"What's going on?" The trusted old woman hurriedly pulled Mrs. Qi and asked sternly.
Madam Qi reached out and touched her forehead. It hurt a little after being hit like that. Although it wasn't severe, it probably left a bruise. Fortunately, the carriage was not moving fast, otherwise, she would have been in great pain.
"A person has fallen in front of the carriage." said the coachman, getting off the carriage and walking to the person who had fallen in front of the carriage.
She was a woman in her forties or fifties, who looked like a servant in a wealthy family. Although her clothes were not fancy, they were quite good. Moreover, the clothes looked somewhat familiar, as if she had seen them often in the past.
"Who is it?" The old woman in the carriage lifted the curtain.
"It looks like..." The coachman hesitated for a moment, then suddenly an idea flashed in his mind, "It looks like a servant of Minister Liu's mansion."
No wonder he looked familiar. When Jingyu County Lord came here in the past, he often saw him.
"No... No, I am not from Minister Liu's residence, no." The old woman in front of the carriage stood up, holding her waist, her face panicked and pale.
"Your clothes... are clearly from the latest batch made by the Shangshu Mansion, right?" The coachman looked the old woman up and down, finally looking at her clothes, and asked doubtfully.
This was a new batch, so when he came here before, he took a few more glances at it. He thought the clothes made by the Shangshu Mansion were good, and he wondered when his own house would make new clothes.
Therefore, I paid special attention to it.
“No...you...you are mistaken. She is not from Minister Liu’s residence. I...I don’t know Minister Liu’s wife...” After hearing what he said, the old woman seemed to become even more panicked. She covered her waist with her hands and with some difficulty, she ran into the alley next to her and disappeared.
"Ask who he is from the Shangshu Mansion?" The old woman in the carriage asked again after receiving a hint from Madam Qi.
The coachman stared at the fleeing old woman's back in amazement, then looked at a book left on the ground, stunned.
In the case of something like this where someone was hit, although he saw it clearly at the time, he didn't actually hit the person. Even so, there was no need to run away. His mistress was a kind person. Even if she might scold him a few words, she would have someone take the mother-in-law to the clinic to see if she was really injured.
Looking at the back, it looks like he has sprained his muscles and is unable to move for a while.
Why did he run away
"Someone...someone escaped!" the coachman muttered, reaching out to pick up a few books on the ground. The old woman was holding a package in her hand, which must have fallen out from here.
"He ran away? What happened? Is he really a servant of Minister Liu's mansion?" The old woman leaned out of the carriage and asked with a frown.
If this matter had nothing to do with Minister Liu's residence, she would have just left. Although she was surprised, it would not have attracted so much attention from the old woman.
"It was the maid from Minister Liu's house. I saw clearly just now that the dress was newly made by Minister Liu's house. I don't know why she was so panicked when she saw me, as if there was an evil ghost chasing her. She looked like she fell hard, but she didn't dare to stay. She also dropped a few books."
The coachman walked to the front of the carriage and respectfully presented the book in his hand.
The old woman looked in the direction where the person disappeared in surprise, and reached out to take the books. There were not many, just two, and she didn't know what the books were.
"Is it really from Minister Liu's residence
”
"It's true. I saw it clearly, but I didn't see who it was, and I don't know if I have seen it before." said the coachman. The incident happened suddenly, and the coachman was frightened. He hurried over and was attracted by the familiar clothes. Although he also glanced at the old woman, half of her hair was hanging down in a mess at that time. Now he thought about it, it seemed that he didn't see who it was clearly.
Neither familiar nor unfamiliar.
She's just an ordinary old woman, nothing special.
"Why did you run away suddenly?" The old woman became more and more puzzled. If it was a servant from another house, and something like this happened, it would be understandable that she ran away because she was panicked and thought that her family would hold her responsible.
But that was Minister Liu's residence, which was absolutely impossible.
Glancing sideways at his own carriage, the logo of the Duke of Qi's Mansion was very obvious. How could he not have seen it
"Bring the book in." Mrs. Qi's voice came from the carriage.
The old woman withdrew her hand, lowered the curtain, and told the coachman, "Be careful, don't let anything happen again!"
"Yes, I understand." Hearing that Madam Qi in the carriage did not blame him, the coachman breathed a sigh of relief and said repeatedly.
The carriage started moving again, even slower than before. The coachman was afraid that someone would rush out again without any eyes. Although he was on the shaft just now, he could still hear the loud "bang" from the inside. Even now the coachman is still terrified.
The carriage was moving very slowly and steadily. Madam Qi casually opened a book in her hand and found that it contained two opera scripts. Madam Qi knew that her daughter loved to read opera scripts when she was in the mansion.
Madam Qi reached out and flipped through it. Surprisingly, the script looked very familiar to her. It was a script of The Substitute Prince. Madam Qi also loved to listen to this play when she invited people to perform in the past.
He put this book down and flipped through another one. This one was also an old book, about a play about an elder sister marrying in place of her younger sister.
"What are these?" Madam Qi muttered to herself in confusion, and picked up the book in front of her and flipped through it.
"Madam, it's a play script. What play is it?" The trusted maid smiled and asked, "Is it the play script that the young lady found specially for you to watch?"
Mrs. Minister Liu liked to read opera scripts herself, and would occasionally pick out some that Madam Qi liked, then call a troupe to perform at the Duke of Qi's mansion for a day to please Madam Qi.
"You found it specially for me. There's no need to run away when you see me." Madam Qi said indifferently.
"Maybe they wanted to give the Madam a surprise. If she knew about it earlier, wouldn't the eldest lady's efforts be in vain?" The old woman explained with a smile, "The eldest lady and the county lady are the most filial to the Madam. In the past, they would send her the plays that she liked."
After hearing what the mother-in-law said, and thinking of her own daughter and granddaughter, Mrs. Qi smiled and nodded: "They are so old, but they are still doing these things. It's surprising and ridiculous."
"What's so funny? Even if the eldest daughter got married and gave birth to a county lady, she will always be a child and the eldest daughter to the old lady. It is inevitable that she wants to please the old lady. The old lady is good to the eldest daughter and the county lady, and the eldest daughter and the county lady have seen it."
The old woman became more and more interesting.
Sure enough, Mrs. Qi’s smile became more and more rotten, and she cried with laughter: "This child... is like this...
…whether I like it or not.”
"Mother and daughter are connected by heart, and the bond between blood is like that of flesh and blood. Even if the bones are broken, the tendons are still connected. The eldest daughter will naturally think of the old lady in everything. If the old lady doesn't like it, the eldest daughter will definitely be sad, and then she will find some people that the old lady likes to come over, and always make the old lady happy."
The old woman said.
Madam Qi was delighted by these words. The depression that had been pent up in her heart disappeared a lot. She sighed softly, "As expected, only my family members will understand me. If it were those... ungrateful people... they might think I have no good intentions."
The implication in this statement is very clear.
The old woman said hurriedly: "What the Madam said is right, things in the Qu Mansion are like this, there is no point in you continuing to care about it, just let them do what they want!"
"But the old Duke... is always worried..." Madam Qi also wanted to speak up, but was afraid that if the old Duke Qi knew about it, he would accuse her of being negligent.
"But Madam, you have done your best! It's not that you don't want to help, it's just that there is nothing you can do. You helped, but not only did it not go well, no one was grateful, and everyone thought you had other intentions. What other intentions could you have? You just wanted to live a good life, why did you become like this?"
The old woman continued.
Mrs. Qi nodded repeatedly, closed the book in her hand, and clapped her hands, "That's right, but the old Duke doesn't understand. Let's wait and see. If they still have this attitude, then let's see what good marriages they can have in the future without the support of our Duke's Mansion!"
"The old woman laughed, "How could there be a good marriage? If you hadn't appeared, who would appreciate Miss Qu Si?"
"I hope Miss Qu Si can understand my painstaking efforts and take care of herself!" Madam Qi said indifferently and clapped the booklet in her hand twice.
Suddenly, I saw a folded piece of paper falling out. It seemed to have been stuck in the innermost gap. It was stuck too tightly and I couldn't see it before, but it was shaken out by Madam Qi.
"Madam, this... what is this?" The old woman widened her eyes, not bothering to say any more flattering words, and stared at the book in Madam Qi's hand and asked.
Madam Qi opened the origami and glanced at the contents on it. She didn't understand it at first. After reading it several times, her brows furrowed.
"Madam, what's wrong?" Seeing Madam Qi's expression, the old woman guessed, "Could it be that the young lady wrote something extraordinary on it?"
The handwriting was her daughter's. She recognized it and it looked like it was her daughter's. When her daughter was a child, she had held the pen for her and taught her how to write. It was impossible for her to be wrong.
"Playing tricks on others, mistaking Feng Jing for Ma Liang, what's all this about?" The old lady flipped through the note in her hand several times, but still didn't understand what it meant.
These two inexplicable sentences seemed to be related to the script in his hand, yet seemed to have nothing to do with the script in his hand!
"Madam, I don't understand either, but... it sounds like it has something to do with these two scripts. They both mean something wrong, allowing a bad person to occupy a high position." The old woman thought about it, but couldn't hear the main idea, so she could only vaguely explain for Madam Qi.
Madam Qi said nothing, but just frowned as she looked at the origami in her hand. Suddenly, the old woman seemed to have discovered something, and she stretched out her hand and said to Madam Qi, "Madam, look, there are words underneath the paper."