Chapter 234: Inquiring About Bi Ruo

Chapter 234: Inquiring About Bi Ruo

“Xing Dairong?”

Lu Lingyun's eyes lit up immediately, looking at her with confusion. "Who’s Xing Dairong?"

Du Ruo slowly came to her senses, recalling carefully, "It wasn’t her, but the woman looked very, very similar to her. Much older than Xing Dairong, though. There was a younger person with her who kept calling her 'Aunt.'"

Upon hearing this, Lu Lingyun frowned, holding her teacup and skimming the tea foam before leisurely taking a sip. "How similar?"

"Eight or nine points!" Du Ruo met Lu Lingyun's gaze directly. "I've never seen anyone so similar. It was almost as if she was carved from the same mold. That’s why I lost focus and grabbed her, tearing her clothes."

As she spoke, Du Ruo seemed to realize something. "I understand now. Yesterday, she must have gone to Master and falsely accused me, claiming I assaulted her on the street and tore her clothes! That old woman has such a malicious heart! Spreading lies! How shameless!"

Du Ruo felt a surge of anger, fueled by her sense of injustice.

No wonder Cheng Yunshuo was acting so strange yesterday.

So, the woman was the one causing trouble behind the scenes!

"Do you know who she is?" Lu Lingyun asked after clarifying the situation.

"No," Du Ruo shook her head, a hint of anger flashing in her eyes. "If I knew, I definitely wouldn’t let her off!"

Lu Lingyun: "..."

"Forget it. Even if you didn’t assault her on the street, you did ruin her clothes. Why are you still going after her?"

"She took my scented pouch first!"

Lu Lingyun looked up at her, and Du Ruo immediately reined in her temper. "She also went behind my back and twisted the story to make me look bad."

Seeing how upset she was, Lu Lingyun said, "Alright, since this is the case, I won’t punish you today. You may go back."

Du Ruo hesitated for a moment, then obediently lowered her defiant head and left.

Once Du Ruo left, Lu Lingyun began to think things over.

Cheng Yunshuo had told her that the scented pouch Du Ruo embroidered for him was lost in the palace. It must have been found by someone in the palace.

This meant the woman was likely a palace maid.

Since Du Ruo said she was older and called 'Aunt,' she was probably a head maid.

She resembles Xing Dairong?

Lu Lingyun's curiosity was piqued. After a moment of thought, she said, "Prepare the carriage. I'm going to Lady Wang's house."

After the time it took to drink a few cups of tea, Lu Lingyun arrived at Lady Wang's residence.

"Sister Lu, what brings you here?" Lady Wang was quite surprised to see Lu Lingyun.

"I’m here to ask for your help again, Sister Wang," Lu Lingyun said with a smile.

"Between us, what’s the problem? Come, sit down and tell me, what’s going on?"

"It’s about the Crown Prince again. A few days ago, he lost a scented pouch in the palace. One of the head maids found it. It should have been a good thing, but yesterday, it backfired. A'Ruo ran into the maid while she was out shopping, misunderstood the situation, and offended her. I was thinking of meeting this maid to apologize."

"I knew it. It’s probably another mess caused by A'Ruo!" Lady Wang said immediately after hearing the summary. "That girl is always getting into trouble!"

Lady Lu smiled. "The prince has already punished A'Ruo. I believe I should apologize to that lady."

"You have my sympathy," said Lady Wang, looking at Lady Lu with sympathetic eyes. Managing both internal and external affairs is no easy task, especially for the mistress of a prominent family. Only someone with Lady Lu's good nature would be willing to clean up after a concubine. In other families, they might just beat or scold the concubine and leave it at that.

Unavoidably, Lady Wang's admiration for Lady Lu grew. "Rest assured, I'll ask my husband to inquire about it today and get back to you tomorrow."

"Thank you, Sister Wang," Lady Lu said with a grateful smile.

The next morning, while Lady Lu was at the Marquis's mansion, she was informed that Lady Wang had arrived.

"Young mistress, Lady Wang is here."

"Please invite her in!"

Lady Wang came in eagerly. As soon as she entered the courtyard, she said, "Sister Lu, I've found out!"

"Thank you so much, Sister Wang. You could’ve just sent someone to let me know, and I would’ve come over."

"It's no trouble. Whether I come to you or you come to me, it's all the same!" Lady Wang said heartily, sitting down.

Lady Lu instructed the servants to serve tea to Lady Wang. After taking a sip of the hot tea, Lady Wang said, "I've found out about that matter."

"You said that lady should be a head lady in the Imperial Bureau, named Bi Shuo. She's twenty-five this year and is in charge of miscellaneous affairs. Sometimes, she even goes out to make purchases."

"She’s already twenty-five?"

"Yes, according to the rules, she has reached the age to leave the palace this year. However, many palace maids like her choose to stay and continue their service in the palace. It's unclear whether she wants to leave," Lady Wang continued. "They say she’s very humble, has a great temper, and knows all the rules inside out."

Listening to Lady Wang, Lady Lu remained noncommittal about her humility and good temper but had doubts about the part regarding etiquette.

According to Cheng Yunshuo, the lady found his sachet a few days ago and even discovered it was his. Instead of returning it through someone else, she decided to keep it and said she would return it personally. When A'Ruo saw her the next day, the sachet was still hanging from her waist. This suggests she might have had other intentions.

Lady Lu felt there was an issue with the part about being very knowledgeable about etiquette.

"Sister Wang, could you help me arrange a meeting with Lady Bi Shuo?"

"I've already asked on your behalf. Tomorrow, Lady Bi Shuo will be leaving the palace to make purchases and will return by late afternoon. You can wait for her outside the west gate."

Upon hearing this precise time and location, Lady Lu hurriedly thanked Lady Wang, "Thank you, Sister Wang!"

"Don't mention it!"

Lady Wang sat with Lady Lu for quite a while, chatting about various family matters. She mentioned that A'Ruo's aunt's health had been getting worse and that A'Ruo's two brothers were planning to get married, but no decent girls from respectable families were interested in them. They gave most of the family’s money to A'Ruo as her dowry, and one of the brothers has a gambling problem, so they’re too poor for anyone to want to marry into their family now.

A'Ruo's aunt's health was declining, and she had already asked the two brothers to lower their standards for marriage. As long as the girl was from a respectable family, even if she was a commoner, a poor person, or a merchant's daughter, as long as she was of good character, that would be acceptable.

Lady Lu listened patiently to all this gossip, occasionally sighing.

Finding a good match was never easy, even for a decent family like the Dus, where the brothers worked in the government.