Chapter 76 Chapter 76 The evil rat stole the hairpin and withdrew from himself...
A distinguished guest came to the Pingyuan Marquis Mansion today.
Old Lady Gu was pruning the branches of flowers in the garden. The branches and leaves needed to be pruned so that beautiful flowers could bloom. She cut off the excess branches and leaves, leaving the branches with buds ready to bloom.
While cutting, he heard a servant announce that His Royal Highness Prince Heng had come to visit.
Everyone was puzzled as to why Prince Heng suddenly came to visit at this time, but Old Madam Gu seemed to have sensed something. She put down the silver scissors in her hand and walked towards the front hall with the help of the maid beside her.
Old Madam Gu was getting old and her legs and thighs were not very convenient, but she walked very fast this time, and the journey that usually took a quarter of an hour was compressed into nearly half by her.
When she arrived at the front hall and saw the lone figure, Old Lady Gu felt inexplicably disappointed.
Seeing the figure appear at the door, Yan Zhuo quickly stood up and bowed, then took out an ordinary wooden box.
"Prince Heng is too polite. Why do you bring these gifts when you come?" Old Lady Gu said a few polite words and planned to have someone take the things to the warehouse.
Yan Zhuo stopped the maid who was about to take the items to the storeroom and turned to ask Old Lady Gu:
"Don't you want to see what's inside?"
Old Lady Gu laughed. "I'm already so old, what good things have I not seen? What new and wonderful things have you prepared for me?"
"I didn't prepare it. The young lady from the Zhao family, Zhao Mingsheng, asked me to bring it back for you."
On the day of leaving Qingkang Town, Zhao Mingsheng was in a hurry and had no time to prepare other things. He only gave the things he had with him to Yan Zhuo and asked him to take them to Old Lady Gu at the Pingyuan Marquis Mansion.
The first thing Yan Zhuo did when he returned to Beijing was to go to the palace to meet the emperor, and the second thing he did after coming out was to go straight to the Pingyuan Marquis Mansion.
He held the wooden box in his left hand, and tapped it lightly with his right hand, and the box opened automatically.
Three white porcelain bottles were quietly placed in the box. These three porcelain bottles contained the Qibao Meiran Pills, Jiuyang Buqi Pills, and the scar removal cream, which were very expensive in the pharmacy.
Although Old Lady Gu was a little surprised at this moment, she accepted it very quickly.
"Sheng asked you to bring it to me." There was a hint of surprise in her voice, and the initial disappointment was gone. "Quick! Let me see it."
Old Lady Gu caressed the box handed to her by the maid, and took the porcelain bottle inside in her hand as if it were precious, praising her: "My love for this girl is not in vain. It's amazing that she still thinks of me."
Yan Zhuo took this opportunity to introduce to her the uses of the pills in the porcelain bottle one by one.
Hearing the names of these pills, Old Lady Gu was stunned for a moment. Aren't these the pills that have been so popular in Beijing recently? Even she, an old woman who has rarely left home in many years, has heard of them. They are said to come from an unknown town and are worth a fortune. She didn't expect Sheng to buy three bottles at once.
Thinking of this, Old Lady Gu frowned slightly. Could it be that this girl had used all the money he gave her to support herself to buy these pills?
"Your Highness Prince Heng, do you know how much that girl spent to buy these?"
Old Madam Gu was thinking about giving the money back to that silly girl.
"According to the market price, these three bottles of pills are worth about two thousand taels of silver. But..."
Upon hearing this number, the old lady's brows wrinkled slightly.
"But what?"
Yan Zhuo lowered his voice a little, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "But these were all made by Zhao Mingsheng himself, so it didn't cost any money. Please keep this matter secret, Old Lady Gu."
At this moment, the old lady, who had seen a lot of things in the world, had to admit that she was shocked.
"Are you serious?" she asked again in disbelief.
How many people have fought so hard to buy this good thing, but it actually came from the hands of Sheng Yatou!
After receiving a positive answer, Old Lady Gu's frown relaxed and she smiled.
"This child has really made it big." She said with pride. "It's good this way. Now that she has this skill, I don't have to worry about her too much."
On the way to the Marquis' Mansion, Yan Zhuo was still thinking about how to explain it if Old Madam Gu asked him why he helped Zhao Mingsheng carry things.
Now, apart from praising him, Old Madam Gu asked nothing else, which made Yan Zhuo a little confused. He endured it for a long time and still couldn't help asking.
"Why don't you ask why I brought these things to you?"
"With such a big incident as the real and fake daughter appearing in the Marquis' Mansion, who is behind this? Is he kind-hearted or does he want to take advantage? How can I not find out clearly?" Old Madam Gu asked back.
"He was able to bring the pearl all the way back to the capital from that small village without leaking a single word, even keeping it a secret from me. There are only a handful of people in the capital who can do this, and His Highness Prince Heng is naturally one of them. So while Miss Sheng was packing her luggage, I sent someone out to check, and sure enough, I saw the people with His Highness."
Yan Zhuo was a little surprised, "So you already knew it."
Old Madam Gu snorted softly, "With the real and fake daughter appearing in the Marquis' Mansion, such a big deal, who is behind this? Is it out of kindness or is it to take advantage? How could I not find out?" She paused and continued, "If I didn't know this, how could I let her leave with a stranger?"
It was precisely because Old Lady Gu trusted His Royal Highness Prince Heng's character that she allowed him to send Zhao Mingsheng home. Suddenly hearing that His Royal Highness Prince Heng had come to visit, she thought Miss Sheng would also be returning with him, which gave rise to the initial anticipation and disappointment.
Yan Zhuo was about to say something else when he saw a maid with two buns on her hair suddenly running in hurriedly and whispering something in Old Madam Gu's ear, and then Old Madam Gu's face changed all of a sudden.
Old Lady Gu forced a smile and said to Yan Zhuo, "Thank you for taking His Highness Prince Heng on this trip. I should have invited you to stay for dinner, but I have something important to do at home right now, so I can't stay any longer."
Yan Zhuo didn't want to get involved in other people's family affairs, so he stood up and said goodbye. "Then I'll come visit you again next time I have the chance."
After seeing off Prince Heng, Old Madam Gu called over the maid who had just delivered the message.
"Is what you just said true?"
The maid knelt on the ground, her forehead pressed tightly to the ground, and said nervously, "I dare not say a word of falsehood. The Third Madam and the Sixth Madam did leave early this morning with the things from the storeroom."
"Where did you take the things? Why didn't you stop him?" Old Lady Gu's face was terribly gloomy.
The maidservant grew increasingly nervous, stumbling over her words, "The Third Madam came with the matching cards. The people in the warehouse thought they had received your instructions, so they gave them the cards. They just realized something was wrong. As for where they went, I don't know either. I heard from the gatekeeper that the Third Madam's carriage was heading east."
Although the things given by the Dingguo Marquis' Mansion were placed in the warehouse, the cards were handed over to Liang for safekeeping. She did not expect that Liang would take the things and leave without saying a word, completely ignoring her as her mother-in-law.
Where would Liang take the things?
Old Madam Gu couldn't think of it, nor did she dare to think about it.
On the other side, inside the Dingguo Marquis Mansion.
Zhao Mingzhu was frightened by the sudden appearance of Cui Cen, because she remembered clearly that in a few days, the news of Cui Cen's death would spread throughout the capital, and Old Madam Cui would fall seriously ill and pass away soon. Only a bastard son who was not even qualified to inherit the title would be left. How could he support such a big marquisate?
The once glorious Dingguo Marquis Mansion quickly fell into decline. Zhao Mingsheng, who had a child marriage with Dingguo Marquis in her previous life and had never left the mansion, was also implicated and was branded as a jinx. In the end, it was Old Lady Gu who stepped in and swallowed her pride to find a good marriage for her.
Zhao Mingzhu had her own plans. She didn't want to and couldn't repeat Zhao Mingsheng's mistakes, so she hurriedly brought Liang to the house, wanting to end this relationship.
But if Cui Cen is dead, then who is the person in front of him?
Is this a fake corpse? ! !
As soon as this terrible thought came to mind, Zhao Mingzhu immediately jumped up from her chair and shrank behind Liang in fear.
"You, are you a human or a ghost?" Her voice trembled violently as she spoke.
Cui Cen ignored her and strode to his grandmother's side. While helping her calm down, he gave instructions to Aunt Zhang beside her.
"Aunt Zhao, go get the engagement documents."
Old Madam Cui was holding Cui Cen's hand tightly, looking him up and down carefully. She had no time to be happy to see her good grandson return in good health, when she suddenly heard Zhao Mingzhu's question.
Mrs. Cui's face, which had finally brightened up, darkened again because of these words.
What kind of person or ghost is this? Why is this girl from the Pingyuan Marquis family always saying such unlucky things? If it weren't for Old Lady Gu, she would have been kicked out long ago!
In addition to Liang's previous statement about wanting to cancel the engagement, Mrs. Cui had long been displeased with the mother and daughter. Since they did not want to continue the marriage, their family would not force them, so she did not refute her grandson's words.
When Aunt Zhang saw the second young master returning safely, she was naturally delighted. Seeing that the old lady had no intention of stopping her, she happily accepted the task.
Before Zhao's mother and daughter could react, Aunt Zhang had already returned with the documents.
"I've got the paperwork. I wonder when you plan to return the things on the gift list?"
Cui Cen took the thin document in his hand, glanced at the thick gift list beside it, turned around and asked the mother and daughter seriously.
If you want to cancel the engagement, that's fine. Please also return the items on the gift list.
Cui Cen didn't intend to be a good guy.
Although she didn't understand what went wrong, Zhao Mingzhu finally accepted the fact that Cui Cen was still alive. But when she heard that they were asked to return the items on the gift list, she was stunned.
Although they brought the things on the gift list from that year today, they just wanted to pretend and never thought that the Dingguo Marquis Mansion would really ask them to return them.
Moreover, at the last banquet, although her grandmother did not agree, Zhao Mingzhu secretly appropriated one of the ruby head ornaments for the sake of face. As a result, one of the hairpins was accidentally lost on the day of the banquet. A set of ruby head ornaments was incomplete without one of the hairpins, and it seemed much less impressive.
"Of course, we've brought everything with us. We won't steal anything from your family!" Zhao Mingzhu ignored Liang's gentle tug at her clothes and agreed to Cui Cen's request. These small things were nothing. After he married that man, she would have as many of these things as she wanted.
Cui Cen nodded in satisfaction and handed the thick gift list to Zhao Ma, who asked a few people to check it.
Zhao Mingzhu was stubborn but at the same time she was hoping for luck, hoping that the people in Dingguo Mansion would not check too carefully.
But how could everything go as she wished?
Just when Zhao Mingzhu was getting anxiously waiting, Zhao's mother came back with the verification person.
"Reporting to the Second Young Master, everything else is complete. Only the ruby headpiece is missing a hairpin."
Zhao Mingzhu, who had been caught, concealed her panic and said preemptively, "Did Mother Zhang see it wrong?"
"I have carefully checked it with them three times, there is no mistake."
Faced with Zhao Mingzhu's questioning, Zhao's mother almost patted her chest and made a promise.
"Maybe it was left in the warehouse for too long and got taken away by a rat."
As soon as these words were spoken, the scene suddenly became very quiet.
“Puff.”
The silence was broken by the tittering laughter of some maidservant.
The ruby headpiece was placed in a wooden box and closed well. What kind of mouse could open the heavy lid of the box and take away a hairpin from it?
"Okay, let's just assume it was stolen by the 'rat'."
Mrs. Cui, who had been silent all this time, spoke.
"We can't just pull that 'rat' over and beat it up to make it cough up the hairpin. Even if we could pull it out, I'd still think it's polluting my property!"
Having lived to such an old age, what could be hidden from her eyes? She now understood something about this hairpin and ring, but she just didn't want to get too entangled with such a family.
After hearing these words, Liang's face turned red, her head almost drooped to her chest, and she just wanted to leave this place quickly.
Only Zhao Mingzhu, who didn't hear the hidden meaning, was complacent about it. Thanks to her cleverness and wit, the crisis was resolved.
Since Mrs. Cui had spoken, the others naturally continued to walk down the slope.
Cui Cen didn't think too much about it. He took out the document and lit it with the weak charcoal fire in the incense burner beside him. The flames jumped up to the paper and soon swallowed up most of it.
"What about yours?" Cui Cen looked up and motioned Zhao Mingzhu to take out her share and deal with it together.
Seeing the document engulfed in flames, Zhao Mingzhu opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but an inexplicable intuition told her that she might have lost something.
"Give it to him quickly, let's go back." Liang had never felt so embarrassed before, and she just wanted to return to her own small courtyard as soon as possible.
At Liang's urging, Zhao Mingzhu shook her head, shaking off those inexplicable thoughts. She didn't want to stay here anymore, so she hurriedly took out the prepared documents, tore them into pieces in a few strokes, threw away the scraps of paper, and left quickly with Liang.
Cui Cen couldn't help but sigh when he saw the paper scraps all over the floor.
"She's the legitimate daughter of the Marquis's family. Even the children in Qingshan Village know not to litter."
He bent down and picked up the pieces of paper on the ground one by one, preparing to burn them together.
Suddenly, Cui Cen lowered his head and accidentally glanced at a line of words on the piece of paper, which made his fingertips pause instantly.
"Zhao Mingsheng, the daughter of the second son of the Marquis of Pingyuan, is beautiful and charming. I am very pleased and would like to marry her to my son Cui Cen..."
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