in the Rosewood Box
The yard within the mansion of Ningyuan Army General was not too extensive, so it did not take long for Qin Wanru and the group of people she was leading to arrive at Qin Yuru's room. Qin Yuru lost her nerve when she saw Qin Wanru openly led a group of people to enter her room. She cast aside all other concerns, walked up to Qin Wanru and put out her arms in an attempt to block her.
"What do you want to do, Second Sister?" said Qin Yuru and she glared fiercely at Qin Wanru, her face drained of colors.
"Nothing much. I just wanted to look at the letter our cousin wrote to you!" replied Qin Wanru calmly, staring back at Qin Yuru coldly.
"Letter… what letter?" Qin Yuru was so terrified that she almost bit her tongue. She had no idea how Qin Wanru had found out about the letter.
As early as the time when Mrs. Qin began harboring the intention of giving Duke Yong's family her daughter's hand in marriage, Qin Yuru had started corresponding with Di Yan through letters, through which they expressed their commitment to the relationship. It was, in fact, Di Yan who had urged his mother to agree to their engagement that Duke Yong's family finally sent to ask for Qin Yuru's hand.
"Do you dare to allow to search your room, Big Sister?" asked Qin Wanru.
"How outrageous of you! Your sister's room is not for you to enter and look whenever you like," cried Mrs. Qin in rage.
"How about if grandma sends someone in to search?" Qin Wanru blinked her long lashes and said calmly. Qin Wanru's composed manner made Qin Yuru even more anxious. She turned to look at the mother for help, saying, "Mother, younger sister had become insane! She's trying to ruin my reputation of modesty."
"Ruin your reputation of modesty? How is getting someone to search your room ruining your reputation? What are you afraid of, Big sister? What are you guarding against?" Qin Wanru let out a cold laugh as she took full advantage of Qin Yuru's own words to use it against her.
All the people began to cast a doubtful look on Mrs. Qin and Qin Yuru. Could this be true, given the looks of panic on their faces?
"Grandma, please send people into Big Sister's room to search her dresser. There's a rosewood box in the lowest drawer on the right. It contains the letters our cousin wrote to Big Sister. I suppose the letters contain information on their engagement!" said Qin Wanru, again in a calm manner.
At this juncture, everyone was stunned how detailed her description was. Could all that she said be true?
If what Qin Wanru said turned out to be true, then the fact would be contrary to what everyone had thought.
It would not be the second sister trying to take over the marriage by force from her sister. Rather, it would be the older sister who deserted the son of the governor so she could marry into a wealthier family. It would be the older sister who had tricked her innocent younger sister into "snatching" the initial marital arrangement.
If this were the case, the older Miss Qin would be a wanton woman who was also despicable at the same time. She was obviously trying to ruin her own sister's life.
As the crowd turned to look at the younger Miss Qin, they wondered if she even knew anything about the romantic feelings between a girl and a boy?
Qi Tianyu'a eyes turned cold. The entire event had so many twists and surprises that he was started to think with a clear head. He suddenly found Qin Yuru suspicious as he reflected on what happened. He instinctively turned to notice the look of determination on Qin Wanru's small pale face.
She was indeed still a child!
Old grandma nodded and indicated for two maids to enter Qin Yuru's room to search. While Qin Yuru instantly tried to block them, one of the maids pulled her back while the other proceeded to enter her room. In a matter of minutes, the maid indeed found the rosewood box and carried it out from the room.
The crowd outside Qin Yuru's room began whispering to each other.
When Qin Yuru saw the rosewood box, she could not be bothered about trying to block the maid who held on to her.
She gave the maid a hard push and threw herself at the other maid, as she snatched the rosewood box out of the maid's hand. Thereafter, she turned around and dashed into her room and slammed the door behind her.
The crowd was stunned into silence and their faces were leaden.
"Yuru, Yuru, don't be rash. Your little sister is still young and she did not mean to humiliate you. What she says isn't true, so don't you do silly things!" Mrs. Qin reacted quickly by shoving grandma's two maids away to rush up to the door of Qin Yuru's room. She banged in the door as she began wailing as if Qin Yuru was trying to take her life after being humiliated by Qin Wanru.
"Mother, look at how Second Sister and Grandma doubted me and even took my belonging from my room. How can I face the rest of the world?" said Qin Yuru from inside her room, as she quickly played along with her mother and started wailing as well.
She would not allow those letters to be exposed.
Qin Yuru had deliberately said these words to imply the old grandma was showing favoritism towards Qin Wanru when she purposely took her belongings from her room to show it to the public to humiliate her.
Mrs. Qin who was at the door heaved a sigh of relief and her eyes were filled with pride for Qin Yuru's wit. She was sure this would put both Qin Wanru and old grandma at bay so they would not continue to corner Yuru. She thought no one would be able to bear the consequence if Yuru committed suicide.
Even old grandma could not bear the responsibility of driving her own granddaughter to her death.
"You know what to do without me telling you, Master Qi!" Qin Wanru retreated a step and turned to shoot Qi Tianyu, who was frozen in place, a mocking look.
Her childish yet scornful look in her eyes rested on Qi Tianyu for a while, then she lured Qi Tianyu's eyes to turn his eyes to look at someone wearing a green headscarf.
The green headscarf reminded Qi Tianyu of a green hat, and a man "wearing a green hat" in the Chinese language was a metaphor to a man being a cuckold.
He quickly got the hint from Qin Wanru that she was mocking him of being a cuckold. The green headscarf was like a sharp blade that pierced through Qi Tianyu's pride, as well as destroying the composure he was trying so hard to maintain.
Qi Tianyu's face drained of blood, his eyes turned bloodshot. His hands which were by his side were tightened into fists of rage, as he strode towards the door of Qin Yuru's room.
Mrs. Qin thought he wanted to speak to Qin Yuru, so she wiped away her tears and moved aside. Just then, she heard a loud bang behind her and she saw that the door to Qin Yuru's room was kicked open…