Unexpectedly, Grace brought it up right now, letting Aunt Autumn overhear!
"When did I ever say something like that? You must be mistaken!" Cindy Zhu shouted, flustered and angry.
"Hmm?" Grace stopped in her tracks, pretending to be puzzled. "Cindy, what's wrong? It's just the two of us sisters here, no one else to hear. Why are you so anxious? You won't even admit to what you said yourself?"
As soon as she said this, the figure in the flower shade immediately walked away into the distance.
Probably because she realized Cindy Zhu had spotted her.
Cindy Zhu also kept an eye on that distant figure, gritting her teeth and saying, "Grace! Can you please stop talking nonsense from now on!"
Grace heard her call out her name directly and widened her eyes, looking incredulous. "Cindy, what did you just call me?"
Cindy Zhu took a deep breath, trying hard to swallow her frustration, and said, "Big Sister, I'm sorry, I misspoke just now! You go ahead and head back first! I still have things to do, so I'll leave now!"
With that, she ran off on her own.
She was probably going to find her mother, or maybe straight to Aunt Autumn.
Grace's lips curled into a faint, almost imperceptible smile as she turned and returned to the Serenity Pavilion.
Cindy Zhu is still young, unable to hide her emotions. She barely made it a few steps before revealing her true nature.
With skills like that, she still managed to trick me again and again in my past life!
Grace couldn't help but recall Evan Xiao's assessment of her: spoiled and foolish.
He even said that those who served by her side wouldn't even know how they'd died...
Grace suddenly felt a pang in her heart.
Wasn't it true? Her nursemaid, Hope, Claire—all were given to her by her mother, and all had been loyal to her.
But in the end, not a single one met a good fate.
Hope was married off to a cripple and suffered a lifetime of misery;
Claire was humiliated and took her own life.
As for her nursemaid, it was even worse. After Grace entered the palace, Grace Wan accused her of theft. She and her son were beaten to death...
......
Her residence was called Serenity Pavilion. Supposedly, her father named it when she was born, hoping she'd live a life free of worries.
But later on... Who knows if her father ever regretted giving it such a name...
In Grace's memory, it had been more than twenty years since she last came to this garden.
Every blade of grass and every tree felt both familiar and strange.
Everywhere was filled with emotion, and also with blood and tears.
Serenity Pavilion was the best residence in the Prime Minister's Residence, perfectly suited to her status as the legitimate eldest daughter.
The furnishings inside were far better than those in Cindy's Courtyard.
That's why everyone in Danyang City praised Grace Wan as a virtuous and capable mistress of the house.
Her father, grandmother, and everyone in the clan had nothing bad to say about her.
As soon as Grace returned, all the servants in the courtyard, led by Mrs. Hu the head housekeeper, knelt to welcome her.
Grace glanced at Mrs. Hu, said nothing, and went inside.
This woman was Grace Wan's trusted confidante.
Several of the maids in this garden were also her people.
Mrs. Hu followed her in, beaming, and said, "My dear Miss, you’ve finally come home! Your status is so noble—how could you keep living in that Moonwater Abbey? Now that you’re back, you mustn’t go there again!"
This woman was no harmless character.
Inside the household, she was best at sowing discord and stirring up trouble.
Outside, she bullied the weak and feared the strong, always smearing and slandering others.
Much of Grace’s ruined reputation had her fingerprints all over it.