Shi Baoyou also got excited and hurriedly grabbed Zhou Ruyu’s hand. Her face was wrinkled, and she begged, “Mother, what idea do you have? Tell me now!”
Nobody knew if Zhou Ruyu really had a solution. Anyway, she calmed down and even patted Shi Baoyou’s hand, saying with a smile, “Don’t rush. Let me think about it.”
Shi Baoyou didn’t dare to urge her mother and just looked at her with expectancy. She got nervous gradually.
After a long while, when Shi Baoyou almost couldn’t wait anymore, Zhou Ruyu clapped again and stated with joy, “Hmm, let’s do it.”
“Mother, what on earth is it? Tell me now. Do you want me to die of anxiety?” Shi Baoyou asked anxiously once more, and all her feelings were shown on her face.
It made Zhou Ruyu burst into laughter, and she joked, “You are shameless. Do you want to marry His Highness so much?”
“…This…” Shi Baoyou was really anxious. After Zhou Ruyu mentioned it, she remembered that she should be shy, so she hurriedly lowered her head.
She whispered in embarrassment, “Mother, don’t joke about me, okay? Tell me what good idea you have.”
Zhou Ruyu was coaxed by Shi Baoyou and nodded repeatedly, saying yes, but she didn’t talk about the idea. Instead, she waved at Shi Baoyou and told her to bring a brush pen and a piece of paper.
Although Shi Baoyou was anxious, she could do nothing to Zhou Ruyu, so she had to do it obediently.
She kept looking at Zhou Ruyu’s hand, and the latter didn’t avoid her but wrote a few words in the white paper, “Lunar January tenth.”
Then she folded it and gave it to Shi Baoyou, telling her seriously, “Give this to your grandma and then tell her that you want to marry the fourth prince. Ask her for help.”
“Gee? Mother, what does this date mean?” Shi Baoyou was confused and didn’t understand why such three words could convince Mo Shujun to help her.
Mo Shujun supported Shi Qingxue now.
Zhou Ruyu didn’t plan to explain and just waved at her, saying simply, “Anyway, just do as I told you.
“Don’t ask too much about other things!”
After telling her, Zhou Ruyu was still worried and explained carefully, “Put away this note and don’t unfold it after you walk out of this gate or show it to anybody else. Just give it to your grandma. If she asks you, you just say that you didn’t read the words in the note. Do you understand?”
“But…” Shi Baoyou still wanted to ask.
Zhou Ruyu responded, “Don’t you want to marry His Highness?”
Shi Baoyou shut up obediently in a hurry and walked out with the note.
When Shi Baoyou reached the Shou’an Hall, Mo Shujun just finished dinner. Seeing her granddaughter, she merely looked up lazily. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to greet you, Grandma,” Shi Baoyou was well-behaved and answered.
She sat with Mo Shujun quietly for quite a while and then finally couldn’t control herself. Afterward, she took out the note from her pocket and gave it to Mo Shujun with her trembling hand.
Mo Shujun didn’t receive it and just looked at Shi Baoyou, asking indifferently, “What’s this?”
“It’s…Mother told me to give it to you. She said that you must read it.” Shi Baoyou was afraid of her grandmother who was dignified and enjoyed wealth and honor, so she spoke cautiously all the time.
If others didn’t reveal their relationship, the people who didn’t know it couldn’t tell that they were grandmother and granddaughter.
Mo Shujun was in a high position for many years and was used to being treated respectfully, so she didn’t think that there was something wrong with Shi Baoyou’s behavior.
But she blinked while hearing Zhou Ruyu’s name.
After a long time, she winked at Leng Yan, who then walked forward to Shi Baoyou and expressed respectfully, “My Lady, just give it to me.”
Shi Baoyou expressed her thanks in a hurry. “Thank you, Leng Yan.”
Leng Yan gave the note to Mo Shujun and didn’t open it by herself.
Mo Shujun grabbed the note in her hand and rubbed its cover with her fingers, as if lost in thought. Then she unfolded it after a long while.
When she saw the words in it clearly, her expression changed, and she looked at Shi Baoyou grimly, questioning, “Did you read this note?”
Shi Baoyou paused with hesitation and struggled for a moment, wondering if she should tell the truth. In the end, she chose to nod but expressed in a euphemistic way that she didn’t read it secretly. “Mother wrote this note in front of me. I don’t know what the words in the note mean, and I asked her, but she said that you would understand everything as long as I gave it to you.
“Mother told me that if you asked, I should answer that I didn’t read the note, but I think it’s not good if I cheat you…”
Mo Shujun could find at a glance if Shi Baoyou was telling a lie. Hearing that, she sighed with relief and meanwhile sneered involuntarily. “You are sensible. If I know that you hide something from me, I won’t spare you.”
“I dare not!” Shi Baoyou responded instantly and peeped at Mo Shujun, to find that her eyes fell on the note with unknown meanings again and she didn’t plan to question her, so she heaved a sigh of relief.
But after Mo Shujun received the note, she kept silent for a long time, seeming to forget that Shi Baoyou was here.
Her old face changed unpredictably and her emotions couldn’t be told.
Shi Baoyou waited a moment and secretly raised her eyes, looking at Mo Shujun with expectancy. Then she asked while trembling, “Grandma, what do the words in the note mean?”
Mo Shujun seemed to be shocked by Shi Baoyou’s words, and there was a horrible and cold light in her old eyes all of a sudden, which scared Shi Baoyou to quiver.
But soon Mo Shujun concealed all her emotions and returned calm. “Leng Yan, guard outside. Don’t allow anybody to enter, including the ones who come to pay respect.”
“Yes!” Before leaving, Leng Yan stared at Shi Baoyou deeply and then walked out slowly.
There were only Mo Shujun and Shi Baoyou left in the room, and it was tenser.
Shi Baoyou couldn’t stand it and moved aside. It seemed that Mo Shujun would be not so horrible if she stayed away.
Mo Shujun noticed the girl’s movements and sneered involuntarily. “Tell me what you want me to do to help you.”
Shi Baoyou was surprised and wondered why Mo Shujun knew that she would ask for help before she spoke.
Mo Shujun didn’t even want to sneer and just snorted. “If your mother is not forced and helpless, she wouldn’t think of this way to threaten me!
“But I remind you first that there is only one chance. Speak after you think it over!”
Shi Baoyou didn’t expect that Mo Shujun didn’t even ask what matter it was but said that she would help her, and she didn’t need to explain so much.
So she stopped thinking and nodded. “No need. I have only one request from beginning to end and hope that you can feel pity for me and let me marry the man I love.”
“The man you love?” Mo Shujun repeated the words playfully and thought of what the servants told her.
She didn’t need Shi Baoyou to continue and helped the girl finish her words with certainty. “Do you want to marry Junhao?”
“Yes, yes. You are so clever, Grandma.” Shi Baoyou didn’t consider asking why Mo Shujun guessed it and just answered obediently.
Mo Shujun sneered and looked Shi Baoyou up and down meaningfully. After a moment, she commented impassively, “Your mother has a good plan!”
Shi Baoyou was clear that Mo Shujun didn’t like Zhou Ruyu, but she still couldn’t help defending her mother. “No! Mother wants to make my wish come true because she knows that His Highness and I love each other. Grandma, please…”
“Love each other?” Mo Shujun couldn’t be fooled easily and went straight to the heart of the matter, pointing out, “Why do I remember that Junhao loves Qingxue?”
Shi Baoyou blushed with shyness because of Mo Shujun’s direct words, but she controlled herself and continued, “His Highness grew up with Qingxue and must have feelings for her, but he has promised me, so…”
Mo Shujun retorted without demur, “If he really promises you, you wouldn’t have to come here to ask me for help today.”
Shi Baoyou was rendered speechless again. She didn’t expect that Mo Shujun was so acute, so she didn’t dare to tell a lie.
She just listened to her grandma obediently and didn’t say anything.
But it made Mo Shujun happy.
After a while, Mo Shujun asked again, “Junhao is a prince and a powerful competitor to fight for the position of the heir to the throne, and you can’t be his wife because you say that you want to. Except those unrealistic, what qualification do you think you have to steady the position?”
Shi Baoyou pondered for a while and took out the jade pendant given by Mo Junhao from her pocket. Then she showed it to Mo Shujun.
She replied more firmly, “His Highness and I really love each other. Grandma, please help us.”
In the beginning, Mo Shujun listened lazily. When she saw the jade pendant in Shi Baoyou’s hand clearly, she trembled and sat up on the bed all of a sudden.
She stared at Shi Baoyou’s hand and asked coldly, “How did you get this stuff?”
“His Highness loves me and gave it to me.” Shi Baoyou just let Mo Shujun see it clearly. It seemed that she was afraid that it would be snatched, and she put it back into her pocket in a hurry.
Mo Shujun was old and experienced. She saw through Shi Baoyou at a glance and asked with a faint smile, “What? Are you afraid that I will snatch something from you?”
“No, I didn’t mean that. Grandma, don’t misunderstand me. I…” Shi Baoyou also realized that her movement was too abrupt, so she scratched her head and wanted to explain.
But Mo Shujun waved her hand and stopped Shi Baoyou, saying indifferently, “Fine. I know what you want. I will do it in due course. Go back now.”
Hearing that Mo Shujun said so much but didn’t make a promise, Shi Baoyou didn’t want to leave and just looked at her grandma with expectancy, asking anxiously, “Grandma, you will help me and make my wish come true, right?”
“I know what to do. You just go now!” Mo Shujun still didn’t give a definite answer.
“But…” Shi Baoyou hesitated. Although she didn’t resist Mo Shujun openly, she stuttered and said in silence obviously that she wouldn’t go away if Mo Shujun didn’t make a promise.
“Child!” Mo Shujun rarely sighed. After all, this was her granddaughter that she appreciated, so she didn’t rebuke her forcefully.
She pondered in secret for a while and then added, “Fine. Don’t worry. I will talk about it with Junhao.”
She would just talk about it, and it was not a definite answer.
But this time, Shi Baoyou didn’t dare to push her. She nodded in a hurry. “Grandma, please help me.”