When these words were spoken, the two girls were immediately scared to death. It was such a cold day that they were sweating profusely.
Talking about a fake lady might not be a big deal, but saying that Princess Jinping was not an easy person to deal with, if the lady knew about this, they would probably not even be able to survive tonight and would be beaten and sold.
One of them completely collapsed. In order to survive, she no longer cared about the sisterly love. She hugged Xie Nanjia's legs and shouted, "Miss, please understand. Chuntao said these outrageous words. I have been trying to persuade her, but she just wouldn't listen..."
Chun Tao didn't expect to be betrayed by her companions without mercy. She was so angry that she yelled: "Chun Xue, you bitch, you dare to betray me, I will tear your mouth off!"
As he said that, he rushed forward and tore at Haruyuki, who refused to give in, and the two of them started to wrestle.
Xie Nanjia stepped back a few steps and watched the two people pulling hair and digging eyes leisurely, watching with great interest.
At this time, a tall girl came in from outside. She was stunned by the scene in front of her, and then she hurried over and shouted: "What are you two doing? Don't you want to live?"
Xie Nanjia recognized her as Lan Yan, the maidservant serving his aunt, and timidly called her "Sister Lan Yan".
The two girls who were fighting each other stopped, knelt on the ground with their heads lowered, and trembled.
If Lan Yan saw the fight in front of the young lady, it would be the same as being seen by the lady herself. Even if she hadn't said the bad words before, there would be no way they would stay.
"Miss, are you okay?" Lan Yan heard Xie Nanjia's timid voice and hurried forward to hold her hand to comfort her. "Miss, don't be afraid. I will report to the Madam and punish these two arrogant little hooves."
Xie Nanjia didn't say she was afraid nor that she wasn't afraid. She just lowered her eyes with her eyelashes trembling, looking very pitiful.
Seeing her like this, Lan Yan determined that she was frightened, and pointed at the two girls' noses and scolded them, "Little hooves, if Miss Xiu'er gets scared and gets hurt, I'll skin you alive!"
"..." The two girls screamed in their hearts: "She is pretending, she is pretending, we are the ones who are frightened..."
Lan Yan couldn't hear what the two were thinking, so she took them to the Young Madam's Qionghua Courtyard on the spot.
Sheng Qingyun originally sent Lan Yan to invite Xie Nanjia to come for dinner, but she unexpectedly brought back a frightened young lady and two distraught maids. She was shocked and called Xie Nanjia over to ask her what happened in detail.
Xie Nanjia had no intention of wasting time on the two maids, and told them everything that had happened in a low voice, not even missing Chuntao's words that Princess Jinping was not an easy person to deal with.
After saying this, he secretly looked at Princess Jinping and finally saw the panic that flashed across her face as he wished.
"Mother!" Princess Jinping calmed down and said aggrievedly, "How can they say that to me? What if my sister believes them, misunderstands me, and refuses to be close to me?"
Sheng Qingyun was already shaking with anger at the two servants, and after hearing what she said, he became even more furious. He immediately ordered his men to give the two maids twenty strokes of the cane and sell them off.
The two girls were gagged and dragged away before they could even beg for mercy.
Sheng Qingyun was still furious, pointing at the servants in the room and scolding them, "Listen to me, all of you. The two young ladies are legitimate young ladies of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion. If anyone dares to gossip about this again, I will pull out your tongues and feed them to the dogs!"
Everyone in the room was so frightened that they dared not breathe and all knelt on the ground in response.
"Mother, calm down. After all, those evil slaves are exceptions. Most of our servants are still loyal." Jinping County Lady consoled, "Sister helped us get rid of two evil slaves as soon as she returned home. Mother, you must reward her well."
After she said this, the servants all felt that she was a kind-hearted and compassionate young lady. On the other hand, although there was nothing wrong with Xie Nanjia catching the evil slave, her presence disturbed the peace in the mansion, which always made people feel a little uncomfortable.
After all, before she came, the mansion had not sold any servants for several years.
Sheng Qingyun was so furious that he didn't realize there was anything wrong with what Princess Jinping said. He pulled the two of them to sit down beside him, one on each side, and told Lan Yan to serve the meal.
The corners of Jinping County Lady's lips curled up slightly, and she concealed the pride in her eyes by sitting down. That damn girl actually dared to say in front of everyone that she was a tough guy. Although the original words were said by Chuntao, it would inevitably attract other people's attention. What if someone took it to heart, wouldn't it put her in trouble
So, no matter whether the girl did it intentionally or unintentionally, she had to divert everyone's attention from herself to herself. This is called tit for tat.
Xie Nanjia seemed nonchalant, but secretly and keenly caught the smile on the corner of Jinping County Master's lips. She smiled herself, and without saying much, she sat down next to her aunt.
Princess Jinping deliberately wanted to strike up a conversation with her, and asked with concern, "Sister, why aren't you talking? Are you really scared?"
Xie Nanjia shook her head and said she was fine.
Jinping County Lady said again: "Don't be afraid, sister, and don't take those words to heart. Although you are my mother's adopted daughter, I really care about you. Even I, your biological daughter, am a little jealous!"
Xie Nanjia smiled and didn't respond to her.
Princess Jinping hugged Sheng Qingyun's arm again and said coquettishly: "Mother, I'm afraid my sister really believed the rumors and became estranged from me."
"Really?" Sheng Qingyun smiled and glanced at Xie Nanjia, "Did Xiu'er really believe it?"
Xie Nanjia said seriously, "Sister, you are worrying too much. I am just not used to talking during meals. Besides, sister and I haven't had time to get to know each other well, so how can we be strangers?"
Everyone's heart skipped a beat when they heard this, and they looked at Xie Nanjia with a little more awe.
The young girl sat there steadily, her eyes expressionless but with her own aura. She looked like a man of few words, but once she opened her mouth she could choke people to death. She looked more like a proper lady than Princess Jinping.
That's really strange.
Princess Jinping's face turned red from being choked, and she said awkwardly, "Sister, you are right. It is right not to talk while eating or sleeping. I was too eager to get close to you, and I lost my manners. Sister, please don't laugh at me."
Sheng Qingyun smiled and tried to smooth things over: "We are sisters, what's so funny? Come on and eat. After we finish eating, let's move to the tea room and talk properly."
No one said anything at that moment, and everyone finished their meal in peace.
The maids brought a rinse cup, and Xie Nanjia rinsed her mouth slowly, washed her hands, wiped them with a towel, and put the towel back into the dish. She did the whole thing smoothly, as if she had been doing this for the past fifteen years.
Everyone in the room was stunned, wondering if this fake lady had practiced before entering the mansion, otherwise how could she be so skilled
You know, Princess Jinping has been in the mansion for a month, and she can still spill water when washing her hands.
Sheng Qingyun also found it strange, but she was happy after all because her daughter knew the rules and etiquette. She happily took the hands of her two children to the teahouse to chat.
While drinking tea, Xie Nanjia's elegant manner of holding the teacup with her slender fingers and drinking slowly and silently opened everyone's eyes again. This gentleness and composure that seemed to be engraved in her bones was definitely not something that was practiced at the last minute.
You know, Princess Jinping has been practicing for a long time, and the teacup still jingles when she holds it.
Princess Jinping was very unhappy that the etiquette she had worked so hard to learn was suddenly surpassed by Xie Nanjia. However, in order to show her magnanimity, she had to smile and praise her sister for her good etiquette.
Sheng Qingyun became happier and said to Xie Nanjia, "You don't have any maids available right now. Let Lan Yan take two little girls to serve you in the next few days. When I select a reliable person, I will bring Lan Yan back."
Xie Nanjia didn't care, so he nodded and thanked her.
Lan Yan was Sheng Qingyun's most useful maid, and had always been inseparable from her. But now she was assigned to Xie Nanjia without hesitation. Princess Jinping felt jealous, but couldn't say it in front of her, so she returned to her residence, closed the door and got very angry.
The news about what happened in Qionghua Courtyard spread quickly. After the old lady heard about it, she specially asked Sheng Qingyun to stay when she greeted her daughter the next day, reminding her not to do it too obviously even if she wanted to protect her daughter. Firstly, it would arouse suspicion, and secondly, it would make it difficult for Princess Jinping.
After all, Princess Jinping will marry into the palace in the future. They have already offended the Queen and cannot disappoint Princess Jinping further.
Sheng Qingyun reluctantly agreed. Because her mother-in-law mentioned the queen, she asked, "There was no movement in the palace yesterday. Could the queen just accept it?"
"That person is not someone who will suffer in silence. He is temporarily enduring for the sake of the East Palace's reputation. Who knows what he is planning to do to us behind the scenes!" The old lady said, "Remember to remind Xian'er and Jincheng later, tell them to be careful when they are outside, especially Jincheng, tell him not to leave the emperor easily, the only way to be safe is to follow the emperor."
Sheng Qingyun agreed, and when she returned she carefully reminded her husband and son to be careful and vigilant at all times.
However, for several days, there was still no movement in the palace, and even the emperor seemed to be indifferent to the matter, as if he had not heard of it.
The Duke's Mansion had no idea of the situation and became increasingly alert due to uncertainty.
Xie Nanjia also found it strange, but she had no one on her side and could not do anything. She could only stay there obediently and wait until Qin's funeral was over.
Before the funeral was over, it was not convenient for her to go to the Marquis' Mansion or meet Zhao Jingyu.
Although Zhao Jingyu had no mother-son relationship with Qin, Zhao Jingping was now only concerned with grief and didn't care about anything else. The responsibility of assisting Marquis Dingyuan in arranging the funeral fell on him. He was busy every day, and Xie Nanjia couldn't bear to disturb him at this time.
Unexpectedly, he was still thinking about Xie Nanjia in his busy schedule. When he learned that Sheng Qingyun was looking for someone to serve Xie Nanjia, he used some means to send in the two girls he had taken in in the west wing.
Xie Nanjia didn't know about it at first. It was only when Sheng Qingyun assigned her a full staff and asked her to assign tasks herself that the two girls quietly explained their origins to her.
Xie Nanjia was worried about not having anyone to use. When she heard that the two were sent in by Zhao Jingyu, she naturally wanted to give them important positions. She gave them the positions of two senior maids and asked them to serve closely in the room.
The two maids were named Liuyun and Biyun. They entered the west wing at about the same time as Yiyun and Caiyun, so their names all contained the character "Yun". When they came to the Duke's Mansion, the "Yun" in their names conflicted with Sheng Qingyun's name, so Xie Nanjia changed their names to Liusu and Biluo.
Both maids were outstandingly beautiful, smart, and obedient, with a strong ability to adapt to the environment. Within two days of arriving, they had become familiar with everyone in the mansion.
Xie Nanjia found it very easy to use. As they spent more and more time together, they had a better understanding of each other. They could understand each other with just a glance.
With two good helpers, Xie Nanjia could finally do something. He arranged for them to approach the people of Furong Court in a planned way every day and find out as much as possible about all the movements of Furong Court.
Ever since the incident with Chuntao and Chunxue, Xie Nanjia became more and more certain of his guess that there was definitely something wrong with Princess Jinping.
No matter how good a person is at disguising himself, he is not his true self. As long as he is fake, he will be exposed. Once he is exposed, the mastermind behind the scenes can be found. She wants to see who the person who has been hiding in the dark and plotting against the Duke's Mansion is.
(End of this chapter)