Chapter 42 - Today's Incident Could Only Be Explained by "Coincidence"
Chapter 42 Today’s Incident Could Only Be Explained by “Coincidence”
Of course, Lady Li and Wei Yan had planned to trick her into wearing this dress in order to embarrass her when she made her debut in the circle of aristocratic young ladies in the capital. They would even bring her into further humiliation. In that case, why not let them be self-satisfied with their plan first? She would certainly take the dress with her.
“Huamo, go out and see if there’re dresses of this kind of color. It doesn’t matter if they’re slightly different. It’ll be fine as long as they are similar to this dress. Of course, it’s even better to have an exactly same one.” Wei Yuewu instructed Huamo. Among her maids, Huamo was most good at sewing and knew materials of cloth very well. Thus, Huamo was the best person for this task.
“Okay, I will go shortly.” Understanding that their mistress had her plan, the maids let out a sigh of relief, and Huamo hurriedly nodded in agreement.
“Wait, let’s go out together.” After thinking for a moment, Wei Yuewu suddenly stopped Huamo and stood up. This kind of material was not something that could be found in ordinary shops. If she remembered correctly, her granny once said that they had a clothing shop in the capital that sold high-end ready-made dresses like this one.
She could take the opportunity to stop by and take a look at it.
Granny was afraid that she would run short of money in her early days in the capital and was thus in difficulties when she wanted to buy anything. Therefore, granny specially told her about this store called the “Brocade Clothing Shop,” so that she could go there to withdraw some silver whenever she needed it.
The “Brocade Clothing Shop” provided not only cloth but also ready-to-wear dresses. It was one of the several large shops that sold ready-made dresses in the capital.
Wei Yuewu asked Jin Ling to tell the Madam Dowager that she wanted to go out and pick some rouge for her own use. Considering she had come to the capital only days ago, it would be better for her to choose personal items such as rouge and face powder by herself.
The mansion of Marquis Hua Yang could be considered an aristocratic family of military generals, so the young ladies were not as strictly restricted from going out as those from pedantic noble families. It was therefore not a problem for Wei Yuewu to go shopping in the street.
The Madam Dowager naturally gave Wei Yuewu permission and asked an old maidservant to give Wei Yuewu her monthly allowance.
The young ladies of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang had twenty taels of silver as their allowance each month.
Looking at the money pouch in Jin Ling’s hand, Wei Yuewu revealed a trace of mockery in her eyes. The Madam Dowager seemed very considerate for her in specially ordering someone to send her the silver taels when knowing that she wanted to go out. In fact, the Madam Dowager was still somewhat stingy. She had been living at her granny’s house for so many years.
Never had she received any money from the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang. Now she was back in the mansion, it was absolutely reasonable that the Madam Dowager should give her the total amount of monthly allowance of the past ten more years. Now what? When the old maidservant sent over the allowance, she repeatedly said that all the other young ladies received their allowance only at the end of the month and that Wei Yuewu could get hers now because the Madam Dowager took special care of her.
Compared to granny, the Madam Dowager really didn’t seem to be her biological grandmother. She was just unable to get a feeling of intimacy to this grandmother. Moreover, Wei Yuewu sensed that while she was secretly studying her grandmother, her grandmother was examining her from time to time as well.
Furthermore, the Madam Dowager was even kind of on guard against her. Was this supposed to be a grandmother’s attitude towards her granddaughter?
The Madam Dowager had some secrets; and moreover, they were related to her.
This was her first time going to the street, and Wei Yuewu left Jin Ling alone at the courtyard. With Jin Ling there, even if Lady Li and Wei Yan wanted to cause any trouble, they would most likely not prevail.
Huamo and Shufei followed Wei Yuewu out of the mansion. The “Brocade Clothing Shop” was famous. The coachman nodded to show that he knew the place when he heard the name. He pulled the carriage and drove it nimbly forward.
But shortly after, the carriage surprisingly stopped.
“What’s wrong?” Huamo asked.
“Miss Huamo, the road ahead seems to be blocked.” The coachman answered from outside of the curtain. He then muttered to himself in a low voice, “This is the main street. How strange it is that we can get stuck here.”
Wei Yuewu could not help sighing that the main street should be jammed too. She didn’t expect that streets in the capital could actually be so crowded.
“Miss, I’ll get off and take a look.” Shufei had such sensitive ears that she immediately caught the noise ahead that was louder than usual. She judged that something was going on there.
“Alright.” Wei Yuewu nodded. The carriage was stuck here right now. They couldn’t stay there doing nothing with the carriage being unable to move neither forward or backward.
Shufei lifted the curtain and pushed open the door to get off, when the carriage shook violently all of a sudden. She screamed out of fright. Wei Yuewu hurriedly stretched out her hand and grabbed Shufei to stabilize her body.
“Get out of the way, get out of the way.” Someone shouted, and the crowd was pushed hither.
The carriage Wei Yuewu rode stopped at the side of the road. Now being squeezed by the crowd, half of one of the wheels was surprisingly pushed towards the river.
“Sixth Young Lady, please get out of the carriage. The carriage is going to be pushed into the river.” The coachman said anxiously to Wei Yuewu through the curtain when he saw the situation was getting worse.
Wei Yuewu stretched out her hand and lifted the curtain to look outside. The carriage was indeed in a very bad situation. The crowd that had been packed in the middle of the road was now retreating to the sides. Coincidentally, her carriage was at the junction of two streets. What was more, the crossing happened to be near the river. No one would notice this small area if they didn’t come near.
Wei Yuewu’s carriage happened to be blocked there. Moreover, judging from the situation, the crowd would be pushed further toward this side. It was very likely that the carriage would be pushed into the river.
“Let’s get out of the carriage.” Wei Yuewu said decisively. She called Shufei and Huamo to get off the carriage together.
After descending from the carriage, the two maids tried desperately to stand in front of their mistress to block the growing crowd that kept moving towards them. However, there were just too many people. The coachman was now focused on taking care of the carriage and did not have the time to consider them. Wei Yuewu moved with the crowd hither and thither. After following the flow of the crowd for a while, she found that the two maids were nowhere to be seen and she herself was in the veranda of a shop.
Fortunately, she had found a place to stay so that she didn’t fall to the ground.
“Miss, please move aside. You are stepping on my foot.” Wei Yuewu had just breathed a sigh of relief but didn’t have the time to stand firm on the ground, when she heard a clear voice from behind as someone spoke slowly with a deep voice.
Her body stiffened. She hurriedly lowered her head and found a shoe beside her feet. There was even a small footprint on the front of the low-key but gorgeous black shoe. No wonder she felt that her foot had caught something. Needless to say, she was actually stepping on someone’s foot.
“Sorry, Young Master.” Wei Yuewu moved aside to curtsy and hurriedly apologized. When finishing her words, she raised her glittering black eyes. Her eyes met a pair of handsome and cold eyes.
With black hair tied up and a wide forehead revealed, it was actually a beautiful young man with an extremely handsome face.
The man seemed to get a clear sight of Wei Yuewu at this moment. An inexplicable trace of thoughtfulness flashed in his eyes. A smile slowly appeared on his face and his coldness slightly faded. Such changes made him look much gentler.
“It’s alright. Come in a little more so that no one will step on you.” He said politely and waved to the two servants beside him.
The two servants looked at Wei Yuewu vigilantly. They didn’t notice anything unusual, so they carefully took two steps back. However, their watchful eyes kept falling on Wei Yuewu. It seemed they would pounce on her immediately if she made a slight move.
Wei Yuewu’s gaze swept past the two cold-faced servants. Her eyes darkened as she realized that the young man in front of her must be some important person. The servants were obviously his guards who were here to protect him.
“Young Master, thank you for your kindness. I’ll be fine to stand here.” Wei Yuewu refused with a smile. Wei Yuewu couldn’t possibly move nearer when she knew that the young man was not an ordinary person. She had just arrived in the capital and was unfamiliar with the place. She did not want to get involved with any important person.
When she ran into Yan Huaijing last time, it was only due to lack of alternative so that she had to take advantage of his power.
Seeing that Wei Yuewu had no intention of approaching, the two guards relaxed their gazes and focused on the crowd outside that swarmed like tides. However, Wei Yuewu could still sense their sharp gazes occasionally sweeping over her.
“Well, you can go a bit inside if you are pushed badly!” The young master invited again with a smile.
“Thank you, Young Master!” Wei Yuewu shook her head.
Seeing Wei Yuewu’s firm rejection, the young master did not request any further. But he still made some room in front of him so that Wei Yuewu could retreat to the door if she was pushed by the crowd.
At this time, the crowd had completely retreated to the two sides. Wei Yuewu also got to understand that no one had pressed over to her side because there were two guards dressed like servants blocking the way outside. She might have got in here by chance. However, judging by the way the guards stared at her, she supposed they had suspected her movement here. That was why they watched closely at her.
Wei Yuewu could only smile bitterly at this coincident. She really did not know why she would be pushed to this porch. It could just be described as ‘coincidental.’
Yes, it was bound that today’s incident could only be explained by coincidence!
A carriage steadily stopped at the entrance of the store. It was a gorgeous and flamboyant carriage that was pulled by eight white horses. Wei Yuewu’s eyebrows twitched fiercely. She felt pain between her eyebrows and sighed in her heart. Could it really be such a coincidence?
However, judging from the imposing manner, who else could it be except that peerlessly elegant heir-apparent?
Before she could finish sighing, Yan Huaijing got off from the carriage. All the noise quieted down all of a sudden on both sides of the street. Everyone’s eyes fell on Yan Huaijing’s face that was so handsome that everyone’s breath was taken away. His facial features were so exquisite as if they were carved out under extreme care.
His thick eyebrows extended long into his temples. His sharp nose and red lips were all beautiful and handsome. When the features were put together on his face, everyone felt that he was exceptionally handsome. His snow-white dresses were spotless. When he put on his clean and gentle smile, even a banished immortal from heaven couldn’t match him.
The heir-apparent of the Duke of Yan State was indeed worthy of the reputation of the number one young master in the world.
However, at this moment, Yan Huaijing’s gaze fell on Wei Yuewu, who had collected her thoughts and desperately lowered her head and shrunk her shoulders, hoping that the heir-apparent would not notice her. However, Yan Huaijing, who had been heading straight for the door of the shop, now changed direction and walked towards Wei Yuewu…