Chapter 27: Shocking (Part 2)

  The eighth sister finished speaking and carefully raised her head to look at him. Her appearance was clearly not like a lying person.

  "Did you come with your mother-in-law today?"

  Ronghua said: "Yes."

  "Which young lady from the mansion is coming over?"

  "Only me."

  Zhao Xuanhuan carefully recalled the scene in the theater when he paid his respects to Mrs. Cai today, and she specifically mentioned Wang Shangshu's Aunt Chen to him.

  Zhao Xuan Huan's heart skipped a beat, furrowed his brow, and looked at Rong Hua again.

  Zhao Xuan Huan was about to speak again when he heard someone in the distance say, "Take a look and see if it's fallen over there."

  Rong Hua was startled and took a step back, fearing that if someone were to discover her and Zhao Xuanhuan together here... it would be impossible to explain.

  "Old Master Huan." As she walked up to the rock, she saw Zhao Xuan Huan on this side, and the woman was suddenly shocked, hastily giving a courtesy to Zhao Xuan Huan. The woman faintly saw that behind Zhao Xuan Huan, by the edge of the stone cave, there seemed to be another person.

  "What are you doing here?" Zhao Xuanhuang shouted.

  The old woman was startled, afraid of offending the master, and hastily bowed her head, "We servants came to find earrings for the third young lady, didn't mean to offend you, sir, please forgive us."

  "Found it?"

  The old woman trembled slightly, "Really didn't?"

  "Still not going somewhere else?"

  The old woman immediately listened to the words and turned around to walk out.

  This old woman has been in the mansion for a long time and is used to seeing all sorts of things. Today, Third Miss lost her earrings and had the maids and old women searching everywhere. They found them here, but then they ran into Master, so it seems there must be something fishy going on. The old woman thought that she should try to curry favor with Master, and also didn't dare disobey his words, so she didn't dare stay any longer and quickly called over all the nearby maids and old women to leave far away, herself going to find Ding Guifang's place near Madame Cai's.

  Rong Hua clutched her clothes tightly, afraid that the hem would accidentally expose from behind Zhao Xuanhuan's back. As soon as Zhao Xuanhuan moved slightly, Rong Hua's forehead inadvertently touched his back.

  Zhao Xuan Huan was taken aback, and then remembered the scene from before. Although they had been hiding and concealing themselves, it had brought out a hundred kinds of sweetness. He had originally thought that he would spend some ordinary days with her...

  Little did they know that in the end, they would be separated by life and death.

  Now there is another one just like her in front of me...

  Zhao Xuanhuan looked at Rong Hua, his words carrying some deep meaning, "To the west there is a small courtyard, inside are planted several red begonias, they just bloomed, pick a few branches and bring them to my mother."

  Miss Tao Ba's eyes sparkled with cleverness, and he didn't expose it either.

  "I'll go out first, you come out in a while."

  Rong Hua nodded slightly.

  Zhao Xuan Huan finally left.

  Zhao Xuan had just left for a short while when Mu Jin rushed in hastily.

  "Is there anyone outside?"

  Mugwort shook his head, "They were all taken away by a crone."

  Rong Hua let out a sigh, "Did anyone see you just now?"

  Mugwort Road: "Just now I saw someone coming, and my heart was anxious but I didn't dare to make a sound. I knew that if they saw me, Miss would also know that I'm here."

  Ronghua nodded, this move was extremely risky, if it weren't for the fact that they had reached a critical juncture, she wouldn't have... now there's no time to think about all that.

  For a while, no one would dare to come and check, she had to leave quickly, so she took the wooden stick and walked west.

  Mrs. Cai led the guests to the flower hall in the cross courtyard and chatted for a while, but didn't see any of the young ladies return, so she couldn't help but feel surprised, "How come they were called to be summoned, yet none of them are here? Could it be that they took a wrong turn?"

  The second grandma's mouth stiffened at the corner, and she smiled: "Several wives and maids are following along, can't be wrong, must be the young ladies playing chess with their minds."

  Mrs. Cai's eyes sparkled as she smiled again, "Young people have their own ways of having fun, and we old folks just can't keep up."

  Madam Zhan smiled apologetically, "That's right. Those two girls have been obsessed with the warm jade chess pieces from the Hou Mansion. Now that they finally got their hands on them, they won't let go for a while." This was indeed strange. Even if the young ladies didn't return, not one of the maids who followed them came back either.

  Mrs. Zhen turned around to call the maid beside her to go and find again, just in time to see two daughters walking in while talking, but there was no sign of Miss Jia San and Miss Tao Ba.

  Mrs. Zhen hurried over and asked in a low voice, "Where are your sisters from the Jia and Tao families?"

  The two girls were stunned and looked at each other. One of them whispered back to her mother, "Didn't the second wife take them to play in the garden?"

  This means that Miss Jia San and Miss Tao Ba have not been seen.

  Mrs. Zhan thought for a moment and knew that there must be something fishy about it, but she didn't say anything, just covered it up, "You're really something, sisters playing is fine, why didn't you come back together?"

  The two young ladies looked at each other with a profound gaze, and cleverly said: "Just walking behind, it should arrive soon." And then they entered the flower hall.

  Mrs. Cai smiled and beckoned the two young ladies to come over and sit down, without asking Jia San Niang or Tao Ba Niang, "How's your chess game going? Your mother said you both like that warm jade chess piece, why didn't you tell me? We'll take it with us when we leave later."

  The two young ladies smiled and said: "Thank you, auntie."

  Mrs. Cai and the two young ladies chatted for a while before she raised her head to call out to Er Nainai, "Go take a look at how the banquet preparations are coming along?"

  The second grandma hadn't seen her sister for half a day and was already anxious, but couldn't find an excuse to go out. Luckily, she heard Mrs. Cai calling her, so she hastily responded and rushed out.

  Arrived at the gate, just as he was passing by Mrs. Cai's side, he brushed past Ding Guizhen's family.

  Ding Gui's family glanced at her sideways, and the second lady's heart was in a flurry, regretting that she shouldn't have said those words to her sister today. Unexpectedly, her sister, who usually seemed steady, couldn't keep things hidden. The second lady turned around to take a look, just in time to collide with the piercing gaze of Mrs. Tao, and her feet went soft, stumbling several steps.

  The play has been sung to this point today, and no one is a fool.

  Ding Gui's family whispered two sentences in Mrs. Cai's ear.

  Everyone is guessing what's inside.

  Mrs. Cai smiled and said, "Do I need to be asked about this? None of the ladies present are taboo about these foreign things. Since it was sent back by Master Hou, just wash it clean and put it on the table. When the banquet starts later, we'll naturally try some."

  Ding Gui's family laughed and said: "Those foreign fruits look strange, I don't dare to take them up casually, so I came to ask for your instructions, madam."

  "Let them handle it," said Mrs. Cai with a smile. "You're short-handed, you arrange it yourself, just don't delay our banquet..."

  Ding Gui's family received the order.

  Mrs. Cai was still talking and laughing, and the big wife seemed to be chatting with her as if nothing had happened, several ladies beside them chimed in, and the atmosphere became lively again.

  The old lady seemed to smile and looked at Shu Hua. Miss Jia San and Rong Hua were late, there must be something going on, although someone had already come to report, Mrs. Cai didn't show any expression. As she was thinking, the old lady raised her eyes and saw Rong Hua.

  Ronghua held a few branches of peach blossoms, walking in from outside, her whole person seemed to have stepped out of a painting, with a hint of elegance and refinement, lifting the hem of her skirt as she ascended the steps.

  Everyone in the hall focused their attention on Miss Tao Ba.

  Miss Tao's eighth daughter brought back a few branches of begonia, and everyone was surprised, especially Shu Hua, whose face turned pale with shock. Why did Rong Hua bring back a few branches of begonia? Who didn't know that Mrs. Cai treasured the begonia very much, and every year when pruning it, she would be extremely careful. Even during the blooming season, no matter how beautiful the flowers were, no one dared to touch them.

  Ronghua didn't make it clear, and yet... what happened to those maids and servants who followed her? Why doesn't anyone mention them at all?

  Shu Hua hastily turned to look at Mrs. Cai.

  Mrs. Cai's face changed several times, finally revealing a warm smile. "I've heard that the begonia flowers have bloomed these past few days, but I haven't had time to send someone to pick them yet. How nice of Eighth Miss to bring some back for me." She then called over her maid to fetch a blue-and-white porcelain vase with five colors and inserted the begonia flowers into it.

  Mrs. Cai stared at the begonia for half a day and then smiled at Rong Hua, "Does Eighth Miss know what the begonia means?"

  Rong Hua shook his head.

  Mrs. Cai's eyebrows and eyes rarely softened, as if there was a deep meaning, slowly saying: "This haitang still has another deeper meaning." But she didn't say it out loud.

  Ronghua sat back down beside Madame.

  The second grandma and sister have not been seen until now.

  Ronghua listened to everyone talking, and always felt that a pair of eyes was sizing her up at all times. Ronghua knew in her heart it was Mrs. Cai.

  Mrs. Cai looked her up and down, certainly related to the Begonia flower, she had read a lot of poetry books, how could she not know that this Begonia has a deep meaning of homesickness for travelers.

  When Zhao Xuanhuang gave her this set of clothes, he said that one of the things that made Cai Fu most heartbroken was her sister, Princess Honghua. Zhao Xuanhuang deliberately said that she had some similarities with Princess Honghua on her body, and Cai Fu would definitely be delighted to see it.

  Before this set of clothes was not used up, now I don't know if Mrs. Cai will change her mind about marrying into the Shangshu Mansion because of this.

  It's not for anything else, but the Cai family has always been practical, and with a name that resembles that of Princess He Huang, wouldn't she have more utility value?

  After waiting for a while, Second Sister-in-law finally returned to the flower hall.

  As soon as she entered the house, Second Aunt said to Mrs. Cai, "I thought she was doing something, it turned out that she lost her earrings halfway and was afraid of not being able to explain when she got back, fortunately they were found."

  Ronghua looked back and found something that everyone else couldn't find, but now it has returned to Miss Jia's ears.

  Miss Jia San raised her head and saw Rong Hua sitting beside her, and suddenly her eyes narrowed, revealing a few points of guilt.

  Mrs. Cai seemed to be complaining, "You're also like this, losing things and not sending someone to say a word, why not call a few people to help you find it?"

  The second lady didn't wait for Miss Jia to speak and smiled: "She's just afraid of disturbing the noble guests in the mansion."

  Mrs. Cai slightly lowered her chin and smiled warmly, "This child is indeed kind-hearted."

  Ronghua heard the madam seemingly snort, turned her face away, but saw the madam's kind and gentle smile. "Miss Jia San is obviously a well-behaved girl who understands propriety and knows how to behave, it seems that Second Madam has taught her well."

  The big wife's words were like needles, and the second wife beside her suddenly felt uneasy all over.

  Fortunately, at this moment, a maid came to report, "The banquet is ready."

  Updated.

  It seems like everyone is particularly concerned about whether Zhao Dahuai will be the male lead, hehe.