Nanny Li saw the two sisters, Xiao Jingwan and Xiao Jinghui, hugging each other tightly. Hearing Xiao Jinghui's half - spoken words, she was immediately filled with doubts.
Just as she was about to ask, Nanny Qin appeared. Seeing the chaos in the yard, she quickly asked someone to help the two sisters up from the ground. After hesitating for a moment, she walked up to Xiao Bao'er, bowed respectfully, and then spoke.
"Grandma has gotten up. Please come in, young ladies."
Xiao Bao'er looked at Nanny Qin and couldn't help but find it rather amusing. The timing of her appearance was just too precise.
Nanny Qin didn't show up when Xiao Jingwan was disrespectful to her, nor did she show up when Xiao Jinghui went crazy at her. Instead, she showed up just when Xiao Jinghui was about to say something wrong and invited everyone in.
Could it be that Grandma Xiao was so afraid that she would learn the truth?
The more this was the case, the more Xiao Bao'er wanted to know. She had only slightly provoked Xiao Jinghui, and it had already made Xiao Jinghui let something slip, confirming her suspicion.
Next, Xiao Bao'er was quite curious. What could she learn from Grandma?
When they entered the room, Grandma Xiao was already sitting upright on the high - position couch. She was wearing a full - embroidered front - buttoned long gown, with a soft silver - gray snow - fox fur collar around her neck. Although the fabric was in a rather dark color, the embroidery pattern was a large expanse of butterflies fluttering around flowers, creating a strange sense of both dignity and frivolity.
The room was filled with a strong smell of sandalwood, which made Xiao Bao'er wrinkle her nose in discomfort.
"Granddaughter pays respects to Grandma."
The four Xiao sisters lined up in order of age and neatly bowed to Grandma Xiao to pay their respects.
After getting up, before Grandma Xiao could say anything, Xiao Bao'er directly found a seat and sat down, which made Grandma Xiao frown.
Nanny Qin sensed Grandma's displeasure. Under Grandma's hint, she braved herself to speak, "Eldest Miss, Grandma hasn't given permission to sit yet. It seems rather inappropriate for you to be so rude."
Xiao Bao'er nodded and calmly replied, "It is rather inappropriate."
"Grandma should sit in the lower seat, and I should sit in Grandma's current position. After all, according to etiquette, I'm a princess, while Grandma doesn't even have the title of imperial - bestowed honor. She should pay respects to me."
Nanny Li beside her also chimed in, "What the princess said is quite right. According to the etiquette, it should indeed be like this."
Nanny Qin was about to say something else, but was impatiently interrupted by Grandma Xiao.
"Enough. If the eldest girl wants to sit, let her. Filial piety isn't shown in this way. You all sit down too."
Hearing this, the other three also sat down one after another. Grandma Xiao glanced at Xiao Bao'er out of the corner of her eye, feeling as if her chest was blocked by something. It was extremely uncomfortable.
Back then, the reason why Xiao Bao'er had appeared in the Xiao Mansion and become the eldest girl of the Xiao family was that her fate was unique and could help the Xiao Mansion rise rapidly. Before her coming - of - age ceremony, her fate was still useful to the Xiao Mansion.
Over the years, the Xiao Mansion had indeed been going smoothly. So at the flower - viewing banquet, when the girl from the second branch had encountered a series of misfortunes one after another, Grandma Xiao immediately thought it was Xiao Bao'er's problem.
But she wasn't sure exactly why. However, she knew that before the coming - of - age ceremony, she must make Xiao Bao'er stay in the Xiao Mansion whole - heartedly and mustn't let her die before then. Otherwise, all the previous efforts would be in vain.
But she still couldn't let go of her anger. With the thought of "if I'm unhappy, I won't let you be happy either", Grandma Xiao began to pick on Xiao Bao'er.
Grandma Xiao pretended to look uncomfortable, covered her head, and weakly said to Xiao Bao'er, "Eldest girl, although you're already a princess, you're still a junior of the Xiao family. Grandma has been suffering from a headache recently. Can you massage and relax Grandma as you did before?"
A mocking smile appeared on the corner of Xiao Bao'er's mouth under the veil. This old woman wanted to use filial piety to suppress her, but it depended on whether she would agree or not.
Every time she came to the Ning'an Courtyard to pay respects before, she would be ordered around by Grandma like a servant girl.
On a hot day, Grandma would say she wanted to drink hot tea. Then she would complain that the tea Xiao Bao'er brought was too hot and ask her to blow on the teacup to cool it down, which burned blisters on her fingers. On a cold day, she would say she wanted to see the newly - blooming red plum blossoms and ask Xiao Bao'er to go and pick them in the heavy snow. After she brought them back, Grandma would complain that the plum blossoms in the vase looked too desolate.
But out of consideration for the family affection of a grandmother, Xiao Bao'er still had the intention to please her. Knowing that Grandma had a headache problem, she specially learned acupoint massage to help relieve Grandma's headache.
Often, a massage would last for one or two hours, making Xiao Bao'er's fingers and wrists ache badly. But Grandma would still complain that she was clumsy and satirize her, which made all the servants in the Ning'an Courtyard dare to be disrespectful to Xiao Bao'er.
Now Xiao Bao'er understood. Grandma Xiao dared to treat her like this only because she wasn't really a member of the Xiao family. Since that was the case, why should she bother to please this mean old woman who had no blood relation with her?
So Xiao Bao'er imitated Grandma Xiao's weak appearance and leaned on Ling Chu weakly like Xi Zi holding her heart. "Grandma, cough, cough, cough. It's not that granddaughter doesn't want to serve you. It's just that granddaughter is not feeling well. You know that, cough, cough, cough. Please be kind and have mercy on granddaughter."
Grandma Xiao was so angry at Xiao Bao'er's pretentious appearance that she almost laughed. Her attitude became even tougher. "Eldest girl, it's the duty of juniors to serve their elders. If you refuse again, aren't you afraid that people will know you're unfilial? If it's reported to the emperor, you might even lose your title of princess."
Xiao Bao'er didn't care about the title of princess. But seeing that Grandma was determined to make things difficult for her, she couldn't help sneering inside. Then she supported Ling Chu's hand and stood up, staggering towards Grandma.
Seeing a small stove on the small table beside Grandma, with the tea on it giving off steam, a sly look flashed in Xiao Bao'er's eyes.
She picked up the teapot on the stove, poured a cup of boiling tea into a water cup, and then respectfully handed it to Grandma.
Seeing that Xiao Bao'er finally obeyed once, a look of pride appeared on Grandma Xiao's face. She was just about to ask Xiao Bao'er to hold the teacup as she usually did and then ignore her, but this time Xiao Bao'er wouldn't let her have her way.
Xiao Bao'er saw through Grandma's intention at a glance. So when she got close to Grandma Xiao, she "accidentally" was bumped by Nanny Qin, and all the boiling tea was spilled on Grandma Xiao.
Grandma Xiao's clothes were soaked by the tea, and she let out a panicked scream. Seeing the look of success in Xiao Bao'er's eyes, Grandma Xiao knew that Xiao Bao'er had done it on purpose.
So in a fit of anger, Grandma raised her hand and wanted to slap Xiao Bao'er in the face. Xiao Bao'er dodged to the side, and Grandma's hand hit the small table directly. The jade bracelet on her wrist was broken, and the gilded decoration on the bracelet rolled straight to Xiao Bao'er's feet.
Xiao Bao'er had sharp eyes and saw that there was actually a character "Qi" engraved on the gilded decoration.
Qi...
Was it Mr. Qi?