Chapter 603
Chapter 603 It’s Not the First Miss Shao, but the First Miss Qin
Qing’er’s carriage went all the way forward, followed by Shao Wanru’s carriage.
Both of the two carriages moved slowly. The mountain path was bumpy and the sun had gone down at the moment. They needed to be more careful when driving in the grove.
It had rained heavily yesterday, and the sunlight was not strong enough today, so the ground was still very wet and slippery. They could not make any mistakes while driving on the mountain path.
Qing’er’s carriage moved steadily, and she became even more careful when making a turn. Her master had specially told her to pay more attention, which meant that the trip would not be peaceful.
Along the way down the mountain, although the wheels slipped a little, nothing went wrong basically. At the thought that they were going to arrive at the flat ground at the foot of the mountain after making the last turn, Qing’er involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. At this moment, it became dark, but they still didn’t need a light.
They were going to arrive at the foot of the mountain and could step on a flat path leading to the capital after making the following turn. Anyone could be careless at this moment.
From Qing’er’s angle, she could see people talking at the intersection down the mountain, where there was a teahouse. Anyone who had been to the Yuhui Nunnery knew it. Qing’er, who had traveled back and forth between the Yuhui Nunnery and the capital city from time to time, certainly knew it.
Hearing people talking and laughing and thinking that they were going to arrive at the foot of the mountain, one would naturally slack off. Even an experienced coachman would let out a sigh of relief and relax at this moment.
However, an accident occurred at this moment.
The horse pulling the carriage suddenly ran wildly, while the corner was in front. With her face changing dramatically, Qing’er suddenly pulled the reins in her hand and jumped aside swiftly. The cliff was just a few feet away from her. If Qing’er had not been prepared for unexpected conditions, she would not have been able to escape, not to mention the one in the carriage, whose door was tightly closed.
The horse led the carriage into the small cliff at the corner.
The huge noise had alarmed the people in the teahouse. Plenty of them ran out and saw the carriage falling down in shock. All of them opened their eyes wide, gasped in fear, and couldn’t even say a word.
“Quick, there’s a pool below. Hurry to save them!” Someone, who knew about the terrain, shouted.
Because it was the last turn at the entrance of the mountain, plenty of people walked around here when they were unoccupied, and some people, who drank tea in the teahouse below, even walked there to enjoy the scene.
There was a lake at the bottom of the cliff, which was not very high. If a pedestrian fell from here, the pedestrian would not die, because the water could serve as a cushion for protecting the pedestrian. But now the carriage fell down with people, and it was still cool on an autumn night.
If someone in the carriage fell down, the one would definitely die.
“It’ll take an hour to go there. We won’t be able to save them in time!” Someone realized what had happened and said with a sigh, “I’m wondering which mansion the carriage belongs to and what made the coachman fail to see the road clearly so that the carriage fell down like that!”
“Exactly. Is there anyone among us able to swim? If there is, I think it’s a good deed to collect their bodies even if it’s impossible to save them!” Another person said.
The one made sense. Some people had headed there from the back of the road!
“There’s a maid, who seems to have fallen from the carriage!” A sharp-eyed person, who had seen Qing’er jump out of the carriage, shouted loudly.
A few people ran over. Some of them helped Qing’er, who was still lying on the ground, up. Noticing that the maid was actually fine despite her injury, they all said loudly that the maid was very lucky.
“Which mansion are you from? Who was in the carriage just now?” Seeing that Qing’er could sit up and talk, someone asked with concern.
“My master is the Fifth Miss… of Duke Xing’s Mansion…” Qing’er clutched her arm and said with a pale face.
The Fifth Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion?
The person, who asked the question, and others all stood, gazing at one another.
They had actually heard of the Fifth Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion. Wasn’t she the “bane” discussed animatedly in the capital city a few days ago? Although the rumors had been suppressed later.
An old maid, who squeezed herself into the crowd from outside, was stunned for a moment at the sight of Qing’er. She did not expect that Qing’er could survive.
It was really unexpected that the maid survived although the whole carriage had fallen down.
“Qing’er? Qing’er, is it really you?” The old maid rolled her eyes, rushed over, took Qing’er’s hand, and said emotionally, “Is… is the Second Miss who fell down in the carriage just now?”
Although Qing’er survived, it could change nothing. She was just an inferior maid, who survived probably because she was not allowed to get in the carriage and had to sit on the shaft of the carriage with the coachman.
It was good to find a surviving maid, which offered them an opportunity to shift the blame onto the Qin’s Mansion.
“You… you are…” Qing’er said. She had been helped to sit down in the teahouse below, where someone poured a cup of tea for her. After taking a sip, she recovered, but she still trembled all over with a pale face. Obviously, she was terribly frightened.
In fact, even a man would be terribly frightened, not to mention a little maid.
The carriage fell down in front of everyone, so there was no need to say that the little maid was the only one alive.
“I’m a servant of Old Madam Qin’s. The Second Miss came down the mountain after hearing that Old Madam Qin was sick from me. Unexpectedly, after having a rest here for a while, I found that the Second Miss ran into an accident. What… what… can I do now? If Old Madam knew that the Second Miss ran into an accident, I’m afraid… I’m afraid that she will be too sad to survive!”
As the old maid said, she began to wipe off her tears and crouched down in front of Qing’er with a panic-stricken look.
Her words gave a clear explanation of the cause and effect of the matter. A moment ago, plenty of people had wondered why the Fifth Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion came down the mountain at this time. Who would come down the mountain at dusk when the rain yesterday made the rough mountain path slippery?
However, it turned out that the Miss did so because of worrying about her grandma. She seemed to be filial.
Some people sighed and thought that the Miss was so kind, but she seemed to be quite unfortunate. Could it be that as the “bane”, she brought disaster to herself rather than brought disaster to others?
“Are… are you sent by the First Miss?” Qing’er said with difficulty, looking dull. After what had happened just now, it was reasonable for her to get freaked out.
“No…” The old maid said and rolled her eyes, not sure who Qing’er was talking about at the moment. On the surface, she worked for Qin Yuru, but in fact, she had been bribed by Shao Yanru in private.
“The First Miss… The First Miss Shao… The First Miss… The First Miss Qin…” Qing’er said and turned her head with difficulty to look at the old maid anxiously with tears in her eyes and her face as pale as snow, “Why… why did she do that to my master…”
Her words were confusing, but the old maid was panic-stricken. How could the First Miss Shao be exposed?
“I was sent by the First Miss Qin, not the First Miss Shao. It has nothing to do with the First Miss Shao!” The old maid reached out to take Qing’er’s hand and explained in a low voice while comforting her.
“It’s… it’s the First Miss Shao. It must be the First Miss Shao. She… she has always disliked my master… Someone has done something to the carriage. The horse suddenly ran wildly just now. Only… Only someone from Duke Xing’s Mansion could… do something to the carriage!” Qing’er said and stared at the old maid blankly, obviously in a confused state of mind.
Everyone around them stopped talking and stared at Qing’er and the old maid in astonishment.
“It’s not the First Miss Shao. It’s the First Miss Qin!” The old maid reached out to pinch Qing’er’s hand hard with sweat on her forehead and said anxiously.
If the First Miss Shao knew it, she would get into serious trouble.
“It’s the First Miss Shao… It’s the First Miss Shao who can’t tolerate my master…” Qing’er burst into tears and screamed. As she struggled to free herself from the old maid, her hands were shown in front of everyone and they saw the bruise on her hand left by the old maid’s grip.
At first glance, anyone could tell that there was something fishy about the accident.
“Come on, seize the old maid!” Someone suddenly shouted, and the onlookers hurriedly stepped aside and saw a few local yamen runners rush over and hold the old maid down.
“Why… why do you seize me?” The old maid was shocked and screamed anxiously. She was supposed to be able to leave after saying a few vague words.
The First Miss Shao had prepared enough money for her so that no one could find her after she left the capital.
She had never expected that there would be local yamen runners in this place at this moment.
“She works for the First Miss Shao… She deliberately tricked my master to come down the mountain… She did it on purpose…” Qing’er said with a dull look and stared at the old maid. Suddenly she stood up, rushed out and began to scream, “Miss, Miss…”
“Stop her!” The head of the local yamen runners said.
Another two people immediately came over to pull Qing’er, who almost went crazy.
“Let’s go to the back and have a look. Maybe the Miss is still alive!” After holding the old maid and Qing’er down, the head of the local yamen runners waved his hand and said. Others went to the back.
On the mountain path, Shao Wanru’s carriage was empty and stopped there, but Shao Wanru and Yujie had gone…
Shao Yanru sat in her room and looked at the dim sky outside the window with a hint of a smile on her face, looking at leisure and elegant like she always appeared to be.
“Miss, the accident has probably occurred now!” Shuqi looked out of the window and said with a smile, “From now on, there will be no one against you!”
“Was there such a person before?” Shao Yanru said while leaning back lazily and comfortably with a smile.
“There was certainly no such a person before. How could the Fifth Miss compare with you? Now she ran into an accident on her way to the Qin’s Mansion. No one could find out we are behind it.” Shuqi rolled her eyes and said with a flattering smile.
She, who had lived a harsh life in the Yuhui Nunnery for a period of time, now felt inexplicably relieved.
Both the Fifth Miss and her two maids put a lot of pressure on Shuqi.
“Since it has something to do with the Qin’s Mansion, Qin Yuru should be the suspect if they conduct an investigation. Qin Yuru and she has always hated each other, and Shao Wanru is the one who put Qin Yuru into her current situation. It has nothing to do with us!” Shao Yanru said with a pleasant smile and looked calm and elegant as if she would never get involved in anything.
A maid rushed in and accidentally fell down when entering the room, but she stood up in a hurry and rushed to the main room…