The next day, the sky was gray and bright. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Su Yichen stood outside the empty imperial city with the package, and the palace gate of the Ho'an Palace was slowly closed behind him, with a kind of confusion like a world away. She was inexplicably summoned to the palace a few months ago, and she was also caught off guard when she was released from the palace a few months later. Shen Wanyi didn't see her again, and Su Yue didn't explain any reason, she only said "sorry" to her, but she didn't know if it was for herself or Shen Wanyi.

At this time, the morning light had not yet arrived, and the air was still filled with the unique fragrance of grass wet with dew, she intoxicated a few sips, and walked along the main road in the direction of East Street unhurriedly. After two years in Beijing, she is not very familiar with the roads in the capital, and the ladies of large families are all fragrant cars and BMWs when they go out on weekdays, and they rarely have the opportunity to walk, and the Ningguo Marquis Mansion is no exception. But in a prominent mansion like Ning Guohou's Mansion, as long as you know the general direction, you will basically not go wrong, because a random person on the street can show the way.

The situation in the Dingguo Marquis's Mansion is still the same as before she left, her uncle did not return from the expedition, Ning Xuan's brother was on duty in the palace, and her aunt led a group of servants and maids, and when she saw her come back, her expression was still cold, neither surprised nor surprised, and only ordered the people to take her back to the room. She looked around along the way, but she didn't see Shen Xiu's figure, and she couldn't help but feel a little strange, and when she returned to the west wing, a thin layer of dust fell on the dresser, as if no one had cleaned it for a long time. She was suspicious in her heart, so she pulled out her legs and went to find the Li family.

"Uncle, where is Shen Xiu?"

Li was drinking tea in the pavilion, and when he heard her ask, the tea cup in his hand was put heavily on the desk, and he was very displeased: "A subordinate, if you don't see it, you won't be gone, why panic, it's unseemly." ”

"She's not a subordinate, she's my aunt and a relative." Su Yichen vaguely felt that something was wrong, Shen Xiu's relationship with her beyond the master and servant was well known in the mansion, and her aunt replied lightly, obviously in the days when she entered the palace, Shen Xiu's situation had changed somewhat.

"Anyway, she is also a foreign lady from the dignified Dingguo Mansion, and she actually calls a subordinate an aunt, and she is not afraid of lowly her identity!" Li Shi had an angry face, pointed at her and reprimanded: "I don't care about you if you provoke you outside, but when you go back to the house, you have to abide by the rules of the house, don't rely on your uncle to love you, you don't distinguish between respect and inferiority, and you don't know whether you are high or low, and if you continue like this, you will lose the face of my Dingguo Marquis Mansion sooner or later!" ”

Face? She sneered in her heart, from the moment her mother was kicked out of the house, their mother and daughter had been engraved with the brand of insulting lintel, who would remember their faces. She was sold into Lichun Garden and deceived into the palace, which one case can be erased with the word face. Face is a gorgeous coat for people standing in high places, but for her and Shen Xiu, it is just a footwrap hidden in the shadows, dirty and cumbersome.

Li was still scolding: "Go back to your west wing room and reflect on it, don't come out and run around if you have nothing to do." ”

Su Yichen was grounded as soon as she returned to the mansion, wanting to find out Shen Xiu's whereabouts, and no one would tell her, the more this happened, the more she believed that Shen Xiu had suffered an accident, and her heart became more anxious. Fortunately, Shen Ningxuan also returned home that night, and heard that the second lady was grounded in the West Chamber, and rushed over before she had time to change her clothes.

"Chen'er, are you back, are you used to living in the palace? How did you lose so much weight......"

Shen Ningxuan asked several questions one after another, he was simple-minded and had a big personality, although he had heard of the misunderstanding between the two younger sisters, he didn't care much. Shen's mother is bent on protecting her daughter, so naturally she will not tell the truth, so he has always thought that Su Yichen voluntarily stayed in the palace to accompany Wanyi's Rushuang.

Su Yichen didn't know how to speak, so he replied: "Fortunately, Brother Ning Xuan, do you know where Xiuniang went?" ”

"Xiuniang?" Shen Ningxuan scratched his head, obviously a little confused: "Isn't she in the mansion?" ”

"She doesn't seem to be in the house soon after I entered the palace, and my aunt won't tell me where she is." Su Yichen begged: "Brother, can you help me inquire about her whereabouts?" She has suffered a lot for her mother and me, and Chen'er has always regarded her as a relative. ”

"Okay, I'll help you find her, don't worry, father will be back soon!" Shen Ningxuan said.

As soon as she heard the good news that her uncle was about to return to Beijing, Su Yichen's uneasy heart finally calmed down a lot, but Shen Xiu's affairs still couldn't be delayed, and she wasn't sure that her uncle would be on the same side as her. As her aunt said, Shen Xiu is only a subordinate of the Dingguo Marquis Mansion after all, even if she has followed the mother and daughter to wander around, she is just doing her duty as a slave, and the so-called kindness, in the eyes of the nobles, is just a matter of silver, just like the grace of the twilight snow of the original Lixiangyuan.

Two days later, Shen Ningxuan took her to a narrow alley behind the West Market. The alley is home to dozens of families, crowded in low, simple adobe houses on either side, with the occasional door open to reveal a disorganized yard with dilapidated doors and windows. There were children on the ground picking up the objects that people had thrown away and chasing and fighting, and when they saw them, they were brightly dressed and obviously did not look like people who lived here, and they all surrounded them curiously.

Shen Ningxuan inquired, "May I ask where Cao Shun's family lives?" ”

The children looked at him with grins and stretched out their little black hands. Shen Ningxuan didn't know why, Su Yichen took out a piece of broken silver, put it in the hand of the older boy, and said to him, "Trouble tell me." ”

The children let out a burst of cheers, and the boy put the silver into his bosom, pointed to a courtyard in front of him, and said, "That's Cao Shun's house, he went out in the morning and came back in the evening." ”

The courtyard door of Cao Shun's house was closed, and I didn't know if anyone was at home, Shen Ningxuan stepped forward to knock on the door, and an old voice came from inside: "Who?" ”

Then the courtyard door opened, and an old man with gray hair came out, looking up and down in surprise at the two strangers who knocked on his door: "Who are you looking for?" ”

"Is this Cao Shun's house? I'm looking for Shen Xiu, is she here? Su Yichen couldn't wait to ask.

When he heard that he was looking for Shen Xiu, the old man's expression was a little strange, and he replied in a rough voice: "There is no such person, you can go!" As he spoke, he raised his hand and closed the door.

Shen Ningxuan blocked the door and said to the old man: "Uncle, you are in a hurry to catch us up, we are here to find someone, Shen Xiu is my second sister's maidservant, if she is here, please ask her to come out to meet my second sister." ”

The old man was extremely impatient, and shouted at the two: "I don't know what the second miss is, and I don't know who Shen Xiu is, you guys go quickly!" ”

Su Yichen was in a hurry, and finally found here, and the old man was in a hurry to drive them away without asking clearly, where was she willing to follow, standing at the door and shouting inside: "Xiuniang, Xiuniang, I'm Chen'er." Come out quickly, I'm Chen'er. ”