The elderly female attendant led Shao Yanru through a maze of labyrinthian corridors until they finally came outside a chamber. Having once spent some time here at the residence of Rui’an Great Elder Princess before, Shao Yanru knew she was outside the Princess’s drawing-room. Its locale of being near but not part of the Princess’s private chambers made it the Princess’s favorite spot to meet her guests.

As she was led inward, there, sitting atop the seat of honor was the proud and stern Great Elder Princess.

Shao Yanru drew forward and politely bowed to the princess.

With a casual wave, the princess motioned to a chair to the side, bidding her take a seat.

Gracefully, Shao Yanru glided to her chair and sat down. Then she noticed a cup of tea on the table on the far opposite of the room. The Great Elder Princess must have been entertaining another guest just moments before, and no doubt would be the owner of the carriage she saw outside.

Withdrawing her gaze, Shao Yanru put on a deeply-concerned look, “May I inquire if my Fifth Sister is well, Great Elder Princess?”

The princess’s hand came down, lowering her teacup from her lip as an icy stare shot at Shao Yanru, her displeasure visibly unmasked, “And you are all that the house of Duke Xing can offer? What about your grandmother and your mother?”

“I’m afraid the Grandmother is unwell. She was so worried that she wanted to come when she’d heard about Fifth Sister, but because of her condition, I had to tell her that Fifth Sister is fine. Only then could I keep her calm. Mother is with her now, keeping her company.”

Shao Yanru replied respectfully with her head lowered and her tone reverent and humble.

The Great Elder Princess peered at her and noted her unusually respectful demeanor before she smirked, “Zhuozhuo remains unconscious. It won’t matter whether you’re here or not. You had best begone.”

The Great Elder Princess spoke with hardly any reservations.

“I really want to know how Fifth Sister is, Great Elder Princess! Please! Please let me see her or I can’t help but keep on worrying about her!” Shao Yanru’s head jerked up with tears in her gaze.

She stood up slowly to walk to the princess and she knelt to the floor, begging, “Please, Great Elder Princess! I beg you!”

Shuqi quietly lowered herself into a kneeling bow right behind Shao Yanru.

The entire drawing-room turned into an uneasy silence broken only by the princess’s lifting of her cup, her gentle sip of her tea before she covered her cup with its lid.

Then the silence resumed – a palpably unsettling silence that evaporated Shao Yanru’s earlier confidence. Has the Great Elder Princess seen something wrong?

A silence as disconcerting as this could be extremely taxing and strenuous to one’s mind!

“Is the cottage arranged for Zhuozhuo ready?” Only after a long time did the Great Elder Princess’s voice came quietly yet ringing enough to awake Shao Yanru from her stupor, mentioning nothing about asking her to arise.

“It is ready. It’s in the same courtyard which you spoke of before, Great Elder Princess. The furnishing’s almost done and if Fifth Sister can come home with me, she’d find it to her satisfaction!” Shao Yanru lied with a straight face.

The new house was ready, but the Madam of Duke Xing was nowhere near happy for it to change from Shao Hua’an wedding chamber into Shao Wanru’s personal home. Hence she stripped the whole cottage bare and left little to nothing inside.

There was hardly any other furniture now aside from the set that the Great Elder Princess gifted to Shao Wanru.

“Get up,” responded the Great Elder Princess who seemed satisfied, as her tone softened a little, “She’s not yet woken up, but you may look – from a distance.”

Shuqi got up at once and hurried to help Shao Yanru up.

“Thank you, Great Elder Princess,” gasped Shao Yanru, not forgetting decorum. With another bow to the princess, she followed the old female attendant out of the chamber.

This time, they did not go far. With many twists and turns, they honeycombed through the residential estate of the Great Elder Princess. At times they would go around in circles that one might wonder if they were taking detours around the grounds.

Sprawls of trees and gazebos covered the grounds of the estate with them losing count of the ornate pavilions and rich garden terraces they passed by.

“Isn’t that?! Miss Shao the Elder?!” gasped Qin Yuru from her gazebo when she saw Shao Yanru drifting past right before.

“That’s the first daughter of the house of Duke Xing,” said another elderly female attendant in response to Qin Yuru’s remark. She peered at them retreating into the distance and added, “She must be here to see the Fifth Miss. I guess she’s the only one of the family of Duke Xing to show any concern for the Fifth Miss. I’d never once believed those rumors about how she wishes ill upon the Fifth Miss. It’s impossible!”

Unbeknownst to her, Qin Yuru’s face only turned surly with dislike, her lips pouting firmly with annoyance. The ends of her eyes twitched uncontrollably as she remembered what her maternal grandmother had told her. With a long, deep breath to calm herself, she reminded herself about her main mission here: she needed to make friends with Shao Wanru and she could not allow anger to get in her way.

The rumors now swirling across all of the capital now embroiled either Qin Yuru or Shao Yanru as the villainesses of the whole story. Some spoke about a deranged maid, in her demented hysteria, insisting that she saw Shao Yanru, yet some also claimed that Shao Wanru had, by Qin Yuru’s own request, abandoned her vigil to see Old Madam Dowager Qin!

At her grandmother’s instruction, Qin Yuru was to lay the blame solely on Shao Yanru. At the same time, under no circumstances was she to ever underestimate her. The first daughter of the house of Duke Xing did not enjoy a good name and reputation of being admired and respected by all without fair reason. What was more, her maternal grandmother had told her what Qing Rongzhi had said to her, and the person behind it all could very well be Shao Yanru!

How dare she, thought Qin Yuru bitterly. Bold enough was she to try to use her to harm Shao Wanru, yet here she was, trying to put up the facade of a loving and caring sister!

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Qin Yuru’s face flushed with an ugly look as she contemplated how she had been used as a pawn by Shao Yanru. Rage pulsed vigorously in the veins bulging at her temples as she clenched her fists tightly, struggling to keep her anger in check.

She had come yesterday, but the Great Elder Princess did not allow her entry, saying how the princess was busy about Shao Wanru and had no time to entertain guests. That compelled her to leave and come back again today.

At daybreak this morning, Qin Yuru rushed here as soon as she could. But here she waited for hours and the Great Elder Princess did not deign to meet her, until finally now, she is allowed to see Shao Wanru.

Yet before she could reach Shao Wanru’s chambers, Shao Yanru appeared out of nowhere and beat her to it.

“How far more?” Qin Yuru growled, wrestling with her burgeoning temper.

“We’re almost there, Your Highness,” said the old servant of the residence with perfunctory politeness, who has been immodestly frosty since they met with evident reluctance to be of service.

“Oh, just go on,” grumbled Qin Yuru grumpily.

“Yes, of course, Your Highness. This way please!” mumbled the old maid as she pivoted the corner into another corridor.

Shao Yanru arrived first at the yard where Shao Wanru’s cottage sat. Standing outside and waiting for a reply from the inside, she took a long, deep breath, and then Yujie came tearfully out of the cottage and bowed to her, greeting her, “First Miss!”

“Where’s she?” Shao Yanru asked, catching a glimpse of another servant girl brewing a pot of medicine at one corner outside. The entire courtyard wafted with the pungent smell of herbs and not far away in an antechamber, Shao Yanru could see men dressed in the garb of the imperial physicians, none of whom dared to step out upon noticing her presence.

“The young Miss is still unconscious, First Miss. Even until… until now, I’m afraid. The Imperial Physician spoke about another viewing to see if she would wake up later. B-b-but if… I-i-if she won’t… Things could be worse,” Tears rolled out of Yujie’s red-scarlet eyes.

But the first daughter of the house of Duke Xing observed carefully every movement on Yujie’s face, searching for any flicker of hesitation with her doubtful eyes. After all, Shao Yanru could hardly believe that her sister is still unconscious until now.

“I’m having a look!” She insisted, putting a foot through the threshold and into the cottage.

“But First Miss… First Miss!” scrambled Yujie, trying futilely to stop Shao Yanru but was held back by Shuqi’s strong arm. “The First Miss only wishes to see how her younger sister is!” she hissed at Yujie, “Tell me anything if you need to, and rest assured that nothing bad will come to the Fifth Miss!”

She pulled Yujie with her and followed Shao Yanru into the main room of the cottage.

The outer sitting area was empty with no one there save for the acrid scent of herbal medicine.

They drifted into the inner chambers and there was Shao Wanru lying serenely unconscious on a large bed, facing up with her hands crossed at her chest. Her face was a pallid flush of white and the usually rosy-red lips were now as sallow as milk like a doll made of ivory with no signs of life. One might wonder if she was already dead, if not for the heaving of her chest.

Her beautiful black hair strewn and tangled around her delicate face, accentuating her sickly complexion.

Nothing about her seemed well at all.

“Fifth Sister…” whimpered Shao Yanru. She did not expect to see Shao Wanru in such a dire situation and with a surprised cry of horror, she would have thrown herself to her sister, if not for Qu Le who stopped her right beside the bed.

“Please, First Miss. The Fifth Miss mustn’t be disturbed,” said Qu Le hoarsely. She looked as beaten as a tired horse, but she managed to stop Shao Yanru through sheer will and tenacity.

It was plainly obvious that the old matron had been overworking herself too much.

But with Shao Wanru now in a comatose state, one might dread if she could never wake up at all.

But Shao Yanru could have not been any more overjoyed. Her plan would not be a complete waste if Shao Wanru were to perish and that prospect lightens her heart.

“Has she been taking any medicine for the past two days?” asked Shao Yanru softly, peering a few meters away from the bed.

“She rarely takes her medicine. But the imperial physicians insist that we brew as much of the herbs as we can so that she could consume them whenever she could. At least, this way, the medicine could be of any use,” muttered Qu Le raspily.

Shao Yanru’s glance panned over to a steaming hot bowl of herbal medicine brew that reminded her of the servant girl still making more outside and the imperial physicians now still at the antechamber beside and she took another pensive sigh.

“Let me try feeding her,” she said and she walked to the table.

“But First Miss, the medicine’s still hot. She can’t take this yet now. It needs to be colder,” insisted Qu Le, shaking her head.

Shao Yanru paused in her steps, swiveling slowly to look at her still-comatose sister, “I’ve learned a thing or two about medicine before. Let me have a look at her.”

She was still worried and she needed to make sure herself.

But Qu Le stopped her again, this time with Yujie, who managed to wrench herself free from Shuqi’s hold. Both servants, despite their bedraggled appearance after hardly any sleep for nights and days, held their ground with unnerving grit that even Shao Yanru quivered.

“What are your intentions, First Miss? Do you wish harm upon our Miss, or is it Lady Qin this time?”

Outside the chamber, another band of people stopped in their tracks.