Chapter 24 Who is plotting against whom?
When Xiao Jinrong left Jinhua Hall, the smile on Chen's face disappeared.
She lazily tossed aside the rice paper with the list of ladies, and then instructed Mother Wu, "When the Second Young Master leaves the house, have someone call Yingluo over!"
When Mother Wu heard this, her eyes flashed, and then she lowered her head in agreement.
In Jiyunzhai, Xu Shuyao always felt uneasy these days, perhaps because of what Chen said to her.
The fourth cousin's marriage in the mansion has been decided. I heard that my aunt is also looking for a marriage for my second cousin. Xu Shuyao was a little surprised to hear that.
Because just two days ago, when Chen was talking to her, she had already revealed her intention to keep her in the mansion.
Xu Shuyao didn't think that Chen wanted her to be Xiao Jinrong's concubine. After all, the space a concubine could maneuver was very limited.
During this period, the person in the Rose Court fell ill again.
Xu Shuyao's relationship with her was already weak, and then there was the incident at Songhe Hall.
This time she did not go in person, but sent her maid to deliver some homemade food as a small token of her appreciation.
Xu Shuyao hasn't made any progress in other skills in the past two years, but her cooking skills have improved considerably.
When she first came to Beijing, her cooking skills were only passable, but after arriving at Duke Cheng's Mansion, she had to put more effort into her food in order to prevent her already empty wallet from becoming even emptier.
In this way, when you encounter something like visiting a patient, you only need to spend some materials and physical effort.
That day, Xu Shuyao came back from Jinhua Hall and accidentally noticed that the box where she kept her books and letters seemed to have been moved. At first, she thought that it was accidentally touched by the maid while cleaning, so she didn't pay much attention to it.
But after sitting in the room for a while, she occasionally looked up and found that the maid Qiaowei's eyes were always on the box.
Their eyes met, and he could clearly feel the strangeness in her eyes.
Xu Shuyao put down the book in her hand, frowned and said nothing.
Qiao Wei has been serving her in Jiyunzhai for more than two years. This maid is usually patient.
She stopped reading and walked over to open the boxes and check the things inside one by one. Suddenly, an unsigned letter appeared before her.
Xu Shuyao was shocked and frowned as she read the contents inside, but her face turned pale.
This is a love letter written by a man to a woman, but the signature below is Mr. Qiu.
Xu Shuyao claimed that she did not know any young man named Qiu.
Who wants to harm her?
She turned her gaze to the maid Qiao Wei and saw that she also looked confused and horrified.
"Do you know this Mr. Qiu? Or do you know where this letter came from?" Xu Shuyao had already stood up and looked at the maid in front of her with a sharp gaze.
The maid also shook her head, then fell to her knees with a thud, and asked anxiously, "Master! Isn't this the Second Young Master's?"
Xu Shuyao closed her eyes and said, "So you were the one who put the letter there. Did you think it was from the Second Young Master?" After she said that, she looked at the maid in front of her who was nodding desperately, as if she understood everything.
…
"Master! Letter...what should we do with the letter?" Qiao Wei was still asking in the room.
Xu Shuyao took out the letter paper with an expressionless face, took out another piece of paper, picked up a pen and wrote something before putting it back in. Then she calmly put her box back in its original place.
The maid Qiao Wei watched the whole thing, and was momentarily stunned by the panic in her heart by her master's actions.
After a while, Xu Shuyao raised her head, looked straight at her and said, "From now on, you have to pretend that you know nothing about this. Do you understand?"
Their eyes met, and soon Qiao Wei's eyes were filled with tears.
Xu Shuyao looked at her and raised her sleeve to wipe her tears, then forced herself to hold them back.
One of them sat down and the other stood up, and the room returned to its previous quiet state in an instant, as if everything that had just happened had not happened.
As expected, it wasn't long before noisy voices were heard outside.
Madam Zheng, who was working in the outer room, hurried in: "Master! Are there many people outside?"
Xu Shuyao curled her lips and smiled. She gently closed the book in her hand and said, "Let's go out and take a look!"
At this time, Chen was standing in front of the gate of Jiyunzhai, and Master Xiao was beside her.
Xu Shuyao looked back again and met Xiao Jinrong's cold gaze. However, after their eyes met, the corners of his lips curled up slightly. "This is the first time Jinrong has come to Cousin Xu's yard. It's not that I, your second cousin, am deliberately being rude, but my mother ordered me to come. I hope you won't mind!"
After he finished speaking, he bowed, showing great etiquette.
Xu Shuyao turned her eyes away and heard Chen's order: "Go in and search!"
After saying this, she looked at her niece not far away and said comfortingly, "Don't worry! Auntie will take care of it for you!"
Xu Shuyao lowered her head slightly as a greeting. She really wasn't in the mood at the moment.
Master Xiao Er was completely bewildered the entire time. As soon as he returned home today, Chen came rushing up to him and said, "Master! You're finally back! I have something urgent to tell you."
Then, she began to cry, "I've been arranging a marriage for Jinrong these past few days. The girls I've chosen are all top-notch, and I even invited the Second Young Master to come and see him. But who would have thought that while he agreed to it outwardly, he would secretly seduce my niece. Master, you've seen Shuyao before. She's a very quiet girl, so how could I dare refuse her?"
Through Chen's crying, Mr. Xiao finally understood the whole story.
Although he was somewhat dissatisfied with his step-wife for protecting his niece, when he thought of the child, it was indeed as she said.
He took a quick glance at her at first and found that she was indeed born with a rare good-looking face.
Could it be that his son really had such an idea?
He immediately asked if there was any evidence, which led to the current search of Jiyunzhai.
Several maids excused themselves and filed in. They did not go straight to the boxes, but carefully checked every place.
Not far away, Xiao Jinrong looked relaxed, with even a hint of a smile on his lips.
Chen looked at him, her brows slightly furrowed, and she felt a sense of uncertainty for no reason.
She asked Yingluo to give Qiaowei the letter that Xiao Jinrong had written to Miss Liu. There was no name in the letter, but it contained some erotic words from a man expressing his admiration for a woman.
But are there any differences?
She was originally full of confidence, but after this incident, although her niece passively accepted the letter, her reputation was also tarnished.
The master may have some regrets at first, but in the end he will definitely let his son marry Xu Shuyao.
As a woman, Xu Shuyao should have been the most embarrassed when something like this happened, but she felt anger and sadness, but not embarrassment.
Although she lowered her eyes, she stood straight, feeling the hustle and bustle around her that did not belong to this small courtyard, and she had already started thinking about what to say next.
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