Chapter 199 Beauty's Schemes (2) - Rejected
The maid's name was Xia Ju, which is also a common name for a maid.
They entered and exited through the side gate of the Prince's Mansion. Ning Shu could enter and exit the mansion simply by holding the token at her waist. It must be said that this token was really useful.
As soon as Ning Shu left the mansion, she immediately wanted to find Character A. She asked Xia Ju to go buy pineapple cakes by herself, while she went to... Dali Temple.
It should be the Dali Temple, right? The Dali Cheng's workplace should be the Dali Temple. I just don't know if she'll be able to meet him.
When she was about to go find someone, she discovered that the instance map... was a bit too big.
There's no navigation here; you have to ask for directions by talking and get around entirely on foot. How much time must she spend looking for people?
What exactly did this system provide as initial resources?
She began to search her entire body; her head was bare of ornaments, only bound with ribbons.
Besides a set of ancient clothing, she was wearing a royal token and a brocade pouch that she had hung at her waist when she left. She opened the pouch and saw that there were a few pieces of silver inside.
That's all we have; these are our initial supplies.
Ning Shu chuckled twice, criticizing it all as useless.
Forget it, let's rely on our words first, then our actions.
She walked to a nearby fabric store to ask for directions, and the shopkeeper pointed her in the right direction, telling her to go north.
The person asking for directions here was referring to the cardinal directions (north, south, east, west), which touched on a blind spot in her knowledge. If he hadn't given her directions, she wouldn't have known which way to go north.
Ning Shu followed the direction the other person pointed out, asking for directions every now and then. Luckily, she wasn't socially anxious, otherwise this task would have been very difficult.
She finally found the Dali Temple, only to discover that she couldn't get in.
When the guards heard that she had come to see Lord Cui, they ignored her, saying that this was a government office and that she should go to Lord Cui's house if she needed anything.
She confirmed two things from the conversation: first, Cui Zeyu did indeed work here; second, she simply couldn't get in no matter what.
She originally planned to stake out the place, but she forgot to tell Xia Ju to go back after she finished shopping.
She didn't know how long she would have to wait here, so now that she knew where character A was, she decided to come back later.
Before leaving, Ning Shu asked the guards again when the Dali Temple usually finished its shifts. After learning the time, she left.
After leaving, she quickly brought up the game panel to check the time.
The time displayed on the panel was in ancient Chinese timekeeping, but fortunately the system thoughtfully added the corresponding modern time after the time.
The shop assistant just said that Dali Temple is usually open during the You Shi (5-7 PM) period. She did some research and found that the You Shi period corresponds to 5 PM to 7 PM.
Why is the time fluctuation so large?
This means she's waiting for someone for at least two hours.
It's a little past 9 a.m. now, which is the Si hour here. She can come and wait for us before 5 p.m.
Ning Shu ran towards the place where she and Xia Ju had parted ways, guessing that Xia Ju had already bought the pineapple cakes.
Sure enough, when she returned to the spot, Xia Ju was already waiting for her.
Xia Ju looked a little anxious: "Sister Ruyi, where did you go?"
Ning Shu asked curiously, "I just went to take care of something, what's wrong?"
Xia Ju: "We came out to buy pastries, we're afraid we'll get fined if we go back too late."
Well, she also feels that being a maid is not very convenient. Should she try to leave the Prince's mansion?
Let's go back now.
After returning to the Prince's residence, Ning Shu and Xia Ju went to find the Dowager Consort. Actually, Ning Shu didn't know the way, so Xia Ju led the way.
After walking for a while, Ning Shu felt that this Prince's mansion was huge, really huge.
Her first thought was that people in ancient times loved luxury.
When Ning Shu arrived at the courtyard, she found it to be quite grand. Upon reaching the gate, the servants who had been standing there approached and spoke.
"Miss Ruyi is back. The Empress Dowager was just asking about you." After saying that, the other person opened the door for her to come in.
Ning Shu looked at the caregiver in front of her, who was older than her, and felt a little puzzled by her politeness.
She's just a maid. It's one thing for the younger maids to be polite to her, but why are the older maids also so polite to her?
After thanking the other party, she entered the room and was greeted by an old woman who smiled and came over to her.
"Miss Ruyi is back. The Empress Dowager is waiting for your pineapple cake inside."
Ning Shu followed the old nanny into the inner room somewhat awkwardly and found a beautiful and dignified middle-aged woman sitting on a daybed reading a book, which was a Buddhist scripture.
The woman exuded an air of nobility; her luxurious headdress and clothing all spoke volumes about her status.
Ning Shu thought this must be the Empress Dowager they were talking about.
"So young!" The title sounded old-fashioned, but the person looked so young that she had mistaken them for an old lady before she even saw them.
Seeing Ning Shu approach, the woman laughed: "You little rascal, it takes you so long to buy a pineapple cake, have you been having so much fun outside that you've forgotten all about home?"
Is this how a concubine treats her maid? So friendly? Ning Shu was puzzled, but that didn't stop her from pretending.
"I've kept Her Highness waiting for so long, I deserve to die." Ning Shu spoke very seriously.
The Empress Dowager did not blame her: "Look at what you're saying. I am your aunt, so it is only right that I take care of you."
Wow, so that's how they were related. No wonder everyone else was so polite to her.
Ning Shu responded to the Empress Dowager's words in a perfunctory manner and eventually left unscathed. She learned her true identity by subtly inquiring from others.
It turns out she was the daughter of a distant cousin of Consort Yu. Ruyi's mother and father died in an accident, leaving her all alone.
Consort Yu couldn't bear to see her suffer, so she brought her to the Prince's residence. Originally, she wanted her son to take her as a concubine, but her son didn't like her.
This made Ruyi's position in the Prince's mansion quite awkward, so they arranged for her to be a first-class maid.
In reality, she didn't need to do any specific tasks; she could simply wait for the Dowager Consort to arrange a good family for her later.
After learning about her background, Ning Shu realized that she could freely enter and leave the Prince's mansion. She felt that this was acceptable and wouldn't affect her mission.
It was already noon when she left the Dowager's place. The Dowager seemed really bored, as she kept chatting with her until it was time for a midday rest before letting her go.
Then another problem arose: where was her dormitory?
Ning Shu felt that the game was really that bad. Why didn't they just tell her everything clearly instead of making her find it herself?
This is such a waste of time!
Clever as ever, she used her tried-and-true trick—pointing to Xia Ju to lead the way, saying she had something to give her and asking her to come with her to the dormitory.
However, she ended up following the other person and easily found out where her bedroom was.
The problem arose after they got to the bedroom, regarding the things she was supposed to give to the other person.
She had no idea what this identity entailed, so naturally she didn't know what she should give in return.
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