Chapter 1233 The Servant Girl of Infanta Qinghua
There was indeed such a saying back then.
Imperial Censor Lu was demoted. In the chaos, one of his daughters was missing. At that time, he had asked some old friends in the capital city to look for her, and many aristocratic families knew it.
After that, they couldn’t find her, and the matter remained unsettled.
The reason why E’niang was quickly believed by many people was that there was such a past.
Imperial Censor Lu was demoted from the capital and could not come back again. Now there was a Miss in the capital city who claimed to be his daughter, and her age matched. Even the wet nurse who was lost at that time said so, so people thought that it was true.
Shao Wanru smiled slightly and calmly fanned the round fan in her hand a few times, making herself feel cool. She watched the situation quietly.
With such unexpected twists and turns, she wanted to see how Shao Jing would deal with this.
Shao Jing sounded gentle, but the threat in his words was obvious. If Madam Dowager had only met Nanny Gao by chance, she would not offend him for real and ruined his plan.
“Any Old Madam would be glad to see their granddaughter become the Madam of Marquis Xing.
“Anyone who gets related to the Madam of Marquis Xing for nothing will not care about other things. It won’t matter to this Madam Dowager if E’niang is really her granddaughter. At least, she’ll have the support of the Marquis Xing’s Mansion in the capital. Imperial Censor Lu may be able to come back because of this.
“Back then, Duke Xing’s Mansion was the family of a powerful official. Although it has declined now, what does this Madam Dowager know? She has been sent to the desolate border. I dare her to offend me.”
E’niang was originally in a panic, but after hearing what Shao Jing said, she immediately understood his meaning. After wiping away her tears, she stepped forward again to bow to the Madam Dowager. “Grandma, I… I am so happy to see you. I thought I would never see you ever again. Things turn out well now. You can stay in the capital city with me. As for my father, we will try to get him back.”
E’niang threatened the Madam Dowager like Shao Jing. She was afraid that Madam Dowager would expose her. After all, she did not look like the missing daughter of Imperial Censor Lu at all.
It wasn’t a big deal for Shao Jing to say these words. After all, he had high status. But when E’niang said it, it somehow made people feel a little sarcastic.
Her identity had not been set yet, but she regarded herself as the Madam of Marquis Xing and said that they could get her father back. Imperial Censor Lu was a demoted official. How could she, as a daughter with little power, make him a chance to return to the capital city? What she said was really ignorant and ridiculous.
Third Master Shao laughed mercilessly and said, “Who do you think you are? Do you really think you’re a big shot?”
“Mind your words, Third Brother!” Shao Jing said with his face darkening.
“Why should I mind my words? It’s obvious that she’s a fake. Do you still want to threaten me with the mansion? Bah!” Third Prince became more and more unscrupulous and said whatever he wanted.
“Third Brother, Madam Dowager has admitted it. How can you humiliate your sister-in-law like that?” Shao Jing couldn’t stand it anymore. He picked up the cup at hand and threw it at Third Master Shao’s feet.
Third Master Shao was shocked. He didn’t expect that Shao Jing would really take action.
“Wait, when did I admit it?” Madam Dowager suddenly said.
“That’s right, Second Brother. She didn’t admit it at all. You’re the only one who’s in a hurry to recognize her.” Third Master Shao burst into laughter.
“What do you mean, Madam Dowager?” Shao Jing looked at Madam Dowager with a gloomy face and gloomy eyes.
E’niang had a bad feeling. She knelt with a thud, hugged Madam Dowager’s knees, and cried, “Grandma, although I was the Marquis… I had no choice at that time. How… how could you not recognize me for some false rumors!”
“Madam Dowager, E’niang has no choice but to be with me. If you think she violated the rules for unmarried girls, I should apologize to you.” Shao Jing stood up and bowed deeply to Madam Dowager, showing enough respect for her.
For the sake of his doing this and the reputation of Marquis Xing’s Mansion, anyone who was smart would definitely recognize E’niang.
“Madam Dowager, since your granddaughter has said so… You should be glad that she is fine now!” Madam Wen also spoke, seeming to sigh with emotion. No one wanted such a thing to happen.
Even if E’niang was a mistress, she had no choice back then. She had been a weak girl who was lost. It was amazing that she got to survive.
The three of them spoke in a threatening manner.
“Madam Wen, stop talking about it. If you go on, Madam Dowager will think that our Marquis Xing’s Mansion is pressuring her with power. So we’d better let her say if E’niang is her granddaughter. Madam Dowager hasn’t said anything about it yet. Could it be that E’niang is not her granddaughter?”
Shao Wanru interrupted the three of them rudely. As soon as she spoke, the three could only let her finish even if they wanted to say something.
After Shao Wanru intervened, Madam Dowager finally had time to take a breath. She looked at E’niang coldly and said, “Who are you? Why do you pretend to be my granddaughter? I don’t know you!”
“Grandma…” E’niang was terrified.
“Madam, no matter who you are, you have nothing to do with me. You can’t ruin my granddaughter’s reputation. Even if you are the Madam of Marquis Xing, I will try my best to fight against you.” Madam Dowager interrupted E’niang in a cold voice and became increasingly rude to her.
An old maid standing behind her stepped forward and looked warily at E’niang who was kneeling in front of Madam Dowager. “Madam, you can pretend to be anyone, but you shouldn’t have claimed to be Miss Lu, who looks completely different from you.”
“Grandma, I am really your granddaughter. How… how can you be so cruel…” E’niang was so anxious and terrified, but she did not dare to show it on her face. She clutched the hem of Madam Dowager’s clothes while crying and begging Madam Dowager.
With his face darkening, Shao Jing thought, “This old woman really doesn’t know how to appreciate favors. She keeps refusing to admit that the Madam of Marquis Xing is her granddaughter.”
“Hahaha, she’s indeed a fake. Second Brother, where did you get such a slut? How could you make such a big scene for such a cheap woman?” Third Master Shao laughed hysterically and felt very satisfied.
Shao Jing ignored Third Master Shao and said harshly, “Speak before you think, Madam Dowager. This is not your mansion. If you talk nonsense, you will have to take responsibility.”
“Don’t worry, Marquis. If I’m not telling the truth, I’m willing to take all the responsibility,” Madam Dowager said unhurriedly.
Shao Jing slammed his hand on the table and said, “You’re willing? I’m afraid that you, as merely a mother of the former imperial censor, can’t take the responsibility.”
“If you don’t believe me, you can get the officials of the Ministry of Justice over to verify my statement on the spot,” Madam Dowager said coldly, not frightened by Shao Jing.
Shao Jing trembled with anger. He didn’t know where this damned old woman came from. His threat didn’t work on her, and she didn’t appreciate his faovr. However, Madam Wen had just confirmed her identity.
A timid voice suddenly came in, and an old maid appeared at the door at some point. She seemed to be coming to report something. When she came in, she was stunned for a while when she saw E’niang, and then she said in a trembling voice, “Your… Your Grace… Didn’t… didn’t she use to be the servant girl of Her Highness Infanta Qinghua?”
The old maid had said that in a low voice, but after Madam Dowager finished her words and everyone fell silent, the voice of the old maid became obvious.
“The servant girl of my mother?” Shao Wanru looked up with her watery eyes and beat it to Shao Jing. “Bring her here!”
Yujie hurried forward and led the old maid in.
The old maid knelt in front of Shao Wanru.
“Tell me what happened,” Shao Wanru said calmly. Since her mother was mentioned, she could ask about it.
“This is Her Highness Infanta Qinghua’s servant girl. She used to serve Her Highness before and was still doing so after Her Highness returned to the mansion. After the incident, she disappeared. I didn’t expect that she would be together with His Grace,” the old maid reported.
Shao Wanru looked at Shao Jing coldly. “Second Uncle, what’s going on? Why is my mother’s servant girl yours? And why did she become your mistress and give birth to a daughter? Is there something else behind it? Second Uncle, please explain it to me.”
Finally, she could voice her doubts openly.
Third Master Shao was also stunned and looked at E’niang in astonishment. Most of the time, E’niang’s head was lowered just now, or she was crying so hard that she could not speak. It was not convenient for him to stare at her all the time. When he looked at her carefully, he recognized her. He slapped his thigh and said, “Yes, it’s the servant girl of Sister Qinghua. What’s her name? She was the only servant girl who came back with Sister Zhao.”
There used to be so many servant girls around Infanta Qinghua. No one had expected that this servant girl would work for Shao Jing, who then took her as his mistress. This sounded extremely shameless.
“No wonder you would claim to be the daughter of the imperial censor. It turns out that you are the servant girl of my sister-in-law.” Third Master Shao suddenly realized it. He looked at Shao Jing and saw that his face was embarrassed and livid. He felt great and laughed out loud.
“Impudent!” Shao Jing said sternly, “Men, take this bitch servant away and punish her severely.”
“Wait a minute. It’s related to my mother. I’d like to see who dares to take action before I figure it out,” Shao Wanru said with a sneer and looked at Shao Jing with cold eyes in a tit-for-tat manner.
At this moment, she no longer hid her sharpness.
“The hatred for killing my mother is absolutely irreconcilable. If this woman really has something to do with my mother, she might have secretly attacked her.”
Shao Jing taking the servant girl of his sister-in-law as a mistress seemed to be shameless, but if one thought about it carefully, one would find it terrifying. Had he planted this servant girl beside Infanta Qinghua a long time ago? Or did she become his woman later? If she had been on Shao Jing’s side long ago, didn’t that mean that Shao Jing had long had ill intentions toward his brother and sister-in-law of the first branch?
The two had long passed away. One of them died in a foreign country, and the other went crazy. Neither of them ended well. However, Shao Jing benefited from it. In addition, Madam Jiang had said those words at the gate of the mansion before, so this topic was no longer a groundless rumor.
The face of Madam Wen, who was sitting on the seat of honor, changed greatly. She was not stupid, and she was also a little suspicious of E’niang. But even so, she still supported E’niang. But if what was said was true, she would also be disgraced. For a moment, she was so angry and full of hatred that she glared at Gu Xishu beside her.
“You can’t talk nonsense, Your Highness!” Shao Jing said with anger and hatred. Things were getting complicated, and he had to confront Shao Wanru in front of everyone, which was the last thing he wanted to do.