The Lucky Heiress - Chapter 322
Chapter 322: 322
It had been three days since Wei Ruo and Lady Yun returned to the Military
Prefecture.
The two of them didn’t notice anything unusual upon their return, not until Jing Hu reported to Lady Yun that Wei Yichen hadn’ t returned home for three days.
Lady Yun’s face changed drastically. She immediately summoned everyone in the household to Cangyun Garden to inquire about the situation.
Besides Wei Ruo and Wei Qingwan, there were also Guard Jing Hu, two house managers – grandmother Li and grandmother Zhang, and the kitchen maid. Wei Ruo, grandmother Zhang, and Cuiping had been in town with Lady Yun during these days, so naturally they knew nothing about the situation. Lady Yun first confirmed with Guard Jing Hu and the servants in the house that Wei Yichen indeed hadn’t appeared at home these past few days.
Upon confirmation, Lady Yun’s face visibly paled.
“Madam…” Cuiping stepped forward, worried.
Lady Yun raised her hand to stop Cuiping’s movement. She needed to clarify this matter first; her son Yichen must be safe!
Next, Lady Yun turned her gaze to Wei Qingwan: “Why didn’t you report to the officers when your elder brother didn’t come back for several days?”
A hint of panic flashed in Wei Qingwan’s eyes, but she quickly lowered her head and replied: “Wasn’t my elder brother supposed to go back to his school?
“Your elder brother wasn’t planning to go back to his school recently. He was supposed to stay at home and wait for my news,” Lady Yun said.
“I had no idea. These past few days, I had been attending classes at Tongzhi Prefecture and was unaware of my elder brother’s schedule. I had not heard any mention of him planning to go to town instead of returning to school,” Wei Qingwan explained.
“However, Jing Hu just informed me that the day your elder brother disappeared was the day he went out to look for you! Afterwards, he, along with those who went looking for you, vanished! Could this have anything to do with you?”
As she spoke, Lady Yun’s body and voice were trembling.
Wei Qingwan explained: “That day, on my way home, I took a detour to a classmate’s house and got home late. But my elder brother already knew I was home. It was he who informed the house staff to call off the search for me.”
Lady Yun asked the household staff, and they confirmed her explanation. “Yes, that’s correct. That day, just after the hour of Chen, the young master sent Xiaonan to notify us. He said the second miss was found, and she was just taking a detour to drop off a classmate. There wasn’t any problem, so he told everyone to go back and rest. Only then did we servants return to the house.” “If the person was found, why is Yichen still missing?” Lady Yun didn’t understand.
Wei Qingwan’s tears fell as she knelt on the ground with a thud.
“It’s my fault, I should have clarified what happened! I didn’t even know my elder brother has been missing for three days, it’s my fault!” Wei Qingwan apologized repeatedly, taking the blame onto herself.
“Enough, if you didn’t know about this, I don’t have anything to blame you for.” Lady Yun waved her hand, then signaled grandmother Li to help Wei
Qingwan up.
Wei Ruo watched Wei Qingwan from the side – something told her that the matter wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Wei Qingwan didn’t appear to be as innocent and ignorant as she was pretending to be.
But she couldn’t pin down where exactly the problem lay.
After questioning the servants, Lady Yun didn’t gather any useful information, so she immediately arranged for a messenger to report to the government office. She also instructed Jing Hu to take a letter to her husband at the military camp.
Lady Yun wouldn’t normally bother her husband with household management, but since such a significant event had occurred, she didn’t know what to do.
Next, Lady Yun turned to Wei Ruo and asked her subconsciously, “Ruo, do you have any good ideas?”
“First, let’s call everyone who went to look for the person that day and ask them one by one. Some useful clues might be found from them.” Wei Ruo replied.
According to Jing Hu, everyone in the house had initially gone out to look, but later Wei Yichen said the person had been found and asked everyone to return home, leaving only six guards, who have a death pact with the Wei family, by his side.
Now that Wei Yichen and those six guards were nowhere to be found, all they could do was to search for clues among the guards who had returned home.
“Very well, Ruo, you handle this.” Lady Yun immediately handed the matter over to Wei Ruo.
Wei Ruo did not refuse, because she also wanted to know what Wei Qingwan was hiding from them.
Hence, Wei Ruo called each of the household staff who had gone out to search for Wei Qingwan to her own residence, one by one, to inquire about what had transpired three days prior.
After much questioning, no useful information was obtained.
“Isn’t there one more person who didn’t come?” Wei Ruo asked.
“Which person is Miss referring to?” Xiumei asked.
“Wei Qingwan’s personal maid, Cuihe.”
“Oh right, she didn’t come.” Xiumei came to a sudden realization.
“Ask Grandmother Zhang to find Cuihe and bring her here. I want to see her.
Wei Ruo wanted to meet with Cuihe.
“Okay.”
Xiumei immediately went to find grandmother Zhang and planned to go together to Wangmei Garden.
However, it didn’t take long for Xiumei and Zhang to return.
“Miss, Cuihe took leave. She said she caught a cold from the evening breeze that night she returned late,” Xiumei relayed the news.
“Isn’t she a child of the house? Even if she’s sick, she should be resting in the house since her parents, grandmother Li, are already here, right?
“Grandmother Li said she was afraid it would spread to the others in the house as she suspected it was a cold. So, she sent her to the manor. I thought this excuse was suspicious, too, but I couldn’t figure out what the problem was,”
Xiumei said.
Then Xiumei asked, “Miss, shall I make a trip to the manor and see if she’s really sick. If she isn’t, I can bring her here.”
“I’m guessing it will be difficult. Grandmother Li, Cuihe, and Wei Qingwan seem to be on the same team. Given the time taken to arrange Cuihe to the manor and with several days passed, they’ve likely already prepared their statements.” Wei Ruo wasn’t very hopeful.
“What should we do then? I clearly feel that the second miss is hiding something, but we can’t find any clues,” Xiumei fretted.
Even though the relationship between the eldest son and their misses wasn’t good, it still didn’t sit right with her if Wei Qingwan managed to wriggle out of this situation.
At this point, a maid from the front courtyard came to report that grandmother Qin was visiting.
What was the purpose of grandmother Qin’s visit to Wei Ruo at this time?
“Let her come in.”
No matter whether this was about the reclamation disaster relief or not, Wei Ruo couldn’t ignore grandmother Qin, as nobody in the Military Prefecture dared to keep Prince Seven’s people out of their doors.
Shortly after, grandmother Qin entered Tingsong Garden.
“Miss.”
“Has there been any problem with the reclamation and disaster relief plan? Wei Ruo asked.
“No Miss, please don’t worry. The plan Miss has formulated is very comprehensive. Everything is happening exactly as Miss expected, and there are no issues.”
“Then, the purpose of grandmother’s visit today is…?
“My master, Prince Seven, has something he would like to discuss with Miss. He specifically sent me to invite Miss.”
Wei Ruo frowned upon hearing that, instinctively feeling repelled by contact with Chu Lan.
She had been communicating with grandmother Qin about the reclamation and disaster relief efforts during this period, without having to see Chu Lan. So, her feelings of aversion had somewhat subsided.
Wei Ruo was still pondering when grandmother Qin spoke again, “Miss, my master said he has a gift to give to Miss. Miss will like it.”
