“It’s not as I thought? Then why are you here staying with her? Shouldn’t you stay with Old Madam of Marquis Xing’s Mansion?” Zhao Xiqiong threw off Zhao Xiran’s hands and said unhappily.

“Yes, I should! But I also want to have some free time,” Zhao Xiran said with helplessness.

Hearing that it was Zhao Xiran’s own idea, the anger on Zhao Xiqiong’s face subsided a little. She became curious about Shao Wanru, who was in the bedroom.

“Sister, I heard that Fifth Miss Shao is very beautiful, and that’s why Prince Chen likes her. Since you have seen her, what do you think of her when compared with First Miss Shao?”

Zhao Xiqiong had seen Shao Yanru, who, in her eyes, was the most beautiful woman in the capital city. Zhao Xiqiong believed that no matter how gorgeous Shao Wanru was, she could not surpass Shao Yanru.

“A little more beautiful than First Miss Shao!” Zhao Xiran’s answers did not dilute Zhao Xiqiong’s curiosity. Instead, she became more and more curious.

“Sister, could I sneak a look at her?” Zhao Xiqiong said as she stood up.

But she was stopped with her sleeve grabbed by Zhao Xiran, who shook her head to indicate that she could not go in at this time. “Her servant girl was there. If you sneak in, you will embarrass the entire Minister Zhao’s Mansion!”

Every Miss from an aristocratic family should keep their manners decent. How could she behave furtively?

“All right! I’ll stay here to accompany you, Sister. Anyway, I have nothing to do,” Zhao Xiqiong rolled her eyes and said. She didn’t want to leave until she saw Shao Wanru, because she was too curious about the mysterious Fifth Miss Shao.

“No, if you don’t go back, Mother will come and find you!” Zhao Xiran shook her head and didn’t agree.

“Fine!” Zhao Xiqiong stood up helplessly. “I have a message from Father to you! He asked you how it was going? I don’t even know what he meant. I left in a hurry and didn’t ask him more!”

In the past, her father usually talked to her Elder Sister a lot, but he rarely talked with her. So she didn’t know what he meant by saying “it”.

Zhao Xiran smiled and said, “Take a message to Father. Tell him that there is no progress yet. Tell him to be patient.”

“Got it. I’ll tell Father when I get back. I have no idea what you are talking about so secretively!” Zhao Xiqiong said with paying no attention to it. Father and Eldest Sister often talked in riddles that she neither could understand nor was interested in.

Zhao Xiqiong left after having more converstion with her sister, making a slight sound when gently closing the door. The room became quiet again.

In the inner room, Shao Wanru suddenly sat up with her eyes goggling straight ahead.

Yujie was stunned and asked, “What’s wrong with you, Miss?”

Shao Wanru’s mind seemed to be still in her dream. She saw the Hua Sheng, the headwear.

At first, she saw some fragments of unconscious memories including Chu Liuchen’s figure and her own face, which seemed to be meaningless.

She did not sleep well and had always been in a daze, because there were some talking voices in her ears. But suddenly, a sound broke into her deep and endless dream. She saw the exquisite Hua Sheng falling from a carriage.

She squatted to pick it up and looked around. No one was paying attention to her there. Unknowingly, she had arrived somewhere remote.

In her last life, she was much less knowledgeable. Although she could tell that this Hua Sheng was an exquisite headwear, which must be valuable, she didn’t know that it was exclusive to the Empress.

As such a precious headwear was missing, its owner must come back to seek it later. So she waited under the eaves for the person who had lost it, but it was Qi Baiyu who finally came. Qi Baiyu came for her because he had heard that she had been driven out of the Mansion of the Prime Minister. Seeing that she was in a mess, he took her to one of his courtyards.

After that, he recommended her to become a painter for the beauties selected into the palace.

“So it was Chu Liuchen who had lost that Hua Sheng at that time…”

“Fifth Sister, what’s the matter with you?” Zhao Xiran was also shocked by the noise inside and hastened to go into the bedroom. She was in a panic the moment she saw Shao Wanru be in a bad situation—she sat up in a daze with her eyes wide openning.

“Miss… Miss!” Yujie had never seen Shao Wanru in such a state. She was scared and about to cry.

Hearing their voices, Shao Wanru came to her senses from the shock and confusion. She turned to look at Yujie and Zhao Xiran and their figures gradually became clear in her eyes.

“Fifth Sister, are you okay?” Zhao Xiran looked at Shao Wanru’s eyes and saw that she was as confused as she had just woken up. She asked, “Did you have a nightmare?”

Shao Wanru blinked her eyes, fluttering her long eyelashes. Then she raised her head and said, “I’m fine. It seemed that I did have a nightmare!”

“Miss, drink some water!” Yujie handed her a cup of warm water. Shao Wanru took it. As the warm water was swallowed through her throat, she began to realize what she had just seen was a dream and that what she saw now was real.

After taking a few sips, Shao Wanru handed back the cup to Yujie, leaned over, and coughed in a low voice, “Thank you, Sister Zhao. I’m fine now!”

“Are you feeling better now?” Zhao Xiran said and put one of her hands on Shao Wanru’s wrist. It seemed that she wanted to take Shao Wanru’s pulse, but she stopped. If it weren’t for the fact that Shao Wanru also knew how to take a pulse and was familiar with Zhao Xiran’s behaviors, Shao Wanru would have thought that she had misunderstood.

“I’m much better now… I’m fine!” Shao Wanru said with a smile. Her eyes became leisurely. Zhao Xiran seemed to know how to take pulses for others. It was unknown to Shao Wanru how good her medical skills were!

“That’s good!” Zhao Xi was relieved.

“Sister Zhao, it’s getting late, isn’t it? Has anyone ever come to ask us to go back?” Shao Wanru looked at the sky through the window and said. It was almost noon.

“No one has come yet, but I think someone will come soon. Fifth Sister, you should get up if you feel well. We can go back now in case that the host comes and summons us!” Zhao Xiran left the inner room with a smile.

Shao Wanru took a deep breath and got out of bed with Yujie’s help. After putting on her overcoat, she sat at the dressing table and Yujie helped comb her hair.

There was a complete set of toiletries on the dressing table.

“Did someone come here just now?” Shao Wanru asked casually.

“Yes, it seemed to be Eldest Young Madam’s younger sister. I heard some of their talks!” Yujie said in a low voice. Although the voice outside had been low just now, Yujie still heard a few words for the inside was very quiet. “Eldest Young Madam’s younger sister came to visit her. They talked for a while, and just after she left, you suddenly sat up. Miss, are you really fine?”

Yujie was still worried, so she asked her Miss again.

Shao Wanru shook her head and said, “I’m fine. I had a nightmare!”

Then Yujie was finally convinced by her Miss. She was really shocked by the scene that her Miss suddenly sat up in a daze. But now she calmed down.

After dressing up, Shao Wanru came out of the inner room with Yujie. When she arrived at the outer room, she saw Zhao Xiran and the servant girl making silk flowers. She was interested and sat next to Zhao Xiran to watch her do that.

“Fifth Sister, do you want to make one? They look very quite lovely,” said Zhao Xiran, who pointed at another half-finished silk flower.

The light white material was lightly dyed pink-and-purple at the border. When they were made into the half-finished silk flower, the pink-and-purple was at the edge of its petals and looked both elegant and glamorous. Decorated with some pearls hung down, the flower looked extremely beautiful and charming, but the light white color also brought it elegance. So it looked neither modest nor gaudy.

Of all the half-finished flowers here, this was the most outstanding one.

Shao Wanru couldn’t help nodding and started to take the half-product to make it into a finished flower. Yujie also came over to help.

However, this master and servant girl was not good at such manual work. Yujie wanted to help, but things went worse and worse under her help. It was a very simple job, but thanks to her warmheartedness, the half-finished flowers fell apart and lost their original appearances, and were about to become trashes.

Zhao Xi couldn’t stand it anymore. She put down the silk flower in her hand, which was about to be finished, and asked Qiu Yue to finish it. She took over Yujie’s job to help Shao Wanru.

With her help, Shao Wanru’s flowers had finally taken shape.

Standing aside, Yujie felt shameful and envious. She praised, “This flower is so beautiful. Eldest Young Madam and Miss are so dexterous. I am used to rough work with my hands, so I can’t wrap such silk flowers well.”

Zhao Xiran helped wrap the silk flower with a smile. She checked it and then put it on the right bun on Shao Wanru’s head. She immediately clapped her hands and said, “Fifth Sister, you look gorgeous with this flower. It is fabulous! Those you wore were too plain. You are going to marry into Prince Chen’s Mansion soon. It’s not good to wear such plain ornaments!”

The color of the flower was light but with a trace of delicate charm. It was indeed young girls’ favorite color. With the matching of the rice-sized pearls, the flower looked more and more brilliant and matched Shao Wanru’s temperament. It made her face as white as jade and her facial features as delicate as that of a fairy coming out of a painting.

“Sister Zhao!” Shao Wanru felt a little embarrassed and reached out to take off the flower.

“Fifth Sister, don’t take it off. Let’s wear them together. After all, we made them by ourselves. They are different from those made by others!” Zhao Xiran said with a smile. She also took the silk flower from Qiu Yue’s hand and inserted it into her hair bun.

The color of her flower was also good, making the silk flower look like a real one inserted in Zhao Xiran’s black hair. It was even more charming and eye-catching than a real flower.

A faint fragrance came from her sleeves. It should have come from these flowers, on which had been sprinkled perfumed powder early.

The two servant girls took the mirror and they both were satisfied after looking in the mirror, so they didn’t take the flowers off. As it was almost time, they cleaned up and left together.

Servant girls were waiting outside the door. When they walked out, some of them immediately led them to the banquet. It was getting late.

On the way, they met a person who came to summon them. The person was in a hurry, but when he saw the two young ladies were fine, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Someone fell into the river?”