青春期撞上更年期第1部

Seeing her like this with no trustworthy name card, people in the mansion refused to deliver her message. For three days in a row, E’niang failed to meet Rui’an Great Elder Princess, which made her anxious. After thinking for a whole night, she got up early the next day and waited outside the mansion.

As expected, Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s special carriage came out of the mansion when it was time.

E’niang had heard yesterday that Rui’an Great Elder Princess would see Princess Chen today. She left early because she would pay her respects to the Empress Dowager in the Palace after meeting Princess Chen.

!!

The carriage slowly left the mansion. In it, Rui’an Great Elder Princess looked fine. She felt she was in much better spirits than three years ago. She was no longer as listless as before. Now, whatever she was doing, she felt pretty energetic.

She had an intelligent granddaughter and a sensible and lovely grandson. Though she still felt sad when thinking of her daughter, her current situation made her grateful to heaven for her luck.

Knowing Shao Wanru was sick again, she went to see her. She was finally relieved when she was sure that Shao Wanru was okay.

Today, she wanted to go out and have a look at her granddaughter again. She got up early in the morning so as to talk more with Shao Wanru in the Prince Chen’s Mansion.

But a sudden braking of the carriage nearly tumbled Rui’an Great Elder Princess out. Inertia pushed her forward. Fortunately, the servant girls on her side reacted quickly. They grabbed her sleeves and managed to stabilize her.

“What’s going on?” By holding the window, Nanny Gao struggled to stand firm and shouted angrily to the outside.

The carriage stopped so abruptly that the people in it almost had an accident.

“Great Elder Princess, someone stopped the carriage!” The coachman was also shocked. A person suddenly jumped out of the roadside, and he only had time to hold the reins tightly.

Glaring at the woman before him, the coachman felt a sudden surge of anger. Was this woman blind or stupid? She rushed straight out and rashly reached out to stop the carriage. It might knock her down and kill her. Didn’t she know that?

It was said that the carriage from the Ruiping Great Elder Princess’s Mansion had an accident. As a result, Infanta Yuan’an’s face was disfigured, and the coachman ended up in trouble.

Nanny Gao looked at Rui’an Great Elder Princess. After ensuring she was okay, Nanny Gao lifted the carriage curtain and got out. A woman stood before the carriage, and Nanny Gao sized her up. With a frown, she asked unhappily, “Who are you? Why did you stop Her Grace’s carriage?”

This woman looked a little familiar. She was about 30 years old, but somehow she made people feel unpleasant. Because she appeared overly tender and charming, Nanny Gao did not like her very much.

“Nanny Gao… do you… do you still remember me?” E’niang knelt with a thud, wailed in tears., and looked at Nanny Gao excitedly.

“Who… who are you?” In shock, Nanny Gao stepped back and looked at the E’niang suspiciously.

Rui’an Great Elder Princess asked someone to lift the curtain in the carriage, and her face darkened. Looking down from the window, she saw the woman kneeling before Nanny Gao. From her angle, she could only see the top of her head, so she couldn’t recognize her.

Although it was early, some people passed by. Seeing this scene, the passers-by stopped one after another, wondering what was happening!

“Nanny Gao, I am E’niang… E’niang!” Seeing Nanny Gao’s confused look, E’niang moved a few steps forward on her knees and cried, “I am E’niang, Infanta Qinghua’s servant girl. Nanny Gao, do you still remember me?”

“The servant girl of Infanta Qinghua?” Nanny Gao was stunned. In disbelief, she reached out to rub her eyes and looked at E’niang again.

In the carriage, Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s face changed dramatically. “This woman came to me finally. Zhuozhuo has told me to be on guard against her.” A trace of sharpness flashed in her eyes.

“The Marquis Xing’s Mansion never stops plotting against Zhuozhuo. After Zhuozhuo rebuffed her, she turned to deal with me!”

“Nanny Gao, let’s go back to the mansion!” Rui’an Great Elder Princess ordered coldly without any hesitation.

“Yes, we should return to the mansion first!” Nanny Gao quickly caught on and ordered the coachman, who didn’t understand why he had to return when just going out. Nevertheless, he certainly didn’t dare to disobey his master’s order. So, the carriage turned around and went back to the mansion.

“Miss, please come in first. Let’s talk inside. I really can’t recognize whether you are… or not!” Nanny Gao kindly reached out to pull E’niang up and said after patting her clothes.

“I enter the mansion so easily.” E’niang was overjoyed. “Rui’an Great Elder Princess seems to care much more about Infanta Qinghua than Princess Chen. That is good. The more she cares, the better!”

She followed Nanny Gao into the mansion and waited outside a courtyard nearby. After a while, she saw Rui’an Great Elder Princess. Surrounded by many servant girls and old maids, she walked forward and stopped before E’niang.

“Greetings, Your Grace!” E’niang knelt and did not dare to look up, her eyes landing on the Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s feet.

After a long while, the feet moved.

“Get up first!” Nanny Gao pulled her and let her get up.

E’niang stood up carefully. Behind Nanny Gao, she didn’t dare to glance around at all.

Upon arriving at the main room, she saw Rui’an Great Elder Princess sitting high above. Instantly, she went down on her knees again and said, “Greetings, Your Grace!”

“Are you… the girl coming back with Qinghua?” Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s grim eyes fell on this woman with a trace of hatred flicking.

“The Marquis Xing’s Mansion, the Marquis Xing’s Mansion again!”

“Yes… I am… Your Grace, I… I finally saw you… I thought I could never see you again in this life!”

E’niang choked out in excitement and started weeping softly.

Rui’an Great Elder Princess cooled down and intoned, “Tell me what this is all about. Didn’t you say you were with Marquis Xing? What do you mean by doing this?”

Fury burnt in her heart. Accompanied by her granddaughter and grandson, she had thought she could forget all these miserable things. However, now she realized she had not forgotten the past but just buried it deep in her heart.

E’niang was not surprised that Rui’an Great Elder Princess had learned about it. Long ago, she had planned for this situation: Princess Chen mentioned her to Rui’an Great Elder Princess.

“Your Grace… I had no choice. Since I accompanied Infanta Qinghua back, I had been serving the little heir of a duke given birth by her. Madam Jiang hated me to the bone. Later, my master passed away. I had no other way but to follow Marquis Xing… Otherwise… I wouldn’t even have survived. Later… later, I left the Marquis Xing’s Mansion!”

E’niang said while wiping away her tears.

She lowered her head but couldn’t dry her eyes. What had happened to her in the Marquis Xing’s Mansion? Infanta Qinghua had died at that time, and she became a helpless servant girl. Worse still, for Infanta Qinghua, she had provoked Madam Jiang. When no one was around to protect her, she could only rely on Shao Jing, Marquis Xing, who was relatively reliable.

Rui’an Great Elder Princess was immersed in the grief of losing her biological daughter. How could she think of an unimportant servant girl?

“Is that why you chose to be Marquis Xing’s mistress?” Rui’an Great Elder Princess asked in a deep voice.

“Your Grace, I had no other way out… If I hadn’t chosen to be with him… I might have died… My death was not a big deal. But… I just felt Madam Jiang was too… too much…” E’niang wiped away her tears hard and looked up at Rui’an Great Elder Princess pleadingly. “Your Grace, if it hadn’t been for Madam Jiang, my master wouldn’t have died so early!”

“What… do you mean?” Rui’an Great Elder Princess asked nervously, her hand pressing the table corner hard.

“Your Grace, I’ve seen Her Highness, but I didn’t mention it, for I was worried that she might raise an uproar. She was young, after all. Besides, I witnessed it as a servant girl, and it had been so many years. Even if I explain it clearly, others won’t believe me,” said E’niang, cleverly straightening out her unpleasant meeting with Shao Wanru and making her words plausible.

She made a proof all-round without any omission and explained why she kept this secret from Shao Wanru. Rui’an Great Elder Princess felt she had really underestimated this servant girl named E’niang. Slowly, she pressed her hand against her chest to appease herself.

“Go ahead!”

“That day, my master gave birth to the little heir of a duke. She had been in a confused state of mind, but occasionally, she would sober up a little bit. At such times, Madam Jiang would deliberately send someone to talk about the former heir of a duke, accusing my master of bringing disasters to him. His death was all her fault. If it weren’t for her, he wouldn’t…”

E’niang choked with sobs when defending her master against injustice.

“Madam Jiang ordered her people to say all this from time to time. Otherwise, my master wouldn’t have… so early. It was Madam Jiang who hounded my master to death. I strove to survive only to bring this message to you. Then, you could avenge my master’s death. Your Grace… I’ll have no regrets even if I die now!”

...

E’niang denounced with grief and indignation.

Judging by her pitiful performance, others would believe she was a servant girl loyal to her master.

Without her granddaughter’s warning, Rui’an Great Elder Princess believed she would have been touched by this maid and even blamed herself. She might have thought the tragedy was all her fault. Back then, she didn’t pay any attention to this maid. Thus, E’niang had to find ways to survive with Shao Jing’s help. Even worse, Rui’an Great Elder Princess might have thought that E’niang became Shao Jing’s mistress mainly because she hated Madam Jiang.

When encountering such a loyal servant girl in the past, Rui’an Great Elder Princess would strongly support her. Of course, she would want to use her to deal with Madam Jiang. Recently, Madam Jiang never showed up in public. Even if Rui’an Great Elder Princess was eager to go and deal with her, she had no chance!

This servant girl seized the right time and acted according to Rui’an Great Elder Princess’s character. With her personality, Rui’an Great Elder Princess would avenge her daughter’s murder and make Madam Jiang suffer. In such circumstances, was there any better way than taking away everything that Madam Jiang cared about most?

If it weren’t for Shao Wanru, Rui’an Great Elder Princess would have been tricked…

“Nice girl! You have suffered for so many years. It was my negligence. I overlooked your situation!” Rui’an Great Elder Princess said.

“It’s what I should do. For my master, I’m ready to sacrifice everything. But, Madam Jiang… She… I’m too weak to do anything about her. Your Grace, please uphold justice for my master. She died unjustly!” E’niang’s voice was choked with sobs, but she still kowtowed heavily to Rui’an Great Elder Princess a few times. After that, she raised her head and said with hatred.

She was now a loyal servant girl who would do anything for her master. Anyone who heard her explanation and saw her sad and angry look would think she was telling the truth…