diskusbooks Chapter 66 Applying Makeup
Chapter 66 Applying Makeup
Liu Wan'er, along with Zhou Mama, secretly slipped out of the Marquis's mansion under the cover of the morning mist.
From the pavilion not far away, Qiao Qingshu narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched the two sneaky figures.
Behind him, Lin Dong frowned and muttered in confusion.
"Where are you and Mama Zhou going so early in the morning?"
Qiao Qingshu turned her head and said calmly,
"Tell the servant to keep a close eye on them, lest they get lost."
Lin Dong nodded and left the attic.
When Zhou's mother stood in the fields in the early morning mist, watching Liu Wan'er pour all the herbicide into the irrigation ditch around the field, she was surprised and quickly reached out to stop her.
"Young lady, young lady! What are you doing? This is the Qiao family's farmland! If you pour the medicine in, all the crops on these estates will wither and die! You absolutely cannot waste the grain like this!"
Zhou's mother had a thin layer of sweat on her forehead. Although it was quite chilly in the early morning, she was so frightened that her back was covered in hot sweat.
Liu Wan'er couldn't handle everything by herself, and time was tight, so she asked Zhou's mother to help.
Unexpectedly, the old woman not only didn't help her, but also stopped her, which made her quite angry.
“Aunt Zhou, stop talking nonsense. I have my reasons for doing this. Before dawn, please help me irrigate the irrigation ditches in those two fields with paraquat. Once you’re done quickly, you can go back.”
Zhou's mother was born into a farming family, and she couldn't bear to see her fields being ruined like this.
He frowned, trying his best to persuade her to continue stopping him.
“Young lady, if you do this, the tenant farmers in these fields will have no harvest this year. Not only will the Qiao family suffer, but countless other farmers will also suffer. You must not do such a wicked thing; you will be punished for it!”
Liu Wan'er immediately regretted bringing Zhou's mother along.
With all this fuss and sympathy, she suddenly understood why her mother had distanced herself from Zhou's mother.
Knowing that if he spoke to her kindly, they would likely argue further, he simply scolded her with a stern face.
“You’re just a servant, you do whatever we tell you to do. If you keep nagging like this, you don’t need to stay with us anymore. Tomorrow we’ll send a slave trader to sell you to some poor, remote place.”
No matter how much Zhou's mother felt sorry for her, she knew to shut up. Although she was unwilling, she had ultimately helped Liu Wan'er do something bad.
He muttered to himself while working.
"Please forgive me, Bodhisattva, please forgive me. Don't blame me, don't blame me. I had no choice but to help my master do this despicable thing."
As dawn broke, all the fields in the three villages were irrigated with paraquat.
Liu Wan'er sent Zhou Mama back to the mansion quickly, while she changed into rain boots and brand-new clothes and spent money to hire a sedan chair to go to the Xiao mansion.
Qiao Qingshu was getting ready when Wanqiu relayed the message from the servant in the outer courtyard to her.
“Young lady, my cousin and Mama Zhou went to our three estates south of the city. The two of them were acting suspiciously and spilled something in the irrigation ditch in the fields. Afterwards, Mama Zhou returned to the mansion, and my cousin took a sedan chair to the Xiao mansion. It seems that she sneaked in through the back gate of the Xiao mansion.”
Qiao Qingshu's hand, which was combing her hair, paused involuntarily.
Chengnan Village?
She expected Liu Wan'er to go to the Xiao family, but she didn't expect Liu Wan'er to go to the manor in the south of the city first.
A thought popped into her mind: Could it be that Liu Wan'er has also been reborn?
In her previous life, the fact that there was a gold mine in Chengnan Village was not discovered until several years later, and Qiao Qingshu did not want to deal with it in a hurry.
But now it seems we have no choice but to speed up the process.
She put down the sandalwood hair comb, and Wanqiu handed over a leather pouch filled with water, saying...
"That servant was quite clever. After the young lady left, he filled a pot with water from his own water pouch and brought it back for her to check."
Qiao Qingshu took the leather water bag, opened the lid, and poured all the water inside into a pot of orchids on the windowsill.
Late Autumn exclaimed in surprise,
"Miss, shouldn't we have someone check it?"
Qiao Qingshu put the water bag back into Wanqiu's hand.
"This orchid will tell us everything."
Xia Zhi rushed in from outside and said hurriedly.
“Young lady, the old lady asked me to urge you. She said that the Imperial Concubine Xiao’s visit home is a big event. Although you are a guest, you must arrive early. You must not be late and lose your manners.”
Qiao Qingshu knew the importance of the Xiao family banquet today, so she quickly changed her clothes and was about to leave.
The moment I stepped out the door, a beautiful figure in bright pink caught my eye.
Qiao Qingshu was taken aback.
I didn't recognize her at first glance; it took me a moment to realize.
"spring equinox?"
The Spring Equinox bowed its head and responded softly.
Today, on the Spring Equinox, she is dressed up very carefully, wearing a peach-pink brocade jacket with gold-stamped tassel patterns, a begonia-colored brocade skirt underneath, a small gold lock around her neck, and several delicate silver and gold bracelets intertwined on her wrists.
With her eyebrows drawn and her hair styled, her cheeks flushed with powder, if it weren't for her flustered and cautious demeanor, one would really think she was some young lady or mistress.
Qiao Qingshu looked at it carefully, a smile playing on her lips as she teased,
"Alright, alright, walking together like this, how can you tell who is the young lady and who is the maid?"
Spring Equinox shuddered in fright. When Qiao Qingshu pointed at her, she hurriedly reached out the back of her hand to wipe the powder off her face.
Qiao Qingshu stopped him.
"It would be such a waste to wipe it off; it looks just as it does. We need to hurry and leave before the Spring Equinox."
Upon hearing this, Chunfen's lips curled up, and she skipped and jogged after Qiao Qingshu toward the hanging flower gate.
Behind him, Wanqiu suddenly spat out a curse.
"Pah! What a piece of trash! She's all made up, and her scheming is written all over her face! Look at her smug and arrogant foxy look. The young lady really shouldn't have taken her along. If this little vixen causes any trouble, it will drag our young lady down with her."
Lin Dong frowned as he watched the young woman's figure disappear into the distance, and said...
“Our young lady is always the most polite and well-behaved. Logically speaking, we shouldn’t be indulging Chunfen like this. Chunfen’s attire today is frivolous and ostentatious. Anyone with eyes can see that it’s inappropriate. Taking her out will definitely damage the reputation of our Marquis’s mansion. But our young lady hasn’t said a word to reprimand her… Could it be that our young lady did it on purpose…”
Lin Dong and Wan Qiu looked at each other, as if they both understood something, and their eyes widened in realization.
Xia Zhi peeked over at this moment, looking back and forth between the two with a blank expression.
"What kind of riddles are you two playing? I don't understand."
As soon as the carriage arrived at Yonglin Street, it was found that the area was heavily guarded by government troops.
Ordinary people were all kept outside the street, and the entire street was blocked off from one end to the other.
Today, both Old Madam Qiao and Qiao Jizhou attached great importance to the trip and specially arranged for Lai Da to accompany them.
Lai Da handed the invitation from the Xiao family to the head official, and only then was the carriage allowed to pass.
Qiao Qingshu gently lifted the carriage curtain and glimpsed a corner of the street.
The streets were solemn, heavily guarded, and all the shops along the street were closed for the day.
The streets were filled with carriages and horses of nobles who had been invited to the event. It wasn't bustling, but it certainly exuded an air of nobility.
Spring Equinox stared wide-eyed, constantly exclaiming in quiet amazement.
Male guests disembarked at the main gate of the Xiao family residence of Duke Qi, while female guests were carried into the sedan chair through the west corner gate and alighted at the hanging flower gate, where they were greeted by female members of the Xiao family.