青春期撞上更年期第1部

After breakfast, Shao Wanru got on the carriage and went to Rui’an Great Elder Princess’ Mansion as usual.

When she arrived at Great Elder Princess’ Mansion, Shao Wanru got out of the carriage and saw Nanny Gao greeting her as usual. “Your Highness, Great Elder Princess, Her Highness is waiting for you. There is a visitor who came to our mansion.”

“Who is it?” Shao Wanru asked in surprise as she walked inside.

“It’s Princess Yue. She claimed that she came to see Great Elder Princess and Infanta Qinghua,” Nanny Gao said.

“Zhang Qilan?” Shao Wanru wondered.

“Why did she … come here?” Shao Wanru asked. Zhang Qilan was Princess Yue, but she seldom visited Rui’an Great Elder Princess’ Mansion.

“Princess Yue said that she came to visit Infanta Qinghua on behalf of Consort of Virtue,” Nanny Gao explained.

“Did Consort of Virtue have a good relationship with my mother before?” It was the first time that Shao Wanru had heard of this, so she specially asked.

“Well, it’s not particularly good, but at least good. Her Highness Consort of Virtue had a good relationship with Princess before she married the Emperor,” Nanny Gao said.

“Then … why did she especially ask Princess Yue to come here?” Shao Wanru asked.

“Well, I don’t know either. Maybe she just said it casually,” Nanny Gao said.

When Shao Wanru arrived at the living room of Rui’an Great Elder Princess’ Mansion, as expected, she saw Zhang Qilan there. Seeing Shao Wanru come in, Zhang Qilan smiled decently. After saluting each other, they took their seats together.

“You girls talk for a while. I’ll go keep your mother company.” Rui’an Great Elder Princess stood up and said with a smile.

“Okay.” Shao Wanru nodded.

Rui’an Great Elder Princess left with her servants, leaving Shao Wanru and Zhang Qilan alone, as well as a few servant girls.

“Mother asked me to come and visit Infanta Qinghua, but Great Elder Princess just said that Her Highness has not fully recovered and that it is inconvenient for her to see anyone,” Zhang Qilan explained with a smile.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Shao Wanru said extremely calmly.

Zhang Qilan hesitated for a moment and then looked up at Shao Wanru. She stood up and bowed sideways to Shao Wanru. “It happens that you are here today. I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to you.”

“Why did you say that, Your Highness?” Shao Wanru stood up and bowed sideways to Zhang Qilan. Chu Liuchen was younger than Chu Liuyue, so Zhang Qilan was her sister-in-law.

When they sat down again, Zhang Qilan looked at Shao Wanru with a little guilt on her face. “Um… What happened between us previously was instigated by Infanta Yuan’an and Princess Yuyan, but it was also my fault. I took you wrong and thought what they said was true. Back then, I was blinded by jealousy and did that to you according to their ideas. Now when I think it back, it’s all my fault!”

Zhang Qilan looked very sincere with guilty in her eyes, and she did not shirk her responsibilities too much.

Since what happened last time, it was the first time Zhang Qilan distinctly expressed her thoughts and guilty to Shao Wanru. As Princess Yue, she could undoubtedly leave a good impression on others by doing this, and meanwhile, she showed her intention of taking responsibility for her wrongs and mending their friendship.

Back then, too many people were involved in what had happened in Princess Yuyan’s mansion, and all of them had extraordinary statuses, so it ended up with nothing definite finally. Up to now, the matter of Zhang Qilan had not had a final conclusion yet, and only Shao Wanru knew that Zhang Qilan was not innocent in it.

Now Zhang Qilan apologized to Shao Wanru and made it clear that it was also her fault, which showed that she was very sincere.

At this time, Shao Wanru should let go of the past. Even though she didn’t appreciate it very much, the relationship between them would be eased.

“Your Highness, you’re too polite,” Shao Wanru said lightly with an extremely indifferent look as if she was not very touched by Princess Yue’s words.

“Then, have you forgiven me?” Zhang Qilan’s eyes lit up. She looked at Shao Wanru and asked anxiously.

“Your Highness, what past is past. It’s not something that can be solved by whether I forgive you or not. Now that it’s over, we don’t have to mention it again,” Shao Wanru said calmly. She curled up her red lips slightly and revealed a hint of a faint smile that could be almost negligible.

What Zhang Qilan said was sincere, but it couldn’t withstand deliberation. Shao Wanru was fine currently, and it seemed that Zhang Qilan had done the best she could by saying so. However, if Shao Wanru thought further about what would end up with her after something had happened to her back then, it couldn’t be resolved by a few meaningless words from Zhang Qilan.

“You… Are you really not going to forgive me?” The excitement in Zhang Qilan’s eyes faded, and she looked sad. With tears in her eyes, it could be seen that she was very sad. Her lips trembled. “Even … even if I misunderstood you at that time… For the sake of our past friendship … would you forgive me for my jealousy?”

“Jealousy?” Shao Wanru raised her beautiful eyes, which were clear with a little cold look. “Your Highness, what you said is very funny. I am Princess Chen. Do you mean that you are jealous of me because you have a crush on Prince Chen?”

Zhang Qilan didn’t expect Shao Wanru to say that. All the words she had prepared were stuck in her mouth. She looked at Shao Wanru with a blushed face, and she was about to burst into anger. Fortunately, she still remembered what Chu Liuyue had told her before, so she held back her anger with great effort. Today, Zhang Qilan was here to make peace with Shao Wanru, but not to make trouble with her.

“I didn’t mean that. I misunderstood you and…” Zhang Qilan explained.

Shao Wanru interrupted her rudely and said, “Your Highness, it’s nothing good for you to hold a grudge against me. Prince Chen can only marry me, just like you are now Princess Yue.”

“She is forcing me to take the blame, indicating that I take a fancy to Chu Liuchen!”

Zhang Qilan stood up in anger, and could not bear it anymore. She was going to talk about the matter between Shao Wanru and Chu Liuyue instead of offering Shao Wanru an excuse to gossip about her crush on Chu Liuchen.

“Your Highness, are you going back now? Yujie, see Princess Yue off for me. I have to go to see my mother, so I won’t see her off.” Shao Wanru also stood up and said before Zhang Qilan could say anything else.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Yujie answered and came out. She walked up to Zhang Qilan and said softly with a smile, “Your Highness, please!”

Zhang Qilan couldn’t vent her anger, nor could she stop Shao Wanru. Watching Shao Wanru swagger off with Qing’er, Zhang Qilan was so angry that her flushed face turned pale.

Zhang Qilan nibbled her lip and couldn’t stay any longer. She turned around and walked outside.

Yujie led the way cleverly. When they arrived in front of Princess Yue’s carriage, Yujie took a step back with a smile. “Your Highness, please.”

Zhang Qilan got into the carriage with an ashen face. The carriage turned around and went straight to Prince Yue’s Mansion.

In Prince Yue’s Mansion, when Chu Liuyue heard that Zhang Qilan had come back, he asked her to come to the study.

Zhang Qilan entered the study, bowed to Chu Liuyue, and took a seat on one side. The servant served them tea and left.

“How was it going?” Chu Liuyue took a sip of tea and looked at Zhang Qilan.

“She didn’t forgive me.” Zhang Qilan lowered her head.

“Why didn’t she forgive you? Didn’t you apologize with enough sincerity?” Chu Liuyue asked with a cold smile.

“I… I…” Zhang Qilan clenched her handkerchief and lowered her head again.

“What did you promise me before? You said that it was not a big deal and that you had a good relationship with Princess Chen. As long as you sincerely apologize, you will definitely reconcile with her, right?” Chu Liuyue said coldly and put down the teacup in his hand heavily. “If you didn’t say that, why did you bother to go to Rui’an Great Elder Princess’ Mansion in the name of my mother today?”

This question made Zhang Qilan speechless. She particularly went to Rui’an Great Elder Princess’ Mansion to meet with Shao Wanru today. As she knew, if she went straight to Prince Chen’s Mansion, Shao Wanru might not be willing to see her, so she came up with this idea. Unexpectedly, even though she met with Shao Wanru, Shao Wanru did not treat her friendly and even insinuated to her, making her embarrassed.

“Your Highness, Princess Chen is narrow-minded. I didn’t think it was a big deal, but she refused to let go.” Zhang Qilan lowered her head and said. She was resentful in her heart, but she didn’t dare to reveal it on her face. She was no longer Prime Minister Zhang’s daughter, but Prince Yue. For the sake of this position alone, Zhang Qilan couldn’t be willful.

“Narrow-minded?” Chu Liuyue played with a jade ornament in his hand and looked up at Zhang Qilan. “Do you really think so? Or did you come up with this idea because you didn’t want to apologize to her?”

“Your Highness, I did apologize to her and admit my mistake sincerely. However, she was too stubborn and self-righteous to forgive me. No matter what, I am your wife, Princess Yue, her sister-in-law, but she actually said that she had something else to do and left even before I said goodbye to her. Your Highness, I wonder if you have offended Prince Chen recently.”

Zhang Qilan slowly raised her head, looked at Chu Liuyue, and asked. She looked extremely calm as if the jealousy she had just now never existed, and she was just objectively helping Chu Liuyue analyze the relationship between the two princes.

The relationship between the two princesses was not good. Even if it was because of the grudge between the two women, could it also indicate that the relationship between the two brothers was not good either?

Chu Liuyue was silent for a moment and thought it possible. His eyes fell on the Peony Painting on the side, and his brow furrowed tightly. If Chu Liuchen was involved in this matter, Chu Liuyue had no other way to settle it for the time being.

Prince Chen’s Mansion was a place lack of manpower the most for him. Previously, when Shao Wanru was plotted to be murdered, all the men he arranged in Prince Chen’s Mansion had been cleaned up. Now Chu Liuyue knew nothing about what was going on in Prince Chen’s Mansion, which made him restless.

That was why Chu Liuyue wanted to restore the good relationship between Zhang Qilan and Shao Wanru, but he didn’t expect that it did not work for Shao Wanru.

Feeling annoyed, Chu Liuyue waved his hand and said, “You can go.”

Zhang Qilan stood up sensibly and bowed to Chu Liuyue. She also glanced at the Peony Painting that Chu Liuyue had been looking at just now. Suddenly, she stopped to ask, “Your Highness, is the painting damaged?”

“What’s wrong?” Although Chu Liuyue looked at the Peony Painting, his attention was not on it. When Zhang Qilan mentioned it, he subconsciously took a closer look.

When Chu Liuyue saw the marks on a peony on the painting, his expression immediately changed dramatically. He pressed the table and asked, “Who has been here?”