He reached out and patted Manager Zhuang on the shoulder: "We are all servants, and none of us can bear the responsibility. Now that the higher-ups don't blame us, we can't find trouble for ourselves."
Manager Zhuang was silent for a moment, then nodded: "Okay, let's put this matter behind us."
"That's right!" The East Palace's steward was happy and said repeatedly, "This way we two can get along well. We have all been here for a while and have a good relationship on weekdays. If we continue to maintain this relationship, it will be good for both of our mansions."
Hearing Manager Zhuang's relief, East Palace Manager Gao Ti felt relieved and his expression relaxed. But the next moment, the smile on his face froze when he heard Manager Zhuang's words.
"Our princess sent some gifts to Madam Qu and wants to meet her."
"No... Isn't Princess Ying's health not very good?" The steward of the Eastern Palace was anxious.
"I greet the steward." Yuxiu stepped forward and bowed, saying respectfully, "I am a person close to our princess. The other day I heard from the steward that Madam Qu was here before. I want to ask the steward if Madam Qu has returned to the East Palace. If she has, I will send the gift to the East Palace to see the Crown Princess. Please ask the Crown Princess to give the gift to Madam Qu. This is something our Madam Qu asked our princess to do."
The steward of the Eastern Palace knew this maid. When they were searching that day, this maid followed quietly behind. Later, it was heard that she was the maid beside Princess Ying and the one who led the team at that time. However, the steward did not think too much about it and thought that the matter was over. He did not expect that she was still waiting for him here.
This is no simpler than what I just said.
It is not up to him to decide whether Madam Qu is in the Eastern Palace or not.
Seeing that he actually had to find the Crown Princess, this... How could he answer this
"I don't know much about Mrs. Qu's affairs..." The steward coughed softly.
"Then he may have returned to the East Palace. I'll take my leave and report to our master right away." Yuxiu said anxiously, and bowed to the steward. It seemed that she was going to go back and report immediately.
"Wait a moment." The manager spoke hurriedly. This was unexpected and he was unsure for a moment.
Yuxiu stopped and looked at the manager of the East Palace in surprise.
"Wait a moment, I'll go ask." The steward of the East Palace said without comment. He didn't explain to Yuxiu and Steward Zhuang, just left them there and turned away.
Manager Zhuang and Yuxiu looked at each other, but did not leave.
The East Palace steward was not away for long. After a while, he came running over with sweat all over his forehead and said to Yuxiu, "Our Madam Qu asked you to go over."
"Didn't you say you were leaving?" Manager Zhuang asked puzzled.
"Who can be sure of the masters' affairs?" said the steward of the East Palace unhappily.
Manager Zhuang had nothing to say and looked at Yuxiu. His business was done, and now it was Yuxiu's business.
"Mrs. Qu is not feeling well. You only need to see her once. Don't disturb her." The steward of the East Palace reminded Yuxiu.
Yuxiu nodded: "I will leave after I have seen Madam Qu and put down my gift. Our princess said that it is enough as long as the intention is there."
Seeing that she was so tactful, the steward took her over with him, along with a little maid holding a gift. Steward Zhuang was led aside to rest.
After walking along and turning a few corners, I was still in the same small courtyard as yesterday.
The steward went forward and knocked on the door. The door opened silently and a eunuch stood at the door.
"This is the father-in-law who serves Madam Qu." The steward of the East Palace took a step back and nodded.
Yuxiu hurried forward and saluted: "Greetings, sir."
"You want to see our lady?" The eunuch looked Yuxiu up and down, his eyes cold and with a bit of disdain, and then asked in a shrill voice.
"I dare not. It was our master who asked me to bring the gift over." Yuxiu explained.
"Then put your things down!" said the eunuch.
Yuxiu looked embarrassed: "Our princess must want to see how Madam is doing. It has been so long since Madam Qu has been in the East Palace and there has been no news. Our princess didn't want to disturb Madam Qu, so she didn't go to see her. Now that she is here, she should visit her."
"There's nothing to visit. Our lady doesn't want to see anyone." The eunuch waved his hand unhappily.
"Our princess also received instructions from Madam Qu. If we don't see her this time, we don't know when we'll see her again. It will be difficult for us to explain to Madam Qu. If it wasn't a coincidence, our princess wouldn't have sent me here at this time." Yuxiu said with a smile.
This means that Qu Xuexin happened to be mentioned yesterday, otherwise even with Luo's instructions, Qu Moying would not have come to visit Qu Xuexin.
Others may not know the relationship between the two, but people who know the inside story know very well that the relationship between these two cousins can never be close.
It’s such a coincidence this time!
The eunuch glared at the steward of the Eastern Palace hatefully. If he hadn't spoken too quickly yesterday, there wouldn't have been any trouble today, let alone these subsequent events.
The eunuch had no choice but to let Yuxiu come to give the gift. He was also involved in this matter. It would be best if it could be let go. If the matter was brought to the East Palace and the Crown Princess was offended, the Crown Prince would not forgive him.
Even if he is the prince's confidant, he cannot escape responsibility for this matter.
No matter whether it was Ji Youran's matter or Qu Xuexin's matter, the prince didn't want others to know or pay attention to it.
If he had not been forced to do so, he would not have let the maid in front of him come over to give gifts and meet "Qu Xue Xin".
Fortunately, the relationship between the Princess of England and Madam Qu was not good, otherwise he would never dare to let the Princess of England's people meet "Madam Qu".
"Come in!" Looking at Yuxiu coldly, the eunuch finally stepped aside.
Yuxiu and the little maid holding the gifts went in. The steward of the East Palace moved his feet and wanted to go in as well, but when he saw the sinister gaze of the eunuch on the side, he stopped immediately, took a step back consciously with a smile on his face, and retreated to guard outside the yard.
Watching the eunuch leading the maid in, he reached out and wiped the sweat from his forehead. This matter was really one thing after another. If possible, he really didn't want to get involved in this matter...
The door of the main room was open. Yuxiu followed the eunuch in and saw a woman sitting on a chair in the main room. She was wearing plain clothes and a veil on her face, so her features could not be seen clearly.
Yuxiu was stunned for a moment and turned to look at the eunuch.
"This is our Madam Qu. How come you don't recognize her?" The eunuch laughed and pointed at the woman in the middle.
"This...is not..."
"Something happened to our lady and she accidentally hurt her face. That's why she temporarily left the East Palace and lives here." said the eunuch, answering Yuxiu's question.
"Your servant... greets Madam Qu." Yu Xiu was skeptical, but still stepped forward and bowed.
"What's the matter?" It was a hoarse voice and I really couldn't tell who it was.
"Excuse me... Are you Madam Qu, our princess's cousin?" Yu Xiu still didn't believe that the person in front of her was Qu Xuexin. After looking her up and down, she couldn't help but ask.
The woman suddenly laughed and stood up with the help of a chair: "Why don't you believe it? Didn't Qu Moying tell you? You, the maid, came later, right?"
As she spoke, she took a step and it was obvious that she was limping and looking inconvenient.
The maids around Qu Moying all knew that Qu Xuexin had broken her leg before. Yuxiu came to Qu Moying later, and this woman also knew everything.
Combining these points, Yuxiu finally believed that the person in front of her was Qu Xuexin.
"I started serving the princess later." After retracting her gaze, Yu Xiu's eyes became much more respectful, "Madam, you must have never seen me."
The woman sat down again, looked at Yuxiu and sneered, "What are you doing here? Did your master send you to laugh at me? No need to come, don't come in the future. My path is our own. It has nothing to do with the Qu Mansion, and it has nothing to do with Qu Moying. In the future, tell her not to send it anymore. If she sends it again, I will throw it away."
"This was... sent by the eldest lady." Yuxiu explained softly without changing her expression.
“No matter who gave it to me, I don’t want it… No one cares about me anyway, and no one will ask me even if I die. Why should I pretend to be nice now?” The woman said hatefully. Even if you can’t see her expression, you can tell that she looks fierce and mean, and she doesn’t have much affection for her biological mother.
Yuxiu was silent for a moment. She had heard about the temperament of this young lady and knew that she was not an easy person to get along with. The way she spoke and behaved was exactly like that of a young lady from the Qu family. Not only was she selfish, but she was also very mean. She only blamed others and never her own fault.
It was clearly she who caused the incident, but now it is in the Guaiqu Mansion, with Madam Guaiqu.
It's really hard to like someone who behaves like this.
If it wasn't for the master's order, even if she was just a maid, she would not be willing to suffer such humiliation.
"Madam Qu, our princess asked me to bring you some gifts because she was worried that you might need them here." Yuxiu took a deep breath, turned around and asked the little maid behind her to present the gifts and place them on the table in front of the woman.
"Madam, please read it. If you don't like it, I will report it to our princess."
This is just a polite remark. If you don't like it, can't you take it back and change it
The person receiving the gift will not just say that he doesn't like it.
Unexpectedly, the woman suddenly burst into laughter with a bit of madness. She grabbed the brocade in front of her and lifted it up hard, directly flipping the brocade to the ground.
"Take it back, let Qu Moying take all of these back, I don't need... I don't need her pity... Tell her not to come here again, even if I die, I will never accept her charity, she has hurt me like this... What kindness does she have now, tell her to go... go..."
The last few words were almost a hoarse cry.
The woman said as she stood up with the help of a chair, limping on the brocade on the floor, and walked into the inner room after a few steps, leaving behind Yuxiu who took two steps back in fear, the trembling maid behind her, and the eunuch with a sneer on his face...