Chapter 185 Minglan Sends a Mirror
"I will investigate this matter myself. If Mo'er really did it on purpose, I will not let her off easily." Sheng Hong said.
Mrs. Wang wanted to say something, but Mrs. Liu beside her quickly pulled her and shook her head slightly at her.
"Okay, let's leave it at that for now. You take Mo'er to Linqi Pavilion to apply medicine on her. Let her stay there for a few days to recuperate." Sheng Hong said.
"Yes!"
Lin Xiaoniang looked at Sheng Hong with great grievance, and together with Xue Niang, she supported Molan and walked away.
This is what makes her better than Madam Wang.
It is hard to tell who is right and who is wrong now. If she continues to make trouble, it will only disgust Sheng Hong.
But regardless of who is right or wrong in this matter, the ones who may suffer the loss are the mother and daughter.
Madam Wang took advantage of her and was aggressive. She suffered a loss but did not cry or make a fuss and was completely submissive.
One is troublesome and the other is happy, the difference is obvious at a glance.
Sheng Hong felt even more distressed when he saw the look in Lin Xiaoniang's eyes before she left, and when Molan kept crying out in pain as she was being helped out.
"I'll go pay my respects to my mother." Sheng Hong said, then stood up and walked out.
As soon as Sheng Hong left, Rulan asked anxiously, "Mom, what should we do now?"
"Don't worry." Madam Wang pulled her daughter to sit down and comforted her, "Didn't your father say that there is another one with Minglan? They are the same, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can't tell. Your father has already gone to get it for you."
Madam Wang comforted her daughter, looked at Madam Liu, and asked, "Why did you stop me just now? The official said he would investigate, but it will definitely end up in nothing."
Sheng Hong often used this kind of smoothover tactic. When she asked about it after a while, Sheng Hong would turn around and say that as a lady, she was not generous at all.
"Madam, this kind of thing is hard to explain. The fourth girl refuses to admit it. What can we do? Besides, the fourth girl has been beaten like that. You can't just beat her to death just for this, right?" said Mother Liu.
"Beat her to death would be a light punishment." Madam Wang said gritting her teeth.
"Madam, you know this is impossible." Madam Liu shook her head and said, "Although the Sixth Miss has one, can Madam take it? This matter still needs the Master to handle. If you anger the Master and he doesn't care, what should you do?"
"It's a good deal for them!" Madam Wang said unwillingly.
"Madam, the Fifth Miss's affairs are the most important. As long as the Fifth Miss is favored in the East Palace in the future, even the Lord will no longer favor Miss Lin." Mother Liu reminded.
"You are right." Madam Wang nodded.
…………
"Mother!" Sheng Hong bowed.
Minglan quickly stood up, bowed, and made way for him.
"Ah."
Old Madam Sheng nodded slightly and said, "You must be tired after working all day. Go back and change into your official uniform and take a rest."
"My son is not tired." Sheng Hong came to sit next to Old Lady Sheng, looked at Minglan and said, "You and your fifth sister have been to the East Palace for a day. Go back to your room and rest. I will talk to your grandmother."
"Yes!"
Minglan bowed to the two of them, asked Xiaotao to take the wooden box containing the mirror, and left.
"Mother, Rulan and Minglan went to the East Palace today. The Crown Prince gave them two mirrors made of unknown materials. Rulan accidentally broke the one she had."
Sheng Hong carefully looked at Old Lady Sheng's face and continued, "After all, it was given by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Girls need it for daily dressing and makeup. When Rulan enters the East Palace in the future, if His Royal Highness asks about it, I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain. My son thought Minglan also has one, so why not give hers to Rulan."
"Rulan is going to the Eastern Palace, so does that mean Minglan won't be needed?" Old Lady Sheng asked Sheng Hong while looking at him.
"Minglan..."
"After all, Minglan is just a dowry, the prince may not care, right?"
Old Madam Sheng directly said what Sheng Hong wanted to say.
Sheng Hong could tell that there was anger in Old Lady Sheng's tone, but he still nodded reluctantly.
"You also know that Minglan is only a dowry. She is also your daughter. It is already unfair enough to give Rulan a dowry for the entire Sheng family. You should give the mirror to Rulan. If the Crown Prince asks where the mirror Minglan gave her is in the future, how will Minglan answer?"
"Although Ming girl is a dowry, she still has a chance to get a status in the future. If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is unhappy because of this, will he let her live in the palace without a name and status for the rest of her life?"
"Have you ever thought about these?" Old Lady Sheng asked, slapping her thigh.
"Of course my son has thought about it, but Rulan is only a concubine after all. If Rulan is disliked, Minglan will not have an easy time either," Sheng Hong explained.
"Oh." Old Madam Sheng sneered, "This matter is essentially a trivial matter. You can meet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and explain it to him. Or write a letter to Bo Ge'er and ask him to write a letter to explain the situation to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Can His Royal Highness the Crown Prince be angry about such a thing?"
"You obviously have a way, but you just don't use it. You're just worried that the Crown Prince will have a grudge against the Sheng family, which will affect your and Bai'er's future. Even if the possibility is very small, you don't want to take the risk, right?"
Sheng Hong's face turned red after being questioned by Old Lady Sheng.
Old Madam Sheng was right. If he or Sheng Changbai asked, Zhao Xing would most likely not care.
But what if?
So he was unwilling to take risks and chose the safest approach.
"I'm telling you, there's no way I can agree to this."
After saying this, Mrs. Sheng left Sheng Hong behind and walked into the inner room.
"Madam, calm down." Madam Fang followed Madam Sheng into the bedroom and comforted her, "If you get sick from anger, there will be no one to protect the Sixth Miss."
"I just can't help being angry. Minglan is never thought of when good things happen, but she is always the one to be thought of when something else happens. I feel sorry for her." Old Lady Sheng said, pounding her chest.
"I know. That's why you have to take care of yourself. Otherwise, if the Sixth Miss is bullied in the future, who will protect her?" said Mama Fang.
"I can still protect her at home, but what if she goes to the East Palace?" Old Madam Sheng shook her head. Hearing this, Madam Fang sighed silently.
…………
Linxige
"Mom, please be gentle, it hurts."
Molan lay on the bed, and Lin Xiaoniang sat beside the bed and applied medicine for her with her own hands.
"Do you feel the pain now? If your father hadn't come back early, I would have been beaten by Wang Ruofu." Lin Xiaoniang said unhappily.
"Mom, didn't you tell me to irritate Rulan more?" Molan said.
"I asked you to irritate her as much as possible, but you should have informed me before doing this. If you had planned it better, would you have been beaten? Fortunately, I left early and only suffered flesh injuries. If you had injured your bones and left disabled, who would you have married in the future?" said Lin Xiaoniang.
Rulan's personality is almost exactly the same as Madam Wang's.
However, under the guidance of Old Madam Sheng over the years, his temper has been restrained and he looks much calmer.
So she instructed Molan to provoke Rulan more often.
As long as Rulan's temper is still the same as before, she will suffer when she enters the Eastern Palace.
As long as Rulan is out of favor, let’s see if Madam Wang can still be so arrogant.
"Mom, that's a good opportunity. She usually keeps someone in the room and treats me like a thief. How could I have a chance?" Molan retorted.
"Is there any need to rush into such a matter? If there is only one person, and you do this, I will have people spread the news and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will definitely be angry. But Minglan also has one, so what's the use? You'll just get beaten for nothing." Lin Xiaoniang said.
"Mom, we can spread the word anyway. As long as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince asks, he will naturally believe it if they can't produce two mirrors." Molan said excitedly.
"It's useless." Lin Xiaoniang shook her head and said, "Minglan is just a dowry. Even she has it. Do you think it is something precious? Even if His Royal Highness knew, he would not be angry about it."
"Mom, you have to think of a way." Molan said anxiously: "When I think about having to bow to Rulan when I see her in the future, I feel very unwilling."
When Rulan enters the Eastern Palace and is canonized in the future, she will have to pay her respects to Sheng Hong when she returns to her parents' home.
Even if she gets married in the future, she can't escape.
After all, if Rulan comes back, even if she doesn't want to, her in-laws will urge her to come back.
She couldn't say that she and Rulan had a bad relationship.
"If you are not willing to accept it, how can I accept it?" Lin Xiaoniang said coldly.
She even thought about poisoning Minglan, so that the person chosen for the dowry would become Molan.
Although it was just a dowry, but with the skills she taught Molan, and the fact that Molan was as beautiful as Lan, proficient in poetry, and knew how to please men, she would definitely have a place in the East Palace.
However, the food Minglan eats is all cooked in the Shou'an Hall kitchen, and it remains the same even now that they have moved out.
The reason is that the kitchen at Shou'antang is closer.
Shou'an Hall was run very tightly by Old Madam Sheng, so she couldn't find any opportunity at all.
"You should behave yourself recently. It will take quite some time before Rulan is taken into the Eastern Palace. I will think of a solution." Lin Xiaoniang said.
…………
Although Rulan was comforted by her mother, she was still in a bad mood. She didn't eat dinner at night and sulked while holding the mirror.
As Xi Que was persuading her, a maid came in and saluted, saying, "Miss, the Sixth Miss is here."
"What is Sixth Sister doing here so late?" Rulan was a little confused and said, "Let her in."
"Yes!"
The maid responded and went out, and soon brought Minglan in.
"Fifth sister."
Minglan held the wooden box and smiled as she came to sit next to Rulan. "I heard that your mirror was broken, so I brought mine to you."
"Sixth sister, you..." Rulan was stunned as she looked at the wooden box handed to her.
"Fifth sister, the mirror was given to you by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. If he knew about it, he would probably be angry. I am just your dowry maid, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will not ask about it." Minglan said with a smile.
"Thank you, Sixth Sister." Rulan took the wooden box and put it on the table. She reached out and hugged Minglan, apologetically saying, "You are my sister. I said that you are a maid in the dowry when I was young and ignorant. Don't take it to heart."
"I was just joking, why did Fifth Sister take it seriously?" Minglan said with a smile.
"Okay, you tease me again." Rulan let go of Minglan and reached out to tickle her.
"Fifth sister, I was wrong."
Minglan dodged and begged for mercy.
The two sisters played and chatted for a while, and then Minglan left.
The next morning, when Rulan went to pay her respects to Madam Wang, she told her about this.
Madam Wang took Minglan aside and praised her, and when she went to pay her respects to Old Madam Sheng, she also told her about this matter.
After hearing this, Mrs. Sheng looked at Minglan and said nothing.
But when Madam Wang and the others left, Minglan was left behind.
(End of this chapter)