As the master and servant were whispering, a gentle knock from the old housekeeper was heard outside the door. "Miss, the Second Madam sent Cui'er to deliver a message saying...she wants to borrow your red gold hairpin to go to the Da Ci'en Temple and pray for you."
Chen Weiwan and Chuntao looked at each other and laughed at the same time. Chuntao covered her mouth and said, "Second Madam is still thinking about the evil intentions! Her hands are rubbed like that, and she is still thinking about the hairpin!"
"Borrow the hairpin?" Chen Weiwan dropped the remaining apple core into the flowerpot and slowly wiped her hands. "Tell Cui'er that you can borrow it if you want—" She deliberately dragged out her tone, a hint of teasing in her eyes. "Tell your wife to eat the basin of river sand first, and then rub it five hundred times as the 'Five Grains Cleansing Hands Ceremony'. When she has rubbed it enough, you can come and get the hairpin."
The old butler paused outside the door and chuckled softly, "I understand. I'll go and reply right away."
After the old housekeeper left, Chuntao laughed so hard that she slapped her thigh and said, "Miss, you are so mean! If the Second Madam heard this, she would probably faint from anger!"
"It would be better if she fainted from anger," Shen Weiwan walked to the window, looking in the direction of Roulan Courtyard, her eyes cold, "so that she won't have to stretch her hands out all day, trying to take things that don't belong to her." She paused, turned to ask Chuntao: "You said that the whole mansion is laughing at her swollen hands, will she go to the old lady to complain?"
"Of course!" Chun Tao nodded vigorously. "The Second Madam is the best at pretending to be pitiful in front of the Old Madam. Every time she deducts our monthly allowance, she turns around and cries poor in front of the Old Madam, saying that the mansion's expenses are high!"
"Pretending to be pitiful?" Shen Weiwan curled up the corner of her mouth with a cold smile, picked up the silver hairpin on the table and pinned it in her hair, "It's just right, I should go and 'care' about my aunt's hand. Let's go, pay our respects to the old lady and 'comfort' my aunt by the way."
Chuntao's eyes lit up: "Miss, are you going to see a play?"
"No," Shen Weiwan straightened her clothes, and an innocent smile instantly appeared on her face. The smile was as sweet as honey, but there was a cunning light in her eyes, "I went to 'show my concern' to my aunt."
When the master and servant were walking towards "Songhe Hall" where the old lady lived, they passed by Roulan Courtyard and saw a circle of maids and old women gathered at the gate of the courtyard. They all stretched their necks to look into the courtyard, with smiles on their faces and their shoulders shaking.
"What are you looking at?" Chuntao shouted with her hands on her hips.
A little maid turned around in fear, stammering, "Sister Chuntao, the Second Madam is smashing things in the house! She's smashing things and saying she's going to complain to the Old Madam, saying, saying that the eldest lady is bullying her..."
Upon hearing this, Shen Weiwan laughed even more happily. She adjusted the hem of her skirt, a worried expression on her face, and said to Chuntao, "Why are you still standing there? Go tell the old lady, tell her that I heard that my aunt had a hand injury, so I specially prepared some medicine and came to pay my respects."
Chun Tao understood and ran towards Songhe Hall. Chen Weiwan followed slowly behind. When she passed the entrance of Roulan Courtyard, she deliberately raised her voice, her voice so sweet that it was sickening: "Oh! Auntie, is your hand still hurting? I have some excellent medicine prescribed by the Imperial Hospital. I'll send it to you right away -"
The sound of smashing things in the house suddenly stopped. Immediately afterwards, Liu's sharp scream flew out through the window: "Chen Weiwan! You little bitch! Get out of here!"
Shen Weiwan turned a deaf ear to him, but smiled even sweeter, and shouted at the closed door: "Aunt, don't be polite! For my mother's hairpin, you even rubbed your hands raw. How can I, your niece, not care? I'll ask Chuntao to put the medicine at the door later, please remember to apply it——"
The servants around them could no longer hold back their laughter, and bursts of "Puff" and "Hahaha" erupted one after another. A few brave servants laughed so hard that they squatted on the ground and slapped their thighs. A loud "clang" sounded from Roulan Courtyard, as if a dressing table had been pushed over, followed by Liu's furious curses and the maids' screams.
As Shen Weiwan listened to the noises in the room, the smile on her lips gradually cooled. She quickened her pace toward Songhe Hall. The sunlight shone on the hem of her plain skirt, making the light in her eyes particularly bright. "Liu, this is just the beginning. I will recover everything you and your daughter owe me, one by one, with interest. After the Spring Banquet, it will be Shen Ruorou's turn next."
At this time, Chun Tao came running back, panting, her cheeks flushed. "Miss, the old lady asked you to come over! The second lady is also there, holding the old lady's hand and crying and complaining, saying that you tortured her with river sand and refused to give her the hairpin!"
"Oh?" Shen Weiwan raised her eyebrows, a hint of amusement flashed in her eyes, "That's perfect, I'll go and 'testify' for her."
The master and servant exchanged a smile, then walked briskly toward Pine Crane Hall. The pomegranate tree in front of the hall was in full bloom, its petals falling onto the blue bricks like spilled blood. A new "drama" was about to begin in the old lady's main room. And throughout the mansion, the joke about "Second Lady's Pig's Knuckle" continued to ferment, spreading from the kitchen to the stables, from the mouths of the maids and servants to the ears of the servants, becoming the most lively topic of conversation in the general's mansion.
Did Liu think she was just a laughing stock because of her swollen hands? No, Shen Weiwan curled her lips. The real scene of social demise would always be in the next scene. She wanted Liu and Shen Ruoruo to pay back the humiliation they had inflicted on her in her previous life a hundredfold and a thousandfold.
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