"Grandma had gone to bed by now!" said Qin Wanru matter-of-factly. She recognized that the maid was none other than Mrs. Qin's chief maid, Meiya.
"Gone… gone to bed? What do I do?" Meiya said as she walked up and down in panic.
"What's the rush?" asked Qin Wanru, frowning.
"This… this Magistrate Liu sent someone to our house to inquire about Miss Qi. What do we do now… that this mishap befell Miss Qin?" Meiya asked, looking all panicky like she had lost all her nerves. She continued, "Madam said that Old Grandma has to be the one to settle the matter with them. Miss Qi usually only listens to Old Grandma."
How was Old Grandma going to make Qi Rongzhi listen to her if she was already so unwell due to her cough?
"Second Miss, will you please let me tell Old Grandma about it, so she can decide what to do?" Meiya pleaded with Qin Wanru after walking up and down the corridor for a while.
"Grandma is already asleep, please do not disturb her. I will go and have a look at Miss Qi," said Qin Wanru as she lifted her head to look at Meiya.
"If Second Miss would go and have a look at Old Grandma, I will go back to Madam!" Meiya said, delighted as her eyes brightened. She bowed respectfully to Qin Wanru and turned to leave so quickly that the panicky girl in her a moment ago had totally vanished.
"Miss…" said Qin Yue, sounding worried. "If you go to visit Miss Qi now, she would bite you!"
Qi Rongzhi was brutal by nature. Sometimes she would spout nonsense to get people in trouble. She used to bully Qin Wanru so Qing Yue was worried that harm would befall her mistress.
Qin Wanru smiled but her eyes were cold as she said, "If Madam wants to pay a visit to Miss Qi, I will do it. Don't worry about me because she can't really do anything to me!"
Right after she finished the sentence, she instantly guessed Mrs. Qin's intention. She could see through her evil plan to push her to stand before Qi Rongzhi, and she would comply. While she was sure Mrs. Qin was using Qi Rongzhi against her, Qin Wanru had exactly the same intention, which was to use Qi Rongzhi to spite her. While Qi Rongzhi humiliated Qin Wanru in her previous life, Qin Wanru was not going to let this happen in this life.
However, she was rather puzzled Mrs. Qin knew about Grandma not feeling well if Grandma only started to cough so badly but she was totally well before she returned to her room.
How did she know that Grandma would be coughing so badly back in her room that she could not even speak, and that Qin Wanru would personally visit Qi Rongzhi, not wanting her grandmother to be disturbed?
Could she have overlooked something herself?
It was not the right to pursue this matter, however, so Qin Wanru kept this in her heart and brought Qing Yue with her to head to the room where Qi Rongzhi was changing.
Just when she arrived outside the room, two maids were helping another maid who was bleeding on her head to leave. From the position of the wound on her forehead, Qin Wanru could guess that it was Qi Rongzhi who hurt the maid.
In Ningyuan Army General's Mansion, Qi Rongzhi had always behaved as if she were the master of the house. She would scold and hit maids and other servants whenever she liked. She had never retrained herself from all of her tantrums.
This was an example of a maid who had been so unlucky to become the victim of her temper.
When the maid serving Qi Rongzhi saw that Qin Wanru had arrived, she went in quickly to inform her mistress. After a minute or so, the same maid opened the curtains and said to Qin Wanru unfeelingly, "Miss Qin, please come in. Our Miss Qi had been waiting for you!"
Thereafter, she stepped to the side to allow Qin Wanru to enter the room.
Qin Wanru walked up to the curtain and the maid opened the curtain for Qin Wanru to put her head in. It was then she suddenly backed out and moved to one side.
Instantly, a bowl landed on where she was peeping in and thick, hot soup splashed all over the place, as the aroma diffused in all directions.
The maid, who caught some of the boiling ginger soup leaped up and cried in horror.
The ginger soup was really boiling hot…
Looking down at the broken pieces of the smashed bowl, resentment flashed across her downcast eyes, as she realized that this bowl was meant to land on her head.
It had been a while since Qi Rongzhi came here for a change of clothing. It could be deduced that she had already drunk the ginger soup sent to her earlier. If the ginger soup she hurled at Qin Wanru was boiling hot, she must have prepared this cup of tea especially for her.
The boiling hot soup could have disfigured her face even if it did not break her head. If the soup had even dripped into her eyes, she could have lost her sight.
Qi Rongzhi was indeed a sinister and brutal person, so was the person who prepared the ginger soup and laid the trap for her to step in. Whoever it was, she obviously wanted to destroy her using Qin Rongzhi.
She stepped into the room again and set her eyes on Qi Rongzhi, who was sitting facing the door.
"You debased girl! How dare you still have the guts to come and see me, after causing me such great embarrassment!" said Qi Rongzhi when she saw Qin Wanru entered. She smashed her hand hard on the table and fixed her angry gaze on Qin Wanru. She thought Qin Wanru was rather quick to react and was able to dodge the bowl of boiling hot ginger soup.
"I don't get what Miss Qin is trying to say. Why would I be too afraid to come to a room in my own house?" Qin Wanru raised her brows and said composedly, "Isn't this our General's Mansion? Did you make a mistake, Miss Qi?"
"You… how dare you speak to me in this manner!" said a flushed Qi Rongzhi, provoked by Qin Wanru's. words.
"Why should I be afraid? Miss Qi is being unreasonable. Are you saying that my father's status is lower than that of the magistrate? Or that Magistrate Qi had something on my father which he could use it against my father? So much so that I'm not allowed to speak my mind in front of Miss Qin?"
Qin Wanru walked into the room with her heads up, looking fearlessly at Qi Rongzhi and speaking with confidence and wit.
In the past, Qin Wanru had always been submissive to Miss Qi because she obeyed her mother's instructions. In reality, the status of the army general was definitely higher than that of the magistrate who was only in charge of administrative matters.
"You…" Qi Rongzhi did not expect Qin Wanru to be so sharp-witted, she was at a loss of words in response.
"Miss Qi, I'm here on behalf of my grandmother to check on your condition because she is not feeling well, therefore couldn't come. Please explain to me how you fell into the pond so we can make an account to the magistrate!" said Qin Wanru matter-of-factly, as if she was trying to finish up some necessary work. She was not bothered by Qi Rongzhi's vicious glare at her but maintained her composure while seated facing her.
"Wasn't you the one who intentionally lured me over there?" said Qi Rongzhi, gritting her teeth, while trying hard to hold herself back from lunging towards Qin Wanru to scratch her face.
"Why would I try to lure you over? What good does it do to me?" said Qin Wanru coldly and continued, "I wasn't the one who broke the marriage engagement with your brother, neither was I the one who was worried over the mess created in your family. Why would I stir up trouble for no reason? I heard there was even a servant boy who was by the pond, ready to save you out of the water. Moreover, I was on the way to my grandmother's and was not even close to the pond."
Qin Wanru tried to gradually let Miss Qi see the point, taking into consideration Miss Qi's character.
If Qin Yuru and Mrs. Qin could weave a story to get her trouble, so could she. Qi Rongzhi had always been an opinionated, unreasonable individual.
"Was there a servant who was getting into the water to save me?" asked Qi Rongzhi as her expression changed drastically.
Under such circumstance, if the male servant had tried to save her by putting his arms around her while she was drenched, she would have lost her modesty.
"Coincidentally and fortunately, there was a maid who was water confident who saved you. Otherwise, you wouldn't be sitting here safe and sound, and are still able to hurl boiling hot ginger tea at me. Otherwise, there would be another case of a maiden losing her modesty in Jiangzhou Prefecture.
Qin Wanru said matter-of-factly.
"Don't you dare exaggerate, Qin Wanru. If I find out that what you are saying is false, I will tear your mouth and break your leg, so you wouldn't dare to talk nonsense again," scolded Qi Rongzhi, pointing at Qin Wanru.
Qi Rongzhi meant every word she said. Based on her character, she would really carry out what she said, and would never allow herself to be shortchanged. She was not going to let this matter rest if she had suffered any disadvantage.
"It's up to you whether you want to believe it or not. You can go to my elder sister's room to look for clues if you like!" said Qin Wanru impassively as she stood up. Then she continued, "On top of that, please try to understand, Miss Qi, that I'm the second daughter of the general so I do not owe the Qi family anything. If you cause harm to me, don't ever think you can leave the General's Mansion unscathed!"
After giving the arrogant Qi Rongzhi this piece of advice and warning, Qin Wanru turned to leave the room. She could not care less about Qi Rongzhi's fallen face.
It used to be the case that Miss Qi was the one to threaten Qin Wanru. When did the situation turn around and now Qin Wanru was the one to threaten her? Nevertheless, deep in her, she knew what Qin Wanru said was right.
Qin Wanru, who had not offended her family was not the target of her attack. In fact, It was Qin Yuru who owed her family justice. If Qin Yuru had been trying to secret ruin her reputation, she had all the reasons in the world get back at her.
"Come, let's go check out on the eldest Miss Qin!" said Qin Rongzhi, indignant, as she smacked the table with her hand and stood up.
"Wait, Miss Qi. It would be very rude for you to force your way," Chun Yi, the maid who tended to her in the General's Mansion tried to remind her and hold on to her to stop her.
"Do you think I'm breaking the rule? If Qin Yuru had indeed intended to ruin my reputation and attack me, I won't let her off," said Qi Rongzhi hatefully. After listening to Qin Wanru's words, she was now more inclined to believe that Qin Yuru was trying to bring harm upon her, and there was no way she would endure such humiliation.
"Miss Qi, your brother had sent you here to find out the truth from the eldest Miss Qin. If you offend her, you would upset your brother!"
Chun Yi knew Qi Rongzhi had always looked up to Qi Tianyu, therefore she quickly mentioned Qi Tianyu's instructions and intentions to her.
"Then what should I do now?" said Qi Rongzhi, indignant, as she tried to calm her anger when Chun Yi mentioned Qi Tianyu. She hated Qin Yuru for making her suffer wrong during this visit to the General's Mansion, which led to her being angry with Qin Wanru as well.
"Don't show your anger when you arrived at eldest Miss Qin's room. Just say that you are there to discuss how to go against the second Miss Qin, meanwhile, try to find out if the eldest Miss Qin had really sent that male servant to stand by the pond to save you, thereby destroying your reputation. Find out the truth before you act, Miss Qi!"
Chun Yi knew very well Qi Rongzhi's intentions, so she gave her further suggestions by saying, "It'll be even better if you could get the second Miss Qin to come along. If anything goes wrong, just push the blame to second Miss Qin. It'll be killing two birds with one stone. You don't like second Miss Qin anyways. Wouldn't it be smart to blame the mistake on someone else?"