Chapter 91 Being Silly or Pretending to Be Silly
“What the hell, go away! Go away!” Dou Qing’e tried her best to scratch off the flocky thing on her face. She felt disgusted about this brute full of urine and acid smell.
Xiu Gu and Qin Yunzhuang stepped forward in a hurry. The wild cat from nowhere had very prompt paws and the paws had been embedded into the face of Dou Qing’e. They dared not pull heavily. When they pulled off the cat, they found many small bloody stains emerging on her temples, forehead, corners of her mouth and even eyelids. Though the cat did not disfigure her but now she was very in a mess.
And Qin Yunuan, she felt satisfied with this funny show.
“Catch this brute! Peel its skin and vessel!” Dou Qing’e shouted loudly, and then she saw a slovenly girl like a colorful butterfly coming here and grabbed the wild cat held by Xiu Gu. She held the cat tightly and fondled this troublemaker carefully.
She was Qin Yuzhao. Having seen her dull fourth sister who felt frightened and dressed ragged tightly holding the wild cat, Qin Yunuan suddenly stepped forward to stop the slap Xiu Gu was about to give to Qin Yuzhao.
“Xiu Gu, you are just a maidservant even if you are preferred by my mother. How dare you as a maidservant slap the miss at this mansion?”
Qin Yuzhao was silly and suffered a lot of bullies. Xiu Gu had always bullied her by right of the permission of Dou Qing’e. Now Xiu Gu was stopped by Qin Yunuan and she felt embarrassed now.
“Take the bloody cat here!” Dou Qing’e covered her face and said. She would not let the brute which hurt her go.
“No,” Qin Yuzhao held the little cat tightly, “Nobody can touch my Sesame. It can only belong to me. Concubine Dou, if you like it, you can find one in the back courtyard. There were many cat babies recently.”
“What did you call me just now?” Dou Qing’e felt outrageous and stepped forward, “Concubine Dou? Silly girl, open your eyes and see clearly! I am the legal wife of Qin Family, and your mother is the concubine who was a menial maidservant responsible for footbath before.”
“Not really,” Qin Yuzhao laughed and suddenly turned to Dou Qing’e in a lower voice, and then said mysteriously, “I have heard that dad did not love you anymore, so you were degraded into the concubine. Ha-ha, it is also good for you to be a menial responsible for footbath.” Qin Yuzhao clapped her hands, which looked very silly.
“Go away!” Dou Qing’e hated those words extremely. Xiu Gu could not slap her but she could as an elder. She rolled up her sleeves and slapped Qin Yuzhao. Just the moment she slapped Qin Yuzhao, a strong man’s voice came with anger simultaneously.
“Dou, what are you doing?”
Qin Zhi exactly appeared at the Chuihua gate. He was very angry with his fist gripped.
Coincidence would not happen so coincidentally. It was Qin Yunuan that dispatched people to invite Qin Zhi here secretly. She aimed to let Qin Zhi see clearly the crazy and arrogant Dou Qing’e.
“M…master,” Dou Qing’e suddenly softened her anger but still contended, “For no reason, this girl held a wild cat to scare me and then my face was hurt by this cat.”
Qin Zhi just glimpsed lightly at the stains on the face of Dou Qing’e. In his heart, though Dou Qing’e was still a little bit charming, he felt that she was more disgusting and anile after he stayed with her for a long time and then met with Li Qiqi.
“Yuzhao, is that true? Did you take the cat here to scare your mother?” Qin Zhi felt a little bit sorry when he looked at Qin Yuzhao in a mess. He seldom communicated with Qin Yuzhao. He thought that Dou Qing’e dared to slap her casually and even let the maidservant do that, just because of his indifference.
“That’s not true,” Qin Yuzhao suddenly felt so aggrieved and said with tears in her eyes, “Sesame is always well-behaved. This woman told me that I couldn’t take Sesame into this courtyard, and I told it that it should only play in the woodshed. But today, I did not know why it disappeared. I looked for it for so long and saw the bad nanny holding it when I entered the courtyard. The woman kept shouting that she would kill Sesame and peeled its bones.”
“Bull shit! It’s not true!” Dou Qing’e pointed at the stains on her face, “The stains on my face are the best evidence. How could I have got hurt like this if the dog had not done that? Besides, Xiu Gu and Yunzhuang both saw the whole thing. Master, you can ask them and you will know the truth. This silly daughter of the concubine actually has pretended to be silly all the time. She is very shrewd.”
“Father, I didn’t. I will not lie to you,” Qin Yuzhao said with saliva dripping from the corner of her mouth.
Qin Zhi frowned and felt disgusted, but still comforted her shortly.
“Yuzhao became silly after a high fever which caused her mental handicap when she was four years old. Everybody knows it. Now you accused her unreasonably. Don’t you think it is so unnecessary to do that? And the stains on your face….”
“Yunuan saw the whole thing,” Qin Yunuan said lightly at this crucial moment. She gave a salute to Qin Zhi and said, “The stains on the face of my mother were caused by the stones when she got tumbled.”
And then Qin Yunuan raised her eyebrows and said to Dou Qing’e with a happy smile, “Mother, why did you so uncareful? If Xiu Gu had not pulled you back, you would have fallen and covered Sesame of the fourth sister.”
The truth became a lie. Dou Qing’e turned to be outrageous and widened her eyes, “You are such a blind bitch. Show me! Where are those stones on the slab bridge which can make me tumble?
The slab bridge was Dou Qing’e’s favorite strolling place, so she ordered servants to clean the place three times a day. Even one dust could not be found here in daily time. So how could those stones appear on the bridge? Dou Qing’e knew that this menial girl was telling a lie.
The moment Dou Qing’e raised her head and looked at Qin Yunuan confidently, Qin Yunuan was about to laugh but ceased it. She indicated that an egg-sized stone suddenly appeared beside Dou Qing’e’s feet. The sharp angle of the stone seemed to have the possibility to cause hurt to people’s skin.
Qin Yunuan thanked Leng Wu in her heart who set the trick well. But now Qin Zhi became very gloomy, “Dou, I can tolerate you for a while but I can’t tolerate you for the whole life. Now you are still the legal wife of Qin Family and people call you Madam Qin. You should appreciate that. Listen! Don’t rock the boat and this is the rule you should follow in the next days in the mansion. Yunzhuang has been under the house arrest and now you too. Don’t come out of Cui Xuan courtyard and do the self-examination.”
Qin Zhi felt shocked that Dou Qing’e came back with Princess Ning this time, and now he just ignored the reason why Dou Qing’e suffered hurt on her face and started to condemn her behaviors in her life. He was giving her an alert that Qin Family was not her site. Never would be.
And then Qin Zhi rebuked Dou Qing’e coldly for a while and then left with much anger. Dou Qing’e glared at Qin Yunuan and seemed to be eager to swallow her directly. And then She turned to Qin Yuzhao with her teeth gritted.
“Madam, please.” Bulter Xie had guided the road ahead with an icy face too.
On the slab bridge, there were only Qin Yuzhao and Qin Yunuan left. Qin Yuzhao still held the little wild cat called Sesame. The silly girl was still constantly comforting the troublemaker.
Qin Yunuan crouched and kept the same horizontal eyes with Qin Yuzhao who shrank her neck and leaned against the fence.
The eyes of Qin Yuzhao were dark enough like the sweetest purple grapes in fall. Her bright eyes were totally different from the silly eyes she had in daily life when Qin Yunuan observed carefully.
Qin Yunuan raised her head and tidied up the tousy hair of Qin Yuzhao. She said gently, “You should go back and do not take risks for me to come out.”
Qin Yuzhao raised her head stupidly again with the saliva dripping. She looked very silly and just muttered, “White fan, white fan. The white fan sister gave to me was thrown by mother.”
Qin Yunuan wiped off the saliva on the corner of her mouth and the chin, “It’s OK. If you like it, I will send you another one next time. Although Concubine Liu had an impure motive, she cared much about you. She destroyed the fan just for your benefit.”
Qin Yuzhao lowered her head like a leaked rubber ball, “But I feel unhappy.”
Qin Yunuan kept silent for a while and said, “Go back. Listen to me. Don’t come out casually.”
Having seen Qin Yuzhao walking away who constantly turned back, Qin Yunuan suddenly thought about the kind of person who pretended to be silly but was smart actually. There existed a sort of people who disguised themselves as ignorant people both in the imperial palace and the noble mansions full of conspiracies because they knew many things. They had to pretend to be silly because they knew too much.
Maybe, Qin Yuzhao was a member of them.
Just three days later of the poetry feast, the affair of Sima Ray and Qin Yunzhuang had become a public secret in the circle of nobles. Besides, the secret had been known by ordinary people and even the kids in the streets made up a child song and sang every day related to the affairs.
All should thank Shangguan Yee. Of course, Qin Yunuan was happy to see the end. She felt relaxed that she could stay away from the tricks.
In a horse carriage with blue curtains stopping at Que’er Street, Qin Yunuan was sitting at the jade cushion lazily whose tentacles were very cold. A bowl of White Pear Fungus Soup was put on the table, which was taken out from a wooden box full of ice blocks. Qin Yunuan did not remember how many ice blocks for cooling Leng Changxi had dispatched people to send secretly in these hot days. She lived a relaxed life in this summer with those ice blocks.
Qin Yunuan feared high temperature very much.
Today it was the time for Qin Yunuan to check the Embroidering Shop as usual. Many people were preparing their weddings recently in the Royal City, so the shop gained a blooming business. Qin Yunuan saw a black horse carriage with specific golden-line decoration stopping at the door of the shop, which looked very luxurious.
Without question, Qin Yunuan knew who had come.
