Chapter 712 An Emerald Bead that Caused Trouble

“Why do you make such a fuss?” Wang Shengxue said grumpily with frown after pulling himself together. Things didn’t go well today, so how could he be in a good mood?

“The Second Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion beat Concubine Dong and intended to beat Madam!” the maid said anxiously.

The Second Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion was Shao Jie’er. Among the Misses of Duke Xing’s Mansion, Shao Jie’er was the most inconspicuous in both appearance and identity. The rest of the Misses were all legitimate daughters, no matter they were from the main branch, the second branch or the third branch. Only she was an insignificant daughter of a concubine.

How dared she make trouble here for no reason?

“Let’s go and have a look!” Wang Shengxue said. Then he turned around and strode to the wing room, where Old Madam had stayed for a rest before.

Before he entered the wing room, he saw a group of people around the door. There came familiar crying, which gave him a headache. It was Dongxing. Wang Shengxue didn’t like this concubine, whom he had to marry at that time, very much. Compared with Ning Xueqing, Dongxing was much less beautiful and knowledgeable.

But at that time, Duke Xing’s Mansion made him take Dongxing as a concubine on an equal footing with Ning Xueqing. He didn’t dare to offend Duke Xing’s Mansion, so he naturally didn’t dare to treat Dongxing badly.

He didn’t know why Dongxing pissed off Shao Jie’er.

Someone in the crowd said, “The First Young Master is here!” The surrounding servants of the Wang’s Mansion immediately left, leaving the two people in the middle alone.

Shao Jie’er stood there with an angry look, while Dongxing sat on the ground and cried. The Misses of Duke Xing’s Mansion behind Shao Jie’er watched them and said nothing. Ning Xueqing, who was beside Dongxing, seemed to be persuading her in a low voice to apologize to Shao Jie’er.

“Cousin, what’s wrong with this concubine of yours? She bumped into me rashly and blamed me for that. She is just a concubine. Does she really think that she is the hostess of the Wang’s Mansion? Besides, even if she is the hostess, she shouldn’t have done that, right?”

Seeing Wang Shengxue come over, Shao Jie’er spoke with a sneer. She, who had always been arrogant in front of those inferior to her, even suggested that even Wang Shengxue’s legal wife couldn’t afford to offend her.

The servants of the Wang’s Mansion looked at this Second Miss Shao and thought that she had gone too far. Some of them saw that it was obviously the Second Miss Shao who bumped into Concubine Dong. However, she claimed that Concubine Dong bumped into her, and requested Concubine Dong to kowtow and apologize to her!

Although she was a Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion, she couldn’t act so arbitrarily. Moreover, since she came here to offer incense today, how could she humiliate the host family like this?

Wang Shengxue walked up to Dongxing, looked at her coldly, and said, “Apologize to my second cousin!”

Dongxing looked up, only to see the anger in Wang Shengxue’s eyes. She shivered, didn’t dare to say anything else, and could only hold Ning Xueqing’s hand, bend down and apologize to Shao Jie’er tearfully.

“That’s it? She just need to apologize after bumping into me? How dare such a b*tch bump into me…” Shao Jie’er said harshly in a sharp voice, and her words became more and more harsh.

Shao Yanru interrupted her in a soft voice and scolded her in a low voice, “Second Sister, stop making a scene. What if you disturb grandma?”

“But she did it on purpose…” Shao Jie’er was still unwilling to let it go.

“Don’t focus on that. This concubine didn’t mean to bump into you!” Shao Yanru interrupted her again with a solemn and dignified look, “Grandma is going back to our mansion for some business soon. If you keep arguing about it, are you going to stay?”

On hearing her words, Shao Jie’er froze, glared at Dongxing with hatred and didn’t dare to say anything else.

How sould she handle the situation if she was left here alone? Thinking of the strange conversation between Shao Yanru and Wang Shengxue in the strange atmosphere, she knew that she could not stay here at this time even if she was not smart.

“Thank you, Eldest Cousin!” Wang Shengxue thanked her sincerely.

“My Second Sister is in a bad mood. If she did anything offensive, I hope you can forgive her!” Shao Yanru said gently, bowed to Wang Shengxue sideways and then turned into the wing room.

Shao Caihuan and Shao Cailing followed Shao Yanru in.

Shao Wanru was the last to get in the wing room. She glanced at Dongxing, who was crying, and then looked at Ning Xueqing, who was supporting her. The two of them snuggled up together closely, as if they were a pair of full sisters.

She didn’t see what had happened just now clearly. As soon as she came out, she saw them arguing there. Shao Jie’er insisted that Dongxing had bumped into her, and requested Dongxing to kowtow and apologize to her. However, Dongxing was superior in the Wang’s Mansion, where there was no official Madam so that even a concubine could be considered a master.

Except for Ning Xueqing, who served as the official Madam but was actually a concubine, Dongxing was superior in the mansion.

Dongxing denied that she had bumped into Shao Jie’er. Ning Xueqing, who was beside Shao Jie’er, tried to persuade her to let it go. No one knew what Ning Xueqing had said so that Shao Jie’er flew into a rage and reached out to slap Dongxing, and Dongxing was knocked down.

There was nothing unusual about it, and it seemed that it ought to turn out that way.

Shao Jie’er’s character and Dongxing’s status in the Wang’s Mansion was bound to escalate the conflict between them. But was it really an accident? Shao Wanru was not sure of it at the moment.

So she also turned around without turning a hair and followed the others in front of her into the wing room.

In the wing room, when Old Madam saw them come in, she said with a snort, “Where are we? Who do you think you are? What kind of loser will argue with an ignorant concubine?”

Shao Jie’er lowered her head, clenched the handkerchief in her hand and felt aggrieved, but she did not dare to defend herself, because Old Madam had always shown little respect for her.

“Copy the Precepts for Women ten times after going back!”

“Yes, grandma!” Shao Jie’er said tearfully.

“Let’s go!” Old Madam said, stood up and walked out, followed by a group of granddaughters. She came to the Wang’s Mansion today to attend Wang Yishu’s funeral as a mere formality just in order to show some respect for Wang Shengxue.

How could someone as arrogant as Old Madam bear to stay here any longer?

Seeing Old Madam come out, Wang Shengxue, who was waiting outside the door, came up to her with a smile. Shao Wanru looked around, only to find that Dongxing and Ning Xueqing had left and there were no servants of the Wang’s Manor around.

Wang Shengxue ignored Wang Shengxue, who was respectful, and walked out. She thought it a shame that she had to come here with a group of granddaughters, so she did not intend to respond to Wang Shengxue at this moment.

Shao Yanru smiled kindly at Wang Shengxue and followed Old Madam out.

Shao Jie’er lowered her head, because she had cried just now and was afraid that the servants of the Wang’s Mansion would notice it and laugh at her.

Shao Wanru was still the last to leave.When she passed the place, where Dongxing fell before, she suddenly discovered something and winked at Yujie. Yujie, who got it, squatted down, grabbed the thing in her hand while pretending to adjust the edge of her dress, and then followed Shao Wanru out of the Wang’s Mansion.

Wang Shengxue walked them to the door. Watching those from Duke Xing’s Mansion leave, he left all the domestic affairs to Ning Xueqing and hurried out.

After they returned to Duke Xing’s Mansion, Old Madam let them go back to their own courtyards. Shao Wanru headed for the Piaoyun Courtyard, followed by Yujie.

“Miss, it’s a small emerald bead. I think it seems to belong to the First Miss!” Yujie said after looking around and finding no one else around. She took out a small emerald bead, that she picked up when she squatted down just now, and handed it to Shao Wanru.

Shao Wanru reached out to take it and put it in her palm to have a look. It was a well-polished small emerald bead, which was very small but very beautiful. Shao Yanru was dressed in very plain clothes today, but there was indeed a pattern consisting of several small emerald beads at the edge of her clothes. At that time, she took a few more glances at it because she thought it a delicate pattern.

Why did Shao Yanru’s emerald bead show up in the place where Dongxing fell? Blinking her eyes slightly, she figured out what had happened. The collision between Shao Jie’er and Dongxing should be planned by Shao Yanru, but why did she do that?

Shao Yanru wouldn’t do anything from which she couldn’t benefit, so she would never set up a humble concubine for no reason. But at the moment, Shao Wanru couldn’t figure out why she did that.

It should be Ning Xueqing who benefited from it, right?

She put her hands together, handed the bead to Yujie and said, “Put it away!”

Since the cause of Wang Yishu’s death hadn’t been revealed up to now, she decided to wait and see for the time being. Shao Yanru entered the mouring hall with her face darkening today, but after she came out, she looked much calmer and even called Wang Shengxue “cousin” warmly when meeting him.

In this case, was her plan targeted at Shao Jie’er or Dongxing or Wang Shengxue and Ning Xueqing?

Thinking of this, she immediately had some clues. At present, she just needed to wait and see. Shao Wanru didn’t expect that she not only figured out the truth but also left an important clue for what happened later.

What had happened to Wang Yishu was dug up and became the subject of public discussion in the capital. The accident she had three years ago could be considered an unsettled case. Now since what had happened to her was dug up, some people immediately thought that there was something fishy about it. Even some imperial censors thought that it was not merely the internal affairs of Duke Xing’s Mansion.

Several reports were submitted to the Emperor, and each of them was about the complaint that Duke Xing was not strict enough in managing his mansion so that terrible things happened in his mansion one after another. Some of them even implied that the former Heir of Duke Xing died without a definite explanation, and the one, who got most benefits from it, was certainly the current Duke Xing from the former second branch of Duke Xing’s Mansion.

Of course, this kind of specious opinion was refuted by other officials, who thought it just a rumor spread among ignorant people. Even the daughter of the former Heir of Duke Xing’s Mansion didn’t say anything about it. How could this groundless talking be brought to the imperial court for discussion?

Watching the officials debating intensely below, the Emperor listened quietly at first, and then got furious. He picked up a report, threw it at Duke Xing, who was kneeling in front of him, and said, “Today I come to the imperial court to solve the problem, not to listen to you talk about these groundless things. If you can’t handle your domestic affairs properly, how can you manage your family? Go back and spend a few days reflecting on yourself!”

As soon as the Emperor got furious, all the officials trembled with fear and didn’t dare to talk nonsense anymore. At the moment, the imperial court fell into dead silence.

Noticing the good opportunity, Chu Qing came out and said, “Your Majesty, I beg to report!” He had been looking for an opportunity just now, and now it was the right time!

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