Chapter 1174 The Suspicious Candlestick
This simple candlestick was the only one here. Like this empty room, it was inconspicuous.
“This… Let me take this candlestick. When First Miss was still alive, the room was lit by this one light only. This candlestick was not very big. I want to take it out and put it before First Miss’s memorial tablet as an offering to her. It can be saved as a keepsake for those miserable days.” Mo Yan was a little uneasy at first. She looked at the candlestick and Shao Wanru’s face. When ensuring that her expression was normal, she said.
“You can get up first!” Shao Wanru said.
Mo Yan didn’t refuse this time. She rose to her feet, patted the dust off her knees, and walked up to serve Shao Wanru. In this position, she happened to block the candlestick, so Shao Wanru couldn’t see it after sitting down.
“Bring me this candlestick, and let me have a look!” Shao Wanru suddenly ordered.
Mo Yan was so scared that she trembled, and a haunted look flashed across his face. “My Lady, this is not a good piece. It was dropped here. My master came over and wiped it clean. Afterward, she had been using it. There was barely anything good here, but my master fancied this candlestick.”
“Bring it over!” Shao Wanru’s face darkened, and she ignored Mo Yan’s explanation.
Mo Yan moved and wanted to say something. Meanwhile, Yujie had already walked over, got the candlestick, and presented it to Shao Wanru. Mo Yan couldn’t help feeling nervous. “Why haven’t I put the candlestick away? Did Princess Chen find anything?”
Shao Wanru took the candlestick from Yujie’s hand. It was not big and had a small half-burned candle on it. At this time, the candle had already stopped burning. However, there was still a faint smell of burning candles. It was not very strong, but there was a light scent of incense, which smelled wonderful.
“Where did this candle come from?” Shao Wanru asked, turning it over and looking closely at it. It was a small candlestick, not particularly exquisite, but someone must have given it a good polish. This was mainly why it caught Shao Wanru’s attention. Just now, a ray of sunlight fell on the candlestick, so Shao Wanru happened to see it glitter. Otherwise, she would not have found such an inconspicuous candlestick.
The fragrance on it was very faint. Shao Wanru would not catch the scent if she did not hold it up to her nose and smell it.
“I heard the imperial Palace allocated it… I wanted to change it to a better one, but they were almost the same. In… In the end… we only used this one,” Mo Yan stammered.
Shao Wanru turned over the candlestick several times but found nothing unusual. “Did your master like it?”
“Yes, First Miss loved it.” Mo Yan hurriedly replied. Since she answered in such a hurry, she was afraid of causing misunderstandings. Therefore, she added, “When First Miss couldn’t fall asleep at night, she would embroider something. Fortunately, there was this candlestick. Otherwise, First Miss would be sad. This item looks bright because my master wiped it often. Sometimes, I wanted to clean it for her, but she didn’t allow me to do that.”
“Anyway, your master was an imperial consort. How could she not get anything better?” Shao Wanru casually put the candlestick in Yujie’s hand and wiped her palm clean with a handkerchief.
It had been scrubbed clean and shiny, but some parts were a little dirty and greasy. After holding it for a while, she felt it a little oily.
Mo Yan carefully breathed a sigh of relief. “Your Highness, my master lived a hard life in the Palace. No one helped us, let alone come and take a look at us. She barely had any good items. When she just entered the Palace, there were some nice things. But later on, we gave them to eunuchs and palace maids. How could we get anything better?”
Speaking of the past unbearable to recall, Mo Yan felt wronged, and her eyes turned red again.
In the Palace, she didn’t live a happy life but suffered a lot. Even as a servant girl, she was not used to such a hard life, let alone First Miss, who was brought up in luxury.
“My master deserves a much better life. She will ascend to a higher position.”
Thinking of this, she looked less aggrieved.
“Well, in this case, you can go with me. The candlestick is nice. Take it with us!” Shao Wanru ordered calmly and stood up, “Yujie, go to keep a record, telling them I’ll take this palace maid away!”
The information about palace maids was all recorded. Thus, all palace maids could not be taken away casually, including Mo Yan, who did not enter the Palace in a conventional way.
“Yes, I’ll go now!” Yujie gave the candlestick to Qing’er. Since her master liked this item, it is hers now.
“Thank you, Your Highness, but this… a favorite of First Miss…” Mo Yan stuttered, pointing to the candlestick in Qing’er’s hand. However, she didn’t dare to reach out to take it and could only look at Shao Wanru with a pleading gaze. She hoped that Shao Wanru could return the candlestick to her.
“First Miss is gone. How could Princess Chen rob her of such a worthless thing?
“Princess Chen can’t have such poor taste, right?”
“Let’s go!” Shao Wanru ignored her and said lightly. As she walked out, Qing’er followed closely.
Mo Yan hurriedly said, “Your Highness, I still need to pack some things…”
“What else do you want to pick up? Just take a packet with you. I’ll wait for you in the yard for a while. Pack up your possessions immediately!” Shao Wanru said unhappily.
Seeing that Shao Wanru was displeased, Mo Yan dared not say anything more. In haste, she put a few simple things in the package she had prepared earlier and came out with a small bag. She looked back at the courtyard door behind her and felt sad. “My master had no choice but to live there for so long. Now…”
“Let’s go!” When Mo Yan was still in a daze, Qing’er urged her in a low voice.
Mo Yan nodded quickly, wiped away her tears, and walked out after Qing’er and Shao Wanru.
Along the way, the two servant girls said nothing and followed Shao Wanru quietly. They were surprised to see Qin Yiyan and her servant girls at the side door. Seeing Shao Wanru coming over, Qin Yiyan bowed to her and looked somewhat dreadful.
She entered the Palace with Chu Liuchen and Shao Wanru. As soon as they were in the Palace, Chu Liuchen sent her to Consort Lan’s place. She had come back first.
“Why don’t you go back to your courtyard first, Miss Qin?” Shao Wanru asked indifferently after Qin Yiyan greeted her.
Qin Yiyan didn’t look at all well. She looked at Shao Wanru, seemingly wanting to say something. But when she saw the two servant girls behind her, she swallowed her words and said something usual, “I waited for you here to talk to you about something.”
“Miss Qin, please come with me!” Shao Wanru nodded and did not refuse.
She took them to the courtyard where she lived. Upon entering the courtyard, Shao Wanru asked Qing’er to fix Mo Yan up with a place to stay and invited Qin Yiyan into the main room.
When Qin Yiyan stepped into the room and sat down, her face looked weary. With a strange look, she examined Shao Wanru, her eyes a little uneasy.
Calmly, Shao Wanru put down the teacup in her hand and looked up, her limpid eyes on Qin Yiyan’s face. “Miss Qin, please go ahead.”
“You… Won’t you hinder my cousin?” Qin Yiyan blurted out.
“Miss Qin, what do you mean?” Shao Wanru raised her eyebrows and asked with a smile.
Qin Yiyan swallowed hard. Inexplicably, she felt Princess Chen’s manner imposing, though Princess Chen was younger. This situation choked her words. It seemed she couldn’t bring herself to mention something. After thinking briefly, she said bluntly, “I went to see my aunt just now. She asked me to listen to you, but do you… have such great capabilities?”
Qin Yiyan felt Princess Chen was full of momentum but still did not believe Shao Wanru was qualified to be Princess Chen. She was the hope of her family. Since she was a child, she had been educated in this respect. Though she was still a timid, unmarried girl, she thought she was of a broader outlook than ordinary women. Her life was not limited to the inner court.
In her view, she was a more suitable partner for her cousin!
She was very bitter about Consort Lan’s instructions just now.
With an indignant and disturbed look, Qin Yiyan appeared somewhat childish. Shao Wanru couldn’t help laughing and asked directly without beating around the bush, “Miss Qin, what can you do?”
All the people in the room were their trusted servants, so there was no need to conceal the actual situation.
“I can help my cousin manage the inner court well. No matter how many women he takes in, I can handle them well. Not only can I make these women obedient, but I can also force their families to work for my cousin. My secret guards can also secretly assist him, relieving him of worries and helping solve his problems.”
Qin Yiyan raised her head and pridefully said, “I’m good at martial arts. But do you know how to fight, Your Highness?”
“Has she learned martial arts?” Shao Wanru looked at her in astonishment. If Qin Yiyan hadn’t said it, she couldn’t have been able to see that.
“I mean it. I have been practicing combat skills since I was a child.” Thinking that Shao Wanru might not believe it, Qin Yiyan explained in detail. Compared with ordinary delicate women, she was the most powerful guard.
If she were Princess Chen, she could better protect her cousin. No one would know that she knew martial arts. If anyone tried to assassinate her cousin, she could rush out to defend him in the first place. Her surprise attack could catch the enemy off balance and help her gain the upper hand.
“But people with martial arts skills are usually guards.” Shao Wanru suddenly felt Qin Yiyan was a little cute, and her smile widened.
“I have an advantage over the other guards because I can take enemies by surprise. They won’t know I can fight.” Qin Yiyan was still unconvinced. She looked Shao Wanru up and down several times and continued, “I don’t understand why my cousin likes you. You look so fragile. Not to mention assassins, you will suffer even if attacked by other women. This time, an accident happened in the foreign princesses’ courtyard. If it were me, I would go and knock them down!”
Qin Yiyan clenched her small fists and fiercely shook them in the air.
Her threatening act amused Shao Wanru, who gently wiped the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief and said, “So, are you going to beat all the women like this and force them to stay loyal?”
“Of course not. I have other tactics. Sometimes, I need to use strategies. I’m not reckless.” Qin Yiyan felt very upset. She could do better, but she had to give up the position to the weak and delicate Princess Chen before her. She was truly unconvinced!
But no matter how unwilling to give in, she had to obey her aunt’s order. Besides, her cousin’s meaning was evident. Her aunt had been very hesitant before. When she learned about Chu Liuchen’s firm attitude, her aunt had to give up her original idea. Then, Qin Yiyan reached out to take something out of the pocket before her chest, reluctantly pushed it to Shao Wanru, and said in a low voice, “Her Grace asked me to give it to you!”
