiwan's mother and prepared to use as a dowry for her.
"It's all because of you!" Shen Ruorou grabbed her and shook her, slamming her hands against the wall. "If it weren't for these broken things, how could I have ended up like this today!"
The hairpin hit the blue bricks and broke into pieces. Shen Ruoruo looked at the fragments on the ground and suddenly remembered the Spring Banquet when Shen Weiwan wore the cloud pattern satin skirt given by the Taifu's wife and was looked at differently by the Seventh Prince.
"Xiao Yu...Seventh Prince..." She murmured to herself, a hint of madness flashing in her eyes, "Chen Weiwan, you stole my clothes and my reputation, do you want to steal my prince too?"
She stood up suddenly, rushed to the mirror, looked at her scratched face, and suddenly laughed: "No... I can't let it go like this... I want you to have a taste of the feeling of being ruined!"
Qing He saw her young lady suddenly calm down, but she felt even more scared: "Young lady, what...what do you want to do?"
Shen Ruorou turned around, tears still on her face, but her eyes were unusually calm: "Qinghe, go get me some pen and ink. I want to write a letter."
"Write a letter? To whom?"
A sinister smile appeared on Shen Ruorou's lips: "Of course... for Li Xiu."
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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