At three quarters past midnight, the morning mist had not yet dissipated from the General's Mansion. The aroma of fried dough sticks wafting from the kitchen, mixed with the scent of well water, spread across the bluestone pavement. Shen Weiwan squatted behind the moon-shaped gate, peeking through the crack as she watched Liu's personal maid, Zhang Ma, sneak towards the corner gate, her sleeves bulging like a purse.
"Chun Tao," Chen Weiwan picked up a stone without looking back, "Did you see that? That old hag Liu is going to cause trouble again."
Chuntao stood on tiptoe to take a look, twisting her handkerchief and whispering, "Miss, when Zhou Mingyuan was arrested yesterday, Liu smashed three teacups in Xiefangyuan. Who knows, she might be trying to collude with someone again..."
"Collusion?" Shen Weiwan sneered and threw the stone into the lotus pond next to her. "She is now a rat crossing the street. Who dares to touch her? But..." A cunning light flashed in her eyes. "When the rat is anxious, it will bite the cat. We have to set a trap for her."
As she spoke, Aunt Zhang had already walked to the corner door and was about to stuff something in her sleeve to the person outside. Shen Weiwan suddenly jumped out, shaking a freshly broken willow branch in her hand: "Aunt Zhang, are you playing 'tossing pots' here so early in the morning?"
Aunt Zhang shuddered with fear, and the letter in her sleeve fell to the ground with a "clack". Shen Weiwan quickly picked it up, unfolded it, and immediately showed a "surprised" expression on her face: "Oh my, whose love letter is this?"
The letter was written in Liu's uniquely beautiful small regular script, but the content made Chuntao unable to hold back her laughter: "...The food in the General's Mansion has been getting worse. Yesterday's lunch, the braised pork lacked half a spoonful of sugar. I'm afraid the cook has been bribed by that little bitch Shen Weiwan..."
Aunt Zhang's face turned pale as she rushed forward to grab the letter. "Miss, give it back to me! This is a letter from my wife to her sisters back home!"
"Written to my sisters?" Chen Weiwan deliberately held the letter high. "But the resentment between the lines is even more fierce than what my father said when he was drunk and cursed the barbarians! Auntie, could it be..." She suddenly lowered her voice and leaned close to Zhang Ma's ear, "Writing a love letter to a lover, complaining about being wronged in my family?"
The words were spoken softly, but the old butler, who was passing by, heard them just in time. The old butler leaned on his cane, his beard shaking like leaves in the autumn wind. "Miss, you can't say that! Madam is our elder..."
"How dare I say that?" Shen Weiwan stuffed the letter into the old housekeeper's hand. "Look at the content. Apart from complaining to their lovers, which sister would talk about how many spoonfuls of sugar to put in braised pork?"
The old housekeeper squinted as he read the letter, his face turning from red to blue, then from blue to purple. In his sixty-plus years of life, this was the first time he had seen the mistress of the house write such a trivial letter to an "outsider," and write it like a nagging woman.
During the stalemate, Liu came hurriedly in her flower pot shoes, the pearl tassels on her bun jingling: "Chen Weiwan! You are bullying Aunt Zhang again! Give me back the letter!"
Chen Weiwan blinked her innocent eyes and handed the letter to Liu: "Aunt, you are finally here! Just now, the housekeeper and I were still guessing whose 'love letter' was so interesting, complaining that the braised pork in our house didn't have enough sugar - could it be that Aunt has a 'sweetheart' outside?"
"What nonsense are you talking about!" Liu was so angry that she was shaking all over. She raised her hand to hit Chen Weiwan, but was stopped by the old housekeeper.
"Madam, calm down," the old housekeeper handed the letter to Liu, his tone filled with disappointment. "Even if you're writing to your sisters back home, you shouldn't complain about the food in the mansion. When the general is here, it's taboo for servants to discuss private matters in the mansion."
Liu looked at the contents of the letter and wished she could find a hole to crawl into. This letter was originally written to Master Jinghui of the nunnery outside the city, hoping that Master Jinghui could help contact Li Xiu. However, Shen Weiwan had tampered with it and replaced it with the complaint she had written yesterday!
"This, this wasn't written by me!" Liu screamed, "Shen Weiwan forged it! She wants to ruin my reputation!"
"Forgery?" Shen Weiwan pretended to be surprised. "How could I imitate my aunt's handwriting? Besides, this letter is the gold-sprinkled rice paper that Madam Taifu gave you on your birthday last year. Could it be that Madam Taifu also helped me forge a love letter?"
The servants had already gathered around, listening to the quarrel between the master and servants, their faces flushed with laughter. Someone murmured, "No wonder the braised pork in the kitchen wasn't sweet yesterday. It turns out the Madam disliked it..."
"That's right, I thought it was the cook's hands that were shaking!"
Liu Shi felt dizzy when she heard the servants' discussion. She pointed at Shen Weiwan and was so angry that she couldn't speak: "You...you..."
Shen Weiwan smiled like a cat stealing fish, and whispered in Liu's ear: "Aunt, next time you want to collude with foreign officials, you must hide the letter. Otherwise, if it falls out again, it will not be as simple as complaining about the braised pork - it may be the serious crime of 'collaborating with the enemy and treason'."
Liu took a step back suddenly and looked at Shen Weiwan in horror. Only then did she realize that she had fallen into the trap of this little hoof again!
"Okay, okay," Shen Weiwan clapped her hands, as if she had just finished dealing with a small matter, "Since Auntie is fine, then go back. By the way," she turned to the old housekeeper and said, "Grandpa Housekeeper, the food in the mansion will still follow the old rules in the future. Don't let Auntie down - after all, she is going to write a letter to her 'sweetheart' to complain."
The old housekeeper coughed twice and suppressed a smile: "I understand, Miss, don't worry."
Liu couldn't stay any longer, she covered her face and turned around and ran away, not even bothering to pick up the hairpin that fell on the ground. Shen Ruorou poked her head out from behind the rockery, looked at her mother's embarrassed back, and stomped her feet in anger.
Shen Weiwan looked at the ugly appearance of the mother and daughter, and a sneer appeared on the corner of her mouth. Chun Tao came over and asked in a low voice: "Miss, how did you know that Liu was going to send a letter? And you prepared a fake letter in advance?"
"Hmph," Chen Weiwan brushed off the dust on her sleeves. "After Zhou Mingyuan was arrested yesterday, she should have known better. But she refused to give up. Last night in the middle of the night, I asked you to go to Xiefangyuan to 'borrow' her letter paper and ink, and then imitate her handwriting to write a 'complaint letter' - I knew she wouldn't be able to hold back tonight."
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