"Please let Second Miss Qin in!" instructed the Old Grandma.
Qin Wanru entered the room followed by Qing Yue. She first paid her respect to Old Grandma. Thereafter, she walked to the bed and reached out to touch Old Grandma's forehead, then her own, checking her grandmother's temperature against her own. "Not hot!" Qin Wanru cried, as a smile spread across her face.
This was what Old Grandmother used to do to her when she was ill. This time, it was the other way round. This loving gesture coming from a little girl brought warmth to Old Grandma's heart. To Old Grandma, this was many times better than a word of concern.
"I'm alright, it's an old problem!" said Old Grandma with a smile. She coughed a little, then took Qin Wanru's hand and sat her down beside her bed.
"Grandma, you didn't use to cough this badly at this time of the years in the past!" Qin Wanru said, as her smile faded. In fact, she was starting to look worried and sad as she thought something was not quite right with her grandmother's cough.
"It's not a big deal. It's just that I'm getting older and it's only natural that my health deteriorates with time!" chuckled Old Grandma. She patted on Qin Wanru's hand light and said lovingly, "While you are growing up, Zhuozhuo, I'm getting older at the same time. This is only natural."
"How is that natural? Zhuozhuo somehow feel that something isn't right!" said the young girl in a childish tone, and this made Old Grandma laugh and cough again.
Qin Wanru went closer to Old Grandmother to give her a back rub.
"It's nothing serious for Old Grandma to cough a little since she's getting old. Since you're here, Wanru, please accompany me to go and apologize to your sister!" said Qi Rongzhi. This was the real reason why she was here to catch Qin Wanru. She was getting impatient watching Qin Wanru and Old Grandma talk intimately.
"This is between you and Elder Sister. You should go on your own because I want to keep my grandmother company," said Qin Wanru, without looking at Qi Rongzhi, as she continued to pat Old Grandma's back gently.
"What are you saying?… You better watch out…" Qin Rongzhi had always looked down on Qin Wanru. She could feel anger rising in her when Qin Wanru rebutted and was about to act on her anger.
However, she stopped herself when she locked eyes with Old Grandma, and quickly forced a smile and said, "You see, I've accidentally slapped your sister's face yesterday. She wouldn't want to see me unless you help me out. Considering the relationship between our families, I'm sure you don't want my relationship with your elder sister to be strained, do you?"
She had to restrain herself in front of Old Grandma and pretended to be courteous.
Her words were definitely calculated. If Qin Wanru refused to accompany her, it would imply that she wanted to sow discord between Qin Yuru and Qi Rongzhi, and therefore sow discord between the two families. This was not going to look good on Qin Wanru, perhaps in the future, this could be used against Qin Wanru and no one would want such a girl for their daughter-in-law.
A chilling look appeared in Qin Wanru's eyes as she thought about how Qi Rongzhi always knew how to talk in front of others in order to get her into trouble. Although it was obviously her fault, she had pushed the blame to Qin Wanru the way she phrased her words.
Qin Wanru lifted her gaze to Qi Rongzhi and blinked her long lashes. She was about to say something when Old Grandma tugged on her hand and said, "Zhuozhuo, just accompany Miss Qi to your Elder Sister's. Once Miss Qi is done with apologizing to your sister, she may finally go home with peace of mind."
Old Grandma was clear that their guest should go home soon.
What she meant was for Qin Wanru to accompany Qi Rongzhi on the trip to Qin Yuru's room, then Qi Rongzhi would have no reason to stay on in Ningyuan Army General's Mansion anymore. After these, she would let destiny lead the way in their relationship and trying to force a closer relationship was not necessary.
"Yes, Grandma!" Qin Wanru nodded in submission since Old Grandma instructed her to do so.
"Miss Qi, would you please wait outside for a moment? I've some things to tell Zhuozhuo!" said Old Grandma to Qi Ronzhi politely.
Since Qi Rongzhi had achieved her purpose, she was happy to oblige. "Yes, I'll wait for you outside, Second Miss Qin!"
Thereafter Qi Rongzhi walked out of the room, carrying herself with an air of arrogance. From how she did not even bid farewell to Old Grandma, one could see her poor upbringing.
"Zhuozhuo, do be careful when you're there. If Miss Qi were to make trouble, you don't need to be afraid of her. Anyways the relationship between the two families had been broken and there is no way it could be restored to its formal manner!" Old Grandma cautioned Qin Wanru after Qi Rongzhi left the room, fearing that Qin Wanru would be bullied again.
It was apparent to Old Grandma that after what Qin Yuru had done, the two families might still maintain a cordial relationship on the surface, but this was not so under that superficial cover. Therefore there was no need for her beloved granddaughter to bow to the Qi family.
"Be at ease, Grandma, I'll make sure to be careful!" replied Qin Wanru, nodding. She reached out to a cushion and placed it behind Old Grandma to support her, saying, "Grandma, who rebandaged the wound of my arm the second time I fainted? And where did that ointment come from?"
The first time she fainted was when she stabbed herself with the pair of scissors. The second was when Chu Liuchen pinched her on her arm with great force. By the time she regained consciousness, she was already in Old Grandma's room.
"Second time?" asked Old Grandma, puzzled.
"Old Grandma, it was the time I came to asked for help from you, to get someone to carry Miss Qin to come to your room," added Qing Yue, trying to remind her of that day after Qin Wanru fainted and was carried by Chu Liuchen's men to a pavilion outside. Obviously, Qing Yue was not able to support Qin Wanru with the little strength she had and had come to Old Grandma's room to ask for help. Subsequently, Qin Wanru was carried into Old Grandma's room.
"That was when Zhuozhuo just applied some ointment on herself, right?" asked Old Grandma, still puzzled.
"But… but it was bleeding…" said Qin Wanru, suddenly not so sure whether she remembered correctly. At that time, Chu Liuchen had pressed down on the wound on her arm so hard that she thought she saw some blood seeping out of the bandage. However, when she woke up later on, the bandage around her wound appeared clean, which led her to believe that the bandage had been changed.
"There was no blood on the bandage when you returned to my room at that time!" Old Grandma assured her.
There must be something amiss about this entire episode. Could it be that Chu Liuchen had rebandaged her wound and applied some ointment? Qin Wanru could feel her heart leaped as she thought she must have remembered something wrongly.
Even Qing Yue was getting confused now. In fact, she was in such a panic the other day that she did not notice if there was any blood seeping through Qin Wanru's bandage. After she arrived at Old Grandma's room, Old Grandma had instructed her to go back to Qin Wanru's room. This was why she could not remember if Qin Wanru's bandage had been redone, and if it had, who was it who did it.
"It's alright, we'll take it as it wasn't redone. It was just what I thought because at that time it was really painful!" said Qin Wanru. She did not want to dwell on this further since Old Grandma was not aware, lest it worried her.
"Oh my girl, of course it's painful!" said Old Grandma with a pained expression as she caressed Qin Wanru's arm.
"Alright Grandma, I'm going with Miss Qi. However, will you please send someone to Qi's mansion to request them to send someone over to be a witness, Grandma, lest Miss Qi creates any trouble and blame it on our family!" Qin Wanru said with a smile.
"Alright! I will send someone to invite the magistrate's wife here!" said Old Grandma as she nodded. No matter how Qi Rongzhi's apology turned out to be, she was no longer welcomed to stay on in Ningyuan Army General's Mansion.
Anyways it did not look like Qi Rongzhi was going to apologize sincerely and nicely.
"When the people from the magistrate's mansion arrive in a while, please direct them to Elder Miss Qin's room!" requested Qin Wanru as she got up to leave.
"Grandma gets it. Go ahead, Zhuozhuo!" Old Grandma waved her away.
Seeing that everything had been fixed up, Qin Wanru headed out of Old Grandma's room.
"Why did you take so long, hurry and go!" complained Qi Rongzi who was guarding outside, impatiently. She had never liked Qin Wanru, but she had to restrain herself so she could carry out a bigger, evil plan.
A chilling look appeared in Qin Wanru's eyes, as she tried to ignore Qi Rongzhi, and walked out with Qing Yue following behind her.
"What's the meaning of this, Qin Wanru?" cried Qi Rongzhi when Qin Wanru tried to ignore her. Qi Rongzhi could no longer suppress her anger and raised her hand, intending to give Qin Wanru a slap on her face when she passed her. This was how she usually treated Qin Wanru.
However, Qin Wanru reached out and caught Qi Rongzhi's hand and flung it away from her.
Qi Rongzhi totally did not expect Qin Wanru to resist her. She staggered and almost fell to the ground. She was two years older than Qin Wanru so naturally, she was taller and heavier than Qin Wanru. However, Qin Wanru still managed to fling Qi Rongzhi's hand off her. After Qi Rongzhi found her footing again, she shouted out in rage, saying, "What are you trying to do, Qin Wanru?"
"What are YOU trying to do?" Qin Wanru responded coldly after she steadied herself. Although she was a head shorter than Qi Rongzhi, she was not showing any sign of weakness. "Miss Qi, this is the general's mansion and a place where no one welcomed you. Do you really think that we are fearful of you?" continued Qin Wanru.
Qin Wanru managed to give a Qi Rongzhi a hard blow even though Qi Rongzhi had always been the vicious one bullied others but would not allow herself to be bullied.
Fortunately, Qi Rongzhi had been shamed yesterday and the fault seemed to lie with Mrs. Qin and Qin Yuru, Qin Wanru knew that Qi Rongzhi was more interested to get back at Qin Yuru than herself, so she would not waste time arguing with her.
"Let's go look for your elder sister!" Qi Rongzhi said, gritting her teeth. Qin Wanru's word had focused all of Qi Rongzhi's malice on Qin Yuru.
Qi Rongzhi's main target was Qin Yuru for now. Although she was not going to let Qin Wanru off either, she would not be able to confront Qin Yuru if she got into a fight with Qin Wanru now.
Qin Wanru turned and went ahead of Qi Rongzhi without responding to her, seeing that she had tried to suppress her anger. Not only were the two on the same front, they did not see eye to eye anyways. Qi Rongzhi could only follow closely behind Qin Wanru as their maid tailed behind them, as they headed to Qin Yuru's room.
After they left, Old Grandma quickly sent an old maid to the magistrate's mansion. In fact, the two mansions were not too far apart.
Qin Yuru had just gotten out of bed and was not intending to go to Old Grandma's room to pay her respect. She was, in fact, planning to go to Mrs. Qin to discuss how to lured Qi Rongzhi to attack Qin Wanru. How she wished that Qi Rongzhi would hurt Qin Wanru badly so as to paralyze her or at least disfigure her face so that her own anger towards Qin Wanru would be abated.
After washing up, Qin Yuru's maids served her breakfast.
"Miss Qin, Miss Qi and Second Miss Qin are here!" a maid came in to inform her of their arrival.
Stunned for a moment, Qin Yuru finally nodded and said, "Let them in!"
She focused her eyes on the boiling hot porridge on the table and conceived an idea as an evil smile spread across her face. She said to Mei Xue, the maid standing by her, saying, "Prepare some of this porridge for the two ladies. They should be served breakfast since they're here! It's early in the morning and the weather is cold. The porridge will warm them up. The hotter it is, the better!"
Qi Rongzhi was never concerned about people life and she loved to smash other people's things and slap other people's faces. If she managed to provoke her to anger towards Qin Wanru, who knew if this bowl of boiling hot porridge would kill or injure Qin Wanru…