It had always been bustling and busy on the sixth day of the first lunar month of previous years. Everyone would visit their relatives and friends on this day.
However this year, it was cheerless. If unnecessary, people would prefer to stay at home rather than go on the street and people on the street would be questioned very strictly.
Since several princes had experienced kinds of troubles, the Emperor was totally irritated. However, the government found nothing till now. The interrogation against pedestrians was still strictly implemented but nobody would like to be questioned on the street if unnecessary.
The interrogation not only involved passers-by but also carriages.
Prince Cheng’s consort selection was held today in his mansion so the carriage of Qin’s Mansion had been prepared for Qin Yuru and Qin Wanru. They left together after greeting Madam Dowager.
Qin Yuru was beautifully dressed today. Her long lilac dress was very outstanding and drew everyone’s attention to her, coupled with her amazingly charming appearance. Qin Wanru who stood beside her was also pretty and attractive but because she was not fully grown up, she was slightly inferior to her elder sister.
Qin Wanru wore a pale green rolled eight-panel dress whose corner was decorated with interspersed red plums. The design of her dress should have been elegant and dynamic but the material she chose was not good enough, which made her look dull and sluggish. Furthermore, as she was not tall, it seemed that she could not hold the dress perfectly when standing beside Qin Yuru who possessed a tall and slender figure.
Their clothes were equally good but, compared with Qin Yuru, Qin Wanru was like the green leaves used to make the red flower, Qin Yuru, look better in that Qin Wanru was short and small so people would notice Qin Yuru who dressed beautifully first. Looking at Qin Wanru whose appearance was also pretty, people would sigh for her young age and her poor outfit.
It seemed that Qin Wanru was only to make Qin Yuru look better.
Qin Wanru and her servants put in extra hours to make her dress these days.
This time, she didn’t intend to be outstanding in Prince Cheng’s mansion but she could not put down her fringe which made her look sloppy like the last time.
As Qin Yuru was pleased with Qin Wanru’s inferior outfit, she gave a rare bright smile to Qin Wanru and watched her dress carefully. She nodded and said, “Well, you look quite pretty today! Where do you find the good dress material?”
Even though she seemed to praise Qin Wanru, she actually laughed at Qin Wanru inwardly. Pulling a strand of hair near her ear, Qin Yuru smiled amorously.
“Big sister is much prettier than me! After you!” answered Qin Wanru calmly.
Finding Qin Wanru didn’t talk about the dress, Qin Yuru slightly lifted the corners of her mouth in an ironic way. She then lifted her dress and got on the carriage with Mei Xue’s help while later Qin Wanru also got on by holding Yujie’s hand.
The carriage was large. Since Qin Yuru came in first, she then took the innermost seat with Mei Xue sitting on her right side. When Qin Wanru got on, she sat down on Qin Yuru’s left. There was a car window. If the curtain was lifted while the screen window was put down, it was a great viewing point.
Seeing two ladies take their seats, the coachman then whipped the horse and the carriage moved.
It was still early so they didn’t need to arrive at Prince Cheng’s Mansion in a hurry. All of a sudden, there was a flurry of snow. Several snowflakes were dancing in the air, which looked quite beautiful.
Since they both were from Jiangzhou, they liked the snow in the capital city.
Qin Yuru now moved to the other window, reached out her hand and tried to pick up some snowflakes. However, since it was not snowing heavily and the wind blew away those snowflakes hither, she could not catch them and had to watch these snowflakes flying away. Qin Yuru then turned to look in Qin Wanru’s direction reluctantly.
Given the direction, Qin Wanru could catch these snowflakes easily if she reached out.
Qin Yuru had been wronged and sulking because of being grounded for these days. Thanks to Prince Cheng’s mighty invitation, she finally got a hard-won opportunity to walk out and felt quite happy inwardly. Otherwise, she had no right to leave Qin’s Mansion.
“Second sister, can we exchange our seats? I want to sit beside that window.” Staring at Qin Wanru, Qin Yuru asked.
“No!” Qin Wanru turned down her request without hesitation.
“Why?” Qin Yuru’s face looked dark.
“I SAID NO! You have picked the seat first but now you want to exchange the seat with me? Do you just want to exchange everything with others when you think those things others own are better than you?” Qin Wanru answered without looking at her.
Qin Wanru’s arrogance and neglection toward her irritated Qin Yuru. As a trace of anger appeared in her eyes, she quickly calmed down. When she left Qin’s Mansion, Nanny Huang had warned her again and again that she could not conflict with Qin Wanru anymore and had told her Qin Wanru was a clever girl so she had to tolerate Qin Wanru’s behaviors. Only in this way could she step on her!
She could not let Qin Wanru be defensive!
“Second Sister, I just want to appreciate the snow from the window beside you. You don’t have to act like this if you don’t want to. I know I have made many mistakes before! It is because I followed my mother’s words that I refused to treat you as my sister. However, since my mother has become like this, do you still intend to hate her?”
Qin Yuru looked woeful and lowered her head slightly. It seemed that she really felt sad when thinking of her mother’s sickness from her sorrowful look.
“Big Sister, just stop pretending, okay?” Qin Wanru turned around and glanced at her. As she smiled more indifferently, she said, “A person who even tries to murder her mother will definitely not care about others sincerely!”
Her words uncovered the darkest place in Qin Yuru’s mind straightforwardly. Since the last thing Qin Yuru wanted to see was that this secret was found out by others, she could not pretend to be woeful anymore when hearing this. She raised her head immediately and said to Qin Wanru harshly with a vicious look, “Qin Wanru, what are you talking about?”
“Am I talking nonsense? You know whether I am talking nonsense!” Qin Wanru answered leisurely. “Big Sister, when you take care of Madam Di, do you see her venomous eyes? Are you afraid that Madam Di will strangle you when she gets better?”
Her tone was musing and calm as there was even a mild smile on her face. However, for Qin Yuru, Qin Wanru’s words astounded her, making her finger tremble involuntarily and making her eyes goggle!
She did feel Madam Di stared at her in an uncommon way these days. There was a trace of darkness Qin Yuru didn’t understand in Madam Di’s eyes. However, her hatred sometimes leaked when Qin Yuru fed her with medicine and Madam Di even spilled the medicine unceremoniously, from which it was obvious that Madam Di hated her!
Her biological mother hated her! Every time she thought of this she felt flustered!
Would Madam Di get better? Or not? What should she do if Madam Di recovered? What should she do if Madam Di did not recover?
Qin Yuru had always been tortured by these questions these days. Sometimes she even woke up in the middle of the night from some crazy dreams in which Madam Di stared tightly at her with her fishy eyes without blinking and reached out her withered hands towards her neck to strangle her…
“AH!” Qin Yuru suddenly gave out a shrill cry and held her head.
“First Miss! First Miss! I am here! Don’t be afraid! I am here with you!” When Mei Xue found her master was not well, she quickly hugged Qin Yuru as she tried her best to comfort her master.
Her anxious calls seemed to bring Qin Yuru back. Qin Yuru used her slightly trembling fingers to grab Mei Xue’s wrist, so heavily that Mei Xue felt pain and cried!
For a while, Qin Yuru finally calmed down. Even though her ferocious gaze fell on Qin Wanru’s face, she finally controlled herself not to argue with Qin Wanru. She just leaned against the window and closed her eyes tightly.
Mei Xue held her slightly swollen wrist from which she felt pain and sat beside with tears.
Yujie stared at Qin Yuru warily just in case Qin Yuru would do something bad to Qin Wanru. Qin Wanru didn’t care about Qin Yuru and just watched outside the Windows.
The false friendship between Qin Yuru and her had already been unmasked and even the influence of the event happened on the street still not ended. Everyone now only focused on the assassination against Prince Cheng but Qin Yuru just still liked to pretend that she enjoyed a very good relationship with her sister in front of others, which made Qin Wanru feel sick.
It had not been very long since they came to blows in public. Some people would think that Qin Wanru was very generous, as in their eyes, she still got on well with Qin Yuru while most people would regard her as a coward!
There might be people from Duke Xing’s Mansion today! Madam of Duke Xing would not let go of this chance to affirm Qin Yuru’s attendance!
Since it was Prince Cheng’s consort selection today and those elder members of aristocratic families were not invited, it was not appropriate for Old Madam of Duke Xing to attend. Even though there was a chance to choose Qin Yuru, she could not come in person. Thus, she would definitely let other people of Duke Xing’s Mansion seize this chance to contact Qin Yuru.
Since First Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion was lofty and honorable, she would not do these things at all. So the most likely one would be the daughter of a concubine. A trace of darkness flashed upon Qin Wanru’s watery eyes. Today the Prince Cheng’s Mansion would be very bustling and busy so she must act carefully!
For this, she had well prepared! Then she checked her clothes and put her attention to the scene outside the window.
“Miss, what is going on outside?” Seeing Qin Yuru keep looking out the window without movement, Yujie then also craned her neck to look out the window.
The carriage was running on the street. Although there were people on the street, the street still looked much quieter and gloomier than those days when the street was crowded.
Because of the snow, it made people feel much colder and more deserted.
The scenery gradually became familiar. Watching the street, Yujie gave out a murmur like “eh” spontaneously and then quickly stopped. She then turned to check Qin Yuru and felt relieved when seeing her still closing her eyes. Yujie pulled Qin Wanru’s sleeves secretly.
Qin Wanru nodded. She had known the road headed in the direction of Butterfly Clothing Shop. It seemed that they were almost close to the shop. Qin Wanru had been quite busy recently so she did have no time to visit Madame Dong but let Qing Yue prepare a present for her on New Year’s Eve.
She had to ask Madame Dong clearly about the thing Madame Dong talked to her.
When she was thinking, Butterfly Clothing Shop soon appeared in front of them. It was good to see that the shop was still prosperous while many women who dressed gorgeously came in and out even though it was not as crowded as the shop was several days before. The assassination in the capital city had slightly affected Butterfly Clothing Shop’s business in a negative way.
But at the next moment, Qin Wanru goggled with astonishment because she saw Madame Dong who was not in the shop but in the alley beside the shop talking to a man. Qin Wanru only saw the man’s back and even felt familiar with him when the carriage quickly passed the shop.
“Who is he?”