Red makeup against the world

Chapter 106 A Pot of Cold Water

The little maid at the east corner gate was so frightened by Xu Wanzhen's smile that she ran away.

The gatekeeper Mrs. Wu smiled and said: "Where did this little girl come from? Why are you running? There are no rules, stop!"

The little maid had a guilty conscience, so when she called out, she had to stand still timidly.

Mrs. Wu stepped forward and asked, "Which yard do you belong to? You don't work in the yard early in the morning, what are you doing here at the east corner gate?"

"I, I am..." She stammered a few words, then said with an idea: "I am Shui Lan from 'Songtao Courtyard'. The old master knew that Mrs. Xu was leaving the mansion today, so he was worried and sent me to take a look."

"If you don't worry about sending a little girl like you here?" Mrs. Wu was suspicious, and asked again: "Then why are you running?"

"No, I just saw Mrs. Xu left, and I was anxious to go back and return to the old man." Shui Lan muttered.

Only then did Mrs. Wu let her go.He murmured to himself: "This matter is a bit weird. Shui Lan from the 'Songtao Courtyard'? When the eldest lady comes back, I have to report it."

Shui Lan left the east corner gate, hurried all the way, and returned to "Wen Han Residence" in a panic.Seeing that Tu Manzhen had not yet returned to her room, she was waiting at the door.

Two sisters, Tu Manfen and Tu Manzhen, are in Li's upper room, paying their respects to their parents.

Li asked them a few words warmly, sent Tu Bowen out, and sat down with the sisters for breakfast.

The family rules of the Tu family emphasize "don't talk when you eat and don't talk when you sleep".Even when eating, Li Shi still behaved elegantly, ate the food in small bites, and silently chewed the food in his mouth.She has always demanded the same from her daughters.

But today, Tu Manzhen was worried about the East Corner Gate, and was preoccupied with whether Shui Lan had heard the news, so she ate a little absent-mindedly.Seeing her like this, Mrs. Li tapped the table with her fingers and made two "duk-duk" sounds.

Tu Manzhen was still in a daze, when suddenly she heard a sound, and the white porcelain spoon in her hand fell to the table with a bang and broke in two.She exclaimed "Yeah", and then remembered the rule of not making noise when eating, so she quickly covered her mouth.

Mrs. Li frowned, and signaled to Huatang, the first-class maid in her room, to clean up the table and bring a new spoon.Tu Manfen gave Tu Manzhen a wink, signaling her to continue eating quietly.

After the three of them finished their meal, they rinsed their mouths.Li Shicai said, "Manzhen, what's the matter with you today?"

Tu Manzhen had already thought of an excuse, and said coquettishly: "Mother, I was thinking, the piece that Mr. Ning taught yesterday afternoon is really nice, I'm lost in thought."

Mr. Ning is a female teacher hired by the Tu family to teach the two sisters piano, chess, calligraphy and painting.She is also a person with a hard life. She was originally a Hanlin lady, but she was also a talented couple in those days.Unexpectedly, her husband died of illness at a young age, leaving only one young son.She is very talented and learned, so she set up a female household by herself, and in the name of her deceased husband, she lived by teaching the young lady of a rich family and raised her youngest son.

Although she is not rich, she does not accept female disciples at will.In addition to examining the character of the disciple, if the disciple's family tradition is not stable, she will not teach it.After accepting female disciples, each family will only teach for three years, and will not stay longer.She said: "In the past three years, I have already taught what I can teach, and practice the rest by myself."

The first female disciple she taught was the current Princess Chu.Since then, all those in Beijing who have daughters to marry flock to her.When she came to the Tu family, she also took a fancy to the noble reputation of the Tu family. The daughter brought up by this family should not ruin her reputation.She came to Tu's house five years after Qinglong, and this is the last year now.

When Li heard that Tu Manzhen was thinking about homework, she nodded and said, "It's good to study hard, but you must concentrate on eating. If you commit the crime again next time, you will be fined to copy the Heart Sutra ten times."

Tu Manzhen stuck out her tongue, took Li Shi's hand and said, "Okay, mother, Zhen'er will never do it next time."

The two sisters left the main room, Tu Manfen said softly: "Sister, you are too careless, you were almost discovered by your mother."

Tu Manzhen proudly said: "Didn't I find this out? Fortunately, I handled it well." The two walked along the corridor, and Tu Manzhen saw Shui Lan waiting at the door of the wing with sharp eyes, and shook Tu Manfen's arm, excitedly said: "Sister ! Shui Lan is back."

"Keep your voice down! I saw it too."

When they got closer, the two saw that the expression on Shui Lan's face was not quite right.Tu Manzhen asked, "What's the matter? Come in with me."

Shui Lan entered the room and said: "Returning to the Eldest Miss and the Second Miss, the servant just came back from the east corner gate."

Tu Manfen suppressed his excitement, and asked lightly: "Well, what can you see?"

Shui Lan glanced at her timidly, and said: "I saw that the Xu family had two carriages, Mrs. Xu, Miss Xu, and the young master of the Xu family all got into the carriage."

"What? You read that right?" Tu Manzhen stared at her with wide-eyed eyes.

Shui Lan was taken aback.When Cuixiu ordered her, she only asked her to see if there was anything going on at the east corner gate.She went to see, nothing happened.She has always been timid. Although she doesn't know why, she feels that this is not normal. What are you doing at the East Corner Gate?Miss Xu smiled at her again, scaring half of her soul out.

Seeing the reaction from the second lady, she didn't know why, so she could only answer truthfully: "That's right, they probably left the corner gate at [-]:[-] a.m., and they set off in less than a quarter of an hour."

Tu Manzhen's eyes almost popped out, why?It can't be like this!It's so early in the morning, where did the Xu family get the horse?

Seeing this, Tu Manfen took her sister's hand reassuringly, and continued to ask, "Is there anything special about it?"

"The special thing..." Shui Lan recalled for a while, and said, "Ah, yes."

"What's the matter? Tell me quickly." Tu Manzhen urged repeatedly.

"Miss Xu was the last one to get on the carriage. She seemed to see me and smiled at me. But it's far away, and the sky hasn't finished yet. I'm not sure." Shui Lan said.

"What?!" Hearing Shui Lan's words, it poured Tu Manzhen from head to toe like a basin of cold water.She let out a cry, and clenched her hand tightly, scratching a wound on Tu Manfen's palm, and blood dripped out all of a sudden.

Tu Manfen was in pain, retracted her hand to look, frowned and said: "Don't make a fuss, be careful."

Seeing this scene, Shui Lan was frightened and stood dumbly in front of her.Seeing her dumbfounded, Tu Manfen said impatiently: "Go, bring me Cuixiu!"

Shui Lan was shocked when she heard the order, and hastily bowed and retreated.

Before Tu Manzhen recovered from the shock, she murmured: "Sister, why do you think this happened? Then Xu Wanzhen still smiled at Shui Lan. Does she know that we did this?" Speaking of which, She panicked, and hurriedly pulled Tu Manfen's hand, saying: "She knows, what should I do?"

Tu Manfen turned sideways, avoiding her hand, and said: "Didn't you see that my hand hurt? I still pulled it." Angrily said: "How would she know, she is just a little maid. Even if she doubts it, so what? , she has no evidence. Now is not the time to think about this, we need to find out where she came from?"

Tu Manzhen came to her senses, and said bitterly: "Yes! Cuixiu is so courageous, how dare to obey and disobey."

(End of this chapter)